[CENTER][sup][h1][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/t2MJEw9.png[/img][/center][b][center][color=black] B L A C K   A D A M[/color]
[color=gold]B L A C K   A D A M[/color][/center]
[/b][/h1][/sup]
[sup][color=goldenrod][b]BACK IN BLACK[/b] (part IV)[/color]
[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5621028]prev[/url] | next | [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SSdvNcAagI][i]soundtrack[/i][/url][/sup][/CENTER]
[color=gold][b]KAHNDAQ[/b][/color]
[color=goldenrod][sub][i]3,000 years earlier[/i][/sub][/color]

[INDENT][COLOR=SILVER]It had been swift and brutal.

The pair looked out over what had been a tight-knit village on the outskirts of Kahndaq. Outside the protection of the walls. A vulnerable target, but also odd for the fact that it had been a simple fishing community. There seemed little benefit to its destruction.

A thorough enough event that it had drawn the Wizard himself to the scene.

The boy bent down, picking up a broken sword with a distinctive shape. A [i]khopesh[/i]. [color=goldenrod]“Egyptians,”[/color] the child spat bitterly.

[color=snow]“[b]No.[/b] But we are meant to think that it was,”[/color] the Wizard stated flatly.

As Teth turned his head up to regard the old man, the confusion plain on his face, the weary figure made a gesture as he explained, [color=snow]“Look at the lack of defensive wounds. These people were taken by surprise. And these footprints – this was a small group, working quickly and very quietly. Egyptians always use power in numbers. This is far too subtle for them.”[/color]

Teth tossed the khopesh aside, motioning to indicate the flattened and scorched earth around them. [color=goldenrod]“You call [i]this[/i] subtle?”[/color]

[color=snow]“Only [b]Sandstormers[/b] are so precise. And indiscriminate,”[/color] the Wizard answered in the same matter-of-fact tone. With a slight wave, the man peeled back layers of sand that had concealed the bodies of a mother still clutching her children. [color=snow]“Or do you believe Egyptians would attack a village and not take slaves?”[/color]

To be honest, Teth wasn’t certain what disturbed him more. The scene, the bodies, or the casual attitude with which Shazam seemed aloof to the notion that these were people’s lives.

[color=snow]“But that was their mistake,”[/color] the Wizard remarked, oblivious or else ignoring the emotional plight that gripped the boy. [color=snow]“There is power in the blood of innocents. The blood that they’ve spilled will lead us right to them.”[/color]

A magic circle shimmered in the air before the old man, as he uttered a word of power.

[color=snow]“[i]KADESH![/i]”[/color][/COLOR][/INDENT]
[center][b][color=black]+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +[/color][/b][/center]
[color=gold][b]THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF KAHNDAQ[/b][/color]
[color=goldenrod][sub][i]present day[/i][/sub][/color]

[INDENT][COLOR=silver]The boy doubled over.

He hadn’t eaten much of anything for days, but the sparse contents of his stomach emptied out as he retched at the sight.

Teth had seen dead people – dead kids – but not like this. Amir had been ripped apart. The scene of the murder spread out as police cataloged the different parts of the homeless child.

Concealed within the mirror dimension, Teth saw it. All of it.

“[i]Anything on him?[/i]” one of the police officers asked.

The man he was addressing had a hand inside the pockets of the shorts that Amir had been wearing, casually hiding the few bills that the child had begged from off the street in the palm of his hand as he answered, “[i]Nothing.[/i]”

Arcs of lightning flowed along Teth’s form as bile and anger rose at the back of his throat. The casual indifference, the sheer animosity toward Kahndaq’s homeless children, hurt in ways he’d have been hard pressed to describe. Fueling both a rage and tears to slip down his face.

But the guards of the era were not the enemy. They were just the guards. Assholes in this century and every century before.

Whoever had done this was a coward. But an exceptionally strong coward. The police would take their time looking for the culprit, if they even looked for one at all. Teth, on the other hand, could get right to the heart of it.

Bringing his hands up, the child closed his eyes. Paused to take a breath.

The magic circle shimmered into existence as the boy moved his arms in a circular motion. As soon as the runic, mandala-like disc was complete, the boy opened his eyes and said: [color=goldenrod][b]“KADESH![/b]”[/color]

The magic circle seemed to flare outward, breaking apart into a million pieces of light that spread across the alleyway, illuminating a path that weaved through the streets of Kahndaq.

It led straight to the back of large figure garbed in traditional pyjama and a camel blanket, his head and face obscured as he tried to make his way through the city. 

The honorable thing to do would be to confront him.

[i]Fuck that.[/i]

[color=goldenrod]“[b]SHAZAM![/b]”[/color]

The obfuscated figure was backstabbed by the lightning bolt, as Teth emerged back into normal space-time with a precision strike that erupted with screams as people fled from the sudden strike.

Clothes smoldering, the mountain-like figure shrugged off the loose clothing to reveal an inhumanly large frame with grayish skin.

[color=goldenrod]“Huh. That didn’t disintegrate you,”[/color] Teth remarked sarcastically, smiling as he casually began to crack his knuckles.

[color=goldenrod]“[i]Good.[/i]”[/color]

Running at the figure, the boy drew back an arm...

...and found the inhuman figure closing the gap.

The sweep of a gray arm sent the boy flying. He’d already crashed through the first building before he’d even realized that he’d been struck. 

Careening through a second, the small boy exploded through the front window to land on the street, where a taxi had the misfortune of colliding with the child – which did more damage to the taxi than to Teth, but sent the boy into the side of a parked van, with enough force to knock it up onto the sidewalk.

That had [i]maybe[/i] gone differently in his head.

Rolling up to his feet, lightning came down to strike the boy as he pounding his fists together. [color=goldenrod][i]“Round two, asshole,”[/i][/color] the child uttered.[/color][/indent]