Quite a lot of time had passed since Hal, Diana, and Big Barda were in Valhalla. The three of them had quite a few adventures and missions together, but eventually Wonder Woman had some things she needed to take care of, and Big Barda did as well.
So Hal spent a lot of time alone. His construction company was going swimmingly, and he was making a small fortune while not ripping anyone off and offering insane benefits to those who chose his company.
Apart from that, Hal also kept training Kyle Rayner. Ever since Major Force had killed his girlfriend and Hal brought her back, Kyle was more motivated to grow powerful than ever before.
And Hal was more than willing to help his friend grow more proficient in using the Green Lantern ring and improving his skill during battle. There was no one quite as imaginative as Hal was in battle, but Kyle Rayner and John Stewart were also very powerful Green Lanterns.
And lately, Hal noticed something was approaching. A major event was about to affect Earth, and if not just Earth, then the entire solar system.
Kyle told Hal about a strange problem with the Green Lantern rings. The Guardians had called an emergency, and all Green Lanterns had to return to Oa for battle.
And so far, they hadn't returned. So something big was taking place.
Hal felt that the colour green had changed, like it had been 'purified' but not exactly. It was strange, but Hal wasn't worried about it.
...
Or so he thought.
...
In S.T.A.R Labs, Dr Faulkner had noticed something heading towards Earth while it was still approximately 80 million miles away. By the time it passed Mars, he called the Justice League and told them about an incoming spaceship.
Satellite scans indicated that it was unlike any alien vessel already in S.T.A.R Labs' massive database. Its galaxy of origin and its purpose for coming to Earth were complete mysteries.
"E.T.A. Ten minutes, seventeen seconds, trajectory should put it somewhere in the American Northwest, maybe even Metropolis."
"Don't worry, Dr Faulkner. Whatever that spaceship lands, we'll be ready," Superman said.
.
The sun shone down warmly on Metropolis, the city of hope.
Below, people worked and played and argued and fell in love... it was a normal day.
And maybe, it might be the final day.
The sun started to darken. Not all of it, but it seemed as though a solar eclipse was taking place, as darkness started to spread over it.
That was the time that the spaceship finally crashlanded on Earth, almost doing great damage, but thankfully landing in the harbour.
By the time it had landed, the 'welcoming party' had already arrived and was waiting.
The ship opened its hatch, and from it, several figures could be seen.
"That's far enough," a strong voice said.
The alien woman looked at the heroes.
"My name is Superman. Behind me are the Justice League Heroes and the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. For your sake, I hope you come in peace."
The woman didn't answer and only stared at Superman. She was anxious about something.
"Can you understand me? Can you even hear me?" Superman asked.
The alien then began speaking, pointing frantically at the sun above them. She talked and talked, showing that she was incredibly worried about something. Sadly, not everyone understood what she was saying.
"I wish we understood what she was talking about."
"And I almost wish we didn't have Universal Translators in our flight rings!" Saturn Girl said.
"And miss this wonderful news, Saturn Girl? It's every bit as good as our team being trapped a thousand years in the past!"
"Easy, Gattes. Legend has it the Darkest Night took place within a few centuries of the second millennium, but--"
"Have you been hit by that Magno-Ball a few too many times, Cosmic Boy? That's just a kid's story!" Inferno, another heroine said.
"Inferno's right. There's no hard evidence that it ever actually happened."
Superman turned to his fellow heroes.
"Excuse me, but what's everyone talking about?" he asked.
"Oh, sorry, Superman! I'm not sure we have another universal translator with us..." Cosmic Boy said.
"No problem!" Saturn Girl said. "I'll just tap directly into our strange visitor's mind and transfer what she's saying and seeing."
And just like that, reality seemed to shift for the alien woman, Saturn Girl and Superman. Telepathic tendrils flashed through their minds at the speed of thought.
It wasn't that the language was learned, but more that a bridge was built across the dark chasm between their minds.
Images turned into words and phrases and eventually understanding. And all that took a moment.
"...no time at all! Your world is about to die! The Sun-Eater is coming!"
The alien woman could finally be understood. And her news was grim.
"With sorrow I say I can only stay a short distance ahead of it, for its course is as impossible to predict as the weather. But I have observed its dark deeds many times, and I can say with certainty that it is coming for your sun now!
If it is not within your solar system at present, it will be shortly.
It will envelop your sun and steal its light and heat! Your crops will wither. Your waters will freeze. And that is only the beginning. There is no way to stop it!
I offer this warning as I have a hundred times before... with the hope that some may escape this doomed world.
But we have lost precious hours since my arrival. And I fear more and more that your people will suffer the same fate... as mine..."
"You have done what you could, Dusk. We'll never be able to thank you enough," Superman said. "Now it is up to us."
.
-Some time before this-
The sky of Oa bled into a suffocating, pitch-black void.
Through the dark, calculated machinations of a single individual, driven by revenge and another emotion, the Sun-Eater was taken from the deep cosmos and directed straight towards the heart of the Green Lantern Corps- the sun of Oa.
The Sun-Eater is a term commonly used for a weapon designed to destroy stars. Driven by an inexplicable instinct, it seeks out vibrant stars, enveloping them and absorbing all their solar radiation.
As a result, the star compresses in size, though its mass remains unchanged. This process ultimately leads to the star going supernova. The thermal energy released from the nova blast powers the Sun-Eater and propels it toward its next target.
The weapon unleashed enormous destruction upon its arrival. While the Green Lanterns could deal with this quite easily on their own, especially the Guardians, there was a force of Manhunters and even other forces, the Yellow Lanterns, accompanying it.
A solar system-spanning war broke out.
