-Chapter 1: "Prologue"-

Krypton. A faraway planet much like our very own blue Earth, but different. Different in many ways. The thinner atmosphere, increased gravity, and overall harsh environment would make ordinary human life impossible. Yet, civilization managed to thrive on this unforgiving homeworld. Inhabited by a race much like our own, but far more technologically advanced.

But there was one problem. Krypton was on its final hours of life. The countdown for destruction had already begun. The planet was doomed, just as predicted by the scientist known as Jor-El.

Desperate times lead to desperate situations, however. Just hours ago, Jor-El had managed to thwart an attempted coup by the tyrannical General Zod, banishing his forces into the Phantom Zone. The ensuing conflict, unfortunately, led to a fatal injury that would soon kill the brilliant scientist. Luckily, he had one final plan to save a dying Krypton: storing the genetic codex of his entire species along with his very son, Kal-El, into space.

"Have you found a world?" a mortally wounded Jor-El asked his wife as she placed the infant boy into a pedestal-like structure, engraving what was left of the codex into Kal-El's tiny body

"We have," his wife, Lara replied, revealing a large display controlling the pedestal that revealed another faraway planet.

"Orbiting a main sequence yellow star, just as you said it would," the console's drone added before showing more information about the monitored world. It was Earth.

"A yellow star. His cells will drink up the radiation," Jor-El observed, carefully examining the planet's data. "Seemingly intelligent population—," he commented, before pulling up what appeared to be some very unusual, if not troubling, news to the perplexed couple.

"Caution," the drone informed them. "Planet appears to contain unknown hostile lifeforms," it added, displaying what appeared to be blob-like creatures varying in shapes and size.

"Jor, please don't tell me he's heading there," Lara whispered with great concern. "He'll be an outcast, a freak; if not them, then those… things, will kill him," she continued, nervously pointing at the creatures being displayed on-screen.

"How can they?" a confident Jor-El calmly replied as he took a second look at the planet's records, realizing how that world's conditions would affect their son's growth. "He'll be a god to those people," he said wearily. "He'll have abilities beyond we can imagine."

"…What if the ship doesn't make it?" Lara said worryingly. "He'll die out there, alone," she added, looking down at her one and only child with heartfelt eyes. "I thought I could do it, but I can't—"

"Lara—!" Jor-El interrupted her as they felt a large tremor shaking the ground. "Krypton is dead, it's his only chance now; it our people's only hope," he explained, staggering from heavy internal bleeding before being helped up by Lara and proceeding onwards. "I'll upload the Codex—"

"No, wait," Lara stopped, looking down at the infant Kal-El for one last time. "Just… just let me look at him," she said sadly with tears welling in her eyes. "We'll never get to see him walk… never hear him say our names…"

"But out there…" Jor-El said softly, but just as solemnly. "…Among the stars, he'll live," he assured her.

Both kissed their child on the forehead before activing the console's launch sequence, placing Kal-El into a pod as the infant let out a small cry. The remaining information of the codex was transferred to him along with additional data transferred into a stored crystal with an S-shaped symbol on it.

"Goodbye, my son," Jor-El said with a weakening and saddened voice. "May our hopes and dreams travel with you."

With heavy hearts, the two closed the rest of the pod before confirming the launch and sending the shuttle off Krypton. Moments later, Lara then helped carry her dying husband as they both went off to a deck that overlooked the erupting Kryptonian landscape.

Ash and brimstone filled the last sunset as all the once pristine and ornate structures before them began to crumble and fall.

"Master Jor-El, Lady Lara…" a servant droid of the couple approached them, saying. "Shouldn't you both find refuge?"

"There is no refuge, Kelor," Lara solemnly said to her droid before turning towards Jor-El, currently on his last breaths. "You were right, this is the end."

Jor-El could only nod at her as they embraced each other for one last time before facing the planet's destruction.

"Make a better world than ours, Kal…" they both said in unison before succumbing to a fiery eruption. Soon after, the entire planet began to collapse on itself before finally exploding into debris, releasing a cosmic-shattering shockwave moments later.

At that moment, Krypton was gone.

…

However, little did the Kryptonian couple know that their surviving son would grow up stronger than either of them could ever imagine; eventually playing a pivotal role in humanity's conflict against the menace known as the Noise.

-End of Chapter 1-