In Brightest Day

[Jack Darby]

Earlier in the day, Jack had been on his way to Oa. This had not been by his own choice but because a power ring had latched onto his finger, and had been rather insistent. Unfortunately Jack did not think he had reached the destination of Oa. The reason he did not believe he had reached Oa was where he was currently at. At present he was floating inside of a black void and completely unable to make his limbs respond to his commands at all. A million questions, and then some ran through the brain of the human turned Cybertronian turned Green Lantern.

As he thought of some of the questions, a white entity appeared. The individual appeared to be made out of pure white which seared his ey...his optics to look at due to the contrast.

“My name is Omni. This is not the world you know. This is the Omniverse. You interest me, so I have made you part of it. The Omniverse is a place that reflects the wishes of those who are part of it. But! There are rules. I will explain them only once, so listen carefully.” 

Hopefully Omni was not like Unicron, or someone along those lines. For Jack really didn’t want to have to restore the memories of Optimus Prime. Wherever he was, was enough of a problem for him to have to resolve. What he did not need was anything else added to the list of things he needed to get done in a short order.

A glimmering orb of what was dubbed Omnilium was handed over to him. 

“This is Omnilium. It’s what ties the Omniverse together. Without it, you are nothing. With it, anything you desire can be yours. But you will need more than this. If you desire it enough, you will find it. You will find that using it comes naturally. Just think of what you desire most.

The orb appeared to shine on the interior with all the colors of a rainbow. In a way it reminded him of the beauty of the Matrix of Leadership, or the other Iacon Relics. Relics that were beyond the reach he had. Thinking of the relics made him think of the people he had left behind when this had happened. Essentially he had been kidnapped by Omni. 

“You will not be alone in the Omniverse. There are others. Of course, they, too desire Omnilium. Do not fear death. For as long as you interest me, you will be reborn.

So Omni had essentially teleported him here for his amusement. There was something about him that “interested” Omni. This was something that Jack did not know about. Apparently the Omniverse played by video game rules of “respawning” unlike his world. Or perhaps a clone was made and all his memories were transferred. Starscream had after all managed to make a clone armada at one point that were linked to him. Admittedly they had not lasted long, but they had been used against Megatron. Still, Jack had no plans to try to escape just yet. 

“That’s all you need to know right now. You’ll figure out the rest soon enough. I’ll be watching … and waiting.”

The blackness faded away, revealing the harsh white that seared his optics forcing the young Darby, the former Green Lantern to shut them. Summoning the orb of Omnilium to his hands, Jack admitted he was at a loss. Omnilium was not something Jack had ever encountered before and he had no clue as to how to make the substance work. 

“Password” said Jack, as he held out the orb. Nothing. 

“Access Granted,”  Yet again, nothing.

“Work already!”  Jack slammed the orb against the ground hard, and yet again, nothing.

“Do something!.”

“Initiate Protocols.”

Both of those statements did not make the orb of Omnilium do anything. How was he supposed to make the orb of Omnilium work, when he didn’t even understand the basic principles behind said orb, at present? There was one of the questions Jack was going to have to find the answer to, along with the answer to why Omni had kidnapped him.

The orb of Omnilium was banged into the ground by Jack who was beginning to get a bit frustrated. For one thing he was stuck in a place that appeared to be so bright it was almost blinding. His eyes wanted to shut, and were tearing up because of how much the white environment shone. Really, this place, whatever it was, was one that Jack hated.The one thing he hated more than that was his confusion about this place. One thing was for certain, though. Judging from what Omni had said there would be others here in the Omniverse. Thus, it was in his best interest to get his power ring working as soon as possible. Yet try as he might it would not make even the most basic of construct, nor light up. In addition, it was not allowing him to contact the Green Lantern Corps - or anyone else for that matter. 

Sighing, Jack slid the ring off of his finger. If only there was a way to make the ring do what he needed. 

