In the far future, entropy can be reversed, but at great cost. All the remaining civilizations have clustered around the last living star, artificially sustained by technology. Beyond the solar system, there is only the Void.
This prompt was found on the subreddit r/writingprompts here: https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/gh8zfd/wp_in_the_far_future_entropy_can_be_reversed_but/
Everyone has a word for the Void. Everyone knows what must be done to avoid it. They know the cost of the Final Reversal. It’s quite simple, really – at least, from the standpoint of the survival of the Known World…
But no one has a word for the weight of the cost. The sheer, unfiltered, unavoidable pain.
In the days leading up to it, many tried to put it into words. I heard them in whispers in the markets, and saw them in the frightened eyes of children just old enough to understand that it could be me.
What if it is me?
Even those without a spoken language tried to write it, or paint it in one of their expansive murals that went back so many generations.
Still, no one could manage it.
They understood it – of course they did, how could anyone not understand it?
But to put it into words, to speak it?
Unthinkable.
The crowd was silent as the Choosing Day arrived. It was strange, seeing so many different alien species clustered together – and to know that all of them were thinking the same thing. It was all randomized; only children were exempt from being on the List –
But what if it’s me?
But as the Namer stepped into the center of the massive hall, all those days of trying to put it into words felt like a waste.
All we wanted now was the answer.
The representatives of each alien race stood ready to translate the results as soon as they were announced in Earth-speech. Those who spoke in paintings or written words had their small tablets at the ready, prepared to receive the message in real time by their translator.
And so, one by one, the name of each being from each race was named. At each name a wail rose up from them, while the Named one was immediately known to all – those around them parted away like the Red Sea in the Old Tales, as if merely touching the Named one would cause them to be added to the List.
There are no words for the noises of sorrow they made.
The Named went forth to the center of the room, and the Namer began to speak.
“We honor your sacrifice,” said the Namer in Earth-speech, “we honor the time you give us to live in the light of the Last Star. We honor your place as the bringers of the Final Reversal. We thank you for keeping the Void at bay. May your gods and mine bear you well.”
As I watched the Named enter the Chamber, I was glad I wasn’t one of them.
And when I returned to my little house in the Void-Side Edge, and I stared out into the Void itself…
I tried to find the words for the small flickers of light I saw dancing in it.
I tried. I did.
But all I felt was rage.
A rage that would not stop screaming inside me –
LIES ALL LIES THE NAMER LIES THEY ALL LIE THE VOID IS LIES –
I wanted to jump into the Void without a spacesuit. But what would that fix?
No.
I needed to find the words.
And I needed to tell them the Truth.
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