Shaeyera put a hand on the wall to help hold herself up. She was wearing the golden Nth Metal armor of the Hawk Lords and her hands wore gloves with razor sharp claws extended over the fingers and a red hawk's head emblazoned in a blue circle in the center of her chest plate. Gold blood, her own blood, ran down the side of her face from her helmet, it's entire right side had been smashed off and her face was terribly cut on that side. Several deep wounds had been cut through her chest and legs, but she still managed to stay on her feet.
Thanagar was burning around her, she could feel the heat of the flames as they encroached upon the Palace of the Hawk Lords. She could also hear the sounds of Set's infernal legion tramping through the palace in search of their objective, they were not far away now. Shaeyera knew Amun-Ra, clutching a near fatal wound in his chest, was seated behind her on one of the twelve thrones, his life force bleeding through the fingers of his hand. "You should go." He told her.
"You are my god, I will die defending you." She said and instead pulled a mace from a nearby weapons rack.
"All of the others are dead, I release you from your service, leave so you can reincarnate." Set's divine force was crushing the reincarnation abilities of the Hawk Lords and they both knew her wounds were fatal, it was just a matter of time. Her regenerative healing properties weren't strong enough to overcome the damage done.
The doors to the room swung open and Set strode in, his legion at his back. He laughed at Amun-Ra, a haunting, echoing sound. Shaeyera narrowed her eyes. She had been thinking about this the entire battle, something had been teasing at the edge of her mind but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. She finally realized what it was when he laughed. Set never laughs...Her eyes widened when her disbelief cast aside the false image that had been placed in her mind, an image Amun-Ra had long ago cast aside. This was not Set. Zeus! You no good son of a...It's not enough that your Alexander has crushed the mortals of this land, now you seek to destroy our very gods?! I'll have you're head!
"Now the child sees." Zeus said in triumph. "You were going to keep it from here Amun-Ra, it's almost like you care about your pitiful creations."
"There is no reason to create if one does not care about the creation." Amun-Ra said.
"Lay down your weapon child and surrender to your wounds, let this war end." Zeus said.
Her answer came in the form of a battlecry, screamed at the top of her lungs with blood escaping from her mouth. "HHYYYAAHHH!!!!!!!" She slammed her mace into a rather surprised Zeus's chest. The powerful Nth Metal weapon drove him backwards and she followed up with another immediate strike that drove Zeus to his knees. Unfortunately she was fighting a god and Zeus struck suddenly and without warning, driving his sword up through her stomach and deep into her chest cavity, driving the breath from her body as he sliced through her lungs and forced blood from her mouth. He stood slowly and ripped his sword from her body, grabbing her by the throat as her life rapidly fled her body. "It's been a long time since someone got the drop on me, you were good, I'll give you that."
Amun-Ra snarled in fury and gathered the last of his strength, expending the last of his divine energy to tear a vortex in time and space that quickly drew the last of the Hawk Lords through it and away from Zeus's grasp.
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Shaeyera didn't expect to wake up...but she did. Her eyes opened to find herself surrounded by a bright, gleaming world. She could feel her catastrophic wounds healing much faster than any regenerative power she had known previously and felt life forces flooding through her body, reinvigorating her instantly. She forced herself to her feet and stared up at an alien sky. Ra... It pained her to think that he had cast her here and died, when she should have died at his side defending him with her last breath against the forces of foreign gods. She turned around in a circle slowly, looking out at the lush and green landscape around her. Where am I?
In the distance Shaeyera spotted a tall tower of marble, a vast construct in an otherwise pristine wilderness. The alabaster tower looked inviting, rather than threatening...but it also looked somehow past its prime. Despite the gleam to its walls, there was something faded about it, a feeling perhaps, more than a visual recognition. As she took flight for the tower, she got a better view of the surrounding wilderness...everything felt faded, glorious, yet faded, almost as if it were a world that should have been dead, but couldn't quite bring itself to be.
When she grew close to the tower, it seemed to call to her but not in a strong and resonating voice...in a meek whisper, the whisper of a dying man. Shaeyera landed on a balcony and strode into the building with her mace in hand. Her booted feet left echoing steps in a vast, empty hall against solid marble floors. A new voice echoed in her mind...
Shaeyera Hol, Last of the Hawk Lords...I have been waiting for you. She recognized it almost immediately as the soft whisper she had felt before, now gathering strength. "Why?" She asked out-loud.
Together, we can restore that which we have lost.
A pedestal rose from the floor directly in front of her, on it sat a white ring glowing with power.
Take the ring, become the first of the new White Lanterns. Restore my world and then I will help you restore yours.
With nothing to lose and everything to gain, she picked up the ring and put it on.
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