**EPISODE NINETY-FOUR**
**THE MOTHER BEFORE DIANA**
**Part Thirty-Five: The Child Who Was Born Before His Own Birth**
---
The door...
slammed shut.
BOOM.
Nova stood alone.
The room was silent.
Too silent.
No Milo.
No Orion.
No Reader.
No little boy.
Only...
the woman.
She stood beside a window that showed nothing.
Nova stared at her.
"Son?"
The woman smiled.
"Yes."
Nova stepped backward.
"No."
"You know me."
"I don't."
"You did once."
"When?"
"Before you became Nova."
Nova's chest tightened.
The five heartbeats returned.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The woman looked at his chest.
"They've started again."
Nova whispered:
"What?"
"The memories."
Nova shook his head.
"I don't want them."
The woman smiled sadly.
"You never did."
"Who are you?"
She stepped closer.
"My name is Elena."
Nova froze.
The name struck something inside him.
A memory.
A kitchen.
A window.
A lullaby.
A woman's hand.
A child's hand.
Then...
darkness.
Nova touched his forehead.
"I know that name."
Elena nodded.
"You should."
"Why?"
"Because you gave it to me."
Nova stared.
"I was a child."
"No."
Elena smiled.
"You were not born yet."
---
1. THE MOTHER WHO CAME FIRST
Nova looked around.
"This isn't possible."
Elena laughed softly.
"You've said that many times."
"Where are we?"
"Before."
"Before what?"
"Before the story."
Nova looked toward the walls.
There were no walls anymore.
Only white space.
Endless.
Empty.
Elena walked forward.
Nova followed.
"Did you create Milo?"
"No."
"Orion?"
"No."
"Diana?"
"No."
"Then what did you create?"
Elena stopped.
She looked at Nova.
"You."
Nova froze.
"I created myself."
"No."
"You created me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Elena lowered her eyes.
"Because I needed someone who could survive the end."
Nova whispered:
"The end of what?"
"The first universe."
Nova stared.
"There was another universe?"
"There were many."
"How many?"
Elena smiled.
"Enough."
Nova looked away.
"Why don't I remember?"
"Because memory was the price."
"The price for what?"
"Being alive."
Nova frowned.
"That makes no sense."
"It will."
Elena touched his forehead.
The world changed.
---
2. THE FIRST UNIVERSE
Nova opened his eyes.
He stood beneath a blue sky.
A city stretched around him.
It was beautiful.
Too beautiful.
No war.
No destruction.
No machines.
No prisons.
People walked peacefully.
Children laughed.
The sun was enormous.
Nova stared.
"This is the first universe?"
Elena nodded.
"What happened?"
"It ended."
"Why?"
Elena looked toward the horizon.
A black line appeared across the sky.
Then another.
Then another.
The sky began cracking.
Nova watched in horror.
"What's that?"
"The end."
The city stopped.
Every person froze.
Every child.
Every bird.
Every movement.
Then...
the world folded.
Buildings became paper.
People became ink.
The sky became a blank page.
Nova stood in the middle of it all.
"Why didn't you stop it?"
Elena answered:
"I couldn't."
"You're my mother."
"Yes."
"You created me."
"Yes."
"Then why couldn't you save them?"
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
"Because I wasn't powerful enough."
Nova stared.
"Then what could I do?"
Elena pointed toward him.
"You."
---
3. THE CHILD WHO SAVED NOTHING
Nova watched himself.
A child.
Standing in the collapsing universe.
He was holding a small black book.
Elena knelt beside him.
"Listen to me."
The child looked at her.
"Are we dying?"
"Yes."
"Everyone?"
"Yes."
"Can you save them?"
"No."
The child began crying.
Elena held him.
"But you can save the story."
The child looked at the book.
"How?"
"Write."
The child opened the book.
There was one blank page.
Elena whispered:
"Write someone who can continue."
The child picked up a pencil.
His hand trembled.
"What should I write?"
Elena smiled.
"Write yourself."
The child wrote:
MILO.
Nova froze.
"No."
The child continued writing.
MILO WILL LIVE.
The universe stopped collapsing.
Nova watched.
The child looked up.
Then wrote another sentence:
MILO WILL FORGET.
The world became stable.
Another:
MILO WILL REMEMBER LATER.
Another:
MILO WILL CREATE ORION.
Another:
ORION WILL CREATE THE PRISON.
Another:
THE PRISON WILL CREATE NOVA.
Nova stepped backward.
"This is where it started."
Elena nodded.
"No."
Nova looked at her.
"This is where Milo started."
Elena corrected him.
"It began earlier."
"Where?"
Elena pointed toward the child.
"With you."
---
4. THE FIRST CHOICE
The child closed the book.
The universe around him was almost completely gone.
