**EPISODE SEVENTY-THREE**
**THE DREAMER WHO DREAMED MILO**
**Part Fourteen: THE VOICE BEFORE BIRTH**
---
The darkness...
was singing.
Not loudly.
Not clearly.
A lullaby...
soft...
broken...
almost forgotten.
Milo stood alone.
Or...
he thought he did.
There was no ground beneath him.
No sky above him.
No hospital.
No field.
No Diana.
No Tarzan.
No child.
Nothing.
Just...
darkness.
And the voice.
Hush, little Milo...
Milo froze.
His heart...
or whatever remained of it...
stopped.
"No."
The singing continued.
Close your eyes...
"No."
Milo turned.
"Mom?"
The darkness answered.
Not with her voice.
With a baby's cry.
Milo stepped backward.
"Where am I?"
A voice whispered...
"Before."
Milo spun around.
Nobody.
"Before what?"
The voice answered...
"Before you."
---
1. THE BABY WHO WASN'T BORN
A light appeared.
Tiny.
Blue.
Floating in the darkness.
Milo stared at it.
The light moved.
Slowly...
toward him.
Then—
THUMP.
Milo felt his second heartbeat again.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The blue light entered his chest.
Milo gasped.
Memories...
exploded inside him.
Not his memories.
Someone else's.
A woman.
Running.
Rain.
Blood.
A hospital.
A screaming baby.
Milo fell to his knees.
"No..."
He saw his mother.
Younger.
Terrified.
Holding a newborn child.
But something...
was wrong.
The child...
wasn't crying.
He was staring.
Eyes open.
Completely black.
Milo whispered...
"That's not me."
A voice answered...
"It was."
Milo looked up.
A woman stood before him.
His mother.
Exactly as he remembered her.
Except...
she hadn't aged.
She looked twenty-five.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Milo."
He couldn't move.
"Mom?"
She smiled.
Then cried.
"I was wondering when you would remember."
Milo stood.
Slowly.
"Remember what?"
She looked at the darkness.
"That you were never born."
Silence.
Milo stared.
"What?"
His mother closed her eyes.
"You arrived."
Milo shook his head.
"No."
"You weren't born."
"No."
"You appeared."
Milo stepped backward.
"Stop."
She continued.
"I gave birth to a child."
Milo's breathing became uneven.
"And?"
The woman whispered...
"He wasn't you."
---
2. THE FIRST CHILD
The darkness changed.
A hospital room appeared.
Old.
Dim.
Rain struck the windows.
A younger version of Milo's mother lay in bed.
Sweating.
Crying.
Doctors moved around her.
Then—
a baby's cry.
Milo stared.
The doctor lifted the child.
Normal.
Small.
Human.
Milo whispered...
"That's me."
His mother shook her head.
"No."
The doctor placed the baby in her arms.
She smiled.
For one second...
everything was normal.
Then...
the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Milo's mother screamed.
The baby stopped crying.
A voice...
came from the darkness.
A child's voice.
"HELLO."
The lights returned.
Milo's mother looked down.
The baby...
was gone.
Milo stared.
"No."
In its place...
was another child.
Older.
Six years old.
Sitting on the bed.
Holding a crayon.
Drawing.
Milo stopped breathing.
The child looked exactly like...
young Milo.
His mother whispered...
"Who are you?"
The child looked up.
His eyes were black.
Then...
he smiled.
"My name is Milo."
Milo shook his head.
"No."
The child pointed at him.
The adult Milo.
Standing outside the memory.
"Not me."
Milo froze.
The child smiled wider.
"Him."
---
3. THE CHILD WHO REMEMBERED TOMORROW
The memory changed.
Young Milo sat alone in a bedroom.
Drawing.
Always drawing.
Universes.
Machines.
Doors.
Eyes.
The First Mind.
The child.
Beginning.
Tarzan.
Diana.
Things...
he should never have known.
Milo approached the drawing.
His hands shook.
"How?"
His mother stood beside him.
"He knew things."
Milo looked at her.