[Jack Darby]

Quite simply put, right now the power ring he had was worthless. Since it could not perform any of the functions it had been able to back home, Jack was curious as to how someone had managed to disrupt it. Perhaps there was some localized yellow energy that was too bright for him to see permeating the place and suppressing his power ring from doing anything that he needed it to? No, for that to happen, his ring would have at least given off a signal of some sort. When he attempted to summon the power battery of the ring, and nothing happened, Jack sighed. Being ringless in a strange place was going to be a difficult situation for him to contend with. On the plus side, Omnilium could create anything, so perhaps he could use it to eventually fix his Green Lantern Ring so that he could use it in this place. Holding out his hand, Jack attempted to charge the Power Ring once he had put it back on his ring finger. When not even a wisp of Green energy flooded into the ring, Jack's jaw dropped like an anchor.  "Okay, Darby. You're in a strange new place," A quick gaze at his surroundings revealed he was in some sort of fountain. Quickly climbing out, and realizing his clothes were drenched Jack sighed. It seemed his to do list in this place was growing more and more by the second. Step one was to acquire a power ring that actually worked for himself so that he could use it properly, or at least some form of protection in this strange new environment he found himself in. After accomplishing that, shelter and food were also a good idea. 

Examining the unique arch ways that were a ways away, Jack looked around. There was one that appeared to have people in rustic chain-mail armor that reminded him of the knights of the past. The armor reminded him of King Arthur, and similar legends. Going there was out of the question because with his current state he didn't trust himself to be able to deal with any bandits, or problems that likely lurked. Even more so without a functional power ring, he was not willing to risk his life. If only he knew more about this place than what Omni had told him. The little information he had received was barely anything to go off of when it came to making a decision like this. 

Where should he go first?

[Storyteller]

Nexus Recruitment duty was a thankless job, “but someone has to do it.” Not that he believed the “little white lie” from the Kingdom’s higher ups that standing around as the welcome wagon in the most dangerous place in the Omniverse this side of hell or the Abyss was some sort of “honor” or “privilege.” He could only be glad he wasn’t missing this year’s showing of the aforementioned blood sport for his shift.

So leaning there on the hilt of his sheathed sword, a good thirty meters from the Fountain of Infinity, he barely looked up at the struggles of the dark-haired young man in the fountain. Just tried to keep a smirk off of his face and a chuckle out of his lips. Maybe the thanks was in getting to laugh at the occasional antics of those that incarnated here.

Finally taking a few steps forward as Jack removed himself from the Fountain, the man in the steel breastplate and shoulder guards cleared his throat. “Greetings.” His tone was flat, not quite unwelcoming, but too practiced to sound genuine. “I take it that you are new here?” He did not voice the fact that he was confident in this due to the fact no self-respecting Prime would intentionally incarnate themselves directly INTO said Fountain- but he did certainly think it.

[Jack Darby]

"Yes, I am new here," said Jack Darby, as he examined the armor clad individual. The steel breast plate looked like it was finely made although it would likely not survive if someone were to shoot a rocket launcher at it. Assuming rocket launchers existed here. Really there was a lot Jack did not know about the place. "So, would you be willing to tell me more about this place than Omni did? He didn't tell me very much about the place. Like for example, why this," Jack held out the hand that held the Green Lantern Ring in the palm of it. "Is not working at all inside of this place. Back home this ring was supposed to be one of the most powerful weapons in existence. Here, it's not doing a thing." stated Jack as he looked at the individual to see what his reaction would be. The sword he was leaning on reminded Jack of another blade, but a blade that had been wielded by a Cybertronian. 

Specifically, it reminded him of the sword Optimus Prime had wielded. The Star Saber was a legendary blade that had been made by Solus Prime and had been used by Optimus before Megatron had broken it. The blade had been reforged by Optimus Prime using the Forge of Solus Prime and had been able to break the Dark Star Saber easily during the second battle. Ultimately, the Dark Star Saber had been destroyed, or so Jack believed anyway. Really, he didn't know for sure about that. 

His mind drifted back to the present, and Jack realized he was going to need new clothing. "Do you know anywhere I could perhaps get new clothes for myself? Something in Green, perhaps?" 

[Storyteller]

The soldier nodded curtly. “I have heard as much about his habits.” Though he had never met Omni himself, being a Secondary, he was well acquainted with such questions and complaints from Primes thanks to many of his shifts prior. “As for your question. The physics of this realm are such that things do not function the same way as they may have prior. If it does not function at all, perhaps it is because that power is beyond your current personal capabilities.” Again, his words were almost as if read off a script. He did not care enough to try and put more effort into it.

“Clothes you may either summon yourself, or purchase from a market in one of the realms beyond the gates.” He swept his arm around broadly as he spoke the word “gates,” not so much pointing as vaguely gesturing to the spots on the white horizon. “Behind me is the gate to the realm of Camelot, one I can assure you is much better off than certain... others.” There it was. His pitch. He put some amount of effort into making it sound more impassioned than the rest of his words, but it still wasn’t terribly convincing.

