Chapter 96 - Emerald Dawn pt.1

So, this chapter was about 23,000 words, and Webnovel wouldn't let me post it because it was too long. I had to split it into two parts and also include Chapter 97 in the second part so the chapter numbering would still make sense.

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I: The First

Three years had passed since Durin and the others were chosen as the first members of the Green Lantern Corps.

Of the hundred recruits, he was the only Oan.

No honour his people could imagine stood above the ring upon his finger. The Oans had been created by Ion, raised beneath his light, and taught that one day their world would become the heart of a force dedicated to protecting all life. When the first rings were released, many had hoped that one of their own would be chosen.

Durin had been that one.

His name was now known across every Oan city. Children wore wooden rings painted green and pretended to fly through the streets. Statues of him had already appeared in several places.

The pride of his people should have strengthened him.

Most days, it did.

On others, it felt like the weight of Oa itself pressing down upon his shoulders.

Durin could not fail.

If he failed, he would not merely embarrass himself. He would shame his family, the Oans, the Corps, and Ion, who had given his people life and whose ring had chosen him above every other Oan.

That was the fear he had been forced to overcome, and it had driven him through Three years of training.

He studied longer than most of the other recruits. He repeated flight exercises after the instructors dismissed them. He rebuilt constructs until their surfaces stopped trembling and their designs matched the images inside his mind. While the others slept, he reviewed interstellar law, diplomatic customs, emergency medicine, and the histories of countless conflicts.

Durin intended to become the best of the first.

The opening months of their training had covered the foundations.

Flight came first. The rings could carry them across galaxies, but that power without control turned a Lantern into a weapon aimed at anything unfortunate enough to stand in the way. They learned to accelerate without crushing nearby structures, stop without releasing destructive shock waves, and manoeuvre through cities without tearing roofs from buildings.

Then came constructs.

The ring could create nearly anything its bearer imagined, but imagination alone was not enough. A weak or uncertain thought produced an unstable construct. A detailed design without the will to sustain it would collapse.

Durin learned to begin simply.

Walls. Hands. Ropes. Platforms. Shields.

Only after mastering those were they allowed to create complex machinery, moving structures, or autonomous constructs capable of carrying out instructions without constant control.

Every recruit struggled with something different, including his friends Vael Tryn, Sira Pell, Orro, and Drunn.

Vael Tryn understood combat almost immediately. He shaped heavy weapons, layered armour, and fortress walls with the same precision he had once used in his former life. His constructs lacked elegance, but they endured anything the instructors threw at them.

Sira Pell excelled at rescue work and diplomacy, but she struggled during aggressive combat exercises.

Orro possessed a natural talent for investigation. Perhaps it came from living alone after her banishment. She noticed details the others ignored and could recreate an entire crime scene from fragments scattered across miles.

Drunn was brilliant when he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. His aquatic body gave him a different understanding of movement, and his constructs flowed around obstacles rather than meeting them directly. He could create enormous sea creatures, spiralling currents, and flexible shields that absorbed impacts by bending.

He had also once spent an entire navigation exercise following a comet because he thought it looked beautiful.

Durin had made lifelong friends among them, and they constantly pushed one another to improve.

The first year covered everything a Green Lantern might need.

Interstellar law.

Diplomacy.

Investigation.

Rescue operations.

Disaster management.

Combat.

The use of force and the limits placed upon it.

The recruits came from entirely different lives, and those differences shaped every lesson. Warriors struggled with negotiations in which strength meant nothing. Scholars froze when a simulated enemy ignored reason and attacked. Those raised in peaceful societies had to learn that some threats could not be persuaded to stop.

No one excelled at everything.

That, the instructors repeatedly told them, was why Lanterns would work in teams.

Their training took place on Academy, the fourth planet of the Oan system.

Oa stood at the centre of it all, home to the Central Power Battery, Ion himself, and the command of the Corps.

Beyond Oa lay Haven. It was a paradise world half the size of Oa. Lanterns would be allowed to bring their families there, and those who survived long enough to retire might spend their final years beneath its gentle skies.

Sanctuary came next. Entry into its orbital space was restricted. The planet contained ecosystems gathered from worlds that had been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. Plants, animals, microorganisms, and entire living environments were preserved there under the care of the Gardener, one of the Elders of the Universe, and selected Oans.

Then came Academy, Durin's home for the last three years.

Chronicle followed it, though much of that world remained under construction. One day, it would become the greatest archive in the known universe. Histories, languages, scientific discoveries, legal records, and the memories of vanished civilisations would be preserved there.

The final three planets were Bastion and the twin Vaults.

Bastion's name made its purpose obvious. It was a fortified world intended to protect the Oan system if every outer defence failed.

The Vaults were more mysterious. Even the Lantern recruits had not been told what would be kept there. Durin assumed they would contain weapons, dangerous artefacts, or imprisoned threats. Whatever the answer, both planets were surrounded by what was being called the Ion Halo, a field of millions of meteors filled with defensive weapons.

Academy itself had been shaped entirely for training.

Artificial cities covered several continents. Training constructs populated their streets, changing depending on the exercise. Some cities could be destroyed and rebuilt within hours, allowing the recruits to experience invasions, natural disasters, and riots.

The oceans descended for hundreds of miles.

Drunn spent as much time there as the instructors allowed, though even he refused to enter the deepest trenches without his ring. The pressure at the bottom could crush even one of his kind.

Frozen regions near the northern pole maintained temperatures close to absolute zero. The southern continents contained volcanic zones, oceans of magma, and skies filled with poisonous gases. High-gravity regions forced recruits to support their bodies while performing delicate rescue work. Floating stations in the upper atmosphere recreated the violent winds and crushing pressure of gas giants.

Diplomatic facilities presented a different challenge. The recruits had to resolve conflicts without force. Some involved trade disputes or contested borders. Others placed them between species whose customs were so incompatible that an innocent act by one side appeared monstrous to the other.

A Lantern was expected to guard the peace.

That meant understanding that peace required more than defeating whoever attacked first.

Now, after three years, only one test remained.

Those who passed would become full Green Lanterns and receive their sector assignments.

The first hundred faced a greater burden than later recruits would. Eventually, the Corps intended to station three Lanterns and two Vigilants within every sector. Ion had told them that the number of Lanterns would rise to five in the distant future, allowing the Vigilants to be gradually withdrawn.

Until more Lanterns completed their training, the first members of the Corps would oversee several sectors each. A thousand new recruits were already training on Academy, but they would not be ready for some time.

Durin had been assigned ten sectors.

Ten regions of the universe containing millions of inhabited worlds and countless uncharted systems.

He would also command the Vigilants already operating there.

That part pleased him less. The machines had acted as the Corps for millions of years. They had built a reputation that made the Green Lantern symbol welcome across much of the universe.

Ion still did not trust them, and Durin did not trust them either. Perhaps some part of Ion's suspicion had entered the fragments of green light from which the souls of the Oans had been formed.

Either way, he intended to watch the Vigilants under his command closely.

The final test would determine whether he ever received that command.

Durin sat with his friends on the coast of Thalassa, Academy's largest ocean. The water stretched beyond the horizon beneath a sky divided by bands of blue and gold. Far below its surface stood several training facilities designed for aquatic civilisations, though none were active that day.

Their instructors had given them a week off to rest.

The five friends had chosen a grassy rise above the shore for lunch. Sira sat with her four wings folded neatly behind her, separating fruit and grain among several small dishes. Vael occupied enough space for three ordinary people, his stone-grey body casting a broad shadow over the food.

Orro sat on the table in a chair construct designed for her size.

Drunn remained in the ocean.

His enormous body moved beneath the surface, his bioluminescent markings flashing whenever he rolled or changed direction. Every few minutes, a tentacle construct rose from the water and stole something from the edge of the table.

Sira slapped it away the third time.

"Drunn, that is mine."

The tentacle withdrew.

A moment later, another approached from the opposite side.

Vael caught it and broke it.

Orro watched the surface suspiciously as she began eating faster. "He'll try again."

Durin barely heard them.

He stared across Thalassa, thinking about the test waiting for them.

No one knew what it would be.

"Whatever the final trial is, we will pass," Vael said.

Sira looked towards him. "You sound very certain."

"We carry the greatest weapon in the universe." Vael raised his ring. Its green surface caught the light. "We have spent three years learning to use it for the good of others. We have survived every challenge placed before us."

"Some more narrowly than others," Orro said.

Vael ignored her.

"We can do this."

Sira nodded.

Orro raised the piece of fruit she had been eating. "And if we fail, we steal a ship and become space pirates."

