Superman, Son of Hippolyta - A T-Rexcellent Reviews Fanfiction
I of course own no DC Comics properties or characters and make no money off of this, I am merely a giant DC Fan who wants to share my stories with all of you.
Chapter 16: Godly Visions and Lessons
On the Island of Themyscira, above the Jungle of Pantherus…
As Kal chased after a still laughing Hermes through the Jungle of Pantherus, neither of them, saw the golden God with a fiery bird perched on his shoulder, riding in a glorious chariot, pulled by four flaming horses following them from high above the treetops.
Though, to be fair, neither Apollo or Alectryon could really believe what they were seeing anyway.
"Woah, the last time I saw someone chase after Hermes this hard, was when he stole fifty of your freaking sacred cows, Apollo." The fiery bird said to the young deity whose shoulder he was perched.
"Don't remind me, Alectryon, my half-brother was impossible to catch even when he was just a little Godling and I'm still trying to figure out how to get my cattle's hooves to turn back the right way." The Sun God said without ever taking his orange eyes off the surprising scene down below. "Though, right now, I'm more curious as to who this boy is and why he's on the Amazons island in the first place."
It was not often Apollo found himself being truly surprised in his immortal life anymore, a side effect of being a God of Prophecy as well as the Sun, he supposed, having spent just as much time in the mortal realm before the Fall of Greece as atop Mount Olympus, living amongst his Pantheons once many human worshippers as a hunter, musician, healer, model, racer, artist, warrior, shepherd and a prophet, Apollo had felt he had seen it all…
Or so he had thought…
Oh sure, he had seen both mortal and immortal people, chase after his annoying little brother before, usually in response to Hermes being… well Hermes, but never for this long or ever coming anywhere near as close as this boy was getting.
Huh, the novelty of seeing something new and unexpected, Apollo mused to himself as he and his feathery familiar watched the almost comical chase continue through the jungle canopy, how long has it been since I've felt this… surprised or curious before?
"Well, there's only one way to find out." Alectryon said next to him, breaking Apollo out of his thoughts. "Which is to follow, watch and wait to see who wins this little game first."
At this surprisingly sensible council, Apollo nodded and instructed his horses to hold a steady pace as he and Alectryon watched and waited.
"And here I thought today was going to be just like any other." Apollo remarked as much to himself as to his Phoenix friend.
Meanwhile, down in the jungle below…
As Kal continued to chase after Hermes, running through the jungle, leaping over logs, weaving in-between trees and even swinging from vines, there was still one indisputable fact that the young prince couldn't any longer ignore.
He was starting to tire.
Even as Kal desperately tried to keep pace with the speedy immortal, who was so far ahead of him now, that it was hard for Kal to even see him through the thick jungle foliage, Kal could feel his leg muscles burning from the strain, his lungs aching from the stress and begging for air, whilst sweat started pouring down his body like a waterfall as his vision blurred in and out, but he could still clearly see and feel what was happening to him.
He was starting to slow down.
Kal wanted to deny it, he wanted to believe he could run all day, that he could catch Hermes and make the annoying Greek God pay for all those insulting things he had said back in the hall, that he could prove to his mother, sister, godmother, himself and every single Amazon on this island that he was worthy enough to be their prince and chosen champion by besting a Son of Zeus.
But believing didn't make it real, the hard truth was, he was tiring and he couldn't run anymore.
So caught up in his own, anguished thoughts was Kal, that he didn't notice the booted foot stick out from the bush he was running by until it was too late.
Kal tripped over the foot and was sent flying before landing in an upside-down heap at the base of a great tree with a pained groan.
"Pride cometh before the fall, some Ancient Greek philosopher once said to me." Hermes said with a smug smirk as came out from behind the bushes with his hands behind his back, walking in an almost leisurely manner towards the upturned prince. "But I never bothered to remember his name."
Forcing his eyes open at Hermes words, Kal glared up at the grinning God leering upside down at him and tried to summon enough strength left in his legs to kick the annoying Olympian in his smug face, only his legs refused to bend far enough in that direction do so.
No, instead with his booted foot coming so close to Hermes grinning face, it only allowed the God of Speed to grab Kal by the ankle and pull the Winged Boot right off his foot, before it putting back on his own foot with a feathered snap. "And to the victor go the spoils… and all the bragging rights."
