I’d put my plan into motion a few days ago and was biding my time until Black Adam arrived. I had cast some alarm spells on the surrounding area, foolishly thinking it would give me some warning. I was reviewing some esoteric tomes I’d read a decade back, I was sure that I could make significant improvements in detection spells, which could prove interesting insight about complex spells construction. This could up the resolution of my magical scanners and provide me a detailed look on how spells worked versus how they were constructed. Spells aren’t living things, but they act that way, permuting over time, altering and adapting to new situations. The added insight can show where spells might be weaker, and thus where someone might remove a powerful spell with only a small application of force. This was of course, a topic that was quite dear to me, due to my own limited power. But to be honest, I was just geeking out on magical theory.

This topic, in some form or another, has been the bulk of my life’s work. I was lost in thought when there was huge thud that shook the floor. I looked around, and the wall next to me exploded with a shower of concrete blocks and dust. A giant of a man plowed out of the wall. It was Teth Adam, better known as Black Adam. A huge man, burly with muscles and dusky skin. He was clad in an all black uniform, with a yellow lightning bolt on his chest. Breaking the black of his tunic was a Yellow Sash tied around his waist, golden bracers on his wrists, and yellow boots. He had short cropped black hair with a widow’s peak. His dark piercing eyes seemed to swallow me up and locked me in place.

He saw me cowering in the corner, and floated down beside me. “Who dares impersonate Isis?” His voice was deep, and powerful, rumbling my chest like a loud bass speaker. I almost wet myself from fright. The reality of Black Adam’s presence is far more scary that I expected. My hands began to tremble. I hoped I still had the courage to follow through, or I was very likely going to die.

He was about 10 feet from me, when he blurred and in an instant was standing before me. He grabbed me, and hauled me off the floor. He held me a few feet off the ground, my legs uselessly scrabbling for purchase. He shook me to get my attention, then pulled me in close. His eyes were deep black pools that peered right into me. “Who desecrates her memory! Tell me, or I shall start pulling fingers off!” His voice thrummed off my bones, and felt like it echoed down my bloodstream as panic made my heart thump in my chest. It felt like my heart was bouncing off my rib cage. I could feel carotid artery throb with every pulse.

I could barely hold up my hands, they were shaking so hard. My knees were almost knocking together. Still, this was the moment I needed. Letting my terror flow through me, I used some meditation techniques to try to regain some control. I tried to push at Adam. I’d like to say that I was fully in control, but I wasn’t. I barely pulled myself together to focus on the spell. Despite my shaking hands and the drumbeat of my heart, as my hand contacted his chest, I screamed the final component of the spell, “SHAZAM!”

There was a bright flash, as lightning poured out of Adam and flowed into me. Every nerve lit up, and I was blasted out of Adam’s hands and thrown back. As I flew backwards, I felt my body begin to pulse with the power. Time slowed down. I was hurtling through the air a centimeter at a time.

The power coiled through my chest and built to a mighty wave that rushed over me. It hit my mind, and I felt all my fears and doubts wash away. My hands stopped shaking, my knees steadied. The nauseating feel of being tossed through the air like a rag doll stopped. I wasn’t afraid. I could handle this! My plan had worked!

And then the lightning flew down my body. All my aches and pains disappeared. I was no longer tired from staying up all night because sleep wouldn’t come. I felt rested and fresh. The magic buzzed around my skin, and I felt my clothes flip. I was now wearing a black uniform leotard, similar to a gymnast’s, with a yellow sash tied around my waist. My legs were bare, my shoes had transformed into to Egyptian sandals, with wire lace that ran up my calves. My arms had some Egyptian wire work around the upper arm.

The magic wasn’t finished. I felt strength pour into my limbs. I grew inches in height almost immediately. And then I started to fill out. My thin limbs swelled with muscles. My arms firmed up, and toned muscles popped out. Each movement caused my biceps and triceps to flex and form little bulges. My legs were now shapely with calves that pushed against the metal wire of my shoes.

My chest muscles grew a bit, and then my breasts grew. Before I was flat chested, now I had a modest bosom, my hands could still easily cup my breasts, but this was huge improvement over my previous build.

