CHPT 2: Beings Joined By Blood….

The crash sight in the middle of the desert created by Kara's divebombing had long since become a battle ground full of flame, blood and alien madness.

From the pit of shadows, purple lasers exploded, melting through hard Martian skin while caustic blood rained from above and scorched the fleeing aliens.

"Come here you mouth-bellied bastards!" Skallox roared as he punched a White Martian in the face and threw another off his back before blasting it out of existence.

Another lunged at him, shapeshifting tendril-like arms snaking out of the shadows and heading straight for his throat.

Before he could react, a transparent red shield rose in front of him, causing the martians limbs to smash into the surface and break upon impact.

The alien monster screeched in pain before being silenced by a red sliver of bubbling energy in the shape of a sword exploding through its chest from behind.

The Martian fell. Rankorr stood, energy constructed sword slithering back into his ring soundlessly.

Skallox nodded before flying off to tear into another batch.

Rankorr moved to follow, blasting off in flight. Slashing and tearing through the crowd of White Martians littering the black shadows along the way.

Every cut, every rip. He'd remove it all until—

BZZZSHT!

"Dark energy potency increase...."

Before he could accurately respond to the message from his ring, a large mass moved out of the shadows, throwing White Martians out of the way and stomping on others as it crashed into him, smashing a humanoid fist into his stomach and sending him flying back to the surface.

One moment he was in the shadows, below ground. The next he was bursting through the sanded rocks of Mars and crashing down onto the surface, moonlight warm on his face, sand in his eyes.

As he laid in the sand, he could feel the ground shaking— hear the roars of his team as they continued to war with the Martians.

Something down with the others had true dark energy. The same energy as a number of gods who'd played a part in scarring the earth and reminding him of a time he wanted to forget more than anything.

Steaming blood poured from his eyes. The flames billowing from his head burned the sands. His clawed fingers gripped the floor— ring vibrating with power.

With a shout he exploded from the ground and yelled into his ring.

"Everybody out! Or I'll kill you myself!"

Slowly, one by one, The Red Lanterns burst from the hole in the planet, fighting off White Martians along the way.

More followed, never reaching their targets due to the energy constructed nuke Rankorr threw into the hole with an angered roar.

His speciality. The only Red Lantern able to make energy constructs. He wasn't as talented as the Green Lanterns— but his rage was only growing. And so was his skill.

He threw another.

The grounds shook. The bordering of the hole stretched and crumbled after repeated explosions of rage forced their way into the shadow full of Martians and suspiciously high levels of dark energy.

Whatever was down there he'd flatten entirely.

Another series of energy constructed explosives were fired off. Again and again until…..

BZZSHT!

"Power Ring at 34%….."

He continued. He remembered. The same energy that was fired off in droves back on his home planet. Shaking his world and tearing lives from every corner of the planet. Making him feel small once more. Putting him back in his metaphorical shell.

"Bloody bastards!"

More flaming blood poured from his eyes.

"DIE!"

"Rankorr…!" Kara yelled over the explosions.

Nothing. The light show of rage continued.

Atrocitus laughed as he watched the white martians be pulverized.

"Hey hothead, let's not burn up all our ring power just yet…" Skallox suggested.

"FUCK OFF!"

"Jack!" Kara repeated.

Rankorr froze, his energy constructed bomber jet dissolving into vermillion smoke soon after.

For a moment he stood in the silence. Suit steaming as it hugged his pumped muscles and tightened with each ragged breath.

"Rage…..it's a beautiful thing." Atrocitus commented as he ran his clawed fingers through Dex's fur.

"Kara, eyes and ears." Rankorr huffed, pointing at the small crater he smashed into the planet.

Pieces of White Martian littered the outside, fitting the desolate and destroyed vibe of the rest of the planet as their blood soaked the sands.

The shadows seemed to house more corpses below ground. All defeated, all d—

"One is alive….." Kara said, x-ray vision once again proving useful.

BZZSHT!

"Dark energy recognized…."

Nothing else was left to be said. Rankorr raised his ring, vermillion light emerged shifting and shaping to his will that placed it in the form of a giant shield. The team fell in behind him and his shield as he approached the crater.

Seconds dragged, silence followed. Even the persistent winds had slowed to a dull brushing sound as they faintly rustled the sands.

When he finally entered the hole in the planet and the shadows surrounded them, it only grew quieter. All soundless except for the distant repeated beat of faint breaths.

They followed the sound, flying over the hundreds of corpses pounded flat into the rocky floors until they reached their objective.

The only living Martian remaining....and the source of their Dark Energy.

It laid on the ground— larger than the others and slightly discolored. It was grey— at least the parts left exposed were. Everywhere else, the giant alien was covered in ancient Greco-Roman stylized armor, fitted with all manner of spikes and straps that glowed black with a supernatural essence.

"What is this…..a joke?" Kara commented at the half dead Martian, only surviving due to its seemingly god-given armor.

Rankorr growled, "No…..it's a taunt."

Following his response, he raised his ring and sent out a hand construct to grab the Martian before attempting to fly back to the surface.

"Wait WHAT? We were taunted by a god…? How would they know— why would they taunt us? Who?" Bleez rambled.