"You!" Kal barely manage to gasp out as he glared daggers up at Hermes. "You- you cheated, H-Hermes."
"I… cheated?" The Greek God asked sardonically, tilting his head to the side in what could only be called amused astonishment. "I didn't cheat kid; I simply saw a way to win our little game and I took it." Hermes then leaned down until he was mere inches away from Kal's furious face.
"Consider this your first lesson in fighting famous Greek's, kid, your opponents are not going to play fair." Hermes said looking the young prince right in the eye, all previous good humour completely gone from his gaze now.
"I mean really kid?" Hermes asked as leaned back and folded his arms before speaking in a surprisingly stern tone of voice that reminded Kal far too much of his teacher Phillippus in that moment. "Do you think I was concerned about whether not I was cheating when I disguised myself as a shepherd and bored the cattle guarding Triclops, Argus the Unblinking to sleep with the story of how I made my half-brother Apollo's famous lyre right before stabbing that unnerving hundred eyed giant with my Caduceus Staff… in as many of his eyes as possible?"
"Or better yet? How about my brutish, bastard brother Hercules? You know, the most Dangerous Demigod in all of Ancient Greece who your oh so loving mother and my forgiving queen have set you up to fight one day." Hermes continued as he watched Kal role over onto his side with another groan before slowly attempting to stand up on shaking legs by using the tree for support. "Do think he was concerned about playing fair when he tricked my grandfather the Titan of Endurance, Atlas the Unrelenting into taking back his position of holding up Mount Olympus for all eternity, I think not?"
As he struggled to remain standing and ignore the pain coursing through his tired legs, Kal's defiant glare was the only answer Hermes got and just like with Hippolyta, it was the answer he was expecting.
"Oh, there it is, the famous Themysciran Scowl." Hermes said with a chuckle, briefly stepping back into his role as a trickster deity. "You definitely are Hippolyta's kid, kid, but just remember this. In the Games of the Greek Gods, there is no cheating, fair play is for fools, mercy is always a mistake, and rules only exist so they can be broken again."
"Because at the end of the day kid, the only thing that really matters is that you defeat your opponent, at any and all costs, everything else is irrelevant and when all is said and done, you're either the winner or you're the loser." Hermes said over his shoulder as he turned his back on the boy. "And in case you hadn't noticed yet, kiddo, today, you're the loser."
With that cruel, but unfortunately truthful last remark said, Hermes began to walk away without even giving the boy a second glance.
"Get back here, Hermes!" Kal demanded as he tried to stand on his own two feet without the aid of the tree for support, it wasn't going well. "I'm not through with you yet!"
"Oh, but I am kid." Hermes said with a smirk Kal couldn't see but he knew was on the Olympian messenger's smug face. "I've enjoyed our little game, but now I find there's simply no more amusement in it for me, so I'm going to go back to the palace my queen so modestly named after herself and tell your mother and her sisters how their new 'Champion' made a complete and utter fool of himself by trying to beat the God of Speed at his own game."
Renewed with anger and summoning up the last of his strength, Kal pushed himself back against the tree and flung himself at Hermes in one last ditch attempt to catch the Messenger God.
But he just wasn't fast enough.
Even with his back turned, Hermes saw him coming a mile away and moved just out of the boy's reach, causing Kal to land face first in the grassy earth with another pained groan.
"Oh kid." Kal heard Hermes say in a tone that was almost sympathetic. "If only you were a little faster."
Lifting his face up from the ground, Kal saw Hermes speeding away, laughing all the while, the obnoxious noise driving the young prince's defeat home.
But unlike before however, this time Kal, didn't get up and chase after Hermes, no, instead, he just lay where he had fallen and after a few moments of making sure he was alone, began to softly cry.
It wasn't the first time he had cried alone in the jungle by himself, but mostly it happened after he felt he had failed to meet Phillippus expectations in his training or whenever Artemis or Nubia made fun of him.
This though, this was worse.
He was sore, exhausted and most of all, angry, both at Hermes for saying all those awful things and at himself for failing to make him pay for saying them.
Because as much as Kal hated to admit, the annoying trickster God had a point.
He had played fair in his fight against Diana and lost, then he had tried to beat Hermes at a competition of speed and lost that as well.