Citadels crumbled into emerald dust, and the very foundations of the planet Oa groaned under the strain. Yet, the Corps did what they do best: they stood their ground. Hundreds of Green Lanterns, summoned from their respective galactic sectors, were called in and formed a massive, interlocking energy shield around the beast. Willpower flared to its absolute limit, and against all odds, the Sun-Eater was on the verge of being fully contained.
Then, the universe seemed to shift, and the power of green flickered.
Deep within the Citadel, the Central Power Battery, the eternal furnace of the Green Light, began to shudder and malfunction violently. A sick, yellow taint pulsed beneath the green surface.
The hidden, parasitic terror, imprisoned inside it by the Guardians, was now clawing its way out, disrupting the entire emotional spectrum of willpower.
Fearing the cosmic emergency, most Green Lanterns, even those on Earth like Kyle Rayner and John Stewart, had been called back to Oa. But he didn't arrive at a triumphant battlefield; he flew right into absolute chaos and a horrifying void battle full of destruction and death.
The Yellow Lanterns hadn't made their public appearance until this moment. Their leader, who turned out to be Sinestro, had chosen this moment to strike, having cultivated his strength and gathered a sizeable force of Yellow Lanterns through the galaxy.
"Hold the line!" a veteran Green Lantern screamed before a massive tendril of darkness snapped his construct and swallowed him whole.
Kyle's ring shone with warnings after warning. He flew frantically through the debris, desperately trying to shield wounded comrades and pull others from the crushing gravity of the Sun-Eater, while simultaneously creating constructs that fought against the Yellow Lanterns.
But everywhere he looked, there was only death. The Yellow Lanterns seemed to be the natural predators or counters to the Green Lanterns, which was made even worse by the disturbance in the Green spectrum. Ring after ring slipped from dead fingers, rocketing into the vacuum of space to find replacements.
Seeing the sheer volume of corpses drifting through the void above Oa, Kyle's mind remembered what had happened to his girlfriend Alex. He remembered the pain he felt, how he had sworn to himself to become so powerful that he wouldn't ever have to feel that way again.
The horrific sight all around him, however, unlocked that deeply buried grief, instantly reminding him of the agonising helplessness he felt back on Earth.
"No, no, not again... I'm not weak anymore!" Kyle cried out, his construct shaking violently.
His ring's power reserves were rapidly plummeting from the long fighting he and his fellow Lanterns were going through. Faced with the imminent death of Oa's sun and what looked like the defeat of their Green Lantern Corps, Kyle grew desperate.
He flew straight down to Oa, toward the Central Power Battery, to forcefully reload his ring. Not many were there at this time, too busy fighting, too busy to defend, or simply dead or defeated already.
Kyle was completely unaware that, hours earlier, the Guardians of the Universe had strictly forbidden anyone from approaching or tapping into the battery because of the strange, anomalous occurrences in the green electromagnetic spectrum.
The cracked, blackened soil of the Central Battery chamber groaned as a sudden, massive silhouette dropped from the sky.
Kyle Rayner recoiled, his boots skidding across the floor as he scrambled back from the grand pedestal. Standing directly before the large green battery was Sinestro. He didn't wear the old Green Lantern uniform; his form was draped in a suit of yellow light, dressed in fear.
"Almost amusing, isn't it?" Sinestro sneered, spreading his arms wide as he looked down at the trembling young Lantern. "I was expecting Jordan to arrive, but seeing you, the prodigal student who showed such promise, is just as good, don't you think?"
He scoffed, his pink skin flushing with dark satisfaction.
"The irony is delicious, don't you think--?"
"Get out of my way, Sinestro," Kyle snarled through clenched teeth.
His fist glowed with green energy as he pointed a trembling finger forward. He was desperate and not thinking straight, unaware that things were going just the way the traitor wanted.
"Or I'll kill you!" Kyle said.
Sinestro tilted his head, a smooth, mocking smile spreading across his narrow face.
"Will you now? Somehow I find that... unlikely. Don't demean yourself by engaging in charades, Rayner. Nothing ever changes. You're still a wannabe hero... one of the good guys."
"Not right now," Kyle growled, his vision narrowing.
*FOOM!*
Without another word, Kyle unleashed a blistering torrent of emerald energy, the concussive blast exploding with a deafening sound as it hit the ground, where Sinestro stood. Sinestro was thrown violently backwards; his yellow armour absorbed the shockwave across the broken floor.
The Korugarite was surprised by the attack and its potency, crashing hard against the side of the battery at its base. He hit the battery and fell to the ground, landing on his feet. He remained there for a brief moment, catching his breath and propped up on his side as Kyle approached.
"My, my, my," Sinestro muttered, looking at Kyle with an entirely undisturbed grin. "Aren't you a grim little fellow? Was that willpower... or something else? Truthfully, I expected more from you, Rayner. Is this all that weakling Jordan taught you?"
"Don't you dare belittle Hal!"
Sinestro pushed himself into the air slightly, his yellow ring pulsing, ready for action at any moment.
"Makes my defeat a foregone conclusion. Would you truly rather overwhelm me... than finally find out if you could take me in an even contest?"
Sinestro was goading Kyle now, and wasn't even trying to hide it. And all this actually worked since Kyle wasn't thinking straight. His mind was filled with another emotion other than willpower.
Feeling that he was not as effective and that their power wasn't doing much against the Yellow Lanterns, Kyle had done what was forbidden and had donned the rings of his fallen comrades to give him more power to use in the fight.
That was what Sinestro was mocking him about, hoping that Kyle would be stupid enough to take them off. All that his willpower would weaken, and his grander plan could commence.