The Birth of A Lantern

By

Shenandoah Douglass

Chapter One

The muffins' aroma caught John Stewart's attention when he sat in Earl's Diner, a small eatery in North Freeland. It was partially crowded with a lot of older people in the facility. At the time, John was the only cop in the establishment. Twenty-two-years-old and fresh out of the university, he joined the Freeland Police Department a year before he graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice, and his partner—Andy Roddick—was on his way to pick him up as he enjoyed the smell of the fresh muffins baking in the oven.

He looked dapper and professional in his Freeland PD uniform. It showed off his broad shoulders and slim waistline, but he appeared like a man focused on his new job. His faded haircut gave him a prestigious look, and the way he carried himself garnered the respect of everybody in his presence.

Doc Baker, a tall, tenebrous man owned the bakery, and he looked right at John, and said, "I know you're new on the force, but watch your back." He had a deep, somewhat sandy voice, but a wise voice nonetheless.

John looked up at him for a moment, and asked, "What do you mean, sir?"

Doc Baker sucked his top front teeth for a moment and then said, "That partner of yours is working his own game outside the legal realm. If you know what I mean?"

John paused for a moment, but didn't say anything right away. "Are you saying he's a crooked cop?"

"I don't need to say it," Doc Baker said, "You just watch your back, son. Okay?"

When Andy pulled up in the black and white, he was the opposite of John in almost every way imaginable. Where John's waist tapered into his pants, Andy's didn't. He was a big man, an older man, and a man who wasted all of his career as an ordinary patrolman. He didn't have the desire for detective work, and his monthly stipend wasn't enough money to take care of his family, so he wondered how the man survived. He had gray hairs peppered into his black ones, puffy, pallid cheeks, and an overbite.

"You ready, John?" He asked as John walked out of the establishment with two fresh biscuits.

"Yeah," John said, "Let's do this."

When John entered into the patrol car, Andy's body odor hit him directly in the face, and after two months of riding with him, he hadn't grown used to it. He thought about what Doc Baker told him, and then when he thought about how Andy interacted with Lala, one of the lieutenants in the One Hundred, he wondered if they had something going on with the criminal.

"Listen, Lala was found dead in his jail cell last night," Andy said. He had beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. "There's going to be a media firestorm because he died in police custody."

"What was the cause of death?" John asked with a look of concern on his face.

"Possible suicide," he said, "But at the same time, he was in police custody, so somebody should have checked on him. By the time the night staff found him, he was cold to the touch."

John looked over to his partner for a moment, and then asked, "How will the One Hundred react to this?"

He scoffed. "The One Hundred is focused on money," he said with a serious visage. "As long as their product moves through Freeman, I don't think they care about Lala. They don't care about anything as long as the money and drugs flow without interruption."

John and Andy walked into the main headquarters, into the meeting room, and sat down on the back bench and waited for the daily briefing. Within five minutes of his arrival, the room had nearly sixty officers in it, and the entire meeting was over the death of Lala. Andy leaned against the far wall, drank a cup of coffee, and scowled like he didn't want to be in the briefing. It was always a big deal when a citizen died in police custody, but since he was part of the One Hundred, a vicious street gang, it was highly probable his death would cause a ripple effect in the community.

"Everybody needs to be on guard," Captain Ives said as he explained the duties of the day. The Captain stood in front of the classroom with his small, neatly combed hairdo. A large white board stood behind him, and it had patrol routes on it. Captain Ives was a black man from France via Central Africa. His skin color was like a moonless night, but he looked much younger than he truly was. He looked about twenty-five-years-old, but he was well over forty-five. He had a thin mustache, black hair, and large eyes. He talked with an accent that revealed he was a foreigner. "When word of Lala's death hits the community, people will be upset." He paused for a moment, and then said, "Everybody is on call in case riots breakout over this."

After the briefing, Andy and John walked over to their patrol car, and then Andy said, "Lala was a serious money source. I'm going to have to find a new one."

John looked at him for a moment, and then asked, "You're on the take, Andy?"

Andy laughed. "Just a joke, John," he said. He stopped smiling for a moment, and then said, "If you're going to last on this job, you better have a sense of humor every now and again."

