Victory

We're all geared up for the visit to reality.

After I hit thirteenth, I qualified for Complete Reversion from the Time sphere of Spheres of Power: That lets me rewrite basically my entire build, shedding the things that are no longer meaningful and focusing on the things that are… which yes, includes the Oaths I was using for more feats… so I am finally wearing actual clothes.

We also revamp the builds for Brian and Charles: With my buffs, prepared casting isn't all that useful, and we can get Eidolon equivalents for free as well via feats (Mechs from Arcforge, Technology Expanded) thanks to the old Pilot sphere for Spheres of Might… and those have many of the same effects when wearing a biped, plus they're suitable to grant Regeneration via the Eternal Steel talent of the Nature sphere, AND keep up on the armor class front natively… so we switch out to those (by taking a day off of being deities to revamp our Mythic setup, of course). We'll want to craft Gauntlets of Rust for each of us, but that requires materials… which we can get back on Earth. So Adam goes with an Oracle on one side (with the Occult mystery to come back from the dead under his own power when needed and the Spirit Guide archetype to snitch spells from the Wizard list as desired via the Lore Spirit), and a Fey Adept on the other (which permits him to make his own Permanent minions without cap by way of the Permanent Image talent, even if I am not available and he has to start from scratch). Brian also does the same Oracle build, but opts for a dip-fest on the other side, building himself a ‘Sir Charisma the SAD’ setup, getting his Charisma modifier applied to his attack, damage, armor class, and saves multiple times each, plus Evasion and Mettle for all of those pesky ‘save partial’ effects. Charles does the same Oracle build (seems everyone is worried about dying…) and puts the crazy flexible Spheres Arcanist (the REAL Spheres Wizard) on the other side so he can pick up whatever talents he needs separately from me.

In the meantime, there's very little we can't do with spells. Attuned Mysticism Mythic Augmented Fell Energy Barksin gives us all seven points of armor class and fourteen points of damage resistance, which is good for most handheld weapons. Energy Immunity spells mean we we can walk on lava, swim in pools of acid, dance naked in the arctic, swing on power lines, and stand in front of the main speaker at a Metallica revival concert without harm. Veil of Undeath (with some hoops to apply it to everyone) means none of us need to worry about little things like breathing, eating, getting sick, being poisoned, et cetera. Starmantle means we have no concerns about nonmagical weapons (and a correctly-level Darkness spell gets rid of the constant light problem), while Mystic Shield (from Auroch, Empire of Shade) means all weapons used against us are treated as nonmagical. Combining Mythic Haste, an Attuned Mysticism Winding Key spell, and Borrowed Time means we all get a double set of actions. There's no shortage of spells that boost our numbers… and on and on. We're as close to invulnerable as I can get us, very durable against what little we can't simply ignore outright, and are all walking combat monsters with virtually unlimited utility to boot.

Minions are free - the Conjuration Sphere can get us highly customizable minions by way of additional talents (and they can be at full power even without native Spheres casting thanks to Boon Companion, which I can simply grant via Enable Function) all of which I buff up similarly. So in addition to our powered armor (Veiled to look like simple clothing), we each have a ‘Hawk' on our shoulder… all of which are actually disposable summons we've buffed into being combat monsters, who happen to look like Hawks at the moment due to a running Shapechange spell (which means ‘suddenly: Dragons’ on a moment's notice).

So when we Warp back into reality, we're loaded for bear… and nothing jumps out at us in the state forest we picked. We all immediately hack into the local cellular towers for Internet access using our magical computers (courtesy of Starfinder), and check out the news:

“Worldwide disappearances stop: 1 Million people lost!” That's an exaggeration. There were 786,362. I remember each one individually.

“Influx of ‘Magical’ creatures join society openly: ‘We'll figure it out’ says scientific community.” Cool, so it looks like they took the advice from the literal angels to heart…

“‘Harpy’ eats sailor!” …mostly. I set a reminder to follow up on that one. Oh, I'm going to be the new police, aren't I? Ugh. Well, at least I can trust myself, more or less.

“Bureau of Magical Management, at center of international controversy, linked to disappearances!" This one notes that, while they can't link all of the disappearances to the BMM, every verified member of the BMM they checked is among the missing. Cool, on two fronts: One, someone actually made the connection. Two, it means my mail drops worked: They'd be stuck in the light even if I hadn't come back.

I go through quite a few news articles, reading headlines, picking ones to check in more detail, as my friends do the same. After a few hours, we're satisfied enough.

“So…” Adam grins, “...anyone up for visiting the White House?”

“I'm thinking the UN,” Brian grins wider, “We're going to need to explain what happened to all the nations eventually; may as well start big.”

“The extra spell point on Logos, with Expansive Vision twice… Enlage and Burrowing, just to be sure,” Charles nods, “should let us address the assembly without the need of any interpreters… so there's no question on what we said.”

