Chapter 63

Amara just looks at her parents in total stunned silence.

"Amara," her father, Lucius, hisses at her for just standing there. "Show respect for our Saviour," he says, trying to get her to drop to one knee as he has.

Amara doesn't move. She is too confused to move. Everyone is.

Clark explains, sort of. "I look just like him."

"What?" Amara manages to ask.

Clark sighs before trying out his Latin. "Please rise," he requests of Amara's parents, the King and Queen.

They do as he says showing he has at least got the basic Latin correct.

"You have me mistaken. I am not Jor-El. I am his son, Kal-El," Clark is forced to explain now he has been recognised.

"His son?" Amara's father queries, his puzzlement and uncertainty clear to see.

"Yes," Clark confirms.

Lucius bows his head. The son of a God is still a God. "We are honoured by your presence, Lord Kal-El. We owe your father everything."

"It is in fact my father I am here about," Clark says, getting straight down to it before the question is even asked. "He's sent me on this quest to retrieve a sacred object, I believe, he left here for safety."

It takes Lucius a moment to process what Lord Kal-El is saying as his words and dialect are in the very old tongue. While Lucius knows the language, having had the best tutors growing up, it has been awhile since he last heard and used it. "I believe I know what you refer to," Lucius confesses.

"Hold on one moment in the name of Pluto," Amara demands, using the name of the God of the Underworld as a curse. "How do you know any of this? And how do I not?"

"Amara. This is not the time nor place," her mother, Pomona, strictly informs her daughter. How can her daughter embarrass her like this in front of a God. Surely they raised Amara better than this.

Clark is oddly amused. "Answer her questions," he says.

"As you wish, my Lord," Lucius concedes to the greater authority. He turns to his daughter. "There are many things you were to be told only when you came of age, Amara," he tries to explain.

"Start explaining. Now," Amara demands.

Lucius raises his voice. "Guards, servants, leave us!" he commands. This is not for their ears.

"My friends stay," Amara says before her father orders them to leave.

Lucius, with a pained expression, looks to Kal-El for guidance.

"They can stay," Clark permits.

The room clears of the guards and servants. The X-Men are keeping track of the conversation thanks to the Professor's telepathy acting as a bridge over the language barrier.

Amara's face is one of steely determination and barely controlled anger. "Start with how you know what our Saviour looks like and his name," she says. "There are no statues of him. No record of his name."

"That's not entirely true," Pomona confesses. "There is one statue, hidden in the main temple of the Child of the Stars. You would have been shown it..."

"When I came of age," Amara finishes. "You said that already," she says sourly.

"It was Lord Jor-El's request that he leave no record of his presence and we wished to honour his request, of course but we could not forget our Saviour so the knowledge of his image, his name was limited to only a very few. Those of the Royal bloodline and the High Priest of the temple," Lucius explains how this came about.

Amara laughs mirthlessly. "She was right. I cannot believe she was right."

"Of whom do you speak, daughter?" Pomona asks of her beloved daughter.

Amara looks at her mother, her gaze hard. "Selene."

Her parents pale at hearing that name.

"O-of what do you mean Amara?" her father asks.

Amara just comes out and says it. "I met her."

Instantly Pomona is at her daughter's side, checking her over. "Did she harm you?" she asks with near panic in her tone.

"No. She didn't harm me. She said she would never harm her dear granddaughter. Care to explain what she meant by that father?"

Amara's father dons a mask of cool emotionless. "I do not know. You must not listen to the lies of that witch, my daughter."

"Are you lecturing me on lying?" Amara asks, in complete disbelief at the gall.

"That's different," her father defends himself.

"So she was telling lies to what? Use me to find a way back here?" Amara proposes, to see what her parents say.

"Very possible," her father says. "She swore revenge on all us for rising up against her but in particular your grandfather and by consequence his descendants."

"Lord Kal-El, were you there when our daughter met Selene?" Pomona asks.

Clark has been listening carefully and he is starting to pick up the nuances of the dialect. "Yes. I was there," he confirms because saying anything else would be a lie, "and she did claim the heritage that Amara spoke of. I did not get a chance to question her on that further as, understandably, Selene doesn't like me very much. We came into conflict and she is...currently recovering from her defeat. I expect it to take her several weeks."

"You are your father's son," Lucius says as a compliment. "And we are in debt to you as we are to your father for protecting our daughter," he makes what he thinks is the obvious assumption that Lord Kal-El must have protected Amara from Selene.

