From the personal memory crystal of Templar Asakiro:
I could feel the warmth of the Archon's embrace no longer. My mind could not touch Urust's own. I could not feel the dark energy of the mutant Kabala serpent, nor the coursing energy of light. For a time, there was only darkness. I thought that this was how it felt to die.
However, it was not to be. I could detect Urust's presence nearby, and I heard his thoughts. He, too, was just as puzzled as I, as to how we still live... if this was indeed not the afterlife promised by the Khala. I am not certain as to why this mattered so much, since I threw away the Khala.
The entire time we were being watched-- watched by the Dark Ones banished in Adun's time. Dark Templar who wielded the dark energy the same as the Zerg, and of the mutant Kabala. Their thoughts were cut from us, but we knew they were talking about us. I stretched my mind, searching for these unseen Protoss, but to no avail.
Finally, one of them, their leader, broke the silence. He said his name is Qinthanas, and he is the leader of this group of shadow warriors, trained to save as many Protoss as possible. He said that our lives are no longer our own, and that, to the eyes of those we left behind, we are dead. Yet, we live. Urust was infuriated, but I retained my calm; I wished to learn more about our rescuers before lashing out at them. I will not be robbed of my final peace so lightly.
Qinthanas explained that he serves an order of Protoss existing far into the future; his people use special time-travel devices in order to time-hop to key locations in their history, and ensure the future of the Protoss race. Urust immediately thought of the experimental Arbiters that were the subject of the war with Cerebrate Zargil, and Qinthanas admitted that those Arbiters would eventually lead to the new temporal devices-- their armbands. In fact, they said Judicator Imorih was one of those directly responsible for their order's founding, but Urust, being one of the Judicator's long-time friends, had difficulty believing this, choosing to believe that Qinthanas' people stole Imorih's research.
The truth of the matter was, I was interested, no matter how this order came about.
Our rescuers offered us a chance to join their organization, but Urust would have none of it; he accussed Qinthanas of robbing others of their honorable deaths, but Qinthanas denied this, pointing out that he could have extracted much more worthy heroes, such as Fenix, or Adun. It was clear to me that Urust would not accept easily, and I myself would not, either. However, I needed to know what this Qinthanas was up to; if his people would give Adun a final rest, then why save us?
I allowed Qinthanas to believe I was willing to listen; his men took Urust away to a holding cell to cool off. They said they would gladly give Urust his wish if he did not behave.
Qinthanas took me to the Records Tribunal, and demonstrated to me, via memory crystals, the feats his people have accomplished. I bore witness to the assassination of certain Protoss lords during the Aeon of Strife, and the temporal report analysis granting a rise in overall Protoss population. I saw a record of the sudden 'miracle' cure that seemed to come from the gods to one ancient Protoss hero-- something Qinthanas' people were directly responsible for. I even saw one temporal warrior kill a Bengalaas in order to save a young Khas. This was too much information to bear.
Nevertheless, I had to retain my composure. "Then what of Kabala?" I asked.
Qinthanas, his coals of eyes glowing malevolently, replied, "Kabala is not what he seems. We must be extra careful in altering the timestream, such that we do not inadvertently unmake our civilization; such would undo all the changes we made in time."
Although I could not believe it, I took it to mean that Kabala is somehow instrumental to this... this...time. Qinthanas recognized that I realized this, and explained to me that, without Kabala, the catalyst, the Black Dream would not exist as it is today, and that the Black Dream is infinitely more useful in this verion of time. Even villains such as Arestes must be spared, because, despite the harm he has done, they turned out greater benefits in the end.
I dare not think of the intent in Qinthanas' words, but they disturbed me nonetheless. It was obvious to me that he found the Black Dream useful in whatever his plans were, and I determined I had to discover what this was. So much, in fact, I lied to Qinthanas, and agreed to join his people as a temporal warrior.
Many days passed before I could reach Urust, and I related the events to him. As usual, Urust would not compromise his honor, even if it went against the Way of the Khala or the Protoss people. He ultimately believed he was meant to die, and has, thus far, been thwarted in all attempts at ritual suicide. I assured my comrade that I had a plan formulated, but that required me having access to the Records Tribunal.
I allowed myself to be trained as a warrior; I determined that submission, if only for a brief time, was a necessary sacrifice if I was to learn why I was saved, and what Kuwadora and his ship had to do with it. Most likely, Kuwadora had no idea what was going on in the shadows, and I had to warn him somehow. It was becoming more than obvious to me that Qinthanas had plans for the Black Dream.
In time I learned of these special temporal missions Qinthanas' people embarked on; there was certain times when most of the warriors were called away, and it was at this time I broke into the Records Tribunal. It was not easy to find the proper crystals, but I kept their location in memory. I would not have enough time to view them all before Qinthanas returned; therefore I had to space out my self-teachings between missions. I related as much to Urust as possible, and, for his sake, he stopped trying to kill himself. At least now he recognized that there were greater things at stake than his own death.
It seemed that Qinthanas, some months after the final battle with Kabala, stole the Black Dream from Kuwadora and his men, in order to use it on one of his missions. He took the ship, and its crew, back to the distant past, during a time when the Xel'Naga still walked amongst our peoples, to eliminate an ancient threat-- the Zeji Imperium.
The Zeji Imperium was in the midst of fighting a colossal civil war, fought by clones and biomechanical nightmares. Left unchecked, the Imperium's war would have destroyed several Xel'Naga worldships. While this immediately doesn't seem to affect the Protoss, these same worldships would have brought greater enhancements to our peoples, and raising our population and power in the long run. Whole worlds which would be used as future colonies would be spared from the ravages of war. It was deemed appropriate to alter time to allow this change, and to sacrifice the Black Dream.
