Chapter Text
Clark was crashing through the time and space faster than he ever thought possible. He saw the universe rapidly fly past him in lighting strokes as the stars and asteroids all blurred together, flying faster than he had ever dared let himself try. Not that he was in control of said flight at the moment, in fact, he was very much not in control. At all. He was hurling through space with no way of slowing down, he was still weak from an earlier fight back on another planet with the justice league and thinking of just about anything was very hard at the speed he was going at.
He passed space rock after space rock and star after sun after star, the force made his head hurt and he could only hope he collides with something soon.
He tried desperately to look through his closed eyelids, opening them was hard against the pressure already but along with the fast passing atmosphere made the task near impossible. Then, With a sudden change in the atmosphere, he felt the tinniest of weights lift of his aching body, still fast crashing but also calmer In a way. He tiredly opened his eyes, now just a little more bearable than before, his hazy eyes shifted all around from the passing scenery towards a large quick approaching surface, no not just a surface, a planet, maybe even two, he might be imagining things though. For the first time in his life he couldn’t wait to collide with the hopefully solid surface.
The closer he got the more pull he felt, ah gravity, he had missed that. going even faster than before and a ringing in his ears made him want to groan, and almost beg for it to end soon. He got pulled towards the planet, one of them at least, he really wasn’t sure how many there were.
Then, like a prayer had been answered he finally felt the wonderful feeling of crashing into a solid surface and his body coming to a full stop. he wanted to kiss the ground and beg for it to never leave him again. he should take A break from flying for a little while, yeah..that was a good idea.
He barely took in his surrounding, not the dark sky, not the far away mountains and barely the snowy surface before he passed out.
-
When Clark regained consciousness he was still in the same position, in the same pile of snow with the same aching bones in the same cold air. He must’ve come in contact with kryptonite or something, and from what he could tell there was no sun nearby, much less a yellow one. he felt horrible. He groaned weakly, he just wanted to go home.
He didn’t bother getting up yet, He was still hazy and felt dizzy at the thought. he just really hoped he was dreaming all of this and he’d wake up in metropolis any moment, on his cozy bed with his warm sheets and pillows with the new book he bought in a cute bookshop in Dublin when he had stopped there on his way back from a mission, it would be laying on his dresser ready to be read. But he didn’t have much hope for that scenario, he really didn’t have any hope at the moment.
Then, through the thick hazy fog covering his eyes he saw something move through the heavy snow, it seemed to be getting closer at an cautious speed heavy steps making the snow move and a heavy fog settled beneath it’s weight. The closer it got the more it started to look like a beast of sorts, oh he was really fucked wasn’t he?
The bear(?) came closer and closer and, yes, it did look like a bear, and a wolf maybe, he really didn’t want to think about the predatory gaze in it’s large slid eyes or the large sabel teeth imbedded in its upper jaw. And really really not about the large flesh coloured wound covering the beasts left eye thorn down towards its mouth lifting up the gums there.
He looked away, he wasn’t gonna look certain dead in the eye, maybe his good spirit would save him from this. He had been kind hadn’t he, he had loved plenty, right? Maybe the beast would spare him the pain and just get it done with in one bite. He couldn’t be mad at instinct though. I mean at least the beast would get a good meal out of it, enough meat on him anyway, maybe kryptonian tastes good too, might be different from what he usually has. Hope he doesn’t get any stomach problems..
…what the hell was he thinking, he needed yo get away, he needed to survive, the justice league still needed him. the fight where he originally came from hadn’t even been done, he needed to get back as soon as possible.
With aching muscles he turned his head towards the beast who had come even closer, looming over him. it’s head hung inches from his face, the dark snout damp while warm breath blew through the nostrils straight into his face, the slid eyes pierced him, their sclera pitch black while the iris was a dull gold. It really was a beautiful creature, too bad about the intimidating part.
