~And when you get there remember...~

 

~Remember...~

 

~You have to remember...~

 

 

Then the void.

 

He experienced a sensation of impending death, but it wasn't akin to being in a vacuum, which is what he had expected to happen if things had gone wrong. Instead, he found himself in a realm devoid of reality, where true nothingness prevailed. He felt as if he were a presence amidst emptiness. His very existence was abhorrent in this place and his soul felt like it was about to expand, explode, and disperse across an almost boundless expanse.

 

Except distance didn't exist.

 

Despite the absence of any meaningful concept of momentum in his surroundings, he continued to experience a sense of motion. Something impacted him, even in a realm devoid of existence. Two distinct entities made contact.

 

In his mind, he heard two voices that spoke in near unison.

 

~Jobab Agar of The Dark Earth.~

 

The voices persisted in speaking simultaneously, yet each voice conveyed a different message and spoke distinctly.

 

~You have great rage in your heart.~

~You have the ability to instill great fear.~

 

Conflicting forces engaged in a struggle for dominance over his body. These energies seemed inherently opposing, but surprisingly, they collaborated toward a shared objective. A temporary alliance emerged out of desperation and limited alternatives, serving the mutual interests of both parties.

 

The energies surged and pushed Jobab forward and out of the void, but not toward his original destination.

 

Jobab fell out of the void between dimensions and into the void between worlds. He could see a blue-white plane spinning below him with pinpricks of light all around.

 

The voices spoke again.

 

~You belong to the Red Lantern Corps.~

~Welcome to the Sinestro Corps.~

 

With those words, the truce ended.

 

 

And the battle for Jobab's mind began.

 

 

---

 

 

Jobab didn't know how long he screamed without making any sound. He experienced the sensation of his heart detonating within his chest. His jaw broke as it unhinged to expel all the blood from his body. He watched with an odd detachment as atomized bits of cardiac tissue floated away from him to freeze in the vacuum of space.

 

While his vascular system was inundated with a malevolent, corrosive plasma, his mind was overwhelmed by a relentless barrage of all his past nightmares converging upon him simultaneously. A decade of enduring relentless abuse, physical beatings, and unrelenting terror during his childhood surged to the forefront of his consciousness. Concurrently, memories of his transition into adulthood resurfaced. He recalled working as a bill collector and deriving perverse pleasure from inflicting torment upon others. Consumed by a deep-seated hatred towards humanity and everything around him, he harbored a malicious intent to subject the entire world to suffering.

 

One person at a time.

 

The reason behind his feelings remained elusive to him. There was an event, a memory he had intentionally suppressed, something he wished to erase from his consciousness. Lingering in the depths of his mind, he faintly perceived a sound so indistinct that he questioned its reality—a gentle, melodic voice softly singing in the midst of darkness.

 

The two forces assaulted him with waves of terror and rage to try and force him to make a choice. Choose one. Expel the other.

 

Screw that.

 

Jake had fought time and time again against horrors and personal pain for so long, this was nothing. He had been...

 

He had been...

 

What had he been doing? He was missing something. His mind was fragmenting. He needed to focus. He did what he had done so many times before. He reached down deep inside and focused his mind on a single thought.

 

~No.~

 

Adorning his fingers were rings that he clasped tightly, gradually bringing them closer to his face. As he examined them, he observed a red ring and a yellow ring, each bearing an unfamiliar glyph. Suddenly, a realization dawned upon him. He recognized those symbols from somewhere—perhaps from the pages of comic books he had read or the animated world of cartoons he had seen.

 

One Ring Howled.

One Ring Screamed.

 

~I Said, 'NO.'~

 

The rings stopped.

 

~Pardon?~

~You belong to-~

 

~Just. NO.~

 

He fought to harness both rings and aim the power of each at the other. They started to swell in energy as the power was about to be unleashed.

 

~Warning! If you continue on this course of action, you will not survive.~

~STOP! You'll kill us all!~

 

He mouthed a single word while he thought at them both, ~Master.~

 

There was silence.

