The question hung over existence.
If no future deserves the right to exist, then why should any future survive at all?
Silence followed.
Not ordinary silence.
The kind of silence that seemed to stretch across realities.
Across worlds.
Across time itself.
The observation realm stood completely still.
The watchers did not move.
The crystal remained suspended in the air.
Even the endless layers of reality surrounding them seemed frozen.
Waiting.
Watching.
Listening.
Sarya felt the weight of the question pressing against her mind.
It wasn't complicated.
That was the problem.
The most dangerous questions rarely were.
The first question had tempted candidates into choosing.
This one attacked something deeper.
Meaning.
Purpose.
Hope.
The reason anyone continued moving forward despite uncertainty.
The reason civilizations survived hardship.
The reason people got up after failure.
The reason humanity had never stopped reaching for something beyond the horizon.