Sira stared at her.

"That was a joke," Orro added as everyone smiled.

Durin tried to join them, but laughter did not come easily.

Sira noticed.

She had always noticed more than the others.

"Why are you so quiet?"

Durin looked down at the ring upon his finger.

"I was thinking about the test," he said. "If I fail, then I will have failed all of Oa."

His friends understood the difference between them.

Sira reached across the table and placed one clawed hand over Durin's.

"You were chosen for the same reason we were."

"That does not remove what is expected of me."

"No," she admitted. "But expectations are not the same as truth."

Orro climbed onto Durin's arm and walked along it until she stood beside his shoulder.

"You have nothing to worry about."

Durin glanced at her.

"You are the Guardian's favourite."

"I am not."

"Well, you are Oan. Your people were literally created by the Guardian. I don't think you have anything to worry about. You will probably get a free pass."

Vael's mouth opened in a broad smile.

Sira tried to hide her amusement.

"The Guardian does not play favourites," Durin said.

Something enormous erupted from the ocean.

Drunn rose through a curtain of water and landed beside them with enough force to shake the table. His body glistened beneath the sun and was surrounded by a green glow, the ring's systems allowing him to survive out of the water. All six tentacles reached towards the food at once.

"I am hungry!"

"You already ate half my lunch," Sira said.

"Hey don't blame me I thought it was communal like back home."

Drunn gathered several pieces of fruit and looked around at their faces.

"So, what were you discussing?"

"The final test," Orro said.

Drunn stopped chewing.

"There is a test coming?"

Durin, Vael, Sira, and Orro slapped their hands against their faces in shared disbelief.

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The final test was unlike anything Durin had faced during his three years on Academy.

Each recruit entered alone.

None were told what awaited them, and those who completed their trials were forbidden from discussing what they had experienced until everyone had finished. Durin eventually understood that no two tests were identical. The instructors had studied every Lantern, identified their strengths and weaknesses, and created a separate crisis intended to test everything they had learned.

The trials took place within a vast facility at Academy's southern pole.

Durin had never seen it before. He and the other recruits had trained in nearly every region of the planet, from the deepest oceans to the artificial gas giant stations above the equator. Yet the southern facility had remained hidden beneath miles of ice.

Durin stood before a circular door of dark metal.

He drew a breath.

Then he entered.

The door closed behind him.

For several seconds, he stood in darkness.

The ring remained silent. No instructions appeared. No instructor explained the rules or objectives.

Then the world formed around him.

Durin found himself standing in an unfamiliar city.

Tall silver buildings rose from a wide coastal plain, surrounded by defensive walls and launch platforms. Thousands of civilians filled the streets, rushing towards evacuation centres while sirens sounded from every tower.

Explosions shook the city.

Dark ships descended through the atmosphere and released armoured soldiers onto rooftops, plazas, and streets. Defensive aircraft rose to intercept them, but the attackers broke through their formations within moments.

Durin's ring began feeding information across his vision.

The city belonged to the Ellari, one of two species that had colonised the planet. The other colony, belonging to the Vayari, had been established on the far side of the world.

The ring identified the ships above him as Vayari.

Durin's first instinct was to rise and meet them in the sky.

He stopped himself.

The instructors had repeated the lesson throughout training.

A Green Lantern's first duty was to protect life, and only then to defeat an enemy.

A damaged tower leaned over a crowded avenue. Its lower supports cracked apart, sending metal and glass into the street below.

Durin raised both hands.

Green light spread beneath the tower and formed a vast mechanical frame. He imagined every brace, joint, counterweight, and support before the construct completed itself. The frame closed around the building and pulled it upright while glowing bridges formed beneath the civilians trapped inside.

"This way!" Durin called.

Emerald arrows appeared along the floors, guiding the occupants toward safe exits.

He divided his attention.

Constructs spread through the surrounding streets. Oan figures lifted debris from trapped civilians. Flying platforms carried the injured toward medical stations. Shields formed over evacuation routes as weapons fire struck the city.

Maintaining so many constructs at once strained his concentration, but imagination had always been his greatest strength. Durin built machines capable of understanding and completing precise tasks rather than simple hands.

The first Vayari soldiers reached the avenue.

Their weapons fired.

Durin created a curved shield that redirected the blasts into the empty sky. Before the soldiers could fire again, green cables wrapped around their arms and legs.

He pulled.

The attackers were lifted from the street and placed inside transparent containment cells.

More soldiers arrived.

Durin formed a line of armoured constructs between them and the civilians. Each construct carried a shield and no weapon. They advanced together, absorbing enemy fire while forcing the Vayari away from the evacuation routes.

Nonlethal.

No unnecessary harm.

Durin moved through the city, protecting civilians and disabling attackers wherever he found them.

The Vayari fought fiercely.

Too fiercely.

They fought like people with something to lose. They ignored government buildings, military depots, and power stations. They made no attempt to hold territory. Every unit pushed toward the same destination.

The launch platforms.

Durin opened every communication channel his ring could detect.

The Ellari transmissions were filled with orders to defend the evacuation fleet.

The Vayari channels carried something else.

"Get the children aboard."

"Do not let them launch without us."

Durin looked toward the descending fleet again.

Many of the vessels were damaged. Their hulls showed severe radiation burns. Scans revealed that most of the beings aboard them were civilians.

Thousands of them.

A Vayari transport broke through the defensive line and landed beside one of the Ellari evacuation ships. Its doors opened, and soldiers rushed out carrying injured civilians. Behind them came families, medical workers, and frightened children.

Ellari defenders opened fire.

Durin threw a shield between them.

"Stop!"

His voice carried across the launch platform, amplified through every available channel.

Neither side listened.

The Ellari believed the Vayari intended to seize their ships.

The Vayari believed the Ellari intended to abandon them.

Durin expanded his scans beyond the city. The world's sun was preparing to release another solar outburst, and the first one had already destroyed the Vayari colony. The surviving ships had fled across the planet, but their engines lacked the range to escape the system. The Ellari colony possessed a fleet capable of reaching safety, though the ships had only been prepared to carry their own population.

The planet's star was preparing to erupt again.

The test was asking whether he would recognise that the Vayari were victims before it was too late.

He rose above the city and released a pulse of green energy, and every weapon below him stopped working for a few seconds.

Durin opened every communication channel again and began to negotiate. The Ellari argued that there was no space for the Vayari. The Vayari answered that they would make space if they had to. Durin offered a compromise. He would reinforce the unfinished ships and build more of them, and both sides only had to cooperate with him.

"The Vayari will surrender their weapons and place their soldiers under my supervision. Their remaining ships will carry as many civilians as possible into orbit. The Ellari will open their launch facilities and share their evacuation fleet."

"Our vessels are already at their limits," the Ellari commander said.

"I will reinforce them."

"You cannot build enough ships before the eruption."

"I can, and I can finish the incomplete ones as well."

The Vayari leader hesitated.

"If we surrender our weapons, what prevents the Ellari from leaving us behind?"

"I do."

Durin's answer silenced both of them.

"You will not trust each other today," he continued. "You do not need to. You only need to trust that I will not allow either of you to abandon the other."

The two leaders stared at him through the shared channel.

Durin lowered the barriers separating their soldiers and kept their weapons contained.

"Decide quickly. The star will not wait for your anger to pass."

The Vayari leader agreed first.

The Ellari commander followed several seconds later.

The fighting ended.

Ellari launch facilities opened across the city. Vayari soldiers surrendered their weapons and began carrying the wounded toward evacuation ships.

Durin built rapidly. He raised new ships and reinforced the unfinished ones. They only had to travel far enough for other rescue vessels to reach them.

Then the star erupted earlier than predicted.

Warnings filled Durin's vision.

A vast wave of charged particles surged outward, crossing the system faster than the evacuation models had anticipated.

Durin looked at the final transport ships.

They would launch too late.

He flew away from the planet and placed himself between the world and the approaching storm.

Green light spread around him.

Durin formed a shield larger than anything he had ever attempted. It covered the inhabited side of the planet, layers of emerald energy folding over one another as he strengthened every section.

His ring warned that the construct would fail under the full force of the eruption.

Durin reinforced it anyway.

The solar storm struck.

Pain drove through him.

The shield bent toward the planet, its outer layers burning away beneath the radiation. Cracks spread across the construct faster than he could repair them, and the ring warned him that the ring's charge had reached critical levels.

Durin ignored it. He clenched his fists, held the shield together, and poured more power into it.

Below him, the evacuation began.

