Mogo's attitude toward the Guardians caught Joey completely off guard.
If it had been someone like Sinestro—an idea-obsessed schemer who was always cooking up his own plans—Joey would not have found it strange at all.
But Mogo?
A solitary Green Lantern planet that normally kept to itself had also begun harboring thoughts of rebellion.
Now that was interesting.
The little blue Guardians of Oa might have developed green light from the Emotional Spectrum as the military foundation of the Corps, but they themselves had always deeply distrusted the weaponization of emotion.
As the 'server' responsible for helping select and screen potential Green Lantern recruits, Mogo should have been one of the Guardians' staunchest supporters.
And yet, he had secretly been sheltering both a Blue Lantern ring and an Indigo ring, waiting for the right people to appear.
Combined with the Alpha Lantern Corps Joey had encountered earlier, it was obvious that the level of distrust between the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps had already reached an entirely new peak.
But the biggest question remained:
Where had those two rings even come from?
Every Emotional Spectrum ring was one of the most sophisticated and powerful weapons in the universe.
Mogo was just a planet.
There was no way he could create something like that on his own.
As the universe edged closer and closer to collapse, everything only seemed to grow more mysterious and unpredictable.
Joey had too many questions.
And far too little time.
Especially after Mogo removed the shielding layer covering the planet's atmosphere, allowing the miniature AI inside Kara's armor to finally transmit a message outward.
Under the light of the younger, brighter blue sun, Kara floated into the valley from outside.
But instead of looking relieved, she appeared even more uneasy and exhausted than before.
She brought only two short sentences.
"He's there."
"He's waiting for you."
For a moment, Joey did not understand.
"Who?"
Then realization hit him instantly.
"Jor-El?! He arrived early?!"
The mountains and valleys beneath their feet began shifting once more as Mogo quietly relocated the Green Lantern graveyard—along with the two hidden rings—to another location.
Then the living planet fell silent.
Several days earlier, the Guardians had already issued a full mobilization order.
Every surviving Green Lantern in the universe was to abandon their current assignments and regroup on Oa immediately.
The shadow of war was growing heavier by the hour.
Naturally, Mogo had received the summons as well.
But his sheer size forced him to maintain a rather involuntary form of social distancing—there was simply no way for him to gather on Oa like ordinary Lanterns.
As one of the central transit points for Green Lantern rings, Mogo knew nearly every secret within the Corps.
After the failed decapitation strike against Tamaran in the Vega System, the Guardians had originally intended to tolerate the newly rising Kryptonian Empire the same way they tolerated Apokolips or Thanagar.
Unfortunately, the Kryptonian fleet's march toward Earth had stepped directly across the Guardians' absolute bottom line.
Just as Joey prepared to leave after hearing the news, Mogo's voice rumbled once more through the atmosphere itself.
"Do you know what exists on Earth?"
"I do," Joey replied with a nod.
"The White Light."
The Entity of the White Light—the living embodiment of life itself—was currently hidden somewhere on Earth.
Whoever controlled Earth would, in essence, hold dominion over the life and death of every living being in the universe.
"Exactly."
Realizing Joey understood far more than expected, Mogo decided to reveal information he normally never would have spoken aloud.
"In three days... we will also head to Earth."
By we, Mogo naturally meant the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps.
"What if I can convince the Kryptonians to withdraw?" Joey asked immediately.
The last thing he wanted was an all-out war between Krypton and Oa—especially with Earth as the battlefield.
"Earth could become neutral territory—"
"Impossible."
Mogo shattered the fantasy without hesitation.
"The Guardians do not even fully trust us Green Lanterns, let alone the promises of a Kryptonian."
Then, after a brief pause, he added:
"Besides... you have never met your father, Jor-El, have you?"
While speaking with Joey, Mogo had also learned more about him through communications with other Lanterns—such as Chip.
Karl-El had been one of the survivors of Krypton's early, still-immature expansion program.
He had grown up in a society completely different from Krypton's own and had never even met his biological father.
And once he finally did...
He would understand why the coming war in the Solar System was unavoidable.
Jor-El was not the kind of man who listened to other people's opinions.
Even if that person happened to be his own son.
"Farewell, son of Jor-El."
