Graxos IV…
Years Ago…
From the moment she had found the bed empty, Aerilaya knew that her daughter had run away.
Fraught, she had paced the confines of her home, torn between her need to immediately begin searching for the wayward Arisia, or to keep a watchful eye over the new born Alexxia sleeping in the next room. She had two children to care for and, thanks to an uncaring cosmos, now no husband to help her raise them.
The news of Fentara’s death had hit them all hard, but perhaps Arisia most of all. The girl had refused to believe it, and now she had fled into the night in search of him.
He wasn’t out there, Aerilaya knew all too well, the damned Green Lantern Corps hadn’t even returned his body.
She was moments away from calling the neighbour, fully prepared to wake him at this late hour, when a commotion from the kitchen caught the entirety of her attention. Aerilaya was about to run there, hoping it was her child attempting to sneak back in through a window, when through the door darted the smallest of trinkets that spun a glowing, emerald trail through the air behind it.
It was a ring, as impossible as it would seem to so many others, one that had forever brought a great deal of contention to her door.
“Aerilaya Rrab,” the thing spoke, coming to stop before her, its every word enunciated with a sense of gravitas.
She was shellshocked by its audacity, to come here of all places, now, after all that it had cost her…
“You have the ability to overcome great fear,”
To come back into her house…
“Welcome, to the Green Lantern Corps…”
Years Ago…
From the moment she had found the bed empty, Aerilaya knew that her daughter had run away.
Fraught, she had paced the confines of her home, torn between her need to immediately begin searching for the wayward Arisia, or to keep a watchful eye over the new born Alexxia sleeping in the next room. She had two children to care for and, thanks to an uncaring cosmos, now no husband to help her raise them.
The news of Fentara’s death had hit them all hard, but perhaps Arisia most of all. The girl had refused to believe it, and now she had fled into the night in search of him.
He wasn’t out there, Aerilaya knew all too well, the damned Green Lantern Corps hadn’t even returned his body.
She was moments away from calling the neighbour, fully prepared to wake him at this late hour, when a commotion from the kitchen caught the entirety of her attention. Aerilaya was about to run there, hoping it was her child attempting to sneak back in through a window, when through the door darted the smallest of trinkets that spun a glowing, emerald trail through the air behind it.
It was a ring, as impossible as it would seem to so many others, one that had forever brought a great deal of contention to her door.
“Aerilaya Rrab,” the thing spoke, coming to stop before her, its every word enunciated with a sense of gravitas.
She was shellshocked by its audacity, to come here of all places, now, after all that it had cost her…
“You have the ability to overcome great fear,”
To come back into her house…
“Welcome, to the Green Lantern Corps…”
ISSUE 6
“PREDECESSOR”
BY
EMMA WOODS
“PREDECESSOR”
BY
EMMA WOODS
Now…
Passing out during freefall was becoming a habit that Arisia Rrab did not appreciate. She awoke with a start and was surprised to find herself indoors, surrounded by a hum of quite productivity. A slight shifting of her posture confirmed that she was in bed, a tilt of her head left ways likewise bringing into focus that she was but one of many, a makeshift ward housing dozens of patients all in various states of ill health.
She grimaced as she began to sit up, and the pained recriminations of her own body were soon joined by the mildly disapproving tone of her forever weary mother.
“I do hope you’re not planning to go to work,” Aerilaya chided, sat calmly beside her daughter’s bed. She looked more tired than Arisia had ever seen her, if not centuries older. Her eyes, however, were as alert as ever. “You’re on vacation.”
“Mother!” Arisia’s heart leapt, relief abound in her weary body. “Alexxia…” she questioned, looking about for her younger sister.
“Asleep,” Aerilaya assured, a palm on her daughter’s forearm. “As we all should be, I feel.”
Slumping, Arisia leaned back against her headrest, feeling like she had just skipped ahead a few chapters, “Is it over?”
Aerilaya shrugged, “As much as such things can be. Your friends have taken over.”
“My friends?” Arisia furrowed her brow in temporary confusion, a confusion that passed the moment her features lit up. “The Corps are here?”
With a nod, Aerilaya did her utmost to disguise her disapproval, again prompting her child to stay in bed, “They have it in hand, I’m sure.”
