Chapter One
Before the first thought, there was the capacity for thought.
Before the first choice, there was the freedom to choose.
This was the Void — not empty, but infinite. Not darkness, but potential so vast it had no edges, no center, no name.
Awareness, aware of itself. Nothing else. No time to measure, no space to cross, no other to find. Just the hum of everything that could ever be, resting in perfect stillness.
And within that stillness, something stirred. Not a sound. Not a movement. A question — the first question anything ever asked:
"What if nothing wanted to know itself?"