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[b][color=#87ceeb]|[/color] R O C K   O F   E T E R N I T Y[/b]

[indent][color=silver]An arc of lightning traveled through the air. Splitting apart, the spark seemed to blossom into a column of light, which then faded into a roughly humanoid shape.

From out of the light, the equine alien emerged. Kymellians stood upright, with a humanoid frame that included standing upright on powerful legs with a reversed knee joint and large, hooved feet. His head was shaped like that of a horse, or a pony in his case, as Kofi was not yet full grown. 

The young Kymellian was still attired in the blue costume with the golden lightning bolt and flowing red cape. In mid-stride, a bolt of lightning struck, reverting the alien child back into his normal clothing. It was similar to a sleeveless tunic or toga, leaving his arms bare, even as it dressed his torso in a shimmery, cloth-metal fabric that was unlike any substance found on Earth.

Glancing up, toward the throne at the top of the Rock of Eternity, the horse-like youth saw the raven haired human child seated there. Billy Batson was seated sideways, across the throne, with his chin clasped in one hand, and his gaze distant, staring off into a magical projection of the planet Earth, with any number of scenes playing out in bubble-like windows orbiting the illusion.

It seemed a lonely vigil. But also, perhaps, a fruitless one. 

Kymellia had largely eliminated crime through education and social enrichment programs that had become integrated into their culture as they had advanced technologically over generations. Humanity, on the other hand, still managed a global average of [b]490,000[/b] homicides a year, in addition to a litany of other crimes. Human trafficking, the sale of other human beings, remained a concern, as did illicit narcotics and piracy. 

No matter how powerful any one individual might be, hero or not, those were larger social issues than any single person would be able to solve for the planet.

All Shazam could do is [b]watch[/b]. 

Kofi imagined that kind of vigil could take a toll on a person. [color=#00ffff]“Have you even [i]started[/i] on your homework?”[/color] the Kymellian asked, even as he rounded around to one side of the rotating globe. 

Reaching up a hand, the horse-like youth expanded one of the balloon like visuals. Blood diamonds in Africa. Aptly named. 

If they intervened there, then what about the ship that was capsizing off the coast of Jamaica? Or the earthquake happening in India?

They were forbidden from interfering with time. The possibility of igniting multiple parallel realities was replete with [b]danger[/b]. It made it to where the moment and time of their intervention was paramount, because even Shazam could only be in one place at one time. [color=#00ffff]“I can let you copy my math, but you’re on your own for the book report,” [/color]Kofi noted, dismissing the tragedy that was happening in the African continent for the time being and instead returning his attention to the boy on the throne.

Billy still hadn’t so much as acknowledged that he was here.

Arm outstretched, Kofi changed the topic. [color=#00ffff]“I contacted the [b]Technomancy[/b]. My people are handling Skratt and his crew. They’ll make sure to turn them over to the Zn’rx unharmed, but I think they’ll think twice before visiting your planet again.”[/color]

Had Billy even blinked? The human child just lay across the chair, brooding as he seemed to bore holes through the illusion of the globe with an icy glare.

[color=#00ffff]“[b]HEY![/b]”[/color]

Kofi surprised himself, the snap more forceful than he’d intended. Yet, it seemed to have worked. Billy’s gaze flickered, moving from the planet hovering there in the midst of the Rock of Eternity to, at last, look down at the Kymellian.

[color=#00ffff]“It is difficult to have a conversation when only person is talking,” [/color]Kofi noted simply.

Billy’s hand fell away from his face. The boy shifted his body so that he was seated upright, leaning forward with his arms resting on his thighs. [color=#87ceeb]“Why didn’t we do something?”[/color]

If the Kymellian seemed confused, then the reaction was genuine. [color=#00ffff]“We [b]did[/b] do something, Billy Batson,” [/color]the boy responded in a matter-of-fact tone. [color=#00ffff]“And two people are ali...”[/color]

[color=#87ceeb]“We both saw Courtney in the school yard,” [/color]Billy stated, interrupting.

