"Really?" Max asked. "That is the name you chose?"
He lay across a large couch in the living room of his palace, one leg hanging over the armrest. Beyond the tall windows, the mountains surrounding his home, or the Great Mountain of Ion, as it was now being called, rose beneath the world's many-colored sky.
Feanor sat opposite him.
The elected leader of the Oans maintained a solemn expression.
"Ionith," Max repeated.
Feanor nodded. "It was the name of the city built by my clan. I spoke with the leaders of the other nine clans, and they agreed it would be a fitting name for the great city now rising beneath your guidance."
The Oans had divided themselves into ten broad clans. Max and Veridion had awakened ten groups of ten thousand across different regions of Oa. By the time they found their way to the Central Power Battery, each group had developed its own customs, dialects, and forms of dress. Some built cities of white stone. Others preferred homes grown within living forests. One clan favored enormous towers, while another had asked permission to build underground.
Those differences had caused disagreements, but no serious conflict. Whatever separated the clans, they shared a reverence for the being they considered their creator.
"If the new city is called Ionith," Max said, "won't there be two Ioniths?"
"Not anymore."
Max raised his head.
"Two years ago, several of us returned to the Silver Forest with Lady Jade's assistance," Feanor explained. "We wished to learn how those who remained behind had fared."
"They renamed the city," Feanor continued. "It is now called Caranthia, in honor of Caranthir."
"Oh."
Max knew Caranthir. The quiet Oan had become the leader of what some referred to as the unofficial eleventh clan. The name was rarely spoken among the ten official clans, mostly because its existence reminded them that not every Oan had chosen to seek out their creator.
"Does Caranthir still rule from there?" he asked.
"No. He moved north some years ago. He now lives near the settlement being constructed in the northern mountains."
Max rose from the couch.
Feanor stood with him.
With a movement of his hand, Max created a large construct display in the center of the room. A map of Oa appeared within it.
He expanded the equatorial region.
The Central Power Battery stood at its heart, surrounded by a protected territory with a radius of nearly one thousand miles. Veridion had named it the Battery Territory, which remained its official name. The Oans, with their talent for making everything sound better, preferred the Emerald Sanctum.
From space, the entire region glowed green. Energy conduits ran beneath the surface in vast, circuit-like patterns, carrying power between the Battery and the systems buried underground. A transparent shield covered the outer edge of the circular territory. No one crossed that shield without permission.
Only Max, Veridion, Jade, and selected Oans could enter freely. Even the Vigilants required Veridion's direct authorization.
Max looked toward the edges of the circle, where four cities were being constructed along the outer boundary.
Ionith stood to the north. It would become the largest city on Oa and the capital of the system, housing the Oan government, the administrative institutions of the Corps, and the largest civilian population near the Battery.
Nearly two thousand miles south stood Castanor. Eregion lay to the east, while Aulendur occupied the west. Each city had been designed according to the traditions of several Oan clans rather than belonging to any one of them.
High-speed transit lines followed the boundary of the Battery Territory, linking all four cities in a single ring. Despite the distances involved, journeys between them took only minutes. Additional lines would eventually connect the cities to settlements across the rest of Oa.
Max collapsed the display.
"So the capital will be Ionith."
"If you approve."
"I suppose it's better than calling it Ion City."
Feanor looked thoughtful. "That was considered, and many voted for it."
'Okay, maybe these people are becoming a little too obsessed with me,' Max thought as he walked toward the windows.
Thousands of Oans were assembling outside. The grounds below his residence extended toward a broad ceremonial plaza. Green and white banners hung from the surrounding towers, each carrying the symbol of the Green Lantern Corps.
"It's time," he said.
He turned away and exited the room.
Feanor followed him as they crossed the palace. As they walked, Jade's voice spoke inside Max's mind
"The rings have completed all diagnostic procedures. Energy connections are stable. Translation systems, environmental protection, emergency functions, and bearer-evaluation protocols have been tested. Each artificial intelligence is responsive."
"So your children are ready. I hope you taught them well, Jade."
Jade remained silent. Then her presence withdrew from his mind.
Max laughed as he and Feanor emerged onto the upper terrace.
The noise struck them immediately.
Oans filled the plaza below and spread across the surrounding hills. Tens of thousands had traveled to the Mountains of Ion and entered the Valley of Will for the ceremony. Families stood beneath temporary pavilions, while musicians from all ten clans played along the broad avenues leading toward the platform.
Many more watched from Ionith, Castanor, Eregion, Aulendur, settlements across Oa, and the other planets in the system. Celebrations had begun everywhere the previous day.
