The Guardians

     A blur or space and stars slipped past Hal's vision as he was pulled along by the other lanterns' rings. Enveloped by the green energy, he was completely warm, safe, and breathing in the empty vacuum. Hal didn't say a word for the entire journey; he was a little worried he'd somehow mess something up and die. He wasn't sure how long they'd been traveling; it could have been ten seconds or ten hours. Moving as they were, time itself seemed dilated.
     A sphere of blue appeared before them and quickly grew larger. As Hal's eyes adjusted to it, he realized it was a planet. The aliens and Hal descended to the planet's surface, landing in the midst of a gigantic golden city.
     The green aura covering Hal and the aliens faded, and Hal was relieved to discover that he could breathe the air. Hal looked around. He was standing on a large, circular roof of a golden-yellow building. Around him were hundreds of buildings that were the same golden-yellow color, but all different sleek shapes and sizes. A bright blue sky floated above, with green mountains visible on the horizon. The city was filled with hundreds of floating green lights flying back and forth between the buildings. Hal nearly gasped when he realized those lights were lanterns. Beings of all shapes and sizes, all wearing the same green-and-black colors. And off in the distance, one gigantic green glowing object, half a mile tall and right in the center of the city.
     "Come on," Kilowog said, sneering through his gigantic nostrils. Hal winced at Kilowog's slightly pungent breath and followed.
     The two aliens and Hal walked down a path leading off the roof and down towards a dark tunnel.
     "I suppose we owe you an apology," the fin-headed alien said quietly, leaning over towards Hal as they walked. "We were somewhat rude in our first meeting. We were simply... shocked by Abin's death. He was a dear friend to us all."
     Hal glanced at Kilowog. "Is he gonna apologize, too?"
     The finned alien made an odd movement with his beak that Hal figured was a smirk. "Not likely. Kilowog is rather... stubborn."
     Kilowog stiffened and purposely ignored that statement, which made the other alien smirk even more.
     "My name is Tomar Re," the finned alien said pleasantly.
     "Hal Jordan," Hal replied. "What is this place?"
     "The planet Oa," Tomar said. "Most beings in the universe would recognize it immediately, but Earth is still a rather primitive world with little knowledge of the outside."
     "Why is Oa so famous?"
     As if in response, the dark walls of the tunnel lit up. Hal could have sworn that the tunnel was only maybe fifteen feet wide on the outside, but somehow in here it seemed like a gigantic cavern. Huge images were projected on the walls; figures and shapes like huge moving murals.
     "This tunnel is the path through which all lantern recruits pass through," Tomar explained. "It tells of the history of the Green Lantern Corps."
     Images of short, blue-skinned beings with large round heads and royal red robes appeared on the cavern walls.
     "Eons ago," Tomar said, "the Guardians of the Universe dedicated themselves to stopping the spread of evil. Here, on Oa, they created the Green Lantern Corps."
     The walls now showed a symbol; a circle with two horizontal lines along its top and bottom. It looked vaguely like a lantern. It was the same symbol on the green lanterns' uniforms.
     "The Green Lantern Corps is an organization of eighteen hundred beings, one from every sector of known space, dedicated to preserving peace across the universe. The rings we wear are given strength by the collective willpower of all beings in the cosmos, which is contained within the central battery here on Oa."
     An image of the giant glowing object Hal had seen in the city above appeared. That must be the central battery, Hal realized.
     "Whenever a lantern dies, his ring automatically passes to the nearest worthy candidate. One who possesses those qualities that the powers and responsibilities of the lantern ring require. Namely, a lantern must be able to conquer fear and have an invincible force of will. It is said that only one in a billion beings are worthy of the ring."
     Kilowog glanced over Hal and snorted. "One in a billion. Right."

     The tunnel suddenly ended, and the three beings stepped out onto a walkway leading toward a giant circular building. As they walked up the finely-carpeted stairs leading to the front door, Hal figured this must be Oa's capitol or something. They stepped inside and walked down a long, silent hallway, their footsteps echoing off the walls. When they emerged at the other side, they stood at the bottom of a tall, circular room. Along the edges of the circle, atop seats that were raised twenty or thirty feet off the ground, sat the Guardians, exactly as they had appeared in their images before. Hal noted that they all looked nearly identical aside from the various ways they had cut their short, white hair. They all seemed to be glaring down at Hal disapprovingly—all except one, who seemed more curious than anything else.
     "Guardians," Tomar said, bowing briefly, "this is Hal Jordan of Earth. Abin Sur's ring has chosen him."
     The Guardians sat in silence for a long moment. Finally, one of them spoke.
     "Humans are a primitive race, not fit to wield a ring."
     "And yet one was chosen by the ring," another said. It was the not-scowling Guardian. Hal decided he liked him. "If he was anything but worthy, he would not be here at all."
     Another Guardian spoke up. "There is no way that a human's mind could ever control the ring's power. It's simply unfathomable to them."
     "Guardians, if I may," Tomar said, "Kilowog and I briefly monitored Jordan before making contact. Despite receiving the ring less than an hour prior, he had already mastered flight."
     Surprised, the Guardians suddenly began speaking in rapid whispers to one another.
     "Kilowog," Tomar said, "you've trained over three hundred lantern recruits. Have you ever seen anyone master flight that quickly?"
     Kilowog visibly tensed, then slightly relented. "No. The kid's got potential. But he's also a kid. Not even an adult by Earth standards. And there ain't no way he's good enough to take Abin Sur's place!"
     "I agree with Kilowog," a voice said from behind. Another green lantern, vaguely human-like but with pink-purple skin and pointed ears, stepped out of the shadows in the hallway.
     "Sinestro," one of the Guardians said. "As one of the honored greatest lanterns and Abin Sur's closest friend, you are welcome at this tribunal."
     Sinestro walked past Hal, staring at him with piercing eyes, like a predator sizing up prey. Sinestro passed him then turned to the Guardians.
     "I don't particularly care what happens with this human. Let him keep the ring or give it to another. But let me seek Abin Sur's killer; do not let the injustice of his death go unpunished."
     Hal felt uneasy at the biting viciousness of Sinestro's tone. It seemed like he was more preoccupied with revenge than justice.
     "Abin Sur's death was an accident, Sinestro," one of the Guardians said. "We have received the recording from his ring; the ship Abin Sur was flying stalled while in Earth's orbit and crashed."
     "But why did his ring not protect him? And why was he even flying a ship instead of simply using his ring?!"
     "Abin Sur was known to be experiencing paranoid delusions for many weeks prior to his death!" the Guardian replied forcefully.
     "The matter is closed. Do not speak of it again."
     Sinestro felt rage fly underneath his skin, but he knew there wasn't anything to do but at least pretend to accept the Guardians' decision.
     "As you wish," he said, stepping back.

     "I have a proposal," the not-scowling Guardian said. "Let the human remain a lantern. Kilowog will train him, just as he would any other recruit. However, this human may require additional training. A firmer hand, as it were. After the initial basic training, I propose that Sinestro become Hal Jordan's mentor until such time as Jordan is fully able and ready to wield his responsibility."
     "What?!" Sinestro said, shocked. "I do not have time to—"
     "If you had time to waste investigating a murder, surely you have time to help train our newest recruit," the Guardian replied. "And your friendship with the previous lantern of sector 2814 should grant you special insight into training his replacement."
     The other Guardians nodded with approval.
     Once again, Sinestro realized that arguing was pointless. He had no choice but to accept his lowly sentence.
     Hal looked back and forth between Kilowog, who looked like he could crush Hal inside one of his hands, and Sinestro, who stared daggers that would have made anyone but Hal cower in a corner. This wasn't going to be fun.