“And what of me?” Ikonn’s disembodied voice asked, coming from everywhere and nowhere as his image flickered into and out of existence.
A swirl of shadows swept through a point in space, and Felicia looked over into Ikonn’s startled orbs from where she was leaning on his previously-concealed shoulder. “I’ve been told I have a gift you might enjoy, Illustrious Ikonn. Would I be acceptable?” she purred.
The quiver in his head was the insectile equivalent of a twitch of delight. “The Black Cat? For me? Yes, yes, I, Ikonn, will happily accept the Black Cat as my Champion for the War of the Seven Spheres!” There were suddenly six, eleven, two, seven of him popping around in the equivalent of a dance for joy, although none of the Images were actually capering.
Huh, guess Felicia had been working on her merry-band-of-thieves mystic rep...
That left only two Principals to go: Agamotto the All-Seeing of the Vishanti, and the representative of the Faltine.
“So, Strange, you are to enter my service for the War of the Seven Spheres?” the dragon’s-head of the All-Seeing Agamotto spoke up, looking at the Sorcerer Supreme.
Nimue stepped forward before Strange could respond, waving her hand, and a quicksilver globe appeared before her. “I believe my qualifications may meet your specifications, Lord Agamotto?”
The long, Oriental-style dragon within the globe, staring at many crystal orbs around itself, gawked, the image it was projecting here doing likewise as one of its viewing orbs began an infinite recursion loop, looking at itself looking at itself. Even Strange had to muffle a smile at the sight of the All-Seeing being spied upon in his own lair!
“This...” the first of Earth’s Sorcerer Supremes spoke, clearly a bit startled. Nimue swept her Scrying orb away, and the dragon’s eyes looked back and forth between the two of them. “We came to claim your service for the Vishanti, Strange, and now no one is to gain you?” Even the Vishanti could be impressed by that level of manipulation.
“BY THE POWER OF THE VISHANTI, WHOSE NAME IS QUITE THE MEME,
I CLAIM, BY RIGHT OF POWER, MY TITLE: SORCERESS SUPREME!”
Dr. Strange swore to something, but he couldn’t even hear his own words. Magic HAMMERED at the heads of everyone, a Song that welled up from underneath everything with the power of galaxies, and shook the firmament with power and glory like nothing he had ever directly experienced.
It was all things being possible, held in a single Voice. And it was so loud that it shook the soul, and even the Principals here were reeling at the full force of its impact.
His hands went to his throat, and he turned around in time to see the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation settle around Dynamo’s neck and shoulders as she stood there, looking magnificently bored and put-upon.
“Dr. Strange has made his choice to stand with his lady Clea,” Dynamo stated, and waved her hand absently.
Magic swirled around Stephen, and he had just enough time to look into Clea’s startled blue eyes before the two of them flowed together into one via the Reach Unimerge.
Her purple apparel changed to a pattern similar to Stephen’s, but kept its violet theme instead of blue. She had jet black stripes at her silken white temples now, another dark blaze through her crown, and one of her pale blue eyes was now dark grey. Purple flames came up on her right hand as she raised them both, sorcerous orange lights on the left.
“The Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension will naturally be serving her Faltinian ancestors,” Dynamo stated calmly to the assembled Principals. “I shall serve as the Sorceress Supreme of Terra until the Doctor’s return. If any of you have any questions about my status, you may confer with my Patron.”
Shadows grew behind her, swelling and lengthening in an instant, and eight blood-red and pitiless eyes opened there to regard them all.
“The Widow of the Web! The Weavers have no place in the War of the Seven Spheres!” Oshtur called out instantly, as the massive spidery being surveyed the gathered Entities with interest... and to those who didn’t step back instantly, more than a touch of hunger.
“Then our business is done here, noble Principals?” Dynamo asked politely. “I do suggest the Faltinians enter an alliance with the Elemental Four, but that is merely a recommendation.”
They all looked at one another as Clea Strange drifted over to the side of the astonished and pleased Faltine, who certainly wasn’t going to argue with the results. It considered the four members of the Octessence there thoughtfully.
“The Vishanti are pleased with these results,” all three of them said together, as the women who were their Champions stood before each of them. “Well done, Strange.” Ghostly streams of color swept by, and the Vishanti and their Champions were gone.
------
I looked around as magic swept out and past, and in but a breath, only Clea Strange and I were left.
“It seems I am even more clever than we thought,” Clea said, grey eye glowing for a moment as she crossed her arms and smiled at me. “We were not expecting us to serve so... concurrently, Dynamo,” she noted dryly.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Stephen’s brain and mind are human, whereas Clea is descended from the Faltine and has innate Timelessness. Without Clea, this whole war will be of limited usefulness for Stephen. With his ingenuity, Clea’s chances of survival and rewards are raised considerably.” Dynamo wagged a finger at her. “Giving where you are serving and your own power, the Cloak is not of much use, but I will cede the Eye to you, if the Faltine do not object to Agamotto knowing of their affairs.”
She and I both turned to look at the burning Elemental still there, who considered the point, and then inclined its head carefully. “It will only be of aid in the struggles to come,” it answered in the crackle of burning atoms.
I sent the Amulet over to her, and she settled it into place naturally, the Eye within opening for a moment in acknowledgement of the change. “I will keep your Cloak safe. I already have a Bonded Item, and I will not impose upon it.” The high-necked Cloak rippled behind me in appreciation, one scarlet corner reaching up to touch Vier gently, who glittered in response.
“You called upon the Underweb AND the Sublime Chord,” Clea Strange murmured to me, staring at me in great interest, and smiled slyly. “Should I shine the Eye upon you, and see what Truly Is?”