Elena knelt.
"There is one thing left."
"What?"
"A choice."
The child looked frightened.
"What choice?"
"You can save yourself."
"And everyone else?"
"No."
The child looked at the collapsing universe.
"What happens to them?"
"They disappear."
"And me?"
"You continue."
The child looked at Elena.
"Will I remember you?"
"No."
"Will I remember this place?"
"No."
"Will I remember my name?"
Elena smiled.
"You'll have many."
The child began crying.
"I don't want to forget you."
Elena held him.
"You must."
"Why?"
"Because if you remember me..."
She looked toward the cracks in the sky.
"They will find you."
"Who?"
Elena whispered:
"The ones outside the story."
The child looked upward.
Something moved beyond the broken sky.
Huge.
Watching.
The child whispered:
"Are they gods?"
Elena shook her head.
"No."
"Then what are they?"
"Readers."
---
5. THE FIRST READER
The sky opened.
A giant eye appeared.
Then another.
Then millions.
Watching.
Reading.
Waiting.
The child screamed.
Elena covered his eyes.
"Don't look."
"Why?"
"They can see you."
The child whispered:
"Then how do we escape?"
Elena looked at the book.
"Become a story."
The child didn't understand.
"If you're a story..."
Elena's voice trembled.
"Then they can only read you."
"And not touch me?"
"Not directly."
The child looked at her.
"Then make me a story."
Elena nodded.
"But stories need characters."
The child smiled.
"I can make them."
And so...
the first page was written.
MILO.
DIANA.
ORION.
NOVA.
The names appeared.
The universe became a story.
The readers watched.
The child disappeared.
And the woman...
Elena...
was forgotten.
Nova stared at the memory.
"No."
Elena stood beside him.
"You forgot me."
Nova looked at her.
"I didn't know you existed."
"You knew."
"When?"
"Every time you dreamed of a woman you couldn't remember."
Nova's eyes filled with tears.
"That was you?"
"Yes."
---
6. THE SONG
Elena began humming.
A melody.
Soft.
Familiar.
Nova's face changed.
He remembered.
A small room.
A wooden bed.
A woman singing.
A child sleeping.
The same melody.
The same voice.
The same hands.
Nova whispered:
"I remember."
Elena smiled.
"What?"
"The song."
She continued humming.
Nova began crying.
"I heard this when I was Milo."
"Yes."
"When I was the original."
"Yes."
"When I was Orion."
"Yes."
"When I was Nova."
"Yes."
Nova stared.
"You were there every time."
"I was waiting."
"For what?"
"For you to remember."
Nova wiped his eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried."
"When?"
"Every dream."
Nova froze.
"The dreams?"
"Yes."
"The woman in the dreams?"
"Yes."
"The voice?"
"Yes."
"The song?"
"Yes."
Nova's chest burned.
The five heartbeats became six.
THUMP.
Elena stopped singing.
Nova looked down.
"What is the sixth?"
Elena's face became terrified.
"That shouldn't be there."
---
7. THE SIXTH HEARTBEAT
THUMP.
Again.
THUMP.
Nova grabbed his chest.
"What is happening?"
Elena stepped backward.
"It's awake."
"What?"
"The thing inside the story."
Nova looked around.
"What thing?"
Elena whispered:
"The first thought."
Nova frowned.
"Before Milo?"
"Yes."
"Before Orion?"
"Yes."
"Before me?"
"Yes."
"Before the first reader?"
Elena nodded.
Nova stared.
"What is it?"
Elena's face went pale.
"It has no name."
Nova whispered:
"Everything has a name."
"Not this."
"Why?"
"Because names give things boundaries."
The sixth heartbeat grew louder.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
The room shook.
Elena grabbed Nova's arm.
"We have to leave."
"Where?"
"Anywhere."
"Why?"
"Because it knows you're awake."
Nova stopped.
"Who?"
Elena looked behind him.
"The first thought."
---
8. THE THING THAT THOUGHT MILO
Nova turned.
Nothing.
Then...
a sentence appeared in the air.
I AM.
Nova stared.
Another sentence.
I WAS.
Another.
I WILL BE.
Nova whispered:
"What is this?"
Elena shook her head.
The words changed.
I THOUGHT MILO.
Nova froze.
Another:
I DREAMED ORION.
Another:
I FORGOT NOVA.
Another:
I AM THE SPACE BETWEEN THEM.
Nova stepped backward.
"You're not a person."
The words changed.
I NEVER WAS.
Elena whispered:
"It is the consciousness that existed before the first story."
Nova looked at her.
"Then why did it create all of this?"
The answer appeared:
BECAUSE I WAS ALONE.
Nova froze.
The same reason.
The same fear.
The same loneliness.
