A month after the graduation, morning

Volthoom was in his default form and was currently in his office reading some documents, today he was wearing capri pants and a plain gray shirt. In the last month he managed to train another two batches of lightsmiths himself, currently, there were almost ten thousand lightsmiths made up of the batches he trained himself and the batches trained either partially or entirely by those that graduated under his tutelage.

Taking inspiration from the Romans as well as many other fictional armies, which included the Green Lantern Corp, he made it so that lightsmiths were divided into two Legions of five thousand. Volthoom also divided the Empire into three thousand sectors with three lightsmiths in each sector to patrol and enforce the law, even if the criminality on the Empire, in general, was rather low, while the remaining one thousand were on reserve and doing additional duties, they were commonly called the Honor Guard since they were placed in important locations throughout the Empire including the Palaces.

There were two types of lightsmiths the ones that used mainly the Emotional Spectrum and the ones that used mainly the Elemental Forces, which led them to have many roles besides those of the law enforcement variety and with the primary alignment telling the most likely legion that they will be placed in, either the Legion of Light or the Legion of Elements.

Depending on what Light of Emotion or Elemental Force the lightsmith had the most affinity for helped determine what he or she could contribute with. The ones that had affinity for The Green and The Grey helped farms grow food –being subterranean farms it was easier to grow mushrooms– while those with affinity for The Red and The Blue helped with livestock, even those with affinity for The Clear and The Metal helped to advance in the fields of biology and technology respectively. The ones with an affinity for the Lights of Emotions helped produce energy, different emotions were used as different types of fuel throughout the Empire.

Volthoom also made sure to train the normal military as well and that had the purpose of choosing a new lightsmith among the potential candidates in case a lightsmith retired or fell in the line of duty. Besides he didn't do much aside from organizing his newly named Order of the Elemental Light, a name he chose based on the source of the power of its knights/lightsmiths, and coordinating their activities throughout the Empire. Right now he was signing some documents concerning the finishing touches of the training facilities and the barracks, actually, there were houses around the facility and enough for the place to be considered a town, the inhabitants were the lightsmiths’ families.

The three lightsmiths on each sector would rotate, so barring emergencies and the lightsmith that were assigned to the edges or beyond the edges of the Empire in remote outposts, at least half to two-thirds of the Order remained here on the training ground. It felt good to know Volthoom was contributing to the Empire's development.

On another note, all changelings finished their metamorphoses, which meant that the entire population of changelings no longer was afflicted by that almost crippling hunger and that allowed for the energy that would otherwise be used to feed them be better utilized elsewhere. If Volthoom had to compare the technology of the changelings to anything he ever saw previously than it would be a mixture of Oa from the DC universe as well as the Protoss from StarCraft, but their application was more like Atlantis from Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the Sheikah from Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Energy could be stored into small crystals to power their technology, their vehicles and weapons as well as many other forms of machinery. Also through these advancements and the Elemental Force of The Metal, they managed to develop artificial intelligence, granted they were not created using computer coding like you would expect, they were forged by infusing a core with The Metal’s energy before being placed in a body.

To avoid the A.I. rebellion scenario Phyllia immediately awarded the same privileges and rights to them after being convinced by Volthoom instead of just letting them be seen as smart golems or tools, he did so by showing many different civilizations that dealt with A.I. and how they ended when it came to how they treated their creations. The stories that had the most effect on her decision were the ones about the Manhunters and the Men of Iron, but even if they avoided rebellion Volthoom also warned against laziness and complacency with the Fall of the Eldar and the Destruction of Krypton. In the end, Phyllia accepted that they were in a sense their children as well and it was their responsibility to guide them.

In fact, a portion of both Legions was made up of synthetics, or synths as they become more well known since they were capable of feeling emotions and were alive in a sense, thus they were compatible with the White Light of Life. Also the use of mechanical prosthetics and artificially grown limbs plus the ability to replace organs with both organic and synthetic variants made the differences between those that were born from flesh or metal become even more blurred, the sociological structure of the Empire became more akin to the world of Megaman ZX.

At this point, they were probably the most advanced civilization on the planet, but Volthoom was not arrogant enough to assume that they were invincible, limitations to what they could achieve existed. Besides all of their magitek was based on the use of the Emotional Spectrum and the Elemental Forces, they had alternative sources of energy and technology but they weren't nearly as advanced. However all that development led to the two greatest achievements of the Empire so far, they managed to create an implant that allowed non-changelings to access the Hive Mind and the creation of a secondary artificial Hive Mind that connected information devices, basically they reinvented the Internet, but the implant allowed them to access it Matrix style.

