Maviel sat atop her splendid throne, relaxing in luxury. She stared up at the opulent, ornate ceiling of her and Sylfir's throne room, which was painted with images of naked ladies and the sky. Much better than the Overlord-glorifying images that had once adorned it, she thought. She smiled, contented, as she listened to the sounds of birds chirping outside. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath.

A knock came at the door at the far end of the room, startling Maviel.

But then, it opened, and she saw her lovely co-queen, Sylfir. She was wearing a sheer white kimono that made her pink irises really glow, even from a long distance.

"Good morning, my dear Sylfir," said Maviel.

Sylfir nodded. "Good morning, my queen."

"How are you today?" asked Maviel.

"Lovely," said Sylfir. "However, I'm not sure about how I've done my hair." Her long, straight white strands were knotted up into two big pigtails. They were held together by small, golden pins.

"I love it," said Maviel. "You don't?"

"No," said Sylfir. "I look like an idiot."

"Don't be silly," said Maviel. "I think it looks wonderful."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," said Sylfir. "But I think I'd rather have my hair done differently today, all the same. Would you mind braiding it for me?"

"Of course," said Maviel. "I would be delighted."

Sylfir giggled. "Thank you, my dear." She walked closer to the throne and sat on the floor atop a silky pillow. Then, she pulled the pins out of her hair.

Maviel watched Sylfir's hair cascade downward.

"Now, where shall we start?" asked Sylfir.

"Well," said Maviel. "I think the top is best."

She started by taking Sylfir's long, white locks and carefully weaving them into a single braid. It was a slow, meditative process.

"I'm sorry," said Sylfir. "This is going to take a while. I have so much hair."

"Don't worry," said Maviel. "It will only take a moment."

She continued to work her fingers through Sylfir's hair. As Maviel worked, she noticed that Sylfir smelled quite sweaty. It was a sweet smell, and she didn't mind it.

After a few minutes, Sylfir's hair was finished.

"There," said Maviel. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No, not at all," said Sylfir.

"Thank you, darling. You're the best."

Maviel smiled. "You're welcome, my dear."

Sylfir stood up. Maviel reached out a hand and lightly squeezed her butt.

"What was that for?" asked Sylfir.

"Just wanted to make sure you weren't tired," said Maviel.

Sylfir giggled. "Well, I am tired, but not too terribly so. Thanks for checking."

"My pleasure," said Maviel.

Sylfir stepped away from the throne and began walking around the room.

"Would you like to see something?" asked Maviel.

Sylfir turned back to her. "What?" The knot around her kimono was getting pretty loose.

"I have a surprise for you," said Maviel. "Come with me."

Maviel led Sylfir to the other side of the throne room, past the golden statues of naked women, and into a small hallway.

"Here we are," said Maviel. "I hope you like it."

Sylfir stopped in front of a wooden door. "I don't understand. What's in the broom closet for me?"

"No, no, silly. Look up," said Maviel.

Sylfir looked up and saw a beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It was made of gold and had hundreds of crystal candles lit inside it.

"Oh my gods," said Sylfir. "It's so beautiful."

"Now, use our system to focus closely on it," said Maviel. "Go ahead, just think 'Activate Eagle Eye' and see what's going on up there on the chandelier."

Sylfir thought, 'Activate Eagle Eye.'

[Eagle Eye activated]

Sylfir watched her vision refocus and then could quickly peek at all the intricacies of the chandelier. She saw ornate sculptures of her and Maviel dancing around the base of every candle holder. On the top of the chandelier, right below the brilliant jade chain it dangled from, were inscribed the words, 'For Sylfir, With Love.'

"That's so wonderful" said Sylfir. "I never knew you were such a romantic."

"Of course I am," said Maviel. "I love you."

"And I love you," said Sylfir. "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."

Maviel kissed Sylfir passionately.

Maviel smiled. "I'm so, so glad I had that enormous sculpture of the Overlord's phallus replaced with this."

"Me too," said Sylfir. "Also, talk about false advertising."

Maviel giggled. "Yea, no kidding."

The two of them shared another passionate kiss.