I was in fake Wrecker-mode, the image most of the planet knew, and just shook my head. “Half-a-head taller and golden-skinned, I look even less like a sorceress.” I held out my hand, and she took it automatically for a shake. “Good luck, you two. Put some pressure on your Patrons for that Alliance. Being able to confer with a Reed Richards who has nothing to think about but magic will certainly be of immense use to you.”
“I suppose you shall keep my seat warm.” Her mismatched eyes glowed mischievously.
“We’ll see if Agamotto stays on top of stuff with how busy he’s going to be,” I sniffed. “That’s why Morgan volunteered me, Cosmic Awareness as back-up.”
“Tch! It was my subtle machinations which are responsible for all this!” she corrected me with an elegant finger and lofty tone.
I slapped my forehead. “Ah, yes. Apologies, Doctor. Thoroughly manipulated, I have been,” I conceded shamelessly, and we both laughed...
-------
Fires blazed over the two of them, Faltine and material descendant, and they were gone. I flicked up a Portal, and was back inside the Sanctum Sanctorum.
I knew the place intimately, of course, and the Wards hummed with the reliability of old friends. On top of that was the mantle of the Cloak on my shoulders, the Title of the Sorcerer Supreme, and what exactly I was going to be doing for the next few months while everyone else went through a thousand years of fight-fight.
I had to admit I would’ve enjoyed doing the same thing. Timeless fighting, not having to worry about responsibilities beyond the moment, practice-practice-practice, time made out of nothing... yeah, that totally would have been fun.
But... a True Exemplar Golden Child was probably a bit much for any of the Principalities out there to have as a Champion. I was basically almost capable of qualifying as a newbie Principal myself. Certainly moreso than Clea, even though she had the whole Dark Dimension under her now.
And besides, there were seven of me Out There. I myself would be totally redundant, and as I’d mentioned, Cosmic Awareness was needed as back-up. Dealer had agreed to look after the Dark Dimension while Clea was out, was probably going to throw a few parties there, and if some warlords came looking for trouble, she was going to be making new Decks of Cards out of them.
It was going to be REALLY interesting when they came back and I caught up on seven thousand years of fighting and rep counts.
I was also the temporal anchor all of them could return to if their Principals were snide and didn’t actually bring them back to the proper time. I didn’t think it would be an issue, as the War would be taking place in a different place with different rules about it. Other Entities wanted to expand their influence into this place, and ours wanted to grow beyond their current limits.
I could imagine that those Entities were going to get addicted to a surfeit of competency. The dimensional distance and temporal exchange was going to allow Morgan to mirror what Dealer had done, and break or at least massively relax her Clone status, allowing her to grow, even if being the Scarlet Witch hadn’t already changed her destiny.
That being said, I didn’t actually expect massive Levels. I expected lots of rep counts, maybe some (tons of) Skill Ranks and Feats in specialties of magic and magical knowledge... and payment of the Karmic load to Eternal, and that included more for Stephen. Apotheosis or ascension, both words fit. The War was a way to pay for that big Karmic step for the lucky.
Of course, when seven of me received such payments, who knew where all that extra would go?
-----
-Alright, this is Dynamo, speaking to everyone who is concerned with me and what I do.
-Due to a profound and wide-ranging mystical event called the War of the Seven Spheres, there’s a dearth of the most powerful spellcasters on the planet for a few months. I’m acting as the Sorceress Supreme of Terra until relieved of said duty.
-Among other things, that means I now have to monitor the magical side of things that Dr. Strange was taking care of for us, in addition to all the Cosmic Awareness stuff I’ve been pulling.
-Naturally enough, the demands on my time are going to be excessive, and I don’t expect to be doing much more than gazing into a certain scrying Orb and dispatching people to put out all the fires that I’ll be seeing.
-So, don’t be surprised if I call you up to take care of something that might usually be taken care of by a Caster. Casters, don’t be surprised if you get tossed into taking care of things you didn’t worry about before, because some other schmuck took care of it for you. Congrats, welcome to the harsh world of soul-eaters, necromancers, invading extra-dimensionals, and crap from across the Astral Sea sailing in to cause a mess.
-Everyone in space, I’ll be available if there’s a true emergency, but I’m writing myself out of any and all missions. Now’s the time for you to step up and prove why we gave you those Cores and Specs. I’m still on oversight and information relaying, don’t you worry about that, but don’t plan on any Dynamo muscle to do anything, and get ready for some really weird missions you might have to undertake here and there for idiot purposes that somehow fit into a grander scheme of things.
-I’ll be available for consultations, but mostly I’ll be gazing into a stupid magic Orb that likes to make work for people, fixing up Strange’s library, and puttering about on stuff that doesn’t take a time investment.
-Awright, back to work, you lot.-
There were some cheeky replies to my much put-upon little speech, and everyone got back to whatever they were doing, the ungrateful rotters.
Fedora was busy, so now I needed someone who could track down that malevolent bitch Lilith and the shit she was trying to stir up, too...
=======
We shall skip over the events of the original Midnight Sons comic storyline, which all this leads into. That was part of the big Ghost Rider resurgence, updating him for the modern era. I find it amusing there’s a video game coming out based on those events (it's where Lilith really hit the big time).
There’s a semi-famous comic about Strange commenting that Von Doom is dangerous because he’s time-traveled across the eras and learned dark secrets from ancient masters in the past. People posting it forget Strange had a thousand-year stint of practice directly under the Vishanti during the Seven Spheres War.