Prologue
The truth has been forgotten. Swept away by the sands of time. Burnt with the fires that demolished anything but the acceptable truth. One thousand one hundred years ago, there was a time when the truth was known. The Shadows moved, stretching forth their hands to the Younger Races. What is accepted fact is that a coalition was raised against them, the Minbari leading the way towards victory.
What has been lost though is that most races accepted their help. The question was seductive. "What do you want?" The Abbai wanted to rule all the seas of their world, and the result was the massacre of seven million off-worlders. The Selassians wanted to expand their empire to all the worlds of the Epsilon Sector, and the result was war with the Centauri and the Narns. The Jem-Kil and thier need for a Holy One, the Boorken's desire to purge all unpure among them, and the Sensaste wanted to become a military power to rival the Gods.
Also is lost is the fact the Vorlons nearly lost the Shadow War. At one time seven hundred of the Younger Races were under the sway of the Shadows, and during the penultimate battle of San'san'do'do, a billion of the Vorlons were killed and they were nearly broken as a power. Two hundred races that had joined the Shadow Alliance were wiped out during that battle. But, they had overthrown the Gods, had they not? Had they not seen them die?
The Vorlons were forced to flee before the Shadows, and leave those who had not been touched yet by Shadows to also answer the question. "What do you want?"
When Valen arrived, to lead the Minbari and the remaining free Younger Races (the Tak'Cha, the Markab, the Ikkarans, to name just a few) against the Shadows, after the Minbari had accepted his rule, and he called the alliance together, he spoke on the Mount H'Leya, overlooking Tuzanor, Imperial Capitol on Minbar. Time changed what he said, and it is now accepted fact that he said, "The Minbari are the first to raise arms against the Shadows. Their power is stronger than most, and we will prevail as long as they, with me leading, led the charge against the Shadows."
But...that's not what he said. I know. I was there. Before the humans knew me, before my rise...and my mistakes...and my fall, I was on Minbar. There is truth that Valen started the transference of Minbari souls towards Humans and visa-versa. But, I was the very first. For as I bled on the fields of Kah'Markab, the last battle before we took the war to Za'ha'dum, I lay bleeding on the field of battle. I was dying.
But he came, and he gave me of his own blood so I might live. I wonder if he knew that one day I would betray him? I was Nukenn, of the Family Zir. I was his right hand man. But, I saw the greatness, but could not abide by it. Me and Rashok, of the Family Dosh, were there when he arrived. I was Religious, but had taken up the ways of the Warrior Caste to fight the good fight against the Shadows. Rashok was Warrior Caste, but he would first betray Valen. Not me, but by his betrayal, he made me see what I did not first see. That Valen was the end of everything that had once been Minbari and molding it into something new.
I rallied his enemies against him, and he fled. But, what he had started could not be undone. And how I wept bitterly. For I had loved him.
But, I would be reborn, into another form. Another life. Another planet. I would create a kingdom of equals. There would be no poor or rich. I would fight the good fight, hoping to raise all men by my deeds. Do you not see, Anla'Shok? I was, even in another life, influenced by him.
No, do not interrupt me when I am speaking. No? Need I teach you again young man what it means to be subordinate? What it means to be broken? I have broken far better men than you. The time has come, to tell you the truth. The Minbari were not the first to rise up against the Minbari. They were not even the second. They were the third. Valen once said, "You were Third to fight against the Shadows. Three shall henceforth be sacred to all Minbari." And so it has.
The Markabs were the first to rise up against them. It was they who said, "No!" And their punishment was swift. A plague sprang up on one of their islands. The Shadows had never used this weapon before, so they wanted to test it in a short area. The island was Drafa, a place of certain vices and immoral virtues. There was a million on that island. They were all dead within a week.
The Ikkarans were the second to resist. Their punishment was more severe in some ways. Seven times they were attacked over a decade. Each time was more fierce than the last. Then...they committed the grievous sin. They let military and science create the perfect weapon. And that weapon was successful. It wouldn't be after the end of the War that the mistake would spring forth. I know, I was sent by Valen, as my last assignment in his service, to save as many Ikkarans as I could. But the slaughter was already over. The entire population except the bio-weapons were dead, and I killed them. Every single one of them.
Maybe that was why I was chosen to be reborn as a human. I knew the need of true peace. True glory. True loyalty. For I knew what it was to betray my Lord. How fitting my second life would end in betrayal by those closest to me. I was taken by the Vorlons as I lay dying and preserved, until they needed me again. I have trained three warriors. Sech Maoran, Sech Durhan and now you. Perhaps you are the one they spoke of. The one who will lead the Rangers at the side of the One Who Will Be.
Come Marcus Cole, pick up your denn'bok. Lennon is dying. He will not live out the year. You must learn. Now, see true terror. Look, and see the fall of Kah-Markab. The illness is spreading again. They will not serve, and this time, the Shadows have perfected their means of destruction. The second of the ancient enemies will fall now.
Marcus Cole slowly rose from where he had sat crossed leg, and followed the Once and Future King as Arthur of Camelot, son of Uther Pendragon, led him to the viewing gallery.