Chapter 7 - The Expanding Nothingness

"The universe is homogeneous and isotropic, that is the Cosmological Principle."

"What does that mean?"

"Hm… It means that at a large scale, the universe looks the same everywhere. Meaning that it is equally distributed. It is like this because of the Big Bang."

"Why?"

"I also don't know that. Take this coin. How many do you have now?"

"One?"

"Yes, and how many did you have before I gave you that coin?"

"None!"

"Exactly, the Big Bang was the same. After it happened, there was one universe, before it happened there was nothing."

"Then how did the bang happen?"

"I also don't know why it happened in the first place. It is called the Big Bang because everything happened super-fast, in the beginning it was all compressed into a single point. Everything be it magic, gravity, the nuclear forces or the electromagnetism was bound together. And then, in less than a second it became so big you could walk your entire life and still not see the end."

"Wow!"

"Amazing isn't it?"

"Yes!"

"It would also be amazing if you did what I asked you to."

Currently, we were in the observatory, me and the little girl I found almost a year ago. It took some time for her to get used to her new life and it's taking an even longer time to teach her how to read and write.

She's very much interested in the cosmos which is amazing. An assistant that likes his job is much better than someone that was forced to do the work.

Her name is Akila, and although she is young, she is pretty mature. She loves playing with the telescope even though she has no idea what she's seeing, which motivates her to study.

"What does this mean?"

"It's a synonym of beautiful"

"Your handwriting is so ugly. Here, let me help you" We, unfortunately, had another visitor.

Slapping her hand away I did not allow her to touch Akila. Short dark hair and green eyes, this woman was another of the Ascended. Although different from most of them, she ascended quite recently, not much before the Void War. Also, instead of battle prowess, she gets recognition from her healing abilities that come from her hemomancy.

"Your hands are dirty; paper is expensive you know?"

*Tch

Unfortunately, much like a lot of ascended, due to the Void War, she is gradually getting consumed by madness. Her hemomancy no longer having the purpose of saving lives, now with the purpose of bending their minds to her will.

I have no idea why she wants my or my disciple's servitude though. I know that she already has some ascended under her control, but I am not going to say anything to the emperor. The last thing I want is for the me to get involved in politics.

Although I guess a civil war is also pretty bad.

Chuckling softly she held my hand and intertwined my fingers with hers. "Are you just jealous I am not holding your hand instead?"

Getting closer and whispering in her ear I saw her go stiff at my words "I'd prefer you held something else instead."

"EWWW!! Why are you so close?! You said her hands were dirty!"

My dear disciple's mind is too pure for this world.

…

"I see, my condolences your majesty. But it is fortunate the empress did not suffer anything life threatening".

"Yes, that was my saving grace. If something happened to her…"

A long silence stretched out between us. We were currently outside royal bedroom. Apparently, the prince or princess we were waiting for was stillborn.

The emperor was starting to doubt if this was a punishment from the gods. First, all but one of his children were killed in an assault and now, after many tries his child dies before he gets to see his smile.

We started walking in direction of his study.

"Is prince Azir faring well?"

"Not that well, but he's doing better thanks to his friend."

Going around the table he gives me a letter. "An ascended from Ixtal has asked you to lend your smarts for his project."

"He wants to seal the Void that was left in Icathia?"

"Exactly, it seems word of your smarts have already reached far and wide. It is still not set in stone if that project will move forward or not. For now, it is only an idea, and they have little to no idea how to do it."

Ixtal was previously an independent nation that later joined the Shuriman Empire. Although in truth they were still mostly independent.

Their military power is enormous due to its very powerful elemental mages. Ne'Zuk the ascended that asked for my help seems to be one of, if not the most, powerful elemental mage in Ixtal.

It wasn't kept a secret that the Void was growing in the destroyed city of Icathia. And it seems that Ixtal was afraid that it would spread to their wilderness destroying their little paradise.

After all, Icathia was much closer to Ixtal than it was to The Sun Disc capital. They probably were afraid that we wouldn't do anything to stop the expansion of the Void and when we did it would be too late for Ixtal's wilderness.

Valid concerns since Shurima is still recovering from the Void War and from the previous attempt at ending the emperor's bloodline.

"I'll do it."

"Truly?! In fact, we were also worried about the expansion of the void, with your participation in the project I will rest a little more assured that we can stop it. And what about the apprentice astronomer?"

Indeed, Akila could either stay here under the protection of the empire or come with me. Well, there wasn't really any debate on where she would stay.

"I'll be taking her with me. She still isn't ready to do prediction of the future for Your Majesty, so I don't think there is really any reason to leave her behind."

*Sigh* "It's a shame really, your predictions have helped us countless times already."

Of course they have, they were never predictions in the first place. I merely told him the most likely event to happen based on what was happening around us. After all, it is quite easy to see things before anyone else has the idea that they already started.

And there's no way I'm leaving my little assistant here. Not when Shurima is on the brink of a civil war.