The hum of Razor's Edge's engines was a steady pulse as Kael Varn guided the ship through hyperspace, the coordinates from his ring burning like a beacon in his mind. Nexara, the next world harboring a Voidveil mind, loomed ahead not just a planet, but a reckoning. The fight on Oa against the Reckoner had left the Corps battered, the Central Power Battery's light dimmer than ever, and Sala Vereth's confession hung over the team like a storm cloud. Kael's ring glowed faintly, its green light a reminder of the choice he didn't make but couldn't escape.
Lirra Syn, Toren Kade, and Sala Vereth flew alongside, their green trails cutting through the void. Sala's golden form was silent, her ring steady but her presence a question mark. The Guardians had confined her, monitored her, yet Lirra had insisted she join the mission to Nexara her knowledge of the Voidveil too valuable to leave behind. Kael's gut churned. Valuable or not, Sala's red-black flicker was a risk, and he wasn't about to let it burn them.
He keyed the comms, his voice lighter than he felt. "So, Nexara. Any bets on what fresh hell's waiting? More shadow monsters, or something new to ruin my day?"
Lirra's response was measured, her mandibles' faint click audible. "The Voidveil's minds are evolving. Nexara's will be smarter, more focused. Stay sharp, Kael."
Toren's crystals chimed, a note of calm resolve. "The Reckoner was a herald. The mind on Nexara may be a strategist, coordinating the Voidveil's network. We must strike before it adapts further."
Sala's voice followed, soft but heavy. "Nexara's mind will test us differently. It doesn't just feed on doubt it manipulates. It turns strength into weakness."
Kael's grip tightened on the controls, his ring pulsing with unease. "Manipulates? Like turning Lanterns into traitors? Sound familiar, Sala?"
A tense silence followed. Lirra's telepathy brushed Kael's mind, a warning laced with trust. "Kael, enough. Sala's here to help. We need her."
"Need her?" Kael muttered, too low for the comms. "We'll see." His ring hummed, a vision flashing Nexara, a world of mirrors and mist, a presence that didn't fight but twisted. He shook it off, focusing on the nav. Sala might be their edge, but she was also their weak link, and he wasn't letting her out of his sight.
The nav pinged, and hyperspace dissolved, revealing Nexara a planet shrouded in silver mist, its surface a labyrinth of crystalline spires that refracted light into jagged rainbows. Red-black veins pulsed faintly beneath the mist, a heartbeat that matched the Voidveil's whisper: You cannot win. You are us.
Kael's ring trembled, its light flickering. "Not exactly a vacation spot," he said, scanning the surface. "Where's the mind hiding?"
Lirra's telepathy probed the planet, recoiling at a surge of psychic noise cunning, cold, alive. "It's everywhere," she said, her voice tight. "The spires are conduits, like the veins. The mind's in the core, but it's watching."
Toren's crystals glowed, his ring scanning the mist. "The spires form a network, amplifying the mind's influence. We must disrupt it to reach the core."
Sala's eyes gleamed, her voice low. "The mist is its defense. It distorts perception, turns allies into enemies. Stay close."
Kael's ring flared, his suspicion spiking. "You know a lot about this place, Sala. Care to share how?"
Her gaze met his, steady but guarded. "The Voidveil showed me Nexara in visions. It wants us to come. It thinks it can break us."
Lirra's telepathy caught Sala's sincerity but also a shadow, a hesitation. "We move together," she said, her voice firm. "No one acts alone."
They landed on a plateau of mirrored stone, Razor's Edge settling beside a spire that pulsed with red-black light. Kael stepped out, his armor forming, its green glow sharp against the mist. Lirra, Toren, and Sala joined him, their rings casting beams that cut through the haze, but the mist seemed to swallow light, twisting their reflections into mocking shapes.
"Creepy doesn't cut it," Kael said, his ring conjuring a shield as a precaution. "This place is alive."
Lirra's telepathy probed deeper, her mandibles clicking. "The mind's manipulating the environment. Stay focused it'll try to divide us."
Toren raised his ring, his beams scanning the spires. "The core's beneath the central spire, but the mist is a barrier. We need to clear it."
Sala's constructs a lattice of golden light pushed back the mist, revealing a path, but her ring flickered, a red-black pulse Kael didn't miss. His ring hummed, warning him to watch her, but the mist surged, and shadows moved within it not tendrils, but figures, humanoid, their rings glowing red-black.
"Company," Kael said, his shield snapping up as the figures attacked, their constructs jagged, chaotic striking with precision. They weren't echoes like on the heart-world. They were Lanterns, or had been, their faces twisted by the Voidveil's touch.
Lirra's blades met them, her telepathy guiding her through the mist's distortions, but the figures were fast, their psychic weight heavy with despair. You failed Kryon. You'll fail here. She gritted her teeth, her will a blade, but the memories stung, sharper than ever.