"Even though I would freely give it, Amara doesn't need my protection. She can more than ably take care of herself."

Despite it all Amara can't help but smile at the praise Clark just gave her...and she just has to say he has picked up her language with remarkable speed and skill. It's still a little off but not so much you can't understand him.

"Now if we may return to the issue of my father," Clark requests. "It seems you know more about my father's time here than Amara. When he sent me on this quest he said there was much I had to discover by myself, so please, if you will, tell me what you know," he further requests, using his Godly status a little but he just needs to get to the truth and find the stone's exact whereabouts.

Lucius has a thought. "Perhaps there is a place that holds your answers. Lord Jor-El said only his kind could enter it."

"What place?" Amara asks, annoyed that once again there is something she doesn't know about.

"It shall be easier to show you than to explain," Lucius says.

The X-Men finds themselves being escorted through the city once again without a clear idea of where they are going. Amara is still grumbling under her breath at all the lies and secrets her parents have kept from her.

Clark is simply trying to figure out what it is he does now, now he has been recognised when his thinking is interrupted.

"What are ya doin?"

Clark blinks and turns his head to the brown haired girl with the white stripe. "Are you talking to me?" he asks, feigning surprise. Rogue hasn't been talking to him all week.

"Who do ya think ah'm talkin' ta?" Rogue asks back.

"I'm just surprised. Talking seems to be the last thing you want to do lately."

"Problem is ah don't know who ah'm talking ta half tha tahme."

Clark's brow puckers slightly. "Really? That's odd. There's only me. Is this because I won't apologise? Here's a fact Rogue; you're not always right."

"Neither are ya," she fires back in a hiss.

"Never said I was. However, I've done with grovelling apologies because other people think I did wrong," Clark states firmly. "Now what was your question about," he moves on.

Rogue counts backward from 5 before she loses it. Clark...this isn't the boy she's been dating for the last 11 months. She doesn't who it is. She returns to her point. "What are ya doin using tha fact they see ya as a God? You don't actually think y'all are one?"

There is a momentary bad boy smirk on Clark's lips for a second as if thinking of a risqué response but it never comes. Instead he says, "Of course not...but we never expected them to recognise me now did we Professor?" he aims that question at the bad-headed telepath.

Charles sighs at the situation they now find themselves in. "No. We did not," he confirms.

"And didn't you say I was not to undermine their faith as it was at the core of their being or words to that effect?"

"Yes," Charles has to reluctantly concede he basically did say that.

"Then what is everyone complaining about?" Clark asks. "I merely took advantage of the situation we found ourselves in...just like I did when I was prisoner of the Hellfire Club...where you left me for 2 days," he says sounding a little sore about that.

"Superman, only Rogue was complaining," Evan points out.

"No, she was the only one with the cojones to voice what you were all thinking. That's why I love her so much."

It's a surprise for his friends to hear Clark be that bluntly forthright. Though no-one can deny that they were thinking what Rogue asked.

Amara's parents don't speak English so are unaware of what is being discussed. Pomona leans over to her daughter and whispers, "Amara, what is Lord Kal-El speaking about with your friends?"

"Um..." Amara stalls for time. "Not much, really. It's nothing important. Just...you know clarifying a few points," she stumbles her way through an explanation.

"How long have you known him, daughter?" her father asks.

"Uh...I've only known who he really was when you told me 10 minutes ago." Ok so that's a lie but she is really stuck for what to say without giving away secrets or undermining her parents' faith which she doesn't want to do. Despite how anger she is Amara doesn't want to do that.

"That's not what I asked."

"Err...awhile," Amara lamely comes up with, desperately trying to avoid a detailed explanation.

"You know him well?"

"We're...we're friends," Amara gives the only apt description that she can think of that applies to what her and Clark's relationship is.

"He did not tell you who he was?"

That's actually a tricky question to answer. Clark did tell her but she didn't know who Jor-El was until last week and her parents only 100% confirmed it 10 minutes ago like she said. "It didn't really matter what he told me," she comes up with in response. "His father's name was meaningless to me because of certain parents keeping secrets," Amara says it accusatory, still angry.

"Daughter, there is no need to take that attitude," Amara's father tells her off.

"What attitude would you like me to take? The one where I meekly go, oh father it's alright you lied to me," Amara does a mock impression of some meek-minded, spoilt, little air-headed princess.