If he couldn't beat the Princess of the Amazons or the Messenger of the Gods, how could he ever hope to defeat the King of the Barbarians?
Rolling over onto his back just before exhaustion finally overwhelmed him, the last thing Kal saw as his vision faded into unconscious oblivion was what looked like a golden chariot being pulled across the sky by four flaming horses, with what looked like a glowing man at the reins with a fiery bird perched on his shoulder.
He was clearly delirious and heading into unconsciousness, but that still didn't change the fact that was Hermes was right.
He had lost, he had failed… again.
Kal closed his eyes and fell into exhausted sleep so quickly he never heard the sound of flaming horses neighing in panic as they made an emergency landing not too far away from where he lay.
Meanwhile, back up in the air, a few moments earlier…
"Huh, looks like Hermes won this little contest." Alectryon said as he and Apollo observed Hermes speeding away from where he had left the boy broken and defeated, hell, they could hear the Messenger of the Gods laughing from where they were all the way up the air.
"Not an unexpected outcome, unfortunately for our young friend down there." Apollo said, never taking his eyes off the upset child fallen face first on the ground, his golden eyes glowing softly as he clearly heard the sound of the boy's sobbing from all the way up here.
The boy really shouldn't be so hard on himself, the Sun God privately thought to himself, since the days of Ancient Greece, everyone who had dared to race against the God of Speed, whether they be mortal or immortal, had failed in that endeavour, nobody beats a God at their own game, no one.
But still, Apollo couldn't help but find himself a little a disappointed with the outcome, for a moment there, it really looked like the boy could succeed where all others had failed, hell, he had even managed to steel one of his half-brothers Winged Boots, an admirable feat in of itself, if only the boy was a little faster.
I guess though, the Sun God thought philosophically, this game was over before it even began.
But then, the boy rolled over and looked up at them, his tear-filled eyes meeting Apollo's and that's when the prophetic vision hit the Sun God like a boulder being flung from a catapult right at his head.
Now, being a natural prophetic deity since the days of Ancient Greece, Apollo was well used to having visions for a long time, especially the first time he met someone new and even then, music loving deity was usual able to handle whenever they hit him as if they were nothing more than the smallest of pinches.
This though, this was no pinch, this vision was like getting punched right in his handsome face, over and over again.
The prophetic visions of the future were coming in rapid flashes of light so extreme it made the Sun God grit his teeth together and close his golden eyes in a desperate attempt to stave them off, to no avail.
Apollo gripped his handsome head and reared back as he forcibly opened his eyes to the sky above as the visions finally consumed his sight.
He saw everything… and that was precisely the problem.
He saw so much, he couldn't properly recount it all, but a few flashes managed to stick with him, as they always did when he had particularly long visions.
He saw the boy, growing up, interacting with various Greek Gods, himself included.
He saw flashes of the future war between the Amazons and the Barbarians.
He saw the boy, now grown fighting against Hercules as Themyscira burned around them.
He saw the boy fighting against what looked like Hippolyta's personal guards as well as several other Amazons.
But he saw much more than that, it was like the visions would go on forever, like the boy would simply go on forever.
He saw the mortal world beyond the Amazon's island and even what he knew were other worlds beyond the Greek Gods own planet.
He saw the boy leading a legion of champions fighting against various strange dark forces all across Man's World.
He saw the boy standing in the middle of a metropolis like city with a beautiful raven-haired woman by his side before a crowd of strangely dressed individuals.
Many of them were unrecognisable to him, but a few stuck out as familiar, one was dressed like a Spartan, another looked like an Atlantean and the largest was big enough to be a freaking Giant.
He saw the boy and the woman share a clearly romantic moment before she and the entire audience of clearly unique individuals bowed down before him.
He saw the boy wearing a blue and red outfit with a large S on his chest, sitting on a throne, but he could not tell where he was, whilst on his head was a strange crown fit for a king.
Then he saw himself and the boy, looking down on the rest of world, smiling warmly at each other.
Apollo saw many things in that life changing moment, he saw visions of happiness and sadness, visions of triumph and tragedy, visions of hatred and heroism, visions of revenge and redemption.
But no matter what, he saw the boy in the middle of it all, standing before evils of the world on all sides of him, his light shining through the darkness and giving everyone, mortals and immortals alike… something… what was it?
