Chapter One

The Prophecy

An Emperor of Darkness

And a Sorceress of Light,

Combine the Two Forces

Of the Ultimate Might

Evil and Good, entwined by Devotion,

Both Morality and Sin in Fission,

From which the Child of faith will arise,

The Emperor shall fall to ignorance

So the Savior is free from Hate.

In the future, his people shall he rescue

From the Emperor's tyrannical Might.

"What?"

"I know… it's unbelievable."

Vikor stared at his daughter, Scorpina, in disbelief.

"Are you sure?" he queried, frowning through the shock he felt at his daughter's news.

She nodded confidently, "It's as plain as the scorpion in my nature, father. Lord Zedd has wed Rita Repulsa."

Vikor wrinkled up his nose in disgust, shaking his head violently,"Has he lost his mind?"

Scorpina smirked slyly, "Well, remember he doesn't have a skull to keep his mind in…"

Vikor was not in the mood for jokes. He, too, had once been a warrior, but his age was showing, since he had served Zedd's sire, the mighty Lord Aytiphon, when he had reigned, and had kept his loyalty to the dynasty ever since, serving deep into Zedd's service now.

"I thought he'd propose to you before he ever considered marrying Vile's pathetic spawn..." Vikor hissed, confused and angered by Zedd's actions.

Scorpina scoffed, "Why would I want to marry him, father? Fine, he's got status and power, but come on! Don't forget he was married once before, to that goody too shoes Lilia."

"Rather him than that Titanian buffoon..." he mumbled below his breath in return.

Scorpina frowned, not hearing her father's words, but half-suspecting what he had said.

They conversed in one of the rooms of Vikor's large home, on a planet in a distant galaxy from Earth. Scorpina had since left Zedd's present service, and had caught word of the Nimian's marriage before she had traveled too far. The news was relatively uncommon, but those who managed to catch it were overcome with shock.

Zedd's reputation was beginning to wane. Marrying a subordinate, never mind a failing one, was an uncommon and seriously frowned upon act, especially for one of Zedd's status.

"You don't trust Lord Zedd to his own devices?" Scorpina asked her father, still smug, enjoying watching him enrage himself.

Vikor's purple eyes met his daughter's deep brown, "I wish I could trust him," he growled, "But now he's stepped over the line. I'd rather leave him to his 'own devices' if he wants to get entwined in the web of Vile's dynasty!"

Scorpina took a breath, nodding. As far as she knew, Zedd did not know of Rita's father, Master Vile, and his galactic position. Vile was a powerful villain in his own right, but had no such empire under his thumb as Zedd had.

Zedd was but a junior in Vile's view, Vile being so much older. Vile was unhappy when his daughter, Rita, stepped into Zedd's services many centuries ago, and was, to put it simply, envious of the domain that was Zedd's.

This marriage now intertwined Zedd with Rita, and therefore Vile. When Vile found out about this marriage, apart from being immensely angry, would he try to turn it to his advantage? After all, should Zedd die, who would inherit his lands? He had no heir, so, now, it would be his wife: Rita Repulsa.

"Damn fool..." Vikor cursed the Nimian hatefully.

'No heir,' Scorpina thought to herself over Zedd. Had he really gone so many years through life and had no offspring? He was a cocksure ladies' man, everyone knew that; but in Zedd there was such a fine line between affection and aggression that he was widely feared. Many females, even ambitious ones, who recognized his status, wealth and power as attractions to him, tended to know better, and kept well clear of the Emperor of Evil.

Scorpina nearly chuckled out loud at her own thoughts: did Rita really know what she had gotten herself into? Rita liked to be in control, but little did she realize (as far as Scorpina could deduce) that Lord Zedd, who was ten times as powerful as she was anyway, would dominate the marriage. He had the tyrannical nature and frightening power to pull the strings.

Perhaps Zedd held his own agenda in this union; perhaps it was Rita who was the fool.

Little did the two of them know Zedd did have an heir, not just one, but two Tomias and Tharos. Both boys would share in a very well known prophecy that was foretold before the Galactic Council of Worlds was founded.

