Lui's steps carried him into a realm unlike any he had seen before. The air shimmered with a strange luminescence, folding in and out of itself. Platforms of unknown material floated in the void, connected by bridges of light that twisted unpredictably. Time felt fractured—he could see echoes of himself stepping forward and backward simultaneously.
And then, he felt it: a presence.
Powerful. Infinite. Yet not the First Silence. This being radiated authority over its domain, moving in perfect harmony with the world yet completely alien to Lui's understanding.
A voice, deep and resonant, filled his mind: "Who dares step into the edge of creation?"
Lui swallowed hard but stood tall. "I am Lui. I follow the First Silence Before All Concepts. I seek to understand… to witness… to walk."
The presence shifted. A figure formed in the fractal light, humanoid but impossibly tall, with multiple glowing eyes that reflected infinite possibilities. "You are small," it said, "yet you carry a spark of understanding. Few can endure what lies here. The cosmology is not merely to be observed—it must be experienced, challenged, and survived."
Lui's heart pounded. He had already seen worlds born and collapsed, timelines twist and converge, yet this was different. This was a being of authority, a guardian of a threshold that even the First Silence had placed limits upon.
"Why… why are you here?" Lui asked. "Am I not following the path of the Silence?"
The figure's eyes glimmered with infinite reflection. "The First Silence moves and all things follow. But the cosmology is vast. Infinity cannot be fully governed by a single motion. I am the guardian of the edge, the boundary of comprehension. To proceed, you must prove your worth—not in strength, but in understanding, in balance, in perception."
Lui clenched his fists. "I understand. I am ready. Show me the trial."
A ripple ran through the void. The platforms rearranged themselves into a maze of shifting realities, each step presenting illusions, paradoxes, and contradictions. Shadows of worlds that never existed flickered alongside worlds that could not exist. One misstep could trap him in a timeline forever, lost beyond the layers of dimensions.
The guardian's presence echoed in his mind: "To navigate infinity, you must carry infinity within. Only then can you continue along the path of the First Silence."
Lui took a deep breath, feeling the weight of countless worlds pressing upon him. His journey was no longer observation—it was participation, trial, and survival. Each step he took would not only test his mind, but his very existence.
And with that thought, he stepped forward into the labyrinth of infinite possibility, ready to face the first true challenge of the Dreamroot Beyond the Boundless.
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