Arisia was only half listening, her own fatigue forgotten as she sat up straight in on her sickbed, drawing stares from other patients as she brought her right hand up and activated the emerald ring upon it. Prompted by mental command, it flooded her thoughts with an immense debrief, compressing mountains of data into a compact package her subconscious could process in a heartbeat.
“I’ve got to go,” the young Lantern tossed aside her covers, rolling from her bed with protests from her muscles, seemingly determined to be as spritely as she ever was. “Duty calls and all that,” Arisia stopped to kiss her mother on the forehead, a second prompt to her Green Lantern Ring sending a ripple traveling the full length of her petite body, garbing her in a clean rendition of her chosen uniform before she took off out the room.
“I’ll be back,” she promised before she took to the air and was swiftly gone, leaving her mother in her wake as she so often did…
Passing out during freefall was becoming a habit that Arisia Rrab did not appreciate. She awoke with a start and was surprised to find herself indoors, surrounded by a hum of quite productivity. A slight shifting of her posture confirmed that she was in bed, a tilt of her head left ways likewise bringing into focus that she was but one of many, a makeshift ward housing dozens of patients all in various states of ill health.
She grimaced as she began to sit up, and the pained recriminations of her own body were soon joined by the mildly disapproving tone of her forever weary mother.
“I do hope you’re not planning to go to work,” Aerilaya chided, sat calmly beside her daughter’s bed. She looked more tired than Arisia had ever seen her, if not centuries older. Her eyes, however, were as alert as ever. “You’re on vacation.”
“Mother!” Arisia’s heart leapt, relief abound in her weary body. “Alexxia…” she questioned, looking about for her younger sister.
“Asleep,” Aerilaya assured, a palm on her daughter’s forearm. “As we all should be, I feel.”
Slumping, Arisia leaned back against her headrest, feeling like she had just skipped ahead a few chapters, “Is it over?”
Aerilaya shrugged, “As much as such things can be. Your friends have taken over.”
“My friends?” Arisia furrowed her brow in temporary confusion, a confusion that passed the moment her features lit up. “The Corps are here?”
With a nod, Aerilaya did her utmost to disguise her disapproval, again prompting her child to stay in bed, “They have it in hand, I’m sure.”
Arisia was only half listening, her own fatigue forgotten as she sat up straight in on her sickbed, drawing stares from other patients as she brought her right hand up and activated the emerald ring upon it. Prompted by mental command, it flooded her thoughts with an immense debrief, compressing mountains of data into a compact package her subconscious could process in a heartbeat.
“I’ve got to go,” the young Lantern tossed aside her covers, rolling from her bed with protests from her muscles, seemingly determined to be as spritely as she ever was. “Duty calls and all that,” Arisia stopped to kiss her mother on the forehead, a second prompt to her Green Lantern Ring sending a ripple traveling the full length of her petite body, garbing her in a clean rendition of her chosen uniform before she took off out the room.
“I’ll be back,” she promised before she took to the air and was swiftly gone, leaving her mother in her wake as she so often did…
**********
“For the final time, Lantern Gardner,” Salaack sighed with a weariness that he reserved for one very specific co-worker. Even as an emerald hued projection transmitted from lightyears away, the administrator of the Green Lantern Corps appeared mild agitated, his elongated features the picture of resignation. “You are not authorised to ‘yeet’ the anomaly into the closest star.”
“I don’t see why not,” Guy snorted, suspended just outside of Graxos IV’s orbit, a whisper thin, green tinted shield all that protected him the hard vacuum of space. It was enabled by the ring he wore about his index finger, one that was also being used to keep contained a fist side object of a gory, crimson hue, one that was beating eerily like a heart.
While he made no comment on the matter, Guy was convinced he could hear the foul, little thing screaming…
“We require it for further study,” Salaack clarified, not for the first time, his multiple arms interacting with various screens and contraptions that had not been projected across the vast distances of space along with his physical form. “This is the first intact specimen we have encountered since hostilities began.”
“Waste of time,” Guy was feeling surly, perhaps even more so than usual with Graxos IV slowly spinning behind him. “Who cares how it works? We should just shove it back down Atrocities’ throat so that he can choke on it.”
“Atrocitus?” Arisia questioned as she joined them, the spritely Lantern leaving the atmosphere of her homeworld whilst wrapped in an emerald shield of her own. Guy greeted her with a grin whilst Salaack’s response to her arrival was significantly more nuanced. “So, Bleeze wasn’t out here on her own initiative?
