"It is time." Harrigan motioned her to follow him, "Answer only when spoken to, and be careful of your words... all hearings of the councils are broadcasted, and the situation in the slums is already difficult."
Celestia quietly followed the zealot through a long corridor lined with guards, not one of them sparing them even a glance as they passed.
"Will he be there?" Celestia asked as she followed him.
"I am not certain whether he will actually attend the hearing, he never had a taste for politics. These days though, I wouldn't be surprised. Rest assured though, even if you can not see him, he will be watching." they reached a huge set of doors with motionless guards standing on either side. In front of the door, a small man in a long robe was waiting for them.
"Is this the representative of world six-three-two-four?" he asked with an unmoving voice.
"She is." Harrigan replied.
"Good. Her hearing is scheduled next." he turned to Celestia, "This elevator will bring you to the hearing platform. The councils will start your hearing once you take your place."
Without a visible signal given, the doors slowly moved open, revealing a large elevator inside.
"I am going to take my seat among the others..." Harrigan bowed before her, "I wish you good luck."
"Thank you." she returned the bow.
Celestia took a deep breath, collected her thoughts and stepped into the elevator. The doors closed silently, and she shot upwards. As the lights flashed every time she passed another level she felt her heart beat faster than it had beaten in thousands of years.
She thought of her sister, of her student, of their home... and how her next words would decide its fate. All of those thoughts were pushed aside though, when she reached the hearing hall.
The building had already been impressive from the outside, a huge and black obelisk towering above the other skyscrapers like a monument, only dwarfed by the spire of the purveyors' tower. The inside however, was breathtaking.
A seemingly endless chamber reached up above her so far she could barely make out the top, and on the walls there were countless illuminated seats circling the chamber like thousands of rings, all of them taken but the highest circle. Even in her fascination, she realized that these seats would most likely belong to the purveyors.
And at the very bottom of the cavernous hall, on a platform in the center and visible to all sides waited a small podium. The doors slid open silently, and she stepped forward.
As Celestia approached the podium with quiet steps she could hear the members of the councils talk with hushed voices, the ghost at her side processing them into nothing but whispers as well. Here and there she saw surprised faces and fascinated eyes follow her every step, but most of them seemed impassive to her appearance.
---
On the highest level of the hearing hall, hidden by the void and watching Celestia's every step the purveyor waited for his time to come. He would hide his presence for as long as required, less it would inform the dissidents of Malaik's failure.
As he watched her walk towards the podium he felt a small tug on the surrounding layers of the void, a signal only he could hear. The purveyors had arrived at the edge of the void, and they were waiting for his command to step forth and take control.
His mind trailed the borders of the void, searching for the slightest disturbance, evaluating every nuance of the underlying dimensions. For a moment he saw nothing, but then he found what he had been searching for. The dissidents were waiting on the border as well, and just like the purveyors, they were watching.
Now... he would wait for the dissidents to make their last move, and for Celestia to make hers.
---
"You are, representative of world six-three-two-four?" a zealot with a white beard asked her, his voice amplified and carried throughout the chamber by unseen technology.
"I am." Celestia replied.
"Please state your name and title."
"I am princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria."
The zealot nodded as one of the notaries wrote down her words with a few types on a screen of light.
"Princess Celestia, are you aware that your presence here is highly against protocol and that a hearing of a race from outside the void has not taken place before?"
"I am."
"Then tell us, why have you come here today?"
Celestia took a deep breath, "I wish to ask for your help."
A murmur went through the countless rows, but the hall went quiet again as the zealot continued to talk.
"You are referring to the cycle?"
"I am."
"According to our information, it could still take decades before your world is faced with its cataclysm..."
"Or days judging by the riots in the streets outside..." she interrupted him, "I am fully aware of what may happen should the situation here become drastic."
The old zealot frowned, "There are many worlds for us to choose from, and we will take the one with the lowest yield if necessary... but that aside, do you realize what you ask us to do?"
"I ask for our world to be saved."
"And you ask for us to give it up in the process. Preparations and efforts thousands of years old would be laid to naught. Putting aside the fact that we would squander countless resources by sparing your world in spite of our needs, what help would you expect us to offer?"
"Whatever it takes to save us." she replied with sadness.
The old zealot scratched his chin, "There is... a way. We have long ago learned how to travel across the worlds, and even though we are no longer able to use this knowledge, it may be used to transfer a limited amount of individuals to another world should the time come." His brow furrowed further, "But the energy required for such an act is simply unthinkable... It would require thousands of sacrificed lives to transfer even one individual. Do you understand what I am telling you?"
Celestia collected all of her mental strength, "I am..."
"Then you understand that a compensation for the lost energy would have to be given?"
"I do."
The old zealot observed her intently, "And how many would you be willing to sacrifice to save even a few?"
Celestia returned his gaze, and with a steady voice born from determination she said, "Not one of them."