The young patrolman looked at his older supervisor, and then smiled, but at the same time, he felt he was not joking. In fact, he thought his boss tested him to see where he stood on corruption, and now John didn't trust the man at all. They patrolled around Freeland for a few hours, and it was warmer than usual. Most of the kids were in school, but every now and again, he saw a child roaming up and down the city streets. Suddenly, they received a call on the radio that Freeland National Bank was under siege.

They raced to the bank on the corner of Fifth and Douglass, and three men charged out of the bank with bags of money. John rolled out the patrol car, chased one of the men down, and clipped his back leg. The robber rolled on the ground, and then as he tried his best to control the suspect, one of the other robbers kicked him in the back, and he somersaulted through the air, and then when he landed back on his feet, he drew his Glock Nineteen. His partner chased after the other robber in the patrol car, but John placed the other two in custody.

When the bank retrieved the money that John salvaged, twenty-five thousand dollars was missing. It was understood that the third robber got away with the money, and the other two crooks weren't giving up any information on the guy. For hours, the detectives interrogated the robbers, but they never gave up their partner. In fact, they didn't give up his name or anything, but because they always ran together, the officers surmised the third robber was Derrick James, a petty criminal who grew up in South Freeland.

An all points bulletin went out on Derrick James, and the police raided his apartment, but they couldn't find the guy. They cleared every room in the flat, but didn't detect the guy at all. When they went into his apartment, they didn't think he returned to his home after the robbery. The hovel smelled like weed, and next to the couch were some GHB and other drugs.

"I don't think he's been here," John said as he looked over the apartment quickly.

"Probably not," Andy said.

The on scene commander looked over at Andy and John, and said, "You two can leave. Stay close to your radios."

"Yes, sir," John said.

When noon hit, John and Andy stopped at Joe's Diner, a hamburger-place frequented by cops. John had a small cheeseburger and fries, and his partner took off in the car for about forty-five minutes. The young patrolman sat at the diner, ate his hamburger, and didn't understand what his partner was doing. He just sat at the booth, looked out the window, and noticed two, young gang members on the far corner selling drugs. The restaurant had over fifteen cops in it, and from what John knew, all the drug dealers were aware Joe's Diner was a cop hangout.

John paid his money, walked out the diner, and looked around for his partner. He looked down at his watch, and then when he looked back up, his partner pulled directly in front of him. He climbed into the passenger's seat, and then asked, "Where did you go?"

"I have some tail a few blocks away," he said, "Just wanted to rub out a quickie."

John laughed, and then said, "Oh. Never mind."

Chapter Two

Six Months Earlier…

In the Dark Corridor, about six hundred light years from Earth, on a planet called Moxia, an intergalactic war ignited on all known regions of the universe. Drago Banter, the biggest city on the planet, was under attack by rebels from the Northern Region after the assassination of their King. Nearly fifty billion people resided in the city, and the traffic around the capital was next to insane. Smoke filled the evening sky, and the smell of charred bodies permeated throughout the countryside as bombs from Thaddican Warbirds helped the rebels against Drago Banter's military. Intermittent fires popped up all over the area, and the bombs destroyed several hundred miles of houses. Makeshift hospitals were all over the major cities because of so many casualties in the war. Billions perished. Families of injured people limped over to the nearest makeshift medical facilities, and received pertinent treatment. Approximately five hundred billion life forms existed on the distant planet, and the Lantern Corps didn't have much sway with the Moxian people. In fact, they didn't care too much for the Lanterns because they only involved themselves with Moxia when they wanted refined metals for making Battlecruisers. With the use of strategically placed wormholes, the Lanterns could travel to Moxia within a four day period, and by the time they landed on the war torn planet, nearly one hundred billion Moxians had died in the war.

Gonadia, one of the major Northern cities, once had a population of eight billion souls, but now the number of people dwindled down to two billion. So many people died in the Gonadian Battle that it caused a humanitarian problem beyond the capabilities of the living. The planet was so big that it would take over a thousand years to traverse the planet traveling at nine hundred miles per hour. Luckily, the Moxians discovered the ability to travel at the speed of light nearly a thousand years earlier, and it made the people strong, but also led to great strife because each culture had differences they couldn't overlook. In addition, the teleportation technology between cities allowed for quicker travel, but due to security reasons, the government shutdown the teleportation system.

