Illusiveone
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21: Marvel's Green Lantern, The Revengers pt.3
🕑 Added 2025-07-26 19:36:45 +0000 UTCEn Sabah Nur stood silently, arms folded, watching the Green Lantern stare into the emerald glow hovering before him. Within it flickered images of icy plains visions conjured by the ring’s arcane power. It was the frozen land they had visited not too long ago in search of the Lantern’s friend.
The Lantern spoke aloud, though no one else could hear the voice that answered him.
“So… nothing?”
There was a pause. Nur had grown familiar with these silences; the oracle within the ring, the one named Jade, was speaking to him. The Lantern had explained that much.
“Damn it,” the Lantern muttered, frustration curling his voice as the projection fizzled out.
Nur tilted his head, arms still crossed. “Your friend,” he said slowly, “is still trapped in the underworld?”
The Lantern let out a dry laugh. “Underworld? Ha! That would be preferable. No… he’s in Hell or whatever Mephisto calls it.” His jaw tightened. “He can handle himself, him and the other person he is trapped there with but I still need to find a way to pull them out.”
Nur simply nodded
In the month they’d spent traveling together across the north, he had come to learn much from the Lantern. The man from the stars had revealed strange things to him—of evolution, of genetics, of a future shaped by beings like him. Nur hadn’t understood the words at first; their meaning was alien. But over time, he grasped their core:
He and others like him, yet to come, were the future of humanity.
But that future remained locked inside him.
The Lantern insisted Nur’s true power hadn’t awakened that it could, if only he could push past the invisible wall within himself. For a month, that had become the Lantern’s mission: to light a fire that refused to catch.
The power still slept, buried deep within him, and Nur hated that he felt weak. Strength was everything. That had been the truth En Sabah Nur was raised on the law of the desert, the word of Baal.
He had assumed the Lantern shared his creed. How could someone so powerful not believe in the supremacy of strength? Yet to his surprise, the Lantern disagreed on nearly every point.
A man who could move mountains with a thought, fly across the stars, and battle gods spoke of restraint of using power not to dominate but to protect, not to purge the weak but to guide them. For Nur, that was difficult to accept. And yet, during the month they’d traveled together, he found himself re‑evaluating. Baal’s teachings still echoed in his mind, but they were no longer the only voice.
He was pulled from his thoughts when the Lantern suddenly spoke.
“This Neheb”he nodded toward a green projection hovering before them, a blur racing across the Delta “so his power is speed?”
Nur nodded. “He calls himself the fastest man alive.”
The Lantern laughed. “Oh, really? I’ll have to see that for myself.”
His amusement faded into something more earnest. “Listen, I know we haven’t made much progress waking up your powers.”
“No,” Nur said flatly. “Because they aren’t there.”
The Lantern raised a calming hand. “Just hear me out. Maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong.”
Nur narrowed his eyes. “Wrong how?”
“Trust me.” He pointed to a jagged rock formation, a wide, sun‑bleached boulder jutting from the sand. “Let’s try something different. Your powers are rooted in matter and energy manipulation. If I’m right, you can turn that boulder to dust.”
Nur glanced at the rock, unimpressed. “You’ve said this before.”
“Yeah, but this time I want you to focus on something specific: a memory.”
“A memory?”
“Your happiest one.”
Nur scoffed. “How will that help?”
The Lantern shrugged. “Call it a theory. Emotions are powerful, I mean look at me.”
Nur frowned, silent.
“Take your time,” the Lantern urged. “Think about it. The happiest memory you have.”
Nur turned slightly away. “I have none.”
“Are you sure?” the Lantern asked gently. “Everyone has at least one.”
Nur’s jaw tightened. “We should be moving. Scorpion is holed up in the temple, and Neheb grows bolder by the hour.”
Nur saw it in the Lantern’s eyes; he wasn't going to let this go.
With a quiet sigh, he closed his eyes, pushed away the present, and turned inward into memory.
“Think and find it,” the Lantern’s voice said softly. “Focus on it.”
He reached back into childhood, searching.
Then… there it was.
A sun‑drenched day in the high dunes: he was barely more than a boy, taken on his first hunt by Baal. They tracked ibex. Nur missed every arrow at first, his hands trembling, his aim poor. He had expected Baal’s fury, but instead Baal crouched beside him, guiding his hand, steadying his arm.
On the third try, the arrow flew true; the ibex fell.
He remembered the surge of joy, disbelief and pride mingling in his chest. Instinctively he turned to Baal and embraced him.
And Baal… hugged him back.
A rare show of affection one of the only times he could remember being shown affection like that, being loved.
A faint, unconscious smile tugged at his lips.
“Now your worst,” the Lantern said.
The smile vanished.
