Disclaimer: This is written for fun, solely for the enjoyment of those who cannot stand thinking inside the box. I make no money of this, and none of the characters are mine.

AN: I know most people do this at the end, but all work is edited by IMFACI

Prologue – Lost

I am alone. Completely and utterly alone. My parents are there, my friends are there, truth be told I see a town full of people around me, and yet I am alone. My mother gives me a hug and I can feel nothing, I know her arms encircle me, and I know she pushes as much as she can, yet I feel not even a glimmer of sensation. My father claps my shoulder, and he is a strong man, has to be to work on the farm, and still nothing.

Can you imagine what I go through? I touch a tree and I can't really do anything. I can't hold it, I can't truly touch it, feel the grain of the bark, how warm or cool it is, the texture of the grain. I would give anything for that because in the end I can't. No wind can truly touch me, no matter how cold, and the warmth of the sun is meaningless to me. I feel its energy cascade over me, I feel something inside whenever I bask in its light, but no warmth. Nothing. It's utterly maddening. I can taste, I can hear, I see, but touch eludes me, because in the end I have to walk as if the world is made up of egg shells.

I can truly take hold of nothing, my strength so great. I would crush it all.

It started when I was a baby, according to my parents. They would discover dirty diapers that I had never made a fuss over. My dad still laughs that they went through the least diapers of any parents they knew, because he simply didn't tell them that he had gone. Mom told me once she had not been paying attention to a bottle, she had fed me and had no complaints. She didn't realize how hot it had been until she tried to dump the portion I did not finish and it scalded her.

As I got older it got worse, I discovered my strength early on, ripping off one of the barn doors when I had gone out to help my dad. One of the hinges snapped violently and it glanced off me and flew into an old tree that we had near the barn, embedding so deep that my dad could not get it out without cutting the tree down. It's there to this day.

I have made friends, Pete Ross and Lana Lang, but I rarely see them. My parents thought it best I learn at home until my powers stopped behaving so erratically. It's why I keep this journal, because without it I am so utterly alone…

Journal of Clark Kent

*.*

He was ethereal and yet real, the most powerful of his race, and also the most distant. He had watched creation come and go, and known the true feelings of despair as he was forced to kill his own children. For them it was a slow death, to him it was but a blink of the eye. He had traveled far from his once home to view the life of his last son. There were so many of his kind on this world, he sometimes wondered what they saw so interesting in this race.

"Rao," a soft voice said. He didn't look up to know that it was one of the Greek Pantheon.

"Yes," he said dryly.

"Why have you invaded our domain," Ares growled out.

"The Great Spirits would take exception with that claim, son of Zeus," Rao said calmly, looking away from his son to the God of War. "What do you want?"

"The others are nervous," Ares' hand hovered over his blade.

"They have every right to be, betrayer," Rao said calmly. A wave of his hand and Ares froze in place. "You think a puny god of war can match my power?"

"When I get free…"

"Empty threats, Ares," Rao growled out. He waved his hand again and the frozen god of war flew through the air into the ether. Rao walked forward calmly, his eyes unreadable as the ancient god stood to meet his foe.

"We will find a way to kill you," Ares growled out. "When it's done we will ascend to your throne."

"Your father tried it years ago," Rao smirked at that. "He ripped apart space and time, and summoned the powers of the Titans before him and still it wasn't enough. Do you think you truly have the strength to topple me?"

Ares growled. "What are you doing here old man?"

"Oh, nothing," Rao looked wistfully at the stars at this. He hated setting one of his children up like this, but the time of the awakening was at hand. If he didn't find his connection with this world, their savior would become their destroyer. "Just looking in on my last son."

Ares growled, knowing he was referring to the Kent boy. Zeus had railed for weeks for not being able to bring the boy into his sphere of influence, but Rao had separated the Kryptonians from all other lines. His intention had been for them to be protectors of the creations the others had made; he wanted them under the influence of none.

"You know boy, I have faced the endless void before, brought forth stars that had existed since before you were even thought of," Rao chuckled at the indignant look the God of War gave him. "Remember your place boy. I have removed pantheons for less spoken against me."

Ares knew he referred to the Mayans and their gods and goddesses. The civilization as a whole had grown decadent and for all their achievement Rao refused to let anyone grow too decadent. It was the reason that Zeus had come to preach balances in the world. Too far one way, or the other, and Rao would swoop in and cull everything, whether they be mortal or god.

"Leave this place, my last son will not be your pawn," Rao waved his hand, freeing the god of war.

"We will see," Ares disappeared in a flash of thunder.

Rao sighed heavily; sometimes human form was so strange. He wondered how his son would cope, he could see the tinges of the madness, that drove many of his kind before, creeping in. He turned back to the ether and looked at his son. "Be strong my son, and I hope you live true to the light I see in you. I would hate to have to end everything once again."