Night had fallen. Kyle walked the campus grounds alone, ignoring the twisting lights of active dorms and partying frats to continue looking at his phone.
He was reading an article published by the Daily Planet. Apparently three months ago, Lex Luthor of LexCorp pledged a billion dollar donation to defense funds for the national guard following the destruction of Coast City…
The problem theirin was, around that same time he'd also begun running for mayor. And every detractor and neighsayer commenting on how unethical that was, suddenly was knee deep in legal trouble.
Or dead.
Perfect time to take out the competition with the justice league gone. Basically all supervillains were going about as they pleased.
Almost too fittingly, Kyle scrolled through the article and got a pop up ad of a venom supply outbreak in small ills that was turning their football games into absolute nightmares.
He was overstimulated. Thankfully— in a way, he'd made it to Dean Alan Scott's office.
The man's sillouette stood unmoving in the top floor window.
"Oh this should be…. normal." Kyle entered.
It was quiet and unsettling. Old. He made his way to the top floor and found the man had returned to his seat.
"Kyle, thank you for coming."
"Hey, man. I owed you." Kyle replied, "Also, where are the lights? Are you trying to give off this creepy vibe or is it just you?"
"Our eyes will need to adjust to the absence of industrial clog once we're in space. This helps. Makes the shift less….. jarring." Alan explained.
"Got ya. And that's what we're doing? Going to space?"
Alan nodded as he sat in his chair behind his desk. "You need exposure, Kyle. You need context. More than what Ganthet has given you."
"Alan…."
"Yes, I know. You have issues on earth you'd like to focus on. Even so, join me. You said it yourself…. I'm owed."
Kyle nodded, "Alright, let's move."
Alan got up, his ring glimmered in the dark like a star. Unblinking and distant. Then the flames came and a wave of energy warbled from the ring. Suddenly he was in a suit that should've been comical, but he made it work.
He wore a purple collared cape, red sweater brandishing the lantern logo and green jeans. The last effect was the conjuration of a purple domino mask.
Kyle suited up.
"Unique. Different from the others. As expected." Alan said as he looked Kyle up and down, "I think that means something….. let's go."
Alan flew out of the window like a jet.
Kyle followed as best he could.
They hit the streets, two green blurs dashing under the streetlights. Then they rose up, making a b-line straight for the clouds. The duo cut through them in a burst of steam and moisture. They didn't stop, breaking free of earths atmosphere soon after.
Kyle's protective aura blinked into existence, providing him with oxygen and warmth against the destructive chill of space.
Ahead of him, Alan floated like they were in water. He drifted, turning to face Kyle as his cape flowed in the absent wind.
"How are you feeling?"
Kyle looked around at the dark expanse, "I'm fine. I'm….. yea, im fine."
"Turn around."
Kyle did, facing earth for the first time. His stomach dropped at the sight of the blue orb. It looked so inconsequential. Like a spinning wet dirt ball. But his world ended there. He lost the love of his life there. He gained ungodly power there. He failed and lived and won and lost. All on the distant ball of dirt, water and clouds.
The sun gleamed behind it, highlighting earths contours and divits. It was both unnaturally beautiful and mundane. Lonely, even.
"This world is only one, but there are many….. with histories intertwined and greatly apart from us." Alan turned Kyle to face the other planets.
"Where are we going?"
"Mars."
Alan took off, moving so fast it looked like he was disappearing or dissolving into pure light.
Kyle followed, pushing the limits of his ring as best he could. With no buildings to worry over hitting and cars to accidentally flip, he reached a new speed.
He traveled just behind Alan, flinching everytime debris and shrapnel from space was atomized against his aura.
Randomly, Alan cut left and sent a blast at an asteroid before returning.
"That would've hit wisconsin…. I think."
Kyle shivered.
They continued traveling, blasting asteroids and fighting the gravitational pull of planets in passing.
Eventually, sooner than Kyle thought possible, they reached Mars.
It was desolate.
A ball of red sand covered in craters and impossibly deep cracks.
"Why here?" Kyle asked, "You looking for martians?" Kyle joked.
Alan nodded. Then, he flew towards Mars.
"Man, wait a damn minute—" Kyle flew after him, not catching up until they entered Mars' atmosphere and dropped low enough to touch the red dunes mid flight.
"Were you serious about the looking for Marian's thing?" Kyle asked.
Alan nodded again.
"I mean….. I'm not going to act surprised that those exist but I'm surprised those exist….. wait a minute— Martian Manhunter!?" Kyle said.
Alan ran his hands through the sand as he flew, "Yes….. but not like Martian Manhunter."
His hand came up holding a skull. Very visible inhuman and full of holes. "He's part of a dying breed you'll soon realize."
Kyle's eyes went wide.
They traveled the lonely expanse of mars until it was lonely no more. Tremors of war shook the ground— he previously assumed they were earthquakes. Then, his ring started picking up heat signatures and energy fluctuations hundreds of miles away.
The planet was tidally locked.
They inhabited the dark side of Mars.
Martians.
Currently at war.
It was….. spectacular.
Massive ships zipped across the skies flinging missiles that hit the sands and bloomed like fireworks left frozen as the heat crystallized the sands. Bodies encased inside were forever frozen in carnage and death.
Children ran from their sandstone village homes missing limbs and scarred from old wars only to die anyway.
"What the hell is this?!" Kyle asked.
"When your tyrants neglected to tell you about the other worlds you Lanterns once guarded, he also neglected to give you the chance to save lives. The White Martians of this planet have stolen and enslaved a race they created centuries ago, known as the White Saturnians. Ganthet never told you this. I won't do the same. There are those that need us, those we owe help to because our forefathers caused this. Do you still wish to play blind, or are you a Green Lantern, protecter of the universe?"
***
In the distance, a white Saturnian child with red eyes ran until her legs gave out. She crashed and tumbled in the heated sands, crying as she wiped the blood of her family from her face— mistaking it for sweat.
Behind her, a monster lurked. Over ten feet tall and strapped with constantly shifting muscle. In a way, it looked similar to her. But twisted and darker and arrogant. Her creators weren't benevolent. Far from it.
The beastial white Martian inhaled her scent of fear, clicking its razor sharp teeth with excitement as its hands shifted into razor bla—
Out of nowhere, a green construct of a metal box with a number pad encased the Martian, interrupting its charge and causing it to face plant into the window of the door.
The young Saturnian flinched as the Martian went berserk inside. The construct never budged.
Eventually, a man in green descended.
She gasped, "Lantern!" She said in her native Saturnian tongue.
He turned to face her, "I'm sorry I'm late…. I…. Uhhh… I'm new."
"AAAAAACKKK!" The Martian roared.
"And YOU are hideous." The Lantern turned back to the captured Martian. "Let's see how you look after three minutes of American ingenuity. On earth we call this a microwave. Here I think we'd just call it your deathbed…. box? Either way, you're cooked."
The lantern approached the box as the Martian screamed and turned on the microwave. When the flames came, he'd already flown her away.
In the distance she could see more green. Great castles and safety zones where Saturnians hid as Martians raged at the impenetrable walls.
She looked up at the lantern carrying her across the skies.
His nose leaked a red fluid and the veins in his neck glowed. He looked down at her and smiled, "What's your name, kid?"
"M'gann—" She clasped a hand over her mouth.
The lanterns ring fizzled under her leg.
"This damn ring— what did you say? The translation is bugging."
"Synassia of Saturn, I'm here to….. mine jewels." She said.
"Well, nice to meet you. My names Kyle Rayner of Earth. I'm here to save you."