“Hardly,” Salaack confirmed, his attention still on screens that neither of his compatriots could see. “The advance may have been stalled,” he reported in a manner that seemed to be atomical. Guy certainly took it that way. Arisia knew her former partner better. “But the Red Lantern Corps have made considerable gains…”
“While we were all too happy to play nice and bend over,” Guy growled, a man who looked none too pleased about being ‘proven right’.
“Lantern Gardner,” Salaack retained a cool demeanour. “The Guardians determined…”
“Whatever,” Guy shook his head, scowling. “Doesn’t matter now does it? Atrocitus wants to throw down, I say we throw down.”
“A response is being formulated,” Salaack countered, the furrow of his brow hardening.
“I’m sure,” Guy grunted with ill humour.
“Guys,” Arisia interrupted, petite in stature and yet equally bold in spirit. “Hi, I’m here and apparently skipped a thing or two. Is that the thing I cut out of my home?” she pointed to the crimson-coloured object that Guy had contained within a projected vault. It looked organic, pulsating and infuriated.
“Indeed,” Salaack nodded with the slightest movement of his head, a short pause followed by a bleeding of tension from his frame. “Lantern’s Jordan and Gardner secured it from the orbit of Graxos IV after translating in system and preventing your terminal freefall.”
“Hal?” Arisia perked up, not realising that her one-time paramour was close by.
“Lantern Jordan is on route back to Oa,” Salaack corrected her assumption. “With Red Lantern Bleeze in custody.”
“Oh…” Arisia felt a little crestfallen.
“I figured he didn’t want to run back into your mother,” Guy grinned ruefully, for which he received a fierce elbow to his ribs.
Arisia changed the subject, pointing to the seed that she had rather dramatically carved out of her planet, “What is that thing?”
Salaack, unfortunately, remained as equally in the dark, “Undermined.”
“Not very helpful,” Arisia sighed, staring at the hateful object.
“Our current intelligence on the new anomalies is worryingly thin,” Salaack admitted. “Lantern Arisia, you are the first of our number to have to made direct contact and not…”
“Been killed,” Guy interrupted bluntly. “The Red Lanterns are playing for keeps, I’m getting sick of not doing likewise.”
This time, Salaack did not take the bait, “Lantern Arisia, we eagerly await your report on the matter. It should prove to most enlightening.”
“Sure,” she shrugged in response, although she wasn’t entirely certain as to where she would begin. “I’ll try and pull one together. That thing, it messes with your head, I’m not even convinced if everything I remember happening even did.” She paused, thinking a matter over, “Have either of you guys ever heard of the Immaterium? When I started getting closer to that thing when it was burrowing like a tic in my home, my ring started freaking out about it.”
Both Salaack and Guy looked equally perplexed.
“Freaking out?” Gardner questioned.
“Yeah, like, really freaking out,” Arisia nodded, holding up the ring that she wore upon her finger, the innocuous looking object that once belonged to her rather. It occurred to her how little they really knew about them, “I’ve never heard it speak like that. Ring,” she commanded, making herself sound assertive. “Tell me about the Immaterium.”
“Record not found,” her ring dutifully reported, characteristically monotone.
“Ok, just a second, “Arisia requested, mildly irritated. Turning slightly from the others, she whispered somewhat tersely, “Ring, don’t be a douche, tell me about the Immaterium.”
“Record not found.”
“Ok,” Arisia sighed in exasperation before turning to explain it to the others. “I swear, that is not what it was saying before.”
Salaack did not sound convinced, “Lantern Arisia, file the report when you are appropriately rested. The matter will be investigated.”
“Right, sure,” Arisia agreed before turning to, ever so slightly, glare at the ring about her finger. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
“I don’t see why not,” Guy snorted, suspended just outside of Graxos IV’s orbit, a whisper thin, green tinted shield all that protected him the hard vacuum of space. It was enabled by the ring he wore about his index finger, one that was also being used to keep contained a fist side object of a gory, crimson hue, one that was beating eerily like a heart.
While he made no comment on the matter, Guy was convinced he could hear the foul, little thing screaming…
“We require it for further study,” Salaack clarified, not for the first time, his multiple arms interacting with various screens and contraptions that had not been projected across the vast distances of space along with his physical form. “This is the first intact specimen we have encountered since hostilities began.”
