Beyond Smallville: Fan Fiction

Stranded   Chapter 1

Beyond Smallville: Time Shards (Teaser)

Time Shards is a multi-generational story based on "The Legends of Superman" by DC Comics. I've combined two genres: Fantasy/Action/Super-heroes with Science Fiction.

The story begins with a devastating battle between Superman/Clark Kent, Supergirl/Kara Kent and Darkseid. Darkseid is a demon-like alien that is bent on the destruction of Superman, and Earth. Superman and Darkseid fight to a draw but Earth is decimated in the process.

Supergirl tried to help, but she was severely injured in the apocalyptic battle. Clark/Superman/Kal El is left hanging in space, forced to watch helplessly as Earth suffers the same fate as his home planet, Krypton. The Earth is cracking apart, 2 billion humans have been killed, and the rest are dying slowly. Superman realizes his fatal mistake - he couldn't defeat Darkseid and all his minions alone. Supergirl was able to destroy most of them, but it's too late.

Kara/Supergirl finds an ancient Kryptonian relic called the "Eye of Rao" which enables its possessor to travel back and forth through time. She brings it to Clark/Superman just seconds before the Earth would explode. Superman uses it to give Earth, Kara, and himself another chance.

Superman travels back to the last days of his favorite loves like Lois, Lana, and Laura*as well as locating his arch nemesis Lex Luthor. The catch - Clark/Superman must convince Lex to help him. As Superman continues on his way backwards in time, he helps create the Justice League, faces "Meteor freaks", and finally ends up back in Smallville.

Superman begins again as eighteen year old Clark Kent. Ultimately, Clark must change his past, and make the correct adjustments to his decisions. His goal is to have a superior fighting force to face Darkseid, when the demon alien makes his way to Earth.

It goes by many names within the texts of popular Earth cultures, Apocalypse, The Reckoning, The Great Harvesting, Revelations, the end of all things. No matter what you call it, it meant only one thing…death. The World's Greatest Superhero came face to face with his own mortality. At the ripe old age of 199, Superman's time was up. - Marcus Worthington.

Superman physically resembled a typical seventyish human male. He had graying temples, graying moustache, and a matching goatee. Clark Kent thought he might one day die of natural causes, like all of those who had gone before him. Avoid Kryptonite and the sky was the limit. He was wrong. Superman's final thoughts were of his long dead loved ones. Would he see them in the afterlife? Did an afterlife actually exist? He was about to get his ultimate wish- to be human.

Humans died. Superman floated helplessly within the vacuum of space, hundreds of miles above the surface of his beloved Earth. In the blackness, Clark was truly alone. 'Death was a part of life', his Earth parents told him. Jonathan Kent had died first, protecting his secret. That was over 180 years ago.

His mother Martha was next, over 150 years ago. They were the most important people in his life, making him what he is today. Lana Lang, his first love, had been gone over 120 years.

Lois Lane-Kent, his greatest love, had left him over 115 years ago. She'd begged him to let her die, after leading her amazing life. Lois had accomplished everything she'd wanted to do. Even Lex Luthor had finally died 130 years ago, from Kryptonite radiation poisoning of all things. There had been other important people in his life, of course. Another love, Laura Lake, had passed on barely 100 years ago. Even her superior powers were no match for the ultimate equalizer, death.

Superman's life had been empty for a long time. Even so, his long term suffering paled in comparison to what had happened on Earth. Two point four billion humans dead, scores of friendly aliens were also lost in the carnage. The demonic alien Darkseid would be back for another billion or so lives, soon.

Earth was dying. Its impressive military arsenal had been emptied in the intergalactic war against the people of Apokolips. Earth's sun was slowly dimming, and that suited Darkseid just fine. He thrived on darkness, despair, and misery. Superman's light was about to go out next.

Clark had been confident that he and young Kara Kent could defeat Darkseid and his minions alone. He was mistaken. His error would cost Earth its life. Kal El had failed in his father's mission: To protect Earth. As wise as Jor El had been, he'd grossly underestimated Darkseid. The two had never met, yet Jor El knew of the warlike people from Apokolips. They lived for conquest.

A tiny dot flew up from Earth's fiery pockmarked surface. It made its way in Clark's general direction. Superman was too injured, too tired, and too depressed from the fight. He wanted to move.

Make a last great stand, but his broken body wouldn't permit it. The dot grew closer. Through one bloodied eye, Superman forced himself to focus. The dot became a shadow, the shadow, a form, and the form became a body. The body was female. "Kara!" Clark croaked.

The Last Daughter of Krypton had somehow survived Darkseid's onslaught. "No! Kara! Fly away!" Superman yelled, though the effort made his head pound. Darkseid would return and take his younger cousin down next! His own death, Kal El could deal with, but Kara's was another story. She had to go on, to preserve the Kryptonian race. The flipside was that as long as Kara existed, there was hope, albeit slim. Kara the Super Girl flew alongside Superman. She didn't like what she saw.

