Clark hunkered down in a corner of a make shift tent, its owner, J'onn J'onzz, hunched over a blackened altar where he prepared bandages.
J'onzz led Clark to this retreat from the gritty wind. It wasn't much but it was shade. And if it kept the blinding light out of Clark's eyes long enough, so be it.
The Phantom Zone was his new home now.
The stoic Martian recounted an abridged story of his stay in the Zone, including the captives and ghouls that continuously haunted the land. He talked of foreign things, about the strange green plague that infested Krypton, or the political instability of the councils that discounted Jor-El's scientific research. As if stuck in a time capsule, Clark absorbed these stories, for all of these mentioning of his home world were completely new to him.
And yet, very old.
"You do not remember these events." J'onnz said at last, reading Clark's thoughts. "Your conscious is clouded, confused. Perhaps you have been inside this realm longer than I thought."
Clark studied the Martian's eyes. "You can read minds?"
"Usually." J'onzz replied, "It is difficult with all of the interference. I have been here too long as well. The longer I stay, the more I become one of them."
Phantoms, Clark inferred.
J'onzz turned to him with fresh bandages and dressed Clark's arms and shoulders. He left the large wound on his chest exposed.
"It burns." Clark admitted quietly, using a longer piece of cloth to wrap himself like a tunic.
"It is infected," J'onnz discerned carefully, "Can I ask why it is branded into your flesh? You know these wounds will not heal ."
Clark closed his eyes, "Brainiac did this to me."
"The interactive construct?"
"Listen," Clark redirected, "I have to go back. I have to go home."
"Right," J'onzz nodded, "It must be very dangerous for Lara with you away."
Clark resisted his instinct to ask.
Lara?
"Tell me," J'onzz leaned forward, "Have any of your experiments succeeded? Have you... created a child?"
Clark stared quietly for a moment, gripping the reality of what J'onnz was asking. The timeline was so tragically delayed. Any recounts J'onnz had, they were decades too late.J'onn Jonzz waited a lifetime for Jor-El's return. He wouldn't come for him now.
The martian searched his eyes, concentrating intently again. He was reading Clark's thoughts again.
"This woman you focus on. She is not Lara."
"What?"
"I have been gone for a time," J'onnz rose to his feet, towering over Clark fearlessly, "But I remember now. Jor-El would never forget the woman he loved."
"Wait--"
J'onzz grabbed Clark by the jaw, "You are not him."
A glow reanimated from the Martians eyes, feeding a stream of consciousness from Clark to J'onzz.
Clark struggled to loosen the Martians grip, but it was too strong. J'onnz' eyes penetrated deep into Clark's as if he read his entire life.
Suddenly, J'onnz released him in surprise. "You are, his son?"
Clark rubbed his jaw, "Kal-El..."
"I do not understand." J'onzz paced the small space of the tent. "Why has Jor-El sent his son to this realm? Has the council been overturned? Tell me--"
"Krypton is gone." Clark said.
J'onzz paced back.
"Gone. Dead. Everyone." Clark said listlessly. This he had been told countless times by the also deceased Virgil Swann and his scattered accounts of Kryptonian transmissions sent with Clark's ship. Lost pieces of his heritage scattered in the wind, much like the yellowed paged of Swann's many journals.
They had all died so long ago.
Clark peered upwards to where J'onzz kept watch of him, much like a specimen in a microscope.
"Everything he predicted has came to be." J'onnz nodded slowly, "The councils, the warring. Jor-El sent me here, to this realm, as a fail safe. He was worried he would be overturned, sent to the Phantom Zone by his enemies. By Zod, or even his own brother."
The martian reclaimed his seat next to Clark, recounting it all from a distant memory. "I testified beside Jor-El, that the red sun would not support another generation of life on the aged planet. I had seen it before, with my home. Our entire atmosphere destroyed within seconds by massive emissions of gamma rays from our own dying star.
Grief crossed over J'onnz, very slight, but real. "Everything was lost. Everything."
"J'onzz," Clark asked carefully, "why didn't my father leave if he knew Krypton couldn't be saved?"
"The councils banned their own from leaving the Krypton. Kryptonians birthed from matrices could not leave the star system without extermination. It was a terrible over correction to preserve their race. Kryptonians couldn't survive long after leaving the their star."
Clark shook his head, "That's not true. I've survived on Earth my entire life."
"Earth?" J'onzz perked, "Ofcourse..."
"If everything you say is true, how is it that I survived?"
"You are different. Your father's experiments must have worked; unbinding the birthing matrices and creating a son. The last son of Krypton."
The martian appeared to laugh briefly, and then quickly reclaimed his stoic manner. "Excuse me, but it's just... I would have expected Jor-El's son to be an infant. Not a grown man."
Clark looked down.
J'onzz leaned in, "It is destiny, Kal-el."
Destiny, Clark bit down bitterly.
J'onzz took Clark's shoulder, "It has brought us together."
Clark's eyes saddened as J'onnz watched, and read.... "You believe you cannot return. That is not true."
Clark lifted his eyes.
