Fusing the seven emotions to become a White Lantern was step one. Finding the Reservoir was step two. Refilling it was step three. And every step, without question, would be fraught with mortal danger.
A year ago he'd been a painter. Kyle had never imagined he'd be the one saving the universe. The pressure was immense, but so was the honor.
His grasp of emotions was still surface-level at best. Someone like Thea could project them outward, infuse them into weapons, even weave them into spells—none of which Kyle could do.
All he could manage was the mechanical, step-by-step method she'd drilled into him.
Green as the foundation. Then blue. Yellow. Indigo. Orange. Violet. And finally, red.
The seven lights manifested across Kyle's body in sequence. The first three came with relative ease. By the fourth and fifth, the strain was visible. The last two had to be wrenched out through gritted teeth.
The Emotional Entities stirred, roused by that singular resonance. One by one, they poked their heads from the rings to observe. Then, as if reaching some unspoken understanding, they materialized in full, hovering in the void, watching Kyle in silence, communing wordlessly among themselves.
Kyle's emotions surged to their absolute peak. When the seven finally achieved a fragile fusion, Ion cast one last look at this world—a glance tinged with reluctance and with fate—and plunged into Kyle's body first.
Adara followed. Then Parallax. Proselyte. Ophidian. Predator. The Butcher.
Returning to the Emotional Spectrum Reservoir. That was the mission they'd carried since the moment of their creation. Even Ion, the eldest and longest-lived among them, could not refuse the call.
Bolstered by the seven Entities, Kyle's emotions—previously no more than a flickering candle—erupted into a roaring inferno. Raw, blazing emotion burned through him.
"Friend Rayner!" Saint Walker cried out in alarm, lunging forward to save his closest friend.
"Wait." Ganthet seized his arm.
"The Torch? The Torch Bearer? Could he be the one prophesied in the Book of Oa—the one who passes the torch?"
"Judging by this display, Colleague Rayner possesses extraordinary potential..."
"Perhaps he truly can save this universe?"
The former Templar Guardians murmured amongst themselves. The emotional energy erupting from Kyle sent shivers through beings who had lived for eons.
The flames continued to burn. But as time passed, a faint glimmer of light threaded its way through the fire—barely perceptible at first, nearly invisible unless one looked carefully. It grew brighter, more defined, until it became almost blinding.
A searing white light blazed outward as if to illuminate the entire universe.
The second White Lantern was born.
He'd taken no shortage of shortcuts, true. But driven by a martyr's sacred purpose and aided by all seven Entities, Kyle Rayner shone in that moment with the most brilliant light of his entire life.
Every ring-wielder in the universe felt it. Regardless of whether it was day or night where they stood, they felt it in the deepest reaches of their hearts.
"What a cheat..." Thea muttered from her hideout in the underworld, still playing dead. She curled her lip. Years of careful planning, and someone else had caught up in a matter of days. The feeling was, to put it mildly, irritating.
But given that Kyle was risking his life to save the universe, the title of Torch Bearer was well and truly earned.
She was still playing dead, offering no assistance. The road had been rockier than expected, but Kyle had become the White Lantern all the same.
He recited the oath and donned a white combat suit.
Kyle opened his eyes. Those eyes, once brimming with an artist's quiet passion, now carried a bone-deep exhaustion. The competing emotions tore at him—rage one instant, compassion the next—until it felt like his skull would split. Even with all seven Entities reining themselves in, channeling seven incarnate emotions through a single ordinary human was an ordeal beyond measure.
But with the Entities fused into him, his mission had crystallized. Their purpose was now his.
"Where is the Source Wall? I need to get there immediately." He turned to Ganthet.
"How do you know about the Source Wall, Colleague Rayner?" The bearded Guardian's curiosity was piqued. They'd discussed it out of Kyle's earshot; he shouldn't have known the term.
Kyle tapped his temple. "The Entities. The seven Entities told me. Their mission lies there. I understand the crisis facing the universe right now. We're running out of time."
The Guardians exchanged glances. Consensus came quickly. Together with Ganthet and Sayd, ten Guardians combined their power to teleport. A few jumps brought them to the edge of the universe—to the Source Wall, prison of countless mighty beings.
Seeing the Source Wall's eternal, unchanging grandeur for the first time left both Kyle Rayner and Saint Walker awestruck.
The wall filled their entire field of vision, stretching endlessly in every direction, extending beyond the limits of sight. No one knew what lay on the other side. It seemed older than the universe itself, more ancient and more vast.
"What are those things on the wall?" Kyle could see countless figures embedded in its surface—all manner of shapes. Giants dozens of meters tall. Cosmic beasts as vast as a starfield. Bizarre lifeforms of indescribable form.
They looked astonishingly lifelike—expressions, poses, gestures, all preserved like an artist's perfect work.
But through the White Lantern Ring, Kyle could feel the crushing power radiating from each of them. A suspicion formed in his mind.
"Those are all beings who tried to uncover the secrets behind the wall. Our colleagues are among them. That was a very, very long time ago." The bearded Guardian pointed to a spot on the wall.
Kyle followed his gesture. He could indeed make out three small blue figures, though they'd merged completely with the wall. Their faces still wore the terror of their final moment—the instant the wall stripped away their lives.
"We've arrived at the Source Wall, Kyle. What do you plan to do next?" Ganthet had contributed the most power to the teleportation and was slightly out of breath.
Kyle looked again at those frozen beings. Every last one of them—without exception—had been ensnared. Was he stronger than they were? A thread of doubt wound through him. He wasn't a god. Wasn't some cosmic powerhouse. Just a Lantern—and not even a particularly qualified one. What made him special?
He clenched his fists, an internal war raging. Maybe he wasn't the main character at all. If he charged in headfirst, would he just become another relief sculpture on the wall? He'd come here too hastily. Shouldn't he wait for Thea to come back and ask her opinion?
A thousand thoughts tangled and clashed. Some urged heroism—charge in fearlessly. Others counseled caution—think this through carefully. Still others said to go back and consult someone else first.
Am I really just an ordinary person in the end? Facing himself honestly, he laughed ruefully and, with enormous difficulty, made his decision.
"I... I'm going in. This is my mission."