Chapter 10

Green Lantern's Blight

Time: 1702 AA / 1818 AD 

Location: The Citadel, Sector 3601 

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The dark expanse of space loomed beyond the window of my personal chambers. The bioluminescent glow of Stupendous McAwesomeface III's twin moons bathed the plains below in soft silver, their beauty starkly contrasting the storm brewing in my mind.

I'd spent hours pacing, my thoughts a chaotic churn of plans, fears, and calculations. The encounter with the fortress in the Void had shaken something loose inside me—something I didn't want to admit. The parasite had been a wake-up call, a reminder that the universe wasn't a puzzle I could always solve with brute force and arrogance.

But admitting that felt like surrender. And surrender wasn't in my vocabulary.

A soft chime interrupted my thoughts.

**++ Incoming Communication: Thala Dor-Van. ++**

"Accept," I muttered, rubbing my temples.

Thala's image flickered into view, her crimson cape barely visible against the shadows of the command center. Her eyes were sharp, assessing me with that piercing gaze she reserved for moments of conflict.

"Michael," she said, her voice clipped, "we have a problem."

Of course we did. We *always* had problems.

"What now?" I asked, trying to sound more annoyed than worried.

"Surveillance grid detected an anomaly near the outer perimeter of the Sector," Thala explained. "It's small, but it's emitting the same energy signature as the breach you closed."

My jaw tightened. "Another breach?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly. It's like a… fragment. A shard of whatever was trying to push through before. It's just *hanging* there, suspended in space. Waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

Her eyes narrowed. "For us to make a move, I'd guess."

A cold feeling twisted in my gut. This wasn't a direct assault; it was bait. Someone—or something—was testing me. Seeing how I'd react. And if there was one thing I hated more than being threatened, it was being manipulated.

"Send me the coordinates," I said.

"Michael—"

"Send them," I snapped.

She hesitated, frustration flaring in her eyes. But she knew arguing was pointless.

**++ Coordinates transferred. ++**

Her image flickered out, leaving me alone with my thoughts once more. The coordinates glowed on my Ring's interface, a small blip on the edge of the map. A whisper of darkness just beyond my carefully guarded borders.

I clenched my fists.

*Fine.* They wanted to see how I'd react? I'd give them a reaction they wouldn't forget.

---

**Time:** 45 Minutes Later 

**Location:** Outer Perimeter, Sector 3601 

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Space was quiet here—too quiet. The usual hum of cosmic radiation and distant stellar winds was muffled, like the universe itself was holding its breath.

I floated just outside the boundary of my Sector, the stars glittering coldly around me. Ahead, the anomaly pulsed with an eerie, sickly light—a fragment of the breach, a remnant of that parasite's intrusion. It hung in space, a tear no larger than a fist, but its presence was like a splinter under my skin. Wrong. Invasive.

I reached out with the Ring, scanning the anomaly.

**++ Dimensional instability detected. Energy signature consistent with previous breach. Caution advised. ++**

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, no kidding."

The fragment pulsed again, and for a split second, I thought I saw something—a shape flickering behind the tear, watching me. Studying me.

I tensed. *They're waiting for me to act.*

I knew what the smart move was: back off, analyze, gather more intel. But smart didn't always mean *right*. This was *my* territory, and I wasn't about to let some cosmic leech plant seeds of corruption in my backyard.

"Ring, prepare containment protocol."

**++ Acknowledged. Containment construct ready. ++**

A bubble of green energy shimmered into existence around the fragment, layers of reinforced willpower folding in on themselves like the petals of an armored flower. The fragment twitched, the sickly light within it flaring angrily.

*Good,* I thought. *Struggle all you want.*

The containment field closed tighter, squeezing the fragment into submission. For a moment, it worked. The light dimmed, the tear stabilizing.

Then, without warning, it *exploded*.

A surge of dark energy blasted outward, shattering the containment construct like glass. I was thrown backward, the force of the blast rattling my bones.

**++ Warning: Dimensional breach expanding. ++**

I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to stabilize. The fragment had grown into a full tear, a gaping wound in reality. Tendrils of shadow writhed from its edges, pulsing hungrily.

And from the center of the tear, a figure emerged.

It was humanoid, but wrong in every way. Its body was a twisting mass of shadow and obsidian, limbs shifting and elongating like smoke caught in a draft. Its face—if you could call it that—was a blank mask, broken only by two burning points of violet light.

A cold, mocking voice slid into my mind.

*"You can't seal what's already broken."*

I clenched my jaw, forcing down the chill creeping up my spine.

"I've sealed worse," I growled. "You're just another pest."

The figure tilted its head, the points of violet light narrowing.

*"We are beyond your comprehension, Lantern. You cling to your Sector, your precious *control,* but control is an illusion. Entropy comes for all."*

My grip on my emotions slipped just a fraction. "You're in *my* territory. And in my territory, *I* decide what's real."

I thrust my hand forward, a construct spear blazing to life. I hurled it at the figure, the green light slicing through the void.

The figure didn't dodge. It let the spear hit, the construct piercing its body. But instead of shattering, the figure dissolved into smoke, the spear passing through empty air.

The voice echoed again, colder now.

*"Your will is strong, but it's brittle. You will break."*

I snarled, my mind racing. This wasn't just an enemy. This was a message. A *warning*. They weren't trying to kill me—not yet. They were trying to make me *doubt*. To chip away at the walls I'd spent centuries building.

I wouldn't let them.

I straightened, my voice cold and steady. "Tell whoever sent you that they picked the wrong Lantern to mess with. I don't break. I *shatter* my enemies."

The figure's eyes flared, and then it vanished, the tear collapsing behind it with a soundless *snap*. Silence rushed back, the void settling into uneasy calm.

I hovered there, my chest heaving, the echoes of that cold voice lingering in my mind.

*Control is an illusion.*

I shook my head, pushing the thought away. Control was *all* I had. And if I had to fight tooth and nail to keep it, then so be it.

I turned and flew back toward Stupendous McAwesomeface III, the weight of unseen eyes pressing against my back.

This wasn't over.

Not by a long shot.