The Roil

CONCEPT
The Universe is finite. It is cosmically vast, to be sure, but it does have an edge, an endpoint beyond which reality as we know it ceases to exist. Beyond that edge is the Roil, a truly infinite expanse of raw, energetic potential. What we think of as the Big Bang is actually more like a Tiny Hollowing within the Roil; our unfathomably huge Universe is merely a microscopic bubble formed within the Roil.
 
Bubbles like these exist everywhere within Roil, an effervescence of creation, where fragments of that cosmic potential briefly solidify into a set form of reality before crumbling back into non-existence. In the Roil, these Reality Bubbles last for a comparative instant; within them, eons upon eons pass for as the Universe within forms, evolves, and eventually dies.
 
The Roil exists in countless dimensions. While it is technically possible to travel to it via reaching the edge of the universe, this is impractical for numerous reasons. However, any one can reach the Roil from any physical point within a Universe via dimensional travel. Indeed, with the proper protections, it is possible to use the Roil as a medium by which to access other Universes entirely, as well as different points within a single Universe.
 
This is the secret of hyperspace travel, time travel, pocket dimensions, alternate timelines, and other such deviations from the standard reality.
 
The Roil is also the secret behind the reality breaking powers of superhumans, magic, and breaker technology. The Roil being a realm of pure potential, it is capable of rewriting existence as we know it. By channeling the energies of the Roil, one can perform impossible feats. Civilizations that manage to achieve reliable access to the Roil have the capacity to effect God-like change in the Universe.

SalQuest, Draft One, Concluded

Author’s Note: My intention was always to go back and do a full re-write of SalQuest if I ever came back to it. However, no matter how many times I turned it over in my head, I could never get things to work out. Instead, I ultimately ended up adding more chapters continuing where I left off from SalQuest: Draft One. 

After trying to hack away at it for about the tenth time in the year and a half since Draft One, I finally decided it was time to put a fork in it, even if it meant resorting to a hackneyed, screech-to-a-dead-stop of an ending. As a story helping me work through my writer’s issues, I think SalQuest, (along with another project I wrote under another pen name), has already served its purpose. Going back to it repeatedly like this, with all the baggage it brings, and the impossible standards I keep foisting on myself with it, well, it isn’t very healthy to keep flaying myself with this whip over and over again.
 
So, fuck it, let’s get this done. I find it’s much easier for me to move on from a project if I am able to put at least some level of “official closure” to it, so for what it’s worth, this story does now have an ending, pure bullshit though it may be.
 
I am condensing all the “continued” posts I had made previously into this one just to minimize clutter, as I am want to do on my websites. For context, the first three chapters of “Arc Two” were posted in April of 2022, and the next two after that in early January of 2023. SalQuest: Draft One, “Arc One” was posted in August of 2021, just to give you an idea of the time gaps that can occur between my writings.
 
As truncated as this story ended up, I hope there was something to enjoy for those who give it a look. I am ultimately glad I tried writing it, even if it didn’t get very far. It’s ultimately for the best I move on, though. (Now let’s see if I can actually mean it this time.)

For those who haven't read the previous parts, this "series" starts with Final Story of Salvador Roberts, and continues with SalQuest.