One ship cleared the atmosphere.

Then another.

Durin felt the planetary barrier beginning to collapse and held on.

The final transport reached orbit.

He released the planetary barrier and wrapped the evacuation fleet in every remaining fragment of his construct.

The solar storm consumed the world behind them.

Durin closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he stood inside the facility, and everything around him was white.

The simulation had ended.

Durin remained still, breathing heavily. His arms trembled. The energy levels recorded by his ring had fallen dangerously low.

A door opened across the chamber.

Emerald light entered first.

Then Ion flew through it.

His green cape moved behind him despite the still air. Durin had seen his creator many times during the last three years, and the sight of him never lost its power.

Ion descended and landed before him.

Durin immediately lowered himself to one knee.

"Stop."

Durin froze.

Ion sighed.

"I have asked the Oans to stop doing that."

Durin began to rise.

"You most of all," Ion continued. "The first Green Lantern should never kneel to me."

Durin stared at him.

The first Green Lantern.

His eyes widened.

Ion smiled.

"You passed."

For several seconds, Durin stood in silence.

"You gave priority to protecting the civilians," Ion said. "You used force only where necessary. You recognised that the information provided to you was incomplete, investigated the cause of the conflict, and refused to accept a victory that required condemning one side to death."

Durin's throat tightened.

Ion placed one hand upon his shoulder.

"Durin of Oa, you are the first fully sanctioned Green Lantern of this universe."

Durin lowered his head, though he stopped himself before kneeling again.

"Thank you, Great Ion."

"You earned it kid."

Durin wiped quickly at his eyes and turned toward the open doorway.

When he stepped through, Vael, Sira, Orro, and Drunn looked toward him at once.

No one asked whether he had passed.

Durin nodded.

Orro flew from the table where she had been waiting and landed upon his shoulder. Sira wrapped all four wings around him. Vael struck him across the back hard enough to nearly knock him into the wall.

Drunn lifted all of them with his tentacles.

"You passed!" he cried.

"I cannot breathe," Orro said from somewhere inside the embrace.

Drunn loosened his grip slightly.

They celebrated again as each of the others completed the trial.

Sira returned next, then Vael, who announced that the test had been difficult and refused to provide any further detail. Orro entered near the end of the day and returned several hours later, furious that the trial had attempted to use her father's death against her. She had passed regardless.

Drunn was the last among them.

He entered smiling.

He returned looking unusually thoughtful.

No one asked what he had seen.

Every one of them passed.

Across the following days, the results of all one hundred recruits were announced. Some had struggled. Several required hours before the instructors reached a decision, and every recruit passed in the end.

Among them, the Collective achieved the highest overall score.

No one was surprised. The thousands of green spheres could divide their attention across multiple locations, analyse problems from different perspectives, and maintain constructs even while hundreds of their individual bodies were occupied elsewhere. They could perform rescue work, investigation, diplomacy, and combat simultaneously.

They were, in many ways, the perfect Green Lantern.

Durin finished behind them in total marks.

He could live with that.

A day later, the recruits gathered beneath the central power battery on Oa.

Ion stood before them.

Each recruit held a personal power battery in one hand.

Their rings rested upon the other.

Durin looked toward his friends. Vael stood straight and solemn. Sira's feathers shone beneath the light. Orro had placed her battery upon a floating platform beside her because it was larger than she was. Drunn held his between two tentacles.

Ion raised his ring.

One hundred Lanterns followed him.

Together, they spoke the oath as emerald light erupted from them.

"In brightest day, in blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil's might

Beware my power, Green Lantern's light."

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II: The Return

The voice of Durin's fellow sector Lantern came through his ring as he flew through the void of space.

"Sector alert. This is Lantern Kessa reporting from the Ostenvael system. I have received a cataclysm-class impact warning from the neighbouring system."

A map opened across Durin's vision. One of the uncharted systems at the edge of their assigned territory flashed red.

"The target is a Class D inhabited world," Kessa continued. "I am currently containing a planetary reactor failure and cannot disengage for another fifteen minutes. Is anyone able to respond?"

Durin altered his course immediately.

"Kessa, this is Durin. I will respond."

A third voice joined the channel.

"Grennod reporting. I have dispatched the Vigilants accompanying me. They were assisting with my investigation and should arrive shortly after you."

"Understood," Durin replied. "I am accelerating now."

The emerald light around him strengthened.

The stars stretched into lines as his ring opened a path through space.

A Class D world was home to a civilisation that had reached approximately the Bronze Age. The Corps had only recently placed observation sensors in the system. Durin was grateful they had.

"Approaching target system," his ring's AI announced. "Hyperspeed disengagement in three seconds."

Durin raised both hands.

"Three."

The green field around him adjusted.

"Two."

His ring displayed the planet's projected orbit.

"One."

Durin dropped out of hyperspeed.

The meteorite filled his vision.

It was nearly one hundred miles across, an uneven mass of stone and metal travelling directly towards the planet. Fragments broke away from its surface as it entered the upper atmosphere, each one large enough to destroy a city.

Below it turned a blue and green world. None of its inhabitants knew they were only minutes from extinction.

Durin flew towards the meteorite, passing through the storm of falling debris and creating shields to deflect the smaller fragments away from the planet. He then flew beneath the main body and opened both hands.

Emerald light expanded across the sky as a vast construct formed around the descending mass. An enormous hand wrapped around the entire meteorite.

The impact of its momentum drove Durin downwards for a moment.

"Trajectory remains fatal," the ring warned.

Durin rotated in the air and pulled sideways as he formed enormous rockets to help push the meteorite away. Additional hands appeared around it, followed by chains that wrapped around its widest points. Durin connected them to an immense emerald frame and used it for leverage, while more rockets formed along its surface.

The meteorite's course began to change.

"New trajectory calculated," the ring said. "Maintain current acceleration for twelve seconds."

Durin held on.

"Ten."

The meteorite moved away from the planet.

"Seven."

The strain against his constructs began to ease.

"Four."

The distant sun appeared ahead.

"One."

"Release."

Durin dissolved the giant hands, chains, frame, and rockets.

The meteorite continued forward along its new path. The star's gravity caught it, drawing the enormous mass inward. It would burn away long before reaching the surface.

Durin watched it recede.

Then he turned back towards the planet.

"Lantern Kessa, Lantern Grennod," he said through the channel. "Cataclysm-class threat contained. The meteorite has been redirected into the system's star. The inhabited world remains unharmed."

"Well done," Kessa replied. Explosions and warning signals sounded faintly behind her voice. "My reactor incident is almost contained."

Grennod answered next. "The Vigilants should arrive momentarily. I will update the record."

Two emerald lights appeared at the edge of the system.

The Vigilants approached in perfect formation and soon stopped before Durin.

"Lantern Durin," the first said. "Has the threat passed?"

"Yes." Durin gestured towards the meteorite, which was now travelling towards the sun. "Perform a complete scan of the system. Check for additional meteor swarms, stellar anomalies, or anything else capable of threatening the planet."

"A reasonable precaution," the second Vigilant replied.

Both machines turned towards the planet.

Then they stopped.

The first Vigilant's lens brightened.

"A priority report has been received from Oa."

Durin frowned. "What report?"

"The entity Galactus is travelling towards this system."

Durin's attention returned to the world below.

The second Vigilant continued.

"This planet has been selected for consumption."

For several seconds, Durin said nothing.

He had just saved the world from destruction. Now something far greater than a meteorite was coming to end it.

The laws every Lantern studied were recorded within the Book of Oa. They governed the Corps' mission, the use of force, the circumstances in which lethal force was permitted, and everything else a Lantern needed to operate.

The Book was not perfect. Durin had come to understand that during his seventy years of service. However, it worked, and its laws were not written in stone. Changes could be made as the Corps grew and encountered new dangers.

There were, however, situations the Book of Oa had never been written to address.

Galactus was one of them.

In the Book of Oa, one law stood apart from all others.

The Corps was not to interfere with Galactus.

Durin knew the history behind it. Every Lantern was taught the same account. Before the creation of the Corps, Ion had served as Galactus's herald for millions of years. The oldest records described how Ion searched for worlds whose loss would cause the least damage to the future of the universe.

Whenever possible, he chose dying planets. Worlds already doomed by disasters no civilisation could survive. When no such world could satisfy Galactus's hunger, Ion sought planets whose histories had reached their natural end. Civilisations facing inevitable extinction. Species whose actions had left them no future beyond ruin.

Sometimes there was no acceptable choice.

