Boom!
A meteorite slammed into the earth with a violent explosion.
The ground shook, soil and rock blasted outward, flames licking at the edges of the new crater.
Clark Kent stood on the Kent farm, a crystal clutched in his hand, watching in horror as a blazing rock hurtled from the sky and gouged a massive crater into the ground. Smoke rose in thick plumes, and fire spewed from the impact site.
Across Smallville town, homes and buildings were pierced by falling meteorites, fire and smoke filling the air. Clark felt a cold panic twist deep inside him.
"No! Adrian couldn't have done this!" he cried, eyes blazing with anxiety too fierce to suppress.
"I have to go to that cave!"
In a heartbeat, Clark vanished in a blur, activating his super speed and rocket‑racing toward the crash site and the caves he'd explored only yesterday.
Boom!
The ground trembled violently as another fireball struck.
A massive fire truck driving down the highway was engulfed in flames, its rear exploding, flames scattering across the road.
The driver, sensing danger, leapt clear just in time, avoiding a fiery death.
Farther down the highway, motorists were thrown into chaos.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Meteorites rained down, igniting explosions across the road.
Drivers and passengers bolted from their vehicles, screaming in terror as fireballs rained around them.
Amid the chaos, a father realized his child was missing.
"Henry!" he shouted, urgency slicing through panic as he forced his way through the terrified crowd.
Meanwhile, little Henry toddled along near the roadside, bending down to pick up a toy fire truck he'd dropped in the dust.
Just then, a sharp whistling cut through the din. Henry looked up in wide‑eyed confusion.
Above him, a flaming meteorite hurtled downward.
Clark didn't hesitate.
With speed no human eye could follow, he raced forward, scooped Henry into his arms, and shielded him just as the blazing rock smashed into the ground mere feet away.
Boom!
The explosion threw earth and flame toward them like rainfall.
"Henry!"
The terrified father reached them at last, dazed and wild with relief.
Clark handed the child to him.
"Go quickly!" Clark urged, voice grim.
The father stared at Clark's torn clothes, swallowed hard, then backed away, trembling with gratitude.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
Without another word, Clark exhaled deeply and vanished in a flicker of motion, racing toward the cave.
The Cave of Voices
Clark arrived at the cave he had explored days before, the same place linked to so many mysteries and possibly the key to everything falling apart.
He shouted his plea into the cavernous darkness.
"Jor‑El, stop this! I can't combine the stones yet. I don't know where the others are, and I don't have time to find them now, but you have to stop this catastrophe!"
An echo answered him — not empty, but a voice, distant yet resonant.
"No, Kal," the voice boomed, filled with otherworldly resonance, "I cannot stop what has already happened. Only you, by combining the three ancient stones, can bring balance."
Suddenly, the cave walls pulsed with dazzling light, and with it, the voice of Jor‑El filled the space.
Clark's knees buckled as tears streamed down his face.
"I can't do it," he sobbed, clutching the single crystal in his hand. "I can't save everyone. I feel powerless. I didn't want this."
Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Clark, when facing desperation, you should not drown in regret," a familiar voice said.
Startled, Clark turned to see Adrian standing behind him, expression unreadable.
"Adrian?"
"Get up," Adrian said simply, reaching out and helping Clark to his feet.
Clark hesitated, the weight of the world still in his eyes.
"I… I don't know how to save this world," he admitted. "I've never felt so powerless. Maybe I'm just someone who throws himself into danger and drags others into it with me."
Adrian watched the glowing cave wall, then reached out and took the crystal from Clark's hand.
He moved with precision and intent — then slid the crystal into a carved recess in the rock wall.
Two more recesses lined the stone surface.
Adrian aligned the second and third crystals with them and pressed each into place.
The moment the three gems came together, they were pulled by an unseen force, uniting into a sky‑blue crystal suspended in the air.
The pale blue stone hummed softly, spinning gently between them.
Adrian and Clark both stared in intense silence.
Then Adrian reached out and grasped the sky‑blue stone.
Instantly, an invisible gale surged outward, slamming through the cavern like a living storm.
Adrian cried out, pain etching every line of his face as the force gripped him.
"Adrian!"
Clark threw himself toward him, ignoring everything else, grabbing the crystal to try to pull Adrian away.
But a soul‑wrenching pain exploded inside Clark, and he screamed in agony.
Ah!
A blinding white flash filled the cave.
Whoosh!
Then, just as suddenly, the light vanished.
Everything in the cave looked untouched and ordinary, as if the storm had never happened.
Clark opened his eyes.
He was no longer in the cave.
He was standing atop a world covered in white snow — frozen and silent.
Adrian stood beside him, scanning the frigid landscape without surprise.
"Where are we?" Clark asked, still shaken from the pain.
"The North Pole," Adrian said matter‑of‑factly.
But Clark saw something familiar in the landscape.
This was the place where Adrian once buried his spaceship long ago. The ice beneath their feet, though changed by the seasons, still bore the same contours.
As the two stood there, the sky‑blue stone drifted down into Adrian's hand.
Feeling the cold weight of the crystal, Adrian weighed it in his palm — then, without warning, he hurled it into the air.
The sky‑blue crystal arced beautifully through the cold sky and crashed into the snow below.
Clark frowned, confused by the unexpected act.
Then the ground began to rumble.
Where the crystal had landed, the ice split and collapsed over a wide area.
Snow and ice cascaded downward as the earth trembled beneath them.
Then something impossible unfolded.
From the cavernous crack where the crystal vanished, a massive icicle shot upward like a spear of frozen lightning.
Crack!
Crack!
More crystal spires burst from the ground, twisting and merging into a gigantic structure — a palace formed entirely of ice.
It was breathtaking and majestic, like a fortress sculpted by some ancient winter god.
Clark stared at it, stunned.
Adrian's brow furrowed as he surveyed the structure.
Without hesitation, they walked toward the towering entrance.
Then, with a crack, the enormous ice gate swung open as though beckoning them inside.
Meanwhile, Elsewhere
Far from the North Pole, Lana Lang blinked awake under the glare of sunlight.
Ugh!
She shielded her eyes, startled. When she touched her face, she found specks of blood on her fingers.
She remembered now — she'd been in a car accident.
While driving away from Smallville on the highway, a flaming meteorite had crashed nearby. Panicked, she swerved to avoid it but lost control. Her car hit a rock on the roadside and flipped, knocking her unconscious.
With raw determination, she had dragged her battered body out of the wreck, bandaging herself roughly and staggering onward.
Was the shower over?
She wasn't sure.
She blinked slowly, scanning the horizon.
Then her gaze caught sight of a gigantic crater in the distant wilderness, smoke rising faintly from its depths.
Drawn by curiosity — and a desperate need for answers — Lana began walking toward it.
The slope was steep, her steps unsteady, but she climbed, breath growing colder as she ascended.
When she reached the top, she peered down into the crater.
Her breath caught in her throat.
At the bottom lay a pitch‑black spaceship, its surface slick with frost and emitting wisps of misty vapor.
Lana's heartbeat jumped as two figures rose from within the vessel.
Fear stabbed at her chest.
She instinctively slid backward down the dirt slope.
But as she fell, her eyes widened in disbelief.
A man… and a woman… were standing there — alive.