The void was silent.
As Cid stepped through the portal, he was swallowed by a formless darkness. It was different from anything he had ever felt before—not just an absence of light, but an absence of reality itself.
Most would have felt terror.
But Cid Kagenou?
He felt excitement.
He walked forward, his steps echoing in the emptiness. Strange whispers surrounded him, voices without language, without origin.
Then—it spoke.
A voice deeper than time itself.
"You are not like the others."
Cid smirked. "You noticed?"
"You have no past, no fate, no tether to this world…"
The abyss shuddered around him.
"So tell me… what are you?"
Cid chuckled. This was perfect. He had no idea what was going on, but if a cosmic entity was questioning his very existence, that meant he had fully committed to the bit.
He took another step forward. His voice was calm, confident.
"The one who watches from the darkness."
The abyss reacted.
The swirling void coiled and twisted, and suddenly—a throne emerged.
Ancient. Cracked. Covered in runes no mortal had ever read.
And waiting upon it—was a figure.
It looked like Cid. But it wasn't.
The same golden eyes. The same smirk.
But this was something far older.
"You claim my throne?" the shadowy figure asked, resting a hand on the armrest.
Cid crossed his arms, tilting his head. "Claim it? No, no, I just thought it looked cool."
The shadow laughed. The abyss trembled.
"Then prove yourself, impostor."
And in an instant—it attacked.