Max created a floating platform construct and stepped onto it. Feanor joined him, and together they descended toward the ceremonial grounds.
Veridion floated high above the plaza. He had made himself larger than usual as he watched the event unfold.
The Vigilants surrounded him. Several hundred androids hovered in disciplined formations, their pale metallic bodies illuminated by green energy. Others stood along the perimeter of the gathering, watching the crowd through their single glowing lenses.
Max frowned at the sight.
So far, nothing had gone wrong. The Vigilants had saved lives across thousands upon thousands of worlds.
The universe had become familiar with them.
More importantly, it knew the symbol they carried. When the first Green Lanterns appeared, many worlds would recognize them as members of the same organization. That reputation might prevent frightened governments from mistaking the Lanterns for invaders.
Veridion had been right about that much, but Max still expected something to go catastrophically wrong eventually.
He landed at the center of the plaza.
Emerald light spread beneath his feet and formed a raised platform. Feanor stepped away to join the leaders of the other clans.
The cheering grew louder.
"Great Ion!"
The name rolled through the plaza from thousands of voices.
Max raised one hand.
The sound gradually faded.
He looked across the crowd.
The Oans stared back at him with pride, excitement, and reverence.
"Today is a great day."
His voice traveled beyond the plaza, carried to every settlement in the Oan system.
"It is not a great day because we have won something."
The plaza stilled.
"I have lived a long time. Longer than this star has burned. Longer than the ground beneath your feet has existed. In that time I have watched more worlds die than there are people gathered here today, and I could not save most of them. The dark did not wait for me to arrive."
"That is why we are here. Not to celebrate. To answer a question that has been asked in the dark since the first living thing looked up and was afraid."
His voice dropped, and somehow it carried further.
"When I call for help will anyone come?"
"For most of the history of this universe, the answer has been no. Not because no one cared. Because no one could reach that far. One person cannot hold the sky up. I have tried. I know exactly how heavy it is, and I know exactly where my arms give out."
Images appeared above the plaza, showing Max acting as a hero whenever he could throughout the billions of years since he had awakened in the distant past.
The crowd became completely silent.
"That is why Veridion and I began this great work. We built a star. We built Oa and the worlds around it. We created the Great Battery and forged the power rings. Now, with the help of all of you, we have finally completed it."
"Soon, those rings will be sent out so they may choose their bearers."
"The Green Lantern Corps will not exist to conquer. It will not rule worlds, choose their governments, or force civilizations to live according to our beliefs. A Lantern is not a king."
"A Lantern is a guardian."
Max's voice strengthened as he glanced toward the Oans.
"You will be part of that work."
The crowd stirred.
"Oa will be the heart of the Corps, and you will be its strength."
"And perhaps some of you will wear the rings yourselves."
Excited voices spread through the crowd.
"Who knows?" Max asked. "A ring may choose a warrior. It may choose a scholar. It may choose someone who has never fought in their life. Courage does not belong to one kind of person, and will cannot be measured by strength alone."
He raised his hand toward the sky.
"The rings will decide."
A beam of emerald light rose into the heavens.
It split into one hundred smaller lights, each circling above the plaza until the formation resembled a vast green constellation. The Oans looked upward as the rings descended through the atmosphere and stopped above Max.
"From this day onward, there will be lights in the darkness."
The rings brightened.
"Defenders of life."
Green energy rolled across the plaza.
"Guardians chosen for their ability to overcome fear and act when others cannot."
Max opened his hand.
"Go."
The rings scattered.
Most shot upward together, crossing Oa's atmosphere in a storm of emerald light before separating and flying toward distant regions of the universe. Within seconds, some had already vanished beyond the system.
The crowd cheered.
Max watched their paths. Then one ring broke away from the others.
Instead of leaving the planet, it turned sharply east. It accelerated across the mountains and disappeared toward one of the settlements beyond the red forests.
Max smiled.
It seemed the first Green Lantern would be an Oan after all.
.
.
.
A ring crossed the darkness of space and turned toward a grey world.
Kharja was a stone-covered world where vast mountain ranges rose from ash-filled plains, broken by black rivers and fortress cities carved directly into the cliffs. Even beneath daylight, the world appeared trapped in permanent twilight.
War had consumed it for generations.
The people of Kharja stood between eight and nine feet tall, with stone-grey skin, broad shoulders, and two powerful arms protected by natural plates of hardened flesh. Four eyes ran vertically along the center of their faces, allowing them to judge distance with a precision that made their warriors among the most fearsome on the planet.
