Too many people asked themselves how, why and how the universe was created or where it came from.
The scientists postulated that the Big Bang theory was the most likely with the background microwave radiation present in all the cosmos.
The religious fundamentalists believe or believed in their respective religions' creation myth like the one shown in the Genesis.
Magi, instead, know that all of existence, matter, souls and, especially, Mystery came from the Swirl of Root, also known as the Akashic Records. The easiest explanation it could be given is that it's a sort of library or higher dimensional supercomputer outside of time and space that registers any event from the past, present and future among uncountable parallel worlds as well as the place where souls pass through in order to reincarnate.
Many magi tried to reach that sacred place, whether to know the secrets of the universe, obtain the ultimate power or just plain status, though only a few have ever touched it and received its blessing. Considering the majority of magi are sociopathic snobby mad scientist assholes, that should clue you that there's something they're not doing well.
Due to being an extradimensional immaterial realm, many have theorized that the Root could be related to the concept of the Void: absolute nothingness with unlimited possibilities.
However, what only few do know, is that the Root isn't actually empty, at least, not completely.
Inside of it, there was a world with relatively stable space and time: a mountain with a peak that houses ancient ruins that look like pillars whose broken tips coincidentally resemble spears or other types of stabbing weapons.
And even far above those holy antediluvian grounds, there was an even ancient place, though no one knows if it was as old or older than time itself or maybe even more recent than anyone would believe.
Unlike the grandiose ruins, what floated above consisted of transparent tiles, with the exception of an elevated and gigantic black triangle which housed strange circular symbols, especially the red, pink and blue ones, each one placed on the tips of the triangle.
And over those colourful circles, there were thrones that match them. The pink one looked like it was made of a pearly material and was decorated with pink astronomical models that floated around it as if gravity was null. The blue one had a more metallic aesthetic as well as it had diamonds of all sizes embedded on it, not to talk about the back of it that resembles a mechanical clock. The last one… looked more like someone had smashed red fangs, golden platinum and solid shadows and just made it a day though surprisingly, it had some sort of order in it despite looking chaotic enough to make a detailed description a headache inducing exercise.
With all that purple prose building up the hype, it's safe to say the thrones' occupants are as regal and grandiose as they're shaping to be… if they weren't bored as Hell, that is.
"I am booooored." Giratina complained… again. She and her sisters looked like young women even though they must be… uh. I don't know. How old an atemporal being could be? Her dress looked as if a princess decided to make a gijinka of her Pokémon form, which she actually is.
Dialga looked up from her 163745518364538187329338264892873982th or so book she was reading, trying with all her being to not lash out with a Roar of Time towards her delinquent sister. By the way, her goddess attire looked as if she copied it from the Pope and coloring it blue, which Giratina commented on from time to time.
And now I realized I made an incredibly bad time joke.
"Yes, I know." Dialga clenched her teeth "You said that 5 minutes ago."
Giratina blinked "Didn't time work differently in the Root? Oh wait, you're Time itself, stupid question."
"And if you can complain and ask stupid questions why don't you do something else?"
"I would, however, when you're in the center of the multiverse, you can watch EVERYTHING! And eventually become bored with it. Guess that's how Dead Apostles and other immortal beings must feel. Hey, Palky, got any ideas?"
Both goddesses looked towards their pinky sister… who was eating Mapo Tofu from a Non-Euclidean infinite bowl. And her dress looked like a mix of anime female knight and Magical Girl with her own Pokémon form motifs.
"Hmm? Sorry, I was eating. What were you saying?"
""Nothing./Don't worry about it.""
Dialga blinked "Wait, if you're bored, why don't you do your job?"
"Because that's work! Besides, I do that simply by existing. The only laborious thing is to integrate myself slowly and carefully into every world so as to not provoke a paradox or make an antimatter explosion." Giratina sighed "Urgh, why were we doing this again?"
The implementation of the Distortion World as an universal space-time corrector, alongside Dialga's improved Quantum Lock system and Palkia's standardardization of planetary textures, was so successful that it may have saved a ton of time and work.
Enough to question why they were there if there wasn't anything better to do
"Wasn't it you who wanted to ascend in order to make the rules of the multiverse objectively uniform instead of, and I quote you "run on fucking mystical belief bullshit on a jerkass sentient planetary basis"?" Palkia quoted.
Giratina groaned "Actually, I don't have too much beeg against belief powered metaphysics. It's the part that Mystery is so fickle, enough to not set itself in a definite set of rules that it ticked me."
"Now that I think about it, how did you arrive at that conclusion, Giratina?" Dialga asked curiously "We know why we signed for this but not what spurred you to rebel against the status quo of existence. And I don't buy the mere, 'I think the universe is wrong' kind of excuse."
"Heh." Giratina smirked "Took you forever to ask that. Remember how I was a physicist?"
"As well as an apprentice of the Atlas Institute?" Palkia added.
"Ahah." Giratina nodded.
"Didn't you make a huge mess escaping from there because you wanted to expand your investigation outside it despite their rule of nothing going out of there?"