For a moment, there was silence. Then, a roar of outrage erupted from the council members around them. Everywhere, Celestia saw twisted faces shouting at her in disbelief and anger while the old zealot simply observed her in silent shock.
On the highest floor of the audience hall, the purveyor raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Silence!" the zealot's voice thundered through the audience hall, amplified to a point were it hurt the ears, "Silence, I say!" the fierceness of his voice surprised even Celestia.
Slowly, the commotion started to die down, and the council members returned to their seats with unpleasant faces. When they had somewhat calmed down again, the old zealot gave her a stern gaze.
"You would expect us to spend a world's worth of energy out of pity and without compensation?"
"I did not say that, but I am unwilling to sacrifice any of my subjects to save others. I wish for all living beings of my world to be saved when the time comes."
His expression turned into a distrustful one, "Then what else would you give us as compensation? What could you possibly have to offer that outweighs the life force of an entire world? What else would you give in return for our help?"
All of the council members watched her in silence, waiting for her next words with anxiety. Celestia closed her eyes, her thoughts returning to her home, her sister, and all of her friends she had lost to time already. When she opened her eyes again, she spoke with a clear voice, and the ghost at her side translated them into their language.
"I would give you a sun."
A single moment later, the council exploded into commotion. Shouts and screams alike thundered in all directions as the members of the council tried to make themselves heard, but the commotion turned into a full panic when shadowy figures clad in black or golden armor descended into the audience hall like a thundering wave of clashing metal.
On the highest level of the audience hall, the purveyor watched the chaos below. In a single moment, everything had fallen from his grip of control... the purveyors, the dissidents, the council... the order he had worked so hard to uphold... everything had fallen into chaos. Even from here, he could feel it spread over the endless city like a fire.
And down below, standing in the middle of the chaos like a confused filly as both guards and hunters stormed into the hall, he saw her. With just a few words she had put his plans to ruin. A silent curse escaped his lips as he stepped over the edge of the platform, and in a shroud of roaring shadows he plunged towards the podium beneath him and onto Celestia.
What could they do with a sun?
2492714 Everything in their world is about energy, and a sun supplies an almost endless amount of power.
2492714Energy,plants,heat,ect.
I think they eat energy or something close to it. A sun is pretty powerful in that regard. I think. MOAR! 2492714
2492727Also bitchin marshmellows.
2492714
Enough and too much
2492714
Well, just how much energy do you think a sun outputs?
And what do you think an energy-starved people would do to get it?
that make sense
Why would they need this sun? If these are the same humans as from our world, this far in the future, I would imagine they would have already worked out fusion power. Therefor they could make suns with gas giants. But I guess they're not our humans, are they?
2492714
Well, a sun is a star. Literally a giant ball of gas, heat, and energy. Something like that would have to ACTUALLY compensate for her world, maybe more idk. It's like this, would you want 100 thousand lives, or a SUN!? I really don't know if this is right or not. I DO know however is that the Purveyor. Is. Pissed! This can only end in chaos.
the theoretical amount of energy would be enormous, if one has an effective way to collect
a serious way dyson sphere, but it requires a level of very high technology
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encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTOcCrSinjiGL_EfaONR42gjWEKJE3Gcn1Yr7ChIi4BF9Ar61vx
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Holy shit, I cannot believe I didn't see that coming...
woah
2492794 power equal to 100+ souls..or the power of one sol.. hmmm...
I'm pretty sure if you can get into the void, you can find a way to create your own star.
2492789
Considering that it might not be possible in the void..
But then again, they require active dying souls to live, so who knows.
Interesting. The Purveyor's plans just got hit by the mother of all monkey wrenches, didn't they?
In any case, I approve. A nice big sun would do wonders to make the Void less gloomy. Would be a 'ell of a lot nicer when I have to travel through it at least.
2492954 not without massive energy loss though.
2492839 .... looks like we both have great taste in names my good sir
2493015
It'd pay itself off over time. :3
2493018 in the void they use energy to make things. To make a sun they have to put the energy of a sun in the void. They wouldn't make any energy from it cause the energy it would be releasing is all energy they put there
2493015 Quite so, fine fellow!
2492971
Then what difference would a sun outside of the void make?
I cannot wait for the next chapter, Shit.Just.Got.REAL
2493090
I dunno to be honest, reminds me of how the Dark Eldar in Warhammer 40k steal suns and stars for power/light for Commeraah. It might be the same principle, except that the Purveyors cannot actively take them because of their connection to the void, thus someone like Celestia (who moves suns) can bring them into their void.
2492789
Fusion still requires fuel in the way of radioactive materials. A sun is basically a giant fusion engine that runs off of itself. If they could get one of those into the void, they would have energy lasting for billions of years.
