Breakfast was a quiet affair, Mami noted. Sayaka's state had been subdued since her return—not all that surprising going by what little she'd been told by Madoka and Kyoko about what had gone on inside the isolation field. At the moment Kyoko was doing her best to keep her spirits up, and it seemed to be working… but every time the blonde and the redhead's eyes met, Mami could tell Kyoko was worried.
Speaking of subdued; Nagisa had been nearly silent since Sayaka had woken up. No silly antics, no loud enthusiastic conversations… she was nearly mute as she ate her food. Mami knew it was likely to do with how the bluenette had treated her upon waking—the two were most certainly not on speaking terms, but she seemed to be withdrawn even from Mami, which worried her.
And finally there was Madoka. The pink-haired girl sat away from the others, as she'd had a sort of habit of doing since they'd all met up once again. She'd come to see Sayaka and make sure she was okay, and then she'd sequestered herself away and allowed Kyoko to keep Sayaka occupied. Occasionally Mami would catch her glancing back at the bluenette with varying looks of concern and guilt—and it didn't take much for Mami to connect the dots. The pinkette's mood had been up and down since arriving on Tamriel, and adding one more casualty to the list couldn't be doing any wonders for the sheer amount of pressure and guilt on her shoulders. Mami considered going over to her, but while she was sure Madoka would greet her with a wide smile, she was getting the distinct impression she really wanted to be left alone at the moment.
And so that left Mami by herself. Alone. She sighed slightly at the loneliness that threatened to build within her, afraid of the situation around her unraveling. Kyoko was hiding things from Sayaka, Sayaka was undeniably furious at Nagisa, and there was the ever-present threat of Homura showing up and making everything even worse. It made her uneasy.
Thus, she was relieved when Valtir arrived mid-morning.
"Ah, good. Everyone's here," he said happily before his mood turned, "… I believe I owe you answers."
"God, finally." Kyoko exclaimed, to which the monk could only help but chuckle a bit.
"Why are we all here?" Mami asked him, "What exactly is going on?"
Valtir sighed, "… Come. I think we'll find better speaking arrangements in the College Arcanaeum."
"… The what-now?" Sayaka asked in confusion as they were led down the stairs to the entrance of the apprentice dorms.
The elf gave her a raised eyebrow, "The library."
The library, located on the third floor of the College's main structure, was much like the other rooms—large, vaguely circular, and cram-packed with stuff. Bookshelves lined the walls, including a number of dividing walls that partially split the center from the room's outer rings. Another floor existed above them, a balcony with even more stuff. In the central area were several tables, and along the back wall an old green-skinned orc sat with a long white beard and an extremely grumpy look on his face.
"The kids again. And you brought more of them this time. Fantastic."
"And screw you right back." Kyoko muttered as she headed over to the table where everyone was assembling.
The orc almost retorted until Brelyna stepped in, "Calm down, Urag. They're not going to break anything." Urag gave a grunt and went back to his work before the Arch-Mage turned to the girls, "Don't mind him, he's just particular about his books."
"I remember when you were a snot-nosed kid ruining my collection too." Urag said, "Lost six books to your shenanigans."
"I paid those fines decades ago." Brelyna exclaimed in mild bemusement.
"A librarian never forgets."
The dunmer gave an exasperated eyeroll at the old orc, who by all accounts should have been dead decades ago. She had no idea to his actual age; he'd always been somewhat cagey about how long he'd been around and she hadn't been able to tease anything out other than the fact that he had been an old man even when she'd been a student half a century ago—which should have been an orc's lifespan to begin with. She'd once asked the last Arch-Mage before her, Tolfdir, but the kindly old nord had only chuckled without responding.
… She missed Tolfdir. It was hard, being in charge when you still thought of yourself as young and inexperienced.
Brelyna had assembled some of the staff; those she trusted implicitly. This mostly meant herself, Urag (obviously), and her two old partners in crime: J'zargo, Master of Destruction, and Onmond, Master-Wizard. The other College Masters had been sent to keep the apprentices occupied and away from the library. It wasn't that she was paranoid of the others, but politics were always a problem in the College, and that always had a way of inviting unfriendly foreign ears…like the College of Whispers, the Synod, or even (especially) the Thalmor.
Valtir guided the akaviri girls to the table and then looked at Brelyna. She nodded, and the altmer took the floor, "Greetings, everyone. As I'm sure you all know by now, I am Valtir of the Psijic Order, and I have come to you with important information. I have been tasked with assembling the six young women who have landed here on Nirn after the destruction of their world."
"… Six?" Madoka asked in realization, "You know where Homura is?"
"… Hopefully in hell where she belongs," Sayaka muttered under her breath. Kyoko eyed her nervously.
