Rebirth and Second Chances

Having access to the System and System announcements would have made what I was doing and what I had done easier. But there were advantages of working without System constraints. The System messages could be both boon and curse, recognizing and helping with my progress but announcing those results to the world or universe writ large.

Here and now, it would have been nice to have the assurance from System that at least the first part of the Quest I had been given was completed. With a new World Tree established, and a Sithern placed, I could then turn my attention to those attacking the Sidhe and join the main forces contending with the races of Man and the Fomorians.

I would visit the spatial dimension the System had gifted me contained within my [Ring of Hidden Depths] to check on my progress later. I didn't want to get bogged down using that feature of the ring to check my progress. I refused to worry about every gain in experience or increase in skills I gained as a matter of course. But the quest progression was too important not to check.

I was relying on instincts and gut feelings as I guided and watched the Sithern grow. It had expanded to include the city of Limerick, adding the existing buildings, and updating and repairing that area of town that had been allowed to fall into neglect. The demarcation between those Sidhe with wealth and influence was eradicated as the Sithern replaced and rebuilt entire neighborhoods. That it decided to include the city in its area of influence even after the Wild Magic had transported it a few miles distance was remarkable. The Sithern absorbed the city despite the distance.

That I had been unexpected, and as soon as the city was enveloped, Caraid, Meala, Ag, and Balfour had gained access. The bonds that had formed between each of us allowed them to track me down easily. They might have been the only people within the Sithern if the uniqueness of space and dimension hadn't been breached when I'd planted the seed. The roots that had burrowed into Underhill had been expansive, reaching beyond just this one location and linking every Underhill on the planet together.

That had been a first for me, and I could only watch in awe as the Sithern ignored boundaries and limits that had defined its brethren.

Those Sidhe that had retreated, that had decided to wait out the expansive nature of Man Underhill, were given access to a new world. Those that had refused to participate in the war between Sidhe and the Fomorians were now part of that unique dimensional pocket that the Sithern was able to create. The unique nature of Limbo and Underhill were joined, and each space was incorporated into the expansive dimension that the Sithern had created.

The bond between the Sithern and I still existed, it still recognized me as a type of administrator, and because it did, I used my position ruthlessly to set up parameters and controls for how the Sithern could be controlled and accessed now and in the future.

I refused to allow what occurred on Talahm, where Mab's insanity warped the nature of the Seelie Sithern. Her insanity, almost destroying that Sithern, would not happen here. The Sithern would be given the ability to repudiate any administrative connection or command given that disagreed with the prime directive that it had formed when it was planted and encouraged to grow.

I had encouraged and shaped the Sithern to flourish with a set of morals and a sense of justice that should see it safe. That could be tricky when dealing with Sidhe. We were creatures of nature, even more so among the most monstrous of us.

And nature was not always pretty.

It could be harsh and merciless. So, creating a moral code based on right and wrong, or good and evil, simply wasn't possible. Instead, I integrated what I hoped would develop into a balance of light and darkness that made room for the harsh and the ugly that was the earmark for my people.

Seastan Deireanach was the final hope for the entire Sidhe people if the worse were to happen and the armies of Man were successful with their invasion, then this place would become the final destination for a beleaguered people.

I manipulated permissions and structures egregiously, so that this Last Stand would be accessible to the entire Sidhe race and locked those permissions so that whoever came to rule after me could never change them. This Sithern would not be divided into Seelie, Unseelie, or any other faction that might spring up in the future. It would remain neutral and accessible to everyone.

The Sithern was encouraged to create and recognize a council and council chamber based on my own seat of governance. It was well defined and built to follow the structure and hierarchy of a coven. Twelve Kings or Queens forming a circle of Power overseen by a High King. Thirteen in total, the most effective number, and one that I had worked well for me on Talahm.

