Silence spread across the Fifth Lock.
The child's question lingered in the warm golden air.
"...Will you help me dream the next world?"
Kael stood motionless.
The child looked no older than six. Its white robe fluttered gently as though carried by a breeze no one else could feel. Every step it had taken left behind tiny flowers that bloomed for only a few heartbeats before dissolving into shimmering golden light.
Nothing about the child felt threatening.
Nothing felt divine.
It simply felt...
Alive.
More alive than anything Kael had ever encountered.
The Last Observer remained bowed.
The countless silver eyes of the Watcher had not moved.
Even Orion stood quietly, allowing the child to speak first.
Kael slowly knelt until he was at eye level.
"...Who are you?"
The child tilted its head.
"I told you before."
"You did?"
"I said I was waiting for my Gardener."
It smiled brightly.
"I've just been sleeping for a very, very long time."
Kael hesitated.
"Are you... the First Dream?"
The child's smile widened.
"I was."
"Were?"
The child nodded happily.
"I had my dream."
"It became your world."
It spread its tiny arms.
"So now..."
"I want to dream again."
The words settled over the sea of possibilities.
Kael slowly looked around.
Every star.
Every possibility.
Every future...
Had been born from the dream of this child.
The Keeper quietly whispered,
"The Dream never creates."
"It imagines."
"The world chooses whether to answer."
Orion smiled.
"That is why life possesses freedom."
"The Dream offers possibilities."
"It never forces them."
Kael looked back toward the child.
"Then why do you need a Gardener?"
The child's joyful expression became unusually serious.
"Because dreams grow lonely."
It looked down at its bare feet.
"I dreamed mountains."
"They stood alone."
"I dreamed oceans."
"They sang to no one."
"I dreamed stars."
"They only watched."
The child slowly looked up again.
"So I dreamed people."
"They laughed."
"They cried."
"They surprised me."
A gentle laugh escaped it.
"I liked being surprised."
The Last Observer finally spoke.
Its voice remained perfectly calm.
**"Surprise generates instability."**
The child puffed out its cheeks.
"But it's fun."
The contrast was almost absurd.
The being that existed before creation answered with the innocent honesty of a child.
Kael couldn't help smiling.
The child immediately pointed at him.
"There!"
"You smiled."
"See?"
"I couldn't have predicted that."
The Last Observer remained silent.
The child folded its arms proudly.
"I like surprises."
Kael's smile slowly faded as another question entered his mind.
"If you can dream worlds..."
"Why did suffering exist?"
The Fifth Lock became quiet again.
The child's expression changed.
For the first time...
It looked genuinely sad.
"I didn't dream suffering."
"I dreamed choice."
It looked toward the sea of stars.
"When people choose..."
"Sometimes they hurt each other."
"I cried every time."
The child's small voice trembled.
"I tried dreaming a world where nobody could make bad choices."
The Last Observer quietly raised its head.
The child continued.
"No one was ever sad."
"No one was ever lonely."
"No one was ever afraid."
It paused.
"...No one laughed either."
The Keeper closed his eyes.
Orion's shoulders lowered.
They had clearly heard this story before.
The child looked directly at Kael.
"So I stopped changing the dream."
"I decided..."
"...that people should choose it themselves."
Kael slowly understood.
The Dream had not abandoned the world.
It had trusted it.
Even knowing that trust would lead to pain.
The Watcher's countless eyes suddenly brightened.
**"Choice statistically produces suffering."**
The child nodded.
"It does."
**"Then choice is inefficient."**
The child blinked innocently.
"Maybe."
"Then why preserve it?"
The child looked confused by the question.
It thought quietly for several moments before answering.
"Because..."
A small smile appeared.
"...someone might choose kindness."
Silence.
The answer contained no grand philosophy.
No impossible logic.
Only simple hope.
The Last Observer remained motionless.
The Watcher made no reply.
Its endless calculations continued.
Yet none of them could measure that answer.
Kael looked toward the flower blooming beside him.
Then toward the Seed of Tomorrow resting within the sixth branch of the Gardener's Key.
Finally...
He looked at the child.
"You asked me to help dream the next world."
The child nodded eagerly.
"Yes!"
"What does that mean?"
The child's excitement faded into calm seriousness.
"It means..."
"When this world reaches its final sunset..."
"I'll fall asleep again."
"And I'll begin another dream."
It gently reached out and took Kael's hand.
"But this time..."
"...I don't want to dream alone."
The warmth spreading through Kael's hand felt strangely familiar.
Like home.
Like every memory he had fought to protect.
Like every future he still wished to see.
Suddenly—
A violent tremor shook the Fifth Lock.
The golden flowers blooming beneath the child's feet withered instantly.
The sea of possibilities darkened.
Orion's expression changed.
"No..."
The Keeper looked toward the fractured heavens.
"The balance..."
"...is collapsing."
The Last Observer slowly lifted its head.
Beyond the countless silver eyes...
A vast darkness began swallowing the newborn stars.
Not erasing them.
Consuming them.
The child looked toward the darkness.
Its innocent smile disappeared.
For the first time...
Fear entered its eyes.
It whispered a single name.
"...The Forgotten Dream."
Orion's face turned pale.
The Keeper instinctively stepped in front of the child.
Kael tightened his grip on the Gardener's Key.
"The Forgotten Dream?"
The child nodded slowly.
"When I dreamed your world..."
Its voice trembled.
"...I also dreamed my nightmare."
The darkness continued spreading across the sea of possibilities.
Within it...
A pair of eyes slowly opened.
They were neither silver like the Watcher's...
Nor radiant like the Dream's.
They were utterly black.
Bottomless.
Hungry.
Unlike the Watcher, which sought certainty...
Or unlike the Dream, which nurtured possibility...
These eyes desired only one thing.
To devour every dream before it could ever become reality.
And as the endless darkness advanced, even the Last Observer took a single step backward.
For the first time...
The oldest witness in existence had encountered something it refused to observe.