Valtir gave a frustrated sigh, "Yes… and no. We know she landed on Nirn, and we had traced her to the Reach… but she has since given us the slip. We're trying to locate her once again, but it's…" he frowned, "It's as if something or someone is hiding her from us."
Dread pooled inside Madoka, "What do you mean by that? She's okay, right?"
"I assure you, we are committed to finding her and have expertly-trained mages looking for her. Once we have something, you will be the first to know."
"… You promise," Madoka said firmly.
Valtir nodded, "She is vitally important, and we cannot do this without her. I had wanted her here with the rest of you, but time is of the essence, and we need to start moving. As soon as she is located, we will direct her towards you."
Kyoko gave the elf a glare as she leaned back against the table, her arms folded and legs stretched out, "… And what exactly do you want us to do? You've been dancing around it for days now."
"Indeed," Valtir said, "First, some backstory. Do you all know how you came to be here?"
Madoka looked down at the table in shame, "There was… I mean to say we…" she trailed off for a moment, "… Homura and I had a fight," she finished lamely.
Valtir arched his eyebrow in amusement, "Clearly. But it's more complicated than that, isn't it?"
Madoka frowned but nodded.
"Neloth said Homura split Hope in two," Nagisa said helpfully, trying to remember the specifics of a conversation she'd had way back when she'd first arrived, "Something about… dragonbreaks?"
"Neloth shared his theories with us, and I concur," the monk replied. He sat down on another table opposite of the others. Then, with a bit of magic he created what could only be described as a holographic planetarium that overlaid itself on the library. In the center sat a blue and green world, much like Earth but very different. Above it hovered two familiar moons—the two in the night sky. Beyond them in various orbits were eight other planets, and beyond that the stars twinkled.
"What you call the 'universe' we call the Aurbis," Valtir said, "It is the wheel upon which creation turns. Beyond it is the void, the nothingness. The Aurbis itself is infinite—a literally endless number of realms and planes of existence rest within it, and many of them are functionally infinite in size in of themselves. We assume your plane of existence was one of them—though from where it came from we cannot say as it was unknown to us until The Event."
"A wider multiverse," Madoka said, as if confirming something. She'd suspected but had never been able to prove it beyond the myriad timelines and quantum fluctuations that superimposed themselves on her own world, all variations on a theme. Beyond that was unknown to her; after all, how could she exist in a universe where magical girls did not?
"If you would like to consider it that way," Valtir said before continuing, "The Aurbis is subdivided into many regions. Aetherius; the origin of magic and life. Oblivion, the endless expanse and the home of the so-called Daedric Princes. And Mundus, the center of the wheel, the fulcrum of creation you see around you," he motioned to the planetarium, "It was a group project of sorts between many aedric spirits, entities you would refer to as gods, though…" a troubled expression grew, "The intentions and outcome of the project are… controversial depending on who you talk to."
Mami blinked, "… Why?"
The altmer laughed, "Why indeed? Discussing implications of creation and the events that led up to it could take an entire college course and more. Suffice to say, there are many opinions on who did what and why—none of which are important at this particular moment. What is important is that it was the result of a collective effort; an assemblage of talent from many spirits and concepts that weaved together the world you see around you today."
"And this has… what to do with us?" Kyoko asked, starting to get impatient.
Valtir eyed her, "Everything. Madoka Kaname," the pinkette shifted to attention when he called her name, "You were your realm's concept of hope, correct? You didn't just embody hope and salvation, you were those concepts. Not just for magical girls, but the very idea all sentient beings drew from."
"I… yes," she said, somewhat hesitantly.
"We have many such concepts here in the Mundus, on Nirn. Spirits who bonded themselves to this plane and gave up much of their power and agency in order to maintain it. Mara, the concept of love and fertility. Stendarr, the spirit of mercy and justice. Jephre, spirit of song and the forest… and many others. But arguably the most important, and the one most relevant to us today, is Auri-El, the spirit of time and permanence. He has many names, many faces. Many humans call him Akatosh, the dragon god, or some variation therein."
"See? What'd I tell you," Kyoko whispered to Sayaka, "It's goddamn Narnia up in here."
"Giants?"
"Yep."
"Mermaids?"
"Sorta."
"Unicorns?"
"Shit, probably."
"Talking trees?"
"They don't talk, but I guess they're telepathic or whatever and might be evil."
"Now you're just messing with me."
Kyoko put up her hands in protest, "Swear to god."
Mami shot the two a look, the kind she reserved for inconsiderate classmates who were interrupting the lesson. Both girls shut up.
The monk shifted away the planetarium, and in its place formed a magnificent city; a circular wheel of eight segments and a central tower that reached to the heavens. As the zoomed in on the top of the tower, the girls could make out a group of robed figures performing a ceremony of sorts, "Long ago in the First Era, an order of heretical human mages calling themselves the Maruhkati Selective, as part of a wider attempt to 'purify' human culture of meric—or elven—influences, attempted to split the time spirit apart, separating his mannish Akatosh aspect from the merish Auri-El using forbidden magic. It… did not end well."
