The Vorlons were attempting to access a higher plane, a place referred to by them as the "well of souls," in the belief it would enable them to become the gods so many races had come to see them as. In reality, the gateway opened a portal to another dimension, a "Thirdspace" inhabited by a violent race that posed a threat even to the Vorlons. The aliens took control of the Artifact and modified it to enhance their own telepathic abilities, allowing them to control a legion of Vorlons. The Vorlons were able to fight them back and deactivate the gate, but a group of them still controlled by the Thirdspace entities captured the artifact and jettisoned it into hyperspace. Despite searching for the device for hundreds of thousands of years, the Vorlons were never able to find it. Ultimately, it