Danu, Beleros, and Cyronax's warning may have been well-intentioned, they might have meant well, but they were primal forces, they viewed the world differently than I did or could. Their insight and motivations were beyond the limited understanding of any mortal.

I was impressed that they had been upfront with me, informing me that the choices I made may affect their very existence in this Universe, I hoped their advice to ignore any repercussions the Tuatha de Danaan might suffer was made altruistically, with benevolence in mind, not trickery or gamesmanship.

It was my choice, a choice that might result in their banishment or death in this realm, and still, they encouraged me. I'd thought certain that even a small decrease in influence was not something any God would accept.

My next thought was a concern for the Sithern. Its ability to adapt and bond with the people that inhabited the space was possible because of limited sentience. It was childlike in its eagerness to please, while still managing to maintain the ferocity of the most dangerous attack dogs. I was afraid of what would happen if I refused the claim and left the Sithern on Earth, afraid that it would be corrupted if claimed by one of the Pantheons that would remain to guide Earth's faithful.

I was adamant about one thing; I didn't want to allow the Sithern to die. I wasn't certain that would be its fate if I abandoned it but considering how the other Pantheons repressed the Tuatha de Danaan on Talahm, it seemed likely that evolution and change were inevitable. It was possible System would establish and protect the realm, but Beleros' warning suggested that even if it survived, it would no longer be Sidhe.

The Sithern had been created to harbor and protect Duchess Wynne and her people. Any changes that altered that imperative would surely corrupt the protections that were part of the magic that gave the Sithern life. If it was changed or damaged irreparable, then it was likely it would no longer be a safe haven. The symbiotic relationship between the entity that protected and shielded Sidhe and the Sidhe would certainly be severed.

I wondered if left behind the chances that the Sithern might replace CERN, destined to become one of Earth's first dungeons. A world where Volar-fey, Knockers, and Sidhe spawned in a continuous cycle for those farming experience and loot.

Or if the Sithern was claimed by others, what would happen to those residents that had been born when the Sithern was formed. Those Volar-fey that had refused Danu's gift and remained steadfast in their resolve to maintain their identity.

The Duchess and her people would certainly escape, attempting to return to Talahm when I did. Even if that effort was stymied and they could not return to Talahm, they could claim refuge in the Summerlands, building a home and community there. I thought that a remote possibility. I was confident that it was more likely that we would be using the Summerlands as a steppingstone, a place between on our journey to return to Talahm.

But what of those individuals that had never existed without the confines of the Sithern? Those that refused to abandon home and choose instead to stay?

I knew from my earlier experiment that I was capable of opening a gate that would allow all of them to escape, but I couldn't force them to enter. And I wasn't sure how long I could keep the Portal open. The construct was fueled by magic and will, so theoretically, I could tap into the ley lines that ran through the Sithern and keep the Portal operating indefinitely. But was there some hidden limit to Portal control that I was unaware of?

I didn't remember there being much strain or effort involved when I'd opened the portal between the Summerlands and Talahm, providing passage for everyone after the Olympians kidnapped me. There were no noticeable changes in mana or stamina reserves as each person traversed the passage between realms, but then I'd not needed to keep the rift between the two realms open long enough to allow an entire Sithern full of residents to pass.

The decision to claim the Sithern demanded I consider the needs for those that already made the Sithern home, and the repercussion that claiming it would entail. Would it be any safer for the Sithern or those that remained if I decided to claim it? Would that choice make any difference in outcome? The Sithern would still be located in hostile territory, still, be subject to forced conscription by envious Gods. I couldn't stay to protect and guard the entrance. Once I left, would my claim have any meaning?

I realized that if I were going to claim in an effort to protect the Sithern, I would have been better off claiming Earth as my Fief too. Even if I claimed this island of calm as a sanctuary, this entity that had already embraced my needs and changed to reflect my desires, once I returned to Talahm, there would be no way to protect and assert my right as the claimant.

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I was conflicted, in my heart, I felt a yearning, the Sithern that was, existed because my domain and interaction had given birth, had elevated the Sithern releasing its full potential. The Sithern was a living entity, and I wanted to protect it, I just didn't see a way to do so. Certainly, claiming it seemed only a stopgap measure.

"Duchess Wynne?" I said hoping to gain a fresh perspective, wondering if she may have a viewpoint or solution that would help. She had, after all, been the impetus and harbinger for the Sithern's initial creation, born in response to her need. She was powerful and knowledgeable, not many knew the secrets of Sithern creation.

I thought her as powerless as I in this instance, but I hoped her more knowledgeable. I knew to ask her to claim the Sithern was no solution, she was bound by mortal constraints, foibles, and considerations, she too would be leaving this Universe.

"What do you think? Does it make sense to claim the Sithern when I have to abandon it when we return to Talahm?" I asked.