670,000 years earlier.

Supreme Councilor Demitria looked out from her window in her home on Eltar. For nearly three years she had been the leader of the Council, though it had not been her wish. Rather, it was something she had been forced into, but there was no other choice. She was the most experienced and wisest Councilor alive now. The rest were dead.

Zarame... what must you think of the universe now, wherever you are? Demitria sighed. She remembered the day three years ago when Zarame died. She had felt it. So had every decent Adept throughout the universe.

When the current Council at the time had heard of it, there was shock and disbelief but also a wish to take action. An action that Demitria did not like when she learned of it. It had been kept from her along with several others, to keep the voting on the matter in favor of the ones who wished for this to happen.

The plan that the Council wanted to execute was to send five Ranger Teams to the Earth with a contingent of military forces; to go to Earth and attack, guns blazing, against the evil that had to be there; the evil that had killed Zarame. It was to be a holy jihad in retribution for Zarame's death. That was the official line.

Unofficially, it was a way for several members of the Council to legally justify the extermination of every living being on the planet. With Zarame dead, there was no reason to consider its people worth saving. To many worlds, humans from Earth were simply backwater savages not even worth the time they would need to be educated and taught better about the universe. This way, they could eliminate all obstacles and quickly claim the uninhabited world as their own.

But what was the reason for such a thing? It was to get at the vast magical energy that was within the planet itself. There was so much in the Earth that it would empower the Council for eons. People would do anything for it.

Demitria closed her eyes as she remembered that day two years and six months ago when she barged into the Council with her friend Xander of Triforia, hoping to stop this insanity... only to be the guest at a massacre.

"What is the meaning of this?" Demitria exclaimed as she came into the main council room, her shout drawing much attention. Right behind her was Xander.

"Demitria, we were just waiting for you to..." the Supreme Councilor Mertak started to say before Demitria cut him off.

"You have given orders to the military forces we sent to wipe out the human race! For what purpose?" Demitria demanded.

"Why shouldn't they be wiped out?" Councilor Nemia sneered, standing haughtily at her place on the main council. "All they do is ruin their own species. They have no idea of what power that world holds. Power that could be used for the betterment of the universe."

"So genocide is now part of the way of the Light?" Xander snapped.

"You don't know your place in the grand scheme of things, young Prince." Councilor Darkonda, a member of the Mephistian race, spoke. Both Xander and Demitria knew that there was something wrong with him, something dark, but they could never prove it.

"For that matter we have no idea if there are any living creatures left. Only the pockets of evil and the cancerous evil that murdered the great Zarame," the supreme councilor said, his tone unidentifiable as sadness or joy. The High Councilor had never gotten along with Zarame, but Demitria had no idea how he would take his death. "The council has already voted. Regardless of whatever vote you might have made, this decision is final. Once our five Ranger teams eliminate this evil, the military will wipe out all the evil from the planet and cleanse it for our own kind to live there and use its power."

"You cannot in good conscience do this!" Demitria exclaimed.

"My judgment is final and absolute," Mertak declared.

Suddenly a flash of darkness appeared in the center of the chamber and when it had faded the council all gasped... it was dismembered bodies of Rangers.

To be more precise, the thirty members of the five Ranger teams that had been sent to Earth.

"I'd like to appeal that verdict."

The council all looked to the source of that voice and everyone had no idea who this being was.

Everyone except Demitria, who fell to her knees in shock, "... May the Power help us all..."

Trey saw the dismembered bodies of his fellow Rangers and was about to rush at the being, and would have if not for Demitria speaking to him in his mind. -Xander! Do not attack him!-

-But...-

-By all that is sane in the universe Xander, if you don't wish to return home in a coffin do absolutely nothing toward that man!!!- Demitria commanded.

Xander froze in his place, in disbelief at Demitira's tone and words, She's speaking to me normally ... and she's so afraid... who is this man?

"Who... who are you?" Mertak asked.

