David announcing that he planned to travel did not surprise anyone in the family.
During the long break after graduation, many students chose to travel somewhere to relax before beginning college life. It was a common way to celebrate the end of high school and prepare mentally for the next stage of adulthood.
The Kent family decided to celebrate as well.
Martha happily prepared a lavish dinner to mark the end of David and Clark's high school years. She invited several relatives and close friends, and the house soon filled with laughter and conversation.
Pete, Chloe, and Keira were among the guests.
To accommodate everyone, Jonathan dragged out a large extendable dining table that had been sitting unused in the warehouse for years. By the time dinner began, the long table was packed with food and cheerful voices.
The evening passed in a warm, festive atmosphere.
When the meal finally ended, the guests slowly began to leave.
Jonathan and Martha stayed behind to walk their relatives and friends to the driveway. Meanwhile, David and Clark escorted their classmates outside.
The moon hung high above the farmland, spreading a soft silver glow across the quiet countryside. The entire landscape looked as though it had been wrapped in a thin veil of moonlight.
Later that night, the two brothers returned to the familiar attic above the warehouse.
Clark stood near the large astronomical telescope by the window. His expression looked slightly melancholic.
"Lana didn't come tonight?" David asked as he walked up the stairs with his hands casually in his pockets.
He had noticed her absence during dinner.
Clark leaned lightly on his red-and-white guide cane and shook his head.
"She's going to study at a university in Paris," he said quietly.
There was a hint of loneliness in his voice.
Life was rarely perfect, and things often didn't unfold the way people hoped.
Clark had secretly liked Lana for years. Just when it finally seemed possible for their relationship to move forward, graduation arrived—and with it, separation.
"If we're destined to go our separate ways," Clark continued softly, "then I think it's better not to complicate things."
Their relationship had never progressed far enough to survive long distance.
Back when their feelings were still tangled in quiet ambiguity, Clark had secretly dreamed about attending the same university as the girl he liked.
But reality was different.
Metropolis was close to Smallville.
Paris was on the other side of the world.
"That sounds like Lana," David said with a nod.
She had become a cheerleader not long after entering high school. Lana had always been ambitious and determined.
She dated the captain of the football team, attracted attention wherever she went, and pursued the kind of life most ordinary people dreamed about. It wasn't in her nature to pause her carefully planned future for a relationship that had never truly begun.
And Clark—
Clark was a boy from a small town who had never even left the state before. He would never abandon his parents and move to a foreign country for the sake of a fragile romance.
"The two of you were probably always headed for this ending," David said.
"There will be plenty of opportunities in college."
Clark shook his head with a bitter smile behind his sunglasses.
He wasn't nearly that optimistic.
"Back when I could see," he said quietly, "I was practically invisible at school. Girls barely noticed me."
He tapped his cane lightly against the wooden floor.
"Now that I'm blind, I doubt that will improve."
David chuckled softly.
"There's always someone out there who knows how to find gold hidden in gravel."
Clark blinked in surprise.
He didn't expect his brother to describe him like that.
"Gold?" Clark asked.
He rubbed the side of his face awkwardly.
"I mean… besides the abilities that come from being an alien, there's nothing special about me."
In fact, Clark often felt inferior to his younger brother.
There had been several situations where he failed to handle things properly, leaving David to clean up the aftermath. The incident involving Avery and Rickman was a good example.
Clark had believed he solved the Rickman problem perfectly.
Later, however, he discovered he had accidentally left behind clues that almost exposed his identity. If David hadn't quietly intervened, everything could have gone terribly wrong.
The realization had frustrated him deeply.
"Don't underestimate yourself," David said calmly.
"Some of your qualities are far more valuable than you realize."
"Like what?" Clark asked.
"Your kindness."
David spoke without hesitation.
Most people could never possess the power to destroy the world.
But Clark had something different.
When people in danger encountered him, they felt a strange sense of reassurance—like hope itself had arrived.
Even David knew he couldn't offer that kind of comfort.
"Kindness…" Clark repeated slowly.
He looked conflicted.
"The things I said when the red meteorite changed my personality," Clark admitted, "those thoughts didn't come from nowhere."
Some of them had existed deep inside him all along.
Sometimes he felt frustrated with how much his parents worried about him.
Sometimes he felt overshadowed by David, who often seemed more capable despite being younger.
The red kryptonite hadn't created those feelings.
It had simply dragged them to the surface and magnified them.
"You don't need to judge yourself by the standards of a saint," David said after a moment.
"You're human."
Clark remained silent.
His thoughts continued turning.
"David," he said hesitantly, "have you ever wondered why I was sent to Earth?"
His voice carried a trace of unease.