The scene shifted violently: the smell of blood, screams, fire tearing through tents, Rama‑Tut’s soldiers descending on their camp. Nur fought, but they were too many. Baal was cut down before his eyes.
He had been helpless.
The agony of that moment fused with the earlier joy; the memories collided, overlapping love and loss, hope and horror.
Something flared inside him. A spark.
His heart pounded. He felt… something rushing, swelling a pressure behind his ribs, surging up his spine.
“Holy shit,” the Lantern whispered, awe in his voice.
Nur opened his eyes.
Rocks floated. Boulders hung in mid‑air all around him, and the ground trembled with invisible force.
He turned to the boulder the Lantern had indicated, narrowed his eyes, and focused.
The boulder shivered, then crumbled into sand.
The other rocks followed dozens of them dissolving in mid‑air, becoming sand and dust.
The Lantern whooped with delight. “You did it! You actually—!”
But Nur didn’t stop. He couldn’t.
The sand around them began to swirl unnaturally, pulled into chaotic spirals. The very earth groaned beneath their feet. Nur’s eyes blazed with light, yet his hands trembled.
“Control it!” the Lantern shouted. “Control it, Nur!”
“I… I don’t know how!” Nur gasped, staggering as the power poured through him wild and unbound.
The wind whipped faster; a storm formed in seconds, fed by a torrent of energy he could not command.
“Sorry about this,” the Lantern muttered.
Nur barely registered the emerald flash before pain exploded in his head and darkness swallowed him whole.
========
En Sabah Nur opened his eyes with a sharp gasp. He sat up quickly, muscles tense, as the memories rushed back—awakening his hidden power, wielding it, then losing control.
Across from him stood the Lantern, wearing a broad grin.
“Sorry about knocking you out buddy,” he said lightly.
Nur smiled. The power the Lantern had insisted lay dormant within him was real. He had awakened it. Even if it had slipped beyond his control, it was undeniably his.
He rose to his feet, fists clenching with a blend of joy and awe. “I did it.”
The Lantern nodded, still smiling. “Yes, you did, my friend.”
Nur drew a steady breath and reached out with his mind.
The sand beneath them quivered, then lifted gracefully, spiraling in controlled streams around his arms. He moved his hand, and the grains flowed like extensions of his thoughts. They obeyed him easily.
“Look at that,” the Lantern said. “It’s already second nature to you.”
Nur couldn’t suppress the grin spreading across his face. “Yes… yes.”
The Lantern folded his arms. “This is only the beginning. You’ll be able to do so much more. But what you choose to do with that power that’s what matters. The choice is yours.”
Nur’s expression hardened. “For now the choice is clear: kill Rama‑Tut.”
The Lantern gave a slow nod. They spent the next few days perfecting his newfound abilities while tracking Neheb’s movements. When they saw Neheb closing in on Scorpion and the desert clans, the Lantern decided it was time to act. He wanted Nur to defeat Neheb in front of them a demonstration of his newfound strength.
They traveled swiftly through the swampy marshes, a green construct sphere carrying them above murky waters and half‑sunken reed huts. Soon the Temple of Ra where the clans had taken refuge loomed on the horizon.
“Is Neheb close?” Nur asked inside the glowing orb.
“Yes,” the Lantern replied.
“I’ll handle the army,” he added. “You take Neheb.”
Nur’s eyes narrowed, and a savage grin crept across his face. “Oh… I plan to.”
=====
They arrived just as Neheb and his army reached the temple. The emerald construct descended like a meteor. Inside, Nur’s eyes locked on the chaos below.
Two armies had already formed their lines: on one side, Rama‑Tut’s three‑thousand disciplined soldiers armored, orderly, wielding weapons that glowed with strange power; on the other, a disorganized host of nomad warriors led by the Scorpion.
The construct split open, and Nur dropped from the sky, slamming into the sand and dirt between the forces; the Lantern landed a heartbeat later.
Ahead, at the vanguard of Tut’s army, stood Neheb the self‑proclaimed fastest man alive.
“Are you sure?” the Lantern asked.
“Yes,” Nur replied coldly, never taking his eyes off his target. “He’s mine.”
The Lantern nodded and shot back into the air. As he ascended, emerald constructs coalesced into giant beasts that charged Rama‑Tut’s soldiers with unrelenting force.
Neheb dodged the green monsters and sprinted straight for Nur. The first blow hit like a battering ram: Neheb slammed into him at full speed, hurling Nur backward and skidding him across the sand.
Nur’s breath left him, but not his focus. Gritting his teeth, he looked up to see Neheb pivot, ready to dash toward the Lantern, who hovered overhead, firing emerald blasts into the ranks below.
