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PLANET OA — THE HALL OF THE GUARDIANS
The chamber was a cathedral of emerald light, its towering pillars pulsing faintly with the heartbeat of the Central Power Battery. Above the great floor, where the universe's greatest strategists had convened for millennia, the Guardians of the Universe floated in a circle silent for a long moment, their small forms shrouded in the endless authority of their ancient presence.
Scar's eyes glimmered with a predatory glint as she broke the stillness.
"The Sinestro Corps is no more," she said, her voice low, carrying the weight of an executioner's verdict. "Annihilated… by a single mortal."
A faint ripple of disquiet passed through the Guardians.
Another Guardian, his blue eyes narrowing, spoke with the precise cadence of someone forcing composure.
"And now we hear whispers of the Red Lanterns suffering the same fate more or less. Even Atrocitus is dead… erased from existence. If these reports are true, the threat is beyond precedent now."
Ganthet's face was calm, but there was a tightening around his eyes.
"They are true," he said, his voice steady. "The Shadow Lantern, this 'Arthur Blackwynd' absorbs the spectrum itself. Sinestro's rings… the crimson rage… all taken, consumed. Yet a fight against him seems like an impossible feat right now, whether on earth or here in Oa."
Scar floated closer, her robes stirring faintly in the emerald radiance.
"Yet we must. To do nothing is to invite ruin. He cannot be allowed to roam free. Here, we have the Sciencells. Containment is possible. Subdual is necessary."
A Guardian to her right shook his head minutely.
"Containment is theoretical at best. To strike him outright risks not only our Lanterns but the Battery itself if his abilities… escalate."
Ganthet's voice was sharper now, though still carrying that measured wisdom.
"He has defeated the entirety of the Sinestro Corps. This may sound like a suicide mission, but with refinement, a carefully calculated strike we can create a plan that works around his capabilities. Success is not impossible."
Scar's eyes fixed on him.
"Then you agree. mobilization is necessary."
There was a long silence. The Guardians rarely acted on emotion, but this moment was weighed down by something heavier than caution it was the quiet knowledge that they were deciding the fate of thousands of their own.
At last, Ganthet inclined his head.
"If we commit to this course… it will be the elite of the elite. Lanterns whose willpower eclipses fear itself."
Scar's voice softened, almost reassuring.
"Naturally. And we keep this from the humans. Especially Hal Jordan since he is part of that band of humans on earth, they will act against our Lanterns."
One by one, the Guardians gave the faintest nods of assent. A decision had been made. The orders would go out.
Scar's lips curled ever so slightly, though none noticed. Inside, her thoughts coiled around themselves like serpents.
'Fools… all of you.'
'Your champions will fall. They will die in emerald light, and in death, they will rise again black rings upon their fingers, their will now bound to the true balance of the universe.' 'Nekron's balance... And the Shadow Lantern… oh, he will help us raise the Corps of death. Whether he wishes to or not.'
She turned away, her eye gleaming with quiet hunger.
All according to her plan.
****
EARTH –
The world slept beneath a shroud of clouds.
Moonlight spilled in fractured beams between them, turning the snow-capped mountain peak into pale bones jutting from the earth.
Upon one lonely summit, a man knelt by a shallow pool formed from the melted ice. His gaunt face leaned closer to the still water, and the reflection that stared back at him was not entirely his own. The skin was gray and drawn tight across the skull, as though decay had already claimed him. One eye clouded, the other rimmed in black. A faint stench of rot drifted upward though there was no corpse, save for the one in the mirror.
William Hand's voice broke the silence, hoarse, cracked, trembling.
"What… is this?" His fingers brushed the surface, ripples warping the dead man's grin in the water. "I… should be dead."
A faint pulse of light flared at his hand the black ring resting on his finger shimmered, its glow barely alive. His gaze fixed on it, confusion giving way to something darker.
"Is this… my destiny?"
Then, the night itself seemed to draw a breath. The wind stopped. The pool stilled. The stars above dimmed, as though something vast and cold had eclipsed them from beyond the veil of existence. And from the ring, a voice seeped not spoken, but felt, each word crawling through the marrow of his bones.
It was the voice of Nekron.
"William Hand…" it began, a sound like soil falling upon a coffin lid.
"You have always been bound to the grave. While others feared the end, you cradled it, studied it, loved it. Death was not your obsession, it was your truth. Your sanctuary. Your home."
The reflection in the water shifted, not rotting now, but skeletal, crowned in shadow, its hollow sockets staring into his very being.
"This is why you were chosen," the voice continued, heavy with inevitability. "Not merely to serve, but to herald. You are my instrument, my whisper in the dark, my scalpel to cut away the cancer of life. You are the first to rise… and when the time comes, you will lead the last army the universe will ever know."
William's breath quickened, the sound harsh in the thin air.
"Why me…? Why now?"
"Because the lights grow arrogant, blind… and weak," Nekron murmured, the words swelling like a tide. "Their wars have fractured the spectrum. Their corps lie weakened. But our time is not yet. You will remain unseen, buried among shadows, while the living tear themselves apart. When their strength is gone, and their hope lies bleeding in the dust… then you will open the grave."
A pause, deep as the gulf between stars.
"And the Blackest Night will fall."
The pool's reflection smiled first a slow, hungry curl of the lips before William's own face followed. The faint ember of the black ring flared bright, casting skeletal shadows across the rock. His eyes shone with cold devotion.
"Yes…" he whispered, his voice trembling with something between reverence and madness. "I understand."
****
GOTHAM – ARTHUR'S ESTATE
A faint orange glow from the fireplace danced against the walls, painting shadows over the shelves lined with books, strange relics, and the occasional stuff Arthur had yet to categorize.
Kara sat cross-legged on the couch, leaning forward as she recounted some story about her patrol, something about a bank robbery, and her rescuing a cat from a burning rooftop. Arthur listened with a half-smirk, leaning back in his chair, one arm draped lazily over the armrest. He held a glass of water in his free hand, swirling it absentmindedly, clearly more interested in the way she told the story than in the story itself.
"…and then the guy actually yelled, 'You'll never catch me!' while I was already holding him by the back of his shirt," Kara finished, shaking her head with a grin.
Arthur chuckled a low, amused sound and opened his mouth to reply. But the laugh caught in his throat.
His eyes suddenly flared open. A pulse of deep, blue light rippled across his irises, burning with a menacing glow that turned the warm room cold in an instant. The smile was gone. His jaw tightened. Every line of his body stilled, like a predator catching a scent on the wind.
Kara's expression shifted from amusement to concern in a heartbeat. She sat up straighter, scanning his face. "What's wrong?"
Arthur exhaled slowly through his nose, the air heavy with restrained anger. His free hand rose to his head, fingers raking through his hair in agitation. For a moment, he didn't answer his gaze fixed on something far beyond the walls of the room, as though he were seeing events unfold in some distant corner of the universe.
Finally, he let out a short, bitter laugh that held no humor. "The fools…"
The word dripped with quiet menace.
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want