In a dark room at the Center of the Evolvers Multiverse, a varying range of former Creators moved around an ostentatious room with excitement. Supreme assistants moved with them, each council member having two helping them with anything they might need. One Councilmember stood near a golden chair, showing off a plain brown leather bag.

"It's wondrous! I can't believe how many different items this beauty can hold."

"How much did it cost you, Councilmember?" A Supreme Assistant in the shape of a small green ring asked from beside him.

"Only enough to create a Tier-two planet. Truly, a frugal purchase." He said with a smile. "When we next hold the inter-council retreat, I will be the center of all attention. The Bravo protocol are going to eat themselves alive."

"Well done." A Supreme Assistant added, standing on his other side.

"Three!", a large nebulous being yelled out. Where the sound projected from, nobody knew except the speaker, "You need to stay on top of your assigned strands! We're losing resources for every minute that you're not commanding your assistants."

"Shove it up your ass Seven! You're just jealous! And stop calling me Three!"

"You just called me Seven!"

"Language," A Sentinel on a platform near the wall said as he looked over the room. The rebuked man's face scrunched up for a moment before it settled down. He placed the bag in his pocket and walked over to his station.

"That damned genius really put a lot of work on our heads!" Councilman four yelled out from his station, "I'm having a hell of a time making sure that the Life strands are collected properly. They're constantly trying to break away from their vessels, and have infected hundreds of storage vats already."

"Just do your best." The longest-lasting councilmember said. "Where's Five anyways?"

The nebulous council member snorted, "Who knows One? Probably still trying to get that Supreme Assistant to countermand his new primary directive. How we lost control of an Assistant, let alone the Assistant connected to that genius, is beyond me. You'd never betray me, right LAD20?" He asked the gray jelly Assistant near him.

"Never, Councilmember Seven."

"We wouldn't dream of it." His other assistant echoed.

"See! It must have something to do with that Creator, Dante. No, Walker. Something in his genetic material perhaps. Either way, we may have to quarantine the whole ren-."

He was interrupted by a message hitting every overlay at the same time.

The System Administrator has fallen!

...

A new System Administrator has been found.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Please stand by for any future changes to the Protocol System as they begin their work.

If a person were to enter the room at that moment, they wouldn't be able to hear a sound. Not a breath. Not even a silent shudder coursed through their bodies. Just the utter stillness of this exact moment being recorded mentally by everyone involved.

A second later, one of the Sentinels on the wall bowed, "It has been a privilege." Before disappearing.

"What?" Councilmember Three said in confusion, "They've never left a post empty before."

"It has been a privilege." Another said, bowing before also disappearing.

One by one, each sentinel bowed, said the same line, and then disappeared. Where they went, nobody in the room knew, which the pandemonium that followed all too clearly showed.

"What's happening!"

"Is this some kind of attack? Have the awakened come for us?"

"The Origin! We must escape to the Origin!"

"They'll never take us back, you moron! Contact our embassies! The other Council chambers!"

While all of the Council members panicked, one stayed relatively calm as he turned his eyes to the last remaining Sentinel.

"It has been a privilege."

"Wai-" Councilmember One said as he reached a claw out, but it was already too late. The last Sentinel disappeared from the Council chambers of the Alpha Protocol, and all that was left were those in the room and their assistants. Councilmember One looked around at everyone, seeing nothing but fear and disorder trapped behind their eyes.

Well, the eyes he could see.

"We will not panic, we will continue on with our work for the Evolver Faction. We're going to move forward like we always have." He said, attempting to lock each firmly behind him.

Councilmember Three was shaking as he looked at his elder, "But, the Sentinels. They-Wait, are.." He looked at his two assistants, who looked at each other and shook their heads.

"We are with you, Councilmember Three."

"Indeed." The other said.

"Oh, thank goodness."

As his shoulders slumped, his worst fears almost realized, Five stepped into the room. He looked left and right, noticing the Sentinel's absences right away.

"I see."

Councilmember Three sneered at him, "You see what exactly, you damned fool! The System Administrator, who has hidden from us for thousands of years, is dead. We don't know who the next one is, what they're planning, OR WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO US!" He yelled out, "We don't even know what's still working and what isn't! We're doomed! We relied so much on this damned system, and now, it may be our own downfall!"

"Well then, let's take a page out of my winning card, Walker's book." Seven said with a smile, "Let's be better."

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Each council across the Evolver multiverse had similar reactions as the messages came in. There was a great delay in time, split amongst them, as some were accelerating within their own Temporal zones, and others weren't. In the Psi and Omega councils, who always remained within an accelerated zone, the Sentinels stayed put, but wouldn't answer any questions no matter how they asked.

The councils not within a zone were blissfully unaware, still moving about with their own plots and machinations. And where there hadn't been one since first splitting away from the Origin, a strain of worry threaded its way through the previously confident group of former Creators. Messages flew across the renditions, harsh words were exchanged, and small political battles were waged on a seemingly endless scale.

For the first time in a long time, there was a split within the Evolvers on what needed to happen next.

The Slicer, just having completed his training within the Psi Protocol, watched as his mentor walked up to him with a deep sigh.

The glorious destroyed tilted his head at the slow approach, "What?"