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SM/DC Chapter 167 : The Light That Devours
🕑 Added 2025-07-04 21:47:17 +0000 UTCOA - HALL OF THE GUARDIANS
The hall was bathed in green luminescence, as always a pure glow of willpower emanating from the architecture itself. Towering columns of crystalline jade stretched into the sky, The floor beneath shimmered faintly, responding to the energy of those who walked across it. In the heart of the room, the Guardians of the Universe hovered in a perfect ring, cloaked in solemn silence.
Hal Jordan stood before them, arms folded, his jaw set. Beside him were Kilowog, Salaak, and Tomar-Re each of them scarred by what they'd just witnessed on Qward, though none spoke of it yet.
Ganthet was the first to break the silence.
“Report,” he said, his voice calm, but edged with a gravity none of them could ignore. “What did you find on Qward?”
Tomar-Re stepped forward slightly, his hand clenched behind his back. “Death,” he said plainly.
A ripple of unease passed through the Guardians, faint but noticeable to those who'd studied them long enough.
“Clarify,” another Guardian prompted, floating closer.
Tomar’s beak moved slowly, as if weighing every word. “The Sinestro Corps… they’re gone. Their stronghold lies in ruin. The presence of the yellow energy of fear itself is absent. It’s as if the very light that sustained that world has been… snuffed out.”
Kilowog growled low under his breath. “Never seen anything like it. Wasn’t a battle more like an execution. It was a mess.”
Hal said nothing. He just stared straight ahead, his thoughts miles away, jaw tense.
One of the Guardians floated forward. “Any other discoveries?”
Hal finally looked up.
“You knew,” he said flatly. “That’s why you sent us, wasn’t it? You felt something. A shift.”
The Guardians exchanged glances, saying nothing which, in itself, was answer enough.
Hal let out a breath. “Then yes. Their central power battery is gone. The Corps is gone. All of it.”
But Tomar-Re shook his head gently. “Not entirely gone.”
He raised his hand and tapped his ring. A projection shimmered into life above them a rotating image of what remained of the Sinestro Corps' power battery. But it was no longer yellow. It pulsed with sickly violet and black hues, twisted, malformed. A corrosion that seemed to grow from within, like a parasite overtaking its host.
The Guardians leaned in, their expressions shifting for the first time. Concern. Even fear.
“Your rings,” one of them asked, voice sharp. “Did they lose power when you approached the corrupted battery?”
The Lanterns exchanged looks. Salaak’s eyes narrowed. Kilowog frowned.
Hal nodded slowly. “Strangely… yes. Just for a moment. It was like something started to absorb our energy.”
No one spoke for a long beat.
Then Ganthet looked at them all with deliberate slowness. “You are dismissed.”
There was no room for argument in his voice.
The Lanterns turned to go, boots echoing on the crystal floor.
But before Hal reached the threshold, Ganthet’s voice called out once more low, but commanding.
“Except you, Hal Jordan.”
Hal stopped.
The others glanced back, briefly, but said nothing. They left the chamber in silence, leaving Hal alone in the glow of the Guardians’ circle.
He turned slowly to face them, eyes steady.
Ganthet floated closer, his expression solemn. “There is more to this than what you saw, isn’t there?”
Hal nodded once. “Yeah. I think so. I think someone’s rewriting the rules of the emotional spectrum.”
“It is that Earthling.”
Hal’s jaw tightened. “I don’t fully understand if he is capable of that, but he was gone, he was taken by the Sinestro Corps and now they are dead. You do the math.”
The Guardians murmured quietly among themselves, and for once, even they seemed unsure.
Then Ganthet spoke again. “There is something you need to know, Hal Jordan.”
Hal narrowed his eyes. “And that is ?”
“Your frustration is understandable,” another Guardian replied, “but this corruption may affect more than just Qward.“
“We suspect,” he said slowly, his voice somber, “that this Earthling… has managed to create something exceedingly dangerous.”
Hal’s brow furrowed.
“The corrupted battery on Qward,” Ganthet continued, “it began draining your ring’s power from a distance. That alone confirms a dreadful hypothesis.”
Another Guardian floated forward, smaller, wizened and blue-skinned like the rest. “It means one thing.”
Hal’s eyes widened, piecing it together. “Is it powered by will?”
