In Blackest Day, in Brightest Night...

by ConfettiColored

Prologue

"Ethan Woods of Earth. You have the ability to instill great fear. Welcome to the Sinestro Corps."

I still remember those words to this very day, and probably will for the rest of my life. If you are reading this, then that means you snuck into my house and stole my journal. First off, whoever did that, fuck you. Just keep this to yourself, and I'll leave you be, but if you let anyone else know about this, I'll trap you in a never-ending nightmare. Capiscé?... Ah, who am I kidding. If you've got your hands or hooves on this, then you know I won't hurt you. Anyways, here's my story...

We had all gathered on Qward. We were told that we would be expanding our sphere of influence throughout the universe. Not all that surprising, to be honest. The Green Lanterns had been gaining a lot of followers very recently, something we had to counter. We didn't have nearly as many followers as the our mortal enemies, so we rearranged the way we were stationed. The idea was to occupy Sectors that the Greens hadn't gotten to yet, thus enforcing our fear-sustained order on those areas before the Green Lanterns could feed them their lies about how 'evil' we were. There was to be a big announcement telling us which Sector we would focus on first, right in front of the Central Yellow Lantern Power Battery. I felt and looked really out of place here, not many Yellow Lanterns were human. I was nineteen years old, rather scrawny for my age, with brownish-gold hair that laid down real easily, but I could never get it to look the way I wanted. It would lay down in every possible way except the windblown I had tried to get for a while. Eventually, I just stopped caring. It had been eight years since I had gotten my ring. I was a lot bulkier back then, when I cared about getting into shape. Of course, having a ring that can conjure up anything you can imagine makes you care less about lifting weights. Working with an intergalactic police force was certainly a step up from the Lexcorp job I used to have on Earth. I As we were waiting on Sinestro to get up on the stage and start his speech, I started to examine the Central Yellow Lantern Power Battery. Just standing that close to our power source made me feel like I could take on Superman without breaking a sweat. I couldn't, of course, the idea was ludicrous, but that's the effect it has on you. It's energy was so enriching, that after I closed my eyes in relaxation to bask in it's golden light, I became so distracted that I didn't even notice when our leader, Sinestro, began his speech.

"WHAT?!" The crowd exclaimed in utter disbelief, which snapped me out of my stupor.

"You all heard me. We're entering the Unknown Sectors," Sinestro, told us. "Or, to be more specific, you are,"

This was completely out of left field. No one ever went in the Unknown Sectors; since the Green Lanterns never stationed themselves there, the whole area was a breeding ground and safe haven for criminals everywhere, not to mention the fact that they were almost completely uncharted.

"What if we get lost? How will we find our way back?" Someone about five feet off to my right asked.

"With this," Sinestro answered, holding up a small rectangular prism. I clearly wasn't the only one who had no idea what it was, as evidenced by the wave of confused murmuring that washed over the crowd, before Sinestro held up his hand to silence us.

"This is a Mother Box. Supplied to us by our newest ally, Darkseid. He sends his regrets that he cannot be here today. He is quelling a revolution on his homeworld. He will be assisting us in our occupation and exploration of the Unknown Sectors, in exchange for granting him dominion over half the planets we discover. Each of you tasked with exploring the Unknown Sectors will be granted one. Simply think of Qward, and a 'Boom Tube', basically a portal, will appear leading here. This will work with any other location in the known universe, and the Mother Box has a variety of other functions that will be explained to you by the Box itself," Seeing that we were confused, he spoke again. "They can commune with their owners," Sinestro explained all of this very quickly, and gave us a few seconds to process the information we had been given before speaking again. "Each of you will be called to speak with me about whether you will be charting the areas you go to, occupying the first planet you find, or both. Dismissed."

The wait was torture. Due to how many of us there were, the amount of time it would take to give us all our mission briefings was scheduled to take several weeks. I was given my instructions on day eight.

"Ethan Woods of Earth, please come to see Sinestro," An emotionless automated voice called over the P.A system. I let out a sigh of relief, and walked to the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor, where Sinestro's 'office' was. It wasn't like anything like what was found on earth, but it was an office in the fact that he did most of his work here, at least when he wasn't on the battlefield. It was very similar to Lex Luthor's office in design, with the window in the back overlooking the only city on this desolate planet, but with a holographic map of the known universe in the middle, along with two armchairs bordering said map. His work extended to pinpointing the locations of Green Lanterns, potential new recruits for the Corps, unoccupied planets, and the like. Just thought I should clarify that, although the idea of him doing paperwork in there brings a smile to my face. When the door opened, Sinestro wasted no time in beginning his talk.

"Come, sit," He said, gesturing to the chair opposite him. I gave a small bow to my master before obliging. "You will be exploring the Unknown Sectors in search of a planet with sentient inhabitants, then you will begin to spread fear, as always," I kept my mouth shut and simply nodded. "As you know, the Unknown Sectors are filled to the brim with those who act outside the law. Set an example of the Sinestro Corps by cracking down on crime, then when I get around to whatever planet you chose to cleanse, we will begin to enforce our order. Any questions?" He asked. I shook my head at his question. "Very well. Here is your Mother Box," He said, handing me a small, gray, rectangular box. "Don't lose this," He said with a stern edge to his voice. "If you do... Well, you know this is how you'll be getting out of the area you're traveling to," I nodded in recognition. "Good. Now go," He ordered, sounding very bored. I couldn't blame him, he was going to be talking to others like me for a while.

"Yes, sir," I said with no emotion in my voice, but on the inside I was screaming for mercy. Sinestro had only had a stern tone once during the conversation, and for but a fleeting moment, but it was enough to make me terrified until I did as he asked and left the room. I exited the building as soon as possible, and headed strait for my ship. The thing wasn't much of a looker, just a yellow egg with all the components of an average spacecraft on the inside. But hey, it gets the job done fine. Substance over style. I climbed into the cockpit of my flying golden easter egg, clipped the Mother Box to my belt, and took off from the familiar planet of Qward, heading straight for uncharted, deep space.

Author's Note:

Heya. If there were any inconsistencies with this story and the actual lore of DC, please KINDLY explain my mistakes in the comment section. I f you do spot an error, it's probably because it's my own interoperation of DC lore. The whole city on Qward, for example. It's basically the city on Oa, but for the Sinestro Corps, it just acts as a central hub for them all. I expect a fair bit of hate for this story, but please keep things civil.
(P.S, if any artists are reading this, if you could draw Sinestro doing paperwork, I'd really appreciate it. It'd make my day.)

Comments

[Flame Heart]

Honk :o)

[Kenton]

Seems pretty good so far.