Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 99: Closing the Dungeon

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, and it made me wonder if this was 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.

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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 my question 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 allow 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.]