Shazam creeped through the murky woods of the Darklands—a magical realm that looked more like a Halloween town, than the final resting place of the dead.
In the months that had passed since the defeat of Dr. Sivana, with the help of his family. New foes had emerged to confront them, Powerful, ancient sisters. Powerful and pissed off, for vague reasons Billy had yet to determine.
Spurred by the fury of the Gods themselves, the Rock of Eternity had revealed gateways to magical lands to its six champions, in the hopes that they would retrieve a solution to defeat the malevolent forces that threatened their world.
Despite no one in the history of scary movies saying 'Splitting up is a good idea." Billy, as team leader, had suggested the family split up, to cover more ground. Leaving him alone on a dangerous mission, where he was just as likely to get lost walking down the winding, dirt-bare paths, as he was to trip on the exposed, gnarled roots of the dead trees that dotted the place.
How long do I have to walk through this creepy place? Billy said out loud to himself, as he scanned the numerous illuminated wooden huts for a sign that would end his foolhardy quest.
But Billy already knew the answer.
He would either keep looking until he found a key in a skull filled with brains or something, or run out of courage, turn back and ask the others for help. But despite being surrounded by gravestones, hanging nooses and spiked iron fences, admitting he wasn't up to the task was the scarier prospect.
"Hey, are there any witches in there? I'm looking for a magical book or a scroll so I can get out of here. Do you know where I can find one?" Billy peered through the opaque windows of one of the misshapen wooden huts, that looked like it had gotten sucked into a cyclone and spat right out, intact.
No answer, Billy noted. Disappointing, but still worth a try. The only wizard he'd ever met had granted him the power of the gods themselves. If he did find a witch huddled by a fireplace, chances are she could offer him a clue and not be one of the soul sucking variety.
But not encountering shady characters wasn't always up to Billy. Not when Fate had something else in mind, and a burning plasma orb shot above his head and shattered the glass he was facing.
"Foolish Champion!" A familiar incensed voice shouted from behind. The alarming voice belonging to Dr. Sivana, who held a pulsating green orb of energy in his hand, and looked like he was ready to shoot a hole in Billy's chest.
"You thought you had gotten rid of me by locking me in a cell, but I'm back! And I have been empowered by the Fates themselves." Sivana raised his arms as a display of power.
Awww, shoot, Billy thought. He really did think he'd seen the last of that guy. Now he was going to have to trade insults and hope he'd make it out of here alive.
"Hey old man, long time no see. You shoot plasma balls now? I kind of liked the lightning better."
"Mere party sparklers, when the weavers of destiny have bestowed upon me the power to destroy you."
"That's cool and all, but what good are plasma balls if you miss half of the time?" Billy asked, after considering the effectiveness of the overpowered, but inaccurate power.
"That is irrelevant. No matter how much you evade me, sooner or later I will hit my mark. Because despite your futile heroics, you are drawn to me like a magnet."
"Gross. Don't flatter yourself." Billy rebutted, repulsed by that last line about moths being drawn to a flame or whatever ominous cliches supervillains said these days.
"Enough!" Sivana hurled the burning orb of death at Billy, having heard enough of his childish wisecracks.
If years of watching movies had clued Billy in to one thing, it was that villains usually yelled a battle cry before unleashing their big move. Using that extra second of awareness, Billy dodged the speeding projectile. The plasma ball seared the trunk of the twisted of the twisted tree it had touched.
A second sooner and I would need a pumpkin to replace my head. Billy thought, as Sivana charged up another blazing sphere of magic.
"You will burn when I'm finished with you!" The scorned doctor lobbed the concentrated globe of fury at Billy, hitting him square in the shoulder and sending him flying into the hard iron fence.
If Billy could describe the pain he felt right now in two words, it would: fizzy candy. But on his skin and on fire. The champion's suit had shielded him against the brunt of the damage, but any more hits and his super suit was sure to peel clean off.
"As soon as I'm free, I'll show you who's gonna burn!" Billy called out to wherever Sivana was lurking. As he tried to tug his cape out from the spiked fence, it had impaled itself on. A position that somewhat lessened the punch of his smack talk.
"You don't seem to understand that my magic is vastly superior to yours." Sivana emerged from the shadows and advanced menacingly. He didn't need to charge at Billy. Not when he had his nemesis right where he wanted him.
So that was it then. He was going to die like a limp coat on a coat rack. Billy thought as he struggled and pulled to tear himself free, from what would imminently be known as the last resting place of Billy Batson. The kid who, against Solomon's wisdom went off on his own hoping to spare his family from danger.
But it never came to that. Not when a blur of red came flying at Sivana with her fist extended, knocking him unconscious.
Her name was Mary and in Billy's hour of need had come to rescue him despite previous instructions.
"Billy, are you OK?" Mary rushed to Billy's side, steadying his shaking arm as he tore himself away from the metallic death trap of a fence.
"Uh… yeah. I was just tricking Grandpa over there into thinking he had me." Billy boasted, despite feeling like he'd gotten stuck in a Halloween corn maze with no one out there to help him.
"When we were searching the Magic Lands, I had this feeling that one of us was in trouble." Mary paced back and forth, agitated by her worst intuition come true.
"And when I saw you trapped…" Mary continued, sighing at the close call. Billy understood now the cost of being headstrong. As leader of his magical family, he felt responsibility to be the best leader he could be, by getting things done without anyone involved getting hurt.
But by trying to mitigate danger, he had invited it.
"Then it's a good thing you realized I needed that help." Billy interrupted and thanked his sister for the save, realizing that his family worried about him just as much, as he did about them.
"Come on, let's get of here." Mary urged Billy, eager to leave the eerie place.
"I thought you'd never ask!"
Since we got new info about the Shazam 2 villains (3 sisters, possibly Greek Fates), I wrote this chapter as a late Halloween treat.
Potential future chapters will be slice of slice. The titles, including this one will be Destruction, Cheater, and Liar. Thanks for reading.