Jak II Chronicles
Part II: The Precursor Stone
Chapter 20: Precursor Stone

"What kind of precursian brings a Lurker in our village?" the mayor cried.
"Please, Mr. Mayor, he's not bad! He's a good guy!" Jak debated, "I mean, did you not see him in the play? He didn't attack anyone and he's not attacking me or anyone…right now."
"A lurker is a still a Lurker, dangerous fuzzy beasts who feast upon precursians." The mayor cried out.
"Actually, we don't eat Precursians." Milo barged in, "We're more strictly into fish and vegetables and sometimes we like-"
"SILENCE!" The pudgy mayor pointed, usually a bumbling idiot, but now a savage dictator, "You will be killed for even entering this village!"
"NO!" Jak cried, "He's a good guy!"
"Jak…you are a gift to Sandover village, but you are willing to throw away that just so you can help this…thing!" The mayor spoke bravely, "If you have loyalty in us, you will kill that monster!"
"I won't!" Jak cried, "I WON'T!"
"Then so be it!" the Mayor shouted, "GET THEM!"

The entire townsfolk went ballistic; tempt to be ridding of the Lurker. Milo gasped, not knowing what to do. He was pulled away by Jak who was half dragging him away to safety. They left the play and outside the Sandover village where harsh rain started to fall. Me? I just stayed put, not knowing what to do. So did Daxter, Kiera, and Samos.

"It's nighttime and raining, it might distract them more." Jak panted, "Come on, we have to get you to safety." Jak tugged Milo's arm and he was half dragged away again.
"Jak, where are you taking me?" Milo asked.
"You're going to take one of the boats." Jak pointed out, "You can use that to go home."
"I cannot return home…they wouldn't want me, I like precursians." Milo suggested, "Lurkers consider that a betrayal."
"But I can't let you live here!" Jak shouted, "I like you, I like you a lot, Milo, but you'll be killed!" Milo wanted to say something, but being half dragged in the rain was clouding his mind. They ran pretty far from the village and into the deep Forbidden Jungle. The shouts of the villagers were heard from afar. Milo took a deep sigh.
"So much for me getting accepted." Milo weakly smiled, trying to lighten the situation.
"I don't want you to die." Jak shook his head. Milo smiled warmly. He saw the boy was in tears.
"I'll die, too, if I have to." Jak spoke, "I'm sick and tired of people discriminating each other! Why can't we all get along? I want people to accept others!"
"It's hard for people to do that." Milo explained, "It's impossible, you could say."
"Why can't Lurkers and Precursians get along?" Jak asked, "Everybody in my hometown speaks terrible things of your kind, but I never saw anything bad with them!"
"If a Lurker attack your village and hurt the ones you loved, would you not defend them and attack that Lurker?" Milo asked calmly. The shouts of the villagers grew louder. Jak was flabbergasted, but reluctantly nodded.
"I'd do the same thing if a Precursian attacked my hometown and the ones I loved." Milo spoke, "Precursians hurt other precursians, too. Lurkers are the same."
"But…" Jak tried to get something out, but couldn't.
"You are a great boy." Milo placed his massive furry hands on Jak's shoulder, practically consuming all of his upper arms, "But you're only 13. You have so much to live. Don't risk your life for me."
"Then what do I do?" Jak sniffed back some tears.
"I'm going to go hide in the Forbidden Jungle…there are Lurkers here, I'm sure they'll accept me."
"But they'll hurt you or insult you because you like Precursians." Jak pointed out.
"I'll keep that a little secret." Milo winked, "and you tell the villagers that you got rid of me. That way, both
of us will live and someday, we'll see each other and have some fun, okay?" Jak was reluctant, but with little choice other then death, Jak nodded. He and Milo exchanged a hug, which felt warm in the cold rain.
"Maybe one day, Lurkers and Precursians will get along." Milo whispered, and then he ran off like the wind. Jak watched as the furry giant disappeared off into the bushes. The villagers shouts grew louder at that point and all were merely a few feet away from Jak. When they saw the boy, they were puzzled.

"Where's the Lurker?" came one of the villagers.
"I…I…I got rid of him." Jak, a rare time when he lied.
"You did?" came another. Jak nodded.
"He's gone." Jak barely muttered, the villagers looking at him in slight disbelief so Jak added, "What? You want to see? Then go to the jungle and find his body!" That stopped them cold, so the villagers went for the next best thing, they cheered and praised Jak.