Corbin T'Nead-a Doraxian from the planet Doraxia-stood on the Senate floor, and implored every active region to declare a ceasefire. He knew the Civil War hurled the Moxians into a quasi Dark Ages that caused xenophobia and racism to flourish. On the surface, the media turned the Northern Moxians, the Gonadians, into the monsters of the war. Every media story concerning the Northerners talked about them being savages. In fact, most of the news stories in the North referred to them as savages. In the Northern Region existed the Trailabytes, a bronze colored Moxian hostile to all the others. They started the war, and had the highest amount of casualties. Fourteen billion of them currently existed, but nearly thirty-five billion perished in a bio-weapon that attacked their nervous system.

But in reality, the Northern Moxians were the better educated, better fed, and better fighters than the rest of the regions, but didn't expect their enemy would unleash a biological weapon on them. They prided themselves on their level of Education. But at the same time, the people who controlled the media weren't true Moxians. They were Deceivers from a Planet called Pearl City, and for reasons unknown, they caused strife on every planet where they existed, including Earth.

Corbin T'Nead stood in a facility with over a million people in his Green Lantern Dress Uniform. There were a lot of angry faces in the crowd of all hues. He hadn't ever been in front of so many people in his entire life, but the Lantern Corps sent him to negotiate a truce between the states because he was one of the top notch Lanterns outside of Katma. He was in front of a sea of people, nervous, but had an acute understanding that if he didn't broker a ceasefire, billions more would die. Corbin's sapphire skin was smooth, and gave him a look of prestige. He was a much older man, a man well over two hundred and fifty earth years old.

"Moxians, I stand in front of you on behalf of the Lantern Corps," Corbin said, "The Oans are dismayed with the use of biological weapons against the Trailabytes. We implore you not to go down that horrible path again. How long will brother fight brother? We have mothers against daughters and fathers against sons. Generations of your brothers and sisters are lost because of this needless war." He turned to the Von family who were the Royals Drago Banter, and said, "The war has decimated Thaddica. I don't see the planet recovering from this war in a thousand years."

An older Moxian, a tenebrous man with fuzzy, gray hair stood to his feet. He flew up to the Doraxian on his hoverboard, and looked the Lantern directly in his eyes. "I'm Senator Shay from the South Region. Why are you Lanterns sticking your noses in Moxian business?"

The Lantern looked at him with a serious visage. "For a stable nether region of the universe, we must have a secure and peaceful Moxia. Your Civil War is causing strife all over the universe. Nearly ten million Moxians sought refuge on Brion Noir, and taxed their governments. Four million Moxians fled to Gadaria, a planet of pacifists, and caused a great deal of chaos in that world. This Civil War has the potential to pull in other worlds, and the Lantern Corp won't tolerate that. Thaddica is completely decimated."

Later in the day…

Corbin flew over to his hovel near the Running Waters, a river that ran through the city, and even with all the small suns surrounding the massive planet, the outside temperature was only eighty-seven degrees. There were exactly seventy-two suns that surrounded the planet. The world had twenty hours of daylight and twenty hours of darkness, and most of the homes came with blinders that created an artificial night inside the home. There were a massive amount of lakes, rivers, and oceans all over the planet, and at least twice in a forty hour period, it rained. Doraxians craved the heat. Eighty-seven degrees was next to freezing for the old Lantern, but he learned to deal with it. In his hovel, he had the temperature set for one hundred and twenty degrees, and for most beings on Moxia, that was far too warm. He enjoyed staying by the Running Waters river because it reminded him of his beautiful home near Glassco on Doraxia. When he stood outside his hovel, Eli Ga' Narian, the Moxian Lantern, walked up to him. She was a smooth, mahogany brown with long black hair. She had on her battle dress uniform, the one that clung to her form. The uniform came with a green cape that hung over her shoulders. She was returning from the medical space station Preelix after the death of one of her Lantern friends.

"Even if my world stopped their infighting today, it would take years to recover," Eli Ga'Narian said with a grimace on her narrow face. "I'm truly embarrassed by the use of biological weapons against the Gonadians. It goes against everything that I believe." She walked over to the Running Waters, and said, "I'm not sure why Ganthet has taken such an interest in Moxian affairs, but at the same time, the war has caused plenty of strife throughout the verse."

