WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Mighty Morphin #9, on sale now from BOOM! Studios.
The lives of the Power Rangers have become more complicated than ever in recent months. While they have triumphed over Lord Zedd and freed Angel Grove from his grasp, that victory has been soured by the spate of betrayals that it brought to light as well as the loss of their new ally Zelya in the fray. Now held captive by the tyrant Lord Zedd in Mighty Morphin #9 by Ryan Parrott, Marco Renna, Walter Baiamonte, Katia Ranalli, Sara Antonellini, Madison Goyette and Ed Dukeshire, Zelya can only assume the worst for herself.
Surprisingly, Lord Zedd doesn't have anything particularly horrible in store for the Bronze Guardian of Eltar. In fact, all that he has planned is a very important history lesson.
When the final battle for Angel Grove kicked off, Zelya faced off against Lord Zedd. Unfortunately, this proved to be exactly where Zedd wanted her, and in only a moment he had escaped away with the Bronze Guardian in his clutches. Initially, Zelya had come to Earth to survey its societies, much the same way that Zordon had done on countless other worlds during his time as Bronze Guardian. Once Zedd became aware of her presence, his interests shifted solely towards taking her prisoner even if it was by the most convoluted means possible. Now that there is nowhere to run, the only option left for Zelya is to fight, though Zedd once again proves stronger than she can handle on her own. As bad as he is, Lord Zedd doesn't want to come to blows with his adversary, but rather he only wishes to discuss just what it is that she is really fighting for.
The Guardians of Eltar mission to spread peace and justice throughout the cosmos sounds noble enough on the surface, but when Zedd asks Zelya what happens to those worlds that turn down the Guardians' benevolent offer, she doesn't have any real answer. Her deflection only serves to amuse Zedd, who assures the Guardian that she will be free to go without harm as soon as he is done telling her a story from long ago. Presumably, this story will reveal the secret connection between the Guardians of Eltar and the Empyreal threat, if not Dark Specter himself. Zartus, Zordon's former partner and current Supreme Guardian, has been working alongside the Empyreals towards whatever their current end is.
Though it hasn't been expressly stated, it would make sense that the Empyreals would be the answer to Lord Zedd's earlier question, which if true, would make the Guardians of Eltar a worse villain than possibly even Drakkon himself. It's clear that the Power Rangers haven't always been the heroes that fans know, from their reputation out among the stars to the claims of villains such as Ecliptor and Astronema that the Rangers have long been responsible for planetary genocides of their own. If those accusations are proven true by Lord Zedd, the chances that the Rangers once shared in the same violent tactics are all but certain.
Lord Zedd's history with the Rangers and Guardians has not been made entirely clear yet. Still, that Zordon and the other Guardians of his era came to find Zedd's future stronghold in the form of Bandora Palace is just another sign that their pasts are more intertwined than anyone could imagine. With any luck, Lord Zedd will also be able to shed some light on the mystery surrounding whatever it was that Zartus did so many years ago to ensure his place as Supreme Guardian in the present. If not, he will only have confirmed that the Power Rangers and their allies are up against an enemy they couldn't even begin to understand.