“Waste of time,” Guy was feeling surly, perhaps even more so than usual with Graxos IV slowly spinning behind him. “Who cares how it works? We should just shove it back down Atrocities’ throat so that he can choke on it.”
“Atrocitus?” Arisia questioned as she joined them, the spritely Lantern leaving the atmosphere of her homeworld whilst wrapped in an emerald shield of her own. Guy greeted her with a grin whilst Salaack’s response to her arrival was significantly more nuanced. “So, Bleeze wasn’t out here on her own initiative?
“Hardly,” Salaack confirmed, his attention still on screens that neither of his compatriots could see. “The advance may have been stalled,” he reported in a manner that seemed to be atomical. Guy certainly took it that way. Arisia knew her former partner better. “But the Red Lantern Corps have made considerable gains…”
“While we were all too happy to play nice and bend over,” Guy growled, a man who looked none too pleased about being ‘proven right’.
“Lantern Gardner,” Salaack retained a cool demeanour. “The Guardians determined…”
“Whatever,” Guy shook his head, scowling. “Doesn’t matter now does it? Atrocitus wants to throw down, I say we throw down.”
“A response is being formulated,” Salaack countered, the furrow of his brow hardening.
“I’m sure,” Guy grunted with ill humour.
“Guys,” Arisia interrupted, petite in stature and yet equally bold in spirit. “Hi, I’m here and apparently skipped a thing or two. Is that the thing I cut out of my home?” she pointed to the crimson-coloured object that Guy had contained within a projected vault. It looked organic, pulsating and infuriated.
“Indeed,” Salaack nodded with the slightest movement of his head, a short pause followed by a bleeding of tension from his frame. “Lantern’s Jordan and Gardner secured it from the orbit of Graxos IV after translating in system and preventing your terminal freefall.”
“Hal?” Arisia perked up, not realising that her one-time paramour was close by.
“Lantern Jordan is on route back to Oa,” Salaack corrected her assumption. “With Red Lantern Bleeze in custody.”
“Oh…” Arisia felt a little crestfallen.
“I figured he didn’t want to run back into your mother,” Guy grinned ruefully, for which he received a fierce elbow to his ribs.
Arisia changed the subject, pointing to the seed that she had rather dramatically carved out of her planet, “What is that thing?”
Salaack, unfortunately, remained as equally in the dark, “Undermined.”
“Not very helpful,” Arisia sighed, staring at the hateful object.
“Our current intelligence on the new anomalies is worryingly thin,” Salaack admitted. “Lantern Arisia, you are the first of our number to have to made direct contact and not…”
“Been killed,” Guy interrupted bluntly. “The Red Lanterns are playing for keeps, I’m getting sick of not doing likewise.”
This time, Salaack did not take the bait, “Lantern Arisia, we eagerly await your report on the matter. It should prove to most enlightening.”
“Sure,” she shrugged in response, although she wasn’t entirely certain as to where she would begin. “I’ll try and pull one together. That thing, it messes with your head, I’m not even convinced if everything I remember happening even did.” She paused, thinking a matter over, “Have either of you guys ever heard of the Immaterium? When I started getting closer to that thing when it was burrowing like a tic in my home, my ring started freaking out about it.”
Both Salaack and Guy looked equally perplexed.
“Freaking out?” Gardner questioned.
“Yeah, like, really freaking out,” Arisia nodded, holding up the ring that she wore upon her finger, the innocuous looking object that once belonged to her rather. It occurred to her how little they really knew about them, “I’ve never heard it speak like that. Ring,” she commanded, making herself sound assertive. “Tell me about the Immaterium.”
“Record not found,” her ring dutifully reported, characteristically monotone.
“Ok, just a second, “Arisia requested, mildly irritated. Turning slightly from the others, she whispered somewhat tersely, “Ring, don’t be a douche, tell me about the Immaterium.”
“Record not found.”
“Ok,” Arisia sighed in exasperation before turning to explain it to the others. “I swear, that is not what it was saying before.”
Salaack did not sound convinced, “Lantern Arisia, file the report when you are appropriately rested. The matter will be investigated.”
“Right, sure,” Arisia agreed before turning to, ever so slightly, glare at the ring about her finger. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
**********
Aerilaya Rrab knew her hands were clean but, since her neighbours had been driven to madness, she couldn’t wash off the blood.
