A Dark, Distorted Mirror. Volume 4. A Future, Born in Pain

Only when Sinoval returned had the scales fallen from his eyes. Only then did he truly understand.

A great man did not humbly or meekly abide by the sanctions of society. A great man broke all chains binding him. A great man disregarded his destiny, ignored the words of others, and rose by his will alone. Valen had not acted according to convention when he had formed the Anla'Shok and created the Grey Council, and neither had Sinoval when he had shattered both.

'Am I a great man?' he asked again, and realised the sheer futility of that question.

He would never know. History would judge him, and the decision would not be made until long after his death. If he was fortunate, if the old Gods of war favoured him, he would be reborn into another body, another life, and then he would look back at history's judgment of his former life, and only then would he know.

There was the soft sound of footsteps at his side, and he turned, smiling when he saw who it was. Takier, clan leader of the Storm Dancers clan, was one of his greatest allies. He had been among the first to spurn Sinoval's leadership, and when Sonovar announced himself in opposition, Takier had brought his entire clan to his side.

Almost his entire clan.

Takier had been blessed with three children. His son had been killed in the assault on Minbar. He had two daughters. Tirivail had come with her father willingly, recognising the needs of Minbar and her duty to her clan.

Lanniel had gone elsewhere.

'They talk,' said Takier, half dismissively. 'They talk, they pray, they argue. It is strange, but they remind me a great deal of the priestlings debating a foolish point of law in Valen's prophecies.'

Sonovar nodded in recognition. 'True, but these priestlings have teeth. By all the old Gods, they can fight.'

'Oh yes,' Takier acknowledged. 'They can fight.'

'Do you think they will agree?'

'I think they will.... in due time. In fact, I believe you will have to hold them back from all-out war. They may well decide that intensifying the raids on Alliance ships is not enough, and a full assault is preferable. Kazomi Seven was after all the last known location of their Valen. He has not been seen in many months, or so I am told. Some of the Tak'cha believe he was murdered by the Alliance.'

'And you, Takier? What do you believe?'

'Valen.... was a man, like any other. It is the doom of all men to die. He lived a thousand years ago, and he died then. Whoever this.... imposter is, he is not Valen, and whatever the Alliance have done to him is of the supremest irrelevance to me.'

'All great men die,' Sonovar mused to himself.

'Ah, but they live on in another way.' Sonovar cocked his head and looked at his companion. 'They live on in the eyes and hearts and souls of everyone who has ever wanted to be them. It is by the telling of tales of great men that we remind ourselves that we also may be great. We emulate them, maybe even surpass them, and so they live on.... forever.'

'Immortality. Life eternal through song and poem and memory. Now there is something worth living for.'

'Worth dying for.'

'Worth dying for. Indeed.'

Yes. I will be great, and thus will I live forever. What more can any warrior ask for?

* * *

Elsewhere another warrior was standing alone, but the pinnacle of Cathedral was a very different place from the bridge of the E'ibrek K'Tarr.

Sinoval was not thinking of greatness, or of Valen, or of the Alliance. He was thinking of the Vorlons, and of the plan he had been hatching for so long. It was ready now. It would work. His meeting with Kats' cousin had only served to tighten some of the possibilities.

'I survived. I hid. There were many of us who hid. From the purges, from Kalain and his warriors. We didn't know he had fallen. We saw the skies rain fire and the ground begin to sicken, and we did not know what had happened. We remained in hiding.

'At.... at first we were too afraid to come out, and after, we were too weak. We fell ill, so ill.... I saw more of us die. Not just workers. There were some religious caste as well. And even a warrior or two.... those who had chosen to stay behind, I suppose.

'Then they came. They found us. They sought us out, and they found us all. We were rounded up and taken to Yedor. They'd set up base there. Those of us who.... were not too sick, began to recover. They did something to us. They did something to the land. They purged the poisons, but.... I don't know. I don't know what they're capable of, but they left the damage to the atmosphere. They left the impact sites and all the dust everywhere....

'I heard one of them say something. It said.... they were correcting the influence of the Enemy, putting right what should not have been done. They seemed.... angry, somehow. They seemed angry about the poison and the sickness, but not about anything else.

'I didn't understand it.

'They set us to work, once we were able. Some of us were telepaths. They.... disappeared. The rest of us they set to work, rebuilding, trying to tend the fields, doing as much as possible to repair the damage. They didn't seem to recognise that we needed to eat.... and sleep. They worked us until we collapsed.

'I was lucky. I managed to steal a shuttle and escape. There are others there. Not many now.... but they're going to die. They're being worked to death. Please.... Kats said you would help. She promised that you would help them. Help us.'

'How many Vorlons are on the planet? How many ships?'

'There were.... there were a lot. Most of them left. I saw one ship as I fled. I don't think it noticed my shuttle. There is one in Yedor that I know of.... and some others in the southern cities. Most of them left.

'Will you help us? Please.'

'Yes. Yes, I will help.'

He had had the basics of this set up a long time ago, in crude form, when he first joined the Soul Hunters. Sherann had only helped confirm certain details. She would help him still further, although she did not realise it yet.

I don't think it noticed my shuttle.

That was the one thing he had learned from her. They had noticed. They had let her escape. They were luring him to Minbar, to deal with him for good. Whether they actually wanted him dead or merely distracted he was not sure. A direct confrontation was not their way. It had never been their way. They were.... setting him up for something.

So be it. He was ready, and he had a trap all of his own to spring.

He raised his arms to the sky, Stormbringer above his head.

'I'm coming for you!' he roared. 'Hide all you like! You can't hide from me!'

* * *

On Minbar, in the partially repaired ruins of the city of Yedor, a Vorlon standing alone looking at the Temple of Varenni stopped and twitched slightly, as if it had heard.

Its eye stalk shook momentarily, and a flash of light came forth.

It then resumed its journey.

Anyone who had seen that brief, momentary burst of light would have known without a shadow of a doubt what it was. Some things are clear between all races.

The Vorlon had smiled.

Chapter 2

Black against the blackness of night they came, screaming their cries of warning. Fear us, they cried. Fear us, for we were masters of all that was, before the stars themselves gave birth to light, before your races rose to ascend to the heavens.