My short hair lengthened down to my shoulders. It was even blacker than before, a dark satiny cloud. I ran my hand through my hair, it felt like a dozen hair commercials rolled up into one.

At this point, knowledge appeared, I knew my powers. I knew how to use them. As I realized that I could fly, I stopped flying backwards. The flash ended. The entire transformation had happened in less than an eye blink.

I looked down at Adam, now wearing some ancient Egyptian clothing. He was a lot smaller, and not as built. He looked a bit stunned.

I floated down next to him, and landed.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!”

“I have merely moved the power of the gods to a more worthy vessel.” My VOICE. My voice was like sex and honey mixed together. It was a rich contralto, filled with depth and nuance. I couldn’t believe how I sounded!

Not to be outdone, Adam stared back and said. “You can’t stop me. SHAZAM!”

Lightning started to descend towards Adam, except I was faster than lightning now, and I no longer needed a huge ritual to cast a spell. I could control lighting with a thought. Instead of hitting Adam, I bent it and circled it around me. I had spent a long time analyzing my aunt’s notes and theorizing on how this spell worked. I had a bit of time to figure this out, if I couldn’t, I could always just shunt the bolt to the ground. I flew up to look and I could see the spell shot through the bolt. Like I guessed, the power of Shazam wasn’t inside in the bolt, the bolt completed a circuit, through with the power flowed.

The first bolt, sent the power to the person. A second bolt was coded to reverse the flow, and send the power back. The power flowed to and from the Rock of Eternity.

The spell was not all that complex, the real complexity lay in the spell on Adam and the spell in the power. For someone like me, rewriting the clause for the decision of send or return power was straight-forward. Probably a feat only a few mages could accomplish, even given a large amount of time to study the spell. But the bolts only existed for a fraction of second. It was a complex task few could master, and none could do in the flash of lightning. Few were as good at this as I was, disassembling spells was my expertise. With my enhanced speed, I did it in the time it took lightning to circle around me a few hundred times. It was still only a few seconds real time, but much longer for me. Unfortunately, in the time it took me to decode most of the spell, I didn’t have time to make use of it. The lightning had started to fray, and I didn’t want to risk Adam connecting to a stray spark, that’s all he’d need to complete the the circuit, and get power sent to him from the Rock.

I’d already accounted for this and had installed some poles that would ground the lightning safely and quickly away. With a mental flick, I dropped the lightning into one of them, and it drained away.

Unfortunately, during this time, Adam didn’t stay still. He’s quick on his feet. The Wizard didn’t choose him randomly. As I was letting the lightning circle me and was absorbed in studying it, Adam called another one. “What have you done! SHAZAM!”

I had been warned by reading the account with Mary, I should have known better. No one gets to be a Marvel if they haven’t earned it in some way. Teth Adam managed to slip the bolt by me. I’d just noticed it falling as I was grounding the first bolt, and I reached out to grab it, but I was just a bit too late.

The lightning slammed into him, surrounding him with a glow and a clap of thunder. With my enhanced senses and speed, I watched as the spell struck him. He grew inches in height and his body swelled with muscles. His clothing returned to the familiar black with yellow lightning bolt of his uniform. He looked up at me and growled, “You will PAY for you insolence!” He erupted off the ground, arrowing right towards me.

Before when he’d approached me, he moved faster than I could see, and I was in his clutches before I realized he’d moved. This time, I saw him rushing towards me. I was still a bit rocky from letting him transform, I just stepped to the side. He rocketed past me and slammed into the ceiling, turning half the ceiling into rubble that showered down on the floor.

Quick as a cat, he turned around, and zoomed back at me. Despite his obvious speed, I could still track his movements. I had enough time to once again dart to the side. This time as I dodged, I grabbed him and pushed him into the ground.

He struck the ground with a BOOM that echoed off the walls. The impact shook everything in the building and created a huge crater in the floor. As the dust cleared, Adam was standing at the bottom studying me warily.

“You have adapted to your stolen powers quickly. But you are no match for me!”

This time he approached slower, under more control. He had an intense look on his face, shutting out everything except for his desire to make me pay. He flew up to me, and let loose a mighty swing. I may be a bookworm, but I have taken some self defense classes. Adam was fighting like someone familiar with his power and speed. He was used to being stronger and faster, and he used those as weapons, overwhelming his foes with his power.