*Sigh*

Volthoom sighed before closing his eyes and concentrate, not long after his skin became see-through showing his chromatic glowing veins/nerves and the black sphere in its chest. Then he reached into the black sphere and pulled out the Travel Lantern before placing it on the table.

“Activate Travel Lantern,” said Volthoom using his shapeshifting power to mimic his original voice.

“Travel Lantern online. Voiceprint Recognized. Greetings Volthoom it has been approximately 14 billion years since your last jump, also your biology seems to have been altered. Would you like me to update your personal profile?” asked a voice coming from the Lantern, it was clearly artificial in nature.

“Yes, use energies signatures and password to identify the user. New password: Light of Lights,” said Volthoom still using his original voice.

“Updated,” said TL.

“Update navigational data based on current location,” ordered Volthoom now using his natural more androgynous voice.

“Updating… Error error. Unable to update. Current location in spacetime continuum unknown,” said TL.

“Possible causes for such an error?” inquired Volthoom.

“Possible causes include: corruption of database, massive change in multiversal structure and/or current location being outside of the known Multiverse within the boundaries of the Source Wall,” said TL as it listed all possible reasons for the previous error and running diagnostics on its own system, then it noticed something, so it asked, “Query: there are several objects of unknown origin and of unknown signature in storage inside this unit. What are they?”

“Bring out some of these objects,” said Volthoom and TL projected from its opening a small portal similar to a Boom Tube. Not long after it dropped six objects, the first was a jagged green gem with a drawing of a skull with an eye patch on it, the second was a perfectly cut black diamond, the third was a marble with a white bottom and purple top with two shallow reddish-purple bulges and a white ‘M’ above the release button in its middle, the fourth was a square stone talisman with a small organic heart inside and 3 stone arches over the hole with the heart compressed close like a cage, the fifth was a brown medallion with a three comma like marking on both sides and the sixth was a comic book featuring Doctor Doom from Marvel and an anthro version of the Power Ponies.

Volthoom looked at the tokens on his desk, he knew about the Displaced but he never bothered to actually touch a token before and instead, he just left them in the Travel Lantern. Out of curiosity he reached out and touched the green gem, the moment his fingers touched the gem he heard in his mind, "I am Asphyxious. The Iron Lich. If you need my aid just take this token and call my name."

Then Volthoom pulled his hand back and touched the black diamond, once again he heard in his mind, “I am the protector of the innocent, warrior of the weak, call upon me for assistance and I shall come. Call for the Gravity Shifter and I will make those who harm others beg for mercy as they are crushed at my feet. Hold this gem close to thine heart and I shall be at your side as a fellow warrior!”

Then Volthoom did the same with the miniaturized Master Ball, “I stand alone. But if you would seek to challenge your destiny, or just yourself, then I shall come. If your need is dire, then I shall aid you. However, if you seek to subjugate, you shall not live to regret it. Call upon me if you would behold my power.”

Then Volthoom pulled back his hand before touching the miniature fountain that he remembered seen before somewhere and heard once again in his mind, "I am Rin the Dungeon Keeper. If you are a hero fear not my darkness for I am immune to its taint. If you need my aid in battle or my expertise in dark magic call me and I'll come if I can."

After realizing that it was a Dungeon Heart from dungeon keeper 2 Volthoom proceeded to the medallion, “I am the warrior, the master of weapons, the seeker of battle and adventure. To those who would require my strength to defeat thy foes, to crush opposing forces, put on these Genji Gloves/hold out this amulet and call out my name with the intent to summon me. If ye be without true malice in thy hearts, know that the mighty Gilgamesh will come to thy aid!”

Releasing the medallion Volthoom touched the comic book, “To those who are worthy of Doom's aid, I care not if you are good or evil. Your morality means nothing to me as only my own will always take precedent, that does not mean I will betray you if indeed you have summoned me. I have my own honor code to battle, I may be visiting your world but just remember I am only just that, a VISITOR seeking payment or knowledge that is of use.”

“Those are tokens, anchors as well as calling cards for other individuals throughout this Multiverse. Keep an inventory of them at all times and warn me if a new one appears or if an old one disappears or lose its energy signature(s) as well as any changes on the items themselves,” ordered Volthoom after his explanation.

“Affirmative,” said TL and not long after Volthoom had an idea.

“Can you use those items to create a map of the Local Multiverse?” asked Volthoom.

