The Citadel's air was thick with unease, the hum of the Central Power Battery a faltering heartbeat. Kael Varn stood in the Battery's chamber, his ring casting a faint green glow across the cracked stone floor. Lanterns moved around him, their voices low, their rings dimmed as if mirroring the Battery's struggle. The traitor's attack had left scars physical ones in the chamber's walls, psychic ones in the Corps' spirit. Kael's hand clenched, the ring's weight grounding him against the chaos.
He glanced at Lirra Syn, who stood near the Battery, her mandibles still, her eyes fixed on the red-black veins pulsing faintly in its surface. She hadn't spoken much since the fight, but Kael could feel her tension, like a wire pulled taut. The traitor a Lantern named Voryn, they'd learned had been one of their own, corrupted by the Voidveil. If it could turn Voryn, it could turn anyone. Even her. Even him.
Kael shifted, his pilot's jacket out of place among the Lanterns' sleek armor. "So," he said, keeping his voice light, "is it always this fun around here, or are we just lucky?"
Lirra's gaze flicked to him, sharp but tired. "This isn't a game, Kael. Voryn's betrayal proves the Voidveil's reach. It's not just attacking us—it's using us."
"Yeah, I got that," he said, his grin fading. "That creep's eyes... like they weren't his anymore. What does it want? Besides, you know, eating our souls or whatever."
Lirra's mandibles clicked softly, a sound Kael was starting to recognize as her wrestling with something heavy. "The Voidveil feeds on weakness fear, doubt, despair. Voryn wasn't weak, but he carried pain. We all do. It found his cracks and broke him."
Kael's throat tightened. He'd felt it too, during the fight the Voidveil's whisper, digging into his head, telling him he'd fail, that he didn't belong. He'd pushed through, barely, but the memory lingered like a bruise. "So, what? We just wait for it to pick us off one by one?"
"No," Lirra said, her voice firm. "We fight. We find its source. And we stop it."
"Easy," Kael muttered, but his eyes drifted to the Battery. Its light was weaker than when they'd arrived, the red-black veins spreading like a disease. He didn't know much about Lantern tech, but he knew a dying engine when he saw one. And this wasn't just an engine it was the Corps' heart.
A new voice cut through the chamber, crystalline and resonant. "Lirra Syn. Kael Varn. The Guardians request your presence."
Kael turned to see a Lantern approaching, their body a lattice of glowing facets that refracted the Battery's light into rainbows. Toren Kade, Lirra had called him earlier a veteran like her, from some crystal planet Kael couldn't pronounce. His ring shone steady, but his eyes carried the same strain Kael saw in everyone.
Lirra nodded. "Toren. What's the situation?"
"Grave," Toren said, his crystals chiming softly. "Voryn's interrogation yielded little, but the Guardians have a lead. Come."
Kael fell into step beside Lirra, Toren leading the way. The Citadel's halls felt colder now, the green glow dimmed by doubt. Lanterns watched them pass, some with curiosity, others with suspicion. Kael's ring hummed, as if sensing the tension, and he flexed his hand, trying to shake the feeling that he was walking into a trap.
The Guardians' chamber was as awe-inspiring as before, but the starlight dome seemed muted, the constellations flickering like dying bulbs. Ganthet and Sayd floated at the center, their blue robes stark against the green haze. Other Lanterns were present senior members, their rings blazing with authority but Kael's focus locked on the Guardians. Their calm was gone, replaced by a gravity that made his skin prickle.
"Lirra Syn, Kael Varn," Ganthet said, his voice steady but laced with urgency. "The Corps stands at a precipice. Voryn's betrayal confirms our fears: the Voidveil has infiltrated our ranks. The Battery's corruption worsens, and we have traced its source."
Lirra stepped forward, her telepathy brushing the edges of the room, catching fragments of fear and resolve. "Traced it where?"
Sayd's eyes narrowed, her voice soft but cutting. "To the Forbidden Vault, in Sector 0. A relic lies there, sealed by the first Guardians an artifact tied to the Voidveil's origin. We believe it has been disturbed."