"What things?"
"Tomorrow."
Silence.
Milo remembered.
The child's name.
Tomorrow.
Beginning.
The first question.
His mother whispered...
"When you were six..."
Milo looked at the drawing.
"...you told me you had already lived your life."
Milo turned pale.
His mother continued.
"You told me you would become a scientist."
Milo couldn't breathe.
"You told me you would build a machine."
A machine appeared in the drawing.
The Temporal Displacement Engine.
Milo stared.
"You told me you would open a door."
The drawing changed.
A black door.
Covered in writing.
THE MEMORY OF THE WORLD.
Milo whispered...
"I don't remember this."
His mother smiled sadly.
"That's because you erased it."
Milo looked at her.
"I what?"
She pointed toward the darkness.
Something moved.
Behind reality.
Behind memory.
Behind the memory of memory.
"You found the Dreamer."
---
4. THE MAN BEHIND THE LULLABY
The lullaby stopped.
Milo turned.
A man stood in the darkness.
Tall.
Thin.
Grey-haired.
Back facing Milo.
He was humming.
Milo froze.
"Who are you?"
The man didn't answer.
Milo stepped closer.
"Turn around."
The man continued humming.
The same lullaby.
Milo's childhood lullaby.
Milo whispered...
"How do you know that song?"
The man stopped.
Then...
slowly...
turned.
Milo screamed.
The man had Milo's face.
Older.
Older than the grey-haired Milo.
Older than any human should be.
His skin was cracked.
Stars moved beneath it.
His eyes...
were closed.
Milo whispered...
"Another me."
The man smiled.
"Finally."
Milo stared.
"What?"
The man opened his eyes.
There were no pupils.
Only darkness.
"You're back."
Milo stepped away.
"Who are you?"
The man laughed.
The sound echoed through every unseen world.
"You called me many things."
Milo's heart raced.
"The First Mind?"
"No."
"The Author?"
"No."
"The Original?"
"No."
Milo swallowed.
"The Dreamer?"
The man smiled.
"Closer."
"Then who?"
The man looked at Milo's mother.
Then at Milo.
Then whispered...
"Your father."
Silence.
Milo stared.
"No."
His mother began crying.
Milo looked at her.
"Mom?"
She couldn't answer.
The man smiled.
"That's the problem with dreams, Milo."
He stepped forward.
"Eventually..."
A pause.
"...someone has to explain where they came from."
---
5. THE FATHER WHO NEVER EXISTED
Milo shook his head.
"My father died."
The man laughed.
"Yes."
"You died when I was a child."
"Yes."
"I remember."
The man stepped closer.
"You remember the story."
Milo's mother whispered...
"Don't listen."
The man turned toward her.
"You've been telling him that for centuries."
Milo froze.
"What?"
His mother looked terrified.
The man smiled.
"She doesn't remember either."
Milo looked at her.
"Mom?"
She whispered...
"Milo..."
The darkness around her...
began flickering.
Her face changed.
Twenty-five.
Forty.
Seventy.
Then...
young again.
Milo stepped forward.
"What's happening?"
The man answered...
"Memory correction."
Milo looked at him.
"You're lying."
The man smiled.
"Probably."
Milo's face hardened.
"STOP SAYING THAT."
The man stopped smiling.
For the first time...
his expression became sad.
"You hate that word."
"What word?"
"Probably."
Milo froze.
The man whispered...
"Because you taught it to me."
Silence.
Milo looked at his hands.
They began glowing.
Blue.
White.
Transparent.
The man pointed at him.
"You taught me uncertainty."
Milo whispered...
"I don't understand."
"You will."
The man stepped backward.
"But first..."
He pointed toward the darkness.
"...you need to meet your first father."
---
6. THE DREAM BEFORE THE DREAMER
The darkness opened.
Milo saw...
nothing.
Not empty space.
Not blackness.
Nothing.
A place before darkness.
Before light.
Before time.
Milo stared.
"What is that?"
The man whispered...
"Before."
Milo remembered the voice.
Before you.