But I was just as strong, and just as fast. I ducked under his blow, and gave a sharp jab to his ribs. I didn’t hurt my hand, but the blow had no effect on Adam. He might rely upon his speed and strength, but he still knew what he was doing. I stood surprised that my blow had no effect. He immediately slammed his fist across my face.

But that blow also had no effect! I felt a bit stupid for forgetting my aunts tale. The Marvel Family’s invulnerability was greater than their strength.

In the time it took me to realize that, Adam had punched me twice more, each time more frustrated that his blows were not affecting me.

It’s then I remembered that I didn’t have to take this anymore. Time for some fun!

I’d studied a normal bolt, the one I’d drained into the floor. And I’d watched closely as it transformed Adam. But while I stole power from Adam, some of my senses had kicked in, and I got a feeling for it. It was simply a pure flow of power. There weren’t any limiters in it, or spells, just raw power. In looking at Adam, I also could see some of a spell the wizard had placed on him. It was fiendishly complicated, and I doubt that many could have seen it at all. But this again, was something I did, and now my abilities were hooked up to world class magical power. That spell was the ability to call the lightning in the first place, though I could tell it was more than that! I’d stolen the power directly, I didn’t have all the limiters on me. Those should really have been in the transformation, not as part of the calling spell.

“What’s the matter Adam? Having some performance anxiety? Can’t even punch a little girl?”

Adam’s a canny opponent, and he’s not a slave to his anger. But he’s also used to taking his wrath out, as little can stop him. It was enough that he hauled off with his best punch. As it flew, I leaned back and let it fly by, and then touched his arm. I then completed the spell circuit again, with a simple word. “SHAZAM!”

Once again the Power flowed out of him with a mighty flash, and drained into me.

The effects were less dramatic this time, I didn’t grow nearly as much. I felt it roll through my arms and legs, expanding and hardening my muscles a bit as they gained power. My biceps swelled with the power, I could feel the wirework on my arms reconfiguring to adapt to their new size. My muscles were obvious now even when not flexing. My breasts grew a bit more, a spark flitted from one nipple to the other, and I gasped in pleasure. The power flowed down my body and I could feel my thighs swell a bit with new muscle as my legs gained more density and power. Finally the power nestled back into my brain, speeding up my thoughts and filling it with more knowledge. I noticed that my magical power had grown with both strikes. Before I was a weakling mage with world class knowledge, now I was one of the most powerful mages in the world, with a first rate knowledge of magic, coupled with a brain that could think faster than a hummingbird’s wings. All this was housed in a body that had enormous strength, was invulnerable to harm, and never tired.

Like the first time, this was a bit much to take in, and I drank in the sensations of the power flowing through me. It brought with it a euphoria, a complete sense of freedom. I hovered in the air, reveling in the sensation.

Adam dropped to the floor. Again, he proved to be no amateur and yelled, “SHAZAM!”, before he even hit the ground.

As I sat stunned by the influx of power, Adam snuck another bolt by me. The lightning again bathed him in its glow, and with a clap of thunder, he was back again.

I knew that unlike my Aunt, who had been dealing with the lightning directly, I still had my powers. I’d drank a second helping directly from Adam, and I was even more powerful! As I looked down at Adam, I could see the Wizard’s spell more clearly. It was fiendishly complicated, and was woven into his aura. No wonder the Wizard couldn’t remove it. It was shot through him, and removing it would probably kill him. If it were damaged, it would simply regrow or repair itself. It was a part of him and his aura.

I also noticed that I could read Adam’s fighting stance. The first bolt had given me some knowledge of the powers and how to use them. It felt instinctive but it wasn’t. It was part of the Wisdom imparted by the Lightning, little nuggets of Knowledge from the Rock of Eternity. This time, I had drank a bit more. My knowledge of magic had increased, I already knew the answer to the riddle I’d been contemplating when Adam appeared. And even better, I was sure that it would allow me to unravel the Wizard’s spell with time.

A bit more had seeped in too. I’d had a few self-defense classes, and it was helping me fight Adam. As long as he mostly fought like a bull, I could stay ahead of him. But now, I looked at Adam, and had a sense of how he moved, and I had counters in my head. I felt like I’d spent a decade training how to fight. And even better, training how to fight with my current powers!