Kyoko and Nagisa digested the information; they remembered this from Neloth, but now had a bit more context to draw on and were now connecting more of the dots.
"… How do you mean?" Mami asked, genuinely fascinated by this.
"We call the event the 'Middle Dawn', in reference to the fact that it essentially sent Nirn temporarily spiraling back into the chaos of creation, before the laws of reality were established. In essence, the mages broke the dragon; roughly a thousand years of un-time ensued where anything and everything did happen, not necessarily in order. Cause and effect were mere guidelines, not facts. When it finally ended and linear time reasserted itself, no one could tell what had happened because everyone had a different story."
Madoka's expression had become extremely troubled as she seemed to understand everything the wizard was saying as well as the implications, "… You're telling me that when Homura pulled me apart something similar happened. Hope… broke?"
"I am working on Neloth's hypothesis and what little I know about The Event, but yes," Valtir said, "Did you have authority over your role when your friend pulled you apart?"
"… No," Madoka said helplessly, "By the time I regained my memories the universe was unraveling and falling apart. I thought it was because Homura was over-extending herself by trying to micromanage instead of just letting things be, but you're telling me it's because I wasn't there?"
"It may have been a mixture of both," the monk admitted, "But as Neloth surmised, what is the absence of Hope? Rather, if a Dragon Break resulted in un-time, then what would a Cycle Break entail?"
Madoka put her face in her hands with a shudder, "Despair. Oh, Homura."
"She was doomed from the start," Mami mused. Sayaka scoffed with an eyeroll.
The monk nodded, "Most likely."
"No offense, but some of us already knew this," Kyoko said, "You said you had answers. You and the dragon both said we messed shit up by coming here. How?"
The illusion shifted back to the planetarium as Valtir continued, "I'll be honest, plane-destruction is not well-documented. Most planes are small and insignificant; temporary byproducts of the chaos of Oblivion that fade in and out of existence. Larger intentional ones like the Daedric realms are inherently stable, as they are the essences of their creators. You cannot remove, say, Azura, Daedric Lord of twilight and vanity from the realm of Moonshadow, because she is that realm."
"Apologies," Mami interjected, "You keep using these terms. Aedra? Daedra?"
"Ah yes, my mistake," the monk said, "In merish terminology, Aedra are those spirits who aided in the creation of the Mundus—literally, 'our ancestors'. Daedra, such as yourselves, are those who did not partake in creation and are foreign entities. They are generally freer to act as they did not bind themselves to Convention, but there are defenses in place to prevent a full daedric incursion—defenses which I may add, you simply bludgeoned your way through when you landed here. By all rights, you should not be here," he turned to Madoka, "The Law of Cycles was for all intents and purposes a daedric prince—the prince of Hope, though the way it interacted with your plane was more akin to how the aedra operate within the Mundus, which raises questions of its own."
"Ah… sorry?" Madoka said sheepishly, "I didn't mean to."
"Neloth said that's why we can't tap into our soul magic," Nagisa said, "Because it's foreign?"
"Precisely; a Daedric Prince normally cannot fully manifest themselves on Nirn. I don't know what happened to the rest of the Law of Cycles; it might be sealed within Madoka, she may have been again separated from it, it may still be out there adrift, or it may have been shattered along with your plane, but as long as Madoka is on Nirn, she as well as any aspects of hers—which I would assume you all count as, cannot use your inherent powers."
"Bummer," Kyoko muttered.
"Sorry," Mami interjected again, "Aspects?"
"The Law of Cycles was something of a gestalt, yes?" the monk asked Madoka, "It absorbed the souls of all magical girls past, present, and future?" Madoka nodded and Valtir continued, "The Law of Cycles was timeless. Therefore, even if things did not go according to plan, the simple fact that you have a soul gem meant that you were inextricably a part of it, even if, well, 'salvation' didn't occur for you directly within your particular series of events."
Mami leaned back. That… was quite a lot to process. "You're saying Kyoko and I were taken into the Law of Cycles… retroactively?"
"In a sense," Valtir said before sighing; it was time for the next stage, "… And that brings me to my reason for gathering you all together. You arriving on your own would have been cause enough for concern—but you did not arrive alone."
"…The meteor shower," Madoka said quietly.
Again the monk nodded, "Exactly. Your plane shattered. It did not simply cease to exist; rather some of it fell to Mundus, to Nirn. I would expect more shards scattered across the entire Aurbis—but here on Nirn specifically we are confirmed to have a problem."