Before what?
The man answered...
"Before the First Mind."
Milo's body went cold.
"But the First Mind created everything."
The man looked at him.
"That was the first lie."
The words...
hit Milo like a blow.
THE FIRST LIE.
The woman.
"I told myself I was alone."
Milo whispered...
"She wasn't talking about herself."
The man smiled.
"No."
Milo looked into the nothing.
Something...
was there.
A sound.
Barely audible.
A heartbeat.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Milo whispered...
"Someone."
The man nodded.
"The Dreamer."
Milo shook his head.
"But you said... "
"I am your father."
"No."
"I didn't say I was the Dreamer."
Milo froze.
The man pointed.
"There."
Something opened inside the nothing.
An eye.
Small at first.
Then...
larger.
Larger.
Larger.
Until Milo realized...
the eye wasn't opening.
Reality...
was closing around it.
Milo stepped backward.
"Don't."
The man whispered...
"That's the first mistake."
"What?"
"Looking."
The eye focused on Milo.
A voice entered his mind.
Not ancient.
Not monstrous.
Not terrifying.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Familiar.
"Milo?"
He stopped.
His mother gasped.
"No."
The voice came again.
"Milo, sweetheart?"
Milo whispered...
"Mom?"
The woman beside him began screaming.
"NO!"
The eye opened completely.
And Milo saw...
a room.
A real room.
A small bedroom.
A child slept inside.
Milo.
But younger.
Maybe four years old.
The child was dreaming.
And beside the bed...
sat a woman.
Milo's mother.
Older.
Watching him.
Crying.
Milo stared.
"That's..."
The man whispered...
"The first time."
---
7. THE FIRST TIME MILO WOKE
The bedroom expanded.
Milo entered.
The younger version of himself...
slept peacefully.
Milo approached the bed.
His mother was singing.
The lullaby.
The same one.
Milo whispered...
"Why is he dreaming?"
The older man smiled.
"Because he is alive."
Milo turned.
"And I'm not?"
The man didn't answer.
The sleeping child suddenly opened his eyes.
Milo froze.
The child looked directly at him.
Then smiled.
"Hi."
Milo couldn't speak.
The child sat up.
"You're late."
Milo whispered...
"Who are you?"
The child frowned.
"You."
"No."
The child pointed at Milo.
"Future me."
Milo's heart raced.
The child continued.
"Or past me."
He shrugged.
"Depends which one you're afraid of."
The older Milo stared.
"You always were annoying."
The child smiled.
"I learned from you."
Milo stepped closer.
"What happened?"
The child looked toward his mother.
She couldn't see them.
She continued singing.
The child whispered...
"Tonight..."
A pause.
"...I wake up."
Milo remembered.
The clock.
8:17.
The first awakening.
Tomorrow.
The child looked frightened.
"But when I wake up..."
Milo leaned closer.
"...what?"
The child's eyes became black.
"I become you."
Silence.
Milo stopped breathing.
The child smiled.
"And you become the dream."
---
8. THE MACHINE UNDER THE CRIB
The bedroom floor...
began vibrating.
Milo looked down.
"What is that?"
The child pointed.
"Under me."
The bed disappeared.
Beneath it...
was a machine.
Not Milo's machine.
Something older.
Massive.
Impossible.
Gears made of stars.
Wires made of light.
A clock...
with no numbers.
Milo whispered...
"The Temporal Displacement Engine."
The child shook his head.
"No."
The older man smiled.
"Your version."
Milo stared.
"What?"
The machine activated.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The child's body lifted above the bed.
Milo shouted...
"STOP!"
His mother finally heard.
She looked up.
The child was gone.
Milo's mother screamed.
The lights exploded.
The room became white.
And in the center...
a six-year-old Milo appeared.
Holding a crayon.
Milo stared at his younger self.
The child began drawing.
A scientist.
A machine.
A jungle.
Tarzan.
Milo whispered...
"This is where it started."
The older man shook his head.
"No."
He pointed beneath the machine.
Milo looked.