Kael frowned, his ring pulsing as if reacting to the words. "A relic? What kind?"
Ganthet's gaze settled on him, heavy with millennia of secrets. "The Obsidian Shard. A fragment of the Voidveil's essence, locked away to protect the universe. If it has been compromised, it explains the Battery's state and Voryn's fall."
Lirra's mandibles clicked, sharp and involuntary. "The Vault is myth. A story to scare recruits. You're saying it's real?"
"It is real," Sayd said, her tone final. "And it is dangerous. The Shard amplifies doubt, twists will into despair. Only those with unyielding resolve can approach it."
Kael snorted, unable to help himself. "Great. So we're walking into a cosmic therapy session from hell."
The Guardians didn't smile, but Toren's crystals chimed, a faint amusement. Lirra shot Kael a look that could've melted steel, but he just shrugged. Humor was his shield, and he wasn't dropping it now.
"Your task," Ganthet continued, "is to investigate the Vault. Confirm the Shard's status. If it is active, contain it or destroy it. Lirra Syn, your experience makes you ideal. Kael Varn, your ring's purity, untested by years of battle, may resist the Shard's influence. Toren Kade will join you, his clarity a counter to its darkness."
Toren bowed, his facets glowing brighter. Kael glanced at him, sizing him up. The guy seemed solid, but Kael's gut twinged. Trust was hard to come by when traitors were popping up like engine leaks.
"And if the Shard's already out?" Kael asked, his voice quieter now. "What then?"
Sayd's expression darkened. "Then the Voidveil is closer than we feared. And the Corps may not survive."
Lirra's claws tightened, her telepathy catching a flicker of dread from the Guardians rare and unsettling. "When do we leave?"
"Now," Ganthet said. "Time is not our ally."
The Forbidden Vault's coordinates led to a dead system at the galaxy's edge, a place even the stars seemed to avoid. Razor's Edge flew alongside Lirra and Toren, their green trails cutting through the void. Kael gripped the controls, his ring's aura flickering around him, half armor, half instinct. The mission felt like a suicide run find a creepy artifact, don't get brainwashed, save the universe. No big deal.
Lirra's voice crackled through the comms. "Kael, maintain formation. The Vault's defenses are ancient. Stray, and they'll shred you."
"Got it, boss," Kael said, adjusting his trajectory. "Any tips for not losing my mind to this Shard thing?"
Toren answered, his voice calm but firm. "Clarity. The Shard will show you your fears. Name them. Face them. They lose power when you do."
Kael nodded, though his stomach churned. Naming fears was easy failing, dying, letting people down. Facing them? That was another story.
Lirra's telepathy brushed his mind, not prying but present, like a hand on his shoulder. "You're not alone, Kael. We do this together."
He didn't answer, but the words settled him, just a bit. He wasn't used to backup, not the kind that didn't come with a catch. But Lirra and Toren weren't guild rats or pirates. They were Lanterns. Maybe that meant something.
The system came into view a black hole at its heart, ringed by shattered planets and a haze of debris. The Vault was a jagged structure orbiting the singularity, its surface a mix of green stone and something darker, like obsidian laced with veins of night. Kael's ring trembled, a warning hum that made his teeth ache.
"Welcoming," he muttered, scanning the structure. "Anybody home?"
Lirra's voice was tight. "Defenses are dormant. Too dormant. Be ready."
They landed on the Vault's surface, Razor's Edge settling beside a platform where Lirra and Toren touched down, their rings casting green light across the dark stone. Kael stepped out, his armor forming instinctively, though it flickered with his nerves. The air or lack of it felt heavy, pressing against his mind.
Toren raised his ring, scanning the Vault's entrance. "No guards. No traps. This is wrong."
Lirra's telepathy spiked, probing the structure. She stiffened. "Something's here. Alive. And it knows we're coming."
