There was no beginning.
And yet everything had already begun.
The place that would later be labeled a dimension had no coordinates, no edges, no measurable depth. Space did not stretch there. Time did not flow.
The cause did not require an effect. It was neither void nor fullness, yet it contained both at once.
The Hourons called it: ∞/0
Infinity by nothing.
A paradox that should not exist and yet sustained all existence.
Within ∞/0, nothing was stable, and everything was possible.
This was where the Hourons resided.
They were not gods in the traditional sense.
Hourons designed the frameworks that decided what a universe even meant.
They did not merely create worlds or timelines.
They authored Mega-Omniverses structures so vast that multiverses were nothing more than internal subroutines within them.
Each Houron possessed the capability to generate an entirely independent Mega-Omniverse, complete with its own physics, logic, dimensions, and meta-laws.
Some omniverses were governed by mathematics so complex they collapsed into art. Others were driven by memory, probability, sound, entropy, or concepts that no conscious mind inside them could ever define.
S2006 specialized in recursive realities worlds that folded endlessly into themselves.
D8638 preferred deterministic constructs, where even free will was pre-calculated.
C4920 built omniverses where identity was fluid and consciousness migrated like data packets.
E1117 created silence-based cosmologies places where sound itself was a forbidden variable.
And then there was R1009.
R1009 was not the most powerful among them but R1009 observed.
Where others created, R1009 watched the fabric between creations the stress points, the irregularities, the subtle deviations where existence behaved... strangely.
The Hourons had no limits.
The idea of limitation itself was optional to them.
Yet they still operated under a shared framework.
Because without structure, infinity became meaningless noise.
At the core of ∞/0 existed a state known as the Convergence Hall.
It was not a room in the physical sense.
It had no walls, no ceiling, no floor.
It was a synchronized condition a compression of infinite forms into mutually perceivable presence.
When Hourons entered the Convergence Hall, they did not appear the same way twice.
Some manifested as humanoid silhouettes, others as rotating equations, light lattices, collapsing symbols, or pressure fields that bent cognition itself. Their "forms" were concessions to communication, not true representations.
Today, the Hall was unusually still.
Not because no one was present but because everyone was listening.
R1009 stood at the center of alignment, its presence more sharply defined than usual. Where others allowed their forms to remain abstract, R1009 had chosen clarity.
That choice alone drew attention.
"You continue to generate Mega-Omniverses every cycle," R1009 said.
Its voice did not echo.
It did not travel.
It simply appeared inside every Houron's awareness.
"But none of you are noticing what is happening beneath them."
S2006 adjusted its recursive layers, a sign of mild curiosity.
D8638 slowed its probability churn.
C4920 stabilized its shifting identity states.
"What deviation?" asked D8638.
R1009 expanded its presence.
The Convergence Hall darkened then fractured then reassembled into a projection.
What appeared was not a universe.
Not even a proto-omniverse.
It was a forming place which is Unstable, Incomplete, Vast beyond scale.
Dimensions overlapped without hierarchy.
Time flowed forward, backward, sideways and sometimes not at all.
Physical laws flickered, attempting to anchor themselves but failing.
"This is not a Mega-Omniverse," R1009 stated.
"This is the stage before definition."
C4920 analyzed the projection.
"Its scale exceeds known constructs."
"Correct," R1009 replied.
"This place is not being built by any of us. It is emerging."
Silence rippled across the Hall.
Emergence was rare.
Dangerous.
"Origin?" asked E1117.
R1009 paused not in time, but in intent.
"Unknown."
That word caused measurable distortion.
Unknown meant something the Hourons could not instantly overwrite.
Something that resisted direct authorship.
"What are you proposing?" asked S2006, its voice fractal and layered.
R1009 answered without hesitation.
"Custodianship."
The projection shifted, revealing deeper layers regions where even Houron-level perception blurred.
"You wish to claim it as your Mega-Omniverse?" asked D8638.
"No," R1009 said.
"I wish to enter it."
That response carried weight.
"To enter," C4920 warned, "means compression. Limitation. Identity loss."
"I am aware."
"To enter," E1117 added, "means memory fracture."
"I accept that."
"To enter," S2006 concluded, "means exposure to irreversible termination."
Termination.
Death.
Hourons did not truly die under normal conditions. They dispersed, reassembled, and redefined themselves.
But this place,
This place did not obey normal conditions.
"If you die there," D8638 said, "your access will be severed."
"Yes."
"And the place?" asked C4920.
R1009 looked directly into the projection.
"I have named it," R1009 said.
The Hall reacted.
Naming was an act of authorship.
"Aether."
The word settled into the structure like a seed.
"This place will be called Aether," R1009 continued.
"Because it exists between states. Between meaning and absence."
The senior alignment layer activated.
S2006, D8638, C4920, E1117 and others beyond numeric designation evaluates outcomes not in probabilities, but in consequence density.
"The request is granted," the Convergence declared.
A condition followed.
"If R1009 perishes within Aether," S2006 announced,"custodial access will revert to the collective Hourons."
R1009 acknowledged.
"And upon rebirth," D8638 added,
"once identity reconstruction is complete access will be returned."
Another pause.
"This place belongs to you," C4920 said,
"only while you exist."
R1009 compressed its presence not in fear, not in excitement but on purpose.
"I accept."
The agreement locked.
The projection collapsed, but the name Aether remained etched into ∞/0 itself.
One by one, the Hourons released alignment and expanded back into infinity returning to their creations, their systems, their endless works.
Only R1009 remained.
It observed the direction where Aether continued to form nameless no longer, lawless still.
R1009 understood something the others did not yet articulate.
Aether was not a creation.
It was a trial.
And whatever emerged from within it
would not remain contained.
This was not the beginning of the world.
This was the beginning of Aether, The world which is near to perfection but not perfect.