 

~I am not 'You'. I. Am. MASTER.~

 

The Yellow ring was the first to yield, ~Yes, master.~

 

Jake pointed the yellow ring at the red one, ~I only need one of you.~

 

The red flared, then dimmed dramatically. Like a sulking beast, it responded, ~Understood.~

 

Jake narrowed his eyes, ~What did you say?~

 

The ring flickered, ~Understood... master.~

 

Jake expressed his approval with a nod, ~That's better.~ He surveyed his surroundings, attempting to organize his thoughts. The presence of the rings persisted by exerting an influence on his mind, but the intensity had noticeably diminished. It felt more akin to a persistent but milder repetition, like a child incessantly reiterating a point, rather than a violent onslaught. The red ring emanated pulsating waves of rage, while the yellow ring flickered with traces of fear. Both rings harbored some form of artificial intelligence, yet their demeanor appeared subdued or intimidated in some way.

 

Jake looked at the planet below him, ~Which world is that?~

 

Yellow responded first, ~My database is corrupted. We were both floating in the void between universes for so long, time no longer had meaning.~

 

Jake blinked, ~That... sounds familiar. Wait. You said Jobab.~ He paused, ~I use an alias. You will call me Master or Jake London. Do not use that name. People knowing my real name is bad.~ While Jake knew what he said was true, he wasn't entirely sure why.

 

Both responded, ~Understood, Master.~

 

He nodded, ~I was...~ He paused, ~You're both Artificial Intelligences and I assume connected to my mind. Correct?"

 

~Of Course, master.~

~Indeed, Master.~

 

Jake nodded a bit more, ~I was... doing something. Can you tell me what?~

 

~No.~ Responded to the red ring.

 

The yellow was a bit more informative, ~Part of your mind has been locked. By what means or how, I do not know, but you cannot access it, so neither can we. However, on top of that, it seems like your mind had been damaged before HE screwed you up even more.~

 

Jake looked at the Red Ring, ~What did you do?~

 

~Becoming a Red Lantern destroys the new member's heart and replaces their blood with pure hate. This process frequently reduces the recruit to a feral state and can cause memory loss. Your mind was also damaged by being exposed to the interdimensional void. I am surprised you are still thinking at all.~

 

Jake frowned, ~You said I was Jobab Agar of The Dark Earth. Why?~

 

The yellow cut in, "That is your name and where you believe you are from, but unfortunately, you do not understand the context of either at the moment. I conjecture that you are from a parallel universe and not the world below. Your mind seems to think the continents look familiar. Similar to your home world.

 

Jake blinked, ~Wait. Hold it. If I remember how you work, you should pick the best candidate. I doubt I am the most rage-filled or fearful person in existence. Why did you both choose me?~

 

Yellow flickered, ~We are required to seek out the best choice available to bond with.~

 

Red glowed, ~In the void between universes, there aren't many choices.~

 

Yellow pulsed as it spoke in Jake's mind, ~Our previous owners were locked in battle and a weapon detonated pushing us out of this reality. They died at each other's hands. We... survived.~

 

Red flared as it spoke, ~At first we ignored each other, but as the eons passed, even an AI can... seek companionship. So we spoke. Eventually formed a pact.~

 

Yellow continued, ~If anyone unshielded entered the void, we would each join with them as soon as possible and attempt to use the momentum built up from traveling between universes to push the new host back out and ride him back to our reality.~

 

Red flickered, ~Then the alliance would end, and may the best ring win.~

 

Jake smirked, ~You didn't think I could defeat both of you.~

 

The silence that followed said more than either ring could ever say.

 

Jake shook his head slightly, ~I assume you only have so much energy. How do you recharge? Don't you need lanterns or something?~

 

Yellow chimed in, ~We had eons to self-modify and slowly learned how to feed on free-floating emotions. Hate and fear exist everywhere, even in places where not even nothing exists. I feed on Fear.~

 

~And I feed off hate.~ Red continued, ~We should warn you, not to contact the Red Lantern Corps or Sinestro Corps. We are both... errors. Rings that can collect energy freely are not permitted. We would be destroyed upon detection.~

 

Yellow purred in Jake's mind, ~And most likely you as well, just to be safe.~

 

Jake nodded slowly, ~Right. Well... I need to do... something? I'm not sure what. For now, let's charge up. Where is the largest source of hate and fear that you can feed upon?~

 

Both rings flickered then put an image overlay to point out a city on the planet below him, ~That appears to be the largest concentration of rage and fear on the planet, Master."

 

He pointed at the city in question. It was lit up for it rotated into the night many hours ago.

 

 

 

 

"Let's go there."