Thea looked at Hal Jordan's two "friends" with a slightly awkward smile.
The so-called tall one was indeed tall—sporting a massive hippopotamus head, standing three meters tall (nearly 10 feet), pure muscle, and easily weighing 330 pounds (150 kg).
The short one was absurdly short. This guy was literally an Earth squirrel—just over twenty centimeters tall (8 inches), with a chubby belly, two pointed ears, and a big fluffy tail that looked incredibly soft...
Perhaps Thea's gaze was too brazen. The large squirrel instinctively took a step backward.
Thea eyed the lineup Hal Jordan had brought and clicked her tongue. This guy had a fat friend, kept a squirrel as a pet, was tall and handsome himself, constantly stumbled into adventures, and had some decisiveness—this was definitely protagonist template material!
The two easily reached an agreement about supporting Earth. As for the Guardians' orders? What were those? Never heard of them! At the end of their conversation, Thea seemed to suddenly remember something and slapped her forehead.
"Hal, I talked with Mogo, and she wants to help fight evil too. If the Guardians blame anyone..."
"No problem, I'll say I instigated everything!" Hal Jordan thumped his chest in guarantee. What could the Guardians do, eat him? No big deal! He happily played the scapegoat.
"Excellent! With you joining us, Earth's defense just got several points stronger!" Flattery goes both ways. She also expressed her gratitude to these brave allies.
Hal Jordan, the fat Kilowog, the squirrel B'dg, the planet Mogo—one, two, three, four. Exactly four Green Lanterns! They hadn't broken five. Thea was quite pleased... After briefly introducing Earth's defenses and emphasizing the New Continent plan, Thea remembered another issue before leaving. "Hal, what's your current relationship with Carol Ferris?"
"Ah? What relationship...?"
"Don't play dumb. Batman saw footage of your battles. I control the Yellow and Indigo Lanterns—I know Carol is a member of the Violet Lanterns. Earth needs every ounce of strength. I don't care how you do it, but bring her to Earth. If you can bring the entire Violet Lantern Corps, even better."
Thea assigned Hal an extraordinarily difficult task. Whether he'd be kneeling on a washboard or a keyboard when facing his ex-girlfriend was entirely up to him—as long as he brought people to fight.
She then departed Mogo under Hal's bitter gaze.
She hadn't managed to recruit the Green Lantern main force. Too few dared defy the Guardians' orders. Thea had to seek reinforcements elsewhere.
The Red Lanterns were all driven mad by rage, looking vicious and malevolent—clearly not friends of justice.
The Orange Lantern was a single lonely figure, a pus-dripping villain—also abandoned.
Yellow and Indigo were fine, Violet was left to Hal Jordan to convince. The only remaining option was Blue.
The Blue Lantern Central Power Battery had been established, but she didn't know how far Ganthet had progressed.
Thea still thought she should give Mogo a Blue Lantern ring. If Mogo didn't want to leave Green, she could wear both.
Ordinary people were limited by mental and willpower factors. Except for rare geniuses, they couldn't wear two rings simultaneously. But for a planetary will, that mental burden was nothing!
Though Mogo was incredibly young, her will was infinitely stronger than any human's. Thea believed that if Mogo weren't so honest and disliked negative emotions, she'd definitely be the first to wear all seven colored rings. Kyle Rayner wouldn't have anything to do with it.
Where was the Blue Lantern base? Thea searched her Yellow and Indigo rings—neither contained that information. Going back to Oa to ask the Guardians was pointless. Even if they knew, they wouldn't tell her.
She had to search herself.
Fortunately, she also possessed the Hope emotion. By occasionally consulting the ancestral spirits through her Soul Godhood, she finally found some traces four days later.
This was a planet on the verge of destruction. The blood-red sky, raging hurricanes constantly destroying houses and fields while carrying debris that ravaged the fragile ecosystem, the earth spewing lava, seawater flooding inward. Countless intelligent beings helped the elderly and carried children, all fleeing their homes, running frantically trying to find a sliver of survival.
"Sector 1? Astonia? I've come this far." Out of the universe's 3,600 sectors, Earth belonged to 2814, while this was Sector 1—quite distant from Earth.
Thea's gaze swept across the void, finding her target. Two Guardians wearing white robes with blue sleeves observed from space.
"Ganthet, it's been several years." Thea looked at the lead elderly Guardian. Beside him stood another Guardian—his lover, Sayd.
Ganthet studied her for a long moment, seeming to suddenly understand, and bowed slightly. "Goddess, you've finally reached this stage."
The Guardians knowing about Darkseid and having encountered New Gods wasn't surprising. What puzzled her was what these two were watching.
She voiced her question. Ganthet answered without hesitation. "Waiting for Hope to descend."
The familiar sense of absurdity welled up again. Thea asked tentatively, "How far along is your Blue Lantern Corps establishment?"
Sayd replied, "We've gathered the Central Power Battery, but the first light has yet to emerge among intelligent beings. This planet is the most likely place for the Hope light to appear..."
Sayd hesitated. Ganthet continued for her. "Sayd glimpsed the Book of Oa. It prophesied the coming of the Blackest Night. We were exiled for this. The book mentioned Hope light would descend upon this planet. I believe deeply in this."
Thea watched the refugees fleeing below, her face twitching. Your Book of Oa is quite powerful. This prophesied Hope light descending from the heavens... wouldn't be referring to me, would it?
She wasn't flattering herself. The Blue Lantern ring had the highest requirements among the seven Lanterns. Recognition by the very first ring was extraordinarily difficult.
Superman had saved countless people and brought hope to so many, yet no one had been summoned by Blue. The Hope emotion was simply too precious. Ordinary mortals' hope fell far short of the standard.
Thea had carried a million-strong army and been granted the Hope emotion by Earth-2's universal will on the eve of that world's destruction. Ordinary people didn't have such opportunities.
Could a planet's impending destruction nurture Hope light? Planets were destroyed across the universe daily. Those people were all full of hope—what were the results? They all became cosmic dust.
She really didn't believe this planet would be an exception. However, she didn't volunteer herself. Instead, she quietly followed the two, watching. She wanted to see if the first Blue Lantern could be born without her participation.
As wildfires raged, Thea's gaze followed the two Guardians. This planet's intelligent life was also humanoid, with pale skin and long tentacles trailing from their heads like Majin Buu's, dressed in medieval Earth-style clothing.
The crowd was anxious and agitated. Some fought over food. More showed helplessness and panic in the face of natural disaster. The young man Ganthet and Sayd focused on was leading a group in prayer inside a small building.
After ascending to godhood, Thea could understand any intelligent being's language. These people were reciting local scripture. The leading young man faced numerous doubts with unwavering conviction, declaring that a savior would appear and rescue everyone.
"You all stay here. The scriptures record that when death lights the sky and the seas begin to boil, the Messiah will descend. He will be found by his believers at the peak of Mount Sirius!" The young man held up his scripture, speaking loudly.