"No," J'onzz corrected, reading again, "You are not sure if you want to return... this woman you focus on... You believe she is dead."
Clark bowed his head.
J'onzz nodded. He stood again, departing for the tent opening and to the outside.
Lifting the cloth flap, bursting white light flooded the interior, Clark shielding his raw eyes.
"Come," J'onzz spoke as he stepped outside into the swirling winds. "I will take you to the portal."
Clark blinked, "Portal?"
"Jor-El said he would return." J'onzz said grimly, "But I realize now that all this time I was waiting for his son."
*
Clark used his partial tunic to shield himself from the battering black wind. The light here had no warm rays. Instead it left a chill like the cold edge of steel. He missed home. Missed the yellow sun. Missed her. It seemed a lifetime since he had seen all three. He wondered exactly how the Martian planned to return him to them?
Clark followed closely behind Jonzz, feeling too coincidental that he was following yet another promise to a Kryptonian portal. His eyes and feet both travelled aimlessly, his mind tied partially to the words J'onn J'onzz recited before. J'onn was yet another victim of losing his home, his family.
Clark wondered is he had lost his own home, once again.
"You said Brainiac followed you here." J'onnz spoke from the lead.
"Yes." Clark paced faster. "Would he know about the portal?"
J'onzz shook his head, "I'm not sure. But even if he did, he wouldn't be able to access it. It opens only for House of El. Your father safe guarded it that way."
"If Brainiac had a Kryptonian crystal, would that open it?"
"What crystal?" J'onnz stopped.
"A piece of Krypton that was stored on earth way before I was ever sent there."
Recollection clouded the martian's red eyes, deepening them in memory. "Of course. I had forgotten. The Crystal of Knowledge. Your father hid this relic in pieces a long time ago. It contains all Kryptonian knowledge of the universe. It could also be used to open the portal."
"I can't leave without it, then." Clark sighed, "I can't risk Brainiac or any other Zoner finding it, and travelling back. The only problem is, it was lost during transit. It could be anywhere."
"I know of someone who could help us." J'onzz changed his direction of travel, leaving Clark estranged as to how anyone navigated through an endless desert with no landmark. Dunes shifted underneath Clark's feet for miles until a large rectangular structure broke the horizon. Large black shards of rock penetrated the sand at wild, organized angles, forming an elaborate , corral like structure. J'onzz continued to lead the way,
"This is where Dax-Ur resides. He was the first architect of the Brain Inter-Active Construct. And a good friend of your father."
Inside the structure was dark, cave like and cold. There were carvings on the stone wall, tick marks as if a man had been counting the days. Everything covered in little jagged lines.
J'onzz sensed Clark's internal inquiry and answered, "Dax-Ur was imprisoned by the council for controversial scientific research."
Clark continued walking, his eyes darting around the dark corners. "Research?
"Inter-racial blending." J'onzz explained, "Dax-Ur was one of the last Kryptonians to complete stellar travels to other star systems. He was believed to have visited Earth with your father long ago. Upon his travel he met an inhabitant there..."
J'onzz frowned, "In your culture, one would say he 'fell in love' with her."
Clark nodded, his thoughts lingering...
" Anyway," J'onzz continued, "the council had strict penalties for "contaminating" sacred Kryptonian bloodline. Thus, any other attempt of stellar travel outside the system by a Kryptonian person was terminated. Fatally."
J'onzz came to the end of the cave, seeing no light at the dark mouth. "DAX-UR!" He screamed, his voice echoing around them. "It is J'onn J'onzz!"
A figure appeared then, wandering through the dark.
"I am here." The figure stepped into focus, Clark's eyes adjusting enough to see a white bearded face. "I am he."
There was a strange way about the man, perhaps the insanity of being locked inside as a Zoner for so long. He moved with a jittery way. A weak, limp expression. His body was old, and crippled. From years of mental decay, and a lifetime of isolation.
Dax-Ur stumbled and then fell to the floor, J'onzz taking a knee beside him. "Dax?"
The bearded man panted, weak and and pale. "Help me."
Clark's nostrils picked up a strong odor.
"He must have become infected with the madness..." J'onzz nodded to Clark, "Dax-Us was a renown alchemist. Bring medicines from the shelf. "
Clark turned toward the dark mouth, searching in blackness to find Dax help. Clark tipped over something that shattered to the floor. The strong odor... it was stronger back there.
"We came here to warn you," J'onzz cradled the older man's face, " The Brain Interactive Construct has come to this realm. It arrived with Jor-el's son and it is searching for a way out of the portal. I thought it might have came here first, searching for you. It's original creator..."
Dax-Ur's old eyes stared up at J'onn.
Meanwhile, Clark's eyes widened, seeing the pool of blood. "J'onzz! Get away from him!"
The Martian turned around, "What's wrong?"
Dax's arm lifted around J'onzz's neck and yanked downward towards the old man's salty lips, "WHERE IS THE THE CRYSTAL?"
Clark dashed over to J'onzz, only to be too late.
Metallic blood spilled against the floor. J'onzz slumping beside the other body.
Dax-Ur, or the replica of the scientist, stared up at Clark.
Brainiac.