Kael fought beside her, his construct nets, spears stronger now, fueled by a defiance that burned through the Voidveil's whispers: You're a fraud. You'll fall. He fired a hammer, smashing a figure's shield, and caught Lirra's nod, a silent trust that steadied him.
Toren's beams carved through the mist, his clarity a beacon, but the figures targeted him, their constructs exploiting his precision with chaotic counters. Sala's golden light wove through the fray, her constructs fluid but erratic, her ring flickering again red-black, then green.
"Sala!" Kael shouted, diving to block a strike aimed at her. His shield held, the impact rattling his bones, but her eyes were clear, her ring stabilizing. "Get it together!"
She nodded, her constructs snapping back, but the mist thickened, and the figures multiplied, their voices a chorus: "You cannot stop us. We are your truth."
Lirra's telepathy caught a pattern the figures weren't random. They were projections, controlled by the mind, designed to exploit their fears. "The spires!" she shouted. "Destroy them! They're amplifying the mind!"
Kael's ring flared, and he charged a spire, his hammer smashing it to shards. The mist faltered, the figures flickering, but a new presence emerged a figure, taller than the others, its armor black and sleek, its ring blazing red-black. Not the Reckoner, but something worse, its voice a low, resonant hum: "I am the Weaver. You've come to die."
Lirra's telepathy recoiled, the Weaver's mind a labyrinth of cunning and malice. "It's the mind's avatar," she said, her voice raw. "It's controlling the projections."
Kael's ring pulsed, a vision flashing the Weaver, weaving the Voidveil's network, turning Lanterns' strengths against them. "Then we cut the strings," he said, his voice steady despite the fear clawing at him.
The Weaver attacked, its constructs threads, webs, blades moving with a precision that dwarfed the Reckoner's. Lirra's blades clashed with it, her telepathy struggling to find a weakness, but the Weaver was a step ahead, its threads binding her constructs, turning them against her. Toren's beams pierced its armor, but it adapted, its webs reflecting his light back.
Kael dove in, his net trapping the Weaver's arm, but it laughed, its threads cutting through his construct like paper. "You're nothing," it said, its voice in his head. "A pilot playing hero."
"Shut up!" Kael roared, his ring blazing as he fired a spear, piercing the Weaver's flank. It staggered, but its threads surged, pinning Kael to the ground, their psychic weight crushing: You'll fail them all.
Lirra broke free, her blades freeing Kael, but the Weaver turned on Sala, its eyes narrowing. "You know me," it said, its voice a caress. "You've always known."
Sala froze, her ring flickering red-black, and Kael's ring screamed, a vision confirming his fear Sala, her ring corrupted, joining the Weaver. He acted on instinct, tackling her out of the Weaver's reach, his shield taking a hit meant for her. "Don't you dare!" he shouted, his voice raw. "You're a Lantern!"
Her eyes cleared, her ring glowing green, but the Weaver laughed, its threads converging. "She's ours. You all are."
Lirra's telepathy linked them, a desperate plan forming. "The central spire," she said, her voice fierce. "It's the mind's anchor. Destroy it, and the Weaver falls."
Toren nodded, his beams cutting a path, but the Weaver was relentless, its threads weaving a cage around them. Sala's constructs faltered, her ring flickering, and Kael saw it the moment she could break. "Sala," he said, his voice low, his ring glowing. "You're stronger than this. Fight."
She met his eyes, her golden face etched with pain, and her ring blazed green, her constructs weaving with his. Lirra led the charge, her blades clearing the way, while Toren's beams shattered the spire's base. Kael poured everything into it his fear, his stubbornness, his need to prove he wasn't nothing his ring forming a massive ram that smashed the spire to dust.
The mist collapsed, the figures dissolving, and the Weaver screamed, its form unraveling. The ground shook, the planet's pulse faltering, but the Weaver's voice lingered: "You've won nothing. The minds are waking. The Corps is ours."
A rift opened, red-black and vast, and Sala's ring flared, her eyes glowing red-black not a flicker, but a flood. She turned, her constructs striking Lirra, knocking her back. "I'm sorry," Sala whispered, her voice breaking, and she dove into the rift, vanishing as it closed.
Kael staggered, his ring dimming, his mind reeling. "No," he said, his voice hoarse. "No way."
Lirra stood, her armor scorched, her telepathy catching Sala's final thought regret, but also purpose. "She chose," Lirra said, her voice raw. "To protect us, or to join them. We don't know."
Toren's crystals glowed faintly, his voice heavy. "The mind's gone, but the Voidveil's stronger. Sala's betrayal... it's a signal."
Kael's ring pulsed, new coordinates flashing a world beyond Nexara, where the Voidveil's true mind waited. "Then we follow her," he said, his voice steady despite the weight. "We end this."
Lirra met his eyes, her trust a quiet strength. "Together."
As they lifted off, Nexara crumbling below, Kael's ring glowed, its light fierce but wary. Sala was gone, the Voidveil was waking, and the Corps was fracturing. But he wasn't running not anymore.