12 - Symbol Of Hope!

Man.

It's quite cold here in Uranus.

Cool thing that I found though, was whenever I shed some water, such as spit or sweat, it would freeze in a near-instant.

Using this discovery, I handcrafted a pair of snow-based mittens from freezing my own water vapours...

Unsurprisingly, not very efficient when it came to insulation...or anything else for that matter considerinh they rapidly melted after being worn.

My body was producing much more heat than usual to counteract the planet's ambient frost.

Superman floated atop the air with a serene expression as his legs adopted a strange position, apparently called the lotus in Terran.

Quite strange considering it didn't even resemble the plant that shared the same name, at least, in my infinitely humble opinion.

The wounds that had been previously dealt to him was already nowhere to be seen by now, courtesy of his enhanced regenerative factor due to our close proximity with the sun.

...That's not the case for me, unfortunately.

Kal-El had helped me in sealing all of the bleeding with his laser vision, though. He seemed much more capable of tuning the finer details of that ability.

All the Kryptonians ever do with their laser vision is kill people. Superman does it on a regular basis to dry his suit every time he returns from antartica...

"What are you doing?" I asked with a curious tone and a slight furrow in my brows as I walked closer, my feet strolling upon the cold air.

Kal-El was nearly silent, the only faint noise produced by him being the rythmic cycle of deep breathing. Yet after my question was uttered, he simply opened one eye and answered.

"Meditation." Kal-El responded as his left eye gazed up at me. "Do you know what that is?"

"You mean Cogitation? Of course, Magicians do it all the time to hasten the recuperation of their Spirituality." I responded with a nonchalant tone. "But you're no Sorcerer, so why even bother?"

"I heard it clears the mind." He answered lightly. "Perhaps you should try it, you always seem so tense, after all."

Always seem so tense? What else was I supposed to be; careless?

This wasn't the life to be careless in. Perhaps I can be careless after death, but not now!

"...What are the mental benefits?" I inquired almost immediately. Regardless of whatever carelessness Kal-El harbored, perhaps there were other mental benefits for an activity that most Magicians did.

"Peace and tranquility...although, I think that's just for marketing." He said. "It more or less helps with your composure and focus, also improves your mental condition."

Hmm...

"I can teach you if you want. I was thought by my human dad a long time ago." He suggested with a calm tone.

"Was your human father an Occultist or something?" I asked, somewhat curious.

Unlike us Viltrumites—Kryptonians don't typically indulge in the mystic arts, they were to caught up with modifying their own biochemistry, not something that Viltrumites were particulalry opposed to, but the Kryptonians were just blantly obsessed it with.

Although considering Kal-El seemed to have only realized magic existed due to my words, his father was probably not a Magician.

"No, but his words were magic." He said to me.

What the hell's that supposed to mean?

"Did you maybe inherit his spellcrafting capabilities?" I asked with a heavy gaze.

"That I'm not sure of, but hopefully, yes." Superman gave an uncertain answer before glancing up at me. "I'll share some of his words if you can lend an ear."

Lend an ear...? I suppose that's probably just a Terran saying, I thought to myself before nodding at his statement.

Superman considered his next words as he glanced around at the frozen surroundings before addressing me.

"Try counting how many blue things are in your vision right now." He said before glancing back at me.

Blue-coloured objects? Hmm...there's Kal-El with his blue suit, his eyes are also blue, and so is the sky...

Does the snow and ice count? It's white, but you could count it as blue since the water it is frozen from is pretty much blue...

"You done?" Superman asked, to which I confirmed with a nod.

"I bet you saw a lot more blue than grey, right?" He asked with a smile.

"Of course, you asked me to find blue." I asked with a frankly confused and somewhat offended look.

"Well, try and look for grey now." Kal-El continued calmly.

Grey...

This planet wasn't just entirely water and ice, glancing down at the frosty sea, there was obviously a seafloor.

A seafloor made of greyish rocks and other such materials.

There was also my own uniform, which was composed of white and grey fabrics.

Now that I think about it, there seemed to be a lot of grey objects around here, certainly not in a shortage.

"I bet now you can see a lot more grey than blue, right?" Kal-El assumed, to which I realized that he was right.

"It's because I was searcing for grey." I commented. "I don't get it, what are you trying to say?"

"Did you count the dirty parts of the snow as grey too?" Superman suddenly said. "Also the snow itself isn't blue."

I stopped and considered the meaning behind his statement.

Really, looking around, the greys and blues are kind of mixed now. What I once considered as blue looked rather grey, the other way around was thes same case.

The sky wasn't really blue, right? It doesn't really have a colour—I was just associating it blue since we were in a blue ocean.

"Our perception is in control of our minds much more than you think." Kal-El explained as he pointed at the sky.

No, he was pointing at the distant blue planet—Terra, or Earth if you were one of its inhabitants.

"It's quite small and insignifant from here." I commented as I admired the blue planet.

It wasn't such an ugly planet, I realized. Even if it was so backwater and primitive.

"Of course, for you, it's just like looking at scenery. You must have seen a lot of worlds like Earth, right?" Superman commented.

Visually speaking, Terra was indeed quite mundane, neither ugly nor beautiful, even if the planet itself was quite valuable due to certain factors.