Their blood…
The arrival of her eldest daughter, Arisia, broke her from her revere, “Mother?”
“Arisia,” Aerilaya cleared her throat, returning to her senses as she backed up from the basin. When her youngest daughter, Alexxia, had woken earlier in the day, the two had been moved to their temporary new living space. The tiny domicile was, at best, functional, one of thousands to house the sudden tidal waves of refugees from the madness that had swept across the surface of their once docile home. “You’re back?” she questioned, trying her best to not sound surprised.
“Well, yeah,” Arisia smiled a little awkwardly, stepping into what she was assuming was supposed to be a kitchen. “You didn’t think I would just go, did you?”
“With how quickly you left the hospital,” Aerilaya sighed deeply, despite herself. “You do have a habit of taking off.”
“Right, right,” Arisia nodded, trying her best to not look like she was looking about. “Alexxia?”
“Playing with the children next door,” Aerilaya confirmed. “They need a sense of normalcy, we all do.”
Arisia looked a little relieved, their privacy confirmed.
“Mother,” she began, uncharacteristically hesitant. “I asked my ring a question earlier, I wasn’t expecting to get answer, especially not the one I got.”
For a long moment, neither mother nor daughter said anything.
“Come now, Arisia,” Aerilaya was the one to break the silence, scolding her child with just the right tone, “don’t be dramatic.”
“When my father died,” Arisia paused, raising her right hand to show the innocuous looking trinket wrapped about her finger. The most powerful weapon in the universe. “His ring, my ring, it didn’t come to me first,” she looked to her mother, “did it?”
Keeping her gaze steady, Aerilaya considered the option to lie and decided not to. Denial would serve no purpose now, “No.”
“It came to you.”
“Yes.”
“You were chosen to join the Green Lantern Corps.”
“I was.”
“Why?” Arisia questioned. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Aerilaya sighed again, this time with the weight of years.
“Because I refused,” she explained, unburdening years of regret. Not for what was done, but for what it had led to. “Arisia, your father had just died and, before him, your uncle, my brother, both taken in service to the Green Lantern Corps. We hadn’t even buried Fentara when that thing burst into our home and demanded my allegiance.”
Arisia was enrapt, discovering context to her own past that hadn’t even been aware existed, “You were angry…”
Ruefully, Aerilaya laughed, “I was furious.” After a moment, she became more sombre, “But that isn’t why I said no. I said no because my husband was dead and our two daughters, our children, were grieving. You had just lost your father; I wasn’t about to let anything take away your mother to. I made a choice,” she stopped, looking to her eldest daughter.
The Green Lantern.
“Arisia, I chose you.”
“And afterwards,” the young woman looked back to the badge of her occupation, of her calling, “after you said no… the ring came to me.”
Aerilaya nodded, “And you said yes.”
“You choice me and, in the same evening,” Arisia looked up to her mother, a woman who had been grieving so long ago. “I chose the Green Lantern Corps.”
“You did.”
The silence returned, it lingered for so long, it seemed that neither of them would break it.
Inevitably, Arisia did.
“I love being a Green Lantern,” she admitted, despite knowing that it wasn’t what her mother would want to hear.
“I know,” Aerilaya smiled, despite the sadness that remained there.
“I love you to,” Arisia smiled back, regretting all the times that she had refused to come back.
“We know,” Aerilaya hugged her daughter. “That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t visit more.”
“I guess I could,” Arisia was grateful to be hugged. “Are you still angry, about how things happened?”
Aerilaya considered lying.
She decided it was best to.
“No.”
Their blood…
The arrival of her eldest daughter, Arisia, broke her from her revere, “Mother?”
“Arisia,” Aerilaya cleared her throat, returning to her senses as she backed up from the basin. When her youngest daughter, Alexxia, had woken earlier in the day, the two had been moved to their temporary new living space. The tiny domicile was, at best, functional, one of thousands to house the sudden tidal waves of refugees from the madness that had swept across the surface of their once docile home. “You’re back?” she questioned, trying her best to not sound surprised.
“Well, yeah,” Arisia smiled a little awkwardly, stepping into what she was assuming was supposed to be a kitchen. “You didn’t think I would just go, did you?”
“With how quickly you left the hospital,” Aerilaya sighed deeply, despite herself. “You do have a habit of taking off.”
“Right, right,” Arisia nodded, trying her best to not look like she was looking about. “Alexxia?”