"Kal? Kal! By Rao you are alive!" Kara Zor El's sweet voice echoed through Superman's tormented mind. "Not for long." Clark stated. His space suit had been shredded. The titanium reinforced face shield had been shattered, causing the loss of one eye. His arms and legs dangled uselessly. "Oh Kal…you can't…" The pretty alien girl had become a beautiful woman of 170.

She'd survived the recent battle, escaping with only a broken arm that hung limply behind her. Her golden hair had now turned gray and it was matted with dried blood. Kara had suffered a few severe burns as well, not that it would matter when Darkseid returned to finish her.

"We failed, Kara." Clark admitted mournfully. She carefully held onto his arm to keep him from drifting further out into space. Kara dragged him back towards Earth's gravity well.The Super Girl from Krypton floated before him. With her good hand, she lifted off the useless broken faceplate of Kal El's helmet.

He could exist in the vacuum of space for a long time, though not indefinitely. The cold lifeless air hit Clark's face. The oxygen deprivation was starting to affect his mental capacity. Was his young cousin actually there beside him or was it an illusion? He pictured her as the beautiful sixteen-year old alien who'd always been so full of life. Now Kara's eyes were darkening and her cheeks began to hollow. She handed him something, an oxygen mask.

"Kal? Kal? Can you hear me?" Kara prodded. Clark gave her a barely perceptible nod. "Kara? I can't move my arms or my legs. Darkseid's attack was complete. You should go now, before he returns to finish me and Earth's denizens off." Kal El warned her, though every word he spoke made his head hurt more. Kara grabbed the portable oxygen mask and shoved it over Clark's nose and mouth. Superman inhaled the fresh oxygen deeply, and it made his punctured lungs burn. Kara was crying. "This is wrong! This is all wrong!" She half yelled, making Clark wince.

Kara removed the oxygen mask after a moment and took some breaths herself. "I know Kara, we failed. We were entrusted to save Earth and we failed!" Clark's voice was a bit stronger as he mentally blocked out the pain, which made his mind spin. Kara lifted the oxygen mask off of her mouth and flipped the valve on the tank shut to conserve the precious air within.

"There was nothing more we could've done, Kal!" She reasoned. "We had no way of knowing that Darkseid's Shadow Forces would devastate Earth. We thought we could handle them, but we were wrong." Kara began to drag Clark back towards Earth. "No, don't bother with me, Kara. It's over." Superman's raspy voice had returned. "I wish we could do it over…"

Kara stopped flying. "It's not over, Kal!" She said excitedly as she held her slim side. The Super Girl had a few broken ribs and some minimal internal bleeding, but she would live, though with Darkseid on the prowl it likely wouldn't be very long. Kara inhaled a wheezing breath. "There's only one option left. I'll need to get the Eye of Rao." She stated with determination.

"The what?" Superman was skeptical as he flashed her a puzzled glance. Kara was stunned. "How could you have forgotten it? I told you about it when I first landed on Earth after Reeves Dam broke. My guess was that someone had hidden it beneath the Artic Ocean." Kal was still confused. Was it the oxygen deprivation, or had Clark's mind been altered some other way?

"I knew it!" Kara snapped. "This is all wrong!" Superman still wasn't following his younger cousin. "Okay I'll try and keep this short." She explained. "I remember from basic Physics and Time Line Study at school back on Argo. Time wasn't linear. All things can exist at all times within the dimensional universe. Any sixth grader knew the story, the various formulas, and mathematical equations." Clark winced. "Kara, get to the point, we have very little time…" He complained.

"That's exactly it, Kal. With the Eye of Rao we have as much time as we want." Kara continued. "Earth children were never advanced enough to comprehend Quantum Physics." She became more animated with every second, gesturing wildly. "I guess I missed that class." Kal muttered. Kara sighed. "Here's the background info, cousin Kal:

The Eye of Rao is part legend and part fact. Rao was an ancient Kryptonian deity that people worshipped, prior to the discovery of energy crystals, which forced the society to progress intellectually. Our crystals enabled the major leaps in technology that Krypton enjoyed for eons. Zod attempted to ressurect the deity's legend based on his belief that Rao would bring him power. The primitives were controlled by Rao's persona, which one wise Kryptonian, Zod's ancestor, figured out would band the wandering tribes together under his control.

The primitives carved an image out of ice. Embedded in the sculpture's face were two large orange gems. What no one knew at the time was that the gems possessed unusual physical properties. Each eye could show the past or future to the one who owned it. Each gem had nine facets. Within each facet was a shard of crystal. The shards were multicolored, similar to an Earth rainbow. Each shard acted as a prism, refracting light and more…one shard gave its possessor one trip through time, either forward or backward."