The being just smiled at him and the council, "You have the nerve to call me a cancerous evil when you yourselves are tainted by the Darkness in your hearts. You who are the real cancers to the way of the Light. At least half of the people I see in this room don't even have the right to live."

"Who are you to judge anything?" Nemia spat, "You are interrupting a very important..."

"Be silent and appear before me," the being commanded and Nemia appeared before him in an instant, floating in mid-air. "Councilor Nemia of Anduras. May I list your sins? You are personally responsible for the deaths of a million innocents on the planet of Hathor by selling them into the slavery of the now terminated Machine Empire leader Prince Gasket, you are responsible for selling secrets to Dark Specter which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers..." An amused smile appeared on his face. "And you happened to kill your own parents to assume their wealth so you could maneuver yourself into your place of power."

The look on Nemia's face was absolute disbelief, and in her mind she wanted to know how he could have found that out. The council itself was in an uproar. There were those who felt disgusted by this news, Demitria and Xander among them. But there were those who wondered how this being had learned all of this information... and wondered what else he knew about, or who he knew about.

"I have many talents. Finding out information that no one wants to have brought out into the open happens to be one of them," the being told her. "Now then... what should be your punishment?" He thought about it for a while and looked at her. "You want to know how you are going to die?" Nemia shook her head. "Too bad." He waved his hand to the right and everyone reacted in shock and horror at what they had just seen.

In one motion he had just flayed all of Nemia's skin from her body, killing her instantly.

Everyone was sickened, even Darkonda, who had done many terrible things in his life but kept them from ever being known. Mertak just looked at the man in the middle of the room and asked, "... what are you?"

"I am the Whirlwind of Change... the Black Wind of Chaos... I am Zedd."

Many of the council started to run for the exit while others just stood frozen, Demitria and Xander among them. So was Mertak.

Darkonda was not.

"You don't think you are escaping my divine judgment do you?" Zedd smiled a sinister smile as he raised his right hand, which began to glow black, "You will be made to repent for your sins and you shall repent for all of eternity... as my servants!"

From his hand the energy traveled across the room and Demitria thought that it was the end for her... but it wasn't. For all those who ran, the energy struck them, and they howled out in pain and agony as they felt their energy being drained into nothing and fell to the ground almost lifeless. Zedd took their power into his own, feeling his own strength growing. But still the smile did not leave his face. Instead he suddenly spoke and what he said struck fear into everyone.

"Now the fun begins."

Darkonda started to get up but felt strange. He started to scratch his hand but then the skin started to rot and fall apart. When it was gone, what he saw was a slime-encrusted hand. "What... what's happening to me? No... No... NO!!!"

The same was happening to all of the others that had been hit by the blast. They were all losing their normal appearance, and becoming something new. Something terrible. Demonic beasts and creatures that Demitria herself had only seen once and had believed to have been wiped out from the face of the universe. "Evi-sevs..."

Zedd looked up at Mertak as he walked over his first few completed Evi-sevs and they were a sight to be feared. Six feet tall, covered in slime to show their newborn status but underneath that slime were green scales stronger than most metals. Claws that could rip through titanium, fanged teeth that emerged outside of the mouth, small eyes narrowed and looking very hungry. Zedd pointed to Mertak and two male councilors next to him. "Those three and only those three are your dinner... now feast."

Mertak didn't even have time to scream, nor did the two councilors next to him before the four Evi-sevs pounced on them with inhuman speed, knocking them off their pedestals and into the shadows.

Demitria thought that was a good thing, as she didn't need to see Mertak and those other two men being eaten alive. The rest of the Council felt the same way.

Zedd smiled as he looked upon the sight and saw that the rest of his Evi-sevs were done. He looked upon the sight of the great council. Once a membership of fifty, now cut down to only seventeen members, twenty-nine now his Evi-sevs and four people just plain dead. He looked toward Demitria, "Congratulations, Demitria."

"... Wh... What?" The Inquarian woman blinked in shock.

