It was a rainy day in Heatherfield, although that doesn't quite go far enough. It was nearly hurricane-like weather outside, forcing all sensible folk inside.

Winds whipped at speeds of upwards of fifty miles per hour, tree limbs and debris soared through the air, and hail resounded on the rooftops of buildings like machine-gun fire.

And, strangest and worst of all…

It was dark.

Granted, parts of the city had lost power due to cut power lines, but even in the sections of the city where there was still lighting, the light seemed… afraid. It only seemed to illuminate that which was in its direct path.

And while none of the inhabitants of the city would admit it, there was a sense that evil stalked the land that night.

None felt this more keenly than the guardians. Will was on her third Ibuprofin pill to push down the severe migraine that had popped up, yet the pressure told her that an evil force was approaching Heatherfield, the likes of which the Guardians had never seen before. Contacting the other members of her group, the feeling was confirmed across the five of them. Strangely, though, Hay Lin was suffering the worst from it. She was nearly crying, the sense of dread and fear was so bad; as if she had a thought, an inkling of the forces that were approaching.

It was oddly fitting, all things considered.

Under the cover of the storm, a tiny object swooped into the city, weaving and ducking between buildings. It was just barely larger than a marble, but it seemed to absorb all light as it passed. Indeed, a wave of power outages followed in its wake. Flickers of multicolored light whisked across its darker-than-dark surface, each one vanishing as though it had never existed.

The object paused momentarily at the iconic Silver Dragon, eliciting a howl of pain from Hay Lin, before speeding onwards to a cemetery just outside the city.

Once there, the tiny object stopped, as though drinking in some darkness that no one else could see, or spreading it. Either way, the rains let up slightly around the object.

The object moved into position above a relatively recent gravesite, pausing to scan the inscription on the headstone:

HERE LIES
YAN LIN

Loving Grandmother

"They Sow the Wind,

And they Shall Reap the Whirlwind."

Hosea 8:1-14.

The object twisted itself around-

And fired a beam of pure blackness into the soft grave soil.

Soil, rock, grass, and flowers were pulverized in the path of the beam of absolute destruction. Small fires started in the debris field, revealing the object:

A jet-black ring.

Finally, the beam's intensity lowered down to a mere thread, and the laser formed a cage. The cage enveloped the body resting at the bottom of the hole, and rose it up to meet its new fate.

The ring darted forwards, planting itself on her finger.

The corpse of the former Guardian of the Veil screamed. Black lightening coursed up and down the skeleton, highlighting rotting patches of flesh and sections where bone showed through.

Once the process was complete, the corpse landed on two feet, swaying slightly. A gust of wind, activated by her long-dormant powers, kicked up, blowing some of the rain in different directions.

"YAN LIN OF EARTH," growled the ring, "YOU HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH THE POWER OF DEATH."

Yan Lin's eyes opened up, but no longer were the oriental woman's eyes anything recognizable by humans. A faint starburst of white remained in the center, but the sockets were as black and empty as the void between the galaxies.

A smile spread across her decaying face. It was dark as the devil and cold as hell.

She raised her ring-clad arm, and she chanted an oath that made the very stars shake in terror. And as she did so, a black jumpsuit wrapped itself lovingly around her, placing a triangular symbol on her chest with multiple parallel lines spreading from the top.

"The Blackest Night falls from the skies.
The darkness grows as all light dies.
We crave your hearts and your demise.
By my black hand...
The dead shall rise!"

And with that, the transformation was complete. As the ring fed instructions and power to her undead brain, she began to rise into the air, calculating the time it would take her to reach the Silver Dragon.

As she flew off, the ring spoke one last time.

"WELCOME," it growled, "TO THE BLACK LANTERN CORPS."

The Blackest Night had come to Heatherfield.

Sithking Zero: My first horror story! How'd you like it?

This is a one-shot. Also, this takes place in the comics and books version of W.I.T.C.H. That means that Yan Lin did, in fact, kick the bucket.

The Black Lanterns are a new force in the DC universe, comprised solely of deceased heroes. Their one goal is to kill everyone.

There will be no sequels to this. I know I probably got a lot of details wrong, but I like it.

Please review!