“Playing with the children next door,” Aerilaya confirmed. “They need a sense of normalcy, we all do.”
Arisia looked a little relieved, their privacy confirmed.
“Mother,” she began, uncharacteristically hesitant. “I asked my ring a question earlier, I wasn’t expecting to get answer, especially not the one I got.”
For a long moment, neither mother nor daughter said anything.
“Come now, Arisia,” Aerilaya was the one to break the silence, scolding her child with just the right tone, “don’t be dramatic.”
“When my father died,” Arisia paused, raising her right hand to show the innocuous looking trinket wrapped about her finger. The most powerful weapon in the universe. “His ring, my ring, it didn’t come to me first,” she looked to her mother, “did it?”
Keeping her gaze steady, Aerilaya considered the option to lie and decided not to. Denial would serve no purpose now, “No.”
“It came to you.”
“Yes.”
“You were chosen to join the Green Lantern Corps.”
“I was.”
“Why?” Arisia questioned. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Aerilaya sighed again, this time with the weight of years.
“Because I refused,” she explained, unburdening years of regret. Not for what was done, but for what it had led to. “Arisia, your father had just died and, before him, your uncle, my brother, both taken in service to the Green Lantern Corps. We hadn’t even buried Fentara when that thing burst into our home and demanded my allegiance.”
Arisia was enrapt, discovering context to her own past that hadn’t even been aware existed, “You were angry…”
Ruefully, Aerilaya laughed, “I was furious.” After a moment, she became more sombre, “But that isn’t why I said no. I said no because my husband was dead and our two daughters, our children, were grieving. You had just lost your father; I wasn’t about to let anything take away your mother to. I made a choice,” she stopped, looking to her eldest daughter.
The Green Lantern.
“Arisia, I chose you.”
“And afterwards,” the young woman looked back to the badge of her occupation, of her calling, “after you said no… the ring came to me.”
Aerilaya nodded, “And you said yes.”
“You choice me and, in the same evening,” Arisia looked up to her mother, a woman who had been grieving so long ago. “I chose the Green Lantern Corps.”
“You did.”
The silence returned, it lingered for so long, it seemed that neither of them would break it.
Inevitably, Arisia did.
“I love being a Green Lantern,” she admitted, despite knowing that it wasn’t what her mother would want to hear.
“I know,” Aerilaya smiled, despite the sadness that remained there.
“I love you to,” Arisia smiled back, regretting all the times that she had refused to come back.
“We know,” Aerilaya hugged her daughter. “That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t visit more.”
“I guess I could,” Arisia was grateful to be hugged. “Are you still angry, about how things happened?”
Aerilaya considered lying.
She decided it was best to.
“No.”
**********
Sector 2814…
Heart of the Red Lantern Corps…
To walk upon Ysmault, was to walk the path of blood, to live upon its surface, was to embrace death. One could not escape it; one could only scream.
Atrocitus didn’t flinch, his pace unbroken as he tread the skull road, the mountains of bones a testament to the sacrifice that his Corps, his Legion were now spreading across the stars. Mammoth in frame and thick of hide, he trod the path that led to the cauldron, a single, protruding and broken edifice upon which he had chained a single person.
Wretched was the man, broken, bedraggled and wheezing blood, wrapped in a sickly canvas and hooded, a pointed chin protruding from the folds with serrated, uneven teeth. He scarcely seemed to be there, twisting in and out of vision between blinks, bound to the rock by ancient rights forbidden by those who had created them over a millennia ago. He wasn’t real, it was easy to believe, the ensnared, gangly man who whispered in and out between here and there, but Atrocitus knew it wasn’t true.
Atrocitus knew that he was there.
Only Atrocitus…
“The little hound,” the phantom man rasped, thin lips parting into a sickly smile. “You come again to my humble company.”
“You will be silent, emissary,” Atrocitus growled, his tone full of threat. “Or I will rip out your tongue.”
In answer, it seemed as though the figure were wheezing, before it became obvious that it was laughing, “Again, little hound? Do you not recall our last talk?”
With a curling of his lip, Atrocitus felt his ire rising, his blood boiling, “I am here for your masters.”
“They will not answer,” the hooded man slurred, briefly incorporeal, a little less bound.
“They will listen!” Atrocitus spat, refusing to be denied as his large hand snapped about the small head of his prisoner, squeezing the captives head. It felt good. It felt satisfying.