It was something the Sun God knew, but he hadn't felt or seen it in such a long time that he barely recognised it anymore.
What Apollo didn't see however, was the ground suddenly rushing up to meet him as he fell backwards off his golden chariot to the island below, but he felt it coming all the same.
Huh, I wonder if is how Icarus felt when his wings burned up after he flew to close to my sun, Apollo pondered thoughtfully to himself in the mere moments before he hit the ground. I doubt it, he was probably to busy screaming his flaming head off.
As he hit the ground and fell deeper into his prophetic visons, Apollo could just hear the sound of Alectryon screeching his name in panic while his two Sun Steeds neighed in obvious distress as they all felt their beloved rider fall from his chariot.
The Sun God appreciated his animal friends concern for his wellbeing, he really did, but he wasn't worried, Apollo knew he would be fine, the sun always rises again after all, but as for a certain other star however…
A little later, in somewhere… else…
When Kal woke up a few moments later, the first he knew was that he was NOT in the Jungle of Pantherus anymore, the soft warm, grass he had been lying in had been replaced with cold hard stone, the once clear blue sky above him was now nothing but a starry space that was darker than the blackest void.
What Kal didn't realise immediately was, that he wasn't on Themyscira or even the planet Earth anymore, or at least, his spirit and consciousness weren't anyway.
Quickly siting up with a surprised gasp, Kal turned his startled head around in all directions as he took in his new environment and surroundings, it was unlike anything the boy had ever seen before.
Standing up, he realised he was standing on what looked like a moon's surface, or at least what was left of one, as big chunks of the once great white rock floated all around him in a make shift archipelago of shattered moon marble.
Peering over the edge of his little floating landmass, Kal saw that below him was a dark empty void of blackness that looked like it went on forever, which it probably did, though Kal himself had no desire to find out.
Looking up at the more starrier sky space above, Kal gasped when he saw a burnt out and ruined surface of a huge planet hanging above him as well as the fading light of a faraway sun.
"Hello, is anyone there?" Kal asked, calling out into the surrounding oblivion, immediately feeling foolish for asking such a naïve question, of course no one was there, he didn't even know where he was.
"Mother? Diana? Krypto?" He called out his family's name into the black abyss, feeling immensely stupid for doing so as they obviously weren't here with him, but still he called again, trying some other familiar names. "Epione? Phillippus? Hera? Are you there?"
After hearing nothing but the echo of his voice be carried across the dark void, Kal stopped calling out, feeling both unnerved and embarrassed at the lack of a response, for all he knew, this was all probably just an exhaustion induced dream or more likely, Hermes playing another trick on him.
Still, something deep inside himself made him try one last time. "Hello, please, is anyone there?"
Then he got a response.
"Do not be frightened, Kal-El." A distinctly male called out to him from seemingly everywhere and nowhere all at once, instantly reminding Kal of Hermes invisible taunting from earlier, but whereas the Greek God's voice had been grating and full of mockery, this voice felt older, wiser and kinder to his ears. "You are not alone."
"Who are you?" Kal called, tensing in sudden shock and unease as he gazed warily at the starry darkness all around him, searching for the source of the voice, but still he saw no one. "Where are you? Where am I? What is this place?"
"I have brought you here Kal, so that you might be prepared for your future." The wise voice said responded in a way that really didn't answer any of his questions. "The chains that hold the Bastard Son of Zeus are beginning to break… and time is running out."
Kal was about to ask the whoever it was speaking to him how he knew that, when various different voices crept into existence all around him, jarring through his ears with the subtilty of battering rams, clamouring and fighting to heard all at once.
Kal closed his eyes and covered his ears as he fell to knees in pain, trying to curl in on himself and block out the voices, but it was futile, the cacophony just continued to pound through him, an echoing in ears that just wouldn't end.
"MAKE IT STOP!" Kal suddenly screamed, calling out to the wise voice from beyond the darkness in a clear plea for help, but voice was silent and it was the only one who was, others were still screaming inside his skull, insistent to be heard by him.
He had to get away, he had to get away before they drove him insane.
Opening his eyes and forcing himself to his feet, Kal saw the floating pieces of rock spread out before him, leading up to a larger chunk of still whole moon much, much further away from him.
