14th January 2013
06:15 GMT
I watch as Zartok waits for his new student in the arena. That's new. When we were first recruited, he wouldn't have been so patient. He would have dragged the new Lantern to the arena, or picked a new sparring partner to kill time until they arrived. Instead, he's
actually meditating.
And when I make an effort,
I can feel the change in the way in which it makes the orange light flows through him.
When we met, I joined up with him for two main reasons. One, he was the most powerful Lantern in our group despite the lack of training. Two, he clearly had no sexual interest in me at all. Distant third was probably his honesty. Or how easy to manipulate he was.
But what irritates me
now is how he's been able to learn what the Illustres was trying to teach him, while I
haven't. And what irritates me
more is that he's done it without really changing his aims. I pride myself on my ability to think things through logically and dispassionately. I judged him to be a simpleminded brute, and it turned out that I was half-wrong.
I want what he has, but I don't want what he
wants.
For a moment I'm
glowing, orange light building without any direction. Grood looks up from the bone he's gnawing on for a moment, then loses interest as it fades.
One step above an animal and he understands-. No, he doesn't understand. He
intuits the orange light better than I do. When he and Zartok train against one another, they're roughly as strong as each other. Zartok wins because he can
think-. And I
hate being the weak link.
But being the strongest makes you a target, and I don't want that either.
And there's… 'Allyn'.
Isn't that name of the Illustres' mentor
? No, Al
an. All
yn.
Standard humanoid. Solid musculature, but beyond that there's nothing physically special about him. His armour has orange-glowing decoration, so perhaps he's using his ring to fortify it in some way? His posture shows that he's relaxed in this environment, but uncertain. He's new, but doesn't have any problem seeing the people around him as allies.
I
still can't.
And it's holding me back.
I pull a face. Ring,
tell me about 'Allyn'.
This is something that I can do. My ring
feeds the
information directly into my brain, bypassing my senses and increasing throughput. Before I joined the Orange Lantern Corps I considered getting implants to let me access computers like this, but who could I possibly trust to do the work?
Okay, I get it, I
get it. I'm my own worst enemy, as far as getting stronger goes.
And what does the Illustres recommend for dealing with that?
...
What's a
psilocybin mushroom?
Huh.
No. Why would he suggest that
? Would that work on my species
?
Because it gets people out of cognitive loops, and 'yes'.
"…train
without a weapon." Zartox
makes a staff construct. "Since you're a 'god', it may be that your people have weapons that can compare to power rings, but I suggest that you do as I do to increase your ability to shift flexibly between one approach and another in combat."
Allyn nods. I look closer, and he has a sword which glows in the same way as his armour. Not all that long ago I'd have tried acquiring that sword. But in an organisational structure like this acquiring a new ally is far more useful. While Zartox is distracted,
take a look.
A
h. He thinks that there's something about teaching others that he needs to learn to match the Illustres' power. He thinks that it's something that he'll need to do when he kills the Illustres and takes over.
Most gang lieutenants I knew would try and be a
little bit subtle about that desire. The Illustres took it well enough. When Zartok showed me his recording of the conversation, it sounded like he liked the possibility.
Sounded like. I've carefully crafted an argument for a particular set of ears enough to read below the surface. No one who accepted their death like he claimed to would have been able to bring themselves back from total atomisation with their ring. He said what he said to encourage a man who wants to kill him.
In the sparring arena, Allyn has
made a simple shield and Zartok is firing a pistol at it. While that looks like he's giving him time to get used to actually defending himself, it's clear to anyone who knows him that Zartok is doing it either as an insult, or-.
A beam of orange energy blasts out from Zartok's chest, smashes apart Allyn's shield and sends him flying into the arena wall.
Zartok watches him as he regains his footing, nodding with mild satisfaction as Allyn takes a stance. Usually, new Lanterns who get hit like that get injured. At their level of power environmental shields aren't enough to keep them completely protected. Ragnar hits recruits like this to teach them to heal themselves. I didn't
see Allyn heal himself.
"Did you protect yourself, or are you unharmed because of your armour?"
"My armour is fortified by my soul. My ring makes it stronger. I can claim no credit for being uninjured."
"Being
prepared does you credit. So many fools step in here believing that a ring is all they need."
Zartok raps his knuckles against his own body armour. The Illustres likes heavy armour, but Zartok was more comfortable with light armour. Something that would block shrapnel and mundane attacks if his ring ran out of power. Officially, the Illustres said to attempt a retreat when a power ring couldn't get the job done, and that backup weapons were there to enable that retreat. But few Lanterns who acquired other weapons without being told to would fail to use them offensively.
"But-"
Zartok interrupts himself with another shot, striking Allyn in the chest and pinning him to the wall. Allyn
forms a shield off to his side and then tentatively brings it in to block, and it falls apart like the first.
"-perhaps you would be better served by
not wearing armour? Perhaps it would be best if you were
really in danger? I will not
kill you here, but if I decide that it's necessary for your training then
I will push this beam directly through your internal organs."
Another shield appears, this one larger and thicker. He doesn't hesitate to bring it to bear, but it shatters like the second.
"A Scarab Warrior would have killed you by now."
The orange in Allyn's armour wavers as the plates start to give way.
"It seems that I will see your blood-"
Shield of Duty and Reason
A new shield forms directly in front of Allyn, this one possessing the same sort of glowing line design as his armour. His armour
brightens too, as his armour holds against Zartok's beam and he steps away from the wall. It's clearly taking effort, but he's managing it, and Zartok doesn't pull his punches by
much when he teaches.
Holy Armour
Allyn's aura
glows brighter and expands beyond his body, solidifying into armour.
"-after all."
Zartok stops firing the beam and nods, satisfied.
"Better."
"I think I-."
Zartok
takes his feet out from under him with a subterranean attack and then
strikes him over the head with a glowing orange mace!
...And watch her recognise the Illustres' particularly descriptive report-writing style...