“No,” the Guardian answered. “Worse. It is not limited to will.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop, even though Hal knew that was impossible.
Another spoke, more bluntly: “It absorbs or rather, devours the emotional spectrum.”
Hal blinked. “Devours it?”
“Its presence dulls nearby Lanterns’ powers,” Ganthet confirmed, “a null field of sorts… but more than that. It is not simply nullification. It is erosion.”
“It's… it’s like a black hole then,” Hal said slowly, the words clicking in his head. “You’re saying it doesn’t channel emotion. It eats it.”
“Yes,” came the cold response. “It is a void. One that consumes will, rage, fear, love… even death. It is not part of the emotional spectrum it is its antithesis.”
Hal took a step back, shaking his head slightly. “Is it that bad?”
Ganthet met his gaze evenly. “Beyond anything.”
The Guardian continued, his voice a quiet echo that somehow rang louder than shouting.
“This corruption of a central battery… and of the emotional spectrum itself… has tipped the cosmic balance. The act of destroying the Sinestro Corps and replacing it with this… thing... is not just a power shift. It is a destabilization of the universe’s most primal forces.”
Hal let the words hang in the air for a moment. Then scoffed softly. “Fear have been your enemy since before I was born. Parallax had all of you trembling for centuries. Isn't the fact that they’re gone supposed to be good for the universe?”
Silence.
He pressed further. “Are you asking me to…?”
Another Guardian floated forward, his tone harsher, eyes narrow. “Do not question our judgment, Hal Jordan. You have always walked the line between loyalty and defiance. It is not becoming of a Green Lantern.”
Hal’s hands clenched into fists at his side, but he said nothing.
A different voice cut through the air, calmer. “We do not seek the Earthling’s death.”
The oldest of the Guardians finally spoke, voice rough with age. “You are to bring him here. He must hand over his creation.”
Another added: “All of it.. must be destroyed. For the greater good of the universe.”
A heavy pause followed. Hal stared at them all, searching for any sliver of uncertainty, anything behind those emotionless eyes.
He found nothing.
“…That is all,” the final Guardian said, voice cold as judgment.
Hal didn’t respond.
He turned and walked out without another word.
****
GOTHAM - ARTHUR'S BASE –
Arthur sat on the edge of the elevated command platform, his black coat folded on the armrest beside him. The Shadow Corps ring, for now, rested beside an untouched cup of coffee. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, watching Owl work across a curved set of holographic screens.
The shadow of Owlman hunched over the terminal,as he tapped away with unnerving precision. His eyes reflected cascading lines of code and data.
Behind them, Raven stood with arms crossed, leaned casually against one of the cold support pillars. She wasn’t saying anything but her silence was loud.
Finally, she spoke.
“Are you gonna tell me what that was about?” she asked, her tone calm but carrying a steel edge.
Arthur didn’t move. “What?”
Raven raised an eyebrow. “Don’t play dumb.”
He looked over his shoulder, eyes cool, unreadable.
“How we just… left like that,” she pressed. “You dragged me out of there like we were being hunted.”
Arthur shifted slightly, scratching the back of his head. “I needed to check something. Here. That’s all.”
Raven tilted her head, unimpressed by the obvious lie. “Right.”
Owl, without saying a word, spun around in his chair and simply stared at Arthur. Then shook his head slowly, as if disappointed in a particularly dense student.
Arthur exhaled, raking a hand through his hair in resignation. ‘Of course,’ he thought. 'How am I supposed to track one of the Endless…’
Raven blinked. “So what are you looking for now.”
Arthur didn’t answer.
Instead, he leaned back slightly, gaze drifting toward the ceiling. He sighed again, heavier this time a different kind of weight than before. Not frustration. Something closer to fatigue.
“I need a vacation,” he muttered aloud.
Raven blinked again. “Did I hear that right?”
Arthur’s expression didn’t change. “Yes. You did.”
He stood, finally stretching a bit as if shaking off a layer of tension. “And I’m serious this time.”
Raven squinted at him. “You just returned from space. After annihilating an entire Lantern corps and possibly altering the emotional spectrum of the universe. That wasn’t enough excitement?”
Arthur shrugged. “That was...work.”
Comments
Austin Levy
Don't do it hal
