Sunday, November 8, 2015

DCU: The Society - Chapter 01

1931 - Sol System, Somewhere between Earth and Mars


Hal Jordan crash landed on the moon, his body skipping and sliding across its surface until it came to a merciful stop. The ring's shielding protected him somewhat, but he felt serious damage done to him from the blast of yellow power that hit him. Hal looked over his shoulder and saw the Earth, his Earth. The planet that he was so desperate to protect. His ring was losing power quickly, the yellow energy that Sinestro had harvested sapped the power from his ring. It was an insidious weapon for someone who was once a Green Lantern to use against his former friends.

Blood trickled down his face from underneath his emerald mask. He was bruised, bleeding and exhausted. If his power ring failed, the protective shield would disappear and Hal Jordan would die in the cold vacuum of space. Fortunately, he was prepared. Hal took off and flew over the surface of his home planet's moon to find a particular crater.

The Green Lantern Corps was in a desperate and ugly battle with the Sinestro Corps that started just above Mars and had been working its way closer to Earth. Many Green Lanterns had already died, but Killowog and Tomar-Re pushed the line of Green Lanterns forward. The tide of battle had turned against the Sinestro Corps. Their ranks were breaking, yellow rings were dropping at an increasing speed. Seeing this clearly, Gleen turned toward Sinestro and pleaded with him.

"We are undone," Gleen shouted. "Retreat now, while we still have a chance!"

"No," Sinestro growled. The Earth was now in sight, he could see the blue jewel of the Sol System for himself. The sight of it only increased his lust for bloodshed. "Abin Sur died on that planet for a reason. He knew the Gaurdians were hiding something on that planet and I'm going to find out what it is."

"Sinestro, we're dying!"

Sinestro whipped his head towards Gleen, his eyes maniacal and bloodshot. "So die!" he roared. When Gleen shrank back a bit, Sinestro's mad gaze returned to the Earth. "I am not undone yet. Bring me the Jewel of Parallax."

"You're...you're mad," Gleen whispered.

"No Gleen, I am determined."

Unsure of what else to do, Gleen simply nodded and did as he was ordered. Sinestro had harvested the power of Parallax to help create the yellow power rings they used to battle the Green Lanterns. The Weaponers of Qward had fashioned him his rings from this power, but they created an ultimate weapon with the excess of the yellow energy siphoned from Parallax. A single, yellow jewel that contained the more unstable elements of Parallax's power. A final weapon that only a mad man would dare use.

***

Scanning the surface of the moon, Hal Jordan had found the crater that he was looking for. He flew into the cavern where he kept a spare battery. The shape and color of the battery is where the Green Lanterns had gotten their name from. He took the battery and started recharging his ring when Salakk's voice started coming through.

"Jordan," Salakk said as his green image appeared and hovered over Hal's ring. "I'm getting some strange readings here. Whatever energy that Sinestro used to make his yellow rings, there has been a massive spike of it just over Mars. It's highly unstable and is warping space and time. Jordan, whatever Sinestro is doing right now, its going to consume the entire system and everything in it."

"How do I stop it?" Jordan asked.

"I have no idea," Salakk admitted. "I have never seen anything like this before. I've been checking the archives but I'm coming up with nothing. The instability is being generated from a single, fixed point no bigger than the palm of a human hand. Hit that thing with everything you got and maybe it will shut it down."

"Are you sure?"

"Not at all," Salakk said. "But we don't have much of a choice. Get going now, Jordan. You have seconds before this thing goes critical."

Hal Jordan took his battery and flew out of the moon crater. He replenished his ring as he flew back towards Mars. The speed of the Green Lantern ring brought him to Mars within seconds. Over Mars was swirling, yellow mass of madness almost as large as the planet itself. Underneath it, was Sinestro holding what appeared to be a yellow jewel over his head.

"What are you doing, Sinestro?" Hal yelled out.

"Winning the war," Sinestro replied coldly.

"Stop this madness," Hal begged. "This is not what Abin Sur would have wanted."

"This isn't about Abin Sur anymore," Sinestro said. "This about the truth that the Guardians have kept from us. The truth that Abin Sur and others have died for. They would send their own to be slaughtered, rather than letting the truth into the light. Then, they have the audacity to call me mad!"

"You'll kill us all!"

"Perhaps, Jordan. However, the sin of blood will be on the Guardian's hands, not mine."

Hal Jordan couldn't waste anymore time trying to bring Sinestro back to reason. Hal rushed forward, holding his battery out in front of him. Killowog, Tomar-Re and the remaining Green Lanterns flanked his sides in one final push. Hal saw the glimmer of the yellow jewel in Sinestro's hand. He put his power ring against the battery and pointed the other end at the jewel in Sinestro's grip.

"In brightest day, in blackest night," Hal began to chant. He began to push his ring's power back into the battery. "No evil shall escape my sight. Let all who worship evil's might, fear my power..."

The sudden influx of power caused the battery to overload. It started glow and rumble.

"Green Lantern's light."

Overloaded, Hal Jordan's battery let out a beam of pure green energy. It shot across the dark void of space and struck the Jewel of Parallax. Sinestro screamed and let go of the jewel, the force of the green energy sending him rocketing back towards Jupiter. The other Green Lanterns broke off from formation while Hal Jordan continued flying forward, blasting the yellow jewel with all of the energy that he could. The yellow, spiral of madness contracted suddenly back into the jewel. Hal Jordan continued to push forward, blasting the jewel until it finally exploded in a yellow mass.

Tomar-Re and Killowog watched in horror as Hal Jordan's body was disintegrated by the blast. His ring and lantern was sucked into the implosion that followed the initial blast. Calm had returned to the void of space over Mars, as if nothing had happened. The ring and lantern had vanished from the known universe.

852 B.C.E. - Kahndaq, Earth


A shepherd had stepped out of his tent to take in the night's air. The moon was full and bright, the stars sparkled in their brilliance. He leaned on his staff and admired them for a few minutes. He liked to do that each night before bed. However, something strange had caught his eye. A green comet that flashed across the heavens and smashed into the earth just over the horizon.

The shepherd got onto his camel and rode out towards the direction of the comet. He came upon a blasted dune of sand. Climbing off his camel, he looked over the ground. He saw something glimmer in the moonlight. He moved quickly towards it and pulled an emerald ring from the sand. Then, the shepherd noticed something else. From the sand he pulled out a strange lantern that had a feint, green glow inside.

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