The stars streaked past Razor's Edge as Kael Varn piloted through hyperspace, the new coordinates from his ring pulsing like a wound in his mind. The Voidveil's true mind somewhere beyond Nexara, on a world his ring called Zorath's End waited, its presence a shadow that grew heavier with every light-year. Sala's betrayal on Nexara had gutted him, not just because she'd turned, but because he'd seen it coming and couldn't stop it. His ring glowed faintly, its green light a flicker against the doubt creeping in: You failed her. You'll fail them all.
Lirra Syn and Toren Kade flew alongside, their green trails steady but dimmed by the weight of loss. The cockpit was quiet, the hum of the engines a poor substitute for Sala's voice, even if Kael hadn't trusted it. Lirra's decision to bring her had been a gamble, and now they were paying the price. The Corps was fracturing, the Battery was fading, and the Voidveil was one step ahead. Kael's grip tightened on the controls, his ring humming with a mix of warning and resolve.
He keyed the comms, forcing a grin. "So, Zorath's End. Sounds like a party. Any guesses on what's waiting? More traitors, or just a bigger shadow to punch?"
Lirra's voice came through, steady but laced with exhaustion. "The Voidveil's true mind will be its strongest. Nexara's Weaver was a tactician. This will be... more. Be ready, Kael."
Toren's crystals chimed, their note somber but firm. "The Voidveil's network is converging. Zorath's End is likely its origin point, where the First Lanterns' failure began. We face not just a mind, but a legacy."
Kael's jaw tightened, his ring pulsing with unease. "Legacy? You mean the Corps' screw-up that made this thing? Great. We're cleaning up ancient messes again."
Lirra's telepathy brushed his mind, a touch of reassurance tinged with her own doubt. "We're Lanterns, Kael. We face what others can't. Sala's choice doesn't change that."
He didn't answer, his eyes flicking to the empty space where Sala's trail should've been. Her final words I'm sorry echoed, a knife in his chest. She'd fought with them, saved them, but the Voidveil had claimed her, and Kael couldn't shake the feeling he'd missed a chance to pull her back.
The nav pinged, and hyperspace dissolved, revealing Zorath's End a world of black stone and red-black storms, its surface scarred with craters that glowed like open wounds. The planet didn't just feel alive; it felt angry, its pulse a drumbeat that matched the Voidveil's whisper: You are ours. You always were.
Kael's ring trembled, its light flickering. "This place makes Nexara look like a resort," he muttered, scanning the surface. "Where's the main event?"
Lirra's telepathy probed the planet, recoiling at a surge of psychic malice vast, cunning, ancient. "It's below," she said, her voice tight. "A nexus, deep in the core. The Voidveil's mind is there, and it's waiting."
Toren's crystals glowed, his ring scanning the storms. "The craters are conduits, channeling the mind's power. We must navigate them to reach the nexus."
Kael's ring flared, a vision flashing Zorath's End, a cavern of black crystal, a presence that wasn't one mind but many, woven into a single will. "It's not just a mind," he said, his voice low. "It's... all of them. Every doubt, every failure, rolled into one."
Lirra's mandibles clicked, her telepathy confirming the vision. "Then we end it. Together."
They descended, Razor's Edge weaving through storms that lashed with red-black lightning. Kael landed on a plateau of jagged stone, the air thick with a psychic hum that pressed against his skull. Lirra and Toren touched down beside him, their rings casting green light across the red-black veins snaking through the ground. The planet's pulse was deafening, a heartbeat that drowned out everything but the Voidveil's voice: You cannot win.
Kael's armor formed, its green glow fierce despite his racing heart. "Let's make this quick," he said, his ring conjuring a shield. "I've got a date with a cold drink back on Oa."
Lirra's telepathy linked them, a steady presence. "Stay close. The storms are alive. They'll try to separate us."
Toren raised his ring, his beams cutting through the haze. "The nexus is beneath the central crater. We move fast."
The descent was a nightmare. The storms weren't just weather they were the Voidveil's will, their lightning striking with intent, their winds whispering doubts: You failed Sala. You'll fail again. Lirra's constructs shields, blades pushed back the storm, but each step cost her, the Voidveil dragging up Kryon's ghosts, her squad's screams. She buried them, her will unyielding, but the cracks in her resolve ached.
Kael fought beside her, his constructs nets, hammers stronger now, fueled by a defiance that burned through the Voidveil's whispers: You're nothing. You'll break. He fired a spear, shattering a lightning bolt that aimed for Toren, and caught Lirra's glance, a silent trust that steadied him.
Toren's beams were a beacon, his clarity holding the team together, but the storms targeted him, their winds twisting his light into chaos. He pushed through, his crystals glowing fiercely, but the psychic weight was heavy, showing him his homeworld's ruin, his people's silence.
The crater's edge loomed, a maw of black stone and red-black light. Kael's ring flared, guiding them to a fissure that led below. The air grew heavier, the Voidveil's voice louder: You are us. Shadows moved in the mist not tendrils, but Lanterns, their rings corrupted, their faces familiar Voryn, the Reckoner, even Sala, her golden eyes glowing red-black.