“It's possible,” answered the TL after opening another small portal and collecting the tokens on the table.

“Do it and warn me when it's ready,” said Volthoom.

“Affirmative. Initiate mapping,” said the TL and after that there was only silence as Volthoom thought about creating a token for himself, but he decided to do so after recovering the last fragment of his former Black Ring, somehow he knew that whatever resulted from the union of the Phantom Ring and the Black Ring was the original form of Original Volthoom's power.

Volthoom was brought out of his introspection when he heard a knock on the door of his office, he used his telekinesis to open the door and let whoever was knocking in. He looked from the last document of the pile, it seemed that bureaucracy was inevitable no matter the civilization, at least the Changeling Empire was quick and efficient about it. Anyway, he looked at the new arrival and saw Chrysalis entering accompanied by Pupa, who immediately run to Volthoom. Chrysalis remained mostly the same and the only visible change after her metamorphosis was her wings that grew longer similar to a dragonfly but with a glass-like look and foldable under her new deep green elytra, also both her and Pupa were wearing simple yellow dresses.

“Grandpa!!” shouted Pupa, that was another thing that changed, when Volthoom and Phyllia's relationship became official all the younger princes started to see him as a grandparent, it wasn't unusual since royals were immortal and their dynamics could easily shift, besides he was old enough to play the part anyway.

“Hello Pupa, how was your morning?” asked Volthoom as he pulled his chair away from his desk before picking Pupa and placing her on his lap while Chrysalis kissed him before sitting on the right side of the sofa on the side of the office against the wall.

“It was awesome!” shouted Pupa as she looked up at Volthoom before noticing the lantern on his desk but dismissing it as a decoration despite feeling the emotional energy emanating from it.

“Really?” asked Volthoom as he looked at Chrysalis.

“Yeah, she was excited about visiting this place. You and your Order became quite famous, you all are heroes to the citizens of the Empire and an inspiration for the younger generation," said Chrysalis before saying in a teasing tone, "In fact Pupa was just telling me she will become a lightsmith.”

“Mom! It was supposed to be a secret,” said Pupa as she pouted.

“Ah, don't be like this, I bet you will be a great lightsmith,” said Volthoom to Pupa.

“Really?” asked Pupa with hope in her voice and Volthoom nodded.

“So, how are your new siblings?” asked Volthoom.

“Oh! They hatched a few days ago, they were so cute and I wanted to play with them, I even promise to be a good big sister,” said Pupa excitedly, it was clear that this was the first time she had younger siblings.

“Yeah, all of them have bigger than average reserves of magic and were quite active. I must say that I'm impressed with Shining Armor's potential, they are quite a handful bunch and I actually had to double the number of nurses in the nursery to let them have enough rest,” said Chrysalis to Volthoom.

From there the three of them spend the time talking and occasionally playing with Pupa since Volthoom finished his paperwork. Then they were interrupted by another knock on the door and Pupa was on Chrysalis’ lap when Volthoom opened the door personally, he was greeted by Phyllia being accompanied by Ophis, Apis and Vesp, all of whom went through metamorphoses with the only visible changes being that Ophis and Phyllia had was that now they have elytra covering their wings. The only other visible change on Phyllia was the fact that she was pregnant, the result of his and Phyllia's mating a month ago, along with Apis and Vesp also being pregnant from the same occasion, if Volthoom had to compare to anything he saw previously he would say they looked overdue with twins.

“Hello dear,” said Phyllia before placing her arms around Volthoom's neck and pull him closer for a kiss. Then he pulled back and looked at the pouting Apis, so he also kissed her before doing the same with Vesp and Ophis. Then he motioned for them to come in and sit down.

The three pregnant queens sat on the couch while Ophis sat on one of the chairs in front of his desk. Pupa reached out to Apis, who sat beside Chrysalis on the couch for four people, and when Apis picked up her niece the prince immediately started to nuzzle the queen's fluffy fur collar.

“So fluffy,” said Pupa and Apis childishly send a smug look at Chrysalis, who rolled her eyes at her younger sister’s attitude.

“Not that I mind, but why are you three here?” asked Volthoom as he sat back in his chair.

“This is my Empire, besides I don't need an excuse to visit my mate,” said Phyllia.

“Also we were bored,” said Apis as she held Pupa with her right arm as the little prince rested her head on the queen's fluffy fur collar coming out of her blouse.

“Yeah, and hungry,” said Vesp as she rubbed her distended belly and Volthoom raised an eyebrow at the comment.

