Raynor and Zeratul had not seen in each other in years, but their reunion was hardly warm. The protoss greeted Jim with a warning of doom, delivered through an ihan crystal that contained his recent memories. The crystal was more than a record; it allowed Jim to relive Zeratul’s memories.
Following rumors of a prophecy involving the Xel’Naga, the ancient aliens that uplifted protoss and zerg in the distant past, Zeratul had arrived on the planet Ulaan – as had the Queen of Blades. The two battled, but Zeratul escaped with fragments of a tablet describing the prophecy in detail, and headed to the planet Zhakul to ask the preservers, a caste of historical archivists, to translate them.
On Zhakul, Zeratul encountered one of the frightful hybrids, a mature version of the abomination that he’d seen years ago under Duran’s care. The Dark Templar’s forces avoided the near-invincible hybrid and reached the preservers, whose interpretation of the prophecy revolved around a “Great Hungerer.” This led Zeratul to Aiur, where he sought answers from the corpse of the Overmind.
On Aiur, Zeratul’s attempts to commune with the Overmind brought him into contact with a being whose spirit was closely connected with the creature – his old ally, Tassadar, who had perished slaying it. Tassadar imparted a terrible truth: the Overmind had created the Queen of Blades to liberate the zerg. The Overmind foresaw a future where a being called the Fallen One used the zerg to destroy protoss and terran utterly, and so it had mutated a terran to try and exempt its species from a future of servitude. Shaken, Raynor realized that Kerrigan, murderous as she was, was the only hope of preventing the zerg from exterminating all life in the sector.
Meanwhile, the Raiders had hatched a plan to publicly discredit Mengsk – hijacking the Odin, a titanic siege mech planned to parade through the emperor’s square on Korhal. During the ultramech’s rampage, the Raiders were able to broadcast evidence of Mengsk’s corruption throughout the Dominion worlds.
Shock and outrage erupted in the Dominion; several worlds seceded. Mengsk’s rule was shaken.