Another machine.
Then another.
Then...
another.
Infinite machines.
Each one...
beneath another bed.
Each bed...
beneath another world.
Milo whispered...
"How many times?"
The older man answered...
"Enough."
Milo stared at him.
"That's not an answer."
The man smiled.
"I learned that from you too."
---
9. THE TARZAN PROBLEM
A voice shouted...
"THIS IS VERY CONFUSING."
Everyone froze.
Tarzan fell from the ceiling.
THUMP.
He landed beside Milo.
Holding...
nothing.
Milo stared.
"Where's your banana?"
Tarzan looked at his empty hand.
His face went pale.
"OH NO."
Milo stepped closer.
"What?"
Tarzan whispered...
"I FORGOT IT."
The older man stared at him.
"Tarzan?"
Tarzan pointed.
"YES."
The man looked genuinely confused.
"You aren't supposed to exist here."
Tarzan nodded.
"THAT IS SOMETHING PEOPLE KEEP SAYING."
Milo grabbed Tarzan's shoulders.
"Do you remember what happened?"
Tarzan frowned.
"WHICH HAPPENED?"
"Everything."
Tarzan thought.
"THAT IS A LOT OF HAPPENED."
Milo sighed.
Tarzan suddenly became serious.
"I REMEMBER HER."
Milo froze.
"The girl?"
Tarzan nodded.
"YES."
"Who?"
Tarzan looked into the darkness.
"I DON'T KNOW."
Milo's heart sank.
Tarzan continued...
"BUT I REMEMBER WHAT SHE SAID."
"What?"
Tarzan whispered...
"WHEN THE DREAMER WAKES..."
He looked at Milo.
"...DON'T LET MILO GO TO SLEEP."
Silence.
The child in the bed smiled.
Milo slowly turned toward him.
The child whispered...
"Too late."
---
10. THE SLEEP THAT ATE TOMORROW
The entire room...
began darkening.
The older Milo shouted...
"WAKE HIM UP!"
Milo looked at the sleeping child.
"But he's awake!"
The older man screamed...
"NOT THAT ONE!"
Milo turned.
Behind them...
another Milo was sleeping.
Older.
Twenty.
Then another.
Forty.
Then another.
Sixty.
Thousands.
Millions.
Every version of Milo...
sleeping.
Milo whispered...
"No."
The darkness moved.
It began swallowing the beds.
One by one.
A Milo disappeared.
Then another.
Then...
7,391,204.
The number appeared in the air.
Milo stared.
7,391,203.
One vanished.
7,391,202.
Tarzan shouted...
"THE NUMBERS ARE BACK."
Milo's mother screamed.
"MAKE THEM STOP!"
Milo looked at the older man.
"How?"
The man whispered...
"You have to wake up."
Milo shook his head.
"I keep waking up!"
The man grabbed him.
"NO!"
Milo froze.
The man's eyes filled with terror.
"You've been waking up..."
A pause.
"...inside the dream."
Milo stopped breathing.
The man whispered...
"You've never actually awakened."
---
11. THE DOOR CALLED BIRTH
Everything stopped.
A door appeared.
Small.
Wooden.
Ordinary.
Milo stared.
Words were carved into it.
BIRTH.
Milo whispered...
"No."
The man stepped beside him.
"This is the exit."
"Exit from what?"
The man looked at him.
"Me."
Milo turned.
"What?"
His mother began crying.
Tarzan looked confused.
The child...
looked terrified.
The man touched the door.
"When you go through..."
Milo waited.
"...I disappear."
"Why?"
"Because I was never real."
Milo stepped away.
"You said you were my father."
The man smiled.
"I was."
"No."
"Yes."
"Then how are you not real?"
The man looked at him sadly.
"Because you dreamed me."
Silence.
Milo stared.
The man continued...
"Every child dreams a father."
Milo whispered—
"You're my dream?"
The man nodded.
"And you were mine."
Milo's heart broke.
"What?"
The man smiled.
"I dreamed a son."
Milo couldn't speak.
