A/N: Special thanks to Rianna Lauren for her insightful comments on this chapter.

Hope

The day had come and Jor-El couldn't be more restless. He was against the idea of doing such a display of wealth and power, especially now that his people were struggling; many Kryptonians had lost everything and hundreds of thousands were living at improvised camps outside Kandor, displaced from their homes due the recent natural disasters.

'Where is Rao when you need him?' he thought many times during the past months. 'Nowhere. He doesn't exist. He's just a product of the elders' imagination, something they said to give us hope. Right now I would trade all my hopes for a capable fleet that will allow me to evacuate everyone from here, before the volcano explodes, before everything they love is destroyed, before…'

"Jor…It's time, we need to enter the temple. Please try to look less grim, this is Kal's presentation," said Lara with earnestness.

"I'm trying, Lara."

His wife looked beautiful, regal in her blue dress wearing the "S" pendant, the symbol of hope and of his house. As they entered, the crowd went silent. He could feel the tension, even the hatred from some of them. He looked at his wife and saw her face calm and collected.

'She is a politician without a doubt; she is in control of her emotions even when we are facing a hostile audience.'

They sat at the front, near the altar, just a step below the highest priest, and then the ceremony began.

For Jor, the minutes stretched like an eternity, many times he had to suppress a yawn. Then the last and most important moment came: the introduction of Kal to Rao. Lara gave the baby to the highest priest who took the little child in his arms, and then raised him above his head. With a deep voice, he recited the ancient prophecy:

"A day will come when friends and foes will revere a prince of Krypton, he will bring peace to the world. He will be so powerful that even the most evil creatures will fear him. He will make the name of Krypton known until the end of time. Show us, Rao, if this child is the chosen one."

If Kal was the chosen one, a bright light would come from a large, concave, oval glass that was placed in the middle of the altar. However, after a few seconds, the glass remained as black as the night.

Jor let out a breath he did know he was holding. 'Kal, Rao may not have chosen you, but for me, you are the one,' he thought.

Jor-El was about to stand and end the ceremony, when he saw through the corner of his eye, a small point of light that came from the centre of the glass. In seconds it became a bright, luminescent light so white that almost blinded everyone. Jor had to shut his eyes, and when he managed to open them again, he noticed that time seemed to stop. Then, he saw him. Standing in front of him was the tallest man he had ever seen.

"Rao?" he said, nearly breathless.

"Yes, Jor-El. I do exist," said the god, smiling.

"So, Kal is the chosen one?" asked Jor-El, still with incredulity.

"You know the answer to that. I come to you in the darkest hour of Krypton to warn you that the world, as you know it, will change forever. Krypton will die."

His words infuriated Jor-El. 'He never answered the prayers of his people, and now he chooses to appear only to say that we are about to die.'

His anger was stronger that any respect he had for the god, so without any hesitation he retorted, "Nothing is definitive, Rao, I will do everything I can to protect my people."

"And all your efforts will be in vain, Jor-El."

Jor felt even more outraged. He was about to answer, but Rao interjected, smiling at him.

"No, Jor-El, I have not come only as a bearer of bad news. I have also come to bring you hope. As long as Kal exists, the spirit of Krypton will live. I have used all my power to grant him extraordinary abilities. Your mission, your only purpose from now on, is to keep him alive and make sure he survives the cataclysm that is about to come."

"I love my son, Rao, but my duty as a king is to serve my people, I cannot abandon them."

"I will help Krypton, Jor-El."

"As you had done before? Sorry, I think we are better on our own" He answered, bitterly.

In spite of all his power, Rao was merciful, and he didn't feel offended by Jor-El's defiant attitude. However, he felt compelled to put him in his place; Jor was a king, but Rao was a god.

"Krypton is my people too, Jor-El, and I won't stop fighting for them. Even though you are a king, you are but a mere mortal, and there are forces out there beyond your comprehension."

Jor-El understood that he may have gotten too far, but he was proud, and a life spent in royalty made it difficult for him to be humble, so he barely nodded. Rao knew it was his way to say sorry, so he decided to leave, but not without a final warning.

"I will do what I have to save my people. You do as I said, and save Kal-El."

As Rao said his last words, he disappeared in the middle of a bright ball of light. Then as if by magic, everyone started to move again and left their frozen state. To his own surprise, Jor-El saw how everyone in the temple got on their knees and started to chant an old anthem praising Rao. The highest priest, who was carrying Kal, was shaking so hard that he nearly let Kal fall. Jor quickly grabbed his child from the tired arms of the old man. He couldn't suppress a smile, as Kal was pleasantly asleep, unaware of the fate that had been place upon his young shoulders.

On their way to the palace, Jor-El felt hopeful, in spite of the bleak news that Rao told him. His son, Kal-El, was the chosen one, the promised prince. That in itself had brought more joy and hope to his people than all the reforms he was planning to make. His heart was full of pride; maybe Krypton will face hard times, but they will manage and Kal's future will be bright.

'The brightest any of the house of El had seen,' he thought.

However, once he stepped out of the royal carriage and climbed the first steps of the main stairs of the palace, he noticed something was wrong. Everything was eerily quiet and none of his royal guards were nearby. His instincts screamed 'Danger!' He looked at his wife and said, in a nearly inaudible but commanding voice:

"Take Kal to the lab, put him inside the capsule. Lock it behind you and do not open the door to anyone but me. If I don't come for you within an hour, leave with Kal and go to Gotham, ask Thomas and Martha for shelter and protection. Do not come back to Krypton until you hear news from me with the "S" of the house of El."

"Jor…"

"Lara, the future of Krypton is in your hands. Kal is the only hope for our people."

