The Depths of Space...
If you are hearing this, then I am dead, and the weapon I have dedicated my life to protecting is in the hands of those I sought to keep it from. He has it. You know of whom I speak.
He will be almost unstoppable now. But you must stop him. The burden falls upon your shoulders, my apprentice. You know the history of the weapon, the Hand of God, as they call it. I have told you many times how I came to possess it and the power it holds. Yet of your enemy, you know too little. Allow me to assist you in that area.
Countless centuries ago, when life first flowered into existence, a race was born. They had no name, no identity, they had nothing. They were but children, savages, barbarians. Nothing but primal urges wrapped up in flesh and bone. They evolved at an astonishing rate, soon adapting to the high gravity of their home, which is perhaps the most powerful gravity field in existence, attracting hundreds of moons to the planet. This race developed impossibly tough skin and immeasurable strength, to cope with life on their barren planet. They had no need to eat, breathe or sleep, they generated their own energy. The perfect race.. Though their minds were still savage. Until one day, war erupted. There was no cause for this war, these people had no reason to fight for anything. They were simply bored. And in this great battle, one of the monsters stood tall on the shattered corpses of his enemies. He had slaughtered his entire race.
Then, the creature made a discovery. Some time after this war, those he had killed came back. As I said, they were the perfect race. Even death could not stave them off. They are totally self sufficient to the point that they reproduce internally. At the time of death, they clone themselves, and the clone is protected beneath their indestructible shell until it matures. The victorious alien was declared ruler of them all, and named. The first word of their language. Glucknar. His people were called the Glucknarans, though none of them have individual names. With little else to do, the Glucknarans continued to have their wars, fighting for thousands of years until they had become masters of combat. Then, they were invaded, by another race, with technology far superior to the crude tools of Glucknar's people. They didn't last long.
Thrilled at their victory over this other race and how easy it was, the Glucknarans immediately stole all the advanced technology of the neighbours and returned to their planet. They wiped out every creature they found there. And in doing so, they found more joy. They found entertainment. With space faring technology at their hands, the Glucknarans ventured further and further, destroying every race they encountered and adding more technology to their arsenel. After a few thousand years, the Glucknarans had become vastly intelligent, and grew tired of inflicting nothing but death. As the greatest race in the known universe, they saw it as their right to rule over all, for their Lord Glucknar to dominate all of creation. Instead of simply destorying other planets, they sought to control them. They established an Empire. Only the Green Lanterns stood against them. Glucknar had grown arrogant in the countless years he had lived, knowing that he was the most powerful being in all creation.
So when a group of Green Lanterns managed to actually kill some of his people, something only Glucknar himself had ever accomplished... He was enraged. He killed those Lanterns with his bare hands, but refused to stop there... No, Glucknar held a grudge. He left expanding the Empire to his underlings as he focused all his efforts on finding something to destroy the Lanterns... To eliminate light and cast darkness over the cosmos. He has found that now, the weapon. The Hand of God. The Green Lanterns will try to stop him in his conqeusts, but against the Hand, they have no chance. You must help them. Share your knowledge with them. They cannot do it alone, you know this. You know his weakness. Go, Igniar. You are Ungluck, Glucknar's Bane. Save the Lanterns, before it is too late.
Igniar gaped at the hologram as his master disappeared back into the remains of what used to be his home. "But I don't even know where he is!"
Space Sector 2814, several Earth days later...
"Lord Glucknar." The Glucknaran responsible for piloting the great warship bowed to his master. "We have exited the warp portal and arrived. Welcome to Space Sector 2814."
"Hrn." Glucknar grunted, flexing the powerful gauntlet which was now bonded to his hand, as he sat upon his throne. The Hand of God was decorated with seven gems, glowing brightly with the many colours of light. Green, blue, red, yellow, orange, violet and indigo, the seven colours of the emotional spectrum, the seven colours wielded by the many Lantern Corps. However, the Hand, unlike a Lantern ring, did not harness the emotions of the user. It drew its power from the emotions of others. By using the weapon, Glucknar was able to harness the souls of those around him and trap them in the gems, using the power of their emotions to fuel his own power.
When he first found the Hand of God, Glucknar immediately returned to one of the many planets he had conquered and annihilated the native species, pulling their souls into the Hand. With this new power boost, he began hunting down and attacking members of the Lantern Corps, killing them all and harnessing their willpower to fuel his weapon. Still not content with this, he began to hunt down Lanterns of every colour, increasing his might with every soul he took. In order to prevent the rings of those he killed from finding new bearers, Glucknar seized them all, holding them in a heavily armored vault in his warship. "Is there any planet in this sector of interest to us? Is this 'Agent Orange' we seek located here?" One Lantern Glucknar had killed none of were those of the Orange Corps, because there was only one of them in existence, Larfleeze. Glucknar had hoped the creature would hear of the Hand of God and allow his greed to get the better of him, revealing himself, but no sign yet.
