Warning! Spoilers ahead for Green Lantern #9
In the latest issue of DC Comics' Green Lantern, two Guardians of Oa have betrayed the Corps resulting in nearly all of the Lanterns having been killed or their rings losing all power. While the attack and destruction of Oa's Central Power Battery had largely been a mystery, Green Lantern Jo Mullein had been investigating who the true culprits were. However, the real threat is revealed to come from within the Corps itself.
In Green Lantern #9 from Geoffery Thorne, Tom Raney, Marco Santucci, and Maria Laura Sanapo, Green Lantern Jo Mullein learns the truth about everything that's happened since Oa agreed to host a summit meeting of the United Planets. Right as the Corps was being inducted into the coalition of planets seeking to work towards peace, one of the Guardians (named Koyos) was killed with a magic arrow. Fired by a race of magicians from the planet Zerox known as the Bright Circle, the Central Power Battery exploded not soon after. However, Jo began to suspect that there was more at play than just the magicians.
In this new issue, Jo decides to interrogate Yridian, the leading sorceress of the Bright Circle who the remaining Lanterns have had in custody since the United Planets summit. As a result, Yridian reveals that the Guardians of Oa greatly limited magic in the cosmos when they first harnessed the green light of willpower for their Lantern Corps. Apparently, the Guardian Koyos made a deal with the magicians and sought to correct that error, attempting to appeal to his fellow Guardians who ultimately didn't listen. This resulted in the Magicians employing their backup plan by shooting Koyos with their magic arrow. When Koyos's body was traditionally placed inside the Green Lanterns' Central Power Battery, the magic within Koyos resulted in the Battery explosion and the other Guardians being locked in a quantum state of death. Now, Koyos has returned in a monstrous form, seemingly possessed by magic and being referred to as the Anti-Guardian, turning against the Green Lantern he once helped lead.
Combined with the secret plotting of Koyos's fellow Guardian Nemosyni who's still alive and recently murdered a United Planets leader, it seems as though these particular Guardians are seeking to restore the balance of power in the galaxy by ending the Lanterns and bringing the universe's magic back to full strength. However, the reasons why are still unclear. Is it simply to correct the wrongdoings of the Guardians in the past? How does that justify the near-extinction of the entire Green Lantern Corps whose officers have dedicated their lives to keeping the galaxy safe?
The Guardians of Oa have never been pure by any means, and it's certainly ironic that a desire to correct the "sins" of their past has resulted in an incredibly devastating event. In any case, it seems as though the Green Lanterns have quite the battle ahead of them as they face the Anti-Guardian. However, with so few Lanterns left with powered rings, things certainly aren't looking very bright as Green Lantern continues.