WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Mighty Morphin #9 Ryan Parrott, Marco Renna, Walter Baiamonte, Katia Ranalli, Sara Antonellini, Madison Goyette and Ed Dukeshire, on sale now.

The Power Rangers universe has been going through an unprecedented era of shocking revelations on Earth, out among the stars, and now even in the distant past. The Mighty Morphin team has only recently been introduced to the Guardians of Eltar, and already one of them has fallen into the clutches of Lord Zedd. Thankfully, the other Guardians are on their way to help, though the heroes don't yet know that with them also comes another shocking betrayal. It seems that Zartus, Zordon's old partner and current Supreme Guardian, has been working behind the scenes alongside the Empyreal threat. To make matters even worse, this particular heel turn is one that began long before the Power Rangers ever existed, and Zordon still never saw it coming.

As revealed throughout the opening flashbacks in recent issues of Mighty Morphin, Zordon and Zartus worked closely together as Guardians of Eltar over ten thousand years ago. They sought out other worlds to evaluate and bring into the fold of their Galactic Alliance, as well as protected planets who could not protect themselves from the threat of the Hartunian Empire. In the process of yet another mission to accomplish the latter, Zordon and Zartus uncovered the buried remains of Bandora Palace, and within it an ancient order of alien beings tasked with protecting the legendary Zeo Crystal. While the then Supreme Guardian Zophram had no interest in putting his faith behind myths and fables surrounding the Zeo Crystal, instead choosing to keep it sealed away and protected, it seems that the Zartus of the distant past had far different things in mind than his fearless leader. At some point, Zartus returned to Bandora Palace to ask one of the alien monks there for a rather questionable favor. Zartus didn't just want to protect the artifact himself, and he argued that the Zeo Crystal needed a safeguard of its own. With a nudge in the wrong direction Zartus was able to convince the alien monk to cast a specific incantation on the Zeo Crystal, and while the Fire of Truth itself might still be a mystery, there is no doubt that it was only ever invoked in the service of Zartus' own dark desires.

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Whatever it is that Zartus had done to the Zeo Crystal isn't clear yet, though it should be coming into focus any day now at the pace things have been moving for the Rangers. They are already well aware that the Guardians are on their way to formally offer them a place in the Galactic Alliance after helping to free Zelya, so they can only assume that the Guardians have benevolent ideas in mind for humanity. Of course, the Rangers' own bad reputation throughout the universe on top of the ever more shady history of their progenitors certainly calls that assumption into question even without the revelation that Zartus is working with the Empyreals in the present. The Empyreal threat is extreme. The Rangers have no way of their own to stop it, not to mention its growing prominence in the flashback intros across Mighty Morphin, the Zeo Crystal will surely end up being the thing that the heroes ultimately turn to for help. And just as assured as the Zeo Crystal's introduction to the Rangers' present is Zartus' ancient secret becoming yet another crisis for the heroes to try and avert.

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No matter what the nature of the Flame of Truth turns out to be, there is no question that the Rangers will be willing to overcome it if it means gaining an edge over their impending alien invaders. How exactly they will accomplish that when both Zartus and Dark Specter pose a greater threat than the heroes have ever known is unclear, and with any luck they won't be alone in those endeavors. Then again, the fact that seemingly every single ally they have is keeping their own deep secrets likely means the chance that there will be anyone they can actually trust when they need it most might as well be nonexistent. That may not have been part of any of their enemies' master plans, but it certainly doesn't hinder them.

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