So, as Adam again flew towards me. I could see he was keeping his speed under control, so he could react if I tried to dodge. But I’d also drank my second helping, and his speed was quite a bit slower than I could move. As he reared back to punch me, I spun in place quickly, and threw a powerful punch at his jaw. My speed slid right by his defenses and the blow thundering into his jaw.

The impact caused the walls in the room to shatter. Bricks and mortar showered the room. Adam was knocked through the ceiling and the three floors above and out into the sky. I zoomed after him, quickly overtaking him.

Adam’s eyes were unfocused, and his arms were flailing around, he wasn’t flying, he was simply a body hurled through the air. Unlike before, my blow had not bounced off with no effect. Before he could recover, I positioned myself, and repeated the maneuver, and punched Adam back into the ground.

His body was tumbling from my blow, and hit the building like a wrecking ball. He knocked a huge hole in the building, and slammed into the ground. He hit with far more force than the first time, and the building seemed to leap into the air from the force of his landing, and it came crashing down in a pile of rubble.

I wasn’t going to give Adam any time though, as the building fell, I plowed through the still falling rubble. A huge section of the floor was in my way, and I just flew through it, shattering it into pieces. I braked hard at the last moment, and landed gently atop Adam. He was lying stunned on the ground. His eyes were unfocused.

I’d planned to steal his powers right as I landed, but chunks of the building were still falling. A brick bounced off the back of my head with more than enough force to kill someone. I could tell that it hit me, and with how much force, but there was no pain, and no injury. I glanced down at Adam. It would take a few seconds for the rubble to clear. I marveled at the knowledge that though there was a thick cloud of dust which would be deadly to a normal person, I didn’t even notice. I didn’t need to breathe if I didn’t want to. I would be at home at the bottom of the ocean or in space, safely protected by the magic.

As another brick bounced off my arm, I figured that I might need to delay Adam a bit. I was holding him up with my left arm by grabbing a fist-full of his shirt. I slammed his face with my right fist. The power was intoxicating. I could feel my muscles bunch and roll underneath my skin. The power in my muscles coiled up, and I’d let it loose with a fast punch. My punch rocketed forth, pulverizing a brick that had fallen in its path. It didn’t slow the punch down an iota, instead my fist built up a pressure wave in front of it, and with a mighty crack, the dust shook around it as the fist exceeded the speed of sound and pummeled into Adam.

I felt Adam’s nose break under my punch, and blood was running in a stream down his face. Most of the rubble had fallen, the main danger was the thick dust cloud surrounding us. It would pose a hazard to Adam if I turned him back, and I needed to get rid of it. I took a deep breath and kept inhaling. My lungs were so enhanced that I created a huge wind, and sucked all the air in from the area, dust and all. I stopped when the surrounding air was crisp and clear. My lungs were so powerful, that the gale force winds destroyed any remaining walls that were standing. I held my breath for a second, compressing a huge volume of air and dust inside my lungs. I pondered what to do with it for a moment, it was mostly just dust from the shattered bricks. Still, it might contain some contaminants, and I didn’t want to just blow it out into the atmosphere.

Before this would have been a problem, I’d have had to find a remote place to safely deposit the dust, and then try to undo any ecological damage that it might have caused. Instead, I waved my hand and created a small dimensional space, and blew all the dust into it. I would have thought that casually casting a spell that had previously been beyond me would be intoxicating. In a way it was, but I was surprised at the sheer delight in possessing so much physical power, it’s really seductive how my body looked and moved. I was weightless, and nothing in the world seemed able to stop me, or even slow me down.

I held Adam for a bit, I could see his nose reset, and as his eyes started to gain some semblance of what was going on around him. The lightning truly gave wondrous powers, including the power of quick recovery from injury.

Before I’d needed a huge set of runes, and a large ritual to store power to even hope to cast my spell. Now I was one of the people with vast reserves of magical power, I could just say the final word and make the spell happen. I waited until he had just reclaimed some awareness, then I leaned into him, and once again whispered the vocal component of the spell. I said my voice sounded like Sex and Honey, and I used all of it when I said the final word again, “Shazam!”

