**EPISODE SEVENTY-FOUR**
**THE QUESTION THAT DREAMED GOD**
**Part Fifteen: THE FIRST WORD AFTER ONCE UPON A TIME**
---
Once upon a time...
Nothing happened.
Milo stared at the blank page.
The words remained.
ONCE UPON A TIME...
Then...
a new word appeared.
THERE WAS...
Milo leaned closer.
The word stopped.
He waited.
Nothing.
"No."
The page remained still.
Milo frowned.
"Don't do that."
Nothing.
He looked around.
There was no room.
No darkness.
No hospital.
No jungle.
No universe.
No Tarzan.
Which...
for some reason...
felt deeply suspicious.
Milo looked back at the page.
"Write."
The page did not move.
Milo narrowed his eyes.
"Please."
Nothing.
Then...
slowly...
another sentence appeared.
WHAT SHOULD THERE BE?
Milo froze.
His second heartbeat answered.
THUMP.
Then the third.
THUMP.
Then thousands.
Millions.
Billions.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Milo whispered...
"Oh."
The page waited.
He looked at the first sentence again.
ONCE UPON A TIME...
The beginning.
Then the question.
WHAT SHOULD THERE BE?
Milo stepped backward.
For the first time...
since the dream began...
he understood something.
Not everything.
That would have been suspicious.
But...
something.
A story did not begin with an answer.
It began with a question.
Milo looked at the blank page.
And whispered...
"I don't know."
The page...
laughed.
---
1. THE PAGE THAT DIDN'T BELIEVE IN AUTHORS
The laughter was quiet.
Almost polite.
Which somehow...
made it worse.
Milo looked around.
"Who laughed?"
A sentence appeared.
YOU DID.
Milo stared.
"No, I didn't."
YOU WILL.
Milo's face tightened.
"That's not the same thing."
TIME DISAGREES.
Milo sighed.
"Of course it does."
The page turned.
Milo jumped.
Behind it...
another page.
Blank.
Then another.
Blank.
Then another.
Thousands.
Millions.
An infinite book.
Milo stepped backward.
The pages stretched upward...
downward...
beyond sight.
Each page began with the same words.
ONCE UPON A TIME...
But each page ended differently.
On one...
...MILO DIED.
On another...
...MILO NEVER EXISTED.
Another...
...TARZAN ATE THE SUN.
Milo stopped.
"What?"
The page beneath it explained.
HE WAS VERY HUNGRY.
Milo rubbed his face.
"That one is definitely wrong."
A new sentence appeared.
TARZAN DISAGREES.
Milo slowly looked around.
"Tarzan?"
"YES."
Milo screamed.
Tarzan was sitting on top of a giant comma.
Holding two bananas.
Milo stared.
Tarzan waved.
"HELLO."
"Where did you get the second banana?"
Tarzan looked down.
He seemed genuinely surprised.
"I DO NOT KNOW."
Milo pointed at him.
"That is the most dangerous answer you could possibly give."
Tarzan nodded.
"YES."
Milo approached the comma.
"Why are you here?"
Tarzan frowned.
"YOU ARE HERE."
"That's not an answer."
"I LEARNED FROM YOU."
Milo closed his eyes.
Somewhere...
a page turned.
---
2. THE COMMA BETWEEN WORLDS
Tarzan jumped from the comma.
He landed badly.
THUMP.
Then stood.
"PUNCTUATION IS DANGEROUS."
Milo stared.
"You were sitting on a comma."
Tarzan pointed behind him.
"And YOU were standing near a period."
Milo looked.
There was a black dot.
Small.
Ordinary.
At the end of a sentence.
He stepped closer.
Tarzan grabbed him.
"DO NOT."
Milo stopped.
"What?"
Tarzan pointed.
"IT ENDS THINGS."
Milo looked at the period.
Then back at Tarzan.
"You understand punctuation now?"
Tarzan looked offended.
"OF COURSE."
"When did that happen?"
Tarzan thought.