…
But the beast didn’t do anything, he just looked at Clark, observed him. It’s long upright ears were turned forward in curiosity and caution, but not really..violent in any way. It was actually kinda cute if you looked past the whole big scary predator thing anyway. Then like a switch had been turned the beast sat back. When Clark looked up confused to where the beast had gone of to he saw it politely sitting near him with it’s head slightly tilted and it’s tail wagging, like a big dog. A really big dog kinda like Krypto but way bigger, maybe even twice his own height. And with the ears perked up like that even taller. Now looking closely the beast was more like a wolf than a bear, maybe a mixture. With the well build body to withstand the cold but the elegant head and long tail of a wolf.
Then he noticed a sort of leather contraption on the beasts back, no, a saddle. And saddle meant domestication (unless Ofcourse the beast had somehow gotten the saddle on itself, which was unlikely). And yes, it was hard to see from this angle but there Indeed seemed to be a snowboot hanging from the sides of the saddle.
With a heavy sigh he pushed himself up, his head hurt like hell and his bones cracked and popped as he sat up weakly leaning on his elbows.
He let out a sort of whimper grunt. He meant to say ‘hello’ but sadly his voice didn’t suffice.
“H..l” he tries again
Well..he tried, it sounded like he remembered the new baby calfs on the farm sounded like, raw and rusty, not yet used to their voices. at least the person or whatever it is that sat on the beasts back will knows he’s alive.
The beast stood up again and walked around him making the person on its back more apparent. a figure, a not so tall figure, in fact sitting on the beast it made them look almost dwarfed along with the thick hooded coat they wore made from some sort of animal skin, they may come of a bit childish. That didn’t make them any less intimidating though. They held themselves like a Warrior sitting upright on the beasts back with a spear in a tightened hand and a white wooden mask to hide any facial features, or like a face in general.
It looked down from its (metaphorical) throne, for a moment they just sat there, Clark in his aches and confusion while the figure stared him down.
The staring seemed to go on for a bit before the beast leaned down and the figure leaned forward, now closer to Clark.
Then after a moment it pointed its spear towards him, the sharp shiny blade almost touching Clark.
“Sha’tzo ku chu’fa”
The figure spoke in an almost recognisable language, well not really, but there were traces of kryptonian in there.
A language that looked just the tiniest bit like the language of a world that has been gone for decades. A language that was considered dead to the rest of the universe somehow had the tiniest traces in this odd figures speech.
Clark didn’t get much from the words spoken but the words *you* and *title* came up so they were most likely asking who he was.
He could do that, his name.
Easy right?
“K…l”
Okay. So speaking really wasn’t on the list today, and maybe that was it, the figure would think he was possessed or an enemy of sorts and impale him on sight with that weird looking spear it was holding, maybe it might even kill him with how weak he was feeling, and if not it sure was gonna hurt.
Clark closed his eyes in suspense for that aching hurt of a sharp metal object piercing his skin, but it never came. He opened one eye hesitantly and saw the figure moving to get off the beast which had leaned down to make it easier for them.
Now that the figures stood next to him in the snow they seemed much smaller, maybe the size a 10 year old would be on earth, as amusing as it was Clark couldn’t find it in himself to smile. In fact when the figure stood over him in all its mysterious hunter glory Clark felt himself tense.
The figure stared him down. Clark could make out an eye shape through the holes of the mask, focused and cautious. After a moment the figure had apparently deemed him to be eaten ,because it waved its hand towards the beast, the beast in response opened his mouth wide to devour him whole..
…
….
What? He was flying..no not flying, he felt a pull around his neck. Not flying, carried. Huh odd, he was normally the one doing the carrying. Is this how batman feels whenever Clark flies with him, or anyone else for that matter. It felt kind of nice in a way, like a mother cat would carry their young…
The figure had climbed back I tot he beast back while Clarke as being carried in it’s mouth and was leading the beast.
Wait, where were they taking him. Maybe they needed to cook him before eating him, or maybe they want to share with the rest of their people. Or maybe they were bringing him to their home…what.
Clark looked up with difficulty, the beast huffing when it felt Clark move. Clark’s eyes landed on a large icy Wall, it was mostly snow with some ice and wooden pillars that reached up to a good 10 metres at least. And somewhere in the wall there was a large ice gate with at the top two guards dressed in thick coats much like the mystery figure was, with similar spears in hand and different looking masks. Oh so he was really fucked.