Once again the power flashed out of Adam, and rushed into me. To my perceptions, I could see the changes in Adam. I could see his muscles deflate. I saw him shrink down a few inches, and then finally, his costume transform back into his ancient Egyptian clothing.

And then the bolt slammed into me. My brain hummed with the increase in power! More ideas of how magic functioned, and how my powers worked and related appeared. My senses which were already so sharp that I could count the hairs on Adam’s head, sharpened to an absurd degree. My magical senses expanded, I could now sense the world around me much farther than I could before, even with a spell, and with much greater detail. I let myself feel the flow of ley lines, and was rewarded by the feeling of magical flow all around the world. I could not only sense the ley lines in my immediate area, I had some sense the world wide flow. Before I could cast a spell and only get a rough idea of the power in the local area! Now I had much greater detail as easily as reading a book.

I am embarrassed to say this. I lived my life for Knowledge and to acquire magical power. But at this moment, I was completely seduced by the sheer physical power I possessed. As the power flowed into my body, I could feel it resonate with the power. I let out a laugh as it stared at my muscles. I flexed my biceps. Less than a few minutes ago, nothing would have happened. Now, a firm biceps pounced into life. As I stared, I could see the lightning arc around my biceps, each cycle made it harder and larger. My eyes were alight with sheer glee, and I had to tilt my head back and laugh from the sheer joy of it.

I didn’t need to be afraid of petty thugs like Black Adam or Felix Faust anymore!

This time, Adam was still slightly stunned from the fight, and he just hung off my fist as my body swelled and grew. As my transformation finished, he started to regain his awareness.

“Woman! You are messing with forces you do not understand! I don’t know what your game is but Adam is nobody’s tool!”

“It is as I said. I am ensuring the power of the gods resides in one more worthy.”

I could now see the spell that Shazam had laid upon Adam to give him the power to summon the lighting, and I was pretty sure that I could remove it, but there was still some danger to Adam. Considering that Shazam never had the ability to remove the spell, it must be something complex, and woven into the soul. With a bit more study, I could remove the danger of Black Adam totally, by removing his ability to call the lightning.

Copying his move, I lifted him into the air by his shirt, letting his feet dangle. “Say your word Adam. You will say it, or I will remove the threat you pose to the world.” I shook him like a rag doll.

He clawed at my face, I guess in a vain attempt to distract me. I let him. I blinked and my eyelid threw his hand back. My eyelid was more powerful than a grown man!

But, as he attacked he said the word again. “SHAZAM” If I’d not been warned by the story of Mary, this might have worked. But I was waiting. I knew that Adam was cunning and powerful, and I was waiting for the next bolt.

I let the bolt hit Adam, and timed the exact moment and said “SHAZAM”. As the power flowed into Adam, I drank it out of him. I opened up the floodgates and drank in more power from the Rock. Using Adam as a straw, and my power over lightning to keep the circuit open, I gulped power down from the Rock. This was the biggest hit yet, and I felt it thunder through my body. I was now six feet tall, and bursting with power. My biceps expanded an inch, I flexed my arm and admired the mighty peak that rose. I couldn’t contain myself and ran my hand down my body, rolling over my breasts, and sliding down my curves to my trim waist. Lightning charged around me, like my body had too much for it to contain. It crackled around me until with a mere thought, it nestled safely into my body.

It must have looked like I was totally distracted, as Adam tried again. To be honest I WAS quite distracted, but I was also watching, and incredibly quick.

Adam yelled “SHAZAM!” again and another bolt flitted down, and I barely caught it in time, but I slowed it down, and once again timed it correctly. I held it off for long enough for Adam to realize what was going on. The look on Adam’s face was priceless, as I leaned in and whispered “SHAZAM!” as he felt the power flow through him. The largest jolt he’d ever felt. It went on for five seconds straight, but all the power flooded into me!

As I drank in more power, my size didn’t change, but I felt my mind explode. The Rock of Eternity existed in all times and places, and stored all knowledge. As my body gained power, my mind was also gaining access to some of the knowledge. In an instant, I could feel some instinctive knowledge fill my mind along with intuitions on how the magical world really worked.

