The Citadel's halls were quieter now, but the silence felt like the pause before a storm. Kael Varn leaned against a pillar in one of the recovery chambers, his ring casting a soft green glow across the stone. His pilot's jacket was scorched, his body ached like he'd flown through a meteor shower, but he was alive. The fight in the Underforge Voryn, the Shard, that rift replayed in his head, each moment sharper than the last. He'd held his own, maybe even tipped the scales, but victory didn't feel like victory when the Battery still flickered and the Voidveil's shadow lingered.
Across the chamber, Voryn lay in a containment field, his ring removed, his eyes closed. Lantern medics monitored him, their constructs scanning for traces of the Voidveil's corruption. Kael didn't know if the guy was a victim or a traitor maybe both but the sight of him, broken and still, hit harder than he expected. That could've been any of them. Could've been him.
Lirra Syn stood nearby, speaking in low tones with Toren Kade. Her mandibles were still, her posture rigid, but Kael caught the tension in her eyes. She'd pulled Voryn back, saved him when the Shard had nearly swallowed him whole, but it had cost her. Kael didn't need telepathy to see it she was carrying something heavy, something older than this fight.
He pushed off the pillar, walking over. "So, we saved the day, right? Where's the parade?"
Lirra's gaze flicked to him, sharp but softened by exhaustion. "The Battery's stable for now. That's enough."
Toren's crystals chimed, a low, somber note. "Stable, but wounded. The Voidveil's mark remains. And Voryn's betrayal has shaken the Corps."
Kael snorted, though it lacked his usual bite. "Shaken? Half the Lanterns out there are looking at each other like they're next. Trust's in short supply."
Lirra's mandibles clicked faintly. "Trust is earned in crisis, not given. We proved ourselves in the Underforge. That matters."
"Yeah?" Kael raised an eyebrow, his ring glowing as if agreeing. "Then why do I feel like we're still one step behind?"
Before Lirra could answer, a Lantern approached humanoid, with skin like molten gold and eyes that gleamed with quiet intensity. Her ring shone steady, her armor unmarked despite the recent battle. Kael hadn't seen her before, but something about her felt... familiar, like a half-remembered dream.
"Lirra Syn, Kael Varn, Toren Kade," she said, her voice smooth but urgent. "The Guardians summon you. There's no time to waste."
Lirra nodded, her telepathy brushing the newcomer's mind just a surface touch, enough to sense truth but no deception. "Lead on, Sala."
Kael fell into step beside Lirra, whispering, "Sala? She's new. Friend of yours?"
"An ally," Lirra said, her tone guarded. "She's served the Corps longer than I have. Her sector's remote, but her will is unmatched."
Toren's crystals glowed softly. "Sala Vereth. She faced the Black Lanterns alone and survived. Be wary, Kael she sees more than she says."
Kael grinned, though his gut twinged. "Noted. I'm good at keeping up."
The Guardians' chamber felt different now, its starlight dome dimmer, the constellations frozen as if holding their breath. Ganthet and Sayd floated at the center, their faces etched with a weariness Kael hadn't noticed before. Other Lanterns were present senior ones, their rings casting a tense glow but Sala's presence stood out, her golden light a quiet defiance against the gloom.
"Lirra Syn, Kael Varn, Toren Kade," Ganthet said, his voice heavy. "You have done well. The Shard's destruction has slowed the Voidveil, but it has not stopped it. The Battery's corruption persists, and we have uncovered a new threat."
Kael's ring pulsed, a faint warning. He stepped forward, ignoring Lirra's subtle glance. "New threat? What, the last one wasn't fun enough?"
Sayd's eyes narrowed, but there was a flicker of respect in them. "The Voidveil is not a singular force. It is a network, a web of influence that spans the universe. The Shard was a node, but others exist anchors that sustain its power."
Lirra's telepathy spiked, catching a thread of fear from the Guardians carefully hidden, but real. "Anchors?" she asked, her voice steady. "Where?"
Ganthet's gaze shifted to Sala, who stepped forward, her golden skin glinting. "One lies in Sector 3599, my sector. A dead world, Korrath, holds a temple older than Oa itself. I've felt its pulse—a darkness that matches the Voidveil's signature. The Corps ignored it, thinking it dormant. They were wrong."
Kael frowned, his ring humming as if reacting to her words. "A temple? Sounds like another trap. Why send us?"
Sala's eyes met his, piercing but not unkind. "Because you destroyed the Shard. You faced the Voidveil and stood. And because Korrath's temple requires... outsiders. Those untainted by Oa's secrets."
Lirra's mandibles clicked sharply. "Secrets? Speak plainly, Sala. The Corps is fracturing. We can't afford riddles."
Sala hesitated, glancing at the Guardians. Ganthet nodded, a rare concession. "The temple on Korrath was built by the First Lanterns," Sala said, her voice low. "Before the Corps, before the Guardians' oaths. They sought to balance will against fear, but their experiments... birthed the Voidveil. The temple is a scar, a place where their failure was sealed. If another anchor is active there, it could unravel everything."
Kael's jaw tightened. "So the Corps screwed up, made a monster, and now we're cleaning their mess? Again?"
Toren's crystals dimmed, his voice calm but firm. "The past is irrelevant. The anchor threatens now. We act, or we fall."
Sayd's voice cut through, soft but unyielding. "You three, with Sala Vereth, will travel to Korrath. Find the anchor. Destroy it. But beware the Voidveil knows your strengths. It will use them against you."
Lirra nodded, though her telepathy caught a flicker of doubt from Kael fear of failure, of being too small for this fight. She felt it too, the weight of Kryon, of every loss, but she buried it. "When do we leave?"