In those cases, Ion saved as many people as he could. He evacuated selected populations, preserved their cultures, and carried survivors to worlds where they might begin again.

He had never pretended that this made Galactus's hunger just.

It made it necessary.

Galactus did not consume worlds out of cruelty. He performed a cosmic function older than most life in the universe. His hunger sustained forces tied to the continued balance of creation. Preventing him from feeding indefinitely would bring consequences far greater than the death of any single planet.

When the Green Lantern Corps was founded, Ion placed a restriction upon them and wrote it into the book that would guide the Corps. No Lantern could interfere with Galactus or attempt to prevent the consumption of a chosen world unless Ion himself granted permission.

Durin hated that law.

Many Lanterns did.

They had sworn to protect life and liberty. Yet when Galactus appeared, they were ordered to stand aside.

It felt like cowardice.

But how could Durin oppose a law of the universe itself?

Even Ion, the most powerful being Durin had ever known, accepted that Galactus had a purpose. The two were said to be friends, though Durin had never understood how anyone could befriend a being responsible for the deaths of entire worlds.

He looked down at the Class D planet.

"How long until Galactus arrives?" he asked.

"Current estimate is eleven local days," the first Vigilant answered.

Eleven days.

Durin closed his eyes for a moment.

Then he faced the machines.

"Very well."

The words tasted bitter.

"Begin a survey of the planet. Preserve everything you can."

"The inhabitants remain unaware of interstellar life," the second Vigilant said. "Direct observation may violate Class D restrictions."

"Remain concealed. Deploy remote systems only."

"For what purpose?"

"So they will be remembered."

Durin looked towards the turning world beneath them.

"Send the complete record to Chronicle. If this civilisation must end, then its existence will be preserved within the Great Halls."

The Vigilants inclined their heads.

"We will comply."

Durin remained above the planet for several minutes.

"Lantern Kessa. Lantern Grennod."

Both answered through the sector channel.

"Durin here. I am leaving the sector and returning to Oa."

"Understood, Illustres," Kessa replied.

"Safe passage, Illustres," Grennod added.

The title still felt strange.

Illustres Durin.

An Illustres Lantern oversaw one hundred sectors and the Lanterns assigned to them. The rank was granted only to those who had demonstrated exceptional experience, judgement, and service.

Durin was the oldest active Green Lantern.

One of the First Hundred.

That had made him the natural choice when the rank was created.

Durin accelerated away from the system.

As the stars stretched around his flight field, memories of his old companions followed him.

Vael Tryn had retired to Kharja after more than fifty years of service. His people had received him as a hero. The Lanterns had helped stabilise his world, and the Corps had become a symbol of peace there.

Orro had returned to Veyra and ended the practice that had caused her banishment. No Nydrian was abandoned in the Dark Forest after reaching fifty summers. She spent her final years training young Lanterns, and her sense of justice made her one of the finest teachers in the academy.

Drunn had travelled farther than any of them. Even after retiring, he continued exploring distant worlds and sent Durin messages whenever he discovered a new species.

Most of the First Hundred had reached the ends of their service peacefully.

Sira had not.

She became the first Green Lantern to die in the line of duty.

The Sons of Shuma-Gorath had entered a populated system through a wound in reality. Sira held the breach closed and saved billions, knowing the effort would destroy her body.

Her ring returned to Oa when she died.

Sira's was the first light placed upon Vigil. Her name, her deeds, and her final act were carved into its surface.

Many lights had joined hers since then, including those of Drunn, Orro, and Vael.

Durin was the only one left.

He was one hundred and twenty years old now, middle-aged by Oan standards.

Yet his body had barely changed since the day the ring chose him.

He still appeared close to the age he had been when he first arrived at the Academy. His face remained young. His strength had not diminished. Even the scars from his earliest missions had gradually faded.

Twenty years earlier, Durin had asked Ion why.

The Guardian had examined him, studied the ring's readings, and given an answer Durin found deeply unsatisfying.

"I will observe it."

Ion had been observing ever since.

Or perhaps he had not. Perhaps he had forgotten.

Durin reached the Oan system. The stars stretched around him before contracting into sharp points as he crossed the system's boundary.

Much had changed during the century since the First Hundred received their assignments.

Most advanced civilisations now recognised the Lantern symbol and understood what it represented. Many had signed formal treaties with Oa, granting Lanterns permission to patrol their systems, investigate major crimes, assist during disasters, and intervene when threats endangered multiple worlds. Embassies had opened on Haven, while Oan diplomats travelled aboard Corps vessels to negotiate the limits of Lantern authority.

Other civilisations had refused.

Some feared the Corps would become an occupying army. Others believed accepting Green Lantern protection would weaken their sovereignty or allow Oa to interfere with their governments.

The Guardian had respected their decision.

Lanterns were forbidden from entering those home systems or colonies without invitation unless a threat endangered worlds beyond their borders. Durin had disagreed with some of those restrictions, especially when reports of suffering emerged from within isolationist empires, but Ion had remained firm.

Protection without consent could become conquest with remarkable ease.

Many who had initially resisted eventually reconsidered. They saw the Corps stop interstellar wars, evacuate dying planets, and defend civilisations incapable of protecting themselves. They watched Lanterns leave once their work was complete rather than demand land, wealth, or obedience.

The Guardian's own reputation also helped.

Ion was an Elder of the Universe, an ancient being whose place in the cosmic hierarchy stood above most gods and many other cosmic entities. Once civilisations understood that the founder of the Corps had no interest in ruling them, much of their suspicion faded.

Some worlds had known Ion long before the Corps existed.

He had saved their ancestors during his years as Galactus's herald or protected them during journeys now remembered only through myth. Those civilisations welcomed the Corps with an enthusiasm that frequently became worship. Pilgrims travelled across galaxies hoping to see the Guardian or set foot upon Oa.

They were allowed to reach Haven.

Oa itself remained restricted.

Durin emerged from hyperspeed among streams of civilian vessels leaving the system. Merchant ships, diplomatic craft, pilgrim transports, and Oan patrol vessels travelled along carefully controlled routes maintained by Oan stations.

Bastion appeared first.

The fortified world was wrapped in layers of defensive platforms and orbital weapons. A fleet was leaving its northern shipyards as Durin passed, thousands of vessels moving into formation around an emerald command carrier. Most were crewed by Oans and allied species, though Vigilants could be seen flying beside them.

Durin continued inward.

Chronicle came next.

The archive world had become one of the busiest places in the system. Scholars, historians, scientists, and representatives of endangered cultures arrived daily to contribute knowledge to its Great Halls.

Four Elders of the Universe were visiting at present.

The Possessor had brought another collection of ancient texts and objects recovered from civilisations that had vanished millions of years ago. The Astronomer was working with Chronicle's cartographers to correct several errors in their maps of the outer universe.

The Gardener and the Caregiver had travelled onward to Sanctuary.

Durin passed Academy next.

Green lights moved across its atmosphere as recruits trained. More than fifteen thousand Lanterns had graduated since Durin's class, though Academy continued to expand in preparation for even greater numbers.

Beyond it lay Sanctuary.

Oceans, forests, deserts, tundras, and vast living reefs covered the planet in intricate patterns. Entire ecosystems from extinct worlds survived there, maintained within carefully separated environments. Some regions glowed at night. Others remained beneath permanent storms or atmospheres toxic to most known species.

Then came Haven.

The paradise world possessed more cities than Oa itself. Oans lived there alongside species from across the universe. Trade ports covered several continents, and diplomatic districts had grown around embassies belonging to thousands of civilisations.

Some planners claimed the entire planet might one day become a single city.

Durin did not object.

Haven could grow as crowded and ambitious as its people wished, provided Oa remained unchanged.

At last, his home appeared ahead.

Oa.

Two moons moved around it.

Durin's eyes were drawn towards Vigil.

His friends rested there.

Durin looked away.

He entered Oa's atmosphere and descended towards Ionith.

The capital spread along the northern border of the Emerald Sanctum, its white towers rising between rivers, gardens, and broad avenues filled with Oans.

Durin believed it was already the greatest city in the universe.

He admitted that he was somewhat biased.

Perhaps it was too early to make such a claim. Other cities had stood for millions of years and contained wonders Ionith had not yet imagined. Given another million years, however, Durin knew the capital of Oa would shine more brightly than any of them.

He flew above the towers and crossed the districts surrounding the Sanctum. Beyond the city, some distance away, rose the Mountains of Ion, encircling the Valley of Will.

The Citadel of Ion stood at the centre of the valley, its emerald light bright enough to be seen from Ionith itself. Beneath it stood the Guardian's palace.

