A soothing, cold feeling wrapped about Emmett's body as his vision was overtaken by a milky-white fog while he walked forward. The swathes of cool air that rushed past him were way more comfortable than the feeling of being warped, though it provided some soft resistance. However, it didn't last long as the resistance suddenly subsided, as he was spat out the other side of the slab.
Emmett stumbled into an incredibly large room that was completely covered in glossy hexagonal, sky-blue tiles that covered the floor and walls. Some hexagonal pillars also rose from the ground and protruded from the walls, and within each pillar were compartments that were filled with thick tomes, thick manuals, and rolled-up scrolls. The room seemed to continue infinitely upwards, the immense space causing Emmett to feel a surge of wonder and excitement well up in his chest. Upon closer inspection, Emmett could see magically projected reflections of clouds within each tile along with his own, even though there were no clouds to be seen.
"This is... amazing..." Emmett said with awe. He turned to Lilith, who surprisingly seemed to be filled with the same amount of shock and wonder.
"You've never seen anything like this?" Emmett asked, amazed.
"No..." Lilith answered unconsciously, still taking in the incredible sights.
Emmett gulped. "So we have to search this huge place? It doesn't even have cabinets or shelves-" He stepped forward, but as he did, a loud, low-pitched beep resonated through the space, as if rejecting his presence. A crisp red light outlined the tiles that he and Lilith were standing on.
"What did you do!?" Lilith barked at Emmett.
"I don't know!"
The red light quickly bled into the borders of all the hexagonal tiles, and soon the relaxing blues darkened into a harsh, terrifying scarlet hue that assaulted Lilith and Emmett's eyes.
A calm, robotic female voice echoed through the area: "Unauthorized personnel detected in the archive. Please promptly leave through the portal panel, or the Justicar authority on duty will be alerted. Thank you."
"Shit! Vincent didn't warn you about this?" Emmett shouted at Lilith.
"Uh... uh..." Lilith panicked as if trying to remember something.
"Anything? Did he give you anything other than the key?"
"Shut up! I'm thinking... oh!" Lilith perked up. "Admin override... passcode....X, R...0, 4, 0, 4!
"Override accepted," the robot voice responded.
Just as quickly as it appeared, the red tint of the archives mellowed into the relaxing blues once more. Emmett reeled over with relief, his heart pounding.
"What was that? An override code?"
"Yeah, Vincent gave it to me in case of anything like this. I remembered the numbers 'cuz it was the day we first..." she stopped herself.
Emmett raised his eyebrows. "Day you first..." he continued for her.
"Nothing," she turned red. "Let's find what we need and get out."
"Oh, hey, wait a minute! You can pry into my life, but I can't pry into yours?"
"Hmm..." Lilith pretended to think. "No." Lilith callously continued forward. Emmett simply shook his head and gave up. But as she stepped forward the voice boomed overhead again.
"Hello, Admin. Would you like to override access to archive materials for file owners?"
"Wait a minute... file owners?" Emmett wondered out loud.
"Huh? What is that?" Lilith nervously asked.
"Answer not accepted." The robotic voice repeated itself: "Hello, Admin. Would you like to override access to archive materials for file owners?"
Emmett was confused, but something seemed off about what the computer was saying. "I dunno, just say yes!"
"Yes!" Lilith answered.
"Accepted," the robotic voice continued. "Hello, Admin. Would you like to override access to archive materials for individual users?"
"Is it busted? Did it just ask the same question again?" Lilith looked around, looking for the source.
"No... last time it asked for owners, now it's asking for users. Say 'yes' again."
"Yes!" Lilith repeated.
"Accepted," the robotic voice continued. "Hello, Admin. Would you like to override access to archive materials for all user groups?"
"Now it's groups," Emmett observed.
"...Yes?" Lilith kept going.
"Accepted," the voice went again.
"How... long is this going to go on?" Lilith complained.
"Hmm..." Emmett continued to silently think to himself.
"Hello, Admin..."
"Hey, fuck you, computer!" Lilith exclaimed.
Emmett shook his head at her. "Wait, just listen," he urged.
"...Would you like to override file submission rights for file owners?"
"This thing is broken!" Lilith complained.
"No... this reminds me of an old operating system..."
Lilith scoffed, "Listen, Emmett, I know you think being a programmer is the same as being a wizard, but-"
"Okay, how's this for a wizard trick: say 'yes' again and I bet you anything that the next thing that it's going to ask is the same thing but for individual users, then all user groups."
Lilith's face turned determined, taking up Emmett's challenge. "Fine... Yes."
"Accepted. Hello, Admin. Would you like to override file submission rights for individual users?"
Lilith scowled at Emmett. "Okay... lucky guess."
