[center][h3][b][color=#00ff00]K A I - R O[/color][/b][/h3][sub][b][color=#00ff00]T A L E S   F R O M   T H E   G R E E N   L A N T E R N   C O R P S[/color][/b][/sub][hr][hr][sub][b][color=#b6d7a8]ACT I:AD ASTRA PER ASPERA[/color][/b]
[i]Part 2: “Oa”[/i][/sub][/center]

He awoke with a start.

His breath seemed to catch in his throat. He bolted upright, head on a swivel, as the environment around him was [i]alien[/i]. All around him were smooth, reflective surfaces. The light seemingly diffused as if through crystal. 

This was not the Buddhist Monastery.

Shifting his legs, the boy slid down from the slab on which he had awoken. As he got his feet under him, he looked back and saw that the bed upon which he had been lying was an altar or table. Simple in form, but it [b]glowed[/b] -- as though it were made of light itself.

As if to confirm the ethereal nature of that construction, the table of light seemed to flicker and dissolve. Sticking a hand out, the boy’s hand pawed at where, just a moment ago, a solid object had been there.

...and was then struck at the fact that his hand was in some kind of white glove. Looking over himself, the boy marveled at the fact that his body was clothed in something different from anything he had ever worn before. The gloves and boots were white, with the arms and legs black and the torso green. A circle on the chest seemed to contain a sigil or rune of some kind.

Glancing up, the boy caught his reflection in the crystalline walls of the spartan room. The logo on the chest seemed to stare back at him.

Had he... seen that symbol before? 

[i]“Do you remember how you got here?”[/i]

A voice. 

...but, it wasn’t a voice?

Turning to his left, then circling around to his right, the child did a complete circle. His eyes scanned the room and found only his reflection staring back at him no matter which way he turned. The only other object was a...

...a plant?

Craning his head to one side, the child took a step closer to look at it. It was a pumpkin? On a vine? Did pumpkins grow on vines?

Being from the mountain of Tibet, he’d only seen them in photographs.

But, something in the back of his mind seemed to recognize that he was not alone. [color=#b6d7a8]“[i]Kham sang?[/i]”[/color] the child uttered, the Tibetan leaving his lips even before he could have stopped it. Then, he remembered, there had been police.

Was this a Chinese interrogation room? Switching to Mandarin, the boy then offered, [color=#b6d7a8]“[i]Ni hão?[/i]”[/color]

[i]“I believe the polite phrase is ‘tashi dalek.’’”[/i]

It was as though Kai-Ro was wearing headphones. The voice seemed to speak directly into his head. Almost instinctively, the boy’s hands came up to either side of his head, as though to confirm that he wasn’t wearing ear buds.

At the same time, it confirmed the feeling that he was not alone.

[i]“Yes,”[/i] the voice said, though Kai-Ro heard it in perfect Tibetan. [i]“I am in this room with you.”[/i]

The boy’s head started to turn, before he instead stared down at the pumpkin-vine. His mind was wrestling with a question, which seemed to come to a singular conclusion.

[i]“Good,”[/i] the voice uttered inside his mind. As it spoke, the pumpkin and its vines shifted, as the plant raised itself up in the air.

It drifted forward, toward him.

Kai-Ro took a step back, away from it. 

[i]“You accept the reality that there are things which exist, even if you do not know of them,”[/i] the voice in his head remarked, as the vines seemed to undulate and curl in mid-air. [i]“Now, do you remember how you got here?”[/i]

[color=#b6d7a8]“There was a light,”[/color] the boy recalled aloud. Pausing there, his eyes darted from side to side, as though he were questioning his memory even as he recalled, [color=#b6d7a8]“...and a... ring?”[/color] Had that been where he’d seen this symbol before? [color=#b6d7a8]“And... and I was flying?”[/color]

[i]“Flying where?”[/i]

The boy pursed his lips. He opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to doubt himself. [color=#b6d7a8]“There was all this black... and stars..?”[/color]

[i]“It seems impossible doesn’t it?”[/i] the pumpkin-vine-being spoke inside the boy’s head. [i]“And yet, you know that you are no longer on your planet.”[/i]

The boy’s head craned up sharply as the suggestion cut straight to the well of doubt that he had been wrestling subconsciously with. [color=#b6d7a8]“This is another...”[/color] he began, stopping himself before he could say something...

...well, frankly, [b]something stupid[/b].

The fact that he was talking to a plant seemed to throw that notion out the window though.  [color=#b6d7a8]“...another world?” [/color]he uttered finally, the intonation making clear that it was as much a question as it had been a realization.

[i]“This is [b]Oa[/b],”[/i] the voice stated, before adding, [i]“Which is different than the planet that I am from. Like you, I was chosen by a ring and brought here.”[/i]

[color=#b6d7a8]“[i]Chosen,[/i]”[/color] the boy echoed, as the word seemed to resonate. Taken aback for a moment, the boy seemed to hesitate for several seconds of awkward silence before he finally asked, [color=#b6d7a8]“Chosen for what?”[/color]

[i]“That, my young monk, is the right question.”[/i]