In fact, he even harbored some hidden hope—if he'd devoted his life to excavation and verification, and magic was actually right beside him all along, what meaning would his decades of study and exploration have?
In his subconscious, Sivana had been ignoring more and more supernatural phenomena. He didn't want his lifelong pursuit to become meaningless, but he also didn't want to become a laughingstock.
However, no matter what he'd imagined before, from the instant Thea teleported in, his persistence and beliefs collapsed.
"Me? I'm here for Black Adam, of course." Thea wore a warm smile.
How did it come to this? Dr. Sivana's bald head broke out in a fine sheen of sweat. He was far from a good person himself, and hearing gunfire from the camp, the implications were obvious.
Though Thea wore a jacket with her hands in her pockets, smiling warmly—and though Dr. Sivana had once mocked her as a justice warrior with a screw loose—he wouldn't think that way now, especially seeing the murderous Deathstroke and punk-styled Papa Midnite. Neither looked remotely like friends of justice.
But what shocked him even more came next. Mister E, with his fierce expression, asked Thea obsequiously, "Master, shall we kill them?"
Having learned that Mister E had joined her ranks, Thea had briefly examined and healed his eyes, then selected a simple meditation technique from Morgan le Fay's collection to teach him, warning him to stop practicing those chaotic methods.
Eager to demonstrate loyalty, Mister E looked at Sivana eerily, as if viewing livestock.
Thea considered it. "The Doctor's worked hard. Let's keep them for now. Doctor, your lifelong wish is right inside. Why stop? Continue."
Any words were useless now. Dr. Sivana had the mindset that if he could glimpse the truth, he'd die satisfied. He turned and signaled to continue digging.
He might have that resolve, but others didn't. They were workers and archaeologists, not warriors. Even if they wanted to resist, they lacked the ability—especially since these people around Thea hardly looked like good folks. This deterred any resistance.
"Make them work faster," Thea instructed Papa Midnite under Sivana's puzzled gaze.
The voodoo sorcerer promptly produced two bone pieces and began striking them with a slow, rhythmic cadence.
Then Dr. Sivana watched as his students and assistants, their eyes now vacant, began mechanically clearing the door.
"Magic!" Sivana's thoughts churned like stormy seas—joy, excitement, helplessness, confusion. Past experiences, both sweet and bitter, flooded before his eyes. Magic truly existed in this world. For a moment, he was dazed.
After quite some time, he recovered. In that short period, the door had been completely cleared, and his students and assistants were walking out with wooden expressions—a deeply disturbing scene.
"What will you do to me?" He could tell Thea was the leader. Having spoken with Ms. Queen a few times in the outside world, he asked carefully.
"Don't worry. I haven't killed any of your assistants. When they wake up, they'll have forgotten today's events. As for you—you're not exactly a good person, but you're not bad either. Later I'll just erase your memory of today. Tomorrow when you wake up, you'll continue searching for Black Adam." Thea raised one finger and spoke matter-of-factly.
Nowadays, she rarely killed the innocent. The mercenaries at the outer camp were too numerous and mixed, representing various factions—they had to be eliminated. But these people before her were ordinary civilians, some even students. Though they'd come to Iraq to excavate others' heritage, that didn't warrant death.
Hearing that he'd survive, Sivana breathed easier. With the life-and-death crisis passed, his ideals resurfaced. "Don't erase my memory yet. I want to go inside and look." He pointed at the door.
In the original timeline, there seemed to be some kind of chamber behind the door. Thea didn't know if unsealing it years early would release Black Adam, so after consideration, she decided bringing the doctor along was safer. She nodded.
"You know magic too?" Sivana deliberately distanced himself from the other murderous-looking fellows, standing beside Thea. Watching her gaze at the door, he couldn't suppress his curiosity and asked.
"Yes." Thea answered casually. Her attention was focused on examining the door. In the original timeline, this bald doctor had pried it open with a crowbar—which seemed utterly ridiculous to her. The magical door before her and a crowbar had nothing to do with each other.
Sivana wanted to ask more, but Thea shot him a cold glance that frightened him into silence.
Next, he witnessed a scene that shattered his worldview. Thea's hands continuously gathered various energy spheres and hurled them at the door.
"It's quite simple." After checking several times, Thea secretly scoffed at old Shazam. Perhaps he was powerful in combat, but unfortunately, he lacked judgment. To magic practitioners, this door could be described as crude. His magic sealing Black Adam was both simple and mindless.
Perhaps in that era when magic was just emerging, he thought a lightning spell could stump everyone? Thea gathered a ball of lightning magic and injected it into the eye symbol on the left. The symbol quickly transformed into a lightning mark matching the right side, and the heavy stone door slowly opened.
A winding stone stairway appeared behind the door. Thea led the way in, Sivana immediately following, with Deathstroke and the others bringing up the rear.
They walked for a full half hour before reaching the bottom. Dr. Sivana's equipment had been left above, but he estimated they were now deep underground.
The space at the bottom wasn't large—just one hall connected to the stairway, with one main chamber on each side, east and west.
The two chambers were filled with precious sculptures and mountains of gemstones, but Thea's group ignored the treasure and stood silently observing a wall.
Dr. Sivana was also wealthy, and with his life hanging by a thread, no treasure could hold his attention. Having robbed countless tombs, he could guess the treasure on both sides was likely some kind of misdirection—a trick he'd seen far too many times. Completely unoriginal.
Seeing Thea and the others staring at a wall, he immediately knew there was something fishy and moved closer to look, though he couldn't see anything unusual.
Thea was in an excellent mood today, and a mischievous thought surfaced. She looked at Dr. Sivana scratching his head with amusement. "What? You want to see the secret here too?"
Wasn't that obvious? If someone had spoken to him this way normally, Dr. Sivana would have spat in their face. But now he didn't dare. Still, driven by curiosity, he gave a stiff nod.
"Spirit Vision!" Thea waved her hand before his eyes. Sivana felt as if a valve had opened in his mind, and countless phantoms suddenly appeared before him.
Fortunately, his willpower was decent. He quickly focused his attention on the stone wall. This time, he finally understood what Thea and the others had been looking at.
The previously empty stone wall was now covered with symbols, scripts, and graphics from various races and civilizations.