I did notice a delay, a searching, as the magics coalesced before the portal opened. But eventually, the portal was formed as I’d hoped, and I had a way to return to Talahm after the Dungeon entrance was destroyed.

[System Notice - You have added Earth Sub-Universe 2,983,474 to your waypoints. Spell Portal: Earth learned.]

I think Uron was disappointed with the results. If my spell hadn’t worked, we would have had to try something else, something he and Cedric would have thought safer. I’d had every confidence that it would though. If System restricted spells, skills, and access in Dungeons, there would have been no way for the Sidhe to establish production and resource gathering facilities in those Dungeons that were being farmed.

The waypoint was an interesting development. I wondered if that meant I would be able to return to Earth once this Quest had been completed. Permanent access and the ability to travel to Earth whenever I wanted? I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Waypoints were an interesting phenomenon, was this how the Summerlands worked for all Sidhe or only those that reached a certain Rank? It seemed that by establishing a Portal, creating a resonance with a planet and the Universe the planet was located a collection of save points could be established.

Did it only take one visit, one spell cast to open a Portal, to lock in and add coordinates into a Rolodex of potential destinations? I wondered if you could share those Portal locations with other Sidhe, other than escorting them and allowing them to open a portal of their own.

The spell ‘remembered’ the location the Portal was opened at and indexed it as part of a library of waypoints. I hadn’t opened one on Talahm, but I had a save point. I wondered where it would lead. The Portal Spell was intuitive and adaptable it seemed.

It made a certain logic. When I’d first reincarnated, I had the Spell: Portal Summerlands learned. But it wasn’t until I was abducted and entered the Summerlands that the spell Portal Talahm had been added. The coordinates for the spell returning me to the place that I had entered the Summerlands.

I’d not noticed that change to my System Spell menu at the time, and I was too busy trying not to be murdered to remember if I’d received System Notification as I learned the spell, but it seemed likely that that was the case.

"Do you think all Sidhe can gain portal locations simply by opening a portal to the Summerlands or entering a portal that someone else has established?" I asked Caraid wondering if my assumptions were universal and valid.

[I’m not sure. If that’s the case, Lower-Ranked Sidhe that only receives two portals, one to the Summerlands and one to return would have documented that feature. I think you have to be Ranked - Prince or higher to gain additional portal waypoints, or to move the location of those waypoints.

[And I’m not positive, but I would think that the number of locations you can ‘save’ would be limited.]

Caraid answering me released some of the tension I hadn’t realized I’d been under. I’d assumed he would be able to stay in contact with me while in the Dungeon. Two souls combined as one should have guaranteed that distance or time would be unable to affect the bonds S-Prime had forged between us. It was nice to hear his voice and verify that assumption.

I was still wary about what would happen to him and our connection if and when the Wild Hunt was formed. I knew we would be separated, but I thought that a form of astral tether would exist. Something that would allow him to find his way back once the Hunt had ended and allowed us to at least be aware of the other while he was riding.

My greatest concern was if he would be able to traverse dimensional sub-universes as well as planes of existence while I was on Earth or in a dungeon. If not, I thought it possible the Hunt would require him to host a body until I returned.

“Make sure that entrance gets closed,” I instructed Uron as he prepared to exit the Dungeon. “If it isn’t closed before Duke A’Daoine and the Monarch’s representative arrive, they will maneuver to stop you.”

“I will make sure to follow the plan,” Uron said as he saluted me fist to chest, “we will be awaiting the successful conclusion and safe return of you and Duchess Wynne.”

He didn’t attempt to stall for time or change my mind before he took that one step that returned him to Talahm. It was only a matter of seconds before things began to change.

I noticed immediately when Cedric destroyed the Dungeon portal. A haze, a field of energy of some type had been shimmering in the distance, a perfect globe that surrounded and defined the dungeon’s territory. The boundary enclosing and containing the dungeon. It kept those that would delve from venturing past the Dungeon limits prescribed by Universal laws.

The energy field almost seemed to pop like a soap bubble in the wind. An equilibrium of energies, air pressures, and magical vectors as the boundaries that limited the Dungeon were removed. The stagnant and suppressed constraints that had affected the lands claimed by the Dungeon destroyed, and vitalization materialized as the energy that had been relegated to the dungeon boundary was absorbed by the local fauna.

[System Notice - The CERN Dungeon has been closed. Returning land claimed by Dungeon to local control. The portal between Earth and Talahm has been destroyed.]

Two of the mushroom circles that had established the boundary for the gateway between realms began to wither and die. With one final pop of displaced air, the Dungeon was firmly destroyed and realigned to Earth’s energy fields and Universal Constants.

Winter that had claimed the lands of Switzerland had been held in abeyance for the entrance safe zone the Dungeon had created. As the Dungeon was deactivated, Winter’s grasp roared in fury, hungry to reclaim the island of spring that had been artificially allowed to ignore the elements of snow and ice.

Earth’s ambient magic was just as dense as it was before the Dungeon was destroyed, the difference was in the God Particles. The God Particles that had been flowing and streaming towards the Dungeon exit quickly adapted and found new channels to follow, easily becoming part of the ebb and flow of the planet's life cycle.

Most of the particles found a synergistic confluence when merging with the planet’s ley-lines that were bulging with energy and magics. Ley-lines that were not being tapped and had swollen with accumulating energies until the constraints of pathway and channel were breached.

I didn’t understand how the Planet and the population had not made use of those energies. They were the perfect renewable energy. The endless mana rivers flowing in crisscrossing interconnected potential.

