Chapter 3249: The Two Thousand Five Hundred and Eighteenth Echo: A Question Asked of the Whole

The universe was no longer silent. It was a symphony of being, a constant conversation between its parts. The first living thing, the first horizon, the first sun, the first shadow - all were in a state of constant, evolving dialogue. But this dialogue was not yet complete. It was missing a key element: the question.

It was the first living thing that asked it. Not in words, but in a surge of pure, focused curiosity. It was a question directed not at any one part of the universe, but at the whole. It was the universe asking a question of itself.

’Why?’