Every story...
every Milo...
every Orion...
every replacement...
had begun with the same thing.
Being alone.
Nova whispered:
"You created everything because you were lonely."
The words changed.
NO.
Nova waited.
Another sentence appeared.
I CREATED EVERYTHING...
SO SOMEONE COULD CREATE ME.
---
9. THE CREATOR WHO NEEDED A CREATOR
Nova stared.
"You wanted someone to create you?"
Yes.
"Why?"
I DID NOT KNOW I EXISTED.
Nova's eyes widened.
"You needed someone to remember you."
Yes.
Elena stepped closer.
"That's why the story repeats."
Nova looked at her.
"What repeats?"
"Creation."
"Explain."
"Every Milo creates an Orion."
"Orion creates a prison."
"The prison creates Nova."
"Nova creates another Milo."
"And that Milo creates the next story."
Nova understood.
"It never ends."
Elena nodded.
"Because something is always trying to discover who created it."
Nova looked toward the words.
"And the first thought?"
Elena whispered:
"It is trying to discover who thought it."
Nova stared.
"Who?"
The words vanished.
Silence.
Then...
a single sentence appeared.
YOU.
Nova froze.
"What?"
The sentence remained.
YOU THOUGHT ME.
Nova shook his head.
"No."
YOU THOUGHT ME BEFORE YOU BECAME NOVA.
"No."
BEFORE MILO.
"No."
BEFORE ORION.
"No!"
BEFORE THE FIRST READER.
Nova's voice broke.
"Stop."
The final sentence appeared:
YOU WERE THE FIRST THOUGHT.
---
10. THE MEMORY BEFORE NOVA
Nova fell to his knees.
Everything went silent.
No heartbeat.
No voices.
No Elena.
No story.
Then...
a memory.
Not a dream.
Not a page.
Not a story.
A beginning.
There was nothing.
No universe.
No time.
No space.
No reader.
No author.
Nothing.
Then...
a thought.
I AM.
Nova saw it.
He was the thought.
Not human.
Not a child.
Not Milo.
Not Nova.
Just...
awareness.
The first awareness.
Then came another thought:
I AM ALONE.
Then:
I NEED SOMEONE.
And from that thought...
came the first story.
The first world.
The first child.
The first Milo.
The first reader.
Everything.
Nova opened his eyes.
Elena was standing before him.
He whispered:
"I started it."
She nodded.
"You did."
"Then I am the first."
"Yes."
"Not Milo."
"No."
"Not Nova."
"No."
"Then what am I?"
Elena smiled.
"You are the first thought."
Nova looked toward the darkness.
"What happens now?"
Elena's smile disappeared.
"Now you decide whether the thought continues."
Nova stared.
"And if I stop?"
"The story ends."
"And if I continue?"
"The story begins again."
Nova looked at the endless pages surrounding him.
Billions of lives.
Billions of doors.
Billions of versions.
All waiting.
He whispered:
"Then there must be another choice."
Elena nodded.
"There is always another choice."
"What is it?"
She pointed toward the darkness.
A final door appeared.
Unlike every door before it...
this one had no name.
Nova approached.
His hand touched the surface.
The door whispered:
"Remember."
Nova opened it.
Beyond it...
stood the First Reader.
The first Milo.
Orion.
Diana.
The little boy.
All waiting.
But behind them...
stood someone else.
A figure made entirely of white light.
No face.
No body.
Only...
a voice.
A voice that sounded exactly like Nova.
It whispered:
"You finally remembered."
Nova stared.
"Who are you?"
The figure answered:
"I am the thought that existed before you."
Nova froze.
"But you said I was the first thought."
The figure smiled.
"No."
Nova stepped backward.
"Then what am I?"
The figure raised one hand.
The entire universe stopped.
Every heartbeat stopped.
Every page stopped.
Every door stopped.
Even time...
stopped.
Then the figure whispered:
"You are not the first thought."
A pause.
"You are the first question."
Nova's eyes widened.
"What was the question?"
The figure leaned closer.
And whispered:
"WHO AM I?"
Nova's chest exploded with light.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Then...
a seventh heartbeat.
THUMP.
Nova screamed.
The figure disappeared.
The final door closed.
And on the other side...
someone began writing.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
A new sentence appeared:
THE FIRST QUESTION HAS AWAKENED.
Then another:
NOW THE ANSWER MUST DIE.
Nova looked up.
Elena was gone.
Diana was standing in her place.
But Diana was not crying.
She was smiling.
And she whispered:
"Milo...
we have to kill Nova."
Nova froze.
The seven heartbeats stopped.
And somewhere beyond the first page...
the Author laughed.
**TO BE CONTINUED...**
Written By,
Ivan Edwin
Pen Name :Maximus.
©All Rights Reserved