Durin descended into the valley.

His destination was a circular building known as the Palace of the Illustres. Despite its name, it was not truly a palace. It served as a council hall and administrative centre where the fifty Illustres Lanterns met to oversee the Corps' sectors.

Durin landed before its entrance.

Oan officials and civilian workers moved through the surrounding plaza. Several recognised him and offered formal greetings as he passed.

An attendant hurried towards him.

"The others are waiting, Illustres Durin."

"My apologies. I was responding to a sector emergency."

"The council has been informed."

Durin nodded and entered.

The meeting chamber was already active.

Holographic maps filled the air above a circular table, marking wars, disasters, unexplained disappearances, political disputes, and other events requiring the Corps' attention. The Illustres sat or stood according to their different forms, each representing one hundred sectors and the Lanterns serving within them.

Durin took his place.

The meeting continued without ceremony.

Reports were delivered in order of urgency. One Illustres spoke of a migrating stellar creature disturbing inhabited systems. Another described negotiations between two machine civilisations whose disagreement over memory rights had already resulted in the destruction of several moons.

Durin gave his own report. He mentioned Kessa's reactor incident, Grennod's investigation into a new drug that was killing many throughout the Sorva system, and the cataclysm-class meteorite he had diverted.

He then listened as Illustres Lomar described the discovery of a gaseous species living within the atmosphere of a brown dwarf.

His ring pulsed.

"An urgent personal communication has arrived," his ring's AI said within his mind.

"Later," Durin answered silently.

"The message concerns your father."

Durin stopped listening to the meeting.

"What happened?"

"The sender is Celebrimbor. No details were provided beyond a request that you return immediately."

Durin stood.

Several Illustres looked towards him.

"I must excuse myself."

No one questioned the urgency in his voice.

He left the chamber and launched into the sky. His family's home lay within the northeastern mountains, far from the noise and grandeur of Ionith. The region was one of the few independent countries that still existed on Oa, governed entirely by its own Oan people.

His mother had died one year earlier.

His father had not been the same since. Grief had emptied something within him, leaving behind only a shell of the Oan he had once been.

The words Caranthir had spoken during their last meeting returned to Durin. They had sat together outside the house only one week earlier, watching the evening light move across the mountains.

"Your mother is with Ion now," Caranthir had said. "I am prepared to join her."

His family's home appeared among the mountains.

Several people waited outside.

Cousins and descendants of the companions who had followed Caranthir from the Silver Forest stood together in silence.

Durin landed.

Celebrimbor approached him. His cousin's eyes were red.

"He is weak, Durin."

"I will take him to the healers."

Celebrimbor shook his head.

"They have already come."

"Then I will bring him to Ionith. They have better facilities."

"He does not have much time."

Durin walked past him.

The house seemed smaller than he remembered. Its rooms remained filled with objects collected throughout his parents' lives. Clay figures from Caranthia. Records from the first settlements. A black flower preserved beneath transparent glass, though his father had never explained where it came from.

Caranthir lay near the window.

His red skin had faded. His body had become thin and frail. White hair spread across the pillow, and each breath seemed to require more strength than the one before it.

Durin stopped in the doorway.

Caranthir opened his eyes.

Life returned to his face.

"My son."

Durin crossed the room and knelt beside him.

"My son," Caranthir repeated, reaching for him.

Durin took his father's hand.

"I am taking you to the healers."

"No."

"We can treat you on Chronicle."

"No, Durin."

"I can ask Ion. He can heal you."

Caranthir's fingers tightened weakly around his.

"I do not want that."

Durin stared at him.

"I want to go to Ion," Caranthir said. "I want to be with your mother. It is time, my son."

Tears filled Durin's eyes.

He had faced armies and cosmic horrors without allowing fear to control him. He had stood before dying stars, ruptures in reality, and creatures capable of swallowing worlds.

None of that had prepared him for the weakness of his father's hand.

Caranthir studied his face.

"I have one final wish."

"Anything."

"I never left these lands."

Durin frowned.

Caranthir's breathing became uneven, but he continued.

"Fëanor and the others sought out Ion. They wished to stand beneath his light. I chose another road."

Caranthir smiled faintly.

"I do not regret it. But before I die, I wish to see him. Not in a dream, as I have many times before. I want to look upon my creator's face."

Durin wiped the tears from his face.

"He will grant you that."

Green light formed beneath Caranthir.

Durin shaped it into a gentle platform that lifted his father from the bed without causing him pain. The blankets remained wrapped around him, held in place by thin emerald bands.

Celebrimbor and the others gathered at the door.

Durin looked at them.

"I am taking him to Ion."

They bowed their heads.

Durin carried his father into the sky.

A transparent shield formed around them, keeping the mountain wind from touching Caranthir. They rose above the peaks and entered the upper atmosphere.

Caranthir looked outward.

Oa curved beneath them, its continents and oceans illuminated by the Beacon. Haven shone in the distance, while Vigil and the Citadel glowed nearby.

"So beautiful," Caranthir whispered.

Durin slowed his flight.

His father laughed, though the sound was weak.

"I remember when you first showed us."

Durin remembered too.

He had been newly inducted into the Corps and desperate to show his parents everything he had seen. He had carried Caranthir and Celebrían beyond Oa's atmosphere inside a construct and spent hours pointing out stars, planets, and distant galaxies.

They descended again.

Durin carried his father into the Valley of Will and flew towards the Guardian's palace. Oan attendants moved to meet him as he landed, but he did not stop.

"Where is Ion?"

"The Guardian is in the western garden, Illustres."

Durin flew through the palace and towards the garden, where Ion floated above a circular pond.

His legs were crossed beneath him, and his hands rested upon his knees. Emerald light surrounded his body as he meditated, its reflection moving across the water below.

Durin landed.

"Great Ion."

Ion opened his eyes.

His gaze moved first to Durin, then to the frail figure resting upon the construct.

There was no surprise on his face.

"I knew you would come, Caranthir."

Durin brought his father closer and lowered the platform before Ion.

Caranthir looked upon his creator.

For most of his life, Durin had heard Oans describe the joy of standing in Ion's presence. Caranthir did not cry out or bow. He simply stared, his tired face easing as though he had finally reached the end of a road that had begun beside the Silver Lake.

"I am sorry," Caranthir whispered.

Ion descended until his feet touched the ground.

"For what, Caranthir?"

"For not coming with the others."

The Guardian crouched beside him.

"You chose the life you wanted."

"I feared I had disappointed you."

"No. Never."

Ion's answer came without hesitation.

"You did exactly what I hoped the Oans would do. You questioned the destiny others had prepared for you. You made your own choices and allowed others to make theirs."

Caranthir's eyes filled with tears.

"I do not love you less because you chose another road," Ion continued. "I love every Oan equally, whether they came to me or followed another path."

Caranthir looked towards Durin.

Then he turned back to Ion.

"Did I lead a good life?"

Ion smiled.

"What do you think, Caranthir?"

Caranthir considered the question.

"I am happy."

His breath trembled.

"I am fulfilled."

He closed his eyes briefly.

"That is all I ever wanted for any of you," Ion said.

"And now I wish to join her," Caranthir said after a brief silence.

Ion took Caranthir's hands.

Emerald light appeared between their fingers.

Durin felt it before he understood what was happening. The same warmth that existed within every Oan soul rose through his father's body. It passed gently across his skin, illuminating veins of green beneath the fading red.

Caranthir looked peaceful.

The light gathered around his chest.

Then part of it separated.

A small emerald flame rose from Caranthir and entered Ion.

His father's hands became still.

"Father?"

Durin reached for him.

Caranthir did not breathe.

Durin gathered the frail body into his arms and held him close. His tears fell freely now, darkening the blankets wrapped around his father.

Ion remained beside him.

"He is with your mother now," Ion said quietly.

Durin pressed his face against Caranthir's white hair.

"Thank you."

Ion stayed with him while Durin grieved.

.

.

.

III: The Deathless

"An example of a restricted region is the Barrens," Durin said.

A projection expanded above the lecture hall, showing a dark wound across the mapped universe. Stars ended abruptly at its borders, replaced by an expanse of ruin and unstable cosmic energy.

"The Barrens were once part of the universe, but the region was devastated during a conflict that predated the Corps. The Watchers later isolated it behind a barrier to prevent the dangerous energies emanating from within from spreading into neighbouring space."

Nearly two hundred Green Lantern recruits watched from the tiered seats around him. They represented dozens of species, from humanoids seated at desks to aquatic beings suspended inside water-filled chambers. Several recruits possessed crystalline or rocky forms.