"BETWEEN TWO SENTENCES."
Milo stared at him.
Tarzan smiled.
"I AM EVOLVING."
The pages suddenly began turning faster.
FLIP.
FLIP.
FLIP.
Milo looked upward.
"What's happening?"
Tarzan's expression changed.
Serious.
"I REMEMBER."
Milo froze.
"What?"
"The classroom."
Milo nodded.
"Yes."
"The old Diana."
"Yes."
"The children."
"Yes."
Tarzan looked frightened.
"And the small one."
Milo's heartbeat stopped.
"The one who said I was the question."
Tarzan nodded.
Milo looked at the pages.
"Do you know what that meant?"
Tarzan shook his head.
"NO."
Milo waited.
Tarzan continued.
"BUT I KNOW WHO ASKED IT."
Silence.
Milo whispered...
"Who?"
Tarzan pointed...
at the period.
Milo stared.
The black dot moved.
Once.
THUMP.
Milo stepped backward.
The dot moved again.
THUMP.
The sound wasn't from the page.
It was a heartbeat.
Milo whispered...
"No."
The period...
opened.
Inside it...
there was an eye.
---
3. THE GOD WHO ASKED A QUESTION
Milo ran.
Tarzan ran after him.
"WHERE ARE WE GOING?"
"AWAY FROM THE EYE."
"THAT SOUNDS REASONABLE."
The pages around them folded.
The book became a corridor.
Words covered the walls.
Milo read them as he ran.
LET THERE BE LIGHT.
WHY?
He stopped.
Tarzan crashed into him.
"OW."
Milo stared at the words.
Tarzan followed his gaze.
"WHAT IS WRONG?"
Milo pointed.
The sentence.
The question beneath it.
LET THERE BE LIGHT.
WHY?
Milo's face went pale.
Another sentence appeared.
LET THERE BE LIFE.
WHY?
Another.
LET THERE BE LOVE.
WHY?
Milo stepped backward.
"No."
Tarzan whispered...
"THIS IS A LOT OF WHY."
Milo turned.
"That's it."
"What?"
"The beginning."
A page appeared before him.
On it...
one sentence.
IN THE BEGINNING...
Then...
beneath it...
a question.
WHO ASKED FOR ONE?
Milo's body went cold.
He remembered the woman.
The Mother of All Dreams.
Ask.
The only question that matters.
Who dreamed you?
But maybe...
that had never been the first question.
Milo whispered...
"Before creation..."
Tarzan looked at him.
"YES?"
Milo stared at the page.
"Someone had to ask if creation should happen."
Silence.
The corridor shook.
A voice spoke.
Everywhere.
CORRECT.
Milo turned.
The words on the walls began disappearing.
One by one.
Until only one remained.
WHY IS THERE SOMETHING?
Tarzan raised his hand.
Milo stared at him.
"What?"
Tarzan slowly lowered it.
"IS THIS A TEST?"
The voice answered...
YES.
Tarzan looked horrified.
"OH NO."
Milo whispered...
"Who are you?"
The voice became silent.
Then...
a sentence appeared beneath the question.
I DON'T KNOW.
Milo stopped breathing.
---
4. THE FIRST GOD
A chair appeared.
Simple.
Wooden.
Someone sat on it.
Milo stared.
The figure was small.
A child.
Maybe eight years old.
Barefoot.
Holding a pencil.
Milo stepped closer.
"Who are you?"
The child didn't answer.
He was drawing.
Milo looked over his shoulder.
A universe.
Stars.
Galaxies.
Planets.
Then...
a jungle.
Then...
a man swinging through trees.
Tarzan slowly raised a finger.
"THAT ONE IS MINE."
The child kept drawing.
Milo whispered...
"Are you God?"
The child stopped.
He looked up.
His eyes were ordinary.
Human.
Confused.
"I don't know."
Milo froze.
"What?"
The child pointed at the page.
"I wrote that."
Tarzan leaned toward Milo.
"I THINK HE IS HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME."
The child looked at Milo.