Lucius frowns. "I think we may have to seriously reconsider you attending this school in the outside world," he pronounces since his daughter never use to speak back like that.

"Yeah, whatever," Amara grumbles, not in the mood to discuss this right now.

"How well do you know Lord Kal-El?" Pomona asks.

"I said we're friends," Amara comes close to snapping her mother's head off at being forced to repeat her explanation.

"How close friends?" Pomona continues to pursue more detail.

"What are you on about moth..." Amara trails off as she gets a good look at her mother's expression. She knows that expression. She saw it when she was 12 and her mother was trying to pre-arrange a marriage for Amara to the son of one of Nova Roma's most prominent Senators. Amara told her mother exactly where to stick that idea. Like she told Tabby, by comparison to Nova Romans, most other people she met were very tame. In fact Amara often has to restrain herself in the language she uses. This time she doesn't restrain herself. Amara swears in a way...Tabby would say in a way that would make sailors blush. Once she has gotten that off her chest she directly confronts her mother. "In the name of Jupiter, Mother!," Amara takes the name of the supreme Roman deity. "You're trying to match me up!" she cries.

"It would be a beneficial match. You are already blessed with a divine gift," her mother explains it as if that makes it an obvious logical deduction for her daughter to be matched to Lord Kal-El. "No-one could question the right of succession if you were to give birth to a demi-god."

Oh by the Gods, Amara doesn't think she has ever been more embarrassed. Not only is her mother trying to matchmake her up with Clark she is thinking about them having children. Amara doesn't even know if that is possible let alone it overlooks the fact Clark is dating Rogue and Amara doesn't feel that sort of attraction to him. Don't get her wrong. Clark's a beautiful man. As Tabby said he has the look of a God but...but...just no.

Amara looks over her shoulder behind her to where Clark is and can see a glint of amusement in his eye that shows he overheard that. Amara was wrong before. Right now is the most embarrassed she has ever been in her life. If the Gods were truly benevolent they would have the ground open up and swallow her right now.

The Gods are not truly benevolent.

Amara just has to live with her embarrassment as the group come to a large, grand, lavishly decorated building.

Hank, who had been partially in heaven since the moment they arrived at being dropped into a still functioning Roman society, was even more enlightened at seeing this magnificent example of Roman craftsmanship.

"What is this place?" Storm asks.

Amara answers. "This is the temple to the Child of the Stars."

Evan whistles impressed. "Wow. How do I get a temple like this?"

"Be a God," Amara mutters, a little snidely, when she doesn't mean to be. She's just angry and embarrassed at her parents right now.

"You built this for my father?" Clark asks, a little nonplussed at seeing the scale of it. It matched, surpassed even, any cathedral, church or temple he had ever seen.

"It's the main temple," Amara describes it as.

"Main? You mean there's like others?" Kitty asks.

"2 others. Not to mention many citizens have private shrines within their homes. As the Child of the Stars was our Saviour he is amongst the most widely worshipped divinities on Nova Roma, on a par with Jupiter and Mars."

"How did you come up with that name?" Clark asks. "Child of the Stars," he clarifies what he is asking.

"It came from something your father said to mine," Lucius responds. "He said that his power came from the light of the stars. That his people were the children of light. I do not know what he meant by his words precisely but to be born of the stars themselves..." Lucius trails off as his mind tries to wrap itself around the grandeur and majesty he imagines. "I do know that you, Lord Kal-El, like your father are a Child of the Stars and shall be honoured as such."

"They see us as a race of Gods," Clark mutters to himself, in English, the only conclusion that can be reached from that, finding that idea very uncomfortable. It's a mockery of the truth.

"Unbelievable," Scott mutters in disbelief to Jean.

"Shh," Jean tells him. While it may be unbelievable to him and her she can sense how integral their faith is to the people around her. She telepathically tells him this and adds, "You need to respect their beliefs, Scott even if you don't share them."

Scott knows she's right but it still seems wrong to him to play into their false belief. Clark is no more a God than he is.

They enter the temple and Hank mutters some words of exclamation about it. So little survives of the Roman culture to the present day this is any academic's dream.

"Enjoying yourself Henry?" Charles queries, with a little amusement at his friend's reaction.

"It is incredible. A Roman society still living as they did 1500 years ago. It's beyond description," Hank says, virtually in awe.