"The energy within interferes with power rings. Constructs become unstable, navigation systems fail, and prolonged exposure may sever a Lantern's connection to the Central Power Battery. Entry is prohibited without direct authorisation from Oa."

He dismissed the projection.

"Any questions?"

Several hands, limbs, and appendages rose.

Durin pointed towards a yellow-skinned recruit seated near the front. The Lantern stood barely two feet tall, with large black eyes and pointed ears.

"Why is there another restricted region inside Sector Six-Sixteen?" the recruit asked. "It covers a significant portion of the sector, but the Academy records provide no explanation."

The room grew quieter as they looked to Durin for an answer.

Every class asked eventually. Durin had never been able to give them a satisfying answer.

Sector Six-Sixteen was patrolled by the Puff Collective, who had taken the name after Ion himself had begun calling them Puffs. It was also considered the safest sector in the entire universe.

The Collective could exist in thousands of places at once. Its individual bodies were spread across populated systems, trade routes, and remote worlds while remaining parts of the same consciousness. Crimes were discovered almost as they happened. Disasters rarely went unnoticed, and distress calls were answered faster than anywhere else under Corps protection.

Yet Ion had personally tasked the Collective with ensuring that no Lantern entered the restricted region. Even the Puffs themselves were forbidden from crossing the boundary. It was as though Ion did not merely want the region protected. He wanted it left completely undisturbed.

"We do not know what lies there," Durin said.

He folded his arms.

"I know what some of you are thinking. A mysterious region inside the safest sector in the universe sounds like an opportunity for exploration."

Several recruits looked away too quickly.

"It is not."

Durin allowed his gaze to travel across the hall.

"The Collective guards that boundary more closely than any other location within its sector. Nothing enters. Nothing leaves. You are not to investigate it, approach it, or attempt to persuade one part of the Collective that another part has already given you permission."

Some of the recruits laughed, while a few others looked disappointed. Someone had clearly considered the last option.

"Restricted means restricted," Durin continued. "Curiosity is valuable in a Lantern, but curiosity without proper judgement gets people killed."

Durin answered several more questions. Most concerned the Barrens and the Droma System, whose ruling empire did not permit Lanterns to enter its territory. That refusal had allowed several major criminal syndicates to establish their headquarters there.

"Review the restricted-space protocols before tomorrow. You will be tested on them."

The recruits rose.

"And before anyone asks, entering a restricted region to discover what lies inside will not earn you additional credit."

Durin dismissed them.

The recruits left in groups, discussing the lesson among themselves. Durin remained behind for a moment, staring at the empty space where the projection of Sector Six-Sixteen had been displayed.

Five thousand years had passed since the founding of the Green Lantern Corps.

During that time, countless Lanterns had carried the light and its responsibility. Some had served for most of their lives before retiring in old age. Others had died in service. All their names and deeds were preserved upon Vigil.

Of the First Hundred, only Durin and the Puff Collective remained.

The Collective had not aged in any meaningful sense. Individual bodies were occasionally destroyed, but the shared consciousness continued so long as enough of its spheres survived. It remained active and cheerful, growing more intelligent with every passing century.

Durin had stepped away from regular patrol years ago.

He was not retired. Not completely.

He remained a Green Lantern and answered emergencies when needed, but his days of overseeing one hundred sectors as an Illustres were over. Now he served as the head instructor of the Academy, preparing new generations to become even better Lanterns than he had been.

Durin left the lecture hall and passed an open courtyard where several Lanterns practised maintaining shields while instructors attacked them from different angles. Beyond the courtyard, recruits flew through an obstacle course that extended into the upper atmosphere.

Durin slowed when he heard his name.

An Oan instructor stood beside a group of recruits near the courtyard entrance.

"Durin is the oldest living Oan."

Durin remained beyond their sight.

"Our lifespans have increased greatly since Ion first created us," the instructor continued. "But Durin is different."

"They call him the Deathless," one of the recruits said.

"Is he immortal?" another asked.

"No one knows. He is the oldest of our people and one of the greatest Lanterns ever to bear a ring."

The instructor paused.

"No. He is the greatest Lantern ever to bear one."

Durin continued walking before they noticed him listening.

Durin the Deathless.

He had never liked the title.

The name drew his thoughts back thousands of years, to the day Ion had summoned him to the Guardian's palace.

Durin had been five hundred years old then.

By every measure available at the time, he should already have been dead.

====

"It is the ring," Ion said.

Durin sat opposite his creator inside a private chamber of the Guardian's palace. Emerald readings floated around them, displaying the condition of his body, his soul, and the energy flowing between him and the Central Power Battery.

"The ring?" Durin repeated.

Ion nodded.

"It has altered the way your body ages."

Durin looked at the ring on his finger.

"How?"

"You and the ring share the same origin," Ion explained. "Because I created both of you, there is a deep, fundamental resonance between you. In you, and only you, that resonance is having an unforeseen effect."

"Other Oans have worn rings. Five of them."

"Not for as long as you have."

Durin studied the readings.

"So every Oan chosen by a ring will live as long as I have?"

"I don't know. The effect appears to be stronger in you than in those who came later."

The Guardian expanded another projection. It showed the changes recorded across generations of Oans.

"The Central Power Battery is affecting the Oans even without rings. The first Oans were expected to live for approximately two hundred years. Each generation since has lived longer."

"How much longer will that continue?"

"At the current rate, Oans born a hundred thousand years from now may possess natural lifespans approaching ten thousand years."

Durin stared at him.

"Ten thousand?"

"Yes. That appears to be where the increase will stop."

Durin looked down at his hands.

"And me?"

Ion's expression became more serious.

"You will continue to age, but far more slowly. A thousand years may pass before your body changes significantly. Perhaps ten thousand. Perhaps a million."

Durin tried to speak.

Nothing came out.

A million years.

He thought of his parents, already long dead. His cousins, their children, and all the generations that had followed. He remembered Sira, Vael, Orro, and Drunn, all of whom had passed while Durin remained young.

"I... I..." Durin stammered, completely stripped of his usual composure. "I cannot live for a million years."

"You are not immortal," Ion said. "A mortal wound can still kill you."

He allowed Durin a moment before continuing.

"If you surrender the ring, your ageing will gradually return to the natural rate of an Oan from your generation. You would not collapse from old age the moment the ring left your hand. The accumulated energy would fade over time."

"So I have a choice."

"You always have a choice."

Durin looked again at the ring.

The Corps had become his life. There was nothing else. He was already a man out of time, with nothing remaining of the life he had once known. His parents were gone. His friends were gone. Entire generations had lived and died around him.

The ring was all he had left.

Ion leaned forward.

"If you decide that your service is complete, you may leave the ring behind and live the remaining…."

====

After that conversation, Durin decided he would serve for as long as he could.

The decision had been harder to honour than it sounded. Centuries became millennia. He served alongside many sector Lanterns, oversaw countless others as an Illustres, and later watched the Lanterns he trained as an instructor grow old and die. Recruits became sector Lanterns, then senior officers, and finally names upon Vigil.

Entire civilisations changed while Durin remained.

He watched Oan society evolve. His father's old kingdom was absorbed into the central Oan administration. He watched Haven change as more cities appeared across its surface, transforming it into one of the richest worlds in the universe.

There were years when he feared his mind was beginning to fail.

Too many battles.

Too many faces.

Too many people he had loved, only to watch them disappear.

He endured through will. It was the choice to rise every morning and remain part of the universe rather than withdraw from it completely.

He could not abandon the ring.

Not yet.

Ion allowed him to keep it and offered him a position at the Academy. Durin still answered whenever the Corps needed him. A Code Two event meant a threat affecting multiple sectors, usually something beyond the experience or strength of ordinary Lanterns. Whenever those alerts sounded, Durin was often among the first to respond.

That only strengthened the legend.

The first Oan Green Lantern.

The oldest active bearer of a ring.

Durin the Deathless.

Durin left the building and rose into the air.

The world fell away beneath him as he accelerated through the atmosphere. He passed training stations, orbital platforms, and vessels travelling between the Academy and the other planets.

Oa appeared ahead.

Durin crossed the system quickly and descended towards the Valley of Will. The Mountains of Ion surrounded the valley in a dark ring, their high peaks reflecting the emerald light of the citadel at its centre. The Guardian's palace stood just beneath it.

Durin entered the palace grounds and heard the sounds of battle.

Emerald light flashed beyond the eastern courtyard.