"We are still searching, My Lord." The same Glucknaran replied, now making his way out of the throne room to return to his duties. "I will alert you if--"
"My Lord!" A holographic projection of another appeared, looking incredibly distressed. Glucknar immediately leapt to his feet, causing the entire room to shudder beneath his might. His people had no individual names but he recognised each of them at a glance. He knew what this one's job was, and was pounding his way out of the throne room even before the hologram could exclaim: "There is a breach in the vault!"
Activating a trap door, the behemoth hurled himself down into the depths of his ship, coming to a thundering halt as he reached the lowest floor. "LANTERNS!" He bellowed, his eyes narrowing in anger as he witnessed a group of three Green Lanterns fighting off two of his best warriors.
"We really should have planned this better..." Grumbled one of the Corpsmen, who resembled a large Earth gorilla with orange skin. He was using various shifting constructs and was attempting to tear open the huge metal cube in the centre of the room. "Nothing is working, guys!"
"Keep going Joahl! We'll hold him off!" A female Lantern cried, her antlers and blue skin the only indication that she wasn't human. The three Lanterns not occupied by the cube threw up a wall of pure green light, blocking Glucknar and his henchmen from accessing them.
"Your wall cannot stop me!" Glucknar roared, as the Hand of God glowed a deathly yellow. "I sense Great Fear in your hearts, Lanterns!" Using the yellow light of fear, the warlord blasted the wall apart. "Go!" He commanded his two soldiers. "I will deal with these myself!"
"Ha!" One of the Lanterns grinned, identical to the blue woman with antlers in everything but his gender. "We're the Green Lantern Corps, big guy! We've taken down worse threats than you!" Surrounding his own fists with huge spiked glove constructs, the young Lantern charged confidently at Glucknar.
"You've never faced anything like me. Child." Glucknar spat, holding out his gauntlet as a yellow wave of light tore through his attacker, causing the constructs to vanish entirely. Then red ooze began to surge forth from the crimson gem on his knuckle. It rushed forward and blasted into the face of the shocked Lantern, tearing through his eyes and into his mouth, fill his entire body until he exploded in a red firework of flesh and bone.
"Kamron!" The female Lantern screamed at the loss of her brother, as Joahl continued to work in the background, trying his best to tune everything else out. Her will was shaken, but she was a Green Lantern, and she knew that for the sake of the universe she must stand strong. "My name is Kamra, demon. And you will not live to regret that!" And Kamra, focusing her control of the green light, created three glowing Glucknar dopplegangers. The constructs attacked the original, throwing powerful punches at his face. But Glucknar stood, bathed in a Blue light, grinning like a maniac as he ignored the blows entirely.
"You fill me with hope, Kamra." He mocked sarcastically, before his Orange gem began to glow and an orange construct burst forth... An exact replica of Kamron. Stunned into silence, Kamra's constructs faded as the orange avatar tore off the head of his sister. Slowly, the King of the Glucknarans stomped his way towards the final Lantern, Joahl, his eyes clenched shut as he tried to hammer his chisel construct into the cube. "Give it up, Lantern." Glucknar kicked Kamra's corpse out of his way. "That metal was forged on my home planet. Nothing is strong enough to penetrate it."
Taking a deep sigh, Joahl muttered a prayer and then turned to face his fate. His face was devoid of emotion, save for the steely determination in his eyes. "I am a Green Lantern. Nothing is stronger than my will." And with a final strike from his hammer, the chisel tore into the vault, creating a hole. Like a swarm of insects, rings of almost every colour surged out of their prison, eagerly zooming away to seek new hosts.
"NO!" Glucknar roared, attempting to catch some of the rings in a hastily formed construct, which was shattered as a glowing green fist slammed into his face. Turning his head, wide eyed in anger, Glucknar formed a solid yellow horn atop his head and leapt at Joahl, tearing straight through his gut before throwing the limp body to the ground. As the hulking lantern coughed up blood, dying on the floor, alone, he spoke to his killer.
"We never dreamed to survive this mission... Kamron... Kamra... They knew this was suicide... They knew that doing this... Meant death... But death knowing that we have stopped you... That those rings will find new hosts... And you will meet an army you cannot stop..." Glaring at Gluckar, Joahl spoke his final words loud and clear. "Let those who worship evil's might, beware our power... Green Lantern's... Light..."
Gritting his teeth in pure rage, Glucknar drove his gauntlet through the skull of the dead Corpsman, as the supercomputer integrated into the wall of the room had already answered his question before he could ask it. The computer had watched the trajectory of the rings and deduced the direction most were headed in, what planet they would arrive on. As the pilot Glucknaran wandered into the carnage, mouth agape, Glucknar pushed past him.
"Set course for Earth."
Log in to comment