"Zod's ancestor figured that out." Clark put in. "Bingo!" Kara exclaimed. "It bends time and space. We know that space and time are relevant to where you are in the universe." She added.

"Both eyes serve as a sort of portal, or gate, to open and close between dimensions." Kara informed him. "Like Darkseid's Boom Tubes!" Clark mentioned. "Exactly, Kal." Kara glanced around nervously, expecting Darkseid's Black Fleet to attack at any moment. Clark listened attentively, though his mind kept trying to wander.

"The Eyes of Rao with the crystals intact were left within the idol in the long abandoned Temple of Rao. My father, Zor El, forbade me to ever enter the temple. He felt that it held no educational value. Most of the Argonites treated the temple as an eyesore, a reminder of a primitive long forgotten race. At most it was considered an archeological or historical curiosity."

"Except for Zod." Kal put in. "You stole them, didn't you?" Kara smirked. "Not exactly. The day I disobeyed Zor El and entered the temple, Zod was on his way to the idol. My eldest sister, Sanja, caught him and reported Zod to the Council of Elders. They added it to Zod's growing list of offenses against Krypton. He never got another chance to steal them."

"I hid one Eye of Rao in my cryo-sleep chamber. That was all I had time for before Krypton exploded. The other Eye was presumed lost in the debris." She finished. "Where's the Eye now?" Kal asked the obvious question. "I don't know. The Brain Interactive Construct stole it when we fought and defeated it. However, I wanted to find out…so I kept a fist size piece of BRAINIAC in my ship."

Clark fumed. "You mean that we didn't destroy all of BRAINIAC?" Kara nodded sheepishly. "I knew you'd be mad, Kal. It was still a piece of home that I couldn't part with. Don't worry, I reprogrammed the BRAINIAC piece to focus on one directive only…to find an Eye of Rao." She defended. "And did it?" Superman asked tiredly. "Almost. I've narrowed the search down to one sector of our galaxy. Three or four solar systems at the most." Kara informed him.

"Unfortunately I can't make it there with my injuries, in time to return before Darkseid's next assault. I'll have to try. It's the only hope we've got." She added bravely. "Come with me Kal, we can find it together." Clark considered this. "I'd just drag you down. Kara, you'll have to try it on your own. Even if you can find it, how does that help us now?"

"I think we can use the Eye to go back along the timeline to some point before Darkseid's initial attack, somehow stop him, get help, or warn Earth." Kara stated. "Darkseid's so powerful that an early warning may not make much difference." Kal mentioned. "We need to increase our power as well. If we're successful, this whole timeline won't exist, and we could save billions of lives."

"Lois used to call that a WAT, a wild ass theory." Clark chuckled, though it hurt. Kara enjoyed any mention of Lois. She was the first human to befriend the teen alien. She'd come to look upon Lois as an older sister, to make up for some of the family that she'd lost. Kara was devastated, when she watched Lois die. It had taken her years to partially get over it.

"It's all we've got. Now that we know how truly powerful Darkseid is, we can prepare to take him on." Kara insisted. "You're right." Kal agreed. "The only hope that we have, and that Earth has, is for this to work." He added dejectedly. "If it fails, we're all finished anyway." Kara nodded and gave Clark back the oxygen mask. It was over, one way or the other, he thought sourly.

"What time period would you aim for?" Clark questioned tiredly. "As early as possible, say the first time we met…was that 2007?" Kara replied. "The challenge will be to find the correct time shard. I've never done this before, but it makes sense that this timeline won't exist or be changed."

"As the humans say in Las Vegas, I have one more card to play." She added, and reached down below her titanium alloy breastplate, which had helped to deflect some of Darkseid's minions' plasma weapons. Kara brought out a fist-sized chunk of blue Kryptonite. She'd been able to modify the meteor rock piece to heal Kryptonians. She pressed it against her broken arm.

Kara grimaced as she felt her mangled bones untwist themselves and knit back to normal. The pain was intense, but worth it in her opinion. She removed the fragment and held it against Clark's back. Immediately his big blue eyes healed, one arm began to snap itself back into place, and one leg fracture molded back to its original state. Superman resisted the urge to yell.

Soon, the blue kryptonite's power faded away. Kal was now partially healed, yet far from perfect. "That's it, Kal. That's all the healing power it had left." Kara removed the blackened stone, now a useless piece of meteor rock.

"One more thing...Kara...shove me towards the sun." Kal said as his voice grew weary. "What? No!" She was horrified. "Please...do as I ask..." Superman pleaded. "I can survive a few moments longer...as the yellow sun's radiation strengthens me." Kara shoved him and cried, "I love you."

link to Chapter 2.