BEFORE NAFSAN WAS SENT.
BEYOND VOID.
There were beings here that worlds could never have produced.
Beings that had existed beyond stories.
Beyond universes.
Beyond the structures that gave existence meaning.
Among them...
there was a hierarchy.
Not one written into law.
Not one decided by votes.
Not one enforced by kingdoms.
Strength had decided it.
And among everything that existed here...
one being stood above almost all others.
The Second Strongest.
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It had been quiet.
Until a voice reached it.
Not through sound.
Not through distance.
The voice simply arrived.
"Come."
???????? had called.
The Second Strongest opened its eyes.
There was no surprise.
No question.
No refusal.
Unlike someone else who would later receive a similar summons...
the Second Strongest accepted.
And suddenly—
Beyond Void disappeared.
There was no journey.
No movement.
No transition.
One moment, it had been elsewhere.
The next...
it was standing beside a throne.
The Second Strongest looked at it.
The throne was alive.
Not alive in the way flesh lived.
Not alive in the way a soul lived.
It remained intact because something was feeding it.
Fear.
Pure fear.
Fear from somewhere.
Perhaps from many places.
Perhaps from things that did not even understand what they were afraid of.
The throne consumed it.
And the fear kept it alive.
Sitting upon it...
was ????????.
The strongest.
The Second Strongest lowered its head.
It did not kneel because it had been forced.
It had answered the call.
???????? remained silent.
Seconds passed.
Or perhaps time meant nothing here.
Then...
???????? spoke.
"I have a command for you."
The Second Strongest raised its head.
It listened.
???????? gave the command.
And for the first time since arriving...
something changed in the Second Strongest's expression.
It looked toward ????????.
Silence.
Then...
the throne moved.
Fear passed through it like a heartbeat.
THUMP.
The Second Strongest said nothing.
Because somewhere in the future...
another being would be called to this same place.
NAFSAN.
And when that happened...
Nafsan would be sent toward Sirna.
But this...
happened before Nafsan was sent.
Before Reality Door became his objective.
Before the deal.
Before the System.
Before Earth.
Before everything that would follow.
???????? had already made another move.
And the Second Strongest...
had received the command.
But what was it?
What command could ???????? give...
to the second strongest being in Beyond Void...
before sending Nafsan?
THE COMMAND
WHAT WAS THE COMMAND?