The battlefield dissolved.
One moment Ethan was standing ankle-deep in the ashes of a thousand slain spawn, his fusion form still glowing with the power of gods. The next… nothing. No ground. No sky. Just an infinite white void humming with the pulse of the White Lantern Ring.
Jason was gone. Sherlock, gone. Even the smell of blood and ozone from the war was erased.
Only the voice remained.
> "Ethan Cross. You have been chosen. But the Ring of Life does not serve without proof."
The sound wasn't loud — it simply was, resonating directly in his mind. The Carnitrix interface flickered erratically, almost as if the alien tech didn't have permission to be here.
Ethan looked down at his chest — the White Lantern emblem burned with a steady light.
"I already fought for you," he said into the void. "You've seen me."
The voice pulsed again, neither approving nor condemning.
> "Fighting is not the same as living for the Light. You will face the Three Trials. Pass, and you remain my bearer. Fail, and I reclaim what is mine."
---
First Trial — The Mirror of the Dead
The white void rippled, shifting into a graveyard. It wasn't one Ethan recognized — not exactly — but the names on the stones made his gut twist.
Jason. Sherlock. Dozens of SCP allies. Even himself.
And then the dead rose. Not as zombies — no rot, no decay — but as perfectly whole people. Jason grinned like he always did before a fight, Sherlock tilted his head with his usual calculating look… but their eyes were empty.
The voice spoke again.
> "You can return one to life, here and now. The rest fade forever. Choose."
Ethan's fists tightened. This was a trap. Every instinct screamed that the Ring wanted to measure his attachment, his selfishness.
The Carnitrix flickered to life.
> [Analysis: All entities are simulated constructs. No biological revival possible.]
"Yeah," Ethan whispered. "I figured."
He stepped forward… and didn't choose any of them. Instead, he turned his palm outward and released the White Lantern light in a wide arc, bathing all of them. The constructs dissolved instantly, becoming pure light.
"I'm not here to play favorites," he said into the silence. "Life isn't a bargaining chip."
The graveyard vanished.
---
Second Trial — The Weight of Worlds
Now he stood on a barren asteroid hurtling toward a dying sun. In the distance, two planets hung in space — one lush and green, the other urbanized and overcrowded. Both were caught in the same gravitational path that would tear them apart in hours.
The voice returned.
> "You may save only one. The other will perish. Choose swiftly."
Ethan swore under his breath. Every calculation, every moral debate in the world would come down to a coin flip here.
Except… he wasn't limited to "either/or."
Not with fusion.
The Carnitrix buzzed, sensing his intent.
> [Fusion Candidate: Nalqian + White Lantern + Gravattack + Atomix]
[Warning: Dimensional stability risk 81%]
"Do it."
---
The transformation was instant — his form split into multi-dimensional overlays, core powered by a miniature artificial star. Gravitational energy twisted under his command. He anchored one planet to safety, then phased the other through a temporary dimensional fold, dragging it out of the sun's death path.
It nearly tore him apart — the fusion form cracked at the edges, white light spilling out like a dam breaking — but it worked.
Both planets lived.
When the form dissolved, Ethan was panting hard, but he looked up defiantly. "I don't do half saves."
The asteroid, the sun, the planets — all blinked out.
---
Third Trial — The Self Beyond the Ring
This time, the void returned, but darker. The White Lantern symbol above his chest dimmed until it was barely visible.
In front of him stood… himself.
But not the Ethan he saw in mirrors. This one radiated pure destruction — Carnitrix in full predator mode, Shiva's power weaponized for annihilation, the Nalqian heritage twisted into a weapon of dominance.
> "This is you without the Light. Kill him, and you keep the Ring."
Ethan raised his guard — but didn't strike.
Instead, he stepped forward slowly. The darker version tilted its head, almost curious.
"You're me," Ethan said. "You're everything I could be if I gave in. But killing you doesn't make you go away. I've got to carry you."
The dark double lunged anyway, a flurry of impossible strikes. Ethan met every blow without killing intent, parrying, redirecting, grounding himself in the White Ring's life energy.
Finally, he caught the double's final strike… and pulled it into a fusion embrace, merging light and shadow. The two forms stabilized into one — his true self, balanced.
The voice echoed, softer now.
> "You understand. The Ring serves one who lives not for themselves, nor for glory, but for all life."
---
The Return
The white void flared — and suddenly the battlefield was back.
Jason was locked in combat with a spawn-beast, Sherlock shouting coordinates, SCP-343's forces rallying. No time had passed.
But the White Lantern emblem on Ethan's chest blazed brighter, the ring pulsing with full acceptance.
The Carnitrix pinged.
> [New White Lantern Protocol: Permanent Integration]
[Passive Ability Gained: Universal Resurrection (Cooldown: 1 Year)]
[New Fusion Pathways Unlocked: Life-Weaver, Chrono-Savior, Ascendant Guardian]
Jason noticed him and grinned mid-swing. "You were gone for like— what? Two seconds?"
Ethan smirked. "Yeah. Long story. Let's just say the Ring and I had a talk."
Then the White Lantern light spread across the battlefield, burning back Shub-Niggurath's corruption wherever it touched.
And in the far distance… something else began to stir.