Dark Lord: Bride of Vader

Chapter 16: ...Comes Blackest Night

I do not own any Star Wars and DC characters and ideas represented in this work.

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The words from the Obsidian armored being echoed throughout the ruined landscape as it chilled Pathavim Seth-Ottarak's spine. A heavy moment of silence was instilled in the Garnetian air, even so, the figure's breathing was just as oppressive to the lantern as his masked gaze on him.

Pathavim, as the Guardians and the ring itself put it, has the capacity to overcome great fear and he had shown that in his training on Oa. Fear is the greatest foe the Green Lantern Corps can have. Pathavim, as a Green Lantern and, therefore, a protector of sentients all around, feared no man...but this being in black, gleaming armor was no man.

The tall figure may have come into the situation not too long ago, yet to Pathavim, everything felt so wrong now. The air felt colder, the area seemed to lose its color, and the world felt muted as if the black armor being was a black hole, absorbing light itself in his unnatural presence. Pathavim felt like a little minnow seeing a very hungry and blood-lusted shark that was considering whether to ignore his existence or consume him whole.

The looks of the red-haired woman next to the tall figure didn't help the feeling of the situation either. Her smile seemed to convey that something spectacular and exciting was bound to happen, for her at least.

Pathavim's throat was dry when he tried to gather words to answer the figure's mocking question, but Governor Keyyers, still bound by the lantern's handcuff construct, talked first before Pathavim did.

"My Majesties!" He said in a pleading and almost apologetic voice, "Thank the sacred graces you're here! I attempted to arrest this trespasser th—" The dark figure flicked a black-gloved wrist, and the Moff's words were cut prematurely, followed by a sound of something snapping behind Pathavim. The lantern looked behind and was shocked to see Keyyer's head turned to the side at an unnatural angle. The man's eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open. His body, though originally kneeling to the damaged ground, fell in a heap.

In disbelief, Pathavim could only stare and kneel down to check the man's vitals while the woman next to the dark figure made a theatrical sigh, "Well...there goes another officer this week."

Pathavim pulled out his ring, a ray of green glow scanned the Keyyers, and the ring said in an uncaring voice, "Subject is deceased."

Standing up, Pathavim turned to see the two new arrivals, still standing away from him, and he accused the dark figure in a still shocked voice. "...you...killed him."

The dark figure said in his unapologetic, deep voice, "The price of his hubris, what happened here that led to this destruction around us could have been stopped by him, but that has little bearing right now. What matters is what will happen...to you, Green Lantern."

Recalling back to what Keyyers said about the Galactic Empire and its rulers and how the former Governor addressed the two individuals before him, Pathavim realized who he was staring at. His eyes narrowed, "You are this Emperor and Empress he talked about, Vader.." he then looked at the woman, and judging by her species' features and regal clothing, it only meant she was an Almeracian monarch. "...and Maxima," he finished at last.

Vader did not confirm his name and title, but his supposed wife, Maxima, did. She cocked a smirk while waving her red, flowing hair side to side. "I'm impressed, at least one of your lanterns is observant." She exaggeratedly gestures to herself, "I am Empress Maxima," she then puts a caressing arm on Vader's shoulder armor, "And this is my husband...my Emperor Vader."

Vader, unmoving like a statue, did not move to his wife's touch; he kept his masked glare at Pathavim, which only seemed to deepen every second. He moved his left hand and pointed a gloved finger at the Green Lantern, "Explain for yourself and your masters why you have trespassed on my planet."

"Your planet?" Pathavim said back, astounded and offended.

Vader dropped his arm and discharged from his unnatural, vocoded voice what could be approximated as a laugh. "As if these indigenes here are entitled to own this world after they rolled over and let scum infest it. Your Corps and your Oa overseers, however, lost the privilege of guardians when you all lazily left this world and so many others in abandonment. You only have your lack of will to blame."

"Lack of will?..." Pathavim repeated in disgust over Vader's judgmental statement. He raised his ring, "I and so many other honored beings across the Galaxy have been gifted these rings out of our sheer willpower and commitment! Whatever indolence you speak of is NOT in my corps!"

Maxima entered the conversation with a hand on her hip and scoffed at Pathavim, "So what took you so long to finally get here?" Her voice turned into a teasing and full of derision. "Did the circle jerk on Oa get too big?"