Suddenly feeling the strength return to his legs again, Kal ran and launched himself at the first floating rock and then the other, running across each orbiting boulder before leaping to the next, getting faster and faster all the time.
Kal didn't dare look down and he didn't bother to look back, he just kept running, feeling the voices get farther and farther away with stone platform he jumped over, but unfortunately, for Kal, he had to remove his hands from ears in order to grab onto the edge of a particularly far away platform, causing him to hear the chilling voices clearly for the first time.
The worst part was, they all sounded strangely familiar to him… hauntingly familiar to him.
"He's… he's an orphan."
"She gave her life… so he could live."
Kal quickly pulled himself onto the platform and took off running to the next, luckily the further he got away, the less intense they got, but he could still hear them… and they chilled him to his core.
"This change's nothing."
"I'm gutting this little beast before it has the chance to grow up and rape one of us!"
He had heard these words spoken by these distorted voices before, in his dreams, or rather his nightmares.
He remembered the fear these voices brought with them, the feeling of being held upside down, helpless in someone cruel grasp, demonic looking eyes staring at him and the shine of a sharpened dagger coming straight for him.
"The boy's life was forfeited the moment he arrived on our shores."
"I'm sorry little one."
He didn't bother trying to block his ears again, he knew it was useless to try, instead he focused solely on getting further and further away from them.
Just a little further… just a little faster…
"Hercules will one day return."
"But fear not my loyal Amazons."
Amazingly, as he ran, he felt himself getting faster, not slower as like before when he was chasing Hermes. But still, no matter how fast he got, the voices kept following him, these ones haunting him more so than the others…
"For I have given you a weapon to defeat my brother's bastard son and his horde of marauding madmen for good."
"He will be our secret weapon against Hercules and his horde, our Champion of Themyscira."
Kal just wanted these voices to stop already, he wanted the nightmares about daggers and demons to stop, he just wanted to get away from it all.
"The best attack dogs are trained with affection, not fear after all."
"As you command your majesty."
Then at the height of his stress, Kal felt something from within in himself be unleashed and a second later, he was running at lightning-fast speed, the starry world a dark blur around him as he sprinted, leapt and jumped away from the haunting voices at a tremendous pace, the same pace as Hermes had been running…
But before they disappeared completely though, two distinctly different and uncomfortably familiar voices spoke into each of his ears at once.
"I will raise this boy, this Demigodling, for your glory, for Themyscira, for my sisters, for our daughters, for my Little Sunlight."
"For our vengeance on the bastard Hercules."
"Be safe, my son, may Rao's light watch over you, wherever you go."
Finally coming to a slow stop on a particularly large floating platform and grateful beyond relief that the ominous whispers had left him in peace, Kal put his hands on his knees and took a moment to come to terms with the fact that he had just run as fast as the Greek God of Speed himself.
"Excellent Kal." The wise said approvingly, finally speaking up for the first time in a while "You're a natural."
Shocked in more ways than one, Kal took a few moments to catch his breath before finally responding himself.
"How did that happen?" He asked out into the darkened space around him, hopeful now that the numerous chilling voices had finally become silent, that the wise voice from before might finally answer him. "How did I do that?"
"You are a truly exceptional being, Kal-El, one of a kind, some would say." The wise sounding voice said from the dark. "As such a unique individual, you possess many abilities that others around you simply do not… including the power to move faster than lightening itself."
"But… how." Kal asked again, simply at a loss for any other words to say to the voice's unbelievable response.
"You already know how Kal". The voice answered rather cryptically. "You felt this power begin to awaken within you the moment you started chasing after Hermes."
At this, Kal simply stared at his own two legs as if he was seeing them for the very first time and recalled how he felt something happening to them before Hermes had tripped him up, was what the voice was saying true?
Finally, Kal looked up and asked the one question he felt he needed answered before any other. "Why are you telling me this? What is it you want?"
"Only to assist you, Kal-El." The wise voice answered calmly and with such sincerity, that Kal found himself believing it, despite his initial wariness. "Allow me to help you master this ability, and I promise, you will be able to reach speeds that will you allow you to match the God of Speed himself, step for step."
Kal took a moment to think over the wise voice's offer, but the truth was, he had already made his decision, he could think of no-good reason to reject it and besides… the idea of finally being able to best Hermes was so tempting that Kal found himself nodding in agreement before he even realised it.