It felt fruitless.
“Oh, little hound,” the hooded man chortled, even as his skull cracked. “They always listen.”
“They will be too late;” the lord of the Red Lanterns promised, leaning close to the emissary within his iron grip. “They will break upon the bastion I have built!”
“They will not, little hound” still, the hooded man snickered. “They never have.”
“I am not a little hound!!” Atrocitus snapped, his fury overtaking him.
The hooded man was quiet, sombre for the first time, blood dripped from his lips. “You are the little hound,” he whispered, perhaps with a note of sympathy, perhaps in resignation, perhaps in abject mockery. It was difficult to keep track, impossible to nail down. “There is always a little hound.”
Again, the hooded man paused, before that sickly smile returned to expose his jagged teeth, “You, your people, all of you, you were not here first.”
Atrocitus had heard enough, as he always did, reaching into the maw of the hooded man and, with vicious efficiency, ripped out his entire tongue, just as he had the first, no, second… third time?
These encounters…
They were difficult to remember…
He snarled, shaking his head, his heart beating with a savage rhythm as he paced away, coated in blood as the hooded man gagged and bled behind him, the creature bound to a rock and still chortling, choking on his own amusement.
“Perhaps not, emissary,” Atrocitus growled as he paced away, marching back towards a campaign of blood.
“But we will be here last.”
Heart of the Red Lantern Corps…
To walk upon Ysmault, was to walk the path of blood, to live upon its surface, was to embrace death. One could not escape it; one could only scream.
Atrocitus didn’t flinch, his pace unbroken as he tread the skull road, the mountains of bones a testament to the sacrifice that his Corps, his Legion were now spreading across the stars. Mammoth in frame and thick of hide, he trod the path that led to the cauldron, a single, protruding and broken edifice upon which he had chained a single person.
Wretched was the man, broken, bedraggled and wheezing blood, wrapped in a sickly canvas and hooded, a pointed chin protruding from the folds with serrated, uneven teeth. He scarcely seemed to be there, twisting in and out of vision between blinks, bound to the rock by ancient rights forbidden by those who had created them over a millennia ago. He wasn’t real, it was easy to believe, the ensnared, gangly man who whispered in and out between here and there, but Atrocitus knew it wasn’t true.
Atrocitus knew that he was there.
Only Atrocitus…
“The little hound,” the phantom man rasped, thin lips parting into a sickly smile. “You come again to my humble company.”
“You will be silent, emissary,” Atrocitus growled, his tone full of threat. “Or I will rip out your tongue.”
In answer, it seemed as though the figure were wheezing, before it became obvious that it was laughing, “Again, little hound? Do you not recall our last talk?”
With a curling of his lip, Atrocitus felt his ire rising, his blood boiling, “I am here for your masters.”
“They will not answer,” the hooded man slurred, briefly incorporeal, a little less bound.
“They will listen!” Atrocitus spat, refusing to be denied as his large hand snapped about the small head of his prisoner, squeezing the captives head. It felt good. It felt satisfying.
It felt fruitless.
“Oh, little hound,” the hooded man chortled, even as his skull cracked. “They always listen.”
“They will be too late;” the lord of the Red Lanterns promised, leaning close to the emissary within his iron grip. “They will break upon the bastion I have built!”
“They will not, little hound” still, the hooded man snickered. “They never have.”
“I am not a little hound!!” Atrocitus snapped, his fury overtaking him.
The hooded man was quiet, sombre for the first time, blood dripped from his lips. “You are the little hound,” he whispered, perhaps with a note of sympathy, perhaps in resignation, perhaps in abject mockery. It was difficult to keep track, impossible to nail down. “There is always a little hound.”
Again, the hooded man paused, before that sickly smile returned to expose his jagged teeth, “You, your people, all of you, you were not here first.”
Atrocitus had heard enough, as he always did, reaching into the maw of the hooded man and, with vicious efficiency, ripped out his entire tongue, just as he had the first, no, second… third time?
These encounters…
They were difficult to remember…
He snarled, shaking his head, his heart beating with a savage rhythm as he paced away, coated in blood as the hooded man gagged and bled behind him, the creature bound to a rock and still chortling, choking on his own amusement.
“Perhaps not, emissary,” Atrocitus growled as he paced away, marching back towards a campaign of blood.
“But we will be here last.”