The fortress of Khar Veyron was under siege, and its outer walls had already fallen.
Siege engines hammered the remaining towers while enemy soldiers poured through breaches in the lower defenses. Fire spread across the upper courtyards, and the defenders had begun retreating toward the secret passages beneath the keep.
Vael Tryn remained behind.
He had served his king and kingdom for most of his life, and now that kingdom was dying around him.
"Move!" Vael shouted.
The last civilians hurried through the open passage behind him. Women carried children against their chests. Wounded soldiers leaned upon one another while attendants guided the elderly into the darkness below.
Vael and twelve remaining guards held the chamber doors shut.
The enemy struck from the other side.
The enormous stone doors shifted inward.
Vael planted both feet against the cracked floor and pushed with everything he had. His arms trembled beneath the pressure.
One of the guards beside him collapsed.
Another took his place.
"Last group!" someone called from behind them.
Vael glanced over his shoulder. A family had fallen near the entrance to the tunnel. The father carried an injured child while the mother tried to lift an old woman from the ground.
They were still too far away.
The doors moved another foot.
Enemy hands appeared through the widening gap. The remaining guards struck at them with swords and axes, but there were too many.
"Go," Vael ordered.
The warrior beside him stared at him. "Captain?"
"Go with them. They will need protection."
"But, Captain, you cannot."
"Leave. I shall hold them for as long as I can."
The other soldiers understood. One by one, they released the doors and rushed toward the final civilians. They lifted the fallen, carried the wounded, and disappeared into the tunnel.
Vael remained alone.
The full weight of the enemy pressed against him.
His feet slid across the floor.
For one moment, he considered letting go. The tunnel entrance stood only a short distance behind him. If he ran now, he might reach it before the doors opened completely. The enemy would follow, but perhaps the passage could be sealed farther below.
Then he heard a child crying.
The last family had not reached to safety. Vael roared and forced the doors closed another inch. Pain tore through his arms. One of the natural plates along his forearm cracked apart. Blood ran across his grey skin and dripped from his fingers. His knees bent beneath the strain, and something inside his left shoulder began to tear.
The ram struck again.
The doors opened.
Vael pushed them back.
Another blow followed.
His body was failing.
The final civilians reached the tunnel. A guard carried the injured child inside while the others dragged the heavy stone covering into place.
"Vael!" one of them called.
He could not answer.
His vision had begun to blur. His arms no longer felt as though they belonged to him. When the next strike came, the doors tore free from his grip and threw him onto his back.
Enemy soldiers flooded into the chamber.
Vael tried to rise.
His legs failed.
He smiled.
At least the others had escaped.
The ceiling exploded.
Something small and green crashed through the stone, scattering fragments across the chamber. The enemy soldiers stopped and raised their weapons.
A metal ring hovered above Vael.
He stared at the strange symbol engraved upon its face.
Then it spoke.
"Vael Tryn of Kharja, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps."
Vael's eyes widened as the ring flew onto his finger.
Emerald light erupted around him. The enemy soldiers stumbled back as a sphere formed around Vael and lifted him from the floor. His wounds remained, but the pain faded beneath a sudden warmth spreading through his body.
The ring carried him through the opening in the ceiling.
Vael watched the ruined fortress fall away beneath him. Then the mountains disappeared. The grey world curved below, growing smaller with every passing second.
He broke through the clouds and entered the darkness beyond.
For the first time in his life, Vael Tryn saw the stars without Kharja's ash-filled sky obscuring them.
==========
Sira Pell was an Avani of Pellaris. Her people were one of two intelligent species native to the planet. They possessed slender bodies covered in feathers, four wings extending from their backs, and delicate, clawed hands.
Sira had trained as a healer.
For the last six months, that work had meant entering the quarantined districts where the plague was strongest. The disease began with coughing and fever. Then the feathers around the throat darkened. Within days, the lungs hardened until breathing became impossible.
No cure had been found.
That did not mean the sick had to suffer alone. Sira moved between rows of beds inside the quarantine ward, checking breathing masks and replacing cooling cloths. Her upper wings remained folded tightly behind her, while the lower pair shifted to balance the trays in her hands.
A young patient grasped one of her wrists.
"Will my mother come back?"
Sira looked toward the empty chair beside the bed.
The girl's mother had died that morning.
"She asked me to stay with you," Sira said. "So I will."
It was not the answer the child wanted. It was the only one Sira could give.
When her shift ended, the senior physician found her preparing another tray.
"Didn't your shift end three hours ago, Sira?" he asked.
"There are still twenty patients in the southern ward."
"There will be twenty tomorrow."