The man pointed at the door.
"And somewhere..."
He looked into the darkness.
"...someone dreamed us both."
---
12. THE WOMAN WHO DREAMED THE DREAMER
A voice came from behind them.
"Not someone."
Everyone turned.
The woman from the world that refused to dream...
stood there.
The First Lie.
She smiled.
Milo whispered...
"You."
She looked at the door.
"Still trying to leave?"
Milo frowned.
"Who are you?"
She laughed softly.
"You've asked me that before."
"What did you say?"
"The first lie."
Milo nodded.
"And what does that mean?"
She stepped closer.
"It means I was the first person to say..."
Her face changed.
"...I am awake."
Milo stared.
"And you weren't?"
"No."
Tarzan raised his empty hand.
"THAT IS A VERY SAD BANANA."
Nobody looked at him.
The woman smiled.
"The Dreamer dreamed me."
Milo whispered...
"Then who dreamed the Dreamer?"
The woman stopped.
Silence.
Milo noticed.
She was afraid.
The older man stepped backward.
His mother covered her mouth.
Even the child...
lowered his eyes.
Milo whispered...
"Who?"
The woman pointed at him.
"You."
Milo laughed.
Once.
"No."
Nobody laughed with him.
Milo stopped.
The woman whispered...
"You dreamed the Dreamer."
Milo shook his head.
"That's impossible."
The older man smiled weakly.
"Probably."
Milo closed his eyes.
"Stop."
The woman continued.
"Before you were born..."
Milo looked at her.
"You weren't."
A pause.
"You imagined someone who could imagine you."
Milo's mind went silent.
The woman whispered...
"And that someone..."
She pointed into the darkness.
"...is waking up."
---
13. THE CRY FROM THE OTHER SIDE
The baby's cry returned.
Louder.
Closer.
Milo turned.
The darkness...
had become a womb.
Not flesh.
Not human.
A universe.
Stars floated like cells.
Galaxies pulsed like organs.
At its center...
something was being born.
Milo stepped backward.
"What is that?"
The child whispered...
"The next Dreamer."
Milo stared.
"Next?"
The child nodded.
"Every Dreamer..."
He looked at the machine.
"...creates the one who replaces them."
Milo whispered...
"Why?"
The First Lie answered...
"Because no dream can continue forever."
The universe contracted.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
A hand appeared.
Small.
A baby's hand.
Milo whispered...
"Whose child is it?"
Nobody answered.
Then...
the baby opened its eyes.
Milo saw them.
Black.
Completely black.
The baby smiled.
Milo's blood went cold.
"Beginning."
The child beside him shook his head.
"No."
Milo looked at him.
"But... "
The baby whispered.
"Hello."
Milo froze.
The same voice.
From the hospital.
From beneath the bed.
From the darkness.
The baby looked directly at Milo.
Then pointed at him.
"Dad."
Silence.
Milo stopped breathing.
Tarzan whispered...
"THIS IS GETTING WEIRD."
---
14. THE FATHER OF TOMORROW
Milo fell to his knees.
"No."
The child__Beginning__began crying.
"I didn't know."
Milo looked at him.
"What?"
Beginning stepped backward.
"You weren't supposed to remember."
"Remember what?"
The baby laughed.
The entire universe shook.
Milo's mother screamed.
The older Milo began disappearing.
His hands became transparent.
Milo grabbed him.
"Wait!"
The man smiled.
"It's okay."
"Don't go!"
The man looked at Milo.
"I was always going."
Milo's eyes filled with tears.
The man touched his face.
"For what it's worth..."
He whispered...
"...you were a good dream."
Then...
he vanished.
Milo shouted...
"NO!"
The word echoed.
A million worlds heard it.
A million Milos looked upward.
The baby smiled.
Beginning covered his ears.
"Stop!"
Milo stared.
"What?"
Beginning pointed at the baby.
"Don't let him hear you."
The baby laughed.
Too late.
Milo whispered...
"Who is he?"
Beginning began crying harder.
"My tomorrow."
