Chapter 37: Is this Parenting?
Conner felt like he was under water. After what was possibly hours of drifting in and out of consciousness, the boy of steel had been somewhat awake for more than a minute so he assumed he was waking up for real.
His body wouldn't move when he tried. Stupid sleep paralysis. Why did his entire body feel oddly warm and energized though? He slowly opened his eyes and was met with unfamiliar surroundings.
Normally Conner would panic at possibly being kidnapped but all he felt was a deep calm. Not even in Cadmus was he able to feel this calm. Something was wrong but he didn't know what. He could turn his head and wiggle his fingers and toes now but the staticky feeling of waking numb limbs immediately made him stop. Maybe he should actually try to rest and let the rest of his body wake up naturally.
A door opened somewhere out of Conner's line of sight. A woman almost as tall as Wonder Woman with turquoise skin, purple hair and four arms appeared above his head. He knew he should be angry and a little bit scared but he still only felt calm.
"ᗩᖇᘿ ᖻᓍᑘ ᗩᒪᖇᓰᘜᕼᖶ ᖽᐸᖇᖻᕵᖶᓍᘉᓰᗩᘉ ᑢᕼᓰᒪᕲ?"
"What?" He only understood the word Kryptonian. Apparently Cadmus didn't deem it important to have him learn his own language.
"I'm sorry I assumed since you were Kryptonian you would feel more comfortable speaking it."
Conner slowly managed to sit up. "It's fine. No ones really bothered to teach me the language."
The tall woman looked sad at the statement. "You poor thing." Her face lit up as she knelt down to get closer to him. "How about I teach you!"
The black haired teen gave the woman a puzzled look.
She stood back up and towered over the teen. "I'm getting ahead of myself, I didn't even tell you my name." Instead of the height the woman stood to before she became taller than anyone Conner had ever met before, which wasn't many people. Golden armor appeared on her person as she summoned a spear to appear in one of her arms. "My name is Pandora, Goddess of Earth and keeper of the box of chaos."
If he could the teen would've bowed to show his respect. "I'm Conner Kent, half Kryptonian clone of Superman and a hero known as Superboy."
Pandora shrunk back down to her 'former' height. "Are you feeling okay? Does anything still hurt?"
"I'm fine... although I've been feeling unusually calm since I woke back up." He turned to look at the other person in the room. It was a red haired girl that looked a little like M'gann. "Who is she?"
Pandora glanced at the sleeping girl. "That would be my Goddaughter Jasmine. You both have a few things in common." She frowned. "She should've awoken by now..."
"What happened to Alethea?"
"That would be what Jasmine calls her ghost half." Said girl turned away from the two and started snoring lightly. Pandora smiled softly. "I guess the transfer took more out of her than I thought."
As far as he could tell, this Pandora woman was someone he could trust. "Do you know where I am or how I got here? The last thing I remember is a glowing green portal."
"To answer your first question you are in a dimension called the Infinite Realms. As for the other question you'll have to find out when my Goddaughter is awake, she knows more about the situation than I do. In the mean time how about we go check your vitals and find something your able to eat."
Conner nodded and ignored the staticky feeling that came with waking up sleeping limbs. He would have fallen if not for the lower arms of Pandora catching him. "How about I carry you to the dining hall." The ghost goddess didn't wait for a reply and just picked the teen up like he was nothing.
The two made their way to the dining hall in silence. After a couple minutes they had arrived in the largest room the clone had ever seen. On one side were piles upon piles of food assorted on different tables. Some of the food glowed but all of it was foreign to him.
Pandora gently set the teen on his feet. "I had my cooks prepare several dishes. I hope one of these is a favorite. A couple are even Kryptonian recipes."
Honestly it was both embarrassing and comforting that this complete stranger cared so much about his well being. "Thanks..." Is this what it felt like to have a parent?
Translation: Are you alright Kryptonian child?