He followed the noise and reached a broad training field surrounded by ancient trees. Ten Illustres Lanterns moved through the air, attacking from every direction.

At their centre floated Ion.

Ion blocked a barrage of constructs with one hand while his green cape billowed behind him. A second Illustres attacked from below, creating a blade. Ion turned, caught it between his palms, and shattered it before driving the Lantern backwards with a controlled pulse of power.

Three more attacked together.

Durin landed at the edge of the courtyard and watched.

One of the Illustres pushed himself up from the shattered remains of his construct. "You are the most powerful wielder of the Spectrum," he said. "Defeating you was never going to be easy."

The Guardian stopped.

"Oh," Ion said. "It is like that, then?"

The ten Illustres exchanged uncertain looks.

Ion lowered himself to the ground. "Very well. I will not draw upon the Spectrum."

Interest returned to the Lanterns almost immediately.

"You will not use your ring?" one asked.

"No."

Ion placed both hands behind his back.

"I will not use my hands either."

The Illustres stared at him.

Then they all smiled and attacked together.

Emerald constructs filled the courtyard. Blades descended from above while chains swept towards Ion's legs. A pair of enormous hands closed around him from either side, and three Illustres fired concentrated beams towards his chest.

Ion did not move his hands.

His feet remained fixed upon the ground.

He leaned aside as the first beam passed his face. His body tilted backwards beneath the second, then turned slightly as the third crossed the space where his shoulder had been.

The giant hands collided around nothing.

Ion rose several feet without changing his posture, allowing the chains to pass beneath him. He drifted between the descending blades before lowering himself into the exact place where he had been standing.

The Illustres attacked again. Construct beasts charged across the courtyard. Spears fell like rain. One Lantern shaped a maze around Ion while another filled every available passage with fire.

Ion moved through all of it with his hands behind his back. His body shifted only as much as necessary, turning between attacks with the ease of someone avoiding falling leaves.

The Illustres grew more frustrated with every failed strike. One created a fist large enough to cover the entire training field and brought it down upon Ion.

Ion vanished beneath it.

The construct struck the ground and split the courtyard. Ion appeared standing upon the back of the fist.

"Are you finished?"

The ten Lanterns answered by attacking again.

Ion sighed. "Now that you have had your chance, I suppose it is time for me to respond."

The Illustres pulled back.

Ion remained where he stood, his hands still clasped behind him. "This took me a very long time to figure out," he said. "No Spectrum required."

His eyes began to glow red.

Durin straightened.

Two crimson beams erupted from Ion's eyes.

The nearest Illustres dodged.

The beams turned after him.

He changed direction, but the red light followed, bending through the air at different angles. He accelerated upwards, looped around one of the palace towers, and returned towards the courtyard.

The beams remained behind him.

"What is this?" the Lantern shouted.

The crimson light struck him between the shoulders.

His shield absorbed most of the force, but the impact sent him tumbling across the courtyard.

Ion smiled. "Behold my Omega Beams."

The remaining Illustres scattered.

Red light crossed the training field. One Lantern hid behind several layered shields. The beams curved around them and struck him from behind. Another divided into dozens of identical constructs. The Omega Beams passed through every false image and struck the true Lantern.

Ion barely moved except to float above the courtyard. He maintained the same upright posture, his hands still held behind his back, while his head turned slightly from one target to another.

The courtyard filled with twisting crimson trails. Each Illustres attempted a different defence.

Within minutes, all ten lay scattered across the training grounds.

Durin had always known that the Guardian possessed power beyond the Emotional Spectrum. Ion had existed for ages and also wielded the Power Cosmic as a former herald of Galactus.

Durin left the courtyard and entered the palace.

He and Ion were supposed to have lunch together, though the Guardian would likely spend several minutes helping the defeated Lanterns recover what remained of their dignity.

As Durin crossed the central hall, the Guardian's head attendant approached from the opposite passage. Idril held one of the highest civilian positions an Oan could possess. As head attendant, she oversaw the Guardian's palace, its staff, and much of the Valley of Will itself.

The position had once belonged to Fëanor, who had been the first to hold the office. Over thousands of years, it had passed through many hands before Idril inherited the responsibility.

She stopped before Durin.

"Great Durin. You are early."

Durin sighed.

"How many times have I asked you to stop using such titles for me?"

"My apologies."

"You say that every time, Idril."

"It is a difficult habit to abandon." Idril smiled faintly. "You know how I and many others were raised. We grew up hearing stories of Durin the Deathless."

Durin looked at her. "We are friends, are we not?"

"Friends, yes."

The answer came quickly. Too quickly. Idril glanced away, trying to hide the colour rising across her face.

Durin pretended not to notice.

"I will wait in Ion's solar."

She nodded.

Durin walked past her.

"Durin."

He stopped and turned. Idril remained in the corridor, her hands clasped before her. Her usual confidence had vanished.

"Yes?"

"There is a gathering in Ionith tomorrow evening."

"I know. The eastern clans are celebrating their Day of Arrival."

"I wondered whether you might attend."

She hesitated.

"With me," Idril added.

The meaning became clear. Durin felt an ache beneath his ribs.

"I am flattered."

Idril's hopeful expression began to fade.

"But such things are not for me."

She stepped closer.

"Why?"

"Idril."

"I can see how alone you are."

"I gave up on those things long ago."

"You did not have to."

"I am different from other Oans. I have lived for five thousand years, Idril."

Idril's face tightened.

Durin continued before she could answer.

"I knew your parents. I knew their parents. I knew your grandparents and your great-grandparents. I watched generations of your family live and die."

"That does not make what I feel false."

"No."

Idril looked at him for several seconds.

Then she lowered her head. "I understand."

She turned and walked away. Durin remained in the corridor until she disappeared from sight.

"You should have accepted."

Durin closed his eyes.

Ion stood at the entrance to the passage. He had been there watching them.

Durin resumed walking towards the solar.

Ion followed him.

"She really likes you, Durin. She admires you…. I believe you broke her heart just now."

Durin stopped.

"You, of all people, should understand how strange it would be for me."

Ion's expression became more sympathetic.

"I knew her father and mother," Durin continued. "I knew her grandparents. I remember when her family first entered service within this palace."

"All right. I understand."

Durin entered the solar.

The chamber overlooked the western gardens, where the Oan sky cast orange and violet light across the surrounding streams. A table had already been prepared near the open balcony.

Durin sat.

Ion took the chair opposite him.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Durin asked, "Did you ever have something like that?"

Ion looked towards him.

"A family," Durin continued. "A lover. Children."

The Guardian became completely still.

"Once, I thought I wanted all of it," Durin said. "A home. Someone to share my life with. Children..."

He looked at the ring on his finger.

"But I chose a different life."

Ion remained silent. Durin noticed something unfamiliar cross his creator's face. It vanished quickly, hidden beneath the calm expression Ion usually wore.

The Guardian reached for the food.

"You could still have those things," he said. "You could retire from the Corps, give up the ring, and allow your ageing to return to its natural course. Perhaps you could even take Idril up on her offer."

"No."

Ion looked at him.

"I cannot."

"You can, Durin. You always have a choice."

"I will be a Green Lantern for the rest of my life."

"You have already given more than anyone could ask."

"It is still my choice. Just as you said, it is my choice."

Durin paused.

"I will serve until I die and return to you."

"If that is your decision, I will respect it."

Durin studied him.

"But you did not answer my question."

Ion's hand stopped.

"Did you have a family?" Durin asked. "Something similar?"

"Yes."

Durin fell silent.

Ion looked towards the gardens. A small, distant smile appeared upon his face before he turned back to Durin.

"That is all I will say."

==========

Durin could not concentrate on the meeting. Voices rose and fell around the circular chamber as senior Lanterns delivered reports and holographic records moved above the central table. Durin understood each word when it reached him, yet the meaning slipped away almost immediately.

Where was he?

He looked around, momentarily unable to place the high emerald walls or the figures seated around him.

Then his memory returned.

The Guardian's palace.

The main council chamber.

Ion sat at the head of the table, listening as Lantern Sarissa presented evidence gathered during her investigation.

"We found the survivors here," she said, expanding a projection of a scarred planet. "The inhabitants were forced to compete in a series of contests. Those who refused were punished. Entire cities were divided into teams..."

Images appeared above the table.

Ruined arenas. Mass graves. Symbols associated with the Grandmaster hidden within damaged machines.

Sarissa faced Ion.

"I have found proof that En Dwi Gast was involved."

The chamber fell silent.

Ion studied the evidence before nodding slowly.

