Rebirth and Second Chances

"Are you sure Alexander will hold to his [Oath]?" Morgana asked. I didn't blame her for her skepticism. Caesar had betrayed her, and his Generals, their [Oath] had been broken almost as soon as given.

But that was before the return of [Fairy].

I had set events in motion, and Alexander would attack. He had already begun moving his armies into position. I had watched as he had sent envoys to Ptolemy with offers of alliance and partnership in the attack on Roman interests.

The offer of alliance and partnership was a change from the royal decrees and commands he typically sent when speaking with Pharaoh. His envoys had been instructed to act with humility and work to coerce Ptolemy into agreeing instead of demanding his participation. Ptolemy was only the Pharaoh of Egypt because Alexander had acknowledged his position. contemporary romance

What the boy-king could give, he could take away. And the threat of that removal had added an additional animus to a conquered people.

Alexander was trying to form a partnership for his invasion of Rome. He could conscript Egypt's armies, command them to attack, and use his Generals to lead them. But it would be better if they were willing to participate. They would fight as conscripts, but they wouldn't put the same effort into attacking as they would if Pharoah blessed this war.

The envoys had been empowered to offer Egypt a percentage of whatever riches were obtained as Roman land and cities were claimed. That would go far to restoring the countries empty treasury and failing economy.

"I am sure," I said with conviction. "And if Alexander is stupid enough to break [Oath], I will summon the Hunt and Gwyn ap Nudd. If that happens, Alexander and Mesopotamia will cease to exist. Gwyn ap Nudd will act if he is judged to be an [Oath-breaker].

"Gwyn ap Nudd will spare the innocent, the civilians, but Alexander, his armies, and his guards will be hunted to the last man. Even the Gods would not risk his wrath. Man will learn that becoming an [Oath-breaker] now comes with consequences.

Morgana had met me in the [Hall of Portals] within the Seastan Deireanach Sithern. Travel through [Fairy Rings] was expedited by using a fixed location, and the Sithern was able to remember those locations, expanding the [Hall of Portals] each time a new connection was made.

The portals linked to [Fairy Rings] could be destroyed. If the [Fairy Ring] the Sithern was connected with was damaged, that passage would become useless. I'd asked Tara to scry [Fairy Rings] that had advantageous locations. Those that could stand the test of time to minimize the possibility of damage. Rings made of stone and boulder groupings or circular depressions in the ground made from meteor impacts.

"You're not heading to council chambers?" Morgan asked in surprise when I turned to take a side passage.

"I will be there soon. I want to check on the World Tree first," I informed her.

"I'll let the others know you are coming, then," she said as she turned to leave me.

The path leading to the World Tree was one of many within the Sithern. Almost mundane, it offered no hint about what you would find once you arrived. The Tree was anchored in three dimensions and had taken advantage of that unique phenomenon to generate a defense that made it dangerous to approach.

An environment of churning dimensions, a shift from one to the next in no discernible pattern had formed. For most, the path past the Tree's defenses was insurmountable. Even for the Sidhe gifted with high intellect or agility, the challenge was daunting, even impossible.

But I had a cheat.

I had planted the Sithern and the World Tree.

My magic and blood had supplied the required resources to bring each of them to life, and they remembered that gift. They knew the flavor of my magic, they could trace the connection of blood we shared, and the Tree opened a small passage for me to traverse so that I could approach without disintegrating as the shifting forces of three dimensions tore me apart.

The World Tree welcomed me with childlike innocence. It was newly grown, but because it enjoyed a connection to the [Primary World Tree] had an intelligence and awareness that was timeless.

The tree was self-aware and remembered. It remembered its past life and had grown to protect this world once before. It remembered that the machinations of Asgard and Olympus were the reason it had fallen. It remembered that those Gods had severed the tree's connection to the earth in an attempt to bypass [Fate].

Their professed reason was altruistic, or so they claimed. The Gods claimed that by destroying the tree, they could stave off Ragnarok forever. That claim was a lie. Odin knew as well as any God that [Fate] could not be denied and that any action taken to fight [Fate] was often the very method of its deliverance.

Balfour and his Azi-Fey had ferreted out the truth. Odin and Zeus had destroyed the World Tree because they wanted the tree's core. An item of immense power and possibility that Odin had crafted to replace the eye he sacrificed to drink from Mimir's well and gain wisdom.

Why Zeus would help wasn't known, but I had my suspicions. He would never act without purpose or profit, and Odin had offered him a gift. The ability to defeat the Titans and trap them forever.

I wasn't sure the wisdom gained was worth Odin's sacrifice. Not when he thought it wise to destroy the World Tree. That decision was fraught with consequences and the loss of the Bifrost bridge's ability to connect to seven of the nine realms.

Happy to see the Tree healthy and blossoming, I began feeding it my magic. The tree didn't need the small amount of power I was donating, it had three dimensions to draw on, but by injecting my magic, I could subtly influence how it was growing.

The seven realms that had been severed from Bifrost would be reconnected as the Tree matured, and I refused to allow Odin or Asgard to profit from my actions. Instead, I was creating connections between those realms and the Summerlands.

If I succeeded, then only the Sidhe who could access the Summerlands would be able to use the World Tree's connection to travel those other realms. With Bifrost still connecting Asgard and Earth, that would mean we would be the only people with access to all nine realms.

Shaping the connections that would link those realms with the Summerlands required guided growth and magical pruning. Like a bonsai master, I had to trim and support the Tree to grow in the shape I needed.

The tree itself wasn't very large, barely seven feet. But the cosmic imprint was already massive. Metaphorical roots and limbs were branching and growing in tandem with the tree's structure, rooted in the physical. It was a powerful amalgam of reality and perception, made more real with the addition of [Dream].

The [World Tree] would never grow as large as the [Primary World Tree]. That tree grew to support the multi-verse, but it would be as powerful as [Fairy] and the Wild Magic, once fully grown. It would become a force of nature, tied to this world, connected to each of the nine realms, and a part of the Summerlands.

Protected and nurtured by Sidhe, it would grow to be a force that could open any door and defend against any attack.

The Tree was responsive to my guidance. It even resonated with a sense of happiness and contentment as I molded root and stem to travel the paths between dimensions and form connections. It would take a while before those connections were fully formed, but I had etched a path forward that the Tree could follow even if I never visited again.

I hoped that wouldn't be the case, but eventually, I would be delving into Asgard and Olympus. I could use the tree to sneak into Asgard, but Olympus would require more finesse.

I had one last task I hoped to accomplish before meeting with the Twelve.

I had used my connection with the Tuatha de Danann to obscure any mortal or God from scrying on the Sidhe. Still, I wanted to enhance that protection, and the barrier of protection the tree used while shuffling between three dimensions would serve perfectly.

By weaving the defenses of the World Tree into the Divine protections I had already activated, I hoped to blind the eye of any [Oracle]. If the Sidhe could not be observed in the present or the future, it would be easier for me to steal Odin's eye and Zeus' lightning.

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