I managed to coax the burgeoning intelligence to implement tests and conditions for a person to take a seat as one of the thirteen that would rule. The Sithern would decide if a person was worthy, that decision based on tests of magic, blood, and emotional viability. They would need to prove their worth every hundred years, the length a person could serve without the Sithern scanning the populace and selecting a more suitable member.

Any member of this new council of Twelve could be challenged by any member of the Sidhe for their position, with the Sithern acting as judge and final arbiter, deciding for itself, based on whatever esoteric criteria it might employ and create over the years, who would ascend to a Council seat, and who would be allowed to rule and govern.

I hoped that by requiring those who would rule to continually donate and prove their worth, by tithes of blood, sex, or magic that the insanity of immortality that could invade even the strongest psyche among the Sidhe would be dealt with before our entire race was trapped at the whims of a psychopath. I did my best to make sure that the events that allowed Queen Mab to prosper in her insanity would never happen here.

I was satisfied with the path the Sithern had chosen and had barely finished helping it set the last restrictions and permissions before it began seeking people to fill those council seats. I felt it send out tendrils of intelligence across the breadth of every Underhill. Searching in some areas, forced to reach above and extend those tendrils across Urt. It didn't take long to find the first council members. The Twelve that it would initiate sub-administrative contracts with.

The people that would take their seat as the Twelve, those that would become the first Council of Seastan Deireanach. A few of the names I recognized as they accepted the Sithern's offer. High King Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Gwydion fab Don. Morgan le Fey. Nimue the Lady of the Lake. And Merlin. The rest I had never heard of. Tara, Belgara, Titania, Puck, Angus mac Og, Fionn mac Cumhaill, and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne.

Six males. Six females.

Each a Power or a King or Queen.

As I read then names, I hoped the information I remembered about Merlin, Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, and Morgan le Fay from the CERN dungeon wasn't a prelude to the Arthurian Saga here. The Sidhe had enough to worry about without the incestuous realities and unattainable ideals of a Camelot.

I stood separate and outside the structure of Twelve, but I had my role to play. Seastan Deireanach was born the product of Banshee and Sithern. It had sparked a new type of life-form, one with its own soul and agenda. But it still needed a Voice, and I would play that role, at least for now.

I would serve as claimant of the thirteenth seat until the Sithern found someone powerful enough and sympathetic enough with the ideals I had encouraged and fostered to become an integral part of this new life.

I watched with dispassion as the Sithern created a working council, lost instead in an epicenter of creation. Because as each member was selected, as the races of Sidhe were identified, the Sithern expanded. And as it expanded, my awareness expanded, joining the Sithern as it marshaled the magics of creation to build a world.

Forests. Mountains. Rivers. Fields. Oceans.

Each environment created to meet the needs of the Sidhe. A self-contained world created to host the entire race. The spark of creation that had been kindled from the kernel of that dormant Sithern seed, blossoming and expanding, powered by the energy and magic of the Nexus magic that the Banshee had absorbed. The powers of [Fairy] and the Wild Magic were added to the energy from the Nexus, enough magic to replicate the powers given to the Gods during creation.

I watched as that small spark expanded. I stood as the only witness, as a new world was born. And it was only because of my bloodlines, my connection to Beleros and Cyronax that I was able to withstand the primordial forces of the birth of a new world unleashed.

The firmament had been formed, the foundation established, and the Sithern was anchored on a bedrock that reached across three dimensions.

And for the final coup de grâce, I reached out, calling upon my connection to the Tuatha de Danann, sculpting this new world by blood and magic and offering it as a tribute to the Sidhe Gods for all eternity as I sacrificed the rarest of ores, Silinium, to give the Sidhe of this world the same type of advantage as those in my Universe.

The Sithern accepted my offering, adding Silinium deposits in mountains and rifts, areas where the dark ruled and the Loan Maclibuin Sidhe, the dark smiths, could mine the bounty of my offering.

It would give a versatility and power to enchantments that would make Sidhe wares just as sought after as those crafted by dwarven smiths and elf woodsmiths.