The Oan system burned with chaos as Razor's Edge dropped out of hyperspace, flanked by Lirra Syn and Toren Kade's green trails. Kael Varn gripped the controls, his eyes wide at the sight before him. Oa, the emerald jewel of the Corps, was under siege. Red-black tendrils, thicker and more vicious than those in the Forbidden Vault, lashed across the planet's orbit, tangling with Lanterns whose rings blazed in desperate defiance. The Central Power Battery's light pulsed erratically, casting jagged shadows that danced like specters across the void.
"Holy hell," Kael muttered, his ring humming with a mix of warning and urgency. "This is worse than a guild embargo."
Lirra's voice crackled through the comms, taut as a wire. "Kael, stay tight. Toren, take point. We need to reach the Battery."
Toren's crystalline form gleamed as he surged ahead, his ring firing precise beams that severed a tendril menacing a wounded Lantern. "The Voidveil's stronger here," he said, his voice steady but strained. "It's feeding on the Battery's instability."
Kael's stomach twisted. The Vault had been bad enough those tendrils, that rift, the corrupted Lantern but this was a warzone. He wasn't trained for this, wasn't ready. But the ring on his finger didn't care. It flared, its green light wrapping him in armor that felt more like a challenge than protection. You chose me, he thought. Let's not screw this up.
He dove Razor's Edge into the fray, weaving through tendrils that snapped like whips. His ring's constructs were still clumsy shields that wobbled, blasts that veered but they were stronger now, fueled by something he couldn't name. Instinct, maybe, or just sheer stubbornness. He fired a green spear, piercing a tendril that lunged for Toren, and caught a nod from the crystalline Lantern.
"Nice shot, human," Toren said, his crystals chiming.
"Call me Kael," he grunted, banking hard to avoid a counterattack. "And keep up."
Lirra fought like a storm, her constructs blades, nets, barriers moving with a precision Kael envied. Her telepathy guided her, dodging tendrils before they struck, but Kael saw the strain in her movements. The Voidveil wasn't just physical it was in her head, same as him, whispering doubts. You failed before. You'll fail again.
"Kael!" Lirra shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos. "Cover the western flank! Lanterns are pinned down!"
"On it!" He spun Razor's Edge, his ring forming a massive shield that blocked a wave of tendrils. The impact rattled his teeth, but he held, sweat beading on his brow. Below, a squad of Lanterns rallied, their rings flaring brighter as they broke free.
The battle raged, a symphony of green and red-black clashing against Oa's spires. Kael's ring fed him glimpses trajectories, weak points, possibilities but it was overwhelming, like flying blind through an asteroid storm. He focused on Lirra's voice, Toren's light, anything to anchor him. They carved a path toward the Citadel, the Battery's flickering glow their beacon.
But the Voidveil was relentless. Tendrils merged, forming a massive entity a colossus of shadow with eyes like dying stars. It roared, a psychic scream that hit Kael like a fist, dragging up memories he'd buried: his first failed run, the guild's laughter, the fear he'd never be enough. He gasped, his shield flickering.
"Kael!" Lirra's telepathy slammed into him, not words but a feeling strength, trust, a lifeline. "Focus on me!"
He did, locking onto her green aura. His shield snapped back, stronger, and he fired a construct a crude battering ram that smashed the colossus's flank. It staggered, and Toren followed with a crystalline lance, shattering one of its eyes.
"Together!" Lirra called, and the three of them struck as one Lirra's blades, Toren's beams, Kael's raw force. The colossus dissolved, its tendrils scattering, but Kael knew it wasn't over. The Battery's pulse was weaker, the red-black veins spreading faster.
They landed in the Citadel's hangar, Razor's Edge groaning from the damage. Kael stumbled out, his armor fading, his legs shaky but his ring still glowing. Lirra and Toren touched down beside him, their faces grim. Lanterns rushed past, some carrying wounded, others forming defensive lines.
"We're losing," Kael said, his voice hoarse. "Aren't we?"
Lirra's mandibles clicked, but she didn't deny it. "Not yet. The Battery's still active. We have time."
Toren's crystals dimmed. "Barely. The Shard's absence is amplifying the Voidveil. We need to find it now."
Kael nodded, his mind racing. Voryn had taken the Obsidian Shard, but where? And why? The traitor's words in the Vault haunted him: The Corps falls. It wasn't just betrayal it was a plan.
Inside the Citadel, the Battery's chamber was a warzone of its own. Lanterns guarded the massive construct, their rings straining to contain the red-black veins that pulsed like a heartbeat. The air crackled with energy, and Kael's ring trembled, as if afraid to get closer. He didn't blame it.
The Guardians were there, their blue robes stark against the chaos. Ganthet's face was etched with strain, Sayd's eyes scanning the Battery like a medic assessing a dying patient. Other Lanterns senior ones, their armor scarred from battle stood in a tense circle, their voices low but urgent.
Lirra strode forward, Kael and Toren at her flanks. "Guardians," she said, her voice cutting through the din. "The Vault was empty. Voryn took the Shard. The Voidveil's using it to strike Oa."
Ganthet's gaze shifted to her, heavy with millennia of weight. "We know. Voryn's actions were not his alone. The Shard corrupted him, but someone something guided it."
Kael frowned, stepping forward despite Lirra's warning glance. "Guided? You're saying there's a puppet master? Who?"
Sayd's voice was soft, but it carried a chill. "We do not know. But the Shard's power is older than the Corps, tied to a mistake we made long ago."
Lirra's mandibles stilled, her telepathy catching a flicker of guilt from the Guardians rare and unsettling. "A mistake?" she asked, her tone sharp. "What haven't you told us?"