The lantern's eyes twitched but did not attempt to strike back, with words at least. The glow on his ring brightened, and he became committed. "That is a question you will find the answer yourself when I take both of you back to Oa."

Again, Vader laughed shortly while his wife snickered. "Issue the charges of our crimes then, Lantern," Vader suggested.

Pathavim twisted his mouth, "Where do I begin..."

Vader raised a hand, "Perhaps I should offer your crimes first." Then he pushed the hand to the side, and out of nowhere, a massive slab of the remains of the Headquarters ruptured out of a debris pile and collided against Pathavim's right side!

The right part of the Green Lantern's body screamed in agony and pain as he was caught off his feet by the slab and was heading towards another pile, signaling that he would be squashed in between. Despite the pain he was in, he brought his personal shield online, and when the crash occurred, Pathavim's shield took all the force of the collision. Between the pile and the slab, his power ring granted him super strength, so he managed to hold back the slab that was crushing him down, and with one marshaled push, he sent it away from him.

In the shroud of grey dust, Pathavim regained his bearings to locate where Maxima and Vader were. He didn't register Vader's presence behind him until he heard that cold breathing set upon him. He quickly turned and saw Emperor Vader, black as night, towering over Pathavim just three arm lengths away. In quick succession, the silver cylinder on Vader's belt shot into his gloved hand, and a tight beam of crimson energy burst out of the hilt. He reared back the arm and made an arc toward the lantern.

A hair breath away from being struck down, Pathavim conjured a green wall of energy from his ring that halted the Emperor's attack. The red blade stabbed through the wall, though not fully penetrating. Sparks of energy from both red and green crackle, as Vader says to Pathavim, "Your first crime is your misplaced self-righteousness." Vader quickly pulled out his blade from the conjured wall and brought down a heavier strike that fully cracked the construct and made it go into many shards.

Surprised by the attack, the lantern was sent backward by the force of the strike and landed on the ground on his back. The Dark Emperor purposefully strolled forward in a slow pace, as if he were a predator toying with his prey. Pathavim marshaled upright and brought his green ring to bear on Vader, but he was knocked back down to the earth when something struck him hard from his rear.

Crumbling to the ground and turning his head back, he saw Maxima wielding a broadsword with a half-broken blade. It was a weapon that broke immediately after hitting Pathavim's shield. She looked down at the blade and cursed, "Damn!..." she tossed it away as if it were trash and outstretched her hand to the side. A long piece of debris broke out of a rubble pile and landed in her grasp. Then, the piece of wreckage was engulfed by a blinding light, and when the illumination ceased, an exact copy of the broadsword she had earlier was in that hand.

Maxima grabs the handle with two hands and prepares to land a heavy overhand strike down at Pathavim. The Green Lantern stopped her attempt by blasting her away with his ring. A beam of emerald energy bolted to her chest, and she was flung back to crash into a debris pile, disappearing in a cloud of dust.

"MAXIMA!" Vader yelled in distress, letting out some emotion through his heartless words. Suddenly, before he himself could get up, as if a giant, vengeful hand picked him up, Pathavim was flung up high in the air, and he went back down to the ground so hard and so fast that Pathavim didn't perceive it until he was already in a crater he made from his fall. Despite the personal shield protecting and supposedly absorbing shock and blows for him, the landing he was forced to endure by an unknown force roused pain in him.

Stunned by the fall, Pathavim stayed on the ground, trying to recover. The dust cloud that was made by the Lantern's drop was blown away by a strange source of wind, and Pathavim saw Vader looming over him, blocking the Garnetian sun and fists that were balling with rage.

The once powerful aura of profound wrongness that surrounded the Dark Emperor was overcome by a spirit of pure hatred and anger. What was a chilling feeling and discomfort to Pathavim Seth-Ottarak was now a terrifying sensation entering his soul.

In a menacing growl with venom toward Pathavim, Emperor Vader said, "Your second crime is your failure to protect this galaxy's denizens." The Dark Emperor extended his arm to the side, and once again, Pathavim's world blurred while he was dragged forcefully through the ground from the crater by the unknown power. Crashing through mounds of the former administration building.