The Doraxian Lantern looked at her for a moment, and stucked his right hand in the cool, flowing river. He loved the way his reflection appeared in the beautiful blue water. The river was sapphire like his blue skin, and then he turned to Eli, and said, "Luciferous will return in our lifetime." He paused for a moment, and she began to laugh. When she tried to speak, she bent over, let out a chuckle, and then the Doraxian said, "It's serious, Eli."

"It's folklore, old man!" She snapped. "Nonsense spread in the empath community. Their stories are older than Moxia itself."

"Not according to the Guardian, Ganthet," he said, "He fought the Vulcan on Earth a few months back. If the Vulcan returned to flesh, then Luciferous will be born, but instead of spreading the light, he will spread destruction to worlds still practicing the old ways of cruelty, greed, and slavery. He's the being that puts the universe into alignment."

"How can he be sure the kid was truly the Vulcan though?" She asked with her arms folded. "Wasn't he the black Lantern two hundred thousand years ago?" She looked off into the billowing smoke from the fires, and asked, "So, you really believe this myth?" She asked. "Our rings give us these tales, but are they to be believed."

"The best minds in my world believe them," he said, "We have a fleet of ships for him to command upon his return."

She laughed. "I can't give credence to folklore," she said, "The rings have all these stories in them, but the ones about the Destroyer are plain ludicrous."

"If the stories of this creature are true, he will obliterate the waste, cruel regimes, and slavery," he said, "I've read about this godlike being in T'Naga's Diaries on my world. He wiped out a race of people on my planet called the Grays because they oppressed my people, the Blues."

"Then if this creature is to be born on Earth, who's the Lantern overseeing this?" She asked with a grimace.

"We don't have one," he said with a grimace on his face. He reached into his belt, pulled out a ring, and then said, "You can go to Earth, and choose a person with a good heart, strong mind, and understanding who can oversee the birth of Luciferous." He handed her the ring. "Listen, Ganthet told me when he fought the Vulcan the Green Witch traveled back through time, and instructed him to leave Earth. She traveled back through time to set off a series of events to stop her husband from destroying Moxia itself."

She looked at him for a moment, and said, "What are you saying?"

"This is only between the elite Lanterns," he said softly. "The Destroyer destroyed this planet, Oa, and Brion Noir in one alternate future. The Green Witch returned to our time, and told Ganthet that the Destroyer rewound time, so he could restore all the planets he decimated."

"So, it's real," she said, "How do we stop him?"

"We don't," he said with a grimace. "The Destroyer is woven into the matrix of the universe. If we find an earthling with the ideals of the Lantern Corps, we might be able to persuade this god in a wise direction."

"Then I will go to Earth, and find a soul who can wield this ring for the greater good," she said. She paused for a moment, and asked, "Whose ring is this?"

He sighed, and then said, "Tomar-Re."

He watched her ship take off into space, and then all of a sudden, a large explosion happened near the military base. The explosion was so big that it shook the ground. As soon as she took flight, several hundred enemy planes flew overhead, and unleashed a barrage of explosions on the city. The Senate had the strongest force shield over it. In addition to that, they had a weapon system with powerful lasers that fired automatically as the ships flew by. With the power of his Lantern ring, he was able to stave off most of the damage of the bombs. When he shot a panoramic beam out of his ring, it decimated most of the enemy planes, and the occupants floated to the ground in parachutes. By the color of their orange uniforms, he knew they were members of the Western Alliance, a legion of militant right wingers hell bent on eradicating the planet of the Southern Moxians. Police officers moved in all the soldiers' positions, and eradicated them on the spot.

Earth Five Months Later…

Eli sat on a park bench outside of Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Freeland, and watched the citizens as they moved about their day. She ate a corn dog, and had grown fond of the unhealthy dish over her stay on Earth. She had only been on the planet for a few weeks when the ring guided her to Freeland. She looked at the men as they set up the portable bathrooms, but didn't see anybody worthy enough of the ring. She had traveled all over the planet for the person with the right heart to wield the ring, and the search had weighed heavy on her soul. But at the same time, she felt the next Lantern was in Freeland. She had been on the planet for two weeks, and hadn't found one soul who was worthy enough for the instrument of Justice. She looked across the way, and saw a tall, tenebrous man with a small, frumpy yellow looking woman. It was the oddest coupling she had seen in a long time. Quickly, she realized the man wasn't human, but a Deceiver. She had Deceivers on her planet of Moxia, and they were the empaths who told the stories of the Destroyer. They had the ability to move objects with their minds, read minds, and great fighting skills. They wiggled their way into every aspect of Moxian life, and exploited the government for their own liking. It was what the Deceivers were known for throughout the universe. Even with all their abilities, they stayed out of the war, but were often caught manipulating all sides involved. She didn't trust them.

