219 Stereotypical #219
Eastern Bialya Desert
I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as I got off the bus and took in the most stereotypical view anyone could ever see. People in "ancient" middle-eastern clothes, mud houses, and a random camel just walking down the streets for no real reason.
I'd just arrived at Bialyan village near the borders of the eastern desert, and it looked something straight out of a Hollywood war movie. The only thing missing was some ethnic music, and it'll be the perfect setting for a box office banger.
The country suffered one catastrophe after another, starting with Queen Bee and ending with Black Adam fighting Azraeuz (the horseman of death) recently, causing the deaths of over two million Bilalyans, but still.
You have to appreciate how the DC writers were like; we're going to stereotype the shit out of the middle east, but we'll be polite enough not to mention names, so they made up an entire country based on Iran and Saudi Arabia for that specific purpose.
In any case, the DC writers' lack of balls aside, this little stereotypical middle eastern village was the first stop in my journey, even if it wasn't the closest.
I was already drooling over all the gold and artifacts Faust had left behind, but the stash in the Eastern Bialya Desert was a high priority, since it was where the sorcerer kept Isis, Black Adam's wife.
I could go on and on about how it would be wrong to leave a woman (albeit super-powered) in some dank desert cave, but I mainly prioritized bailing her out to get rid of Felix Faust.
I took away the sorcerer's memories, but people like him gravitate toward demons and satanic shit no matter where they are, and the only way to get rid of him for good is to put him down.
And who better for the job than an angry, possibly bald Egyptian (Kandaqhian?) demigod? The guy is no joke, even if some assholes sometimes make him look like your typical Uber driver in their adaptations.
I'm talking about you, Injustice writers.
And lastly, you might wonder why I'm taking the bus like some peasant when I can fly, and the answer is simple. Because I'm on a fucking vacation. I don't want to draw any attention.
My whole shtick also happens to be that I'm just some random average kid who happened to get superpowers, so it'll help my public image and make me look more human and relatable.
But I've ranted long enough. Into the desert, we go!
...
Alegab, Bialya's capital
More than a week had passed since the massacre caused by Azraeuz, but the western part of the city still looked like an ancient battlefield. The earth was littered with countless corpses, releasing an unbearable stench of death.
Flocks of scavenging birds gathered in the area, gleefully shrieking as they tore the corpses to pieces with their sharp peeks, feasting to their hearts' content like only their ancestors could at times past.
One such bird contently cawed as it landed on the rotted face of a young man, tilting its head before pecking at his eyes. However, the young man's corpse twitched, alarming the black avian.
The crow trusted its instincts and immediately tried to fly away, but the young man's hand moved incredibly quickly, catching the bird before it could escape.
The corpse squeezed, and the crow let out an anguished as its body burst into pieces, to which the swarm of scavenging birds in the area promptly froze before upon hearing their comrade's death throws.
The scavenging birds began shrieking in alarm as they took to the sky in such large numbers they dotted the sun, casting a shadow over the young man's corpse as it slowly rose.
"Hope is... the ultimate futility..." The corpse muttered in a hoarse voice as it slowly limped away, its body radiating a sinister black aura that touched other carcasses, causing them to rise.
"Death is... inevitable..."
...
Eastern Bialya Desert
"This should be the place..." I muttered as I landed in front of a one, particularly tall sand dune in the middle of nowhere with a pile of rocks sitting on the ground next to it.
I shrugged my shoulders and walked to the rocks, using my telekinesis to rearrange them into the shape of a magical circle, which caused them to glow in a shiny orange color.
In response, the dune began shaking as the sand fell, revealing a stone dome with a big, heavily decorated entrance with various beautiful magic symbols and inscriptions.
I didn't give it much thought and walked into the hideout's entrance, which led to a dark tunnel. I conjured a ball of flaming energy into my hand to aluminate the area and located an oddly shaped tile on the ground.
I calmly walked toward the tile and kneeled next to it, closing my eyes in concentration as I copied Faust's energy signature and channeled it into the hidden contraption.
The surroundings began shifting as the dark tunnel disappeared, replaced by what seemed to be an extravagant living area with antique-like furniture and decorations.
I whistled in appreciation as I looked around at the lavish furniture and numerous paintings, vases, and sculptors adorning the room, making it look more like a museum than a personal residence.
Still, I didn't linger. I quickly located the sorcerer's bedroom and made my way there. The first thing I noticed upon entering the room was the beautiful brunette dressed as an ancient Egyptian priestess and tied to a king-size bed, coldly glaring at me.
"You... you're not the foul sorcerer..." The woman said, her glare easing up as she frowned. "Who are you, and how did you get here...?" She asked, her eyes glowing, to which I felt tendrils of energy reaching toward me as if to scan me.
"My name is Grayson Whitlock, and I enjoy my personal space..." I said as I released some of my energy to disperse the tendrils. "So I'd ask you to stop whatever you're trying to do," I added, raising an eyebrow, much to the woman's surprise as she raised an eyebrow.
"As for your second's question, I pried the location of this hideout from Faust's mind," I added, nodding in satisfaction as she stopped trying to scan me with her feeble energy.
"I'm here to set you free," I concluded as I approached the woman and stopped in front of the bed, giving her a questioning look, to which she immediately nodded, permitting me to proceed.
"I must warn you. Those shackles bind my magic. Once you remove them, my husband will sense my presence and appear here," The woman said, watching as I reached for the metallic bindings on her ankles.
'Oh, I'm counting on it...' I mused, merely nodding at the woman as I touched the shackles and paused to get a feel for them with my metallurgy intuition.
"He has many virtues, but a good temper is not one of them..." The woman said, pausing as she watched me pinch the shackles with my thumb and index fingers, causing them to shatter.
"In any case, please be patient and let me speak..." She concluded as I broke the last shackle on her wrist, to which her magical energy instantly burst out of her body in a brilliant display of colorful ambiance.
"Whoops..." I intoned as I felt a mass of electrical energy coalescing behind me and ducked just in time to dodge a meaty-tanned fist flying over my head with enough force to upturn half the room's furniture.
"Wait...!" The woman, Isis, exclaimed in a panic, but I didn't give her words any heed as I turned around at my fastest speed and punched at the man standing behind me.
He didn't deign to dodge and merely grabbed my fist, staring directly into my eyes as I fully turned to face him. He looked every bit as I imagined him and more.
The man, Black Adam, was dressed in a tight black suit with a yellow lightning bolt over the chest that barely seemed capable of containing his bulging muscles.
His face was masculine and stern, and his expression appeared to be an eternal look of smoldering intensity as he stared into my eyes with faintly glowing orbs as if to judge me.
Fortunately, he had hair, or I might have burst out laughing then and there.
"Who are you--" The man said, and I cut him off mid-sentence with a sucker punch to the mouth with my free hand, which forced him to release my fist and slide back across the room.
"I do not sense the sorcerer's wickedness in you..." The man calmly said, touching his lips and pausing as he felt the witness of the blood leaking from his mouth.
"But your insolence will not go unchallenged, boy," Black Adam said, the yellow glow in his eyes intensifying as he leaked similarly colored lighting and lowered his posture, preparing to charge me.
"That's my fucking line!" I replied, channeling my energy as I prepared to meet him head-on.