What was the purveyor expecting her to say? Surely he didn't expect Celestia would be so stupid, and appeal to the council to get off without a[n] [un]fair trade. He drilled it into her head...on more than one occasion. She saw riots in the streets, and that must have cemented something... He was watching the world, and her since before she ruled. He must know that Celestia moves the sun as much as she does, and would probably offer the sun, in exchange for the lives of her subjects. Plot hole?
Wait. Why didn't they just take the sun of other worlds? Why didn't they just grab a sun floating out in space? There are billions upon billions of those things just floating out there.
Edit: Why didn't Celestia just suggest going out and grabbing some random sun just floating out somewhere in space?
Wat?
~Have a good one.
2493270
did you miss the fact that they don't preserve a world when they harvest the energy? The way I understand it, the material is broken down, siphoning the energies trapped in their web into the void. To move actual material requires much more than they're capable of, and yet it's something that Celestia thinks she can do apparently. It's been said that everything they have was brought with them, and everything else was made from the void.
That's my understanding of it anyhow.
And thus it broke out into a ball room blitz!
Gah, so much happening all at once!
Celestia forgot that without sun light there is going to be no food on her planet? Kinda....weird offer. And like others said, humans could just harvest suns, there is quite many of them, most giving light to the barren and empty worlds.
2493176
Which is exactly what I'm talking about. If they've figured out interdimensional travel I'm sure they have perpetual fusion reactors. But hey, let's say they don't. How exactly are they going to move a bloody sun anyhow?
My theory is that Celestia is offering up herself (body) as a fuel source. Her being one with the sun and all the good stuff.
There also comes the question as to why the humans haven't quantified someone like Celestia in the first place yet.
**EDIT**
Exactly why is getting radioactive material a hard thing anyway? They have an infinite or uncomprehendingly large number of universes to harvest it from. Did someone say Combine?
2493888
1. Perpetual energy doesn't exist.
2. The same way they moved the rest of the stuff in there. They cant move a sun, she can. They open a portal, she moves it in.
A giant frakking fusion reactor. Didn't see that one coming.
2492789 It wouldn't work like that, he said it was easier for them to make what they needed inside the void, than transfer it from outside.
In other words they use e=mc2 for everything, or some void version of it.
I don't get it. I got the impression from the Purveyor that the 'energy' he collects is not mundane energy the way we know it, like heat, kinetic energy, radiation etc. In fact:
It's life energy they require, not light or heat. How is a sun going to supply that?
2492727
Now I'm confused, where do these human live? If I'm correct then they live between dimensions, if they could achieve such feat then a sun's energy output should be insignificant to them......
Also we know the purveyors can interact with the material world, so why don't they simply travel to a habitable world, such as Equestria, and grow humans in a test tube? These humans can continue our civilization, can they not?
I may not be thinking straight right now......
2494387 They do live between dimensions, but the problem is that even a fusion reactor still requires a continues fuel input to run. Even for cold fusion (for those Starcraft fans), you need fuel. Bringing anything into the void other than in a form of pure energy simply doesn't add up for them, they would lose energy doing it.
As for the test tubes, it would be an interesting idea but it would also mean that they'd abandon all those stuck in the void.
Edit: Also, the energy required to keep the city running is already immense
2494777
Then what use is a sun? It's basically a big ball of fuel.
GnollReader is best author
2494823 It would be a source of energy inside the void itself, no transfers needed, only conversion.
2494845
Now I'm really confused. The sun is outside the void. It is made of fuel, so moving it into the void isn't cost-effective. How is it going to be a worthwhile source of power under those conditions? Are they going to leave it outside and just plug the energy output into the void or something? And if they can do thatm, why haven't they already done it with any number of mundane energy sources?
2494864 Wait for the next chapter ^^
2494868
Damn you're fast.
2494777 Thats true, but in the long run test tube humans may be the best option. Teach them everything, ask them to build dyson spheres, tons and tons of energy yay!!!
I'm a starcraft fan but I don't know anything about starcraft cold fusion
Dear Gnoll,
You're awesome.
From everyone ever
2494213
Which brings me to my previous point! Why in bloody hell would they want a sun 'outside' of the void?
2493934
If moving smaller resources like coal and wood into the void wastes so much energy that bringing them into the void becomes completely irrelevant, do you really think that opening a portal that is so large that they could fit a star through it would work? A portal that large would take up every little bit of energy they ever collected, IF they never used any, and then a little bit more. It would be the largest energy waste to ever happen. Princess Celestia would plan on making them a new sun. It would use significantly less energy, and Princess Celestia is practically the GODDESS OF THE SUN! She has worked with it every day for several thousand years, and her parents worked with it before her. She has a ton of experience with said sun, as well as the fact that it was drilled into her genetic code from having it passed down to her through generations of working with said sun.
2495453 What I meant was that they would lose energy if they used any kind of fusion energy inside the void..
Also the only way they could benefit from receiving a star is if Celestia can make one from the magic already within her body.. Which I somehow doubt.
i.. don't... what... she... what?
This is getting good! Popcorn anyone?