The changes, as the God Particles found new pathways, would be unnoticeable to the local population. Except for the shift from spring to winter that had been localized, there was nothing noticeable. But to me, they were energizing.

The potent magic and energies flooded my mana channels. Magic that was untainted and formless was absorbed and increased and solidified the structure of my meridians and mana network. Earth’s magical field was as pure as it was at the moment of creation. Untainted by spellcraft, free of the weft and weave of array and enchantment.

Earth may have a mythology of Gods, but none of them had harnessed these energies in eons, the magic was unstructured and formless. Any Gods that may have once drawn upon this energy pool had abandoned this world long ago.

Which made a certain sense. Even in those Religions that were most practiced, Divine intervention and interaction had not been rampant for a millennium. Certainly, there was the occasional miracle, but most of the Pantheons of Gods had been discounted as the attempts of the ignorant to explain the world around them. Long abandoned, the belief and worship for those Gods were minimal and sketchy at best.

For those religions that still drew numerous worshipers, Divine intervention was rare. The maxim that God helps those that help themselves had been transformed into a Universal Paradigm. A limitation placed on worshiper and worshiped alike. Judgment waited for those that believed, but God would not interfere in the Kingdom of Man.

Realistically, by this point, He didn’t need the energies of magic. Mankind’s faith was enough to sustain Him.

Strangely, that connection, that essence of Godhood that linked me to Beleros and Cyronax was stronger than ever. In fact, the blood that connected and defined my heritage seemed more. More there, more solid. I’d thought that that intangible thrum, the background noise of sanguine fluid, the constant reminder of lineage and pedigree would diminish once I was no longer within the sphere of influence for the Sidhe Gods. Instead, I felt a deeper connection.

The enchantments that hid the Dungeon entrance were destroyed when Cedric closed down the opening between realms. I needed to move quickly before I was discovered, it would be hard to explain an almost seven-foot-tall Sidhe bathed in fire and ice. I could cast a glamour to deflect prying eyes, still my presence alone would be sure to draw attention.

If I CERN wasn’t highly classified and protected, it might not matter. But the middle of a field, in Geneva, Switzerland, owned and administered by CERN? My position relevant to CERN would be a security nightmare.

I knew Duchess Wynne and her people had established a base of some sort, but I wasn’t sure where or how to find them. It couldn’t be too far from the Hadron Collider and the computer systems that ran it; she would need a way to access and infiltrate those sub-systems and mechanics if she was going to be able to understand and process how the machine worked.

Extending my perception, I filtered out the ambient magical energies and God particles, searching for that magical signature that was unique to Sidhe. Normally safeguards would be constructed to obfuscate those magics, but the people of Earth were blind and unable to understand any strange phenomenon those energies might produce. At best, they would rationalize any discrepancies they noticed as user error or unexplained by-products that operating the Collider produced.

They may decide to study and formulate theories to explain any fluctuations their machinery might measure, but chances are they were not adroit or adept enough to document any meaningful inconsistencies Sidhe magic may produce. They would have better luck employing the services of mediums or psychics, even if these professions were mostly charlatans and con artists.

Ferreting out those magics that had the taint of Sidhe magic, I felt somewhat like a bloodhound must. Straining senses to follow even the smallest whiff of 'other'. My hunt was eventually successful, and the trail Duchess Wynne and her people left behind blazed like a beacon that I was able to follow with no difficulty.

The reason the trail had eluded me at first became obvious. I finally realized what the trail was not fully of this world, it folded upon itself creating a noticeable disruption in the displacement of time and place. A crack between the world with the aid of magic that was problematic.

The Sidhe had a unique inheritance they could call upon. As part of the ability to claim Lands, those highly enough Ranked could open passage to Underhill. A dimension that was just slightly skewed of reality. Not the Summerlands, this area could be accessed by those who knew how and where to cross over.

Duchess Wynne and her people had made use of that racial trait and opened a Sithern under CERN. Another world Underhill and had retreated to the safety of that construct, establishing a base of operation.

Sitherns were once thought to be part of the Summerlands. Areas of lands and territories that could differ in size and environment, a further study had determined that these lands were instead cracks between worlds and realities.

Tied to the location they were created; people could only enter and exit in that one spot of creation. They were an offshoot of Wild Magic, and because they were related so closely to the child-like innocence of those magics, they were able to retain some of that magic and innocence. More importantly, fully formed and grown, they possessed an intellect and devotion to those that sheltered within.

The buildings, lands, and walls were able to shift and evolve as the Sithern developed a symbiotic relationship with those that created and inhabited them. Often conforming and shaping to meet exigent requirements. Providing what the Sithern deemed appropriate, not always in line with the host or ruling Ranked thought necessary.

The secret to entering a Sithern was one of perception and confluence. Each entrance was created using a unique signatory vibration. A phase shift, that could be emulated by those that would enter. For those unable to manipulate their magical signature to coincide with the entrance, the passage was only possible if their aura was enveloped by a personage who could synchronize and traverse the opening.

Before ‘opening’ the passage to Underhill, I embraced the elements that were reclaiming the faerie rings. Enhancing the power of winter, I funneled winds and snow to scour the grounds of the last vestiges of enchantments and magic, before finally directing the snow to gather and accumulate.

A localized blizzard, winds fierce and angry, fighting the leash that I would command as I directed those powers under my control. Winter was mine. And no matter how those elements fought, they were unable to ignore the constraints and will that I could marshal.

Slowly, the snow gathered, returning the lands to sleep. To conform to what is and what was meant to be, awaiting the heat the melting Sun distributed as winter gave way to spring.