The Petition

"Supplicant Anseel Temis deCeer of the planet Tdieel, enter
the Chamber."
Anseel cringed as the order boomed through the antechamber.
The other petitioners looked at him with expressions ranging from
surprise to anger. He understood the anger. Some of them had
been waiting for days; he had just arrived.
He started for the massive double doors that led into the
Chamber of the Overlords. His crest quivered with nervousness.
He reached up to smooth the drab brown feathers into place. His
soft, useless flight feathers rattled in an apprehensive shudder.
The doors swung open on silent hinges. Beyond loomed
ominous darkness. He took several deep breaths, then stepped
through. The doors closed with a soft sigh and the nothingness
before him shimmered with pale light. Anseel smoothed his crest
again, then remembered what his nest-mother had told him about
Denesh Overlords.
_You must face them with courage to gain their respect.
Bearing matters far more to them than appearance. Be brave,
little Groundling._
He stood straighter and raised his crest high. The pale
light took form.
Although he knew it was not real, Anseel's senses assured
him he stood on one of the cold, dark, rocky worlds favored by
the Denesh. Before him, three Overlords curled their long
reptilian bodies on stony thrones. Their dark scales reflected
the starlight with glimmers of rainbow color. High above, a
fleet of Denesh warships hung silhouetted against the mists of a
blue-green nebula. Anseel studied the ships, his beak rattling
in awe.
"We have read your petition, Tdieel deCeer." The Overlord's
resonant voice jerked Anseel's attention back to the ground. "We
find it intriguing. You have requested the destruction of the
planet Earth across all dimensions. While we relish the
challenge of pursuing this, such an endeavor is not undertaken
lightly, nor is it without consequences."
"I-- We understand, your Lordship." Anseel struggled to
keep his voice steady. "However, doing nothing could have even
more dire consequences."
"Explain."
Anseel took a shuddering breath and began his carefully
rehearsed speech. "Using the multidimensional drive your people
so graciously sold us, my colleagues and I undertook the study of
the phenomenon of dimensional splitting caused by pivotal events.
Our intention was to catalog what types of events cause the
creation of new universes wherein each universe follows the path
of a different outcome of the triggering event. During our
research, we discovered an inordinate number of splits coming
from a single nexus, Earth-prime.
"Further investigation revealed these splits are so numerous
they are thinning and weakening the fabric of the multiverse at
the Earth locus. If that fabric tears, it could unravel across
dimensions, and has the potential to destroy the multiverse as we
know it."
A rumbling issued from the Overlords, then another spoke.
"Destruction of this world will end the threat?"
Anseel nodded. "If you destroy every inhabited instance of
the planet, it will."
"How does one world cause such a threat?"
"The inhabitants of this world have a form of entertainment
in which they read, write, view, or otherwise participate in what
they call 'fictions'--imaginary occurrences involving people,
places, and creatures that never existed. These are not learning
stories, not parables used to explain something or teach a
lesson. They are pure fancy. Some recreate history, others
create an unlikely future. Many have no basis in any reality or
truth.
"A number of these fictions are widely followed, to the
point they are almost believed to be true, no matter how
fantastic. This belief provides the power to create universes in
which these fictions are real. Recently, this phenomenon has
increased as expanding planetary communications have put more of
the inhabitants in touch with one another, allowing them to share
and create even more fictions.
"Destruction of these fictions and of the people who believe
in them results in the destruction of the universes they create.
Destruction of all instances of Earth will prevent the creation
of new ones. Thus we ask this favor of you not for ourselves,
but for all life across all the instances of the universe."
A long pause ensued. Low reverberations rumbled from the
Overlords as they spoke to one another. After several moments,
one of them addressed Anseel, "Your petition is granted. We
will begin preparations immediately. Dismissed."

#

Four days later, Anseel received a message that the Denesh
fleet had launched. As a tribute to those doomed by his
petition, he opened the final file from Earth-prime. His
colleagues had transmitted the information before leaving the
condemned world. He needed to catalog the data, the last of the
fictions, then he could close the case for good. He scanned
through the translated stories, read a bit here, a bit there, to
get a final sense of what the Overlords would destroy.
As he skimmed the file, something caught his eye. He
returned to the beginning of the fiction. His feathers stiffened
and his heart pounded in horror as he read the first line:
_"Supplicant Anseel Temis deCeer of the planet Tdieel, enter
the Chamber."_