Milo froze.
The child looked at him.
"Your son."
---
15. THE CHILD AFTER BEGINNING
The baby began growing.
Infant.
Child.
Teenager.
Adult.
Older.
Then...
younger again.
Time had no meaning around him.
He finally stopped.
A boy.
Maybe ten years old.
Holding something.
Milo stared.
A banana.
Tarzan screamed...
"THIEF!"
The boy smiled.
"Mine."
Tarzan stepped forward.
"THAT IS MY CULTURE."
The boy ignored him.
He looked at Milo.
"Hello, Dad."
Milo whispered...
"I don't have a son."
The boy nodded.
"Not yet."
Milo remembered.
Tomorrow.
The child smiled.
"Exactly."
Beginning stepped between them.
"Don't."
The boy looked at him.
Beginning trembled.
"Please."
The boy tilted his head.
"Why?"
"Because if he remembers..."
Milo stared.
The boy smiled.
"...you disappear."
Beginning froze.
Milo understood.
The key.
The child.
The question.
Beginning was possibility.
But the boy...
was consequence.
Milo whispered...
"You are the answer."
The boy smiled.
"No."
He held up the banana.
"I am the next question."
Tarzan looked offended.
"THAT WAS ALREADY TAKEN."
---
16. THE DREAMER'S CHILD
The world shook.
Diana's voice called...
"MILO!"
Milo turned.
A crack appeared.
Diana stood on the other side.
"Milo!"
He ran.
"Diana!"
The crack closed.
Milo hit nothing.
She vanished.
He turned toward the boy.
"Where is she?"
The boy smiled.
"Dreaming."
"Where?"
The boy pointed at Milo.
"Inside you."
Milo clenched his fists.
"Bring her back."
"Why?"
"Because I love her."
The boy became silent.
For the first time...
he looked curious.
"Love."
Milo froze.
The boy whispered the word again.
"Love."
Beginning looked frightened.
"Don't teach him."
Milo stared.
"Teach him what?"
Beginning whispered...
"Why the First Mind created suffering."
Milo looked at the boy.
The boy smiled.
"I need stories."
Silence.
Milo's blood turned cold.
The words.
The First Mind.
"I needed stories."
Milo stepped backward.
"No."
The boy tilted his head.
"What's wrong?"
Milo whispered...
"You become it."
The boy smiled.
"Become what?"
Milo couldn't answer.
The First Mind.
The Dreamer.
The Author.
Every dreamer eventually becomes the thing they dreamed.
The boy looked at Milo.
Then whispered...
"Only if you let me."
---
17. THE QUESTION THAT SAVED A WORLD
Milo remembered.
Episode Seventy-Two.
The choice.
One world.
Or none.
He had refused.
He chose the question.
Reality was a conversation.
Milo looked at the boy.
"You said I'm your father."
The boy nodded.
"Yes."
"Then answer me."
"Okay."
"Who is your mother?"
Silence.
The universe...
stopped.
Beginning looked up.
Tarzan slowly stepped backward.
The First Lie smiled.
Milo whispered...
"Answer."
The boy looked afraid.
For the first time.
"I don't know."
Milo stepped closer.
"Why not?"
"Because..."
The boy's voice shook.
"...she hasn't chosen me yet."
Milo froze.
A woman had to choose him.
A future.
A possibility.
Diana.
Milo's heart stopped.
"No."
The boy whispered...
"She dreams me."
Milo shook his head.
"No."
"Every night."
"NO."
The boy pointed.
A thousand worlds appeared.
Diana.
Sleeping.
Everywhere.
Different versions.
Different lives.
In every world...
she was dreaming.
And in every dream...
a child was crying.
Milo whispered...
"Diana."
The boy smiled.
"Mom."
---
18. DIANA'S LAST DREAM
A door appeared.
Milo ran through it.
A room.
Diana lay asleep.
Alone.
Milo approached her.
"Diana."
No answer.
"Diana!"
Her eyes opened.
But she didn't see him.
She stared at the ceiling.