"Good show, boy!"
"We knew you had it in ya!"
"This is a time for celebration!"
"Whoopee!"

Jak was taken back to the village where I immediately ran to him.
"My goodness, you get sick easily, my boy!" I cried, "Out in the rain!" Jak watched Kiera and Daxter who gave their share of concerned faces. In mere minutes, everybody was home, except a few who were all celebrating in the local bar. They kept knocking on my door, saying Jak should be part of the celebration.
"No thank you, my boy is too young to drink! Come back in five years!" Then I slammed the door.
Jak was wrapped in blankets, sitting near the fireplace, the look of sorrow in his eyes. I asked what happen and he explained everything. Afterwards, he asked me to keep it a secret. I nodded and did so.
"You know…maybe I will see Milo someday." Jak smiled slightly, his eyes still watery, "and someday, Precursians and Lurkers will be together."
"Maybe so." I smiled with him. We were both drinking hot cocoa.
"I'll see Milo again, I know I will!" Jak was his usual self again, "That I promise!"
Promises…most promises are broken or can't be kept. Jak, unfortunately, never saw Milo again. Over the years, I don't know for sure if Jak even remembers Milo, I never brought up the subject. I think Jak does remember him and wonders how he's doing. But for now, the boy is still the redeeming miracle child of Sandover.

……………………

Tomb of Mar
Month 1: Januria, Day 13 (Winter Time)
Year: 299 TOMH (Time of the Metal Heads)

"UGH!" Jak manage to reach the top platform. He then sat down and took a deep breath. Climbing was a lot harder then he imagined. After failing in getting Daxter or Ani, Jak had no choice but to move on. He knew they would be alright.
"After all, Daxter has Ani, they'll survive." Jak would say to himself repeatedly.
Jak manage to pass the first trial and was now in his second. He faced water with electricity, flaming arrows, more spiders, musical tiles, booby traps up the wazoo such as spiked chain balls coming out of nowhere among others. The tomb was giant and quiet, hardly any noise going on. He hated this…he hated being lonely. Jak, taking a break from climbing, suddenly just felt chilly. He was lonely. It's just like when he was very young…no body was there for him because the kids thought he was strange, he was lonely. Jak hummed a little tone, trying to relax himself, but he was growing uncomfortable. This tomb felt very unsettling to him.

"It's a tomb; chances are I'm scared because of dead bodies." Jak spoke to reassure himself, and then realized, "…Why am I talking to myself?" Jak pounded on his head with his hands.
"I think I'm going crazy." Jak calmly said to himself, "Insane."
"STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF!" He shouted, his voice echoing off the walls. Silence.
"I am going crazy." Jak squeaked.

"Of course you're going crazy!"
"Oh-no! Not you again!"
"Think you could have kept me away for so long? You took control of me once, won't happen again!"
"Leave me alone!"
"You're talking to yourself…this place is driving you maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad."
"Shut up!"
"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDD!"
"I SAID SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE! I'll control you! I've done it before, I can do it again!"
"You know why you're nervous and scared. You know you're crazy! You're going to DIE here!"
"No, I won't!"
"This is a tomb, how appropriate!"
"I won't die here! I don't belong in this tomb! This is for the Kings of Haven! I'm just a normal boy."
"Normal? What am I, chopped Yakow meat?"
"You leave me alone!"
"You'll die here. See down below? See all the darkness? It's a bottomless pit! You'll fall down there and you WILL die down there. It's bottomless, you'll fall forever!"
"Shut up!"
"You act all strong on the outside, but you're really weak…WEAK! You can't even control me now! What hopes do you have? Go die. Jump off now!"
"NO!"
"JUMP OFF! I'm doing you a favor! You won't listen to me in terms of letting your darkness consume you, so just die!"
"I don't want to die! I'm only 18! I don't want darkness!"
"Your revenge is disappearing! You want the Baron, now you're being that goody two shoes you were before?"
"This isn't who I am! I'm not like that! I don't want the darkness to consume my heart! It contradicts everything I believe in! And I don't want to die! I WANT TO LIVE!"
"YOU DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE!"

