Epilog

The Hine.

Over the course of my kidnap-and-interrogate operation, I got the history of the BMM. Their roots go back to ancient Greece, and a set of a dozen people who stole a recipe - Ambrosia - from a bunch of right bastards who called themselves the Titans. The result, when eaten… turns someone Mythic. They become whatever bit of fiction with which they most closely resonate. These twelve had names: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hestia. They basically became deities in their own right, ending the reign of the

[Titans.

It](http://Titans.It) was a case of “Out with the old boss, in with the new boss, same as the old boss.” On a good day, the Olympians were petty, vain, hedonistic, and self-serving. On a bad day? They'd take turns creating grief for a man just to see who could make him die of sheer sorrow.

So another group came together, and forged their own Myth: The Hine. They raised a young orphan in a rather torturous way, with a ‘bad parents, good maidservant’ vibe. Everyone in her life was in on it, in a very cold and calculating way. They created a myth, and fed it to her every day from a very young age. When she turned eighteen, they fed her Ambrosia.

She's now a ceremonial dagger, stored in a walk-in vault in an office building in Alaska. Anyone seeing her between dusk and dawn on the night of a new moon kills themselves with her, while thinking about the biggest threat they know… and the threat dies with them.

She got the last laugh, though: She managed her own tiny clause: Any controlled creature will invariably kill the controller. Threats, ****, hypnosis, magic, just plain locking someone in? All the same: The person with their hands on the reins dies, not the intended target. Every time they use her, they lose a VERY loyal employee, someone who knows what they're getting

[into.

So](http://into.So) on a nice sunny day during a full moon, a few days after I emptied the place… (Time Warp is handy, but I avoid crossing my own tail out of paranoia), I raid the place, totally cheating. They actually have wards against teleportation, summoning, and divination… some Native American style artwork on the walls everywhere… which doesn't matter when I can simply walk past the empty guardhouse.

Knock fails to open the door… the artwork animates and kind of eats the spell. Erase takes care of them, and then Knock works. At least the alarm system is off - this place lost everyone during normal business hours, so I only need to worry about the layered access control: Alarms on individual doors, basically… not that anyone's going to answer an alarm when the building is empty and a half-hour's drive from anything of note. Still… I choose to leave no trace. My treaty with the US hasn't technically been signed yet, and will still need to be ratified by the legislature, but I'm not really supposed to be operating on US soil like this.

I know where I'm going, more or less. I have three security doors to pass through… all of which are easily opened the same way as the main doors. The item I am after is in a locked wall safe in a room with linoleum floors. For easy cleanup, I imagine.

Two more spells and I pause: Trap. A little Disable Device and the gas cylinder is closed. Time based… it's only safe to open during the night of a new moon. I guess they really don't want people stealing her… solid security approach.

And there she is” An obsidian dagger with some black void mounted in a gold hilt. Also a fragment of paper, written in Greek. Part of a recipe. Ah. That's… well… one Make Whole spell and I have the entire page. As to the knife… I use Telekinesis to get her out, Telepathy and Mindsight to confirm that yes, she's still in there.

‘Do you wish to be human again?’ I speak into her mind.

‘Ugh, yes,’ she… actually, HE, apparently the story changed some details over the years… thinks in Greek over the telepathic channel I carved, ‘I'm stuck, unmoving, constantly in the dark. How long has it been? Also… why can't I see you?’

That doesn't matter with full telepathy, however, ‘At least two or three thousand years. It's difficult to be certain. And I'm invisible, it takes an illusion to be seen for me. I'll give you a form, any preferences?’

‘Big and powerful… muscles, olive skin… ooh, and I'd like to really fill the ladies up, if you know what I mean.’

‘Sure…’ I start with an Illusion of what he asked, ‘How's this?’

‘A little taller… a bit thicker around on his rod… can I see that erect?’ We go through a while, he asks for various visual tweaks, I shape the image to what I think he means, he refines with more words… and eventually he's satisfied: ‘Yes, that please.’

‘Okay,’ I use the Alteration Sphere: Transform Object to fix him basic mobility, Anthropomorphic Transformation to give him a human form, and Permanent Transformation so it's Instant. I have a lot of options, so I go ahead and give him a few… no breath, flight, spaceflight, fast healing, the ability to grow back missing bits, and of course: The specific Adonis appearance he requested.

“Oh yeah,” he flexes, eyeing his arms, “That's the stuff to make the ladies weak in the knees.”

It would be, however… “The eyes are a problem.” I am not sure why - I was going for perfectly normal eyes - but his are two orbs of darkness that look like they're trying to suck out my soul and eat it. Which… to be fair, he almost did. Hmm.

“What do you mean?” He frowns, and I provide a mirror (a simple application of the Creation Sphere).

“Oh,” he thinks for a minute, “That's no good. I saw a few people come in with these things over their eyes that they could see through, but reflected light?”

“Sunglasses,” I nod, and create a suitable suit around him, complete with sunglasses: It does look better.

“Nice…” he smiles, then frowns, “Okay, so… thank you. This is, like, more than anyone has done for me in a really long time. But. Umm… I know nothing of this world.”

“It's okay,” I chuckle, “I'm forming my own country, and we have a pretty good citizen starter package. Just make sure to isolate yourself on the nights of the new moon; we can't have you accidentally killing anyone.”

He considers, “...good call, I don't know what would happen now that I'm not a dagger anymore.”

“Yeah… come on…”

I walk him out, making sure to stop by the security room and remove all records of either of us.

—--------------------------------------------

Life's good at the top of the chain….