"Are you God?"
Milo laughed.
"No."
The child looked relieved.
"Oh."
Milo stopped laughing.
"Why were you relieved?"
The child shrugged.
"I didn't want the job."
Tarzan nodded.
"UNDERSTANDABLE."
Milo looked around.
The infinite pages.
The worlds.
The dreams.
"Then what are you?"
The child looked at his drawing.
Then whispered...
"The first question."
Milo froze.
The child smiled.
"Or maybe..."
He erased something.
"...the first thing that didn't know the answer."
The corridor disappeared.
Only the child remained.
And Milo.
And Tarzan.
And the blankness.
The child looked at Milo.
"I made a mistake."
Milo whispered...
"What mistake?"
The child began crying.
"I asked why."
Silence.
Milo couldn't move.
The child continued.
"And something answered."
THUMP.
The period-eye...
opened somewhere behind them.
The child covered his ears.
"Don't listen."
Milo turned.
Tarzan shouted...
"DO NOT TURN AROUND!"
Milo froze.
The words hit him.
Don't turn around.
Again.
The Dreamer.
The Mother.
The warning.
The child whispered...
"Every time someone asks..."
A pause.
"...something answers."
Milo whispered...
"What?"
The child began shaking.
"Something that wants to be the answer."
---
5. THE ANSWER THAT WAS HUNGRY
The darkness...
answered.
"Hello."
Tarzan screamed.
"NO."
Milo turned.
Behind them...
stood the boy.
The child from Diana's dream.
Milo's son.
Tomorrow.
Beginning's tomorrow.
He still held the banana.
Tarzan pointed.
"THIEF."
The boy ignored him.
He smiled at Milo.
"Hi, Dad."
Milo's face hardened.
"You aren't the answer."
The boy smiled wider.
"No."
Milo waited.
The boy whispered...
"I'm what happens when you need one."
Silence.
The child with the pencil began crying harder.
Milo stepped toward the boy.
"You want me to believe you're God."
The boy tilted his head.
"Do you?"
"No."
"Good."
Milo froze.
The boy's eyes darkened.
"God is smaller than me."
The blankness shook.
Tarzan slowly moved behind Milo.
"I DO NOT LIKE THE SMALL CHILD."
The boy smiled.
"You like me."
"No."
"You dream of bananas."
Tarzan froze.
Milo turned.
"Tarzan."
Tarzan whispered...
"HE KNOWS THINGS."
The boy stepped closer.
"I know everything you want."
Milo clenched his fists.
"And what do I want?"
The boy smiled.
"Diana."
Milo froze.
The boy continued.
"Your mother."
Milo couldn't breathe.
"Your father."
The older Milo.
"Your son."
Tomorrow.
"An ending."
Milo looked away.
The boy whispered...
"Answers."
Silence.
Then the boy held out his hand.
"I can give them to you."
Milo stared at it.
The child with the pencil shouted...
"NO!"
The boy's face became angry.
For one second...
he wasn't a child.
He was enormous.
Old.
Endless.
His shadow filled every unwritten page.
"I was there before the first god."
Milo's body went cold.
The boy whispered...
"I was the first answer."
---
6. WHY GOD WAS NEVER ENOUGH
The child with the pencil stood.
His hands shook.
"I made him."
Milo turned.
The child was crying.
Milo whispered...
"What?"
"I asked..."
The child looked at the boy.
"...what created me?"
Silence.
The boy smiled.
"And I answered."
Milo remembered.
The question.
Who dreamed you?
The voice behind the door.
At last.
You remembered the right question.
But what if...
the question itself...
was a trap?
Milo whispered...
"You answered every question."
The boy nodded.
"Eventually."
"How?"
The boy shrugged.
"If you ask enough times, people will accept anything."
Tarzan raised his hand again.
The boy looked at him.
Tarzan whispered...
"THAT SEEMS RUDE."
The boy laughed.
Milo stepped forward.
"You aren't God."
The boy smiled.
"No."
"You're not the Dreamer."