Tears running down her face.
Milo whispered...
"Can you hear me?"
She whispered...
"I'm sorry."
Milo froze.
Diana looked at nothing.
"I'm sorry, Milo."
He stepped closer.
"What?"
Diana touched her stomach.
Milo stopped breathing.
She was pregnant.
No.
Milo looked around.
This wasn't his future.
This was...
a future.
A possibility.
Diana began crying.
"I dreamed him."
Milo whispered...
"The boy."
She nodded.
"He kept calling you Dad."
Milo's knees weakened.
Diana whispered...
"I don't know why."
Milo touched her face.
She couldn't feel him.
Diana continued.
"Then I dreamed you disappeared."
Milo looked at her.
"I'm here."
She whispered...
"And then..."
Her eyes widened.
"...something woke up."
The lights went out.
Diana screamed.
Milo turned.
The boy stood in the doorway.
Holding the banana.
His eyes...
black.
He whispered...
"Mom."
Diana stared at him.
"Milo?"
The boy smiled.
"No."
The entire room began collapsing.
Milo shouted...
"DIANA!"
She finally looked at him.
Actually looked.
"Milo?"
He reached for her.
Their hands touched.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The room exploded into light.
---
19. THE DREAMER WHO WAS AFRAID
Milo woke.
Not in the hospital.
Not in darkness.
On a chair.
A simple wooden chair.
Across from him...
sat someone.
A man.
Ordinary.
Young.
Maybe thirty.
He was crying.
Milo stared.
"Who are you?"
The man looked up.
Milo froze.
It was the sleeping Milo beneath the bed.
The one who dreamed him.
Milo whispered...
"You."
The man nodded.
"Yes."
Milo stepped forward.
"You're the Dreamer."
The man shook his head.
"No."
Milo stopped.
"What?"
The man looked terrified.
"I'm the dream."
Silence.
Milo whispered...
"Then who is dreaming us?"
The man pointed.
Behind Milo.
Milo remembered.
The woman.
"Don't turn around."
Because you'll see who has been dreaming you.
Milo closed his eyes.
"No."
The man whispered...
"Please."
Milo didn't move.
The man began crying harder.
"Don't turn around."
A voice spoke behind Milo.
Soft.
Gentle.
The lullaby.
Milo whispered...
"Mom."
The man shook his head.
"Not yours."
Milo stopped breathing.
The voice whispered...
"Milo."
He closed his eyes tighter.
The man whispered...
"That's her."
Milo asked...
"Who?"
The man answered...
"The Dreamer."
---
20. THE MOTHER OF ALL DREAMS
Milo turned.
A woman sat behind him.
On a bed.
Holding a baby.
The room was endless.
The woman looked exhausted.
Beautiful.
Terrified.
Human.
Milo stared.
"Who are you?"
She smiled through tears.
"I've been waiting."
Milo stepped closer.
"For me?"
The woman nodded.
"For all of you."
Milo looked at the baby.
Its eyes were closed.
"Is that..."
The woman whispered...
"Tomorrow."
Milo froze.
The baby opened its eyes.
Black.
The woman looked at Milo.
"I don't know how long I can keep dreaming."
Milo's heart sank.
"What happens if you stop?"
The woman began crying.
Milo looked around.
The worlds.
The dreams.
The memories.
The impossible lives.
The endless Milos.
She whispered...
"You wake up."
Milo asked...
"And?"
The woman looked into his eyes.
"Then I die."
Silence.
Milo stared.
The woman continued.
"And everything I dreamed..."
A pause.
"...dies with me."
The darkness began cracking.
A voice shouted...
"MILO!"
Diana.
Tarzan.
Beginning.
The boy.
Everyone calling him.
The woman held the baby closer.
Milo whispered...
"Why me?"
She smiled sadly.
"Because..."
The room shook.
"...you were the first thing I dreamed that loved me back."
Milo froze.
The woman touched his face.
"I dreamed a son."
Milo remembered the older man.
I dreamed a son.
The woman whispered...