Kofi paused. For a moment, the reference almost slipped by him. Then he recalled. It had been an anomalous energy that the two had associated with Courntey as she had passed them. [color=#00ffff]“We didn’t know what we were seeing,”[/color] the Kymellian answered. Which, was still the case now and seemed, in his mind at least, not associated with the Zn’rx incident. Had that energy been Zn’rx in nature, then Kofi would have recognized it. [color=#00ffff]“It was not logical...”[/color]

[color=#87ceeb]“[i]Logic?[/i]” [/color]

As soon as Billy had echoed back the word, Kofi realized that he’d made a mistake. A roar of thunder caused the temple to tremble as if in the grips of an earthquake, as Billy’s voice boomed from all directions.

[h3][color=#87ceeb]“[b]A BOY IS DEAD BECAUSE WE COULDN’T BE BOTHERED.[/b]”[/color][/h3]

Kofi winced in pain from the sound, even as he kept his footing. [color=#00ffff]“You are having an emotional response,[/color]” the Kymellian snapped, chastising the sorcerer before him. [color=#00ffff]“The knowledge you possess now informs a piece of information which you lacked in that moment in the past.” [/color]It was [b]regret[/b]. A primitive emotion informed by hindsight and fueled by misplaced anger.

Any logical ought to have been able to rationalize their feelings.

However, Kofi had found humanity less than rational.

As though confirming that assessment, he found a rather shocking amount of venom in Billy’s tone as the boy spat back, [color=#87ceeb]“I suppose a [b]guilt complex[/b] is also [i]logical[/i], is that it?”[/color]

Frustration was also an emotion. Once which Kofi found himself struggling with. Particularly since arriving here as Billy’s understudy. Burying his face in his hands, the Kymellian let his fingers run through his mane before he blurted out, [color=#00ffff]“I do not understand how your species has managed to not destroy itself with these emotional outbursts!”[/color] 

Turning, the horse-faced youth put his back toward Billy. [color=#00ffff]“I came to inform you that the Zn’rx had been handled. I have done so.”[/color]

With that, Kofi walked away and prepared to take his leave. A magic circle formed at the boy’s fingertips, as he prepared to teleport away. Then, pausing a moment, looked back to ask, [color=#00ffff]“I will see you at school tomorrow?”[/color]

Billy didn’t answer.

A pregnant pause lingered in the air, after which Kofi gave a sigh and raised the teleportation spell.

[color=#87ceeb]“Did the Zn’rx say why they were here?”[/color]

Kofi grimaced. Tempted to ignore the question and teleport away, as Billy had treated him in like fashion. However, the youth finally dispelled the runic circle and turned around to talk across the throne room at the boy seated there as Shazam. [color=#00ffff]“Merely that they were attempting to recover something. Which I presume was a false pretext.”[/color]

Billy seemed to mull over that information, then gave the Kymellian a simple nod of acknowledgement.

Kofi gave a heavy sigh. [color=#00ffff]“Good night, Billy Batson.”[/color]

[i][color=#87ceeb]“Good night,” [/color][/i]Billy whispered in reply, dully watching as the Kymellian boy vanished into a column of light, which then zipped away as an arc of lightning.

After the Kymellian had departed, Billy stood up. A runic circle formed at his fingertips. As he stepped down from the throne, the illusionary Earth seemed to expand outward. By the time Billy had stepped off the steps of the dais, it was as though he were walking through the hallways of the Fawcett City General Hospital. Doctors, nurses, and patients mulled about, as the boy peered in on Courtney.

A woman -- her mother? -- was sobbing as she hugged the girl. 

A wave of Billy’s hand, and the building seemed to morph around him until he was standing in the morgue. 

The man that had been with Courtney -- her father? -- had his head in his hands, a clipboard and paperwork in his lap, as he sat out in a hallway outside the cooler.

The man’s answer to Billy continued to echo in the boy’s mind.

[i]I’m aware[/i].

With a wave of his hand, Billy dispelled all the illusion. Save for the clipboard and the paperwork that had been in the man’s lap. 

His name wasn’t Whitmore. It was [b]Dugan[/b].

Pat Dugan.

[color=#87ceeb]“Who are [b]you[/b], sir,”[/color]the boy asked quietly, as the clipboard faded from out of his hands.

And what did he have that the Zn’rx wanted?[/color][/indent]