I remember a story that had a Van Vogt type premise with people who came up with short lived special abilities. Shortly after, it mutated into different, enhanced versions before going away. The hero was able to recognize people (they were on the moon) were really aliens. When his power changed, it was all about strings connecting the past to the future, so he made the aliens forget they ever saw anything worth conquering in our solar system. I think the point of the story is that if we become temporary gods, we can beat aliens.