"Daughter of Elysium" Battlestar Galactica: Eve of Destruction Prelude (Realm Press) Written by J.C. Vaughn Illustrated by Matt Busch Cover by Matt Busch

A boy begins a great journey of life and death.

Story Summary

A boy dreams of becoming a man and Colonial Warrior. In the dream, someone is speaking to him of humanity's past and future, hinting at a role he will play in that future. As the dream ends, a glowing, robed female form floats above the sleeping boy, promising that his destiny is intertwined with hers.  She says his name: Zac.

THE END

Didja Know? 

The title of this story is likely a reference to 18th century German poet Freidrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy", which reads, in part,

Daughter of Elysium,
Touched with fire, to the portal,
Of thy radiant shrine, we come.
Your sweet magic frees all others,
Held in Custom's rigid rings.
All men on earth become brothers,
In the haven of your wings.

The "daughter of Elysium" in the context of the story is, of course, the female being of Light who enters Zac's dream world.

Didja Notice?  

Page 3 depicts representations of 12 planets that are, presumably, the 12 Colonies of humanity; the worlds do look similar to several of the ones shown briefly during the exodus from the Colonies after the Cylon attack in "Annihilation". The planets are not labeled in the story. (The objects on the bottom and top of images 2 and 3 respectively are not moons, just other partial objects on the scanned page.)
We also get two images of Kobol, the homeworld of humanity on pages 3 and 4. It looks fairly Earth-like.

Page 5 suggests that humanity was cast out from Kobol, not that they chose to leave it. Perhaps it's meant to suggest being cast out in the way Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden by God after falling to the temptation of Satan as according to the Bible. But the two-part "Lost Planet of the Gods" episode and the novelization of it, suggest that humanity was forced to flee Kobol due to the death-throes of its sun. Could the Beings of Light (or Count Iblis or some other force) have been responsible for causing the premature death of the sun, thus "casting out" humanity from its homeworld? If so, for what purpose?

The final page of the story seems to suggest that the person we've been following through his dreams/visions is Zac, younger brother of Apollo and Athena. The luminescent female being who seems to have been conversing with him in his dream state hints that he will join them when he dies in flight (we later see his death in "Annihilation").

For some reason the sleeping form of Zac has a mechanical daggit sitting next to his bed! I thought Muffit was the first mechanical daggit and not in existence until Dr. Wilker built it in "Exodus". 

The fact the boy turns out to be Zac at the end puts a new spin on the Light being's comment that he will see Kobol. But Zac is dead long before the fleet arrives at Kobol in "A Death in the Family". There are hints throughout this short story that Zac will join the Beings of Light after his death...and his story will continue. In fact, we do see him as a Being of Light much later in Armageddon.