"Now that I have eliminated the cancer from your Council, perhaps under your leadership they might actually 'do' some good." Zedd smirked.

"Cancer... just what you are!" Xander roared, "What do you think you have done?"

"It's simple, Prince Xander of Triforia," Zedd explained, "I'm beginning my legacy."

What must Zarame think of him now? Demitria asked.

"In case you all have been wondering who was the one that killed Zarame of Eltar... wonder no longer. I am the one that killed him," Zedd said proudly, "May he burn in hell for all of eternity for what he had done."

".... YOU?! YOU WERE THE ONE TO KILL HIM! THE MAN THAT I LOVED!!!" Demitria roared, her own outrage surprising everyone including herself, but she was beyond anger, beyond caution. "HOW COULD YOU?! HOW COULD YOU KILL YOUR OWN FATHER!!!?"

What was left of the council was in an uproar as everyone was speaking about this. That this man, this Zedd was Zarame's son?! It was unbelievable.

Zedd, however, didn't care what they said. He just looked Demitria in the eyes. "Zarame of Eltar was a fool. He was a man who would have left behind a Legacy that would have brought nothing but a never-ending yearly cycle of death and destruction! He was a worthless father that allowed his fake wife to do whatever she wanted to me, including murdering my own one true love! But most of all.... he sided with the UAE to betray me and sealed me in a dimensional hell for fifty millennia! You ask me how could I have killed him... the question should be 'how could I not have killed him?'"

Demitria just stood there, taking all of that before Zedd spoke again. "The UAE by the way is no more. I have eliminated most of it, and taken what was left to form my own organization. The Shadow Consortium. Earth and its solar system are now under our domain as are all former UAE territories. Any attempt by this council to invade any of them will be considered an act of war... and I will retaliate against you with deadly force. This is your one and only warning. My advice to you is that before you decide to declare war against me, you had better be sure you can kill me. Because I promise you, if we go to war... I will show you no mercy." Before anyone could say anything else, Zedd brought his hand down and he and his Evi-sevs were gone in a flash of darkness.

Demitria knew that Zedd's threat was not an empty one. Had they resisted then, they would have been wiped out. They had to wait. They had to build up their forces, and not just Rangers, for Demitria knew that it would not be enough. Her first act as Supreme Chancellor had been to fully reactivate the Military Forces of the Council. For many generations the fleet had been a former shell of its great glory as Rangers were proving to be more useful in the style of combat that Dark Specter and the United Alliance of Evil -- the UAE -- employed.

But Zedd was not Dark Specter and his Shadow Consortium was not the UAE.

Different enemy's required different tactics and the revitalization of the military forces seemingly brought a booming success through out the economy of the worlds. Enlistment was at five hundred percent of normal and continuing to grow. All of these were volunteers, not drafted men and women. These were people who had been rejected from the Ranger Academies because they were not of the 'high standard' that the Council wanted of their Rangers.

That high standard was something Demitria was trying to eliminate. She was not going to give up on the Rangers. She had once been a Ranger herself, a White Ranger, and she had seen her teammates not be conventional like many of the Council's teams had been. It was high time for new blood to be added to the Ranger Corps.

Her doorbell went off and she said, "Enter." King Xander of Triforia walked into her chambers. Demitria felt a bit of sorrow for her friend, his late father, killed by the Varox. It was also their last kill as, before anyone could place blame on Zedd for having hiring the Varox, it was discovered that the Shadow Consortium had annihilated the Varox homeworld shortly before the assassination of King Triton. The true culprit was Triforian lord Tamtast, who was swiftly put to Triforian justice and executed on worldwide broadcast for his treachery.

"The council meeting is about to start." The newly made King of Triforia spoke.

"I know..." Demitria breathed.

"Are you thinking of Zarame... or the Earth?"

"I wonder if there is anyone at all left alive on that world," Demitria muttered. "We can't even go near that system. Not unless we want to face the majority of Zedd's forces."

"We know the power the planet itself holds... but is that all he's really interested in, Demitria?" Xander asked.