"I have, and it isn't just the planet. There are countless races like the Humans of Terra, they are ordinary, maybe even a bit weak." I confessed. I saw no problem with sharing this information, since it was probably obvious.

"That make sense." Superman agreed. "Humans are ordinary, that's a concept that most of Humanity itself has already known."

Really? I thought they were on top of the world..., I silently lampooned as I remembered some of their silly social media posts about conquering nature.

"But to me their special, in a way, I kind of adore them." Kal-El admitted as he glanced back at me.

That surprised me.

I knew this Kryptonian didn't hold anything against humanity for its weakness... but to adore them? To such an extent? Why...?

I didn't understand, not at all.

"You grew up around them." I concluded. "That's why you love them? I mean, you should have considered yourself as one before all of this, no?" That's right, I remembered his statement about him only recently discovering his alien status.

"Yeah, it's quite ironic." Superman said as he glanced up at the Earth again. "As an alien, I love Humans. But most Humans actually hate Humanity."

"...What?" It was at that moment that I became genuinely confused.

It made sense for some outliers to hate their own kind, perhaps they were exiles, or even deviants.

But for the majority to hate themselves? What kind of mindset was that?

I have never seen such a race that hates themselves... Wouldn't it inevitably lead to stagnation? But seeing humanity's technological history, they weren't necessarily slow, actually, they were pretty fast in that department.

The reason why they were primitive was because they were just a young race...

Superman glanced at me with wide eyes. "That's not a common attitude among the Universe?"

"Not at all. Most tend to hate others, not themselves." I shook my head.

"...Huh." He seemed to fall in contemplation at that revelation.

He then smiled.

"But actually, that's exactly why I love humanity." Kal-El revealed.

"Most Humans can't help but blame other Humans, it absolves themselves of any wrongdoing, which is the easy thing to do."

He then looked at me.

"But that's just because of their perspective."

My mind went to the Rhino at that moment, and how he kind of blamed Spiderman for all of his suffering...

"It is because of their ignorance." I concluded.

"Exactly." Superman immediately answered. "I can be said to be less ignorant in that manner—with my eyes that can see through walls, and my ears that can hear from the other side of town, I am well aware of their terrible deeds, their crimes, their sins."

"I have seen children raped, cooked alive, strung on the wall on some millionaire's basement as if their trophies."

"I have witnessed a middle-aged father slowly spiralling into an endless pit of despair from his severe gambling addiction, to the point of joining the Cartel to support that addiction, only to then be forced to murder his own family."

"There are cults out there who operate on a goverment level, controlling whole small countries and abducting people to engage in their depraved rituals."

"No matter how much I save, destroy, they just keep coming back, Luke." Kal-El said with a heavy gaze. "And yet, I still love them."

"Why?" I asked in pure curiosity.

This guy seemed like the self-righteous type, those people tend to go on whole genocidal crusades just to destroy what they deemed as evil.

It was unusual to see one adoring such a pathetic race.

"Because they are born as good, most of them." Kal-El smiled. "Its the world that changes them, makes them irredeemably evil."

"Humans have evolved to be a highly social species, its in there genetics to support and love eachother, its their destiny to spread kindness!"

"That's what I believe." He said. "That's my perspective."

"I can see all of their blues and grey, and they have more blue! They have more hope than despair, they have the capacity to change, to be good!"

But then his smile vanished, displaced and substitued by a expression of conviction.

"That's the thing though, most just don't have the chance to."

It's because evil is much easier to see? Is that why you're getting at? I thought to myself.

"That's why I am wearing this cape." Superman revealed. "That's why I am wearing this Symbol that represents the House of El." He pointed at his chest.

"It's the Symbol of Hope, because I want to give people hope, I want to give people the chance to control their own destiny, to be good!"

"...After all, were it for not for them, wouldn't I be just another conquering warlord among the millions in the Universe?"

I widened my eyes at his words.

He's spouting nonsense, I lampooned silently. Perhaps he was mentally ill from witnessing all those crimes?

"I see." I just nodded. "Then you want to change Earth then? Make it into the world that you envisioned?"

Kal-El glanced at me before sighing.

"That's exactly what I want to do." He said. "But I am not Genghis Khan, so it'd be really difficult."

"...So, Scion, I'm just gonna be straightforward with you—could you help me in this mission?" He asked with a resolute gaze.

Hmm...

"It does not misalign with my goals, anyway." I said with a snort. "The less depraved the people are, the less they are likely to become Monsters."

Yes, Superman had heard about the Rhino incident and had naturally inquired about it.

I had already told him about my fabricated motives—as an Agent of the Viltrum Empire sent to this frontier planet to eradicate the plague that was the Monster Race.

Kal-El gave a big, wide grin.

"Right then, why don't you say we take a cold plunge." He proposed as he glanced downwards at the sea.

"There's never been a cold enough environment to chill my bones, but how much colder could you realistically get at this point?" He contined as he began to take off his suit.

"It's good for the mind, I think. Looks really cool too."

I silently stared at the sea before shrugging.

"Sure, teach me Cogitation as well while you're at it."

"You mean Meditation? Okay..."

=== AN)

Sorry for the wait, I am not gonna give any excuses. Chapters will now be 2000 words instead of the usual 4000, however, updates will actually be daily.

Hopefully.