Then he paused for a moment, recalling how he had seen the Prime react earlier to summoning. Or, attempted summoning, rather. “...Both methods require a certain amount of patience, however. Though one requires significantly less walking.”

[Jack Darby]

So it was not just Jack's opinion that Omni was on an ego trip, and was worse than Vince. The individual had done the same shtick to multiple primes dumping them into the Omniverse with little information, if any. Information that Jack could have used. When the individual mentioned clothes could be summoned himself, or purchased at a market, Jack decided to do the latter. It would frankly be less irritating until he got a grip on how to use Omnilium and make it work. In addition he needed the athletic activities that walking consisted of. As the ring was currently beyond his personal power to make work, Jack knew he had a lot of training to do to change that. If his will power was not good enough he would push it to new heights, and then make the will power strong enough to recreate the Power Ring. For now though he took the ring and pocketed it. When the time came he was going to fix the power ring so that it would work, and do what he wanted it to. 

"So tell me from your perspective, what is Camelot like?"  As he presently had no means of protecting himself, Jack did not want to be unprepared. Having little information could lead to risks that he was unwilling to take at present. The individual was making Camelot appealing and he could probably find somewhere there that he could make his home easier. In addition, of course, Jack knew he needed to train himself and make sure he was ready. After all, with all that he planned to do in the Omniverse, Jack knew there was a lot to be done. Since he was the only Green Lantern in the Omniverse, or at least the only ring slinger of the Green Lantern Corps here, Jack was going to remake the corps. The Green Lantern Corps could be useful in keeping the peace around this place. 

While he was not convinced that Camelot was the best verse, this person had approached him. Was this something they did here in an attempt to sway primes into joining a faction, or something? Jack did not know. Lacking the ability to research the place as he did not have a functioning smart phone which meant he couldn't access the internet, Jack was a little bit irritated, to be honest. If only Miko, or Raf were here, they could help him more. Right now, even Megatron would be useful. While Megatron and him may have been enemies, Megatron's power to transform and fly would have come in handy in this place.

[Storyteller]

The knight paused a moment to think here. Was there a specific pitch he was supposed to say here? He didn’t recall it, and so straightened up a tad awkwardly, clearing his throat. “Well, while our technology may not be as, quote unquote, advanced as other realms, we offer certain freedoms that they do not, as well. In addition, we possess a more robust military force assigned to protect the people, as opposed to surveil them.” That sounded good, right? None of it was technically lying, he had simply left out some of the less savory parts.

“Of course, we welcome all who would enter our gate with open arms, but as I am at my post, I cannot accompany you there.” He was assigned to leave only when a replacement came to relieve him of his duty- given there was no real sense of time here, not one that he could track, at least. “But I trust you can find it. It is straight that way.” This time he moved his arm to point in a specific direction, right behind him in fact. “You likely won’t find much else in the interim besides others like yourself, so do take care not to aggravate any of them.”

[Jack Darby]

Jack listened to the words of the man. The individual seemed honest about the place, even if Jack did have a suspicion he was with-holding some information. At present Camelot seemed like the best option, however. If the forces of Camelot protected their citizens, then perhaps Jack could start looking there for people that he could recruit into the Lantern Corps he was going to put together. While he had never had any form of education in how to use the ring, Jack was confident that he could get the ring operational for himself. It was a ring that derived it's power from the emotion of will power, or at least it had. Jack was not sure if it still functioned the same way in the Omniverse, or not. 

"Alright, I believe I've got this figured out now."  Jack held out the orb of Omnilium and concentrated. What he needed was a means he could possibly use to protect himself in the Omniverse. His memories went back to one of the items that Arcee had told him about. It was a relic that had never shown up on the planet Earth. 

The Bow of Primus. 

The bow materialized after a couple of moments on his back. The blue and gold bow that was on his back was strapped onto his back. While it was not as good as a power ring, it was going to have to suffice until he was more ready for the future. As he knew that the man would not accompany him to Camelot - even though he could have used the guide, Jack made his way towards that gate. One day when he was strong enough he planned on putting together a corps. 

"Hopefully I will see you in Camelot," stated the young Darby Male as he headed towards that gate. There was a lot about the place he did not understand, or know.