"Yes, it is," Charles agrees. It is as incredible as Charles himself remembers it to be from the first time he came here.

Inside the temple Amara's parents are greeted by the High Priest where they explain why they're here...and who it is they have brought with them. His eyes go wide and he visibly pales before he drops to his knees and prostrates himself in front of Clark. He mumbles about it being an honour.

Clark looks and is uncomfortable. Even more so than before at this man falling down in complete supplication to him. He's not a God. He doesn't want worship or devotion of any sort. He slips back into Latin. "What is it you have to show me?" he asks, a little curtly, seeking to end this as quickly as possible.

Lucius address the High Priest. "Laelius. The hidden chamber. Lord Kal-El desires to see it." he expresses it simply.

"Of course. He only need but ask," Laelius acquiesces instantly in complete reverence. He rises to his feet. "This way," he instructs them to follow him.

"Thank you," Clark says which brings a wide smile to Laelius' face at receiving praise from the Son of the Saviour.

They end up being led down into the catacombs below the temple. They come to a heavy wooden door locked shut. Once it is opened they find a spiral staircase that leads deep down.

Amara mutters some more about secrets being kept.

They walk down the stairs while Jean uses her telekinesis to levitate the Professor's chair down. At the bottom of the stairs is a chamber seemingly cut out of the rock. The room is lit but not by torches. The light just seems to emanate from the walls themselves. The walls are covered in Kryptonian script. In the centre of the room is the single statue Amara's father had spoken of. The statue of Jor-El.

Clark walks up to the near spitting image and looks it in the eye.

"You do look like him," Kurt has to remark. In fact it was amazing how much Clark resembled his father.

Clark smiles thinly. "Well if it is any consolation I have my mother's eyes," he tries to joke only it comes out sounding tired.

"Remarkable," Hank comments. Not just at the spooky likeness Clark has with his father but at the craftsmanship of the statue. It's exquisite.

"Where's the light coming from?" Scott asks, being the practical one.

"It's like the caves in Smallville. It's of Kryptonian design," Clark can ascertain with even only a customary glance. After spending 3 months in those caves he knows what the technology looks like intimately. He turns to the King and Queen of Nova Roma. "My father created this, yes?" he inquires of them.

"Yes, Lord Kal-El. It is why we built the temple above it," Lucius explains.

"What is it for?" Amara asks.

Lucius points at the far wall. "Beyond this wall Lord Jor-El left behind that which keeps up safe from the true wickedness that is Selene."

Amara looks to Clark for an explanation.

"It's most likely the generator that creates this barrier you've mentioned," Clark can reasonably guess. It was obviously not magical if his father created it but technological in origin.

"Superman?" Storm queries.

"Yes, Storm," Clark says in reply.

"What do these writings say?" she wonders, gesturing at the wall.

Clark skims over them. "It seems to be Kryptonian mythology." He walks over to one wall and brushes his hands over the writings. "This is how we came to be. It speaks of our Father, Rao, and how he created us by taking the red fire of Krypton's sun and moulding it into flesh and bone."

"Rao?" Evan asks.

"The Kryptonian God. The literal translation of his name is Father of All. The Kryptonian race are his children...or we were," Clark says with a sudden sadness as he is forced to recall once more he is the last of his kind. He moves around the room reading over the various myths that are written. If Jor-El did indeed do this Clark wonders why his father chose to put all these myths up here. When he gets to the opposite side from the creation myth he pauses. "If you like End of the World myths here's the Kryptonian one," he says tapping on it. "I guess we can already go with it's wrong," he points out since it does not match what actually happened to Krypton as far as Clark understands his home world's fate.

"What does it say?" the Professor asks, curious.

There is a large symbol dominating the text. "This is the symbol for Doom," Clark explains. "It refers to a creature, the ultimate destroyer of life, whose sole, single purpose is to find life wherever it is and exterminate it. It does not rest, it does not tire, it cannot be killed and it will never stop, ever until all life everywhere is extinguished." Clark stops and cocks his head to the side. "That's kinda depressing really," he remarks in a light tone in one his now odd trademarked shifts in moods.

Amara has been translating what she thinks is relevant to her parents without completely puncturing the mythos around Jor-El. She has to admit it is fascinating to learn that Clark's race believed in having one single Creator/Father figure although that isn't so unusual. Her Gods were born of the Titans that preceded them. Another similarity is that her people too have their own myth of the End of the World. She has even found mention of something similar in the Bible since coming to America. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Apocalypse being the God of Destruction, of Death, of Endings and the Four Horsemen being his servants.

