Chapter 1: System Breach Zhahingardia stared at the holographic displays, her brow furrowed. Spiritual traffic patterns usually flowed with a predictable rhythm. Now, jagged spikes of crimson energy pulsed erratically across the screens. She tapped a console, pulling up diagnostics. Something was definitely wrong in the Astral Nexus monitoring center. She refocused on the displays. The visualizations of soul streams flickered and glitched, painting a chaotic picture. She didn't like it. It reminded her of the time when someone accidentally unleashed a flock of thought-gremlins into the meditation gardens. It took weeks to clean that up. This felt bigger. "Nexus Monitor showing deviations of energy stream on the lower east side of Karmic Allocation Subsystem," A monotone voice buzzed. It was a failsafe AI. Zhahingardia muttered under her breath. “Deviations? That’s putting it mildly.” The readings were off the charts. Her fingers flew across the console, navigating through layers of code. Karmic Allocation was a delicate system. It required precision. It was not something to be trifled with. The potential impact of instability there was catastrophic. She found it. A block of unauthorized code nestled deep within the Karmic Allocation subsystem. It was elegant. Too elegant. This wasn’t some random glitch. Someone had deliberately introduced this. She scrolled through the lines, recognizing the telltale signs of sophisticated manipulation. A shiver ran down her spine. This was a serious breach. Her screen flashed an alert. A new access point. Unauthorized. It bypassed all standard security protocols. Someone had created a backdoor into the core architecture. The audacity. Her fingers tightened around the controls. The spiritual sysadmins had been working on this system for eons. She traced the backdoor’s origin. It snaked through layers of firewalls, hopping across dimensional planes, obscuring its true source. It was a ghost, flitting just beyond her grasp. But she caught glimpses. Enough to confirm her worst fears. The code was designed to siphon karmic energy. And funnel it somewhere else. She needed to shut it down. Now. Her fingers danced across the console. She initiated a patch sequence. A surge of energy coursed through the system. She watched, her breath held, as the code compiled. It was almost complete. Just a few more cycles. She could feel the backdoor fighting back, resisting the intrusion. It was a digital tug-of-war, a battle for control of the Nexus. Suddenly, the console blared a warning. Failsafe triggered. Lockdown initiated. The screen went dark. “What the…” Zhahingardia stared at the blank screen. She tried to log back in. Access denied. The system had locked her out. Her own failsafe, designed to protect the Nexus from unauthorized modifications, had turned against her. She slammed her fist on the console in frustration. "Sartorius is not going to like this," she whispered in frustration. A voice echoed from behind her. "Indeed. It appears our chickens have flown the coop." She turned to see Sartorius-zing-arolaS, her mentor, standing in the doorway. His presence was calming. He always knew what to do. Even if she didn't always agree with it. He looked grave, his face etched with concern. She had not even heard him coming. “Sartorius. Someone’s breached the Karmic Allocation subsystem.” She quickly explained what she had discovered. The unauthorized code, the backdoor, the failsafe. All of it. Sartorius listened intently, his eyes never leaving her face. When she was done, he nodded slowly. “This… matches patterns from previous incidents. Across other realms.” She frowned. “Other realms? What do you mean?” He sighed. “Similar breaches. Similar code signatures. Each time, a localized disruption. A ripple effect. We dismissed them as anomalies. Isolated incidents. I feared it to be something more.” “Someone’s been testing the waters,” Zhahingardia concluded. “Probing the Nexus’s defenses. And now they’ve launched a full-scale attack.” Sartorius nodded. “It would seem so. And you triggered the failsafe. Locking yourself out.” “I was trying to patch the vulnerability,” she protested. “I understand. But the failsafe is designed to isolate the affected area. Prevent further contamination. It prioritizes stability above all else.” Zhahingardia chewed her lip. “So, what do we do now? We can’t just sit here while someone’s messing with the Karmic Allocation subsystem.” “No. We report this. To the Council of Cosmic Architects.” Her stomach dropped. The Council. Reporting a breach of this magnitude… It would be a career killer. “Sartorius, you know what this means. It’ll be a feeding frenzy. They’ll tear my reputation to shreds.” Sartorius placed a hand on her shoulder. “Your reputation is secondary. The integrity of the Nexus is paramount. This is not about you, Zhahingardia. It is about preserving balance." “But…” She hesitated. Doubts swirled in her mind. Was she overreacting? Maybe it was just a minor glitch. Maybe she could fix it herself. Without involving the Council. She just needed more time. Sartorius-zing-arolaS did not miss her hesitation. “Zhahingardia, these breaches... they have the potential to destabilize everything. Souls materializing in wrong realms, spiritual energies crossing incompatible boundaries, metaphysical containers failing their isolation protocols. I do not exaggerate.” Zhahingardia considered what he said. She trusted Sartorius. He had always guided her well. Even when his advice was hard to swallow. And he was right. This wasn’t about her. It was about the Nexus. About protecting the delicate balance of the spiritual realms. “Okay,” she said, her voice firm. “I’ll report it.” She pulled up the incident report template on a secondary terminal. She began filling in the details. The anomalous energy spike, the unauthorized code, the backdoor access point. She documented everything. Methodically. Precisely. She omitted nothing. Sartorius-zing-arolaS watched her, his expression unreadable. He knew what this would cost her. But he also knew it was the right thing to do. As she typed, she couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that washed over her. Reporting the breach to the Council would be like throwing herself to the wolves. They would scrutinize every decision she had made. Every line of code she had written. They would question her competence. Her judgment. Her motives. She prepared herself for the storm that was about to break. She reached the section on potential consequences. She paused. How could she quantify the potential damage? How could she explain the ripple effect of a destabilized Karmic Allocation subsystem? She struggled to find the right words. As she wrestled with the report, a klaxon blared through the facility. Red lights flashed, bathing the monitoring center in an ominous glow. Emergency protocols initiated. Zhahingardia froze, her heart pounding in her chest. She glanced at the main display. It was a sea of red. Error messages cascaded across the screen. The system was in meltdown. “What’s happening?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper. Sartorius-zing-arolaS’s face was grim. “The first wave. Displaced souls materializing in incompatible realms.”