Green Lantern's Blight!

**Time:** 1702 AA / 1818 AD

**Location:** Sector Boundary, Sector 3601

________________

The breach pulsed, a twisted mass of darkness fringed with violet energy. Its tendrils, slow and deliberate, reached out as though probing the defenses we'd barely managed to hold together. The silence of the void was deafening, broken only by the faint hum of our combined energy fields.

Thala's presence at my side was a cold comfort. Sul-Da hovered a little behind us, his eyes wide with fear he was trying so hard to suppress. I felt the weight of their trust like a shackle around my neck. Every second we stood here, waiting, felt like a test I was destined to fail.

"It's still stable," Thala said, her voice tight. "But it's not retreating."

"Of course it isn't," I muttered, my jaw clenched. "It's watching. Waiting to see what we'll do."

The urge to act burned in my chest. To strike first. To show this thing—whatever it was—that *I* was the one in control. The Ring's energy hummed, eager to be unleashed, but the memory of my previous failures tempered my impulse.

"Michael," Sul-Da said hesitantly, "what if we try to communicate? Maybe it's not looking for a fight."

I shot him a glare, the words like acid on my tongue. "Everything we've seen says otherwise."

Thala's voice was steady, but there was steel beneath it. "And what if we're wrong? What if there's more to this than just a fight? You're always talking about control, Michael—maybe control means being willing to listen."

I wanted to snap at her, to dismiss her words as naive. But the truth gnawed at me. I'd thrown everything I had at these anomalies, and they kept coming back. Each time I thought I'd asserted dominance, the universe reminded me just how precarious my grip was.

Maybe brute force wasn't enough.

*Damn it.*

I let out a slow breath, the glow from my Ring dimming just a fraction. "Alright. We'll try it your way."

Thala's eyes widened slightly, like she hadn't expected me to agree. Sul-Da's face lit up with a mixture of relief and hope.

"Ring," I said, my voice low and controlled, "initiate a communication pulse. Match the anomaly's energy signature."

**++ Communication pulse prepared. Matching energy frequency. ++**

A thread of green light extended from my Ring, delicate and thin, like a thread of silk spun in a hurricane. It reached toward the breach, flickering as it made contact with the writhing mass of darkness.

For a moment, nothing happened. The darkness pulsed, the tendrils twitching like the limbs of some monstrous insect.

Then a voice—soft, cold, and echoing—slid into my mind.

*"You hesitate. Good. That means you understand."*

I stiffened, my fingers curling into fists. "Who are you?"

*"Names are meaningless in the void. We are beyond such limits."*

"What do you want?" I demanded, my voice harder now.

*"Want?"* the voice whispered. *"We do not *want*. We *persist*. We are entropy, the inevitable unraveling of all things. You fight to preserve order, but you cannot stop what is inevitable."*

A chill slid down my spine. I forced the fear down, burying it beneath layers of stubborn defiance.

"You don't belong here," I said. "This is my Sector. I've built it to withstand anything. Even you."

The voice rippled with something that almost sounded like amusement.

*"And yet, you falter. Your walls are strong, but your foundations crack. The more you cling to control, the more it slips through your fingers."*

My jaw tightened. The words felt like they were peeling back layers I didn't want exposed.

Thala stepped closer, her voice calm. "Why are you testing us?"

The breach pulsed, the tendrils twisting into complex patterns.

*"Because resistance is beautiful. The harder you fight, the more satisfying your collapse will be."*

My Ring flared instinctively, my anger bubbling up. "I won't let that happen."

*"Won't?"* the voice sneered. *"You are already letting it happen. Your fear, your need for power—it fuels us."*

I felt Thala's gaze on me, her words from earlier echoing in my mind.

*Maybe doing the same thing over and over isn't working.*

For a moment, I teetered on the edge of fury, ready to unleash everything I had and damn the consequences. But the part of me that had listened, that had *hesitated*, whispered a different truth.

I couldn't fight this thing the way I wanted to. Not yet.

"Then you're going to starve," I said coldly, pulling back the energy pulse. The thread of light snapped, the connection severing.

The breach shuddered, the tendrils curling in on themselves.

"We're not playing your game," I said. "You won't get the satisfaction of watching us fall."

The breach twisted, its dark light flaring in agitation. The voice hissed, a sound like steam escaping a cracked pipe.

*"You delay the inevitable. Nothing more."*

"Maybe," I said, my voice low. "But delay gives me time. And time gives me options."

I raised my hand, the Ring blazing. "Seal it. Now."

**++ Affirmative. Initiating containment protocol. ++**

Green light erupted from the Ring, wrapping around the breach like chains of molten metal. The tendrils flailed, the darkness writhing, but this time, I wasn't driven by blind rage. I was controlled. Measured.

The breach shrank, the light folding in on itself until, with a final flash, it vanished.

The void was still.

I exhaled slowly, my shoulders sagging. Thala's eyes met mine, a mixture of relief and quiet pride. Sul-Da let out a shaky breath.

"You didn't just attack," he said softly. "You thought it through."

I nodded, the truth sitting uneasily in my chest. "We need to be smarter. Stronger. This isn't over."

Thala smiled faintly. "But maybe, just maybe, we're learning."

I turned back toward the Citadel, the weight of my decisions pressing on me. I wasn't ready to let go of power. But for the first time, I wondered if power alone was enough.