----------------------------------------

Maviel and Sylfir entered the dark, brooding observation chamber while still basking in the afterglow of one another's affections. They took their seats around the large, glowing observation orb.

"Now," said Maviel. "It's time we got down to business."

"Okay," said Sylfir, taking a soft drag of her gold-tipped cigarette. She looked a little anxious.

Maviel nodded. She looked at the orb and raised her hands, focusing on it.

[Observation Orb activated]

"Let's see what that pesky player's up to," said Maviel with a giggle.

"What do you mean?" asked Sylfir. "Is she awake again?"

"Yes, I've got it on good authority that she's woken up and causing all sorts of trouble," said Maviel. "Gods, if only she'd just stayed in meditation for half a century, we could've surely taken over the whole world. But hopefully, we can nip Isabelle in the bud, as it were. She's still nowhere near as powerful as either of us, Sylfir."

As the cloudy glow of the orb gave way to increasingly detailed visuals, Maviel gasped.

"My gods!" she said, her jaw open wide. "One of our airships has located her! And if I'm hearing Isabelle's complaining correctly, she's just had her mana use completely disabled, surely by one of our mana blocking rays!"

Sylfir giggled.

"Sylfir, did you know this was happening?" asked Maviel.

"I heard some rumors," said Sylfir. She had a cheeky smile on her face. "Rumors that she was awake, that is. So I directed one of our ships to stop dropping pamphlets and anti-magic spells for a day and go seek her out. I guess this was supposed to be a little surprise for you. Kind of like the chandelier you had made for me."

"Wow, Sylfir," said Maviel. "Sometimes, I can't even believe how good you are to me. It's honestly bizarre. I feel like I should pinch myself just to make sure I'm not dreaming."

"I'm just glad you're happy," said Sylfir. "But really, I didn't want you to know yet because she hasn't been captured yet. And she's still quite a fighter."

"Wait a second, who's this young little kobold-dragon in a cape she's got darting around with her?" asked Maviel. "He looks awfully familiar."

"Oh, that's Tahsi Junior," said Sylfir. "The son of one of Isabelle's ex-party members."

"You've really been doing your research, eh?" asked Maviel.

"Yes," said Sylfir. "You know how I love gathering intel, dear."

Maviel and Sylfir hadn't really noticed it, but they'd stopped really looking at the orb and were more focused on one another's eyes at this point. And then they were brushing shoulders, and then they kissed again.

More than kissing. Soon, Maviel was leaning over Sylfir and had her pushed up against the huge, glassy observation orb. It was a little awkward, but somehow the awkwardness made it all the more engaging to keep kissing and lusting after one another.

Maviel pulled away from Sylfir, leaving her breathless and panting.

"What's wrong?" asked Sylfir.

"Nothing's wrong," said Maviel, her voice husky and deep. "Just that I have something else in mind."

She untied Sylfir's kimono and got on her knees.

"Um, Maviel, wait," said Sylfir. "Are you sure? I don't think—"

"Don't worry," said Maviel. "I'll take care of you."

"Good afternoon, my queens!" blurted the warbling voice of Babqex as he jaunted into the room. He wore a tiny, feathered hat and a tightly fitted suit, along with an ever-present smile that made the blue imp seem almost like a wind-up automaton.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Babqex!" spat Maviel and Sylfir in unison.

"Oh my gods!" said Babqex with a stutter as he noticed what he'd walked in on. "Oh my gods! Oh my gods! Are you two going to do it right here?! In the Observation Chamber, on the side of the observation orb?! Is this some sort of lewd, sex-fueled game?!"

"We are not doing anything!" snapped Maviel. She stood up and dusted off her knees.

"Yea, Babquex," said Sylfir. She tied her kimono up tightly. "But thanks for asking."

"I wasn't asking, I was stating a fact," said Babqex. "And I don't mean to judge, but I would say you two are a bit too old to be acting

like horny teenagers."

"Babqex," said Maviel. "Please stop."

"But, my queens," whined Babqex. "I am a slave to your whims. I cannot disobey you."

"You can," said Maviel. "And you will. Obviously, I mean. Because you came in here in the first place, and that was directly against either of our wills."

The imp-slave turned around and stared at Maviel with big, sad eyes.

"Now, go away," said Maviel.

