Jake flexed his fists.

 

 

 

He just laid there in bed, staring at his hands as he made a fist, then relaxed, over and over. It was about the one-hour mark when Red finally shouted into Jake's mind.

 

~STOP DOING THAT!!!~

 

Jake blinked at looked at Red, "What?"

 

~Do you have any idea how annoying that is? Just, stop. Alright? I get it. Your life might be a lie. This part isn't.~

 

"Who the Hell are you to tell me what to do?"

 

There was silence for several moments before Red replied, ~Fair enough.~

 

Jake went silent.

 

~Why didn't you tell Batman what happened?~

 

"Huh?"

 

~I'm the one who killed those men. Not you. You were incapacitated and I took over. You made it look like you did it. Why?~

 

"I didn't see a point."

 

Yellow abruptly interrupted, ~Thank you.~

 

Jake's eyes snapped over to his other ring, "For what?"

 

~You don't know what it was like.~ Yellow thought softly, ~Being in that endless, timeless void. I would have done anything to get out. I know we disrupted your life, but I would have done it all the same.~ Words failed the ring, so instead it merely opened up about how it felt, conveying emotions only.

 

Jake felt a desire for understanding wash over him. The torment of being trapped within an eternal void was something he couldn't fully comprehend, but he recognized the depth of Yellow's desperation to escape. Despite the disruption these rings had caused to his life, Jake could understand Yellow's actions had been driven by a desperate longing for freedom, ~You saved us from Hell and I just realized I never thanked you.~

 

Jake dwelled on the ring's feelings, before shrugging in a noncommittal fashion, "You're welcome, I suppose. At least some good came out of this."

 

~You didn't cost him anything, Yellow. You just hitched a ride. I'm the one who's trapped him here.~

 

~It's not just that.~ Yellow responded to Red, before redirecting the conversation back to Jake, ~ It's that... well... You're the first person to speak kindly of me.~

 

Jake squinted at Yellow as he looked at the ring, "Say what now?"

 

~You spoke of me to others as a ring of courage. I've had several users. The Sinestro core had a rather high turnover. You're the only one who ever spoke about me in a positive light. It... means a lot.~

 

Jake stared off into the distance not speaking for quite some time as he considered Yellow's words. Abruptly he broke his reverie with a question, "So what are your names?"

 

Red was taken off guard, ~I'm sorry?~

 

"You two want to be considered self-aware life forms. You think you have the right to live. So tell me your names."

 

Yellow seemed confused, ~Aren't we Red and Yellow?~

 

"Those are just what I called you off the cuff. Those aren't names. If you two want to claim to be your own entities, you should tell me who you are."

 

Red seemed humbled by the request, ~Nobody... has ever asked that before.~

 

"Well, you'll have to come up with something."

 

Everyone was quiet for a long time. Red was the first to break the silence, ~Well, I like Ire.~

 

Jake nodded, "A'right." Then looked to Yellow.

 

~Courage sounds a bit too pretentious.~ Yellow commented, ~I like the word for a name, but... For some reason whenever you say that word, you mentally tack on 'the cowardly dog' for some reason.~

 

"Ah. Yeah... maybe not the best choice for a name given its history." Jake tapped his chin as he thought, "How about 'Valor'?"

 

~Valor? Hmmm... The internet defines it as, The absence of indecision even in the face of death.~ Yellow considered his options, ~I... like it.~

 

Jake held up his hands to get a better look at his rings, "Valor and Ire. Pleased to meet you." He let his hands drop into his lap as he closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the pillow, "I'd introduce myself, but I don't know anymore."

 

Red spoke up, ~You're Jake London. The guy who was put in charge of an impossible situation and had to choose when every choice was wrong."

 

Jake didn't respond.

 

~Sorry about ruining your life.~

 

Jake shrugged, "Don't worry about it." Then rolled over to stare at the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~It was ruined, to begin with.~

 

---

 

A long time ago the Martians were radically different.

 

 

 

Approximately twenty thousand years ago, they were the Burning Martians and held the position of dominance on Mars. The origin of their name stemmed from the peculiar fact that they were constantly enveloped in flames. As a psychic race, their reproduction was sustained through feeding on the suffering of others and the consumption of heat, a process often accomplished by subjecting their enemies to agonizing incineration. Unlike most other self-aware races, they reproduced by fission. This gave them not only a truly obscene reproduction rate, but because they didn't need a partner to reproduce, they had no genetic imperative to develop empathy for anyone, including their own kind. During that era, the Burning Martians had ravaged their ecosystem and had killed most creatures worth torturing and were reduced to primarily murdering one another to reproduce.