The owner of the wise voice must have seen him nod because a moment later, a glowing ball of fiery light crackled into existence right in front of face.
"Catch the light Kal, and finally master your own erratic nature."
Kal reached up to grab it, but the glowing orb suddenly zipped out of his reach and flew straight across the void, all the way to other end of the floating archipelago, an irritatingly familiar voice echoing from it as it went.
"Catch me if you can, kid."
As the mocking voice of Hermes echoed from the orb, Kal felt his eyes narrow in anger, but did not allow his temper to flare up again and after taking a deep breath, began running across the floating rocks at lightening speeds towards it.
But just before he could grab it, the electrical orb once again narrowly avoided his grasp. "Ah, ah, ah, nice try kid." It spoke as it zipped away with Kal hot on its flashing trail, he made another grab but missed it again.
"But you'll have to try harder than that to catch me." It declared as Kal continued to chase it across the vast void, leaping and jumping across the floating rock platforms that made up this strange, dark place.
"Close, kid, but not close enough." The orb said mockingly as Kal just missed grabbing it again… but only just this time.
Kal growled in growing frustration but kept his anger in check, it was alright, he told himself, he was getting closer, victory was almost within his grasp, as was the orb.
He readied himself for another grab and leapt for it.
"To slow, kiddo." The orb announced as it suddenly flew up just out of his reach and over his head, Kal snarled at both the orb and himself before spinning around resuming the chase, back from the beginning.
On and on the chase went, going around and around the floating stone platforms, with the glowing orb continuously mocking him just as Hermes had as it zipped along the floating rocks like a ball along marble floors, But Kal still remained just behind it, following it every step of the way, getting closer and closer each time he made a grab for it.
Until finally, he just got close enough.
"I mean, honestly kid." The glowing orb said in Hermes's mocking voice as Kal came closer to it than ever before. "Do really think you can ever catch me?"
At that moment, the trickster God's smug face appeared before his vision and Kal finally let his anger out.
"Yes! I! Do!" Kal declared as he leapt forward suddenly, going farther and faster than ever before and finally grabbed the glowing orb in both his hands.
Landing feet first on the stone platform with a grunt of exertion, Kal immediately stood up tall and proud as he examined the glowing orb in his hands, a triumphant smile on his young face.
"I-I did it." Kal said to himself, the wise voice and the talking orb all at once, his tone betraying his pride and disbelief. "I... I did it!"
"Yes, indeed you did." He heard the wise voice congratulate him, not from his dark surroundings, but rather from the orb in his hands in place of Hermes voice, like he had expected. "You have learned not only to control your body's natural electrical energy, but also your own rather impulsive nature, these two aspects of life are eternally linked to one another, remember that Kal-El."
Then, the glowing orb in his hands simply faded out of existence and Kal looked up and finally realised just where exactly he was.
He had left the floating stone archipelago and was now standing on what looked like what was left of the moon's shattered surface, the burnt-out sun and ruined planet above him remained the same, but in distance, he saw what looked like a strange temple, not unlike the ones he had seen on Themyscira built to honour the Greek Gods and what's more, he could feel something calling to him from it.
He had to check it out, he wanted to check it out… but sadly, that was not to be this day.
"You have done well, but now, now it is time for you to return." The wise voice congratulated him, while also seemingly stopping him from going any further. "But, be careful Kal, your enemies are closer to you than you think."
"Wait!" Kal said desperately as he felt whatever alien force had originally pulled him to this strange place, now quite forcibly sending him back. "What enemies and you still haven't told me who you are?"
As Kal felt himself be pulled away from this dark realm and back to the world he knew, the voice's faint reply echoed in his head.
"You shall know me as Rao, and one day Kal-El… you and I will meet face to face."
A little while later…
The first thing Kal felt when he started to wake up was a wet nose nuzzling against his face and the sound of a canine's concern whimpers filling his ears.
Then Kal opened his blue eyes and saw Krypto's red ones staring down at him, who upon seeing his beloved master awake, greeted the boy with a relieved bark and much excited head nuzzling.
"Hey boy." Kal said, sitting up and gratefully hugging his best friend around his thick, furry neck. "I'm glad to see you too."
