Solstice: a YJ White Lantern SI

[bobsimmo]

I post this on SB but recent events their makes me think cross-posting on SV and here is a good idea. Hope its well received

Chapter 1:

I'll admit I've got myself lost a few times before, but this is a new one for me.'

I mean, thinking about it, my park doesn't even have any trees in the center. This park is also a lot busier, feeling more like a city park than the one I live next too. I take a second to check my jacket pockets; no wallet, no keys, no phone. I must have left those at home. So I have found myself completely lost, in the middle of an unknown park in the middle of an unknown city

'Well, shit.... might as well take a look around while I'm here.'

I take stock of the place around me. 'yep, this is definitely a park' well, to be fair, it is a nice park. People eating picnics, a pagoda behind me, with skyscrapers behind me. Actually, there are skyscrapers surrounding the park making this place look almost like a square. This was a big clue to where I was, but it wasn't until I stood at the lake and saw the baseball and American Football pitches (I have never been big on sports, no clue what the flipping names for them are) that I knew where I was.

'How in the blue hell did I go from South East England, to the flipping United States'

Panicking now, I carry on across the park. I focus on my breathing desperately trying to prevent an encroaching panic attack. As I reached the other side of this small square of grassland, I decide to take stock again. Across the road i saw a bar, with a picture of a cartoon shark on the sign. In the park there is a stone monument. I have no idea who the gentleman on the stone is, but from what looks like a cavalry sword in hand and riding on a horse to battle, this looks civil war era.

By this point the panic attack is in full swing, and I'm struggling to even see straight, so I position myself on the stone pillar and focus on my breathing. biting down on my feeling of nausea i start clenching and unclenching my fingers. when my vision starts to clear, i take a cursory glance around the pillar to see if it has the park's name. It did.

'So I can bring down United States, to Patterson Park. Like that brings me any closer to figuring out how I'm going to get back home'

But the break is enough to calm me down, so I check my other, non-jacket- pockets. The good news? I found my phone. Bad news? No signal. Great. But then I get the really bizarre news. When I check my shirt pocket, I find a ring. Now for someone who is single, and is in a completely different country, this would be like one of those 'what did I DO last night' moments. Except, this wasn't an ordinary ring. The ring was smooth, far smoother than any ring I had ever felt before. The area where the stone would be had a symbol, kind of like a triangular sun with rays coming of it. Or is that supposed to be a prism. That sounds a little more likely if I am honest.

It was also pure white. I never even knew that a white ring could exist, yet here i was, in the middle of a park in an unknown city , with this ring being the only thing to show for it. could it...? naahh, couldn't be. This is probably the anxiety talking, 'I had better hide this... whatever this is. Waving it around is great way to lose it'

Slipping the ring back into my pocket, I look around for a back alley, and spot one down an off-road. I then check my other pockets, (who knows, someone might have handed over a phone number or a nearby motel) and find my wallet. In there I found my bank card, Photo ID, and ICE Card. Maybe I could grab a quick pint from shark bar, then pop down the alleyway and see if i can find out more about this ring and its potential authenticity. I start to hurry across the road, wondering how my day could get any more eventful and wondering how much more complicated my life could get. Although, I was curious why that honking noise was getting louder...

Then it hit me.

 

[bobsimmo]

Chapter 2:

Well the last week has been a bit of a blur, but i think i pieced together what happened. Fact is, I'm lucky to be alive. The timely response of the shark bar patrons is the only reason i'm still among the living. As it was i got lumped in with another comatose bloke. Supposed to have got hit by a bus, the poor sod. He's quite the muscular redhead in his thirties, who reminds me of my old schoolyard bullies. I also got my legs in casts and, according to the doctors, I've got multiple fractures in my lower limbs.

"Still, could be a lot worse. Not like they can't find out any details on who i am. Oh wait, that's what what they asked me when i first woke up."

Bunch of Bobbies, or whatever they are called in the United States, came in and filled in on the details. Well, after the twenty questions on who i was, where i was from, so many sodding questions. Although I now know I am currently at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. I honestly thought Maryland was a town in Virginia, and that Baltimore was in New England. Still, my terrible US geography, put my misconceptions on the Eastern Seaboard so its not a total car crash, no pun intended. Although i seem to have ended up in the United States... in 2010.

"So, i have a final amendment to my question. How, in the blue bloody hell, did i end up from 2015 SE England to 2010 Baltimore, Maryland."

Unfortunately it was the least of my problems. Turns out i fell foul of some career criminal trying to get away from authorities in some discount delivery van. Some lowlife by the name of William Kavanagh. He got caught shortly after our encounter. But not before he left his mark. So, a week later, I end up stuck in a hospital bed, off my head on painkillers. Oh, and with both my legs are broken. Turning on the television does not improve my mood when i see Captain Marvel square off against Black Adam.

"I'm in DC Comic Land! Home of cosmic reboots and editorial mandates! Yay!"

It does look like this version of more is more well rounded though than the mainline universe though. From what i can tell, three Green Lanterns, an African American hero has recently emerged in Michigan called Icon, and a magic user on the Justice League by the name of Giovanni Zatara. No idea who the last two are but the name Zatara definitely sounds familiar. However since finding out about the world around me, their is an uncomfortable truth inside me that my jacket pocket seems to be calling me to ignore.

'Isn't the Life Ring suppose to show up after a zombie lantern attack? Does this mean its going to be starting soon?'

Blackest Night got me into the stories, well alternate universe historical works seems more appropriate at this point now, so i know what this would entail. What if i am not worthy? What if what i do is not enough? And what if wearing it sets the event off early? Sighing, i pull the ring out and look at it again. It's still the same as it was in the park. Well, physically anyway. I look at the triangular sun again, and another question springs to mind. Could you put this fate on anyone else?

'*sigh* who dares wins, right? Not like refusing the call has helped anyone in the past."

I invert the ring and slide it onto my right index finger. The light envelopes me as a uniform forms around me. A voice in my head says the words <Destiny Awaits> as the glowing subsides, leaving me feeling really great. I flex my hand experimentally to test the material as i raise myself to sit on the edge of the bed. And stare straight into the eyes of my comatose roommate, awake and staring me in the face with a scowl on his features. Sat here, with that slack-jawed expression, he looks really... oh shit, is that who i think it is?

<Will Detected>