The Black Dream appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the midst of the Zeji war, and single-handedly wiped-out every last warring soul. Not one Zeji survived the appearance of these new Star Gods. However, Kuwadora's people eventually retook enough control of the ship, and initiated the self-destruct sequence, but Qinthanas and his men escaped. Kuwadora would never allow anyone else to take his ship.
The part that infuriated me the most was that Qinthanas, despite having destroyed his play toy, could still steal it again in the future, because he eliminated the time when he stole the Black Dream in the first place. He would simply have to not interfere the second time around, and the Black Dream could continue unmolested for its destiny. There was no such thing as repeating events to ensure an action; it already happened. Time could follow an infinite number of possibilities, taking differing paths. It was only a matter of cutting away the 'unneccesary' paths in order to force all on one road.
I could not stand this. Qinthanas toys with the lives of others to suit his own ends. Kuwadora does not deserve such a cruel fate handed to him.
Eventually I learned all the nuances that went into the planning of Black Dream's capture. It seemed that the light/dark energy intermixer in the ship's engine interfered with space/time devices, including Recall devices and the temporal armbands. In effect, they could not time-hop directly onto the ship, and thus they could not take over the ship without infiltrating physically. Not only that, but they had to deactivate the engine in order to pull it through their time gates-- something Kuwadora would not do willingly, as this would essentially disarm the Phase Transit Cannon for several critical minutes.
It was not long before Qinthanas himself would take me on my first mission, not long after I learned the truth. In fact, I was to assist him in stealing the Black Dream, and suddenly I realized the entire point of my existance. Qinthanas wanted me to convince Kuwadora to help him, rather than risk everything by hostily-stealing the ship. The aims for this mission were to eliminate a pocket of Zeji that they missed the first time around. For this, I secretly brought Urust out of his cell; I would need him if I was to carry out my own plans.
We appeared before the Black Dream three days after Xaax the Defiler left; apparently it was to ensure that Xaax remained in the timeline in case something went wrong, although I did not look up as to why a Zerg Hunter would be so important to the Protoss. As part of my plan, I played along with Qinthanas, and Kuwadora, reluctantly, complied with the direct command of his Executor. Perhaps I trained him poorly.
Qinthanas effortlessly took over the ship, without the crew realizing it. Adonis would not speak a word to me; he now felt betrayed that I had survived the battle, and avoided me at all times. Kuwadora, too, avoided speaking with me, seemingly unsure what to think of his mentor returning from certain death. Urust himself remained hidden on board the ship, using a cloaking field. I could not tear myself away from Qinthanas' side; he would find it too suspicious if I spoke at ease with Kuwadora. I could only hope I trained Kuwadora better than I expected.
We entered the temporal rift to the Zeji time, and found the pocket of Zeji that would have a subtle, but lasting, effect on our peoples' expansion. Qinthanas intended to eliminate them as well, and obviously Kuwadora was agitated by this notion. He could not act, however, as Qinthanas had enough cloaked Templar on board to deal with any uprisings. And at this time Urust made his move.
As the Black Dream was not just Protoss in structure, it was fitted with a ventilation system that was remnant of Terran systems. Gas was leaked into the system, allowing Kuwadora's crew the ability to see their invisible foes. And, as Urust, in secret, visited each of the crew and relayed my plans of mutiny to them... it all sprung like clockwork. It was then Kuwadora overpowered the enemy on the bridge, much to my surprise. I had not raised my mental defenses by the time this Templar finished his work. Kuwadora, like me, was simply biding his time; he learned of my plans from Urust, and executed them perfectly.
However, it turned out they would all die honorably, fighting, as I expected; the temporal warriors have done this before, even without my help. Qinthanas realized I betrayed him, and managed to capture me and Urust. True to form Qinthanas moved to wipe out the rest of the Zeji, but failed to stop the other part of my plan. The mutiny was only a distraction, in order to allow some Zeji to escape with news of the Star Gods; Kuwadora was clearly inventive in getting the Zeji to listen to him-- he openly broadcast records of what the Black Dream could do to them with images of their previous battles in the future. Although many of them did not believe this, enough did, which is what was important.
Not just any Zeji, but Zeji that would be put in a calculated position to warn future generations of these Star Gods.
We warned the Zeji of the attack; the only way I could save Kuwadora was to warn him before he encountered Qinthanas, in a time when Qinthanas could not act against him. It was cutting the time close, but it had to be when Xaax was still on board the ship, and the Black Dream in the area to be able to find the Zeji colony. Kabala would do that for me, and for once, I was greatful to him. It is unfortunate he would never know it.
The most important fact was that Qinthanas was unaware of what I had done. Even when he does find out it will be too late to stop it; Zeji in smaller quantities are not the easiest beings to find in the universe, particularly when they do not want to be found.
I am no longer stranger to the ways these temporal warriors work; they disposed of the Black Dream again when Kuwadora initiated the self-destruct mechanism. Qinthanas left Urust to his fate on the ship, but brought me back, promising that I would regret what I had done. He believed I still had some use, if I was that important to Kuwadora that he would blindly follow me into such a daring plan. More likely, I think Kuwadora's crazy thoughts rubbed off on me, and he was important to me-- not the other way around..
Qinthanas is obviously obsessed with the Black Dream; it almost seems as if he wants it for his own. Perhaps keep a 'copy' of his pet ship while allowing the real one to carry out its final destiny. Yet, each time he tries to take it over, I've heard, he always ends the mission without the ship under his control; Kuwadora simply will not let him have it. I have no idea what peoples Qinthanas is wiping out now, but it must be stopped; the price of our existance cannot be as high as mass genocide.
Finally, Qinthanas revealed my latest usage: I am a bargaining chip. If he so desperately believes Kuwadora would sacrifice his ship for me, he is sadly mistaken.
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