Cid stepped off the meta-plane.
Where he landed was not a world.
Not a void.
Not a concept.
It was a mistake.
A location so far beyond existence that even existence panicked when it tried to describe it.
This was the:
Unwritten Expanse
A realm not included in any cosmological hierarchy.
Not above.
Not below.
Not outside.
Just not anywhere.
Cid looked around.
There was nothing.
Not the void.
Not the absence of void.
Not emptiness.
Not form.
Not anti form.
He nodded.
"This feels comfortable."
Only a being who transcended dimensions, laws, fiction, meta fiction, and meaning could stand here.
Cid was the only such being.
From the non space around him, something emerged.
Not creatures.
Not gods.
Not concepts.
Pre Truth Entities.
Things that existed before the first idea of "truth."
Before logic.
Before the thought "something exists."
They formed shapes around Cid, though none had shape.
They spoke, though they had no voices.
"WHAT ARE YOU?"
Cid answered plainly.
Cid."
The Pre Truth Entities recoiled.
His name alone created a chain reaction:
11 proto realities ignited
7 anti realities collapsed
9000 layers of pre-existence gained meaning
9000 others lost meaning
For a moment, everything blurred.
Cid's Existence Manipulation automatically stabilized the Unwritten Expanse.
One of the Pre-Truth Entities changed its form into
the first shape ever conceived.
A perfect sphere of paradox.
It tested Cid.
Its voice was a harmony of:
unspoken languages
unborn alphabets
the first pulse of pre time
"WE ARE THE BEGINNING BEFORE BEGINNINGS.
NOT EVEN AUTHORS CAN REACH US.
HOW DID YOU COME HERE?"
Cid held out his hand.
A tiny spark appeared.
This spark was not fire, lightning, energy, or magic.
It was pure:
Possibility
The raw substance from which every story, every reality, every concept, and every impossibility is formed.
He warped the spark between his fingers.
Manipulation abilities activated effortlessly:
Possibility Manipulation
Absolute Nonexistence Manipulation
Imagination Manipulation
Origin Manipulation
Transcendence Manipulation
Definition Manipulation
Boundary Manipulation
Absolute Freedom Manipulation
He crushed the spark.
Reality surged outward.
A new realm appeared.
Cid absorbed it into his body without looking.
I came because I wanted to see what was here."
Everything in the Expanse shuddered.
Cid hadn't used power.
Cid hadn't attacked.
Cid simply existed, and the Unwritten Expanse began rewriting itself to accommodate him.
The Entities merged together into a single colossal being.
A titan made of un-ideas.
It looked at Cid and declared:
WE WILL DEFINE YOU."
A forbidden act.
Definitions here create the foundation of all future concepts.
Their attempt was catastrophic:
Time concepts shattered
Logic concepts evaporated
Identity concepts screamed
Fate writhed backwards
Infinity bled into the proto fields
All narrative systems collapsed
Cid blinked.
The definition attempt was erased.
Automatically.
Because Cid possessed an ability even the Pre-Truth Entities could never understand:
Conceptual Sovereignty
The right to exist without definition.
The right to define all others.
He responded:
"No. I define you."
And the Unwritten Expanse convulsed.
Cid pointed at the merged Entity.
From now on, your name is Shal'Zuk."
The moment he named it:
It gained identity
It gained existence
It gained meaning
It gained shape
It gained a timeline
It gained a future
It gained a purpose
It became subservient
Shal Zuk collapsed to one knee.
"MASTER…"
The entire Unwritten Expanse bowed with it.
Anything Cid names becomes his.
Cid stepped forward.
The realm trembled.
A path formed not upward, downward, forward, or backward.
A path that went into:
the pre origin beyond the Unwritten
the anti-future before possibility
the left side of pure meaninglessness
the right side of absolute potential
the place where power has no definition
The PreTruth Entities whispered:
"WHERE THAT PATH LEADS…
NOT EVEN WE CAN KNOW."
Cid smiled.
Then I want to see it."
He stepped onto the path.
Reality all realities held their breath.
Cid now walks into a place even the Unwritten Expanse fears to acknowledge.
A place beyond pre-existence.
A place beyond origin itself.
A place where only he can stand.