And without further adieu, he left and headed directly to the throne room, the symbolic centre of the power of his kingdom. He unsheathed his sword, the one that he carried as part of his ceremonial dressing; he never thought he would have to use it today. The deeper he went inside the palace and near the throne room, the more he saw the dead bodies of his royal guards. As soon as he crossed the large door of the throne room, he felt a chill run through his spine. Sat in the throne was none other than the General Dru-Zod, as if waiting for him, greeting him with a smirk.

"Jor, I thought you would never come."

"Zod, What have you done?"

He barely had time to react as a number of men suddenly seized him. He fought harder than ever, however still out-powered by more than a dozen of men. Suddenly, a sharp blade pierced his lungs, while another dagger stabbed his heart. He never knew which one of the many hands that hurt him was the fatal one, but the last thing he saw was the white floor of the throne room, and from a distance, a smiling Dru-Zod.

Lara was locked inside the lab, with Kal placed inside the cozy capsule Jor-El had carefully constructed days before. She was surprised to see the capsule placed in such a way that it will be released directly to the flow of the underground river that ran below the palace, a fast and secure way to leave the place without being seen.

'Clever, Jor-El, very clever'.

Soon, Lara heard a series of footsteps approaching the door quickly.

"Lara-El, open the door, his majesty commands you."

'His majesty?' thought Lara.

"The new king Dru-Zod offers you amnesty as long as you surrender, and agree to deliver the prince to him."

'Sure, like that is going to happen,' she smirked at herself.

"If you do not open this door, we will bring it down. You will be taken as a prisoner, and we will take the prince with us," said a commanding voice outside the lab, a voice she recognized as Faora.

'To her I may no longer be the queen but she still refers to Kal as the prince. Do they already know he is the chosen one?'

Her thoughts were interrupted by a large thud and the sound of a breaking door as more than a dozen of armed men entered the lab, led by lieutenant Faora who had a fierce look in her eyes. Quickly, Lara put herself in front of the capsule, near the shift that opened the hidden door on the floor. She braced herself for the worst, knowing in that instant that it will be the last time she will ever see her son; she put a hand above the capsule as a gesture of goodbye and turned down the shift to release the capsule into the river.

"No!" screamed Faora, as she realized what Lara had done. She launched herself with all her might against the Queen, impaling Lara with her sword.

The oldest active volcano Krypto was just a few miles outside Kandor. Many stated that it was a mistake to build the kingdom's capital so near an active volcano, but the land was fertile, and for many centuries, Krypto had remained so quiet and peaceful that many Kryptonians forgot the danger it could present.

Dru-Zod was about to step outside the royal balcony, ready to deliver his first speech as king. 'Where is Faora with the prince? I need to present him to the crowd; I need to let the people know that I will be his tutor and protector from now on.'

Faora entered the room with a ragged breath at that moment.

"Finally! Where is Lara?"

"She died."

Zod merely cocked an eyebrow before asking, "And Kal?"

"He is gone."

"What do you mean he is gone?" said Dru-Zod in a low growl.

"Lara threw him into the river. He has escaped "

"What?! And what are you doing here? Go and find him. He is the promised prince, he is the chosen one! Without him these people who were ready to make a coup against Jor yesterday will now be ready to take my head off!"

"General!"

"What?!"

"Krypto… It's erupting…"

Dru Zod watched with horror how the usually peaceful volcano was now launching fire in the middle of a large cloud of ashes and smoke. Soon, everything inside Kandor became a chaos.

Thousands died that day, if not by Krypto's explosion, from their attempts to run away either from the river of burning lava that was starting to flow towards the city or from the buildings that collapsed by the tremors of the earth, others got asphyxiated by the smoke and the ashes. At the end of that day, the city that was once golden was left in ruins.

Meanwhile, a capsule bearing the symbol of the house of El was fast approaching a lake far away from Kandor and near a little town known as Smallville.

Rao laid on the ground, completely exhausted, as he had just fought a heated battle against an evil and powerful god mentioned in the prophecy. But even as he managed to send him into the Phantom Zone, an interdimensional realm outside the normal space/time continuum, where the god could live without interacting with others. He knew he had only managed to stall him.

'How long is this going to keep him? Long enough for the heroes to grow? Long enough for the world to get ready? Long enough for Kal to master the powers I conferred to him? I'm running out of time…'

With great effort, he rose and, using all the energy he had left, transported to in front of Zeus.

"Rao, what brings you to the Olympus?" said Zeus, without looking at him.

"I need your help."

That phrase made Zeus turn around, and what he saw left him speechless. In front of him was Rao, but the once proud and youthful god look now aged and diminished, as if someone or something had taken all his vital energy and left only a shell, a shadow of the beautiful god.

"Rao... Who did this to you?"

"The god mentioned in the prophecy."

"Fool, you faced him alone! Why? You know as well as I do the heroes will take care of him."

"The heroes are now but infants and you know that. I bought time for them, for all of us, for my people."

"Your people... you are weak now because they stopped believing in you."

"In a way you are right. They stopped believing in me, mostly because they are dead. Kandor no longer exists." said Rao with sadness.

Zeus cringed as much as a proud god could cringe, and for a moment stayed silent, until finally he spoke.

"What can I do to help?"

"Take care of Kal-El. He is my heir."

"Your heir?"

"I conferred to him most of my powers."

"You what? Why?"

"You will never understand. Kal is the hope of my people, and in time he will help them achieve wonders."

"I assume the exhaustion has cloud your judgment, but I will try to help your… heir."

"I knew you would. Now I must leave, my time to pass to another dimension has come."

"Goodbye, Rao."

E/N: I'll try to update soon. Love to read your comments and feedback on this chapter.