Madoka gave him a wondering look—almost hope but laced with an attempt at denial, "… When you say shards…"
An image of something that looked like a Tamrielic soul gem but a bit larger appeared hovering over Valtir's outstretched hand, "Souls are above all else, power. They are energy, they are life, they are magic. They are by their very nature declarations of what is and what is not. They are also highly sought after; essentially being currency for higher powers. When your world rained down on Nirn, it brought with it souls—hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of them, frozen and locked away in what we are calling 'world shards'. It is imperative that we find them before more unscrupulous parties begin to claim them. Allowing the balance of power to flip like this would be catastrophic."
But Madoka had stopped paying attention as soon has Valtir had mentioned that the souls of her universe were here, on Nirn, in fragments. She could…she could find them. She could save them. She…she could…
"I can save them," she said suddenly, cutting Valtir off as she looked him in the eye, her expression pleading, "Right? That's what you're telling me," she stood up and approached Valtir as her voice got more frantic, "I can save them. I can fix this."
"I…" the monk hesitated, surprised at the girl's sudden manic ferocity, "… I'm not sure."
"What do you mean?" Madoka asked, desperation flooding her voice, "You just said they're here, on Nirn, right? That's what you said. I can… I can…" she trailed off putting her hands over her mouth as tears began to trickle down her face.
"… Madoka?" Sayaka asked in concern as she got up.
Valtir swallowed, choosing his words carefully, "…Your world as it was is gone. What's left are the souls and memories. It's… you would need to access the Law of Cycles once more to create a new realm."
"But it is possible," Mami asked him to clarify, seeing Madoka's fragile mental state as Sayaka gently grasped the pinkette's shoulder.
"What exactly are you asking us to do?" Sayaka asked the monk, supporting Madoka.
"Collect the world shards," Valtir replied, "Once that is done, optimistically I would like to see you leave the Mundus and restart elsewhere. If that's not possible then… at least I would see you recycle the souls properly."
"… Recycle?" Sayaka asked with disgust.
"Into the dreamsleeve. It's a process of sorts, in which unclaimed souls are renewed and repurposed for the next world… in whatever form that takes."
"You want me to bury them" Madoka said, her voice that of a horse whisper, her eyes obscured by her bangs.
"I am sorry," Valtir replied honestly, "I truly am, but as I said, souls are power and leaving them for others to claim is irresponsible at best, and apocalyptic at worst. That said, isn't that what you did anyway?" he asked helpfully, "You were something of a psychopomp, yes? A ferrywoman for souls headed towards their resting place?"
No. It was nothing like that. This felt… colder. More final. Magical girls got their blissful slumber under her watch, and as a timeless being she had experienced all possible events simultaneously—for her, time was just as much of a direction as space. For as terribly cold and lonely and isolated as her role could be, nothing was ever truly final and that was what kept her going. But this… no, she couldn't. She wouldn't. She didn't do it for this. She hadn't sacrificed everything just to watch it all burn.
"No," she said.
"… Pardon?" Valtir asked.
She wiped her tears away and looked at him with a determined look on her face, "I won't do it. I won't leave them all. It's my world, my responsibility. I'll find a way to fix this. You said it's possible, right?"
"… Perhaps?" Valtir replied, sympathetic yet uncertain, "Ascension is no easy task, and fraught with more danger than perhaps even you know."
"I'll take that risk," Madoka said, putting on her best forced smile, "I've done it before. I'll do whatever it takes."
Sayaka gently clung to her shoulders with pride, while Mami gave a knowing, satisfied smile. Kyoko on the other hand slumped forward, her eyes hidden as the illusions of happiness she'd entertained last night went up in smoke. Nagisa had a troubled, distant look.
Valtir regarded the young woman—nay, the concept before him. Here she stood, pushing aside a potential breakdown, defiant with a radiant smile. She believed she could do what she said. More than that… he believed she could.
"…Yes," he said with a small smile, "I believe you will. Very well; you've convinced me," he looked over the group "Use today to rest up. Tomorrow with the Arch-Mage's permission," Brelyna nodded at him as he eyed her, "I will put all of you through intense training and study. Some of you already know a small smattering of spells; we will work to hone that knowledge as much as possible over the next few days."
"And after that?" Mami asked.
Valtir turned to her, "I intend to send you to the city of Solitude. There you will meet with another member of our Order who has already collected one shard and will direct you to more."
"… Wait…" Sayaka chuckled nervously as she let go of Madoka, "When you say 'studying'…"
"He means school, Sayaka. With books," Kyoko snorted, banishing away her darker thoughts as she turned her attention to one of her favorite pastimes: picking on Sayaka, "Y'know, like an egghead."
The bluenette sighed with resignation, "… I was afraid of that."
The redhead came over to her, a devilish grin on her face, "We've all been working hard for weeks while you were off napping. But don't worry," her eyes turned predatory, "I'll tutor you."
Sayaka began to sweat.