"What if I was sent here for some terrible reason?"
Clark clenched his fists unconsciously.
That day's battle on the farm had frightened him.
If the same fight had happened in the middle of town, how many people would have been hurt?
He remembered what Keira once said—that he might be the prophesied destroyer of the world.
Even the strange prediction a fortune teller had given him recently seemed to hint at something similar.
"What if," Clark murmured quietly, "in the future you're the hero… and I'm the one people fear?"
If another red meteorite ever reached Earth, he could transform into a terrifying weapon of destruction.
The thought made his hands tighten nervously.
"You're thinking too much," David said flatly.
"It sounds like being blind has given you way too much time to imagine worst-case scenarios."
He patted Clark's shoulder before turning toward the stairs.
David couldn't exactly explain that Clark was nothing more than an alien baby sent away to survive the destruction of his home planet.
Instead, he offered a simple suggestion.
"Spend less time worrying about imaginary destinies," he said.
"And spend more time in the sun. Your eyes might recover sooner."
David began heading downstairs.
"I'm going to sleep early. I leave tomorrow."
Clark turned slightly toward the sound of his brother's footsteps.
"Where are you going this time?"
Hopefully not Gotham again.
Clark still believed that dark city was best avoided.
"I'm not completely sure," David replied casually.
"I might go to London."
"London?" Clark asked curiously.
"Are there any tourist spots around there?"
"Yes," David said.
"A place people say feels like heaven."
…
Strong winds roared across the coastline of a small island.
Blue seawater surged against a wide stretch of white sand while the violent sea breeze carried the faint salty smell of the ocean.
On a rocky beach covered with jagged black stones, a young man stood watching the sky.
David wore casual beach clothes, as if he were simply enjoying a quiet vacation.
Above him, dark clouds rolled across the horizon while thick fog rose from the sea, obscuring everything in the distance.
"It took two days to finally find it," he muttered.
According to historical accounts, when Steve Trevor crashed on Paradise Island during World War I, he and Diana later traveled by wooden ship to London in a single night.
That meant Paradise Island had to be located somewhere in the waters near Britain.
David had spent two days searching the surrounding regions of the Atlantic and the North Sea.
"A few minutes ago the sky was perfectly clear," he said quietly.
"But the moment I approached at several times the speed of sound… the weather suddenly changed."
Thunder rumbled.
The wind howled violently as dense fog swallowed the ocean. Lightning slithered through the clouds like giant electric serpents.
Anyone approaching by boat would immediately assume a powerful storm was forming and turn back.
For David, however, the strange weather confirmed something important.
Paradise Island was close.
"Zeus," he murmured.
"The god of thunder and the sky."
According to myth, the island was protected by Zeus himself. A magical barrier concealed it from the outside world, shielding Queen Hippolyta and the Amazons from discovery.
David stepped forward.
His body glowed faintly with purple light.
Then he ran.
At incredible speed he dashed across the ocean surface, his feet striking the water like solid ground. From a distance, he looked like a streak of purple lightning racing across the waves.
…
Far away on the island itself, Diana sat on a cliff overlooking the sea.
Her long legs swung gently over the edge as she watched the endless horizon.
"What lies beyond the island?" she wondered quietly.
She had asked herself that question countless times.
Her mother had told her stories about the outside world. It was a human world where ordinary women lived—women who were far weaker than the Amazons.
And there were also men.
Paradise Island was beautiful beyond description.
The sky was an endless shade of pure blue, like polished glass reflecting sunlight. The air was so clean that every breeze felt refreshing.
Ancient forests covered the mountains, and majestic stone palaces stood among the greenery.
But even the most beautiful scenery could become familiar after centuries.
Diana had explored every corner of the island.
Nothing here was new anymore.
"This is the sacred land Zeus gave the Amazons," her mother often said.
"A sanctuary protected from the war god Ares."
Diana wanted to see the outside world.
But Queen Hippolyta had forbidden any Amazon from leaving the island. She feared that doing so might attract Ares's attention.
Thousands of years had passed without leaving the slightest mark on Diana's appearance.
Her skin was smooth as satin, her features elegant and heroic, and her long black hair fell like polished ebony. Because she had lived isolated from the world for so long, a trace of youthful innocence still lingered in her bright eyes.
Bored, Diana picked up a small stone.
She tossed it casually toward the ocean.
Boom.
The stone flew hundreds of meters before splashing into the water.
A moment later—
Something strange happened.
A streak of purple light shot across the sea like lightning.
The figure moved so fast that it carved a long white path through the waves before landing lightly on the island's beach.
David stopped on the white sand and looked around with interest.
"Paradise Island," he said quietly.
"It really does live up to its name."
....
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