Cid took a step upward.
There was no "up" in the 0th Layer.
There was no direction at all.
So when he stepped upward
The concept of "direction" spontaneously manifested so it could obey him.
A staircase formed beneath his feet.
Not a real staircase.
A conceptual one.
Built from pure narrative authority.
Forged by the meta-layer itself so Cid could ascend.
Any lesser being would instantly disintegrate simply by looking at this thing.
Cid ignored it.
He climbed.
Across the unreachable distance
in the layer that governs ALL stories, ALL universes, ALL authors
A presence trembled.
This being had no form.
It was pure narrative authority.
The supervisor of creation.
The editor of existence.
The watcher of all fictions.
It only had one purpose:
Observe everything.
Be observed by nothing.
But now…
Cid had noticed it.
And worse
Cid was coming.
Cid climbed a single step.
Entire eras shattered.
Forgotten timelines were resurrected.
Stars in billions of universes froze in place.
A thousand fictional realities rebooted simultaneously.
Because Cid was not:
bound to a cosmology
bound to a story
bound to a meta-layer
bound to a hierarchy
He was dimensionless.
He existed even where meaning couldn't reach.
His foot touched the next conceptual step.
The Meta Watcher screamed as its rules malfunctioned.
H HE CAN'T BE PERCEIVING ME
THERE IS NO FUNCTION FOR THIS
HE IS OUTSIDE THE META LAW.
Cid smirked.
You're loud."
The Meta Watcher's code almost crashed from that alone.
Cid raised his hand.
In that moment, all manipulation abilities within him awakened at once:
Existence Manipulation
He rewrote the layer so it could be climbed.
Nonexistence Manipulation
He erased the restraints that prevented intrusions.
Meta.Manipulation
He rewrote the "story engine" that powered this place.
Abstract Manipulation
He tore apart the idea of "untouchable observer."
Narrative Manipulation
He cut the watcher's monologue in half.
Author Manipulation
He reached into the unseen level above this one.
Paradox Manipulation
He stabilized himself in a place where nothing should be stable.
Logic Manipulation
He shut off the laws that said "You cannot climb higher."
Concept Manipulation
He remade "impossible" into "required."
Cid emerged onto the final step.
A blank white void lay before him:
The Meta Narrative Plane.
Where every story ever told is written.
Codes. Scripts. Rules. Plot threads. Fate chains. Lore engines. Reality equations. All swirling together in an infinite library of creation.
And standing at the center
An impossible silhouette made of phrases and narrative glyphs.
The Meta Watcher trembled.
YYOU CANNOT BE HERE.
THIS PLANE IS FOR AUTHORS, NOT CHARACTERS!"
Cid shrugged.
Then I'll be both."
Reality attempted to crash.
Cid's Paradox Manipulation casually nullified it.
The Meta Watcher summoned:
Irreversible plot rewrite
Absolute character deletion
Meta level conceptual erasure
Timeline detachment
Author lock
Multiversal retcon
Story collapse
Canon rewrite
Lore excision
Narrative bans
Protagonist removal
Story law enforcement
All the highest powers of meta fiction.
Cid blinked.
Everything the watcher created immediately nullified.
It didn't even reach him.
The attacks saw him and self-deleted.
Cid raised a finger.
Stop."
The Meta Watcher froze.
Rewrite."
The Meta Watcher's form shattered.
Cid wasn't attacking.
He simply spoke and the meta layer obeyed.
Scripts from every story gathered around him.
Concepts that ruled infinite realities bowed.
Laws of fiction and non fiction trembled.
Cid absorbed the MetaWatcher.
His form shifted.
He became:
the Architect of Stories
the Editor of Fate
the Sovereign of Concepts
the Author who exists inside and outside all narratives
the Dimensional Zero God
the Meta Omniscient Overbeing
And with this new power, a command flowed from him
Cid spoke, and the meta-plane shook:
From now on…
No layer exists above me."
The staircase vanished.
The metaplane folded into his shadow.
The entire hierarchy became part of him.
Cid stepped forward
into a space where nothing has ever existed.
A space he alone could reach.
A space beyond meta, beyond logic, beyond layers, beyond fiction, beyond being.
The next step of his evolution.