Clark didn't even notice at first...
The little white kitten, just like every night, jumped onto his bed and curled up beside his pillow.
But this time, Soren seemed very weak, his head resting low on the soft pillow, his crystal-clear eyes gently gazing at Clark.
Soren kept looking at him, then slowly stopped breathing.
That night, young Clark cried for a long, long time.
It was the first time he had ever felt so heartbroken, and the first time he truly understood what death meant.
Clark took Soren to the small hill near the farm, where the stars and the moon seemed closer, as if they were right within reach.
He buried his little friend at the top of the hill, where Soren could always watch the starry sky he loved so much.
And Clark promised to watch the stars with him.
They would always be together.
…
Soren could still hear the boy's sobs echoing in his ears.
His heart ached, and he wished he could return to his real form and hold the little Kryptonian, comforting him.
But all he could do was stand in a barren wasteland, his feet on pink sand, surrounded by a dark, empty void.
In front of him stood a tall humanoid blue figure who is glowing faintly.
The being had no clothes and its eyes were completely white, except for a circular black symbol in the center of its forehead.
The blue figure showed no expression, and its voice was cold and mechanical, "Welcome, my guest."
Soren's battle instincts made his whole body tense up immediately as he warily eyed the blue figure before him.
"Hello," Soren nodded his head slightly, keeping his composure, "May I ask who you are?"
"I am the Quantum Observer. You may also call me Dr. Manhattan," the blue figure responded, its voice emotionless and flat, "This is the Prometheus system. I brought you here from the cracks of the universe, into this multiverse."
Soren's eyes widened slightly.
He wasn't unfamiliar with that name.
He had come across it in comics before.
Dr. Manhattan—one of the most powerful beings in the universe, or rather, the strongest god.
In the comics, Dr. Manhattan could erase time, create worlds at will, and even break through dimensions, entering the fourth-dimensional universe beyond the three dimensions.
So, was he brought into the comic universe by a character from within the comics...?
Soren thought for a moment before speaking slowly, "I don't understand why you've brought me here."
As Soren spoke, he glanced toward the darkness behind Dr. Manhattan.
It seemed like something was stirring within the shadows, eager to emerge.
After he pretended to casually look a bit longer, ripples began to form in the dark void.
Dr. Manhattan, as if aware of everything, spoke calmly, "I found you through a crack in your universe. When you destroyed the wormhole, it caused a small tear in the fabric of your reality. It took me some time, but I was able to bring you here. You are a proton that doesn't belong to this universe. Because of that, your presence disrupts the balance of mass in this universe, causing it to collapse inward toward you."
"Law of conservation of mass," Soren nodded, understanding what Dr. Manhattan was explaining, but still asked, "And your goal is?"
Dr. Manhattan looked at him, "You should know that I exist simultaneously on every timeline. I observe the past, present, and future all at once—they all unfold before me. But now, my observation has been interrupted.
"In the near future, all I see is darkness. This means that this world is about to be destroyed."
He continued, "I do not wish for that to happen. So, I spent more time thinking of a solution: only one person can save this world. He is the center of this multiverse. The world restarts for him, over and over, in endless cycles. Even I cannot erase him from the timeline. My actions have no effect on him."
Soren raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Before Dr. Manhattan could name him, Soren already knew who he was referring to.
The first superhero in human comic history, Earth's eternal protector.
The god-like figure in a red cape.
—Clark Kent.
—Superman.
"You must have met him already," Dr. Manhattan said, "The reason I brought you into this universe is because of him. Only an outside force like you, who doesn't belong here, can alter his path."
"So, you're saying you want me to help Superman save the world," Soren quickly pieced it together, "Do you really think I can do that? Sorry, I don't even believe I can."
It wasn't that Soren lacked confidence; he just knew how dangerous the superhero world could be.
So many villains with insane powers, so many world-ending events happening all the time...
He was just an ordinary human!
Blowing up a wormhole seemed like a safer job than surviving in a city where superheroes and villains fighting all the time.
Those so-called "ordinary citizens" who live through fires, floods, and earthquakes without a scratch—how could they still be called ordinary?
"You can." Dr. Manhattan said firmly.
Soren: "Really? I don't believe it."
Dr. Manhattan: "..."
"You've already changed his path," Dr. Manhattan continued in a low voice, "You gave him a childhood pet. Because of that, he'll now rescue every white cat he sees stuck in a tree. In the timeline I originally saw, he only saved one. That's the change you made."
"So turning me into a cat was your doing," Soren caught on to the point.
Dr. Manhattan tilted his head slightly.
"It was an experiment. A small test to see if something from an outside universe could affect this one. The result was positive," he said.
Soren said, "But I'm just an ordinary person. Even if I'm stronger than most people from Old Earth and might live longer, in your universe, I could be killed by superpowers at any moment, just like an ant under a giant's foot. And being near Superman is the most dangerous place to be. What makes you think I could..."