Kal than began to get up, Krypto backing up to allow his master to stand, the young prince looked around at his current surroundings.
He was no longer in that shattered and broken void of darkness, instead, he was back in the Jungle of Pantherus and judging by the brightness of the blue sky above him, he hadn't been out for very long, but strangely, he already felt well rested and very refreshed, also he could have sworn he heard the sound of horses neighing in the background.
Was it all just a dream? Kal wondered to himself, before slowly looking down at his legs which no longer ached from all the recent running and jumping, they felt stronger, stronger than they had ever felt before. Well, there's only one way to find out.
Kal turned in the direction he remembered Hermes had run off in, got down into a pre running position and took a deep breath, he looked up and narrowed his eyes, he could still hear Hermes laughing his head off back in the direction of the palace.
"Come on Krypto." Kal said with renewed determination in his blue eyes to his best friend, who upon realising what his master was doing, got himself into a pre running position beside his boy. "This game isn't over just yet."
Greetings to all my fellow fanfic readers and writers, I hope you all enjoyed Superman, Son of Hippolyta Chapter 16: Godly Visions and Lessons, I do apologize for the long wait regarding this latest chapter guys, but unfortunately other things just kept getting in the way and I didn't want to publish this particular chapter until I thought it was perfect, I hope it was worth the wait.
Anyway, prophetic visions have been triggered, hard lessons have been learned, old powers have been awakened and the lone God of Krypton has finally entered the story in a rather subtle way, the next chapter will most likely be the end of what I'm calling the Hermes Arc, in this little competition so far, Round One went to Kal while Round Two went to Hermes, remember to place your bets on who you think will win Round Three, the Tortoise shelled Hare or the Black Wolf?
Now, before I go onto answering all your questions from the previous chapter guys, first allow me to thank all of you, my T-Rexcellent Readers, for helping this story get up to 107 followers and 84 favourites, I never imagined just how popular this series would become and your continued support has been both amazing and means the world to me, thank you all so much and hopefully we can get up to 200 followers and over 100 favourites in the future.
Speaking of support, if any of you would like to support my work in other ventures, I have YouTube channel under the same name as fanfic account, T-Rexcellent Reviews, if your interested, please consider giving it a look, a like and subscription as it would really help me out, I've actually just done my first audiobook reading for the prologue chapter of The Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.
Now onto answering some more fan questions from all of you guys…
1. Bashleyz, hey mate thanks for following, favouriting and all the reviews as well, to answer your questions in the order they were asked, Kal is far more skilled as a trained fighter in this story than as in most of the comics, well, you just have to wait and see on that one my friend, his outfit will have some changes done to it, but his superhero name will still be Superman, he is definitely stronger from the all training, I'm not revealing Kal's love interests just yet, he will get a sword at some point in the future along with various other weapons and divine devices.
2. Falcon6, well first of all, thank you my fine feathered friend, I apricate you commenting on that and yes, with such a dark, violent and angst driven story such as this one, ignoring the more aggressive turn Kal's personality would naturally take would be a complete injustice (chuckles quietly) to his character development, when this kid says he's going to hurt you, he means it, something Hermes is just about to learn a little too late…
3. ManOfSteel, well thank you my friend, you've reviewed every chapter I've put out and I want you to know mate that I really apricate the continued support
4. Yeye anaawangazi, I'm always happy to answer any of my T-Rexcellent fans questions, sorry to disappoint on Kal not learning how to fly in the last chapter, that will come later, I have a whole plan in place for that specific ability, hopefully though, the activation of his super speed in this chapter made up for it,
5. As for no one knowing Kal's origins, well, here's the thing, the elder Greek Gods like Hera have heard of other worlds beyond the stars with their own deities just like they've heard of other pantheons across the Earth, but they never really came into contact with any of them and never bothered to seek them out either, besides, the Greek Gods tend to think of themselves as the only Gods who really matter in the grand scheme of things and that they are the center of the universe.
6. So, in conclusion, Hera does know some things about Kal's origins, but for know is keeping it to herself, but its more speculation than fact, Hermes doesn't but is clearly suspicious and is going to make it his business to find out, while Hippolyta doesn't know anything beyond that Kal arrived in that pod, which as far as she knows, could have come from anywhere.