When I looked down at Adam, he was still standing mouth agape, stunned by my transformation.

I could see the complex spell woven into his mind, body, and soul by the old wizard Shazam. It was wrapped through his life force, and weaved through is aura. No wonder the wizard couldn’t remove it. I uttered the spell I’d figured out earlier, and the wizards spell appeared in my mind in great detail, and I picked through it.

With this extra detail, my incredible intuition and my impossibly fast brain, I figured out a way to remove the spell. Ordinarily, the removal would take hours and impossible control. This would take too long, and kill the subject (and likely cause feedback that would kill the person making the attempt). But I was insanely fast, more knowledgeable than any mage in history, and had far more power than anyone had access to before.

In the few seconds that Adam was stunned by his failure to grab any power, I finished studying the spell. I grasped an end of the spell, and cautiously worked it free from Adam’s aura. At the speed I was moving, this was a matter of moments for Adam, but was hours of exacting work for me. He let out a blood curdling scream, and passed out. I lowered him gently to the floor.

A quick spell determined that he was fine, and would awake in a few moments.

I held in my hand, one of the most valuable spells ever: The Power of Shazam. I studied it and noticed a few errors in the design. Magic had improved in many ways in modern times. Science has given us a better understanding of the universe, and therefore some better metaphors for magic. And personally, I had spent a lot of time learning various methods of controlling computers, and that had helped me understand and optimize some older spells. Few spells were as old as this one! It was well made, and solid, with redundancy to keep it from straying from its design. Its complexity left a few problems in its design, that mostly Shazam had worked around with sheer power. And then there were the fail safes and limiters built in. Despite its age, the spell was quite elegant, with some ugly limiters bolted on. A synergy between the lightning bolts and the spell on the one with the gift. If one removed those, and hooked the spell into the person, instead of limiting them, the spell would grow and flex in tune with the user. Shazam had not wanted his recipients to grow much in power – he’d already given them an amazing amount of physical power.

It took a bit, but I reworked the spell. This took all my vast knowledge and skill, quite a bit of my magical power to force the spell to respond, and a large portion of knowledge that I’d gained from the rock. The spell resisted change, and if I’d not had the power I did, and worked at a speed much faster than lightning, the spell would have purposely unraveled. Shazam was no slouch. It was designed that if some of the clauses were unhooked, the power would release like a coiled spring, and rip the rest of the spell apart. The entire procedure was far more complex than anything I’d ever done, but I handled it deftly, and soon had the spell reworked to my satisfaction.

I couldn’t leave this free, and it definitely shouldn’t be in Adam. He would just become Black Adam again. Nor did I want someone else gaining access to the spell, especially after I had made my improvements. I knew there was only one thing to do with it, what I knew I was going to do when I yanked it out of Adam.

With a grin, I absorbed the spell, making it my own.

Adam had picked himself off the ground. He picked up a rock, and heaved it at me. I didn’t even bother to move, it bounced off my head. I noticed that it had hit me, and with exactly how much force. It would have easily killed a normal human. For me it was less than a pebble.

He stood, still a bit stunned. But his will was made of iron, and he shouted “Shazam!”. And nothing happened.

I grinned at his shock. I still couldn’t get over how sexy my voice was. It was sultry and powerful. I let all that slide out, while I said the magic word. I didn’t shout it, I let it slide off my tongue, oozing with appeal. “Shazam”. I delighted at the shock on Adam’s face when a bolt answered and appeared around me. It didn’t travel through space to get to me, it bathed me in it’s glow, leaping from the Rock to me, without crossing any space in between.

This time I had summoned the bolt! As it hit, I held the bolt open. A HUGE bolt of lightning was focused around me, and I held it for a few seconds. Adam had to step back from the heat and shielded his eyes.

The flood of power was overwhelming. Without the limiters from the normal spell, the channel opened and each second I was filled with many times the power of the original bolt. I tried to stop, but I was held immobile with the influx of power. My already amazing arms grew a few more inches, and the rest of my body followed suit. I was now a pleasing mixture of soft curves and a body made of something far harder than iron. Equally impressive, I slurped down more knowledge and even more magical power. Dr. Fate might as well be a candle next to my bonfire.