Ganthet hesitated, a crack in his composure. "When the Corps was formed, we sought to harness will to protect the universe. But will is not singular. It exists beside fear, rage, hope. The Voidveil... was born from our attempt to suppress those opposites. The Shard was its prison, and we thought it secure."
Kael's jaw dropped. "You made this thing? And you didn't think to mention it before sending us to poke it?"
Toren's crystals chimed, a low note of disapproval. "The Guardians act for the greater good. Their secrets kept us safe."
"Safe?" Kael snapped, his ring flaring. "Look around, shiny. This ain't safe."
Lirra's claw touched his arm, a silent warning. "Enough. Guardians, where's Voryn? If he has the Shard, we can stop this."
Sayd's eyes darkened. "Voryn is here, on Oa. The Shard's power cloaks him, but we've traced its signature to the Underforge the Battery's core."
Kael's ring pulsed, a vision flashing: a cavern beneath the Citadel, green stone laced with shadow, Voryn holding the Shard like a dark star. "He's gonna break it," Kael said, his voice low. "The Battery, the Corps everything."
Lirra's telepathy confirmed it, catching the same echo. "We need to move. Now."
Ganthet nodded. "Go. Lirra Syn, Kael Varn, Toren Kade your wills are our hope. But beware: the Shard will test you as nothing has before."
The Underforge was a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the Citadel, its walls pulsing with the Battery's fading light. Lirra led the way, her telepathy probing for Voryn's presence, but the Shard's influence was a fog, clouding her senses. Kael followed, his ring's constructs shields, blades steadier now, though his heart pounded. Toren brought up the rear, his crystalline glow a beacon in the dark.
The air grew heavier, the Voidveil's whisper louder. You failed Kryon. You'll fail here. Lirra's mandibles clicked, her claws tightening. Kryon wasn't her fault she'd fought, survived but the guilt lingered, a crack the Shard could widen. She glanced at Kael, his face set despite the fear she felt in him. He was new, unscarred by years of loss, but the Voidveil didn't care. It would find his weaknesses too.
"Stay close," she said, her voice low. "The Underforge amplifies the Batteryand the Shard."
Kael nodded, his ring flaring as a tendril snapped from the shadows. He blocked it, his shield holding firm. "This place needs a decorator. Too much gloom."
Toren's crystals chimed, a faint laugh. "Focus, Kael. The Shard's near."
They reached a chamber, vast and cavernous, where the Battery's core a massive emerald crystal pulsed weakly. Voryn stood before it, the Obsidian Shard in his hand, its red-black light casting him in a halo of corruption. His ring was dim, his armor cracked, but his eyes burned with a zeal that wasn't his own.
"You're late," Voryn said, his voice a chorus of shadows. "The Corps is flawed. Weak. The Voidveil will cleanse it."
Lirra stepped forward, her ring blazing. "Voryn, stop. This isn't you. Fight it."
He laughed, the sound jagged. "Fight? I see. The Guardians lied. The Corps is built on lies. The Shard shows the truth."
Kael's ring flared, his voice sharp. "Truth? You're breaking everything! Put it down, or we make you."
Voryn's eyes locked onto him, and the Shard pulsed, a psychic wave that hit like a storm. Lirra staggered, memories of Kryon flooding her screams, blood, her squad's rings fading. Kael gasped, his mind filled with failure, abandonment, the guild's sneers. Toren's crystals dimmed, his clarity wavering under visions of his shattered homeworld.
"No," Lirra growled, her telepathy slashing through the fog. She fired a construct a chain that wrapped Voryn's arm, but he broke it, the Shard amplifying his power.
Kael shook his head, his ring glowing brighter. "Not today, asshole." He conjured a massive fist, slamming Voryn back, but the traitor countered, tendrils erupting from the Shard to pin Kael's arms.
Toren charged, his beams cutting through the tendrils, but Voryn was relentless, his corrupted ring weaving shadows that choked the light. Lirra's telepathy caught his mind a storm of pain, betrayal, a voice not his own. The Voidveil wasn't just controlling him it was speaking through him.
"Enough!" Lirra shouted, diving forward. She tackled Voryn, her claws prying at the Shard. It burned, psychic and real, but she held on, her will a blade. Kael broke free, his ring forming a cage around Voryn, while Toren's constructs sealed the chamber, keeping the tendrils at bay.
Voryn roared, the Shard flaring, and a rift opened above the Battery's core, red-black and hungry. "You can't stop it!" he screamed. "The Voidveil is us!"
Lirra's telepathy plunged deeper, finding a spark of Voryn's true self buried, but alive. "You're a Lantern," she whispered, her voice steady. "Come back."
For a moment, Voryn's eyes cleared, his grip on the Shard loosening. Kael saw it, his ring blazing as he fired a beam not at Voryn, but at the Shard, knocking it free. It spun, and Lirra caught it, her ring screaming as the Voidveil's power surged.
"Destroy it!" Toren shouted, his beams holding the rift back.
Lirra tried, her constructs crushing the Shard, but it resisted, its light growing. Kael joined her, his will raw but fierce, and Toren added his clarity, their rings uniting in a green blaze. The Shard cracked, a scream echoing through the chamber, and the rift collapsed, the tendrils dissolving.
Voryn slumped, his ring dark, his eyes empty but human again. The Battery's pulse steadied, but the red-black veins remained, a reminder of how close they'd come.
Kael panted, his armor fading. "Did we win?"
Lirra held the Shard's fragments, her claws trembling. "No. We delayed it. The Voidveil's still out there."
Toren's crystals glowed softly. "And it knows us now."
As they carried Voryn to the surface, the Battery's light flickered, stronger but not whole. Lirra's telepathy caught a whisper—not Voryn's, not the Shard's, but something older, watching from the void. You cannot hide.
Kael met her eyes, his grin tired but real. "Guess we're not done flying."
She nodded, her mandibles clicking faintly. "Not yet."