SHAZAM! The Word of Power #1
Sandy shanties litter a small dusty burrow at the vibrant golden peaking sun. A new morning rises on Kahndaq. A solid tomb of gold, emblazoned with sigils of ancient runes never deciphered by locals, seems to sink an inch every decade. The entrance is lodged three meters below the sand, and well above the base of the forgotten structure.
Until this day, the tomb remained undisturbed. They are warned. Every second becomes an hour; a room full of breaths baited. The locals won't step foot on these hallowed grounds, and the doctor is stopped outside. If blood must be spilled upon sand, so be it. Adam will rise.
The door is impenetrable. The hired help won't go near it, not even at gunpoint. Doctor Sivana wipes the cake of dust from the golden hieroglyphs. The air buzzes and crackles across his skin, deep into his fingertips. If the man has hair it'd stand at attention.
They move. They shift. Centuries old golden engravings etch out a phrase in perfect English.
For those who seek the power;
Simply speak the prayer.
For those who seek flight;
Simply shout to the sky...
His fingers trace the final word. It bubbles in his throat. A bolt shaped hole rests in the 'Z' of that final word. His index finger hovers silently, vertically, and still. Not a sound in all of Kahndaq.
Doctor Sivana removes his glasses, leaning in with a flashlight. His eye reaches into the darkness and a pupil greets him. This is no wall. This is no door. This whole tomb is a sarcophagus. A bead of sweat. A significant tremble.
A servant peers over the doctor's shoulder. Many excavators, anthropologists, diggers, desperate people who need to feed someone important, all cower at the sight of the word. Their children starve. The water drops this time of year. Some aren't thinking clearly. One man shuddered and whispered. A quiet rattle.
"...Sha..zam…"
Thunder erupts. Sivana flies through the crowd and onto his back. The walls rumble. The ceiling drops. Families lose their fathers. Lightning pulses through the room. Not a moment to run. Some men are shriveled husks before they're crushed. A room full of scared men is reduced to ash and red spray.
The golden bunker becomes a beacon. Bright flashes and a gargantuan cloud of sand explode as strands of light escape the heavens. The bricks comprising the sunken building have become a meteor shower on the surrounding village. Homes ruined. Lives lost.
Sivana is one of a few lucky ones. The one thing he lacks is that eye that greeted this god of a man. His rib is in his lung. His face is streaked with jagged burns. A bright shadow towers above.
"Did you free me, mortal?"
A weak nod.
"My apologies. I've taken from you and you've done me a service."
Between thumb and forefinger magic sparks. The lightning coalesces into a sizzling marble of radiance.
"Not exact. But I think you'll find it more useful than the old one."
It lands in the socket. A surge breathes life and power through each respective nerve. Doctor Sivana wanted to find power. Now he can see it. The unseen.
"Black…. Adam."