"Yes, my queens," said Babqex. He gave a small bow and left the room.

Maviel looked over at Sylfir. "Do you still wanna do it?"

"Yes, but not here," said Sylfir. "The vibe is all wrong now."

"Ditto," said Maviel. "Let's go to the sex grotto instead."

Sylfir nodded and they both walked out of the Observation Chamber.

----------------------------------------

The Overlord sat languishing in his makeshift home, which was made entirely out of the dingiest gold items he could find in the dragon hoard. It was a simple life and a miserable one. He was constantly hiding from the dragon, hoping it wouldn't see him and get hungry. Worse still, all the Overlord could eat was scraps of raw meat that the dragon left lying about, and if he wasn't careful he'd get hit with a food poisoning debuff.

If all that wasn't bad enough, his system was totally on the fritz.

Almost everything he did result in a chain of increasingly obtuse error messages. The Overlord had long ago given up on fixing it and just sat there, feeling sorry for himself.

Until he heard something. Movement, amongst all the tiny pieces of gold. At first, he thought it was just water dripping from the top of the huge cavern, but after he heard the movement again he determined that couldn't be the case. It sounded like someone was crawling through the treasure.

The Overlord got up and went over to a nearby treasure chest. There was a loud rustling sound coming from inside. The Overlord pulled back the lid of the treasure chest and saw an elf's severed head.

There were maggots crawling through its eye sockets and mouth.

The Overlord looked around, trying not to smell the air, as he was certain that if he did he would vomit. Then, he looked back at the elf's severed head. And he got an idea.

[Loot 'Elf'?]

The Overlord thought yes.

Inventory: Elf

Item

Traits

Journal Pages

n/a

Debugging the System book

+2 carry weight

Hmm. So there wasn't much in this elf's inventory, but what was in there was interesting enough. A book on system debugging seemed almost too good to be true, but the Overlord remembered he'd modded his system to include a 'luck' feature that greatly improved his chances of opportune things such as this happening. And apparently, even when it was corrupted, the system did some things right. So the Overlord took the book, and he took the journal pages too.

The Overlord was actually fascinated by the journal pages, so he equipped them. He wanted to know who this elf was, and whether he ought to trust the system book he'd been carrying around.

[Journal Pages equipped]

The pages of the journal, which were only three, fanned out across the Overlord's open palms. He squinted as he read their sloppily scrawled text.

Went to the park today. Mused on the idea of systems. Systems, systems, what's in a system? Is it people? Or is it data? What's the difference? How do we get to a system? Why are there so many systems? Are they the same thing?

What is a system, really? Is a system an experience? Is it a tool? Do the gods have systems? Are the gods systems themselves? Is a system a set of rules? Does a system need rules? Can a system exist without rules?

What's the difference between a rule and a system?

Is a system a collection of rules?

Can a system be created by breaking down rules into smaller parts?

Is a system a group of rules?

If I added an array of rules to a consequent system group, would that make it a system?

How does a system work?

There was a large coffee stain, blurring out the rest of the text on the page. The Overlord turned it over, noting that these three pages were, luckily or not, double-sided.

I think I've figured it out. The universe works like a system. Everything is connected. So a system is like a universe. A miniature universe, contained in your mind. If you can understand the workings of the universe, then you will understand how the world works.

But how do you know if you're understanding the system correctly?

What happens when you add more rules to a system?

Is there a limit to the number of rules a system could have?

Are there systems that don't use rules?

Why doesn't the system show me the rules?

I'm going to go home now. I'll figure it out later.

The Overlord looked to the second page with a sigh. This was getting exhausting, but he felt compelled to gleam everything he could from this text.

Met with some other devs today. We're attending a mountain summit in a few weeks to define what a ruleset is and how it affects a system.

It's really interesting.

They want to create a new system language. It's called System Minus Minus, and it's based on a complex set of rules. They say it's a way to make systems easier to write. Hence the minus minus, it's going to be minus all the difficulty, they say.

I wonder if it's true.

We talked about what a system is for a while. I guess a system really is a collection of rules. But is it possible to break the rules?

Maybe the rules aren't the system. Maybe the system is the rules.

That's a little confusing.