Kael's ring flared, and he conjured a shield, more reflex than thought. "Let me guess more shadow pals?"
Before Lirra could answer, the Vault's surface cracked, and red-black tendrils erupted, faster than the entities they'd fought before. These were sharper, more deliberate, their edges glinting like blades. Kael dove, his shield taking a hit that rattled his bones. Lirra's constructs a lattice of spears sliced through one tendril, while Toren's crystalline beams shattered another.
"Inside!" Lirra shouted, blasting a path to the entrance. "The Shard's controlling them!"
Kael followed, his ring firing clumsy bolts that missed more than they hit. The tendrils pursued, their psychic weight slamming into him you're nothing, you'll fall, you'll break. He gritted his teeth, picturing his ship, his freedom, anything to hold the darkness back.
The Vault's interior was a labyrinth of green and black, its walls pulsing with the same red-black veins as the Battery. Lirra led the way, her telepathy guiding them through twists that felt alive, shifting to confuse. Kael's ring hummed, its light dimming as the Voidveil's presence grew.
"There," Toren said, pointing to a chamber ahead. A pedestal stood at its center, empty but radiating a cold that made Kael's breath catch. Above it, a rift hung in the air a tear in reality, red-black and writhing, spitting tendrils like a wound.
"The Shard's gone," Lirra said, her voice hollow. "Someone took it."
Kael's ring trembled, and a vision flashed Voryn, his eyes glowing, holding a jagged black crystal that pulsed with hunger. "The traitor," Kael said, his voice hoarse. "He was here."
Toren's crystals dimmed. "Then the Voidveil is loose. And Oa—"
His words cut off as the rift pulsed, and a figure emerged not Voryn, but another Lantern, their armor cracked, their ring blazing with corrupted light. Their eyes were voids, their voice a chorus of shadows. "You're too late. The Shard wakes. The Corps falls."
Lirra raised her ring, but the Lantern moved faster, unleashing a wave of red-black energy that slammed her into a wall. Kael shouted, his shield forming just in time to block a second blast. Toren countered, his constructs sharp and precise, but the corrupted Lantern laughed, their power overwhelming.
Kael's mind raced. He wasn't ready not for this, not for any of it. But Lirra was down, Toren was faltering, and the rift was growing. He pictured his ship, his fights, every time he'd flown through hell and come out alive. "Not today," he growled, and his ring blazed.
A green construct erupted a massive fist, crude but fierce, that smashed the corrupted Lantern back. Kael poured everything into it anger, fear, the stubborn spark that had kept him going all his life. The Lantern staggered, their ring sparking, and Toren seized the chance, binding them in crystalline chains.
Lirra stood, her armor scorched but her will unbroken. "Kael," she said, her voice raw with respect. "Well done."
He panted, his vision swimming. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it."
The rift pulsed again, tendrils lashing out, but Lirra's telepathy caught something a signal, faint but deliberate, from Oa. "The Corps is under attack," she said, her mandibles clicking. "The Shard's power it's amplifying the Voidveil."
Toren's eyes narrowed. "We need to warn the Guardians. Now."
Kael looked at the rift, its hunger pulling at him. "What about this thing?"
Lirra's ring flared, and she fired a construct into the rift, collapsing it for now. "We can't stop it here. We need the Shard."
They fled the Vault, the structure crumbling behind them, tendrils snapping at their heels. Razor's Edge roared to life, Lirra and Toren flying beside it as they jumped to hyperspace, Oa's coordinates locked in.
Kael gripped the controls, his ring still glowing from the fight. He wasn't a Lantern not really but he'd held his own. For the first time, he felt the ring's choice, not as a burden, but as a chance.
Lirra's voice came through the comms, steady despite the chaos. "You fought well, Kael. But this is just the beginning."
He grinned, tired but alive. "Good. I hate boring endings."
As Oa loomed ahead, its green light flickering under a shadow that wasn't just the Voidveil, Kael knew one thing: whatever came next, he wasn't running anymore.