"So you have thought the same thing that I have these last two years?" Demitria sighed. "I do believe that Zedd has more in mind for the planet than just its magic... but what that something is I have not a clue." Deciding to put that matter aside for the moment, she walked with Xander to meet with the Council. Today they would be discussing matters of state... and the status of the war they had now finally put themselves in with the Shadow Consortium. After nearly three years of preparing, they believed that they were ready.

Demitria only prayed that they weren't just fooling themselves.

5,000 years later.

Zedd lifted his sword into the air as sweat poured from the pores of his perdurable gray hair. Thoughts of disbelief and disgust plugged into his brain as he stood on the earthen soil in front of his comrade, and teammate who he'd promised as a Morphin Master to protect and serve for the remainder of his life. And his comrade stood in front of him with the revelation that would tear his life apart for good. He offensively attempted to convey his sword towards Zordon but the haunting reminiscence of the promise he' made to Master Solaris brought him to a halt.

Zedd sensed his thoughts, and gave an unpropitious laugh mocking Zordon's immobile state. "You pathetic fool! Even in the face of death you adhere to the code of the Morphin Masters?"

Zordon sighed and searched for the right altercation to give Zedd, but couldn't find a response that suited his feelings. He secured his weapon to the ground and clasped his hands together. "I have nothing to say to you, but I hope you can find a way to forgive yourself," he finally said. His words where meant to give Zedd some type of intercessory that would benefit him into the afterlife, and he knew nothing more to say.

"Just as I thought," Zedd conveyed. "You really are the poltroon that my true master revealed you to be," His eyes mutated into the menacing stare of a monster, revealing that he'd been twisted by the forces of evil. Zedd lifted his hands towards the sky and broke into a cultural performance making movements that Zedd had become familiar with while studying ancient scrolls written by the forces of evil. He began maneuvering his hands making and began maneuvering them creating a scourged wave of blue light.

The wave of light shot towards Zedd's body and sent him flying up against one of the many trees on the immense earthen forest. He cried out in pain as the blue light held him up against the trunk of the tree. 'This was not the Zedd he'd grown up with, and shared his most private memories with. He knew he help, and he wasn't ready to give up on him.' Zordon thought

"Why are you doing this Zedd?" he asked. "You're going against everything Master Solaris taught you,"

Zordon tightened the energy around Zedd at the mention of his former Master's name. He knew that Zedd was trying to ploy him away from the truth, and he wasn't going to let him. He had the advantage to strike down Zedd then and there and continue their quest to wipe out the remnants of Solaris' idiotic Morphin Grid.

"Why are you doing this Tek?" Zedd asked, trying to keep the harshness out of his voice, needing to seem warmheartedly.

Tek knew his meaning; Zedd had forgotten Zordon's ability to read minds which would cause the eventual death of him. "It's what I must do. My work is my duty," Zedd responded carefully.

"You're telling me your work is to take the lives of innocent humans who have given there lives to conducting peace throughout the galaxy? You don't believe that Zedd. I know you don't and you do too," Zordon responded calmly, boldly overcoming the pain Tek was inflicting upon his body.

"It's the war; it's all apart of the war,"

"I haven't heard of any war,"

Zordon didn't want to take the life of Zedd's, but he knew too much, and Zordon already knew what he had to do. He knew Zordon had the power to expose his master's true plan. Zedd increased the bind he had placed upon Zordon and laughed evilly as he watched his brother's life slip slowly into his grasp.

Red energy formed around Zedd. Within a matter of seconds Zedd was gone, transported away. Zordon immediately brought down his hands in confusion. When the energy soon faded, Zedd found himself on another battlefield. Looking around he soon realized that he was no longer and Earth, but on Eltar.

He soon fell to his knees panting for breath. All round him the noises of guns, swords, and other weapons were heard, but though all the noise a feint voice was heard. "Are you alright." Looking up, Zedd was mate with a heart stopping gorgeous woman, dark-haired and wisdom in her eyes. He only nodded to weak to say a thing. "Good, my name is Lilia." She said turning form him. She signed for two men. Both came running. "Please take this man to the Ranger Academy, someone there should be able to heal him.

