"--Hold a moment. Let me remedy that for you." The elder gentleman in radiant white offers as reaches down to place his palm over the clone's temple. Connor, finding himself at the mercy of the peculiar stranger, shuts his eyes as that very hand lowers over him. He didn't know what to expect, but he was too ill to do anything about it. Just breathing alone took some level of focus to do. Fortunately, the stranger's intent proves to be genuine; a bright shine of platinum light immediately produces underneath the stranger's hand and heals the young man's ailments away. The discoloration around Connor's eye begins reversing back to normal, his pain and bruises take their sudden leave, fatigueness fades from his body, and his strength returns in all of its entirety.
Relieved of immense strain, the Kryptonian's eyes shoot wide open as he exhales with newfound energy.
"It's... it's gone." The young man softly comments just before pushing himself up onto his knees. He examines himself, palms and all. Bawling them into fists and re-opening them as if testing his sense of feeling. He felt good as new, and the toothy grin taking form across his youthful handsome face was evidence of that.
"See, isn't that better?" Superman's savior inquires with similar delight bearing upon his aged and bearded face.
"Yes! Yes, actually. I feel like I could run laps around the entire world and lift Mount Everest with absolute ease." Came Connor's enthusiastic response as his cyan eyes shift toward the other.
"That's wonderful to know, my young friend. I thought the little added boost of solar energy would help."
"Thank you. Whatever you did, thank you. It was painful just breathing beforehand." Connor responds with a tone of gratitude. Now that he wasn't on the verge of passing out, he has and makes use of his mental capacity to examine the other more attentively. Hair of white, broad and strong in build, blue eyes, black facial hair, and a head of silver hair. Most curious though is the identical great bold 'S' adorning his stainless radiant attire of platinum and gold. That specific detail is what wipes the grin off Connor's face and replaces it with a solemn frown.
"...Who are you?" He asks again.
"Just as I said, Connor. I am your salvation." The older male repeats calmly.
The answer makes the clone stare questioningly.
"How do you know that's my name?"
"I know all that has and shall transpire across this side of the multi-verse. Well... usually. Usually I am fully aware of the beginnings, middles, and endings. Your Earth's future is cloudy. Tainted by a force that does not belong upon it."
"What? You claim to have omnipresence? How can you possibly–" Before Connor can finish those words, the other cuts in with calm sharpness.
"Ask of me three deeds you believe to be impossible and I shall perish your doubts. Then, you shall know my words are always true." Such bold certainty catches the clone off guard, nearly leaving him speechless. However, he was embedded with logic. Doubting the unthinkable was in his artificial nature.
The clone takes a moment to study their surroundings, finally realizing they were sitting in the middle of the street of what appears to be a ghost town - one that greatly resembles Metropolis City. Sunny out, but yet silent and lifeless. Just as Connor stands, the elder of the two does the same. One standing at 5'11, and the other at 6'5.
After thinking on it for a moment, the clone had his first deed in mind.
"Change the day to night."
"And so I shall." With those words, the taller of the two simply lifts his right and snaps his fingers. At his whim, the light shining down shifts to shrouding darkness. From above, the moon now sits and illuminates the near pitch darkness. Even the detailing red of Connor's suit was glowing, indicating that the night surrounding was real.
"How did you do that?" Connor shoots him a puzzled look.
"With a mere thought and an enforcement of my will."
"...Alright. Make the streets flow with shallow water."
"And so they shall." Snap! With the same gesture as before, the peculiar gentleman brings forth water from every direction. The clone could hear it approaching, and before long, he found his ankles submerged in the clearest river imaginable. It was certainly real to the touch.
"That... Hnn– Create living beings before my very eyes. Can you do that?" Connor asks, a tad touch of annoyance begins his words as logic was apparently failing to explain any of this thus far.
"As you request." The gentleman clad in white lifts his hands and brings them together as if he were concealing a sphere between them. A brief shine of light gleams through the cracks of his hold before he shifts his hands side-by-side, cupping something Connor couldn't see. The elder brings his hands closer to his face and gently breathes onto them with an artic blow. He then flattens his hands out and gives another breeze of air, letting the substance within his palms flow and spread in the fashion of tiny balls of light. Upon making contact with the shallow body of water, those orbs begin shining and expanding. Countless of them giving off brightness as they grow and take form. Some develop into humans, others into woodling creatures. Connor stares in disbelief whilst young adults surround them, beings with heart beats. Every last one of them. They tread through the shallow waters to form something akin to a circle, nude and bearing soft smiles. They looked happy just to be alive.