Sarissa's expression hardened.

"I know you are an Elder of the Universe, Guardian. So is the Grandmaster. But the restrictions protecting the Elders from direct Corps action have allowed this to continue."

"The laws exist for a reason," Ion said.

Sarissa placed both hands upon the table.

"From where I stand, it appears that you are protecting your friends. Or your brothers, as you call them."

Several Lanterns shifted uncomfortably.

Durin forced his thoughts into order.

"There has not been a confirmed incident involving an Elder since the Trader was wrongfully accused of selling slaves," he said. "That investigation caused a considerable diplomatic crisis."

Sarissa turned towards him.

"I remember reading about that incident, Durin." Her tone was respectful, but only barely. "I also believe it may have been used as a warning against investigating the Elders too closely. Perhaps the scandal was convenient."

"You believe the Corps fabricated evidence to protect them?"

"I believe evidence may have been concealed."

Ion's gaze settled upon her.

"You are becoming too conspiratorial, Sarissa."

"I am following the evidence."

"And I am not blind to what my so-called brothers are capable of."

Ion stood.

"I have prepared measures for any Elder who becomes too dangerous. Those measures do not include allowing Lanterns to begin a war with beings who have survived since the earliest ages of this universe."

Sarissa opened her mouth.

Ion raised one hand.

"This meeting is concluded. Submit your complete evidence to Jade. I will examine it personally."

Sarissa did not look satisfied.

Neither did several of the other senior Lanterns. They left reluctantly, speaking quietly among themselves as the chamber emptied.

Durin began to rise.

"Stay," Ion said.

Durin obeyed.

The final doors closed.

Silence settled over the chamber.

Ion remained at the head of the table, studying Durin.

"Are you well?"

"I am fine."

"No, you are not."

Durin looked away.

"There was a time when you would not lie to me."

"I did not lie."

"You were sitting there as though you did not even know where you were."

Durin's head turned sharply.

Ion had noticed.

Of course he had.

Durin lowered himself back into his seat.

"I have been having difficulty remembering."

"How long?"

"A while."

"How long, Durin?"

"Several years."

Ion came around the table.

Durin stared at his own hands.

"Sometimes I cannot remember my mother's face," he admitted. "Or my father's. I know who they were. I know what happened. But when I try to see them, there is nothing."

His voice became quieter.

"I lose track of conversations. I enter rooms and cannot remember why. Everything feels heavy, as though all the years are pressing upon my mind at once."

Ion stood across from him.

"The natural lifespan of an Oan is now close to six hundred years."

Durin nodded.

"That number will continue to increase," Ion said. "Future generations will be born with bodies and minds adapted to endure longer lives. In time, thousands of years may feel natural to them."

He paused.

"But you were born among the earliest generations."

Durin looked up.

"Your ring has preserved and strengthened your body," Ion continued. "It has slowed your ageing far beyond what your biology was prepared to endure."

"My mind was not preserved in the same way."

"No."

Durin stood.

"I can continue teaching."

"For now."

Durin shook his head.

"No."

Ion watched him quietly.

Durin changed the subject. Anything that would move the conversation away from the fear tightening around his chest.

"Why do you protect the Elders?"

Ion did not answer immediately. After some time, he spoke.

"When we first formed our brotherhood, we agreed to aid one another, respect one another's territories, and settle disputes through agreed contests rather than wars. We formed a Compact, one which I intend to respect."

Ion returned to his seat.

"I cannot demand that the others honour the Compact while ignoring it whenever doing so becomes convenient."

"Even when they hurt people?"

"No agreement protects them from every consequence. But if the Corps moves against one of them without proof, the others may unite against me. That means they would unite against all of us."

"They are all the last of their species," Ion continued. "Each carries the Power Primordial."

"As do you."

"Yes."

Ion nodded.

He raised one hand, allowing pale cosmic energy to move between his fingers.

"The Power Primordial sustains more than our bodies. It sharpens our minds and preserves our desire to continue living. But it requires direction."

Durin remembered the stories told about the Elders.

"The Collector collects," he said.

Ion nodded.

"The Grandmaster creates games and contests. The Gardener cultivates life. The Possessor seeks knowledge. Each of them channels an immense existence into a single consuming purpose."

"A fanatical obsession."

"That is one way to describe it."

"And you?"

Ion looked towards the Lantern symbol carved into the chamber wall.

"Well...I am the Guardian."

Understanding came slowly.

"The Corps," Durin said.

"The Green Lantern Corps is my obsession. Protecting life and watching over the universe give shape to my existence."

Ion faced him again.

"The Power Primordial has helped keep me sane for billions of years."

Durin's throat tightened.

Ion stepped closer.

"You have endured five thousand years through will alone. That is quite an achievement."

"But it is no longer enough."

Ion did not soften the answer.

"No."

Durin turned away from him. He had known something was wrong. He had felt the gaps widening within his thoughts, but admitting it made the danger real.

"What will happen to me?"

"Your memories will continue to fade. Everything will worsen. Eventually, you may lose the ability to separate the present from the past."

Durin closed his eyes.

"I will lose myself."

Ion waited before continuing.

"You have two choices."

Durin faced him.

"The first is to surrender your ring and retire."

"No. I cannot."

"Listen to me. Don't interrupt," Ion commanded.

Durin fell silent. For a moment, he felt like a child being scolded by his father.

"Without the ring, your ageing will gradually return. You may live for several more centuries, perhaps longer."

Durin imagined an ordinary home on Haven or Oa. Years passing. His body weakening. The Corps continuing without him.

He could not see himself living that life.

"And the second choice?" he asked.

Ion extended his hand, and a ring flew through the open window. It was larger and heavier than an ordinary power ring.

"A new ring," Ion said.

Durin stared at it.

"It draws power directly from the Central Power Battery. It will strengthen your body and stabilise your mind more completely than your current ring."

"What will it change?"

Ion's expression grew solemn.

"It will soften your emotions. Attachments, grief, and memories that create excessive strain will become more distant. You will still possess them. You will still be Durin. But the weight of the years will no longer crush you."

Durin looked from the ring to Ion.

"I would feel less."

"Yes."

"Would I still remember my parents?"

"You would remember them. The memories would no longer carry the same pain."

"My friends?"

"The same."

Durin understood what Ion was offering.

"What would I become?"

"An Alpha Lantern."

Ion allowed the words to settle before continuing.

"An Alpha Lantern would stand second only to me within the Corps. You would possess authority above the Illustres and power beyond that of an ordinary Lantern."

Durin stared at his old ring.

Five thousand years.

It had chosen him when he was a frightened boy who had defended his friend. It had carried him away from his parents, introduced him to the stars, and made him the first sanctioned Green Lantern.

Being a Lantern was all that remained of him.

"I cannot give up the ring," Durin said. "I cannot imagine living without it. A normal life is no longer possible for me."

He looked at the Alpha Lantern ring.

"Make me an Alpha Lantern."

Ion searched his face.

"Once the process begins, it cannot be completely reversed."

"I understand."

"You may regret what it takes from you."

"I would regret abandoning the Corps more."

Ion remained silent for several seconds.

Then the ring floated from his palm.

"To be an Alpha Lantern is to hold great power," he said. "And with great power comes great responsibility."

Durin removed his original ring.

The moment it left his finger, weakness spread through him. His body suddenly felt ancient, every hidden ache and exhausted cell demanding attention at once.

He placed the old ring upon the table.

The Alpha Lantern ring stopped before him.

"Take it," Ion said.

Durin reached out.

"Place it upon your finger," Ion instructed. "The oath will come to your mind. Speak it when the connection begins."

Durin put on the ring.

Pain consumed him.

Durin screamed as emerald power entered his hand and spread through every nerve. Green lines appeared beneath his skin, travelling along his arm and across his chest. His eyes ignited with emerald light.

The Central Power Battery filled his mind.

He felt every active ring.

Every Lantern.

Every sector protected beneath the Corps' light.

His memories rose around him. His mother. His father. Sira, Vael, Orro, and Drunn. Five thousand years of battles, losses, students, and friends.

The pain attached to them began to fade.

Durin tried to hold on.

The ring continued its work.

Green fire surrounded his body as the new oath formed within his thoughts.

He raised his glowing hand.

"IN DAYS OF PEACE, IN NIGHTS OF WAR,

I GUARD THE LAWS FOREVERMORE.

LET NONE ESCAPE WHAT JUSTICE CALLS.

I AM THE CHOSEN.

I AM THE ALPHA LANTERN.

I AM THE ALPHA CORPS."