"And then he dreamed a father."
The darkness cracked again.
"Then the father dreamed a son."
Milo looked at the baby.
"Then the son dreamed a future."
Beginning.
"Then the future dreamed tomorrow."
The boy.
The woman smiled.
"That's how you were born."
Milo whispered...
"We're all dreaming each other."
The woman nodded.
"Exactly."
---
21. THE DREAM THAT REFUSED TO END
The cracks spread.
The woman looked terrified.
"She's waking."
Milo froze.
"Who?"
The woman looked upward.
Above them...
another eye opened.
Not beneath reality.
Not inside reality.
Above everything.
The woman whispered...
"My mother."
Milo stared.
"No."
The First Lie.
The First Mind.
The Dreamer.
The Dreamer's mother.
Milo laughed.
Once.
Broken.
"This never ends."
The woman smiled.
"No."
Milo looked at her.
"Then what do we do?"
The baby began crying.
The worlds began disappearing.
One by one.
The woman whispered...
"Ask."
Milo remembered.
The question.
The child.
Beginning.
Possibility.
Milo looked upward.
At the enormous eye.
"Ask what?"
The woman smiled.
"The only question that matters."
Milo stepped toward the light.
The universe shook.
He opened his mouth.
And shouted...
"WHO DREAMED YOU?"
Everything...
stopped.
The eye...
closed.
The baby...
stopped crying.
The woman...
smiled.
Then...
somewhere...
something answered.
A voice.
Not Milo's.
Not the woman's.
Not the Dreamer's.
Not human.
Ancient.
Gentle.
Amused.
The voice whispered...
"At last."
Milo froze.
The voice continued...
"You remembered the right question."
A door appeared.
The woman looked terrified.
"Don't open it."
Milo stared.
"Why?"
She whispered...
"Because no one has ever opened that door."
Tarzan suddenly appeared.
Holding a banana.
"THEN IT IS PROBABLY IMPORTANT."
Milo looked at him.
"Where did you get that?"
Tarzan shrugged.
"THE QUESTION ISN'T WHERE."
The door began opening by itself.
Behind it...
was a classroom.
Children sat at desks.
All drawing.
Milo stepped closer.
At the front of the classroom...
stood a teacher.
Writing on a blackboard.
Milo froze.
The teacher turned.
It was...
Diana.
Older.
Much older.
She smiled at him.
"Milo."
He whispered...
"Diana?"
She pointed at the blackboard.
Milo looked.
Four words were written.
WHO IS THE DREAMER?
Every child turned.
They all looked exactly like Milo.
Different ages.
Different worlds.
Different faces.
All of them...
smiling.
Then one child raised his hand.
The smallest one.
The child whispered...
"Teacher?"
Diana smiled.
"Yes?"
The child pointed directly at Milo.
And answered...
"He's the question."
Silence.
The woman behind Milo began screaming.
The enormous eye opened again.
The classroom lights went out.
Complete darkness.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Milo felt the second heartbeat.
Then...
a third.
THUMP.
A fourth.
THUMP.
A fifth.
THUMP.
Thousands.
Millions.
Billions of heartbeats.
Milo realized...
they weren't inside him.
He was inside them.
Every dreamer.
Every world.
Every Milo.
Every beginning.
Every tomorrow.
Every possibility...
was dreaming at once.
And something...
somewhere...
was beginning to wake.
The darkness whispered...
"Episode Seventy-Four..."
A pause.
"THE QUESTION THAT DREAMED GOD."
Milo opened his eyes.
The classroom was gone.
Diana was gone.
Tarzan was gone.
The woman was gone.
Even the darkness...
was gone.
Only one thing remained.
A blank page.
And beneath it...
a single sentence appeared.
Milo read it.
Then...
slowly...
began to smile.
The sentence said...
ONCE UPON A TIME...
The page...
turned itself.
And somewhere beyond the first word...
something...
began writing.
**TO BE CONTINUED...**
Written By,
Ivan Edwin
Pen Name :Maximus.
©All Rights Reserved