"They need someone tonight."
"They need healers who are still alive."
Sira opened her mouth to argue and coughed instead.
The physician's four wings stiffened. Sira quickly turned away and covered her beak with a cloth.
No blood...not yet.
"You have worked three consecutive shifts," he said. "Go home. Rest. If the cough remains in the morning, report for testing."
"I can stay another hour."
"No."
His tone allowed no debate, and Sira left reluctantly.
The streets outside the quarantine district were nearly empty. Doors had been sealed. Public fountains stood unused, and warning banners hung from every archway.
She had almost reached her home when she heard shouting.
A crowd had formed near one of the abandoned markets. Two Avani stood at its center. Dark feathers marked their throats, and strips of quarantine cloth remained tied around their arms. One held the other upright while frightened citizens surrounded them with improvised weapons.
"They escaped the plague ward!" someone shouted.
"We did not escape," the older Avani said. "We are simply travelling there to be admitted."
"You carry death with you."
"Please..."
A man lifted a metal staff. "They must be put down before they spread it."
Sira moved before she had time to reconsider. She pushed through the crowd and placed herself between them and the infected pair.
"Stop."
Several faces turned toward her.
"She is a healer," someone said.
"Then she knows what they are."
"I know they are frightened," Sira replied. "I know they need treatment."
"They need to die."
"No."
The man with the staff stepped closer.
"You would risk all of us for two plague carriers?"
Sira was about to respond when she coughed.
The sound silenced the crowd.
Someone seized her arm.
"She has it too."
"She came from the quarantine district."
Hands grabbed her wings and threw her toward the infected pair. Sira struck the ground hard, pain spreading through her side.
The crowd closed around them.
She rose unsteadily and spread all four wings, shielding the two patients with her body.
"Stay behind me."
The man raised his staff.
Green light descended from the sky. A ring stopped before Sira's face.
"Sira Pell of Pellaris, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps."
Before Sira could respond, the ring released a wave of green energy.
The attackers were thrown backward.
"No!" Sira cried. "Do not hurt them!"
"They are unharmed," the ring replied. "All hostile individuals have been rendered unconscious."
Sira stared across the market.
The attackers lay scattered among overturned stalls, breathing but motionless. The infected pair remained behind her, equally stunned by what had happened.
The ring flew onto Sira's clawed finger.
A green sphere surrounded her.
"Wait," she said. "These two need help."
"Local medical authorities have been notified. Protective containment is being established."
Emerald barriers appeared around the infected Avani, safely separating them from the unconscious crowd.
Then Sira began to rise.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To Oa."
========
Another ring entered the atmosphere of Salnna.
The planet possessed little land. Endless oceans covered its surface, descending into trenches deep enough to swallow mountains. Floating reefs and islands of living coral drifted beneath two small moons.
The ring pierced the water without slowing.
It passed through schools of translucent creatures, descended beyond the reach of sunlight, and entered a region illuminated by vast forests of bioluminescent plants.
The Ulkor lived there.
They were immense aquatic beings resembling a combination of a whale, squid, and armored fish. Six tentacles extended from their lower bodies, while natural plates protected their broad heads and backs. Patterns of glowing light moved beneath their skin, changing with their emotions.
Drunn, son of Arunn, was dancing.
At least, that was what he called it.
He spun through the water while moving all six tentacles in different directions, sending clouds of silver fish scattering around him.
"What a glorious day!" called another Ulkor swimming nearby. "Is it not, Drunn?"
"Oh, yes, yes, Mrunn!"
Drunn rolled onto his back and looked toward the surface far above.
Night had fallen there.
Through the clear water, he could see the distant lights in the sky.
He had always wondered what they were. The elders said they were suns too far away to warm Salnna. Some claimed other worlds circled them, perhaps with oceans and creatures who had never heard of the Ulkor.
Drunn dreamed of seeing them.
He resumed his dance.
Then something green struck the water and stopped directly in front of his face.
Drunn froze.
The object floated between his eyes.
"What the..."
"Drunn, son of Arunn, of Salnna Minor, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps."
"What?"
The ring flew onto the tip of one of his tentacles.
A sphere of emerald light surrounded his entire body.
Drunn began to rise.
"Wait."
The sphere accelerated.
"Wait!"
He shot upward through the water, spinning helplessly as reefs, fish, and startled Ulkor rushed past him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Drunn burst from the ocean.
For the first time in his life, there was no water around him.
The green sphere carried him into the sky. Salnna's oceans stretched beneath him, reflecting moonlight across the planet's surface.
Drunn stopped screaming.
