บท 228: I Will Go to You Like the First Snow (Part 8)
Suddenly, between two bright moons, he saw a star flickering at him, getting closer and closer, until it transformed into a shooting star with a long, pale tail, streaking across the night.
He sat up suddenly, leaning out to see the meteor, stretching out his fingers toward the night sky as if he could catch that big, dazzling star.
…This was Clark, bringing him a shooting star from the universe.
Though he couldn't catch the meteor, just seeing a shooting star that belonged to him on his birthday was enough to make him happy.
Little Soren joyfully tapped the window frame, chasing the shooting star as it passed by fifteen windows to reach the balcony, where he witnessed the last second of the star falling below the horizon.
He touched the reinforced transparent floor of the balcony with his fingers, as if he could feel the warmth of the star.
…A star that only appeared on his birthday.
Year after year, Clark accompanied Soren as he grew up.
In the year 769 of the universe, Soren was six years old.
In the year 770 of the universe, Soren was seven years old.
In the year 771 of the universe, Soren was eight years old.
In the year 778 of the universe, Soren was fifteen, already a slim young man with a fair, smooth forehead and golden, short, curly hair that cascaded like waves around his ears.
He resembled the Soren that Clark had first encountered.
That year, Soren saw a child surrounded by admirers in the palace.
The child was a few years older, dressed splendidly, and wore an arrogant expression.
When he looked at Soren, his gaze barely brushed over him before he quickly turned away, walking past with a long line of attendants behind him.
…This was the child born of Soren's father and his lover.
He was different from Soren.
Born with his father's favor, he was a child pampered by everyone around him.
Inadvertently, he revealed to Soren the insignia badge from his military academy.
Soren couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy.
Returning to his chambers, he picked up a comic book, flipping through it listlessly.
A few days later, he quietly approached the attendant who had given him a gift on his birthday as a child and told him, "I want to take the entrance exam for the military academy."
The attendant was startled and hesitantly replied, "If you want to attend the military academy, perhaps you could directly summon General Everlock; he'll take care of the arrangements for you…"
Soren shook his head.
"I want to get in on my own," he said.
The attendant looked at him, hesitating to respond—
At that moment, no one believed he could enter the military academy through his own efforts.
Only Clark, standing behind them, smiled at his strong and intelligent star.
He knew Soren could do it.
After saying this, Soren locked the room he had cleared for his comics and dove into the palace library.
In the year 780 of the universe, Soren achieved first place in the entrance exam for the New Earth Military Academy.
When he first entered the school, everyone whispered around him, discussing his deceased mother and his awkward identity.
They all thought that this proud little prince, who was even unwilling to appear in public, was merely indulging in a whim by wanting to attend the military academy for a bit of prestige.
But they didn't expect—
In the year 781 of the universe, Soren achieved straight A's in his final exams, making everyone who had previously mocked him swallow their words.
From that point on, no one doubted that he had entered the military academy through privilege.
In the year 784 of the universe, the insectoid species invaded the galaxy.
New Earth faced an unprecedented threat, and during the imperial draft, Soren was the first to sign up for the military, stepping onto the front lines and becoming the first sharp blade of the Galactic Intelligent Life Alliance against the zerg.
In 786, Soren's squad engaged in fierce defensive combat against a zerg ambush, and the commanding officers at the rear base believed they wouldn't survive.
Yet, days later, Soren returned to the distant star defense base with his team.
That year, Soren was promoted to the rank of major.
In 798, Soren officially became the commander of the M52 distant star defense base.
On his birthday, he received a gift from Lambard Calowise, an antique digital dragon that had long been out of production.
And on that very day—
The zergs opened the Einstein-Rosen bridge within the black hole, and to cut off the endless reinforcements of the zergs, he flew solo into the black hole, carrying a gravitational field generator.
…And then everything about him was changed.
The one who brought Soren to another world was actually Clark, not Dr. Manhattan.
The mass and pressure of the black hole transformed Soren's soul into a diamond, and Clark found this precious, one-of-a-kind diamond in the entire universe, taking it across the cosmos to Kansas in 1992.
So—
On May 23, 1992, a meteor streaked across the cobalt blue sky of Kansas.
A white kitten woke up from the grass.
A little boy, who had been playing with toys on the balcony, heard a faint, imperceptible sound of air exploding in the atmosphere.
This black-haired, blue-eyed boy turned his head to look toward the darkness on the hillside.
Out of curiosity, he decided to see what was happening over there.
He quietly jumped off the balcony and ran toward the low hill.
…There, he saw a kitten destined to meet him.
On October 7, 1993, the boy held his kitten while chasing a mutated werewolf through the night.
Clark soared into the sky, pushing the boy's bicycle over a ditch in the moonlight.
On the last day of December 1994, the kitten that had been with the little boy for two years left him.
The little boy cried bitterly; it was this kitten that made him understand what death truly meant for the first time.
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