"There's no way..." The clone breathes out, stumped by what he just witnessed.
"Now do you believe me?" The elderly gentleman asks.
Connor turns to him once more, staring with a troubled expression upon his features.
"Yes. Yes, I believe you now... I don't need– I don't want to see any more." The artificial Kryptonian answers.
"I'm glad we were able to reach an understanding, my young friend." Calm words spoken just before the bearded stranger lifts and casually swipes his hand through air, and with that gesture, all three deeds become undone. The living beings begin dissolving into nothingness, the shallow water divides and retracts to where it came from, and the day reclaims the sky from the night.
Something the clone finds unsettling, truth be told.
"Who are you?" The youth asks yet again.
"As I've said twice already, I am–"
"No, no, no... I mean what are you? Where did you originate from? Why are you here?" Connor presses a bit of obvious desperation behind his words.
In reaction, the elder gives a rather surprised look.
"Do you truly want to know the answers to all of those questions? Will it calm your uncertainty?"
"I don't know... I suppose it doesn't matter where you came from, but this is difficult to process. Are you what mankind refers to as God?"
"Ha! No, no. Certainly not. I came much much later. Humans, nor anything else that lives throughout the galaxy, are not of my making. I just lived among them long, long ago. And... to be quite frank with you, young man... You are no child of God."
"What do you mean by that?" Connor asks.
"Exactly as I said it. You're abnormal in every sense of the word. You are of both light and dark. Positive and negative energies. An artificial lifeform. This may be a tad difficult to swallow, but... Clones have no souls." The elder gentleman elaborates.
"You have to be— Hnnn.. Fine, let's say I do buy into spiritual and religious beliefs; why would I lack a soul? Is that not what makes people function as they do?"
"You are man made, Connor. Blended in tubes and materialized in a machine. Your creation is sheer audacity of man and nothing remotely natural. You're a replicant, forced to age up and be implemented with ambitions you haven't actually decided to pursue for yourself. Not a blessing under his name. Truth be told... I am the closest thing you'll ever have to a Lord and Savior. I only humor the notion, because of what you bear upon your chest and what runs through your veins." Came the stranger's explanation. It was spoken with such certainty, that Connor found himself at a loss for words. The young man looks down and places his right hand over the shield symbol on his chest, then shifts his sights back to the gold variant that adorns the other's chest.
"...Why are you even here?"
"To help, of course. I brought you here in order to give you an edge in a fight that shouldn't be taking place on this Earth. I can't personally take care of the abnormality, but I can at least grant you a tool to help fight it."
"Do you have a name?"
"A name? Heh. Hadn't in quite some time, but taking what I've explained to you, you may know me as your Yod-He-Vav-He."
"Yod–"
"Ah! Hold your tongue." The elder cuts Connor off, gesturing with a scolding finger.
"You may only say that name when you are in dire need, never in vain or selfish wants. Know that I cannot directly change the course of fate of others as I do for you."
"Then how should I reference you? How do I address you under tamed circumstances?" The clone asks.
"By the simplified pronunciation, Yahweh."
"I see then, Yahweh. What tool can you grant me to take on this foreign evil?"
"Step closer and raise the back of your fists to me, my young friend." The elder instructs. The youth does as told, and comes to stand with his hands held parallel to each other. It's then the older gentleman lifts and places his hands over Connor's fists with a gentle grip.
"I bestow upon you the first blessing I have given in over a thousand years. Acknowledge this as my favor of you, and seek only to do good within your journeys." With those words, a shine of radiant light illuminates under his large hands for a moment.
"I grant you the power to purge evil that does not belong. Purify any corruption that stands before you." He declares before releasing Connor's fists.
Though he couldn't feel the difference bestowed upon him, he could see it to some degree. A thin transparent aura flows around his fists. When he turns them around, he sees the usual red shield shapes there were now white. That was all the evidence he needed to be convinced.
"I won't let this assistance go to waste. I'll fix everything and restore normalcy. Thank you for this."
"You're very welcome, Connor. Are you ready to head back, then?"
"Eagerly so." The young man answers, slamming his right fist into his left palm. Determination written all over his face.
And with that, Yahweh steps aside to reveal a door. One that he opens and reveals a shine of light twinkling through.
"Then this doorway shall take you back to where you belong." The elder informs. Squinting, Connor begins walking forward to head through it.
"May you prosper throughout, Connor Luthor." With those parting words, the clone was returned back to his reality.