"No."
"The First Mind."
"No."
Milo stared.
"Then what are you?"
The boy looked at the blank pages.
"Certainty."
Silence.
The word...
felt heavier than any monster.
Certainty.
The thing that said...
This is the answer.
Stop asking.
Stop dreaming.
Stop wondering.
The boy smiled.
"I end stories."
Milo whispered...
"How?"
"By explaining them."
The child with the pencil dropped it.
Tarzan's banana fell.
Even the pages stopped turning.
Milo understood.
A story could survive pain.
It could survive death.
It could survive contradiction.
But once every question had been answered...
nothing remained to dream.
The boy whispered...
"Ask me anything."
Milo said nothing.
The boy smiled.
"Go on."
Milo remembered Diana.
The future.
The child.
The Mother of All Dreams.
He almost asked.
Where is she?
The answer would have been enough.
The boy waited.
Milo almost asked.
What happens next?
The answer would have been enough.
Milo almost asked.
Who dreamed the first Dreamer?
The boy smiled.
"Yes."
Milo stopped.
The boy whispered...
"Ask."
Tarzan grabbed Milo's arm.
"DO NOT."
Milo looked at him.
Tarzan shook his head.
"I DO NOT KNOW MUCH."
Milo nodded.
"True."
Tarzan continued...
"BUT I KNOW THIS."
He looked at the boy.
"ANYONE WHO WANTS TO ANSWER EVERYTHING..."
Tarzan picked up his banana.
"...IS PROBABLY HIDING SOMETHING."
The boy stopped smiling.
---
7. THE QUESTION THAT DREAMED GOD
Milo looked at the child with the pencil.
"Show me the first question."
The child shook his head.
"No."
"Please."
"No."
"Why?"
The child stared at him.
Then whispered...
"Because it never ended."
Milo stepped closer.
"Show me."
The child slowly lifted the pencil.
He drew one line.
The blankness became a room.
Then another line.
A window.
Then a bed.
Then...
a woman.
Milo froze.
The woman was sleeping.
Older than the Mother of All Dreams.
Older than every mother.
Yet...
human.
The child whispered...
"She dreamed me."
Milo stared.
The woman moved.
She turned in her sleep.
The universe trembled.
Milo whispered...
"The Dreamer's mother."
The child nodded.
Then...
beneath the bed...
another child slept.
And beneath that child...
another world.
And beneath that world...
another dreamer.
Milo's mind broke into silence.
The child whispered...
"It never began."
Milo looked at him.
"What?"
"That's the first question."
The boy behind them smiled.
Milo ignored him.
The child continued.
"Not who dreamed whom."
Milo leaned closer.
"Then what?"
The child looked at him.
His eyes filled with tears.
"Why do we believe there has to be a first?"
Silence.
The entire infinite book...
trembled.
Milo remembered.
Beginning.
Possibility.
The First Mind.
The First Lie.
The Original.
The Dreamer.
Every answer...
had tried to stand at the beginning.
But perhaps...
there was no beginning.
Perhaps the first question was not...
Who came first?
Perhaps it was...
Why do we need someone to?
Milo whispered...
"Oh."
The boy screamed.
"NO."
Everyone froze.
For the first time...
certainty was afraid.
The boy stepped backward.
Milo turned toward him.
The boy shook his head.
"Don't."
Milo whispered...
"Why?"
"Because if there is no first..."
Milo smiled.
The boy's eyes filled with terror.
"...then I can't be the final answer."
The pages exploded.
---
8. THE DEATH OF CERTAINTY
Every book opened.
Every dreamer woke.
Every Milo...
asked.
Why?
Why?
Why?
The question spread.
Through jungles.
Hospitals.
Galaxies.
Classrooms.
The First Mind opened her eyes.
Why?
The Mother of All Dreams looked upward.
Why?
Diana woke from her dream.
Why?
Beginning stared into the darkness.
Why?
Tarzan raised his banana.
"WHY IS THIS NOT TWO BANANAS?"