Does that mean that the system isn't real?

It seems like it.

But the system is still in my head. It's in all our heads. And it's in the dragon's heads, too.

I wonder if anybody has written a system language based on how the dragons see the system. They seem to know the system pretty well.

The Overlord turned the page over.

Maybe dragon access to the system(s) is a key part of dragonness.

Does that mean that in order for more people to use the system, they need to become more dragonlike?

Or maybe the system is in everybody's heads already.

Side note: consider research into human dragon crossbreeding. How would it work? Would you use a male or female person of whatever applicable species? Which sex would the dragon have? Would the dragon be a dragon, or would it just be a human with dragon-ish traits? Would they even have system access? Should such a creature have system access?

I'm going to bed now. I'm tired.

The Overlord took a deep breath and flipped the last page.

Major breakthrough today.

Opened a portal to the multiverse. Usually takes centuries to do that, but we did it in a few days.

It was exhilarating, and a little scary.

I was in the room with the other devs, and they started talking about how they'd never seen anything like it before.

I couldn't help myself. I wanted to see what was on the other side of the portal. So, with their well wishes, I stepped on inside.

It was terrifying. It was like staring down an infinite hall of round mirrors.

And yet, I knew where I was. I had been there many times.

So I found the mirror I recognized and stepped through.

It was a memory.

I saw myself as a child, standing in the same spot, watching the dragons play.

Why did I remember this? How could I remember this? How had I traveled through time? How does the multiverse work?

I should've gone back home.

But when I tried, I was greeted by another version of myself, indistinguishable from me in every way save for the fact that he had scars on his face from past acne, and was wearing odd reflective coverings over his eyes.

"You shouldn't be here," said the other me. "This is dangerous."

I remembered something else now. Something important.

The other me had said something about the system. He must have known that I knew something about the system. But before I could commit it to memory, yet another me showed up and stabbed this first other me in the back. I watched myself die that day.

The Overlord turned the page over.

It's terrifying to watch an alternate reality version of yourself stab and kill another version of yourself. I remember I asked myself, why would you do that to me? He only pointed and told me that I should ask the man behind me.

The man behind me, unsurprisingly enough, was yet another version of myself. This me was in really great shape. Like, I was honestly pretty jealous.

He looked at me and said, "If you don't know who I am, then I'm afraid I can't tell you. You'll have to find out for yourself."

Then he walked away into another portal. Shortly after, I heard a loud, horrible scream, and a splatter of blood shot out of the portal.

"He just died," said the third version of me that had killed the second version of me. "And you probably will, too, if you stay here. It's not safe for us right now."

I thought about asking him for help, but I didn't want to get stuck in some kind of time loop again. I decided to go back to the mirror that I had come through.

As soon as I stepped through, I was greeted by yet another version of myself. He told me that we ought to switch universes. I got in a pretty big argument about it, and eventually he gave up, but I swear to the gods I'm not even sure if I wandered back in through the right portal, because everything seems to smell different in this universe now that I'm back.

The Overlord dropped the pages from his hands and quivered. That whole reading made him feel terribly uncomfortable. The thing was, it also made him kind of interested. Interested in seeing if there were other versions of himself, other Overlords, somewhere across this 'multiverse,' whatever that was.

But more pressingly was the matter of reading the book on the system that he'd gotten from this guy's head. Clearly, he'd known what he was talking about, being a system dev and everything, so the Overlord equipped the book.

[Debugging the System Book equipped]

[Would you like to read the book?]

[Y/N]

The Overlord sighed in relief. It seemed that the system would handle the hearty task of reading this book and absorbing its knowledge for him. He thought yes.

[Reading...]

[...]

[Got distracted...]

[Reading...]

[...]

[Finished reading]

[Debugging the System book unequipped]

The Overlord smiled. Finally, for the first time, he knew exactly what he needed to do. It was amazing how immediately all the knowledge of system debugging flooded his mind with perfect clarity.

All he needed to do now was find somewhere totally safe.

Somewhere that he could sit and meditate for as long as he needed, so that he could enter the realms necessary to fix what had destroyed the power of his system. Yes, the Overlord would fix it, and he would make his system stronger than ever.