This opening section details the monumental announcement made by Hadi Benotto regarding discoveries at Dar es Balat on the planet of Rakis. Benotto presents several key arguments establishing the authenticity of a newly uncovered storehouse containing the original journals of Leto II. These arguments include the use of the Spacing Guild Key for translation, an ancient Ixian dictatel used for printing, and the remarkable discovery of the storehouse itself. The repository is identified as an extremely early Ixian device, functioning as an invisible no room built with primitive mechanical skills.
Furthermore, Benotto reveals the recovery of actual oral recordings made by Leto II utilizing the voice of his father, Paul Muad Dib. These recordings have been submitted to the Bene Gesserit Archives for official authentication. To share the significance of these findings, excerpts from the translated ridulian crystal paper manuscripts are distributed and examined. The translated text reflects the profound burden of ancestral memories carried by Leto II.
The excerpted text features a reading by poet Rebeth Vreeb, wherein Leto II reflects on his own existence as the book of fate. He describes the overwhelming nature of his memories, comparing his mind to a box of shattered flint tossed in a storm of mysteries. Although he answers to the name Leto and holds the threads of countless ancestral experiences, he struggles with the relentless repetition of human history. The prologue concludes with his poignant realization that despite holding every image, moan, and joy of past generations, these experiences belong entirely to the past.