7. Also from a story standpoint, it just doesn't make much sense for them to tell him where he came from because both Hera and the Amazons want him to think he's the Son of Hippolyta, they can't tell him his true origins without revealing their deception in the process, but if you think the lies, they've been telling him so far are bad, just wait until Kal asks who his father is…
8. Speaking as a fellow fan of Dragon Ball Z, I personally don't have much of a problem with the filler, but that's just me and I do understand how it could get grating for other people, that being said, I do hope the pacing of this story does not feel too dragged out to you, it's just that we do have a lot of things to get to before the fateful showdown with Hercules can occur, Kal learning new powers, meets other beings from Greek Mythology and discovering secrets better left buried in the past, this story is just as much about the journey as it is the destination, so I try to make interesting for all of you.
9. Evolution-500, thanks, I've always been something of a Greek Mythology enthusiast, but most of the detailed Greek mythical elements featured in this story are thanks to my friend Luke5921 hard work and dedication as my Greek Mythology expert, I couldn't ask for a better one. Also, Kal of Themyscira will definitely be different from Clark Kent of Kansas, but not completely so, some things, you just can't change about a person no matter what alternate reality their raised in.
10. Kal's association with Wolves and being like a Wolf is defiantly intentional on my part and mostly symbolised by his behaviour, circumstances, current situation and his relationship with Krypto who is modelled after the albino Direwolf Ghost from the Game of Thrones tv show.
11. Historically, Wolves have represented both good and bad aspects of human nature, specifically male nature, throughout various different cultures and mythologies, such wolfish traits in a person include an untameable wildness, outsider syndrome, honed feral instincts, violent ferocity in battle, inherently protective nature, unexpected cunning, unstoppable willpower, desiring family dynamic, valuing of friendships, undying loyalty and a driven curiosity are all traits Kal has displayed throughout this story so far, making his preference to be like a Wolf a natural thing for him, that said, there are more thematic reasons relating to the story itself that make this comparison far more ominous as you mentioned, here's a few examples for you.
12. Fenrir the Son of Loki and the Monstrous Black Wolf from Norse Mythology. The Norse Gods and their worshippers all feared the Wolf's great strength, thought he was inherently evil and that one day he would one day turn against them all, tricked and bound the innocent young creature with an unbreakable magic chain that he could only escape from at the coming of Ragnarök, on which the Wolf will fall upon and devour those who dared to deceive and unjustly imprison him, this sounds foreshadowingly familiar…
13. The popular term 'Thrown to the Wolves' refers to someone being pushed or otherwise forced towards a violent encounter of some kind with a dangerous adversary which will most likely result in their own demise, though, keep in mind that sometimes people who are Thrown to the Wolves end up not only surviving their encounter, but return leading the pack…
14. The term Werewolf refers to someone who transforms into a fearsome wolfish form during a full moon, but it also alludes to someone hiding a secret side of themselves, engaging in their more beastial nature at the worst of times and seen by others as an inherently evil being, recall Kal's savage, berserk appearance in the prologue of this story, not to mention both Werewolves and Kryptonians both have a weakness to a certain type of mineral, so in that regard, silver is a lot more like kryptonite than you would originally think…
As always, a shout out to my amazingly supportive friend and fantastic fellow fanfic writer Ricardo753 for supporting my work, go check out his own stories, their T-Rexcellent as well as my new creative consultant and Greek mythology expert Luke5921, proud to have you onboard as an advisor as I write this story mate.
Now please allow me to thank all of you who have followed, favourited and especially reviewed this story.
SuperWonderStan, ManOfSteel, Luke5921, cabrera1234, Joel, HeartOfChaos13, GR8ER3241, Kalel4444, JustAnotherIntern14, Erika Lopes, SilveerKnighT, SuperKamiGuest, dakota, Shall-lin, d,Chinook, MoonKnight030, StevenBodner, Daka, evolution-500, Goldenhue, welcome007, Dak, Arik Kkuznetsov, Yeye anaawangazia, HaywireEagle, TheCrackKing, Artimuos Sen, CrazyCaz, Bashleyz and Falcon6 please keep the reviews coming guys, their what fuels these chapters and to all my other readers, if you write me some reviews in the future, then you can be seeing your name here to, until next time this is T-Rexcellent Reviews signing off.