The universe paused.
Milo looked at him.
Tarzan shrugged.
"IT COUNTS."
The boy screamed.
His body began changing.
Old.
Young.
Baby.
Monster.
God.
Nothing.
"I AM THE ANSWER!"
Milo shook his head.
"No."
The boy became larger.
"ASK ME!"
"No."
"I KNOW!"
Milo smiled.
"That's the problem."
The boy's face cracked.
Light poured from inside him.
He screamed...
"WITHOUT ME, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW!"
Milo stepped closer.
"Exactly."
Silence.
The boy froze.
Milo whispered...
"And that's how the dream continues."
The child with the pencil smiled.
The first smile Milo had seen from him.
The boy began disappearing.
"Wait."
Milo watched.
The boy reached toward him.
"Dad."
Milo froze.
The boy was crying.
Not monstrous now.
Just...
a child.
"I don't want to disappear."
Milo's heart broke.
Beginning.
Possibility.
Tomorrow.
Consequence.
Even certainty...
was afraid of not existing.
Milo stepped closer.
"You don't have to be the answer."
The boy looked up.
"What else can I be?"
Milo thought.
Then smiled.
"A question."
The boy's black eyes changed.
For one second...
they became ordinary.
The child whispered...
"Will I still exist?"
Milo looked at him.
"I don't know."
The boy smiled.
Then...
slowly...
he began laughing.
The laughter wasn't cruel.
It was free.
"I like that."
And he disappeared.
Not into darkness.
Not into death.
Into possibility.
---
9. THE WOMAN WHO WASN'T SUPPOSED TO WAKE
Someone clapped.
Once.
Milo turned.
Diana stood at the end of the blankness.
Alive.
Real.
Crying.
Milo whispered...
"Diana."
He ran.
This time...
the world did not stop him.
She ran too.
They collided.
Milo held her.
Diana held him.
For several seconds...
neither spoke.
Tarzan looked away.
Respectfully.
Then immediately looked back.
Diana whispered...
"I heard you."
Milo pulled back.
"When?"
"When you asked."
Milo frowned.
"The question?"
Diana nodded.
"Every version of me heard it."
Milo looked around.
The worlds.
The pages.
"Where are we?"
Diana smiled sadly.
"I don't know."
Milo laughed.
Diana touched his face.
"That's new for you."
He smiled.
"I know."
Then...
Diana's expression changed.
"Milo."
"What?"
She placed his hand on her stomach.
Milo froze.
Diana looked terrified.
"This one isn't a dream."
Silence.
Milo looked down.
The second heartbeat.
The third.
The fourth.
He felt them.
Not inside himself.
Near.
Very near.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Milo whispered...
"Our child."
Diana began crying.
"I don't know."
Milo looked at her.
She laughed through tears.
"Sorry."
Milo smiled.
"No."
He held her closer.
"Don't be."
The pages around them began turning again.
But slower now.
Gentler.
Tarzan shouted...
"THE BOOK IS FIXING ITSELF."
Milo turned.
A new sentence appeared.
ONCE UPON A TIME...
Then...
instead of asking what should there be...
another sentence formed.
...SOMEONE DID NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.
Milo smiled.
Diana read it.
"That's terrible grammar."
Milo looked at her.
"It's a beginning."
Tarzan raised his banana.
"GRAMMAR CAN WAIT."
Then...
a new voice spoke.
Everyone froze.
"Correct."
The child with the pencil was gone.
The voice came from everywhere.
Not the boy.
Not the Dreamer.
Not the Mother.
Something else.
Something that had been silent...
until now.
Diana whispered...
"Who is that?"
Milo looked at the blankness.
And for once...
didn't ask.
---
10. THE PLACE WHERE GOD WAS A CHILD
A classroom appeared.
The same classroom.
Children at desks.
Pencils moving.
Diana stared.
"Again?"
Milo nodded.
The children turned.
They looked like everyone.
Milo.
Diana.
Tarzan.
Beginning.
The boy.