The atmosphere faded.
Stars appeared around him in numbers he had never imagined.
The bioluminescent markings across his body brightened with wonder.
"The lights," he whispered.
He was going toward the lights.
==========
Veyra was a world of forests. Its trees rose for miles, their trunks broad enough to contain entire towns.
The Nydrians lived among the upper branches. They stood only six inches tall, with blue fur, four arms, and membranes between their limbs that allowed them to glide from branch to branch.
Orro sat on the edge of a leaf and stared at a fruit hanging from a neighbouring tree.
The fruit was larger than her entire body.
It would be her food for the day, assuming she could reach it without attracting the attention of anything that wanted to make her its food instead.
She tested the wind.
The current was favourable.
Orro spread all four arms, stretching the gliding membranes between them, but did not jump.
A memory stopped her.
Her father had once stood beside her on a similar branch, patiently correcting the angle of her arms before her first long glide.
She missed him dearly. He was one of the reasons she was alone here instead of living with their tribe.
Among her people, those who reached fifty summers were abandoned in the Dark Forest. The elders claimed the practice preserved their way of life and protected the tribe from those no longer strong enough to contribute.
Orro thought it was Kribbleshit.
When the tribe came for her father, she refused to surrender him. She spoke against the elders before everyone, calling their sacred practice cruel and cowardly.
They banished her alongside him.
Orro never regretted leaving.
For a time, the two of them lived well. Her father knew hidden places within the forest, and as a great hunter, he was highly skilled. They built a small home together and found enough food to survive.
Then a predator attacked.
Her father died holding it back while Orro escaped.
She had been alone ever since.
The fruit swayed across the gap.
Orro pushed away the memory and prepared to glide.
Something green descended from the sky. It struck the branch, bounced once, and stopped before her.
Orro stared at the ring.
It was nearly large enough to fit around her waist.
"Orro of Veyra, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps."
"Eh?"
The ring reduced its size.
It flew onto one of her fingers.
Emerald light surrounded her, lifting her from the leaf and accelerating through the canopy.
Orro spun inside the sphere as branches rushed past. She broke through the upper leaves and saw the open sky clearly for the first time.
Then the sphere carried her higher.
Veyra's forests became an unbroken green surface below as Orro pressed both hands against the glowing wall and watched her world fall away.
=========
A ring reached a small planet orbiting an orange star.
It sensed a potential bearer somewhere below.
The signal was unusual. It moved across the planet in thousands of weak fragments, gathering and separating too quickly for the ring to identify a single source.
The ring descended.
The world beneath it was warm and humid, covered in shallow seas and fields of soft vegetation. No buildings stood upon its surface. No machines emitted signals. Nothing suggested the presence of an advanced civilization.
Yet the ring continued searching.
A worthy bearer existed here.
It crossed a wide plain and found hundreds of orange spheres bouncing through the vegetation.
Each was approximately the size of a football. They possessed no visible limbs, eyes, or mouths. Their surfaces shifted as they moved, stretching and contracting to propel themselves forward.
More emerged from beneath the plants.
Then more.
The ring observed them.
Individually, the spheres displayed little intelligence. They reacted to heat, sound, and movement with the instincts of simple animals.
Together, something changed. Information passed between them whenever their bodies touched. Awareness spread across the group, divided among hundreds of forms. The larger the gathering became, the more intelligent the collective grew.
A small predator moved through the grass.
The spheres surrounded it.
Some distracted the creature while others blocked its escape. They moved with increasing coordination until the animal became trapped beneath a living orange mass.
Then the spheres began consuming it.
The ring hovered above them, analysing the collective.
The signal it had followed belonged to all of them.
The ring descended.
Several spheres bounced toward it.
They surrounded the unfamiliar object and absorbed it into their collective body.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then emerald light appeared inside one sphere.
It passed to the next.
Green energy spread through every point of contact until the entire gathering began to glow. The light continued outward as more spheres arrived from across the plain, each joining the shared consciousness.
One hundred.
Five hundred.
One thousand.
One hundred thousand.
The Lantern symbol appeared upon every body, their orange surfaces turning green beneath the spreading energy.
The collective rose from the ground, now more intelligent, more aware, and deeply excited to begin the great mission the ring had promised them.
Together, they turned toward the stars and began flying toward Oa.
.
.
A pic of Max used in some 'temples' Oans have dedicated to him.
Next chapter is a big one consisting of stories of the corps over many millions of years.
You can read up to chapter 103 here.
p.a.t.r.eon.com/Illusiveone (check the chapter summary i have it there as well)