Shane was puzzled by Monarch's thirst for knowledge.
"You've lived quite a legendary life yourself. Why would you be interested in other people's experiences?"
Monarch folded his arms and snorted.
"You'd understand if you'd been sliced apart by Hypertime too. Strictly speaking, most of my eight-thousand-year lifespan was fake. Use your brain."
"The future hasn't even happened yet. Hypertime merely split me into countless versions of myself, and most of them were filled with memories of how to replace you."
Shane glanced at the dull gray lantern, which no longer gave off any dark green light. After a moment's consideration, he decided against putting it away.
His eyes shifted, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.
"My version of the story is that Superman never actually came here."
Monarch immediately knitted his brows, but rather than interrupt Shane, he waited for him to continue.
"Mon-El overthrew the previous Phantom King in his own way and took control of this bizarre lantern."
"Until one day, he discovered its side effects."
"He couldn't accept that he was developing negative feelings toward Superman, so he began racking his brains for a way to counteract that influence." "Mon-El found jewel kryptonite and tried to use its powerful mental power to ward off those bizarre forces."
"But it was too late. If the lantern's influence was a poison, it had already seeped into his bones."
"And so, driven by that self-loathing, Mon-El's mental power began moving toward another solution-one that wasn't really a solution at all."
"He split himself in two. One half retained the utterly pure character Mon-El had once possessed and wandered outside all day."
"The other half was the vile part he couldn't purge. It became the new Phantom King-the overgrown child who would fly into jealous rages over all sorts