Clark comes to the wall Amara's father pointed at. His hand runs across it as he examines it closely. "It's a door," he announces the conclusion he reaches about it. "A hidden one just like in the caves back in Smallville."

"Can you open it?" Hank wonders.

"I wouldn't know how," Clark admits as he puzzles over the door. His eyes cannot penetrate it and there is no obvious slot for a key like the caves back in Smallville. He could try and force it he supposes but he isn't sure he could overcome Kryptonian technology or the consequence of trying. He has had bad experience of trying that sort of thing before. His power can't always overcome everything.

"Lord Kal-El, if I may," Laelius dares an intervention at seeing the Saviour's son puzzled expression.

Clark turns his head to look at him. "Yes?"

"Your father, when he departed, did leave a message to be passed on should another come seeking...his Majesty referred to a sacred object?"

"Yes?" Clark repeats, encouraging the man to continue.

"I do not know where the object is. Lord Jor-El made only a slight mention that he left...he referred to it as a stone...that he left it here for safety and left this one message to assist should we believe the other who came was worthy. As his son, you no doubt are."

"Please go on. What was the message?"

"It was a single word. Journey."

"Journey?"

"Yes. I do not know it's meaning," Laelius says almost apologetically.

"Journey?" Clark mutters to himself. "Journey...journey...journey!" he says with a sudden firmness and loudness as he zips across the chamber startling everyone with his sudden movement.

"By the Gods," Amara's father mutters in awe at seeing, from his perspective, Lord Kal-El just vanish from one spot and appear in another.

"I knew this looked out of place!" Clark declares at something that occurred to him as he was reading over the walls. It was in the corner, away from the rest of the texts. A single symbol, shaped like a shield. It had a figure of 8 in the centre. In the centre of the figure of 8 was a line with a dot above it next a rectangular like symbol. Below the 8 was a rectangle with a short line coming out the bottom.

"Superman?" Scott queries, not sure whether he should be concerned by Clark's behaviour or not.

"This is the symbol for journey," Clark explains it simply.

"What is this 'Superman'?" Pomona asks Amara, trying to get her tongue around the strange sounding word. She is asking her daughter this after hearing Lord Kal-El addressed that way a few times now.

"It's just a title he goes by," Amara explains it off.

Clark cocks his head and on a sudden urge reaches up and presses the exact centre of the figure of 8. The rock seems to retract creating a black space. Clark reaches in with his right hand making the scientists of the group raise their eyebrows at trying to figure out the science they were witnessing.

A few moments later Clark pulls out a shiny metal object. It is the same shape as the symbol on the wall with the same markings engraved on its surface. It easily fits in the palm of his hand. He holds it up between his thumb and finger at eye level. There's a hole in it as if a string or chain once went through it and it was worn around the neck as a...pendant, perhaps.

The pendant glows before a golden light shoot out and strikes Clark directly between the eyes. Thousands of images flash in Clark's mind so fast even his Kryptonian mind can't process them.

It's over before anyone can react.

Clark then stands there swaying on his feet slightly, his expression very far away.

The first to his side is Rogue. Upon seeing Clark struck by the light, instinct had kicked in. All thoughts of their problems receded and all she saw was her boyfriend in trouble. Her hands come to rest on his left arm, lying listless at his side. "Cl...Superman," she catches herself before she says his name. "Are ya alright?" she asks.

No response.

Rogue gently nudges his arm. "Speak ta meh...please," she pleads, almost panicked by his lack of response. She looks into his face and sees nothing. It's like he isn't home. He isn't even blinking.

An eternity seems to pass, although it is probably only moments and then he blinks once. His eyes seems to focus in on her. It is only for moments before his eyes roll into the back of his head and he topples backward, striking the ground with a resounding thud, his dense body kicking up a cloud of dust.

Clark's head lolls to the side and he lies there motionless and unconscious.

Author's Note: Yes. Indeed this is going to be my little take on the episode Relic with the memory pendant...and oh did you catch the Apocalypse mention. I thought I should include one as the myth of Apocalypse does run right through history in the Marvel universe. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; the pendant reveals the story of Jor-El's visit to Nova Roma.