9,000 years later.

A tall muscular man, with reddish hair waited in silence outside of the white stained corridor, prepared to accept the new additions being brought into his life. The sun shown through the crystal clear window, sunlight was something he'd always seen, but today, somehow it shown differently. It had a unique essence about it in which he'd never witnessed before.

"Zedd, come, quickly!" a voice echoed through the corridor.

Startled from the sudden disturbance, he jumped from his seat and hurried down the long hallway. He could hear the sound of crying, and knew at once that life had welcomed two new additions into its circle.

"You're the father of two beautiful males," a young woman dressed in nurses clothing told him.

He glanced down at his wife Lilia who had each twin in one of her arms, and smiled. "They're beautiful," he said nervously, not knowing what action he should perform next.

Lilia smiled at him. "You can hold them you know, you are their father," she said sarcastically.

Zedd wretch his arms out towards one of the twins, as Lilia lifted one of the babies into his arms. He looked down upon his son and smiled at the innocent face that stared back at him. "I've never been so happy," he said smiling at his son. "I love you Lilia,"

"And I love you, Zedd," she grinned. "Now comes the hard part,"

He gave her a puzzled glance, not sure what she meant. "Hard part?" he asked.

"We have to name them, of course."

"Oh yes, the naming process," he sighed a breath of relief and glanced down at the child he had in his arms.

"I was thinking Tomias," he said smiling at his son.

She laughed. "Tomias will do fine," She turned to their other nameless son, and knew at once what name should be bestowed to him. "How about Tharos for the other."

"Tomias and Tharos," Zedd laughed. Remembering that he two had a brother, which he shared the first letter of his name with.

6 years later.

It was I hot summer day, the birds where singing and for two children, it was the best day to go outside a play. Their mother sat witching them play form a chair, both boys where playing with model spaceship, that their father had given them for the sixth birthday that had past only a few months ago.

Suddenly a loud cry was heard. "Mommy…Tomias broke the Woglinde." The younger of the two cried out. The young woman walked over to her two sons. "That me see it Tharos" she replied. The younger boy headed her, his toy. It was broken into two pieces.

In the distance a pair of foot steps where heard. One stopped shortly before exiting the home, the other, on the other hand continued. As the figure came closer his form could be seen. He Look like he had been striped of his skin, metal had formed around his body along with a tube that emerged form his back and reconnected in his chest, lastly a visor and a grid was visible on his face.

"Have you two been, good for you mother?" The figure asked. Lilia turned to face him. "Who are you?" She asked. Tomias walked over to the figure. "D…Daddy?" he said. Zedd nodded. Both Lilia and Tharos walked up a alongside Tomias. "Please go inside children I would like to speak to you mother." Zedd spoke up. Both boys run into the house laughing as they what. "What the hell happened to you?" Lilia asked.

"It's not important want happened." He replied looking at the broken spaceship what was still in her hands. "Tomias broke in again has he?" Zedd said taking the toy form here, and in a flash it was fixed. "Don't go changing the subject Zedd. Tell me what happened?" She asked again. "I tried to get the Zeo Crystals, but was meet with a force field that did this." He replied looking down at his new form.

"But only being of great evil, can be attacked by the field you should have known that." She replied. "No." was his replied. The look of confusion appeared on her face. 'But that means that his evil, no that can't be turn I would have known if he was.' "You don't get it do you Lilia. I am evil." Came her answer.

Later that night.

It was in the middle of the night when a figure walked softly into the room where the two sleeping boys lay. She walks over to their beds, and stopped looking at the two of them as they slept. 'Tomias is too much like his father, so the safe thing to do is take Tharos.' She walked over to his bedside, and picked him up, before teleporting to the real Woglinde, that was heading for earth, not the earth of their time, but millions of year into the future where Tharos would be safe. 'God forgive me.'