.
One Year Ago
"Son, there's something we need to tell you."
Clark was somewhat confused. There were no secrets in the Kent household, but Clark's father's tone seemed to hint at something... hidden. Something important.
Jonathan and Martha Kent led their adopted son to the storm cellar. Shoved far in the back of the room was a large wooden box with a padlock on it. On the odd occasion that Clark ended up in the cellar, he had always been told not to touch the box. Out of either childish naivete or genuine trust, Clark obeyed his parents.
Today, however, the box was opened. Jonathan had long ago "lost the key," and had to break the lock with a crowbar. Clark tried to help.
"Dad... you don't need to do that; I can just break it off."
"No, son," Jonathan replied grimly. "I'll do it."
As he twisted the metal, Jonathan seemed to struggle with not only the lock itself, but something deeper. Like he was about to throw his own son into a fire.
The lock snapped open and fell to the ground with the thunk of heavy metal on wood. Jonathan lifted the lid of the box and stood back.
"Son, we told you that we found you abandoned in a cornfield all those years ago... Well, we didn't tell you that this is what we found you in."
Lying in the box was a large, pointed, tubular chunk of metal. It had two fins on either side, and looked somewhat like an airplane with no wings. Clark, as any child of the modern era would, recognized it as a spaceship.
He thought it was a joke. In the span of a second, he thought of all the possible special occasions that might coincide with today's date. He came up with nothing. He thought of every joke his parents had made in the past few days, and whether or not that might have something to do with it. He came up with nothing.
His mind swirled.
Could this be true? Could I have been found inside a spaceship? Where would I have come from? I don't know anything about my real family, so I have no idea what country I'm from. I look American, though, so I don't think that I came from Russia or anything like that. Was I some creepy government experiment? Am I an alien or something? Ha! Right...
Martha reached inside the box, next to the ship, and pulled out a small object. It looked like a diamond-shaped golden jewelry box, with deep blue markings engraved in an interweaving pattern along its top surface. Martha spoke soothingly to her her son. "The ship closed shut a few days after we brought it down here, but... this was inside."
She handed Clark the golden box. As Clark took hold of it, several of the lines and swirls in the box's design started to glow bright white. Together, they formed a shape: the outline of a diamond, like the shape of the box, but with a curved symbol inside the center that vaguely resembled an "S."
Clark looked up—he wanted to give his parents a "what in the world is this thing" look—but he was suddenly not in Smallville anymore.
He was standing in a large room with glass window-walls that overlooked a sea of water. The sun was setting outside, but instead of its usual yellow-red sunset glow, it was a darker, blood-red hue. To his right, he saw the spaceship. It looked newer and cleaner, as if it had never been flown before. It was mounted on an angular platform, and aimed towards a window that looked like it might be retractable.
Clark quickly realized that, wherever he was, he was standing in the room where the ship had first taken off.
"Hello, son," a male voice said.
Clark almost jumped, which was unusual for someone as normally calm as he was. Behind him, two figures stood: a man and a woman. The man was tall, with closely-cut black hair and a square jaw. The woman was much shorter, with long, flowing black hair and eyes that were a deep blue—like Clark's. She had a look of genuine kindness upon her face, and a hint of love in her eyes.
Both figures wore long red robes over full-body black bodysuits, which looked to be made out of a strange material that Clark had never seen before. It made the couple resemble some type of high-class citizens from a science fiction future.
The male figure continued. "My name is Jor-El. You won't remember me, but I am your father."
"And I am your mother," the woman said. "My name is Lara. By the time you are old enough to have opened this message, you will have been given a name by the people of Earth. But your true name is Kal-El."
Clark felt the shock start to settle in. He almost dropped the box.
Jor-El spoke again. "We're recording this message in the event that we can't be there with you. What you see around you is a visual image of our home, on the planet Krypton."
...What?...
"I've uncovered evidence that the Krypton's core is undergoing an explosive chemical reaction that will ultimately destroy the planet, and every living soul on Krypton with it. In the event that my findings are correct, I've constructed this ship"—Jor-El gestured to the silver vessel—"to bring you safely to Earth. We would be there with you, son, but there's only room for one. We chose to send you to the planet Earth, for a number of reasons."
Lara began speaking. "Within a few years of being exposed to Earth's more powerful yellow sun, your Kryptonian body will begin to absorb solar energy, and manifest that energy in a multitude of ways. We don't know everything that will happen to you, but we do know that you'll be far more powerful than any of the other humans on Earth. Despite this, you must not use your abilities in anger."
A smile spread across Lara's face. "If you're anything like your father, you can be a great leader. Use your power to inspire others. Make Earth a better place, as Jor-El has done for Krypton."
Jor-El's face became grim at Lara's words.
"Kal-El, every world faces a crisis. Most of them face many. If you're listening to this, then it means Krypton has faced its crisis and lost. Please, succeed where I have failed. Save your world."
Lara spoke again. "Always remember who you are, and where you come from. We will not leave you, even in the face of our death. We love you, Kal-El. Always."
The recording ended, and Clark was once again in the storm cellar.
Clark looked at Jonathan and Martha. They didn't seem to have any idea of what Clark had just seen.
"Why... why didn't you tell me?..."
But Clark knew the answer, even as he asked the question. Before he could get a reply, he ran.
He ran out of the cellar and across the cornfield, as fast as his legs would allow. Past the farm. Past the city limits. Into the open fields of green. If he could only push himself hard enough, he could forget what he'd just seen. That he wasn't from Earth. That he was different. That he wasn't human.
But as Clark moved through the fields, he realized that he wasn't even running anymore: he was floating. His feet were touching the ground, but that wasn't what was pushing him: he was pushing him. As if his own force of will was somehow causing his body to move forward through the air.
Curious at this, he pulled his legs up off the ground—but his body didn't fall. He was simply hovering in the air. He put his feet back on the ground, closed his eyes, and focused his mind. "Up," he thought.
Clark left the ground once again, as if some divine hand were lifting him toward the sky.
He opened his eyes to see that he was a half-mile above ground, looking back towards Smallville. Suddenly, he gained a clarity of mind. He willed himself towards home, and felt himself move ever closer to the Kent farm. He touched back to the ground next to his Earthly parents, who were in awe at his apparent power.
Clark still wasn't entirely sure what to think.
"Mom? Dad? What does this mean?"
Jonathan's voice, as always, was firm and strong. "Clark, it only means as much as you want it to. I don't care where you're from; you're our son, and we love you. Don't you ever forget that."
Clark smiled.
No comments:
Post a Comment