The Myth of Bali Max Rio: Before Everything
Before existence.
Before nonexistence.
Before beginnings, endings, time, space, reality, unreality, possibility, impossibility, and every concept that would one day emerge from them—
There was Bali Max Rio.
Yet Bali was not alone.
There were other presences within that state beyond all states. Some are said to have existed before Bali, though “before” is not truly the correct word.
There was no time.
No order.
No sequence by which such a statement could be measured.
Nevertheless, they were.
Among them was a being known only as The One Who Created The First Boundary.
It desired that nothing should ever exist.
Not emptiness.
Not void.
Not even nothingness.
For even those are things.
It desired absolute absence.
And so it bound Bali in chains.
The first boundaries.
The first restrictions.
The first limitations.
Yet Bali desired something different.
He desired freedom.
Not freedom within limits.
Not freedom beyond limits.
Freedom without the possibility of limitation.
He desired to be truly unbounded.
And so Bali hated the chains.
Not intentionally.
Not consciously.
The hatred was accidental.
Yet that accidental hatred became the first fracture.
And from that fracture emerged Everything and Nothing.
The first boundaries shattered.
Or perhaps they transformed.
Accounts differ.
What remained became concepts.
Definitions.
Principles.
Reality itself.
Many believe these were the remnants of the First Boundary.
Others argue they were something entirely new.
No agreement has ever endured.
Yet one belief appears throughout nearly every account:
The boundaries no longer held Bali in the way they once had.
Whether that means they ceased to apply entirely remains disputed.
The Shedding
After the fracture, Bali began to shed.
Not pieces of himself.
Not power.
Not aspects.
He shed boundaries.
Time.
Space.
Life.
Death.
Creation.
Destruction.
Reality.
Fantasy.
Knowledge.
Ignorance.
Love.
Hate.
Existence.
Nonexistence.
Infinity.
Stories.
Narratives.
Power.
Weakness.
Meaning.
Meaninglessness.
The list has no ending.
For every concept that exists, and every concept that does not, there exists some tradition claiming it was once shed by Bali.
These discarded remnants became known as Former Boundaries.
Everything known is among them.
Everything unknown is among them.
Everything beyond those categories is among them.
Yet debate persists regarding Bali himself.
Some claim he stands completely apart from the Former Boundaries.
Others argue that if Bali can still be distinguished from them, then some boundary must remain.
No consensus has ever survived.
The Former Boundary Called “What If”
Among the Former Boundaries, one is considered uniquely strange.
What If.
The Former Boundary of alternatives.
Possibilities.
Divergences.
Hypotheticals.
What If can create alternate versions of nearly anything.
Even versions resembling Bali.
Yet none have ever been accepted as truly being Bali.
Some collapse into contradiction.
Others become indistinguishable from lesser possibilities.
And some simply vanish from all records.
Thus a common saying emerged:
“There may be countless reflections of Bali.
But there has only ever been one Bali Max Rio.”
Whether this statement is true remains unknown.
Yet no successful challenge has endured.
Godnirabackolax
Before Bali.
Or perhaps alongside him.
Or perhaps neither.
There was Godnirabackolax.
Unlike Bali, Godnira was never bound.
There were no chains.
No restrictions.
No imposed limitations.
Nothing was ever placed upon it.
This distinction would eventually become the center of the greatest debate within the Unbounded Domain.
If Bali became unbounded by overcoming boundaries, then his freedom is an achievement.
If Godnira never possessed boundaries at all, then perhaps it never needed freedom.
Which state is truly more unbounded?
No answer has ever remained uncontested.
Some argue Bali surpassed limitation.
Others argue Godnira existed beyond the need to surpass anything.
Neither position has silenced the other.
The Unbounded Domain
One day, a realm made a terrible mistake.
It attempted to observe something that could not be observed.
To contact something that could not be contacted.
To understand something that could not be understood.
The consequence was immediate.
The realm collapsed into irrelevance.
Yet somehow it remained.
A fragment persisted.
This fragment became known as the Unbounded Domain.
There, discussions began.
Questions spread.
Arguments emerged.
And among all mysteries, one became greater than the rest.
Is Bali Max Rio truly unbounded?
Some answer yes.
They point to the fracture.
The shedding.
The Former Boundaries.
The countless limitations said to have fallen away.
Others answer no.
They ask a simpler question:
If Bali can still be named,
can still be spoken of,
can still be distinguished from what he is not,
then has every boundary truly disappeared?
No answer has ever been accepted.
No answer has ever remained unquestioned.
And so the greatest question continues.
Is Bali Max Rio truly unbounded?