“Really?” asked Volthoom before continuing, “As far as I know there isn't a shortage of energy anymore and there is a stockpile of energy available. If it's food, then I'm sure the royal chefs would be honored to make something.”

“But we want some energy directly from the source, besides it's only fair that you give us energy since it's your brood as well,” said Apis as she pointed to her midsection with her left hand.

“And you are not saying that just because I happen to be able to naturally refine said energy better than anyone else,” said Volthoom as he raised an eyebrow.

Changelings could refine energy in a similar way that bees make honey, the better trained a changeling was the purer was the energy that they feed both themselves or others. Lightsmiths could produce this energy themselves instead of collecting from others and aside from them or non-changelings it was mostly only the collectors that normally shared energy directly.

*Sigh*

Volthoom sighed before creating six apple constructs, the shape was entirely optional and what mattered was that he filled them with energy. The one he gave Phyllia was pink and made almost entirely of love, as was the one he gave to Pupa who was currently sitting on her mother's lap holding her treat with both hands, the ones he gave to Apis and Vesp had hints of anger to give a more “spicy” taste that they liked, the one he gave Ophis had a hint of greed and fear giving it a more acidic taste similar to a grapefruit and the one he gave to Chrysalis had a hint of hope and compassion giving it a “colder” taste kinda like mint.

They enjoyed their meal in silent and Volthoom just contemplated the idea of being a father, it didn't make much of a difference to him now because he already felt like a father or grandfather to most changelings and even non-changelings.

“Local Multiverse mapped,” said TL catching the attention of the six visitors as well as Volthoom's.

“Status,” ordered Volthoom.

“All trans-universal routes to the owners of the tokens traced and destinations mapped. Locations with copies of the tokens and without a known owner were partially mapped based on cross-referencing known destinations,” said the TL.

“I see, that will be all,” said Volthoom.

“Travel Lantern offline,” said TL.

“What is that talking lamp?” asked Pupa after finishing absorbing her meal.

“It's a lantern, dear, not a lamp,” said Chrysalis after she too finished her meal and her daughter just made an "ooh" sound before nodding.

“What's that talking lantern?” asked Pupa correcting herself.

“The Travel Lantern,” said Phyllia after she finished her meal.

“Travel…” started Apis before placing the last piece of her meal in her mouth and feeling it melt inside her mouth as it lost its structural integrity.

”…Lantern?” finished Vesp after she swallowed the last bit of the former constructs.

Then Phyllia proceeded to explain what the Travel Lantern was and needless to say that they were very impressed.

“Wait! Timeout,” said Ophis as she made a “T” with her hands after finishing her meal as well before asking, “You can travel through time?”

“Yes,” answered Volthoom as he read some documents after storing the Travel Lantern back into his chest during Phyllia's explanation.

“Then that means you could save Flutter Valley,” said Vesp.

“At the cost of the changeling race and the Empire itself. It means to erase the lives of every changeling ever born,” said Volthoom and the price of such action downing on the younger queens, while Phyllia missed the Valley she made peace with what happened and Chrysalis already lived a long life and despite everything, she wouldn't have it any other way.

The heavy atmosphere was broken when someone barged in scaring Volthoom's visitors in the process, the intruder was a gryphoness with dark green feathers and dark brown almost black fur, she was panting and by the ring near the tip of her tail, she was a lightsmith.

“My Lord! *Pant* *pant* An urgent message from our spies on the north. 'The Crystal Empire has returned’,” said the gryphoness.

“Sorry, but we have to cut our reunion short,” said Volthoom to the queens before getting up and getting out of his office accompanied by the gryphoness. Then he broadcasted his voice throughout both the facility and the Hive Mind, “All lightsmiths on reserve prepare to move out! We are going to the edge of the world!”

Finally the chance to recover the last fragment of the Black Ring.

Author's Notes:

Manhunters and the Kryptonians are from DC while the Men of Iron and Fall of the Eldar are from Warhammer 40k.

Sorry about the shorter chapter, I'm kinda having a writer's block at the moment.

The tokens are from:
"A Lich Of Metal And Souls.", "Asphyxious Hellbringer The Dragon Of Instinct." and "Dragon Of Instinct, Become's The All Father." by ShadowsInTheDark
"Gravity of the Situation" by DJSkywalker
"A Matter of Genetics" by Guardsman_Sparky
"The Beating of my Heart." by Clockworklich
"The Mighty Warrior of Epicness" and "For Glory! For Equus! For Epicness!" by shinigamisparda
"Power Ponies and Doom" by Architect of Realities