"Why do you have to abandon it? Since you have decided that you won't remain, it would be cruel to leave the Sithern to its fate. Beleros has warned that the other Pantheons would not be kind, especially when they learn that claiming this Sidhe will make no difference, that it would not allow them egress or access to the Summerlands," she answered.

"Gods that have been stymied are destructive. Their tantrums can topple mountains, destroy continents, drain oceans. I fear the Sithern would be destroyed at the very least. More likely it would be warped, tortured until it became something dark and twisted," she said confirming one of my fears.

"I would rather see it dead than consigned to that fate."

"Are you suggesting we close and kill the Sithern ourselves? A gentler, kinder type of euthanasia?" I asked shocked. Even the thought of killing the Sithern causing sweat to break out across my body, drops of perspiration collecting to run down my back. Cold chills were joined by shudders of revulsion. The thought of killing the Sithern was so repugnant that I was forced to tighten my stomach muscles in order to gain control of my gag reflex and refrain from vomiting.

"Close, yes. Kill, no," Duchess Wynn clarified interrupting the spiraling panic I had become immersed in. "As part of claiming the Sithern, you will be prompted as to placement. You can keep the Sithern here or chose to move it. If you decide to move it, it and the denizens that have spawned will be placed in stasis, a ‘kernel’ waiting for you to choose a new location and plant it."

"Wasn’t this Sithern created by you?" I asked. "Why would you be willing to give possession to me? If I refuse the claim, can you still re-gain control?"

"That is no longer possible. When you made changes, when you added the Winter domain, you severed my connections.

"You would not have been able to make changes if the Sithern were fully formed. Because it was still capable of evolving, the changes you introduced allowed the Sithern to take that last leap into awareness and fully awaken.

"When I cast the spell that gave rise to the Sithern, I was focused only on safety and hiding. My Rank was not high enough to engender a fully functional space. It was only because I was the highest Ranked Sidhe in the Dungeon that I was able to form a pseudo-Sithern. That and because no other Sithern existed on the planet.

"CERN might have been a dungeon instance, but it was built on the bedrock of the reality of this world. As it was, it required some legalese and twisting of System resources to actualize and give birth to a Sithern that was not corrupted or insane because of location and the inability to harvest Sidhe magic and influence. Or communicate with other Sitherns.

"Cut off from Talahm and the Tuatha de Danaan Pantheon, it is very likely that madness is inevitable even without the intervention of local Gods. Your intervention has saved and awoken the full potential and intelligence that I had planted. It is why the Sithern responded so adroitly to your thoughts, desires, and actions.

"Between the two of us, we have given birth to a fully formed entity that if nurtured can evolve to any Sidhe Sithern capital."

"The Sithern has self-awareness, an identity, as part of its intelligence?" I asked.

"Yes. Limited in scope. More instinctive, reactionary to external and internal forces. The Sithern is a concept, a merging of ideas and expectations that it acquires from those that claim it, and that it claims. But like any newborn, that identity and intelligence are not fully formed at birth, it grows the more it is able to interact with the people that reside inside. It is just potential at the moment.

"Your actions, those people you allow to access the Sithern, to make their homes here, will influence how it grows, and what it learns. It is the reason the Seelie and Unseelie Sitherns are so drastically different," Wynne warned.

"The Seelie Sithern is all bright lights and shiny illusions, masking and hiding the ugly nature of the Seelie Royals behind false whispers and elements of light. The Unseelie, more honest in their actions, have embraced shadow and darkness, but refuse to hide those actions. Their Sithern is splashed with the vestiges of blood and viscous fluids. A people who are proud of their ability to torture and endure torture and not afraid to admit it.

"The Sitherns have grown to reflect their benefactors. Countless eons, a multitude of people that have driven deep channels and entrenched habits into the very bedrock and essence that the Sithern controls, has formed Sitherns that reflect the personalities and characteristics of those that have claimed those dimensional spaces.

"Blood calls to blood is a truism for a reason. You shed blood, crafted an altar of respect and worship for the Tuatha de Danaan Pantheon, and restored the balance of nature to the Sithern including the Winter domain.

"Your blood was shed to create balance. Stronger than the magics, the desperation that forced my hand, when I made the attempt to summon and construct a Sithern that could protect the Sidhe from a Dungeon where weapons of iron are commonplace. Your blood has breathed true life into the Sithern and awakened the potential that was waiting just beneath the surface. And now that potential can be shaped.

"Claim the Sithern, choose the option and settings that allow you to move location and placement. Encapsulate it and the denizens that have chosen to remain into a kernel, a seed of rebirth and renewal, and hold it safe until you have claimed land on Talahm where you can restore functionality. Only then, plant the waiting seed of possibilities and make the Sithern your Capital when you do," she suggested.

"It would be too monstrous not to accept the gift the Sithern is offering you. Too cruel to abandon it or kill it."