"Yes, that too." Giratina nodded proudly. Sure, while all the superweapons there were enough justification to not take them outside the Institute, they were incredibly stubborn to include people in the list of 'Things never to take outside'. It was a pain in the ass apologizing to poor Sion after that. "Wouldn't you mind if we took a literal look into our past?" She asked her blue sister.
"Not at all."
"Okay, I'll tell you the coordinates."
F/C: DaS
In the past (relatively speaking)...
"Hey, have you ever asked yourself why are we here?"
"Fou."
"Yeah, I also have no freaking idea."
With Fou camping on her head, Giratina yawned. So boooooooored.
To start with this chapter, someone, no one remembers who, had the brilliant idea of traveling to Europe to celebrate Taiga's graduation There were discussions, votes, bites and scratches. Unconscious use of sealed up probability manipulation powers may or may not have happened. Until they ended up with Scotland. So the entire Emiya household and Tiger, went to spend their spring holidays there.
Usually, Giratina would be as fascinated as any other 10-year old child could be but there's one thing no one told her: Scotland is famous for its castles; there are lots of castles there; and their plan was to visit ALL OF THEM!
Okay, there was no human way of visiting all of those big, old, uncleaned castles in a few weeks but they were going to visit all they could.
Dialga was fascinated by such a historical country; Taiga, by medieval western weapon styles; Palkia wouldn't care much as long as she's with her family; and Shirou… uh, she doesn't know what he would think about this. For all those years they've been together, the things she's seen him take an interest in were superhero shows and taking care of the housework, especially cooking. Both Giratina and Shirou would compete about who cleans best the house or being the superior cook. Both are evenly matched in multiple aspects.
Though that still doesn't give her any insight about what her brother would like about Middle Ages Europe.
Maybe it was the magic? Kiritsugu said that land had lots of history with the supernatural and that some important leylines were there too. Shirou has been pestering their adoptive dad to teach him magecraft without too much success, with the old man only telling some odd bits of magi society and basic spells that weren't very impressive if what he told of the potential of magecraft was anything to go by. She, like her sisters, weren't very interested in it, even if they saw Kiritsugu set water ablaze as if it were gasoline (the water burning incident at the kitchen doesn't count though it would explain a few things). After all, magecraft can only do what mundane science can.
A decadent society of traitorous sorcerers that are trying to maintain whatever magic remains from the past to use it to reach the origin of everything? When non-magical research and technology is doing a much better job of unraveling the universe much faster?
And to think that millennia ago or even longer, gods and many other supernatural beings roamed freely, playing with the rules of reality like a kid used playdough. And that it was only when humans slowly began discovering the laws of science that magic all but nearly disappeared
You may call her delinquent, bad-mouthed or whatever, she's all of those things but if there's something that she actually believes in, despite her personality, is order and logic and science offers those.
Since young, the three sisters have got an almost instinctive grasp of mathematics and by association, science. Though Giratina may be the one who wholly embraced them, the others had different interests.
Knowing about magecraft made her doubt about something: if the actual laws of physics were only possible because mankind believed in them, wouldn't that mean that the universe would actually function by another set of rules? What if the visible universe is fake or something?
Urgh, why was she thinking of existential worries again? She was supposed to be on a vacation, dammit!
Right now, they were at the ruins of a castle called Dunscaith, rumored to be home of Scathach, teacher of one of Ireland's biggest heroes, Cu Chulainn or Setanta.
Some prefer to call him Irish Hercules.
Of course, that was a myth, but considering how magic exists, it would be more of a legend, or perhaps true history if Kiritsugu's comments about the mana's density were something to go by.
Fortunately, there wasn't any proof of supernatural nasties or other strange phenomena in the zone so it was safe to visit.
Giratina, on her part, was resting on a wall that provided shadow. That day was unusually hot for spring, which is chalked up to climate change, as well as being yet another boring castle visit day, so she took Fou with her, too.
They were lucky to be able to take the cat/dog/squirrel/whatever with them. Years before, when he KOed Kiritsugu, they wised up enough to not neuter him.
They still had to make him go to the vet, especially for vaccines, so he didn't completely avoid the horrors of being a pet, scratches, bites and flying kicks be damned.
And now both were booooooooooored.
However, there was some interesting reaction that was happening on their location that both weren't aware of. The castle of Dunscaith, or rather, the Isle of Skye itself is one of the few places left in the world with a natural connection to the mystical planes or Textures of the World, more specifically, the Land of Shadows. It was supposed to be on the Reverse Side but it eventually drifted into its own bubble of existence, Outside of time and space yet still anchored to Earth. This realm is one of the many afterlifes created by mankind's imagination, so it is constantly filled to the brim with wraiths and even god-like beings that wish to escape into the world of the living, only kept at bay by its immortal ruler.
Due to a combination of factors, like the castle being one of the main anchors to the Land of Shadows and Giratina's still sealed yet present unique connection to the fabric of reality, her elemental affinity to shadows and other ghostly energies, as well as coincidentally leaning over a shadow, a gate to the Land of Shadows began to open behind her.
