Professor Xavier has left his beloved X-Men for a time, traveling to parts unknown in an attempt to better understand and control himself. Magneto has left as well, to go into hiding and regroup, ready for his next assault on the world.

During their absence, the impossible happens ... again. Jean Grey returns from the dead.

Jean remembers nothing of her death, or of the time after. She brings with her the limp, weak but still alive Kitty Pryde, rescued from her prison inside the weapon of the Breakworld. And she also brings a message.

One word: SALVATION.

It's a prophecy. Salvation is coming, and mutantkind must unite in peace, must want to be saved, or when the time comes, every single mutant will perish.

Some take exception to this. They refuse to believe Jean's words, refuse to allow their fate to be decided for them. Some simply leave the X-Men or Xavier's school or wherever they were before in order to forge their own paths.

But some, under the leadership of Mystique and several other influential mutants, actively work to stop the X-Men achieving salvation. To them, Jean's prophecy is nothing more than a lie, and Jean herself is a threat to mutantkind which must be destroyed. They become, once again, the Brotherhood.

Dissention moves quickly. Barely a week has passed since Jean's resurrection, and already the world has chosen sides. The human race can only watch as the mutants go to war.

United they stand. Divided ... we'll see.