"We've been doing this for two years…..day in day out. We've scalped at least three dozen dwarf planets just in our sector and made sure to leave a mark where we didn't completely decimate everything— and as Lanterns we aren't exactly unknown to the world. We arent moving in complete silence…..and this particular god doesn't like silence anyway. He wants war. Either that or he's branching away from starting conflicts with just humans." Rankorr explained.

Bleez stopped playing with her nails and looked around for a moment. Double taking the shadows for the first time. Her skin seemed to pale— going a lighter shade of blue from beneath her deep hood. Even her lips lost their feminine luster.

"Neither...." She said.

"What?" Rankorr said while he continued to deeply inspect the dying armored White Martian with Skallox.

"It's neither." Kara added, gaining a surprised look from Bleez.

Before Rankorr could question the implications of their answer, Kara raised her ring, letting the glow spread to the outer walls where writings and destroyed shaped stone resided, adorned by the skulls of dead animals and weapons from countless other alien fleets— less evolved than that of earth.

Suddenly he realized his mistake.

What they stood in— what they faced. It was no taunt from a god who'd learned of their pursuit of revenge. It wasn't even a god looking to fuck with other species.

It was expansion.

They stood in a shrine.

"Has this ever happened?" Rankorr asked.

"We have our own gods. Of course it hasn't." Skallox replied.

"We're leaving. And we need answers." Rankorr said flatly, picking up the armored Martian before leading them out.

"Skallox— you were an interrogator back on your home world, correct?" Rankorr asked.

The equine humanoid beast stripped of skin and hair managed a evil sneer as he snorted steam, "All I need is ten minutes…."

"Good. That's about all he's got." Rankorr said as they left heading back home. To Ysmault.

****

Hours later, they were home. Back on their planet with nothing more than endless granite stone and a pool of caustic blood topped by their Lantern. The Red Lantern.

Their prisoner sat at the helm of it— little life remaining. Even less sentience. Fire tended to do that to Martians. So did Skallox.

His interrogation style was long, brutal and psychological. Unmatched cruelty. Kara and Rankorr seldom enjoyed watching. But Rankorr needed answers.

And he'd gained none.

The Martian was tough as nails. But it would've broken. It would've if it had more life in it, but it knew the end was near. That seemed to solidify its spirits.

They all sat in silence as they watched its life fade soon after. Anger twisting their expressions and heating their suits.

"Well. We just did the JFA a favor…..I'm sure the Manhunter would appreciate what we've done here…haha…" Atrocitus joked.

"Yea….you think we'll get a contract offer? I'm sure the Justice Force could use some of our help." Dex said sarcastically.

"Quiet." Rankorr cut in. "We need to think about what this means….the game has changed."

"What's changed?" Bleez asked.

"All we've seen is them running— going places that we continue to barely miss. We never even questioned why they are engaging in spatial travel. And now here— on mars…..we find expansion. Martians— White Martians known for their violence and lust for war….praising Ares. This could mean a number of things— but only one really matters."

"What?" Kara asked in a hushed voice as the others listened to him openly think.

"Much of this world has lost faith in those with power— those like your fear-wielding cousin, Kara. Ever since that first war. We've tasted weakness. And many have associated that taste with those with power. The gods have lost faith from those on earth. So they're going elsewhere— but the question is why. Why kingdom build so hastily?"

Skallox straightened, "You think they're trying to grow their numbers for another battle???"

Rankorr shrugged as he played with the four Red Lantern Rings on his fingers. "It's too soon to say for sure, mate. All I know is, one god usually isn't too different from the other in terms of goals and ideas. It's all grandiose and self important bullshit. It can't be good. But, I'd like to know how bad."

With that, the others sat in a discomforted silence. Slowly but surely, they all faded to their corners of their shared planet to rest and continue their harrowing ruminations.

Kara began working out— as if the days battle wasn't enough. She always seemed to be doing something.

Bleez bathed at a nearby waterfall, letting down her hood to reveal her beautiful blue skinned face.

Skallox wrote as he paced back and forth over a flat stretch of land.

Atrocitus slept in a nearby cave with Dex.

Rankorr stayed on the cliffs edge, legs hanging over the bubbling Blood Ocean with the Red Lantern at his back.

The Armored white Martian lay beside him, long dead. He could still feel the residual dark energy on the armor. It pissed him off. It also centered him.

"They could be building their power in a hurry. I'll need to as well. No more dwarf planets for training and amateur spacial pirate fleets. I need growth. Immediate and sustained…..but where do I look?" He thought to himself before laughing.

"Just two years ago I was in highschool…..hiding in bathrooms to read and avoid my schoolyard bullies. Now I can fly…..and speak to hairless horse-beastmen…..and make weapons with my mind. Still— I have fear. But I also have rage, and with that, I can get this job done. I just need more...more."

Following his words he got to his feet and picked up the White Martian stripping it of its armor and preparing to throw it into the blood ocean. It looked fuller than before….as if it gained wait. Odd.

"Goodbye. Fuck you for dying so fast."

He tossed the Martian— as soon as it left his hands, he noticed something move beneath its skin. Fast and violent.

The last thing he heard was Kara scream before the blue insectoid object from before burst from the mouth on the White Martians stomach and latched onto him.

It twisted and turned, tiny limbs extending and grafting to his spine, cutting off his nerves until he was submerged into the black of unconsciousness.

The last thing he saw was the Blood Ocean as he fell straight in.

Once again….only this time he wasn't alone….