Ugh. I hate public speaking, but so does everyone else, “I did the ****, I can take the stage…” I look around, “...unless anyone else wants it?”

“No, thank you!” Adam breathes a sigh of relief.

“Wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole,” Brian smiles.

“Go for it,” Charles confirms.

“Okay… let's go…” I Warp us over, and we walk calmly up the path.

Eventually we reach a security checkpoint, and we're stopped by a very polite man in uniform carrying an **** rifle, “I'm sorry folks; the UN is in session, you're not authorized.”

I shrug, “I need to address the assembly,” and continue walking.

He first tries to grab me… which simply doesn't work: Freedom of Movement no-sells grappling, not that he can touch me anyway.

He shouts, threatens, and when I continue to ignore his raised weapon, he fires… and the single bullet that actually manages to get through my armor class vanishes in a bright flashes of light. He radios ahead, and I'm met by a wall of armed flesh… which empties their clips against me quite harmlessly… after which, I simply Warp past them.

There's just a little bit of a panic as I walk calmly up to the main podium. I simply wait until it calms down. Sure, a couple of guards try to tackle me to the ground, a couple of snipers try to shoot me… but when I just calmly wait until they're done, basically ignoring all enforcement against my complete breach of protocol and rampant violation of the building's security… the President of the General Assembly eventually yields the floor.

“First, I'd like to thank you all for your time,” I begin, everyone present hearing me in their own preferred language, “I am well aware I'm not on today's agenda. I do, however, have a number of matters to go over with everyone.”

I smile, “My name is Dan. I am a Mythic, and am the reason that the Bureau of Magical Management is GONE.” Huh. This crowd is really good at controlling their reactions… barely a twitching eyebrow, “I, personally, removed the entire organization from the face of the Earth, as I could not abide their continued **** of my people.”

A short pause for the purpose… and one rep speaks up from his seat, “Do you have any proof of…” and finishes from five feet in front of me, “...your… claims… ma'am.” He pauses, “I withdraw the objection.”

I smile, and send him back to his seat the same way I grabbed him: Unwilling Teleport and Ranged Warp, then continue, “I am declaring myself a country, specifically a dictatorship, with me as the dictator. Further, all Mythics are MY citizens. If any Mythic causes trouble, you are to report them to me, and I will take them off your hands. You won't even need to capture or transport them; I can and will handle that aspect. I will leave a representative here for the purposes of communication about such matters, specific details to be hammered out later.”

Another pause, but I don't get any stupid questions this time: They all either trust I can do as I say, or are sufficiently… cautious… of my prior demonstration that they're not challenging it for now. So I keep going, “I will also leave an additional representative here for discussions with any country who wishes to host one of my embassies.”

Eh, that's good for now. I place two pre-buffed Conjuration Companions on either side of me, one for each stated purpose, and begin closing, “Are there any questions?”

Two hours later, I sorely regret that last sentence.

Yes. They had questions. Where is my country located? I decide to claim Mars. When someone objects, I skip back an hour in time (the Time Warp talent with Flawless Teleport), identify the locations of all the Mars probes, and collect them (Universal Teleport of the Warp sphere). Returning to the moment I originated, I drop the “junk” off on the UN floor as evidence enough of my ability to enforce my claim. Also, good luck invading. What's my stance on the Holy See? I don't plan on going looking for a fight. Am I going to join the UN? I will need to research the pros and cons before committing. What's my population? A state secret. And on, and on, and on.

Eventually I figure out that the correct answer is actually, “That is all for today,” and leaving, letting my minions handle their assigned tasks… collecting country names and reports, for now.

Of course, that leaves me with the task of properly colonizing Mars… eh, no big deal. Universal Teleport, drop off a few specialty minions created for the purpose (Mage Archetype Conjuration Companions with Fabricate, Create Materials, Permanent Image, and a few other talents), and set them to building a lit decoy city for viewing by telescope… plus a Simulacrum Solar to create a demiplane linked here (for actual residence). That done, I record the spot (so I can have astronomers point telescopes at the construction site). Shorty thereafter, I get a chunk of .gov web space, amd put up a website with some pictures of the construction along with the Mars coordinates.

Then I go rectify an issue.

See, I wasn't bluffing about the trap laid for the BMM's families. There's a couple hundred people who were basically innocent pawns; the closest thing to a crome that they committed? Being closely related to folks I thought might kill me. Their sentence? Stasis for a while, followed by release to a spot in a frozen wasteland sixty miles from a facility that would have no way to support them all even if they could get there. But now the war is over. I won… but I have a conscience.

But hey: I also have Time Warp from the Warp sphere, and I can do this in a way to allow for Fate, because while I now have immunity to time shenanigans thanks to the Time Flayer, I am also aware that not everything perfectly follows the rules.

So: Repeated divination spells to narrow down the exact time of my actual **** (I do not want to hop into the past only to die from that Hine again).

Then I get started….