"Now," Ganthet said. "Oa cannot withstand another assault. Go with haste."
As they left the chamber, Kael's ring flared, a vision flashing Korrath, a world of ash and bone, a temple pulsing with red-black light. He shook it off, catching Sala's glance. She smiled, faint but knowing, and his gut twinged again. Ally or not, she was hiding something.
The journey to Sector 3599 was tense, Razor's Edge flying alongside Lirra, Toren, and Sala's green trails. Kael kept the ship tight, his ring's armor flickering as he scanned the void. The Guardians' revelation that the Corps had birthed the Voidveil sat like a stone in his chest. He'd signed up for a ring, not a cosmic cover-up, but backing out wasn't an option. Not with Oa bleeding and the Voidveil laughing.
Lirra's voice came through the comms, steady but edged. "Kael, your ion wake's spiking again. Compensate."
He checked the diagnostics, grinning despite the strain. "You ever gonna stop babysitting my engines?"
"When you stop stressing them," she shot back, but there was a warmth in it, a trust built through fire.
Toren's crystals chimed over the link. "Focus, both of you. Korrath's system is unstable. Gravitational anomalies, radiation spikes stay sharp."
Sala's voice followed, calm but cryptic. "Korrath tests the soul as much as the body. Prepare yourselves."
Kael rolled his eyes, muttering, "Great. More therapy."
The system came into view a dying star, its light choked by dust, orbiting a planet that looked like a corpse. Korrath was gray and cracked, its surface scarred with canyons that glowed faintly red-black. The temple sat at the heart of a crater, its spires jagged, its presence a weight that pressed against Kael's mind.
His ring trembled, whispering: Danger. Doubt. Truth. He ignored it, landing Razor's Edge beside the temple's edge, where Lirra, Toren, and Sala waited. The air was thin, the ground crunching like bone underfoot. Kael's armor formed, steadier now, though his heart raced.
"Welcoming," he said, his voice muffled by the helmet his ring conjured. "Bet the locals are real friendly."
Lirra's telepathy probed the temple, recoiling at a surge of psychic noise anger, fear, despair. "The anchor's active," she said, her mandibles clicking. "It's calling the Voidveil."
Toren raised his ring, scanning the spires. "No defenses. No guards. It wants us to enter."
Sala's golden eyes gleamed. "It always has. Follow me."
Kael's gut twinged, but he followed, his ring glowing brighter as they stepped into the temple. The interior was a maze of obsidian and green stone, its walls carved with scenes of Lanterns not heroic, but tortured, their rings twisted by shadow. The air hummed with a low, dissonant note, and Kael's ring flickered, its light struggling.
"Creepy art gallery," he muttered, conjuring a shield as a precaution. "What's this place's deal?"
Sala's voice was soft, almost reverent. "The First Lanterns' shame. They sought to eliminate fear, but fear fought back. This is where they fell."
Lirra's telepathy caught a flicker Sala's mind, guarded but heavy with knowledge. "You've been here before," Lirra said, not a question.
Sala paused, then nodded. "Once. I survived. Barely."
Before Kael could press her, the temple shook, and red-black tendrils erupted from the floor, faster and smarter than before. They targeted weaknesses Lirra's guilt, Toren's clarity, Kael's doubt striking with surgical precision. Kael's shield held, but the Voidveil's whisper was louder now: You're no Lantern. You're a fraud.
"Shut up!" Kael roared, his ring blazing as he fired a construct a massive blade that cleaved a tendril in two. Lirra fought beside him, her blades spinning, while Toren's beams carved through the shadows. Sala moved like a ghost, her constructs fluid, almost too perfect, dodging tendrils with ease.
The chamber opened into a vast arena, where the anchor stood a crystal, red-black and pulsing, suspended above a pit of shadow. It wasn't just an object it was alive, its light a heartbeat that matched the Voidveil's hunger.
"There!" Lirra shouted, diving forward, but the tendrils converged, forming a barrier that pushed her back.
Kael's ring flared, and he charged, his construct a battering ram smashing through the barrier. Pain lanced through him, psychic and real, but he kept going, driven by something deeper than fear. Lirra followed, her telepathy guiding her strikes, while Toren shielded them, his clarity a beacon.
Sala hesitated, her eyes locked on the anchor. Kael caught it, his ring humming with warning. "Sala!" he yelled. "Move!"
She snapped out of it, her ring blazing as she joined the fight, but the anchor pulsed, and a vision hit them all Oa burning, Lanterns falling, the Voidveil laughing. Kael staggered, the doubt overwhelming: You'll fail. You always do.
Lirra's telepathy cut through, a lifeline. "Kael! You're enough!"
He clung to her words, his ring glowing brighter. Together, they struck the anchor Lirra's blades, Toren's beams, Kael's raw force. Sala added her light, her constructs weaving with theirs, and the crystal cracked, a scream echoing through the temple.
But as it shattered, Sala's ring flickered, and her eyes glowed red-black for a split second. Kael saw it, his gut screaming. "Lirra!" he shouted, but the temple collapsed, tendrils retreating as the anchor's light died.
They stumbled outside, Razor's Edge waiting. Sala's eyes were normal now, her expression unreadable. Lirra's telepathy probed, catching nothing but a wall. Toren's crystals dimmed, his voice low. "The anchor's gone. But something's wrong."
Kael's ring hummed, its light steady but wary. "Yeah," he said, meeting Sala's gaze. "Something's very wrong."
As they lifted off, Korrath crumbling behind them, Kael knew the Voidveil wasn't done. And Sala ally, survivor, whatever she was had just become their biggest question mark.