The battlefield was still now, the air thick with the metallic tang of blood and the fading stench of charred hobgoblin flesh. He stood among the fallen bodies, his chest rising and falling steadily, even as his mind whirled with questions. Why had it been so easy? The precision, the efficiency of his actions—it was as if he had been born to kill.
He flexed his fingers, still feeling the slight tremor of energy from the fight. The hikers were safe, and the threat was gone, but something gnawed at him. Why did I save them? It wasn't instinct—at least, not human instinct. The rush of battle, the thrill of using his power with lethal precision, felt too natural.
"Thank you," a voice called, breaking through his thoughts.
He turned to see one of the hikers — a woman, her face streaked with dirt and terror, but her eyes wide with awe. She took a tentative step forward, her hands trembling. "You… you saved us."
Her words hit him like a slap. Saved? He blinked, the word rolling around in his mind, jarring against the cold efficiency he had just unleashed. Was that what this was? He had slaughtered thirty creatures without hesitation, without a second thought, and now this human was thanking him as if he were some sort of hero. His gaze flicked over to the bodies of the hobgoblins—charred, broken, lifeless.
"I…," he began, but his voice trailed off. Why did I kill them so easily?
"Thank you, Superman!" she said, a hopeful smile trembling on her lips.
Superman? The name rattled around in his head, foreign and strange. His eyes narrowed. Superman? He knew the name, but it wasn't him. It didn't fit. The woman must have mistaken him for something else, something good. But he wasn't that. He was something different, something darker. He had felt no hesitation in using his powers to kill. It wasn't protection—it was annihilation.
Before he could respond, a voice echoed through his mind. Cold, distant, and yet so familiar. Protect the planet. Protect the people. Future conquest will come from the rift. Inferior species will rise. They must be destroyed.
His breath caught, the voice sending a chill down his spine. What? The words weren't his, but they stirred something deep inside him, like an ancient directive hardwired into his DNA. The voice, steady and commanding, whispered of conquest, of protecting the world from lesser beings. **Inferior species? Hobgoblins? Was that how he saw them?**
For a moment, he wondered if it was true. His actions during the fight had been precise, and calculated—designed to eliminate threats without mercy. Was that why I killed them? Was that why I acted?
"Are you okay?" the woman asked, her voice pulling him back to the present.
He shook his head, the voice fading into the background. There were too many questions, and too many unknowns. He glanced at the hikers, their faces still pale with fear, but grateful. They didn't know what he was or why he had intervened. They didn't care. He was a hero to them, even if he wasn't sure if that was true.
"I'm fine," he said at last, his voice steady. "Let's get you down the mountain."
They nodded, still shaken but relieved. He turned, his enhanced senses mapping the safest path down, avoiding the steep drops and dangerous terrain. His movements were quick and precise as he guided them, his mind still struggling with the voice's lingering words. Future conquests… rifts… inferior species. What did it mean?
As they neared the base of the mountain, something caught his attention — a faint hum beneath the earth, a deep resonance that pulsed with energy. His sharp eyes narrowed, scanning the rocky terrain. There was something underneath. Something massive. how come nobody noticed this here before?
The hikers stumbled on the uneven path, but he barely noticed. His focus had shifted entirely to the strange vibrations. His enhanced senses pierced the mountain's crust, tracing the source of the energy to a hidden structure buried deep beneath the cave where he had first awakened.
It wasn't just a structure. It was a ship.
His parallel thinking kicked in, analyzing the data. The ship was large—larger than anything the humans could have built. Its surface was metallic, alien, hidden beneath layers of rock and time. Had it always been here? Had he been asleep in its shadow this entire time?
The voice from earlier echoed again, fainter now. Protect the planet. Protect the species from conquest.
"Hey," the woman's voice broke through again. "Are we almost there?"
He blinked, bringing his attention back to the present. "Yeah," he said, his voice distant. "Just a little further."
As they made their way down the mountain, he couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was buried beneath that mountain was part of his past, part of what made him Valorian.
The hikers finally reached the edge of the forest, civilization visible in the distance. They thanked him again, and while they walked away, still calling him "Superman," his mind was already elsewhere.
He needed answers.
The ship beneath the mountain held the key. What am I really? Why was I created, and why now? The more he thought about it, the more the voice's words made sense. This wasn't just about random hobgoblins. This was bigger. There was something coming, something he was meant to stop.
And the ship? The ship was only the beginning.
Without a word, he turned back toward the mountain.