Transformed and disguised as his maker...
Clark smashed his heel against the computer's face... its body weakened by the lack of rechargeable power. Like Clark, Brainiac's power was eventually lost. His cold, dead eyes staring up like blank white saucers. He shook violently at Clark's feet, and then laid enert. His body lazily remolding to its metallic frame.
Clark bent down and held J'onzz in his arms.
"You must get to the portal." The Jonn cried, holding his neck. "I will not be able to help you any further."
"No!" Clark cried, "I'm not leaving you here. I don't even know how to activate the portal--
Jonzz grabbed Clark chest, and smeared the blood across Clark's cheek. "He will know your presence.."
Jonzz gurgled his last breath, "This woman..."
"...She is indeed, alive!"
*
All of that had been months ago.
Clark's dark, rough beard grew prominent across his face. His jaw hardened and crevasses dark. To say that he was sun burnt,would be false. But nothingelse could explain the blackening of his skin.
Nothing could explain the Phantoms.
It was difficult to imagine why his Kryptonian father created this place. Why an eternity without life, without warmth, would be a better alternative to death. Here, death lingered on fine string. The remainder of your tortured life bound so tight that the constriction of your soul no longer let you breathe. Clark's blue eyes no longer reflected the light,instead shaded by the same darkness that took rest in his soul.
Left behind were the bodies of Dax-Ur and Brainiac. Clark created a mausoleum by collapsing Dax-Ur's cave unto his body,and left the remains of the Brain-Inter Active Construct with his creator,finally unable to reanimate. It was the least he could do to deter the Phantoms that haunted them.
Clark peered down towards his feet where the body of Jonn Jonzz laid. He wasn't completely dead, not yet. But Clark hadn't heard or seen a breath pass between his lips for weeks. His body in some sort of comatose state, waiting to pass into next world. Except, there was no next world.
Scars formed over Clark's neck, chest and back. Welcoming gifts from the Phantoms that greeted Kal-El to his new home.
Like Dax-Ur and Jonn, Clark too had been stripped of his home. It seemed, that all the Phantom Zone really was, was a keeper of the lost. Those who wandered in darkness, taken from their loved ones. But there was still hope.
In the distance stood a black tower.
Grim hope.
"Jonn," Clark whispered to his eternally quiet friend, "We're here."
.
With the Martian draped across his shoulder, Clark climbed the last few stairs that ascended a large stone altar. A funnel of dust swirled past Clark's body, signifying that here too, was empty. But with Clark's presence, the tower hushed. The wind, gone.
Very carefully, Clark laid Jonn against the floor and knelt beside him. "A promise is a promise. I'm taking you home now, Jonn."
Clark walked across the cold slab floor, the remains of his blue jeans tattered and filthy. His fists grabbed at the stone altar, a relic that reminded him of the same inside the Kawatche cave in Kansas.
A subtle breeze picked up dark strands of hair from his eyes, an omniscient presence lifting it.
A godly voice thundered:
I AM HERE, MY SON.
"Jor-El..." Clark said, blue light breaking open from the heavens at the name,"I am fullfilling the promise you made to JonnJonzz long ago. Please. Let him pass."
OPENING THE PORTAL IS THE UTMOST DANGER TO ANY WORLD.
"This man," Clark looked, Jonn laying so still, "you promised to return him home."
"
NO. OTHERS HAVE REOPENED THE PORTAL USING THE KRYPTONIAN CRYSTAL THAT YOU SO CARELESSLY BROUGHT HERE.
The air stirred beneath Clark...
THE CRYSTAL OF KNOWLEDGE WAS NEVER INTENDED FOR THIS REALM. THE MOST HEINOUS CRIMINALS NOW POSSESS ITS POWER AND KNOWLEDGE, AND ANY WORLD WHICH THE PORTAL HAS OPENED FOR THEM WILL PAY THE CONSEQUENCES.
"Jor-El, this is my fault! Not, Jonn's!-", Clark screamed angrily, but his protests were ignored by the voice, the program, the faded memory stored within the dusty relic his father had made. Clark felt helpless, more then he ever had before. Tossed from one dimension to another by an extinct race and their unyeilding, preprogrammed demands.
I SENT YOU, KAL-EL,TO PROTECT HUMANKIND FROM EXTINCTION. TO LEAD THEM TO PROSPERITY. BUT NOW THEIR FUTURE IS AS DARK AS IT EVER WAS BEFORE. YOU MUST RETURN
Instantly, fingers of blue, alien light whipped out from the stone altar and grabbed Clark's chest, slamming him down upon the surface. His blood seeped into the grooves of carved Kryptonian symbols,they too illuminating in unison of Jor-El's command.
The blue light expanded, swallowing Clark's body and mind. He looked behind him, Jonn still laying far away and out of reach. Clark screamed in protest, but all was drowned out by Jor-El's parting words--
YOU WILL RETURN THOSE WHO HAVE ESCAPED THE PHANTOM ZONE, AND PRESERVE THE HUMAN RACE. IT IS IN THEIR SURVIVAL, YOU WILL FIND YOUR OWN.
*
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