Eli enjoyed the coolness of Freeland, but she didn't like how the people interacted with each other. In most cases, they seemed somewhat hostile, and it took her a moment to evaluate if they were being aggressive with her or not. She watched a group of kids traverse the park with baggy pants, long, wild hair, and weapons in their front pockets. For some reason, they approached the Deceiver and his woman, and from the way they carried themselves, she thought they were going to attack him. But after a brief exchange of words, the Deceiver and his woman walked away without an incident. She looked at the alien as he moseyed away, and wondered how the rest of his people viewed the fact that he was involved with a being outside his race. Deceivers only tolerated other cultures, but never mixed their seed with other races, and if they did fall in love with an alien, they hid it. She couldn't imagine a Deceiver impregnating a woman from an alien race. She scoffed at the thought.

She walked down the pathway of the park, and felt the young miscreants following behind her. She thought they tried to daunt her with their taunts, and if that was the case, she would do whatever it took to defend herself.

"Hey, bitch!" One of the men exclaimed. She continued down the pathway, and then one of the men ran up to her. "Slow down, foxy lady."

"Mind your business," she said with a grimace on her face. The other young men caught up to them, and one of them reached out to her, and she flipped him on his back. "I'm warning you, guys." Her voice was strong and forceful, and then the men continued to tease her despite the fact she knocked one of them on his back.

"I'm Pete Dog," one of the young men said, "Where are you from?"

She smiled. "From a world far far away," she said, "I'm from a planet called Moxia. I'm Eli of Moxia."

He looked at her for a moment, and then said, "Oh snap! You're an alien?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm here to find a hero."

"A hero? Well, you won't find too many in Freeland. Well, maybe Black Lightning, but he's old."

"Thank you, Mister Pete Dog," she said, "I will let the Lantern Corps know of your willingness to help me find the next hero." She flew into the air, hands out and feet pointed towards the ground, and with a smile on her face, she said, "You take care now."

"I'm in love," Pete Dog said.

Later in the day…

She heard screaming with her enhanced hearing from the outskirts of the city. With the help of the power ring, her hearing was amplified, and she could hear beyond the normal range. She flew into the air, jettisoned across the sky, and landed in a large field. There were several trees that surrounded the field, and she tried to enjoy the cool breeze,but when she looked down, she saw the short, yellow woman eating Mister Pete Dog. She tried to grab her with a graphical hand, but the short, frumpy woman had powers, and phased through the graphical hand. With a wave of her hand, she threw the Lantern into a tree. She wasn't expecting the woman to be a Deceiver, but she had powers like one.

"You have powers like a Deceiver," Eli said, "How can this be?"

"That's right," she said. "It's what happens when you're brought back from the dead with the blood of a Deceiver." Suddenly, Eli fell to one knee as she tried to stave off the mental intrusion. It felt like a weight against her mind, and she wasn't used to fighting against telepaths. The woman's powers were much stronger than she had inspected. She used as much mental strength as possible, and hit the small woman with a graphical fist. It knocked her backwards into a ditch. When she flew over to where the lady landed, she was gone.

She looked down at Pete Dog's body, and shook her head in disgust. It was ripped into shreds, and she could tell he died a painful death. When she thought about how the woman ripped his body into pieces, it frightened her. It was like the small woman didn't have a soul. In addition, she tried her best to understand how a non Deceiver had powers like one. It would take powerful science or magic to transfer the Deceiver's powers into a non-Deceiver. She thought the woman's powers were an oddity, her abilities, even her very existence was something of a horror movie. She was an enigma. In addition, she thought the young man was a good soul, and hated to see him die so young. She had experienced a lot of death on Moxia, and had grown tired of it. Earth was a nice break away from all the violence in her home world.