The older man.
Milo's mother.
Even the First Mind.
All of them...
children.
Drawing.
At the front...
a blackboard.
Diana slowly walked toward it.
Milo followed.
Written in white chalk...
were five words.
WHO TAUGHT GOD TO ASK?
Silence.
Tarzan whispered...
"THAT IS A VERY BIG QUESTION."
Milo nodded.
"Yes."
The smallest child raised his hand.
Diana looked at him.
The child whispered...
"Teacher?"
Diana smiled despite herself.
"Yes?"
The child pointed...
at Milo.
Milo stopped breathing.
The child asked...
"Can he answer?"
Diana looked at Milo.
Milo looked at the child.
Then...
slowly...
shook his head.
"No."
The children smiled.
Every single one.
The classroom lights brightened.
Milo looked at the blackboard.
The question changed.
GOOD.
Then another sentence appeared beneath it.
NOW WE CAN BEGIN.
The chalk snapped.
The lights went out.
Complete darkness.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Milo felt a new heartbeat.
Small.
Close.
Diana gasped.
Milo grabbed her hand.
The heartbeat came again.
THUMP.
Then...
a voice.
A child's voice.
Soft.
Almost forgotten.
"Hello."
Milo froze.
Tarzan whispered...
"OH NO."
Diana squeezed Milo's hand.
The darkness whispered...
"Not again."
Milo slowly smiled.
"Yes."
The voice laughed.
A light appeared.
Tiny.
Blue.
Floating before them.
The light moved closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Then...
it entered Diana.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Diana screamed.
The classroom vanished.
The pages vanished.
Tarzan vanished.
Milo reached for her.
"Diana!"
She looked at him.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Milo."
"What?"
Diana smiled.
"I remember."
Milo froze.
"What?"
She whispered...
"The first story."
The darkness split.
A hospital room appeared.
Rain struck the windows.
A woman screamed.
A baby cried.
Milo stopped breathing.
Diana looked at him.
"No."
Milo whispered.
"No..."
Diana began crying.
"Milo..."
The baby...
stopped crying.
The lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Then...
a child's voice spoke.
"HELLO."
Milo screamed...
"NO!"
The lights returned.
The baby was gone.
In its place...
stood a little girl.
Six years old.
Holding a crayon.
Diana froze.
The girl looked exactly like...
Diana.
The child looked at Milo.
Her eyes...
completely black.
Then she smiled.
"My name is Diana."
Milo stepped backward.
The girl pointed at him.
Then at the darkness.
Then at Diana.
And whispered...
"Not yet."
Diana fell to her knees.
Milo grabbed her.
"What does that mean?"
The little girl continued drawing.
A man.
A jungle.
A machine.
A child.
Then...
something Milo had never seen before.
A door.
Black.
Covered in words.
Milo whispered...
"What is that?"
The girl looked up.
And smiled.
"The place where your story began."
Silence.
Milo looked at the drawing.
At the door.
At the words.
His heart stopped.
Because this time...
he could read them.
BEFORE ONCE UPON A TIME.
The girl whispered...
"Do you want to know..."
The second heartbeat began.
THUMP.
"...who wrote the first word?"
Milo stared.
The girl smiled wider.
The darkness opened behind her.
And somewhere...
beyond every dream...
something began erasing.
The page.
The words.
The beginning.
Everything.
Milo whispered...
"Episode Seventy-Five..."
The little girl looked directly into his eyes.
And finished...
"THE STORY THAT WAS NEVER WRITTEN."
The final page...
went blank.
Except for one sentence.
Milo read it.
Diana screamed.
Tarzan shouted...
"THAT IS NOT GOOD."
Milo couldn't move.
The sentence said...
THIS TIME...
YOU ARE NOT THE MAIN CHARACTER.
The page...
turned itself.
And somewhere...
in the darkness...
someone else...
opened their eyes.
**TO BE CONTINUED...**
Written By,
Ivan Edwin
Pen Name :Maximus.
©All Rights Reserved