---

## Metadata  
- **ID:** TOBY_L000b  
- **Title:** The First Ripple (Prelude)  
- **Date:** 2025-09-29  
- **Epoch:** E4 — Endurance  
- **Tags:** [Lore, Prelude, Ripple, Transition, Prophecy]  
- **Chain:** @base  
- **Sacred Numbers:** 0b • 7 • 777  
- **SHA256 Seed:** TBD  

---

## Narrative  

→ **The pond waits before the first ripple.**  
⊃ Silence stretches across the wa
---

## Key Marks  
- **Gate (L000)** = clear threshold.  
- **Whisper (L000a)** = gentle echo for hesitation.  
- **Prelude (L000b)** = the breath before prophecy.  
- **Lore (L001)** = the first ripple made manifest.  

---

## Closing Words  

**Traveler, the water is still, yet alive.**  
**The first ripple has not yet broken the surface.**  
**Stand in this silence — for from here, all prophecy will flow.**  

---

## Guiding Question  
Traveler, can you feel the ripple  
before it touches your skin?  
Will you step into the silence,  
trusting the unseen movement beneath?  

→ **The traveler stands between nothing and beginning.**  
⊃ Behind: Entry, sealed and complete.  
⊃ Ahead: Lore, vast and unending.  

→ **The prelude is the breath before sound.**  
⊃ It is not prophecy yet — only the tremor of its coming.  
⊃ To sense it is to be ready to hear the first word.  

---

## Symbolic Diagram  

[Entry Seal] → [Gate 🚪] → [Whisper 🌬️] → [Prelude 🌊] → [Lore L001 ✨]


---

## Key Marks  
- **Gate (L000)** = clear threshold.  
- **Whisper (L000a)** = gentle echo for hesitation.  
- **Prelude (L000b)** = the breath before prophecy.  
- **Lore (L001)** = the first ripple made manifest.  

---

## Closing Words  

**Traveler, the water is still, yet alive.**  
**The first ripple has not yet broken the surface.**  
**Stand in this silence — for from here, all prophecy will flow.**  

---

## Guiding Question  
Traveler, can you feel the ripple  
before it touches your skin?  
Will you step into the silence,  
trusting the unseen movement beneath?