Nur thrust out his hand. An unseen force snapped around the speedster, freezing him mid‑stride. Neheb strained and quivered, but his limbs refused to obey. With a flick of Nur’s wrist, the man was ripped free and slammed hard into the sand.
Neheb sprang upright, seething. “What god granted you such power?!”
“My power is my own,” Nur said, eyes aglow. “I bow to no one.”
He raised both arms.
The earth answered.
Sand whipped up around Neheb in a tightening cyclone. He tried to bolt, but the ground clutched his legs and dragged him down. Panic flashed across his face.
Nur’s fingers twitched, and the sand poured into Neheb’s mouth, nose, and ears. The speedster gagged and thrashed then shuddered, fell still, and lay twisted and bloated, lifeless.
Nur exhaled, fists still clenched, and looked up. Across the field, the Lantern’s emerald beasts towered over a shattered enemy line; Rama‑Tut’s soldiers were already in retreat. Nur turned toward the Scorpion and the assembled clans, all watching in stunned silence.
It was time for him to reclaim his army.
======
En Sabah Nur strode toward the nomad leaders. Scorpion and the other chiefs had already dismounted from their horses and camels and stood waiting for him. Women, children, and elders spilled from the temple to watch.
“Scorpion,” Nur called.
“En Sabah Nur…” Scorpion answered, voice tight with fear, fingers trembling on the hilt of his blade.
“You know why I’m here,” Nur said as he drew closer.
“I do,” Scorpion replied, drawing his sword. “Which god granted you such power, En Sabah Nur?” he asked, almost in awe.
Every warrior fixed his gaze on Nur, waiting for the answer.
“None,” Nur said. “No god grants me power. You all know I hold no love for them—yet I have allied with them, against our great enemy.”
A murmur rippled through the ranks.
Scorpion started to speak, but Nur raised a hand.
“I understand why you did what you did,” Nur continued. “When I was captured, you saw an opportunity and took command. You did not harm my clan when they refused to join you; you left them in peace. For that, you have my respect.
“I do not wish to fight you for leadership, Scorpion.”
Silence fell, heavy and expectant.
“I need you,” Nur said. “I know I failed you all when I was captured, but I have returned. We need each other. Rama‑Tut’s final days are upon us but only if we stand together as one.
“We are the children of the sands, the fire beneath the false pharaoh’s throne. We are the blade that will cut him down. Join me, and together we will end this tyrant’s reign!”
For a heartbeat, no one moved. Then Scorpion raised his sword. “En Sabah Nur!”
Another warrior echoed him. “En Sabah Nur!”
And another: “En Sabah Nur!”
Soon the entire host chanted his name, louder and louder, until the desert rang with it.
“En Sabah Nur!”
“En Sabah Nur!”
“En Sabah Nur!”
A streak of green light shot down from the heavens and touched down beside Nur. The Lantern stepped out of the glow, startling everyone only moments before they had watched him summon giant emerald beasts to rout Rama‑Tut’s army, so their reaction was understandable.
Some warriors murmured; others whispered, “Is that a god?”
Nur turned and met his friend’s eyes. The Lantern gave a small, approving grin.
“You did well,” he said.
Nur returned the smile. A month ago he would never have imagined things unfolding this way, but he was glad they had and it was all thanks to the Lantern.
=====
En Sabah Nur stood at the edge of the camp, a hive of activity as warriors packed supplies and struck tents. He had named Scorpion his second‑in‑command and, following the Lantern’s counsel, reorganized both the chain of command and the army’s composition.
“I will join the other rebels,” Nur said, looking up at the Lantern, who hovered a few feet above the ground. “The champions of the gods are gathering in Pe, and I will lead my army there. Afterward, I’ll make my way to the sanctuary, as the Moon God asked.”
The Lantern nodded. “Good. Just remember use your powers sparingly for now. Ease into them; you don’t want to lose control again.”
“It is as you said,” Nur replied calmly. “The rest is up to me. I will follow your advice.”
He paused, then added in a quieter voice, “Thank you. For everything.”
The Lantern tilted his head, a teasing grin forming. “Oh? Is the great, stone‑faced En Sabah Nur getting emotional?”
Nur’s face hardened at once. “No.”
Then, unexpectedly, a small smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “I meant it, Lantern.”
“Well,” the Lantern said, rising higher, “I’m off to Wakanda.”
Nur gave a firm nod. “Then return with victory.”
The Lantern saluted. “You as well, my friend.” With that, he soared skyward an emerald comet streaking across the dawn.
Nur watched the green trail until it vanished beyond the horizon.
Footsteps approached behind him Scorpion and several clan war‑leaders.
“That was a god, wasn’t it?” Scorpion asked, awe still clinging to his voice.
Nur chuckled. “If he is… he’s far better than the ones we’ve known.”
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Comments
Tyler Karp
Thank you for the chapter