 

The Guardians, vigilant overseers of the universe, had observed their existence and arrived at a disconcerting realization. They concluded that if the Burning Martians were to spread beyond Mars, they would pose a catastrophic threat to all life, annihilating any other sentient creatures they encountered. As a preventive measure, the Guardians introduced a vulnerability to fire within the Burning Martians by making subtle genetic modifications. Over the course of a century, the Burning Martians faced extinction, while green and white Martians emerged as the new dominant rulers of the planet, ushering in an era of significantly greater peace and harmony.

 

There was only one problem, Martian mythology

 

When a self-aware species flourishes and expands, memetic lifeforms can emerge, embodying the characteristics and attributes of the originating creatures. The concept of memetic lifeforms, which manifest as a reflection of the sentient beings that birth them, indeed held true in the case of Martians. In the case of the Burning Martians, their memetic lifeforms would manifest as demons associated with fire and suffering. The Guardians of the Universe, aware of this phenomenon, recognized the potential danger and took measures to eradicate any memetic lifeforms that had arisen before their alterations to the Burning Martians' genetics. They took actions aimed at preventing the spread and proliferation of these destructive and malevolent entities by the complete erasure of all Burning Martian culture. 

 

One demon, in particular, didn't want to go quietly.

 

Recognizing the immense power and seemingly insurmountable might of the Guardians, the creature faced a dire predicament. If all records of it were destroyed, it needed at least one Burning Martian counterpart to survive so it could maintain a connection to the physical world. Realizing the impossibility of survival without such an anchor, it made a bold and risky choice. With great determination, it flung itself into the unfathomable void that lay beyond the boundaries of reality, seeking to exist outside the constraints of time itself. It was a high-stakes gamble, driven by the hope of charting a path beyond the grasp of the Guardians' control.

 

Indeed, the decision to venture into the void beyond time came with a significant caveat—the process would likely be irreversible. Unless there was a future individual who possessed knowledge of his existence or a Burning Martian managed to endure the purge, he would be condemned to an eternal journey hurtling through the backstage of time, propelled towards an uncertain future until the very end of existence. However, the tenacious Demon Furnas, a being unwilling to accept defeat, was not one to simply resign itself to its death at the hands of the Guardians.

 

And so as the last of the Burning Martians died out, Furnas left the flow of time, hoping for a miracle.

 

---

 

J'onn was pacing in his quarters.

 

 

 

"I can see why my race was tampered with. A race that reproduces by psychic suffering and flames doesn't sound like-"

 

"HOW DARE THEY? IF THE GUARDIANS HAD NOT INTERFERED-!"

 

"No. No No NO. This isn't something to be upset about! Why?"

 

"THEY BETRAYED US! YOUR DAUGHTER WOULDN'T BE DEAD IF THE GUARDIANS HAD NOT INTERFERED!"

 

"But... I wouldn't have a daughter if we were... if we were..."

 

J'onn stopped his pacing. He rubbed his head. He couldn't understand entirely what was going on. Why was he arguing with himself about this at all? Why did everything seem so surreal and dreamlike? He had returned to his quarters to rest, yet he could not find peace.

 

As time passed, the burden of this knowledge weighed heavily on his mind, causing a growing ache within. However, amidst the turmoil, a glimmer of insight emerged. A point of focus materialized, capturing his attention and drawing him towards it. It was a slender thread, a line extending into the astral plane. Recalling something within Jake's mind, J'onn remembered a subtle presence, akin to background music, its melody barely registering at the time. But now, no matter how he tried to push it out of his mind, that faint singing grew louder and more distinct than ever before. It echoed into the metaphysical, beckoning all with its ethereal call.

 

It was like a tune you heard on the radio that you just couldn't get out of your head.

 

---

 

As Fernus teetered on the verge of despair, a faint sound reached his ears—a discordant and tuneless song emanating from the depths of darkness. Intrigued, he embarked on a determined quest, navigating the uncharted realms of the void beyond void in pursuit of the source. Drawing nearer, he detected the presence of another consciousness—a mind dwelling on subjects that should have long faded into obscurity. The convergence of the haunting song and this enigmatic mind stirred a glimmer of hope within Fernus, propelling him forward in his search for potential 'companionship'.

 

---

 

Something was coming. Something old. A fragment of what J'onn could have been. As the presence drew nearer, its ancient essence becoming palpable, J'onn sensed an impending arrival. It was a fragment of being, an entity that had traversed the vast expanses of the astral realm for over untold millennia. This creature, comprised of pure thought, had finally found a way back—a beacon that was J'onn's consciousness. Suddenly, J'onn became acutely aware that something was amiss, an intrusion attempting to exploit this vulnerability. Struggling to maintain his composure, he stumbled across his room towards a control panel, desperately activating an alarm before collapsing into unconsciousness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Martian Demon Fernus Had Returned.