Poor girl hadn't had time to lean on something before sinking into the darkness, both her and Fou's screams being unheard to no one except the black unending abyss…
F/C: DaS
When Giratina awoke, it was to the sound of a fireplace and the sight of a stone room. However, what attracted her eyes most was some sort of golden cubic object in a glowing rune-engraved wooden stool, not too different to pyrite though too large to be like that mineral. As strange as it was to say it, she felt some sort of connection to it.
"It seems you're finally awake."
To the side of her bed, she could see an extremely beautiful and regal-looking woman with long purple hair, blood-crimson eyes and a revealing dark bodysuit that could turn many a man (and some women) due to the curvaceous bod it shows. She was scratching Fou's chin with one hand, while the other arm was being used to hold him. The animal purring in delight. Whether from being spoiled, the extremely sexy woman or both. That pervert mage may be an ass but his 'refined' tastes have being imprinted on the Cath Palug from a looooong time.
"I don't know where does my surprise begins. Whether from having the loyalty of a Beast, even an immature one, being able to enter this accursed dimension or hiding a powerful artifact with both draconic and ghostly essences, able to somehow distort and stabilize space and time in its vicinity, inside a seemingly human body."
Giratina's body flinched when the woman's eyes crossed with her own. It felt as if a hunter was merely considering playing with her pray or a mad scientist barely holding the impulse to dissect an interesting curiosity.
"I think an explanation is in order."
AN: The Sinnoh remakes are close! Oooooh, I cannot wait to once again play Diamond, one of the few things I wish is for Platinum content like the Wi-Fi Plaza or the Distortion World to return as well as the Underground being online compatible.
The introduction for this chapter has being inspired by Dias Irae, more specifically the Throne. I never read the Shinza Banshou series but from what I searched, it's one of the most OP fictional universes ever imagined and with a use of hyperboles, exaggerations and metaphors more than what good old Nasu would ever write. I also mixed it with Mount Coronet, Spear Pillar, Hall of Origin and the Mystri Stage. In the end, I used that concept to show the foregone, yet distant, conclusion of the Creation Trio's journey in the Nasuverse: as Supreme Gods/Administrators of the Multiverse that try to make the multiverse better or in the words of a certain Man-Emperor, spoken through a text-to-speech machine, to 'unfuck' it.
Of course, being originally supposed to be universal/low multiversal entities, being in charge of a higher multiverse as well as the risk of incredibly damaging paradoxes if certain metaphysical laws are changed too soon, they are both overwhelmed and underwhelmed with such titanic task.
At least they've made some progress. In this iteration of the Nasuverse, Quantum Locks are a little bit more lenient, allowing for more timeline variations to occur, though with less risk of the Sol System being overwhelmed with information overflow. Timelines supposed to be purged are now put apart on separate branches with different levels of isolation, so Lostbelts that are deleted now have a chance to survive. Unfortunately, the implementation of those improvements have yet to be widespread to all branches of the Nasuverse, especially due to the atemporal nature of the Root. Also, incredibly distorted timelines are outright deleted to prevent their distortion of damaging the rest of the multiverse.
To end this commentary, as you obviously took notice, this chapter and the next(s) are and will be focused on Giratina, one of my favourite Pokémon ever and whose personality reflects partially a headache inducing conundrum about how the metaphysics of the Nasuverse should clash with mundane physics. I mean, if species wide belief is what distorts reality, shouldn't the spread of superstition and erroneous scientific principles, especially during the beginning of the Middle Ages, spun the world through another direction, especially due to the existence of Textures and Gaia's global Reality Marble, and the fact that in the Nasuverse, what humans can only gleam from other celestial bodies isn't their true form but a Texture that conforms to their limited understanding of the universe? As assholish as magi are in general as well as the dangers of the supernatural, Mystery there should be acknowledged to be something to be studied by all of human society. I think the fear of Mystery disappearing if known to all is something stupid. Sure, it may probably deplete the last bit of mana left into the Reverse Side but we humans are so curious that interest in studying the occult may lead into a resurgence of magecraft, though with probably changed rules. The world of EXTRA is an example of the might of both science and magic united, whether from humans or aliens. Giratina's plan is sort of wanting to enlighten the universe through a balanced mix of science and magic like what the creators of the Moon Cell did as well as the creation of A-Rays and Ether Liners, which is something she sort of admires. The selfish, irresponsible, violent uses given to them are something she doesn't approve of though she barely tolerates due to being a result of human or sapient nature, which needs to evolve through trial-and-error.
Nonetheless to say, she and the other two dragons facepalmed more than once at the collective stupidity of humanity and all the other sapient species in the universe and were,are and will be tempted to either take a more direct approach, abandon them or just eliminating them, one of the only things holding them back is their former lives as part of the Emiya, which reminds them that they once lived as humans before and after awakening their powers and acknowledging that they are as flawed as any other sapient being, ever.