The flow was overwhelming, and I just hung on during the onslaught, unable to stem the flood of power. The power slammed into me in a continuous arc, and I slowly grew in size. By the time it finally it petered out, I was much taller and larger than Adam had been, and many multiples of times more powerful. The Rock was empty, it was all nestled inside me. Spells that had been beyond me, were trivial now. My strength was unimaginable.

A brief thought and I could sense all the magic users in the world. A moments concentration, and I focused in on a magical junction I knew of in Hawaii. I could sense the flow of power from here, half world away. A cruel smile flitted across my face, and I tweaked the magical flow. I could sense where Faust was hiding. A brief flicker of my hand, and all the knowledge about magic that Faust had ever garnered was drained from him completely. A small hand flourish and he was cut off completely from the magical flow. Even if he regained knowledge he had less access to magic than I used to have. He would no longer be able to use Magic to force his will on others. I left him with a compulsion to find the nearest law enforcement and make a full confession.

I looked down to see Adam blinking his eyes, trying to recover his vision.

“You no longer have the power to call the lightning Adam. I will leave you to atone for your crimes, and to live your life as you see fit. Leave this place immediately.” With a thought, I laid a spell on Adam that would prevent him from talking about what had happened. All he could say is that he was found unworthy and lost the Wizard’s Power.

As he remained, stunned. I decided it was time to clean up.

In a flash, I removed all signs of the spell from the building. I located my aunt’s books in the rubble. Protection spells had ensured they survived with no damage. I opened a door to a sub-space and stored them inside. Only I could open and close the door.

I then picked up Adam and carried him outside. “Leave, and go live your life Adam. Make it a better one.”

Now, to have some fun. The building was demolished from our fight, but there were a few large pieces still around.

I picked up a giant rock from out front, and floated into the air. I looked back down at Adam, fixing him with my gorgeous eyes, “Run Adam. This place will get dangerous.”

I let Adam gape at me for a few moments, stunned by my beauty and power. Then, with a simple thought I sent Adam back to Kahndaq. I marveled at how trivial teleporting was now.

I took a moment to appreciate that a rock larger than a car felt like it had no weight. I tossed it lightly at the remains of the building, and it flew and caused another giant impact. As fun as it was tossing around huge rocks, I wanted nothing to remain, no evidence to track back to my transformation.

I then summoned a mighty spell. Before I might be able to light a candle. Now I flicked a mighty ball of fire into being, and it immediately fused the building remains into a solid lump.

To finish my work, I cast a temporal lock spell. It would bar all scrying and time travel from the area. No one would be able to scry the events of today. Only Adam and I knew, and I doubt that Adam understood what happened. And even if he did, he could not tell anyone. Even if someone traveled back in time before the black, walking into the area, and waited. When the block started, the spell would simply bump them back to their native time.

I now possessed the power of the Rock of Eternity, and none could take it from me. But if they did, a simple thought would restore it. And unlike Shazam’s spell, the conduit would open directly to me, with no lightning to make the circuit complete, and no way to intercept or block the power. I just needed to think a word, not say it, to make the connection. Even if someone took the power, I could will it right back.

But why change back? I could feel the spell. I could easily alter my form and appearance. Altering my clothes was even easier. With some thought, I could feel the template for my original form. I could alter it’s form and I set things into motion that even if I turned back, I’d be vastly improved from what I was before. This was why the Wizard had not wanted another skilled in the magical arts to gain control of the Power. It was fairly easy for me to alter them, and use the power to make permanent changes. If I ever changed back, I’d be gorgeous, in superb shape, and be a mighty magician.

I rose into the air. I used to be scared of heights, but as the ground dropped quickly away from me, I had no qualms. As I got a half mile up, I could still see the tiniest details. A lady bug was crawling up a blade of grass a few miles away. I looked back up, and just soared around, swooping through the clouds laughing.

I was utterly enthralled with zooming around, some sense twigged, and I looked up. Rocketing towards me was a blue blur. I blinked, and it came into focus. It was a teenage boy, wearing a garish blue costume, and a white cape. It was Captain Marvel, Jr. He was coming at me at many times the speed of sound. But even from a distance, I could feel the lightning in him.

End part 2