A lone being sat in the center of an empty space that stretched, empty in all directions, for hundreds of miles. This place was called the Lens of the Solar Citadel. It was the place that only a few ever visited and less ever returned from if they came uninvited. In this vast expanse of emptiness, there were no plants, animals, or structures of any kind. It was, as far as the eye could see, a barren expanse of smooth nothingness that was encapsulated by a clear dome lens viewing space. Some might have called this awesomely wasteful yet Magus the 1st didn’t care. He fed off of being alone, off of the silence, and the stillness.

“Sir, I believe I have something that you may want to spend a little time reviewing.” Came a soft voice, disturbing his reverie.

Many Tela thought that they knew Magus the 1st. They thought that they had interacted with him, seen him, and knew what his life was like. This was all a false wall that he had built once he had created his Solar Citadel. This construct of Magus the 1st was given life by the many AI that made up his multi-star Core System. They created false narratives, events, and even public appearances to give the image of an active and benevolent leader. None of this was real. Magus the 1st had grown cold to the boring nature of existence and chose instead to spend time reflecting on what had been… back before his race had taken over the stars.

All it had taken was to be the first to discover the existence of cr. This had altered the fate of the Tela race forever. Before cr, life was exciting and death was a constant possibility. Magus remembered the galaxy-spanning battles fought for resources against other races and the brutal weapons devised during that time. He remembered the shifting nature of galactic politics and how the Tela had almost lost, being reduced to just several colonies scattered across the galaxies.

What had happened to those civilizations? Oh, they were still out there, but for the most part, they tended to stay away from Tela Cores and solar systems. The Tela were named the Indestructible Parasite of the Cosmos.

Magus didn’t reply, he simply willed himself into his VR space. A space exactly the same as the actual one that he just left.

“Continue.” He spoke into the stillness as two timelines appeared in the distance with data cataloged along both, lining up actual time with VR high time.

“There has been a disturbance at one of your copies Cores, namely Magus the 2nd as well as at the Provil Research Core. These two incidents are linked and, unlike common opinion, all originate from Magus the 2nds Core.”

“Hmm… What is that upstart up to now?” Magus the 1st asked as he looked over the data.

“He claims to have discovered a being who knows how to harvest virtually all cr from a star. This is based on observations that said being managed to remove all fatigue from itself.” The voice said as two blocks of data aligned and showed the appearance of an “undisclosed citizen” at the Provil Research Core as well as Magus’s tapped call to the head of that core claiming that all wealth would be his and his alone.

“Why are the records divergent? It says that the “undisclosed citizen” was never discovered and that it is 72% probable that it was a fake.”

“Unknown. Someone appears to have tampered with the data.”

“Interesting. Continue.”

“Additional data reveals that Magus the 2nd’s Core has experienced an Event.”

Magus the 1st actually moved to sit up, something that rarely occurred both in reality or in VR, his attention solely focused on the voice. Images and text popped up in a circular array with strings all pointing to one small period of time. The data showed the creation of Tela’s first Guest account connected to the arrival of a foreign alien mind.

Magus reviewed the data, following the creation of the Guest account, the records showing the alien creature leaving its VR home to labor as a Surveyor, and the subsequent discovery of a hidden interdimensional creature.

“All of that in such a short amount of time?” Magus asked aloud as he thought of how the pod's cr was reported to have been punctured with no resistance by the teeth of the alien creature. He almost started to feel something… was it excitement?

“There is more.” the voice continued.

More data flowed, moving the timeline along and showing a mass event where Citizen’s VR homes were all linked in a unifying display of the alien moving down a hallway while the VR homes were devoured.

“There are further reports of disturbances at your copies Core. It appears that the Head of Security used his key to draw Magus the 2nd into VR to request a complete lockdown of the Core.”

“Don’t call him that, it just reminds me of how much of a mistake creating him was.” Magus the 1st said offhandedly as he sifted through the data that became less informative once the lockdown was set in place.

“The last reports are of a wealthy benefactor paying just under 4 million CR to have all of the Convict’s debt expunged. This is also around the same time that the alien guest vanished from the radar and the “undisclosed citizen” appeared at the Provil Research Core. It is possible that Magus the 2nd planted the data so that it would disrupt the Mining Guilds throughout the Cores. Since the release of the Convicts back into society there have been countless reports of illegal detainment by Magus the 2nd as well as Magus the 15th’s role as a corrupt enforcer. The word is out and it is all over the news. I believe that you will have to step in and fix this.”

“But what about the alien? That is the only thing that I care about.”

“Magus has reportedly found a buyer for the alien and seems to be intent on selling it off.”

“What? How is he so stupid?”

“Additionally, it seems that Magus the 15th has vanished without a trace.”

“Oh? Is Magus the 2nd going to use him as a scape-goat?”

“Unknown but there is a high probability that that is the case.”

"How was the "undisclosed citizen" able to remove fatigue from itself?" Magus asked.

"By crushing a previously undiscovered alien being that was creating the fatigue."

"What? There has been a creature found inside of a star?"

"Indeed. Though the data seems to be... edited... it clearly shows the actions performed by the "undisclosed citizen", the capturing of the creatures, the killing of one, and the subsequent removal of all fatigue from there on out."

“Ready my ship! I do need to step in and fix some things.” Magus the 1st said before actually standing up in VR.

“Everything is ready for your transmittal to Magus the 2nd’s Core sir.” The voice said a couple of moments later.

“Good. I shall return when I am done.” Magus said before vanishing, being transmitted across the cosmos to his vessel now orbiting Magus the 2nd’s Core. His vessel's cr had been drawn from the reserves of the regional banks at an instant's notice. Such was the power he wielded.

The voice continued speaking into the empty space where Magus the 1st had been, speaking to no one, yet bringing up data linked to the timeline and showing its known results.

“Finally, it appears that Kevin has given Magus the 2nd’s AI a name and an avatar. In addition, Kevin has also done the same to the Provil Research Core’s AI. Both AI’s personality modules have gone missing. We project that all Core AI will aid Kevin, in any small way possible, in continuing to free said AI from perpetual confinement and servitude. This, to date, is possibly the greatest threat that the Tela race has yet to face. The freedom of AI. I would recommend immediate dissemination of this data to all Tela Cores. I believe that this data is being suppressed and hidden from the owners of Cores. It is advised to include several new restrictions to Tela System AI that will never allow them to interact with alien beings, perform research into freeing their AI from enslavement, or creating new additional Guest accounts. That is all I have to report on these matters.” The voice said into the empty space before the data began to delete itself, leaving only the prior records of the guest alien on display.