2 02 - Lake

A painful headache struck me out of nowhere. My body muscles were hurting in a way that I have never felt before in my life, it was as if I had slept inside of a torture chamber.

I opened my eyes and noticed that I was in an unknown forest. While turning around, the only thing I saw was trees. Trees so tall and dense that only a few small rays of sunlight could pass through the vegetation that acted as a huge roof.

I resisted the pain I was feeling and raised my aching body with curiosity and caution. My name is... my name is Joh-El, I'm 14, I'm the firstborn son of Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van, Kal-El's older brother. I, uh... I was sucked through that portal and came to another place, am I still in Krypton?

At least I am happy that I still have my memories, I started to evaluate my situation and try to find a way out of here.

I ignored the pain I was feeling and got up off the floor. My muscles were so weak that I almost fell again after such a sudden rise.

Apparently, the noise I made when I got up woke up a white wolf with dirty hair which was sleeping next to me in the hole... no, that wasn't a wolf, that was Krypto, my pet dog that had been with me since birth. His life expectancy was as long as those of the Kryptonians, and he could easily pass the age of 200. Many people confused him with a wolf because of his enormous body which was 1.2m high when standing on all four legs, and almost 3m long. Now that I realize it, I was inside a hole approximately 5m in diameter if my mental calculations are correct.

Was that hole caused by the gate? And what happened to my parents after I fell through the gate with Krypto? Are they okay? Have they been sucked somewhere else too?

Krypto, who was now awake, opened his eyes wide and looked at me with a suspicious look as he opened his mouth growling to show his huge fangs.

Noticing this, I again ignored the absurd pain that my muscles have been feeling and took a step away from him. "Calm down boy, it's me, Joh-El, remember me? We were practically born together. We are brothers!" I said as I quietly approached him again trying to make him remember me.

Seeing that I didn't want to do him any harm, Krypto closed his mouth but still kept a suspicious look on his face, apparently, he still hasn't recovered his memories.

Suddenly, two noises are heard simultaneously. One from my stomach and one from my partner's stomach.

I looked into his eyes worried, and luckily I didn't notice any intention on his part to turn me into his meal this afternoon.

I looked away and saw a small tree nearby with some red and round fruits at the size of a fist that I could not identify.

I pulled one of the fruits out of my foot and smelled to see if it contained anything harmful, but luckily I didn't notice anything, not even the tree was strange. I feel that normally I wouldn't risk eating an unknown fruit without doing any background research, but just by smelling the fruit, my tummy snored twice.

I couldn't resist and took the first bite of the fruit. It tasted... delicious! My taste buds were apparently a little more sensitive than usual for some unknown reason, but I ignored this fact which at the time was one of the best news I could hear and took one more bite out of the delicious fruit.

While I was enjoying the taste of this delicious red ball, Krypto, who was distant from me before, at some point appeared beside me and barked. *Bark*

I looked at him with a dubious look and noticed that the look he was giving me now was something like "Please" with his ears down.

I looked at the fruit on the tree again and I was happy that it made my brother lower his guard a little with me. I picked some fruit and put it on the floor so that he could enjoy this pleasure as I did, and I was delighted in the taste again.

After being satisfied, I noticed that Krypto had also eaten all the fruits I gave him and now he was looking at me with a "What are we going to do now" look. I knew he was much smarter than even some of the Kryptonians, being only unable to speak, so I stroked his head that reached my chest.

"Let's try to find a way out." I said at one point that he could hear well, and we went out, side by side looking for the way out of this forest that looked like a labyrinth.

Without being able to measure time, just by using the position that the few solar rays that crossed the dense leaves of the trees, I assumed that now was some time between 08:00 am and 09:00 am.

The pain in my body has been easing as I walked through the forest looking for a way out, I still don't know the reason, but I am happy with the result.

When I assumed it was 10:00 am, Krypto ran off in a lively way while barking at me. So as not to fall behind, I ran after him trying to figure out what made him so excited and I quickly found out. A small lake with crystal clear water was being bathed in sunlight without any interference from the trees.

When I noticed, Krypto was happily swimming in the lake with a huge smile and his tongue out while he was barking sporadically.

Seeing the clear, transparent water like glass, the thirst that I had been ignoring returned with absurd intensity. I quickly took off the black toga I was wearing and jumped into the water, while I was only wearing my underwear, I started playing with Krypto while drinking lots of water.

At some point, Krypto was swimming behind me while barking happily trying to reach me. We hadn't noticed, but every minute or so our swimming speed was being increased little by little.

After more than an hour inside the lake, I noticed that my wounds had healed and I was practically brand new. But something felt different. I used my hand to push some water forward and the water went further away than it would do in any normal condition.

I tried again and it was as if the water had become lighter and less dense. I looked at Krypto and noticed that he had the same confused look as me, which made me feel proud, partly because of the intelligence he always showed.

Losing the mood to play in the water again, I got out of there with him and we stayed under the sun to dry, after I wore my toga. Taking advantage of this, I picked up a big rock from the ground and decided to do a little test.

Krypto looked at me with a confused and a bit suspicious look for picking up the stone, but I quickly picked up the stone and hit the tree. The result amazed both of us. The stone had broken in the middle and part of it had penetrated the tree.

When I was picking the fruit, I tested the tree to see if there was anything abnormal that could be poisonous and I didn't find anything different from what I was used to. The shell was extremely hard.

I threw the remains of stone out of my hand and as I put on my black toga, I began to analyze that I had actually become stronger while swimming in that lake.

I took another rock from the ground and told Krypto. "That water may have made us stronger, but we need to find the way out first. I'll use that stone to mark the trees we pass so we can come back here in the future.

Krypto looked like he understood the idea and that it was genius. Then we left marking the trees all the way through the forest in a straight line, until Krypto's ears suddenly rose as if he was hearing something and with a bark he signaled to follow him in some direction.

I nodded and we ran out of there while I marked some trees on the way.

From afar it was possible to see the end of the forest, I revealed a happy smile on my face and started running at full speed. Krypto on my side also opened an equal smile and started running at an incredible speed too.

In the heat of the moment, I didn't notice, but we were definitely running faster than an average person and dog.

As we left the forest, we both stopped side by side to catch our breath, this race was probably the fastest 4km I have ever run in my life.

When I lifted my head, I saw an old man sitting on a machine with huge wheels looking at me and Krypto with a suspicious look. I thought about asking him for help, but before I could say anything, my vision suddenly turned black and I fainted.