"Illusions," Lirra said, her telepathy cutting through the fog. "The mind's playing tricks."
Kael's ring pulsed, his shield snapping up as a Sala-shadow attacked, its construct a jagged blade. He countered, his hammer smashing it apart, but the image lingered, her voice echoing: You let me go.
"Shut up," Kael growled, his ring blazing as he cleared a path. Lirra's blades sliced through the shadows, Toren's beams shattering them, but the illusions multiplied, each one a mirror of their fears.
The fissure opened into a cavern, vast and oppressive, where the Voidveil's nexus loomed a crystal matrix, red-black and pulsing, its light a tapestry of countless minds woven into one. Shadows swirled around it, not projections but entities, each a fragment of the Voidveil's will, their rings blazing with corrupted light.
"The First Lanterns' legacy," Toren said, his crystals dimming. "Their doubts, their failures, given form."
Kael's ring trembled, a vision flashing the matrix, not just a mind but a collective, every Lantern's doubt, every Corps failure, fused into a single entity. "It's not one thing," he said, his voice hoarse. "It's... us. All of us."
Lirra's telepathy plunged into the matrix, recoiling at its depth. "It's the Voidveil's core. If we destroy it, we cripple the network."
The entities attacked, their constructs webs, spears, voids moving with a unity that dwarfed Nexara's Weaver. Lirra's blades met them, her telepathy guiding her through the chaos, but the entities were relentless, their psychic weight crushing: You failed Kryon. You failed Sala. She staggered, her constructs flickering, but Kael's shield covered her, his ring blazing.
"Stay with me!" Kael shouted, his hammer smashing an entity's core. His ring fed him instincts dodge, strike, protect but the Voidveil's voice was deafening: You're a fraud. You'll fall.
Toren's beams pierced the shadows, his clarity a lifeline, but the entities adapted, their voids swallowing his light. Kael fought on, his constructs sharper, fueled by a fire he hadn't felt before not just defiance, but purpose. He wasn't just a pilot anymore. He was a Lantern.
A new figure emerged from the matrix not an entity, but a Lantern, their armor cracked but green, their ring glowing faintly. Kael's ring flared, recognizing her Sala Vereth, her golden face etched with pain, her eyes clear but haunted.
"Sala?" Kael said, his voice breaking, his shield faltering.
Lirra's telepathy probed, catching Sala's mind fractured, fighting, but alive. "It's her," Lirra said, her voice raw. "She's resisting."
Sala raised her ring, her constructs weak but green, striking an entity that lunged for Toren. "I didn't join them," she said, her voice trembling. "I followed the rift. To find the nexus. To help you."
Kael's ring pulsed, his suspicion warring with hope. "You ran, Sala. You chose."
"I chose to fight," she said, her ring flaring as she blocked another strike. "The Voidveil's in me, but I'm still a Lantern. Let me prove it."
Lirra's mandibles clicked, her telepathy weighing Sala's truth. The matrix pulsed, the entities converging, and time was running out. "We need her," Lirra said, her voice firm. "Kael, Toren trust me."
Kael's jaw tightened, but he nodded, his ring glowing brighter. "Don't make me regret this."
The team struck as one Lirra's storm, Toren's precision, Kael's force, Sala's redemption. Sala's constructs wove with theirs, her light unsteady but fierce, guiding them to the matrix's core. The entities screamed, their voids closing in, but Kael's ring flared, a vision guiding him not destruction, but severance, cutting the matrix from the Voidveil's network.
"Together!" Lirra shouted, her telepathy linking them. They raised their rings, green light weaving into a blade that slashed the matrix's conduits. Sala's light anchored it, her will burning through the Voidveil's touch, and the matrix cracked, a scream echoing through the cavern.
The entities dissolved, the red-black light dimming, but the matrix pulsed one last time, and a voice not the Voidveil's, but Sala's rang in their minds: I'm sorry. Her ring flared red-black, not corruption but sacrifice, and she dove into the matrix, her light exploding in a green-gold blaze that shattered it.
The cavern collapsed, the planet's pulse stopping. Kael dove for Sala, his ring forming a shield, but Lirra pulled him back, her telepathy catching Sala's final thought I'm free.
They fled, Razor's Edge roaring to life as Zorath's End crumbled. Kael's ring dimmed, his chest tight with loss. Sala was gone redeemed, maybe, but gone. The Voidveil's network was crippled, but its whisper lingered: We are not done.
Lirra's voice came through the comms, quiet but fierce. "She saved us, Kael. She was a Lantern."
He nodded, his ring glowing faintly. "Yeah. And we're not done either."
As they jumped to hyperspace, new coordinates flashed Oa, where the Battery waited, its light flickering but alive. Kael's ring hummed, its light steady now, and he knew: the Voidveil wasn't over, but neither were they.