Mogo manipulated the planet's gravity and launched Joey and Kara out beyond the atmosphere.
"We will meet again on the battlefield in three days."
"You—"
Joey still wanted to say something, but Mogo had already streaked away into deep space, leaving behind an enormous trail of green light across the stars.
Why were Green Lanterns all so damn awkward?
And Mogo was the most awkward of them all.
One moment he was trying to hand Joey a Blue Lantern ring representing Hope.
The next moment he was preparing to face him as an enemy on the battlefield.
As far as Joey was concerned, Earth had been dragged into this disaster for absolutely no reason.
Whose brilliant idea had it been to hide the Life Entity on Earth in the first place?
If Joey ever found out which Guardian made that decision, he was absolutely going to slap the hell out of them.
"Ah-choo!"
Far away on Oa, the Guardian Ganthet suddenly sneezed.
"Are you alright?"
A female Guardian beside him gently held the hand he was using to remotely turn the pages of the Book of Oa, concern visible in her gaze.
"Have you been overworking yourself lately?"
"I'm fine, Sayd."
Ganthet calmly continued flipping through the Book of Oa.
At the moment, only he and Sayd occupied the hidden chamber, allowing them to openly show feelings for one another without restraint.
"You're the one who's been working hard lately," Ganthet said softly. "Trying to get things done under the noses of those stubborn old fools has not been easy."
Ganthet had never imagined that one day he—the oldest among the Guardians—would refer to his fellow Guardians as stubborn old fools.
But that was simply the truth now.
In the past, conservatism had not necessarily been a bad thing.
But now?
Ganthet was absolutely certain that an unchanging Oa would never survive the coming Blackest Night.
Sayd smiled warmly as she looked at the perpetual tension etched across Ganthet's face.
"No," she said quietly. "For your sake... and for the sake of the universe, none of this is hard."
The nine Guardians of the Universe each had their own agendas.
But at least at this moment, Ganthet and Sayd stood on the same side—as partners, allies...
And even lovers.
Ganthet had to admit it was an extraordinarily dangerous relationship.
The Guardians forbade all emotions.
Romantic love least of all.
If they were discovered, both of them would almost certainly be stripped of their positions immediately.
Then again, compared to the things they had already been secretly planning, developing a romance was practically the least serious offense imaginable.
Privately reading the hidden passages within the Book of Oa without unanimous approval.
Secretly creating rings of other colors.
Coordinating behind the scenes with selected Green Lanterns...
Any one of those crimes alone would have been viewed by the other Guardians as unforgivable betrayal.
At that moment, a hidden transmission arrived from the distant depths of space.
Ganthet quickly closed the Book of Oa, deep in thought.
A new bearer had been accepted by the Blue Lantern ring...
Only for that bearer to reject the ring afterward?
What kind of absurd situation was that?
And once Ganthet considered the identity of that new Blue Lantern candidate, the irony became even more ridiculous.
It was Jor-El's son.
Still, it did not matter.
Hope would always find its own path forward.
With that thought, Ganthet lingered beside Sayd for a few more moments before forcing himself to refocus.
There was still much to prepare with the other Guardians regarding the coming war against the Kryptonians.
A war destined to bring limitless bloodshed and death.
But whether it was Ganthet—with his own hidden agenda—or the other Guardians obsessed with claiming the Life Entity for themselves, the war was inevitable.
According to the hidden prophecy buried within the Book of Oa, only by gathering all seven lights of the Emotional Spectrum could the universe survive the Blackest Night.
Red for Rage.
Orange for Avarice.
Yellow for Fear.
Green for Willpower.
Blue for Hope.
Indigo for Compassion.
Violet for Love.
The Blue Light, Indigo Light, and Violet Light had already begun to awaken through the secret efforts of Ganthet and Sayd.
Even the Orange Light of Greed had already chosen its host.
That left only Red and Yellow.
Rage and Fear.
And what could possibly ignite those two emotions more thoroughly than war?
As for how many Green Lanterns and Kryptonians would have to die in the process?
That was not something Ganthet believed he needed to consider right now.
If there was truly a question worth asking, it was only this:
Would you rather be a noble, righteous man...
Or the man who saves the universe?
And to Ganthet, the answer was not difficult at all.