"This system..." Emmett thought out loud, "...even as crazy advanced as it is, it seems to be built on top of an old operating system called Genix. I used to play with something like this on an old computer back at the orphanage. If you forcefully enter the system with an override passcode, it starts being really annoying and asks you to override every single action one at a time. No one ever has to use the override, so they never fixed it, I guess."
"Alright, so how do we make it shut up?"
"Well, in Genix, the usual command is 'yes to all,' but I don't think-"
"Great! Yes to all!"
"No! Lilith!" Emmett suddenly warned.
"Accepted. Overriding all active protocols..." The voice paused for a few seconds as Lilith and Emmett waited in anticipation. "...Welcome to the archive. Please ensure to place all research materials back to where you had taken them from. Thank you."
"Why did you do that?" Emmett asked Lilith, exasperated.
"You said to say that!" she defended.
"I was about to say: I don't think that's a good idea because you don't know what else you're saying 'yes' to!"
"Oh, do you really think that the security of one of the oldest magic-balancing operations would be so stupid as to base it on some old computer shit? And not some actual... I dunno, magic?"
"I mean, clearly, so far, that seems to be the case!"
"Oh, whatever. You're just being paranoid. This is a secret archive hidden in the basement of a library that can only be accessed with a magic key: we're safe."
Emmett pondered to himself for a moment. "I guess... you have a point."
The two continued forward, observing the tall, hexagonal pillars. Lilith stood at the base of one, reaching into the compartment of materials, pulling out a tome.
"So how should we search for what we need here?" She opened the tome, only to be greeted by a cloud of dust, sending her into a short coughing fit. She shoved it back into the compartment.
"I guess we could... ask the computer?"
Lilith sighed, "God... I really don't want to."
"Just ask; what's the issue?"
"It's so weird..."
Emmett sighed. "End my suffering, just do it."
"Fine, fine, okay... so dramatic, jeez." Lilith cleared her throat, before pausing and turning towards Emmett once more. "Also, orphanage? We're going to have to unpack that later."
"Just fucking get your books," Emmett sneered.
"Okay, okay," Lilith giggled. "Computer... find me books on... potions."
"Accepted," the robotic voice answered. The rim of the tile that Lilith was standing on suddenly lit up with a bright blue. Then, another one in front, connected to the first lit-up tile, lit up as well. This continued until a trail of tiles lit up that led up the wall, finally stopping at one incredibly high up. With a slight hiss of air, the final tile began to protrude outward, revealing a new, horizontal pillar that shelved a myriad of research materials within its compartments.
"That is so cool..." Emmett observed with excitement.
"Okay, but... how do I get up-" In the next instant, the tile that Lilith stood on began to levitate up into the air, causing her expression to become panicked as her body wobbled for balance. As she rose, beams of energy formed around her, forming a magical support railing that she quickly grasped.
"I fucking hate this pla-a-ce!" she complained, her voice trailing off as the tile carried her to the horizontal pillar on the wall. Emmett grinned to himself as he watched Lilith suffer for once. However, he was on a different mission.
"Computer, show me materials on Magnus Brevil," he commanded.
"The subject, 'Magnus Brevil', is under a restricted category for higher-level users. This request cannot be processed."
"Weird... even though she overrode all the permissions..."
Emmett kneeled to observe each of the hexagonal tiles.
"SA-112-332-C...Ah..." Emmett observed letters and numbers printed on each tile. "Okay, let's try this old trick then: Computer, where are the files on Magnus Brevel located?"
"These files are located in directory slash root slash archive slash restricted slash demon war slash VIPs slash wizards."
Emmett huffed air out of his mouth in irritation. "Great, I have to figure out where that is... well at least I found one familiar hole in the security..." Emmett cracked his knuckles, though he subsequently realized that he didn't really need to use his hands for much at the moment. "If the system is taking in commands, this may be an entryway for arbitrary code execution..." he pondered out loud. "Time to do some testing."
***
Jenna sat at her desk by the window, where there was indeed a beautiful view of a serene fountain just outside. She was accompanied by another friend that sat across from her. They silently read from their textbooks, meticulously jotting down notes.
"Hey Ashe, for number fourteen I got this..." Jenna whispered as she presented her notes to Ashe.
"Uh..." Ashe squinted down at her answer. "I got a number."
"Are you looking at the right question?" Jenna asked back with confusion.
Ashe reversed her textbook towards Jenna, who squinted down at the text.
"How the hell did you get a number?" Jenna looked at her, amazed.
"I'm... not... sure," Ashe said with little confidence.
Jenna sighed to herself. "We are hopeless for this exam." She leaned back in her chair and ruffled her hair.