Jak screamed and he tripped over himself. He fell. He fell into the empty darkness. The bottomless pit or so his dark half said. Jak didn't mutter a word, let along a scream. He's eyes were wide open and watery. This was it…his life…ending…now…The last thing he remembers seeing was his pendent glowing…

……………………

"Why do people fight each other?"
"They fight for many reasons, some for pride, some for money, some to protect others or places they truly care about."
"What is father fighting for?"
"He is protecting his kingdom, his friends, his people, and his family…us."
"Mother…I don't understand…why can't the metal Heads and Precursians live side by side?"
"Sometimes things don't work that way, my dear little child. The world is complicated and each person is different then the other."
"But father is trying so hard to gain peace with the Lurkers. The Lurkers hate our kind, but he is trying. Metal Heads hates us, too, but we are fighting them."
"We have to fight them; they are trying to destroy us."
"Why can't we all get along?"
"It's not that simple, my child. Look…look at that flapping wingull…see how it eyes that beetle Eyes?"
"Yes."
"Watch."
"It ate the beetle eyes!"
"Of course. The wingull eats to survive in the same manner that we fight to survive. We fight other precursians as well."
"I see…but I want everyone to get along."
"An impossible goal at most."
"But if we try, we can do anything."
"Possibly, but we are not the mighty Precursors, we are merely mortals, but we're special. We can hear the cries of the Precursors and their pleas…their requests, their prophecies; the Precursors are everywhere, my child. As the members of the royal family, we must watch over this kingdom."
"Mother, why can I not hear the Precursors?"
"You are still young. When you get older, you will hear them, too."
"I see…"

…………………………

"Mother…I…I want to hear them…."
"I want to hear the Precursors…"
"I wish everyone could get along…"
"I…I wish…"
"……………………………..."
"I wish you were alive…you and Father…."

Jak slowly opened his eyes. His entire body was flat on the ground. He could barely see it, but it was hard and slightly soft. He was definitely not falling down for the rest of his life. Jak gasped slightly and slowly, got up, his back hurting more ways then one. Jak let out a massive groan and observed his surroundings. The back of him was completely dark. An unwise man would walk in without a light and unfortunately, he had no light. The front of him, however, was a small hint of glowing light. Jak, feeling as though in a trance, walked towards that light, ending up inside a set of double doors with fire torches nearby. Jak, curious, tried to open that door. He struggled, but couldn't do it. Then he noticed a small circular object in the middle of the door. Jak looked around, then thought the pendent might go there. He only had half, so what would happen? He placed his half of the pendent inside…nothing.
"Damn it!" Jak kicked the door. Jak took the pendent and decided to take one of the torches to the other side.

"It's open."

Jak stopped…he heard a voice. He quickly turned around and the double doors were open…slightly, but enough to squeeze through. Jak gasped or try to, his breath seem to have left him. Nervous and scared, Jak went inside. There it was dark in almost every corner with only a handful of torches lighting the room. The pillars connected with arches on the top. There were statues, carefully crafted and each standing a towering 20 feet tall. Next to the statues were…unless Jak's eyes were playing with him, tombs. Coffins, whatever you want to call it, it was there. Jak's breath all about left at that point. He was in some sort of cemetery. Jak moved backwards out of fear and bumped into a pillar. What is this? A cemetery where the coffins lay on pillars with a statue next to it. No two statues were the same.
"Where am I?" Jak muttered quietly, "I…I'm scared." Jak notice a central tomb with a statue next to it that he was more then familiar with. That was a statue of Mar. Statues of him were everywhere in Haven City. Jak sighed, took a deep breath, then went towards the statue, and then notice a tomb next to it. It was on top of a pillar like the rest of the coffins. Jak noticed a plaque. He lowered himself down and barely managed to read it:

Here lies First King Mar, Creator of Haven Kingdom.
His power of Holy and Precursors will forever be a gift.

"By the Precursors…" Jak gasped, "This…this is the tomb of Mar…his body is in that tomb…Oh…my…this-this is the fabled tomb of the Haven Kings." Jak gasped, not knowing whether to feel excited to find something hardly ANYONE knows the location is or guilty that someone like him
entered into such a sacred place. Jak, however, didn't think neither anymore as he looked at the other tombs. All previous Kings of Haven, all previous rulers of Haven City. The statues represented the tombs of the sleeping Kings. He then found the one he was really looking for:

Here lies the 12th King Baralior, Defender from the Horo-Quan.
His powers of war and strategy kept this city a safer place.

"Christof…I found your father." Jak whispered, touching the tomb ever so slightly, "But…why am I here? I'm not…a royal family member." Jak eyed the pendent he held, "Is it because I have this?" Silence…nothing but the wind…until he heard a voice, a soft, whispering voice.

Answers…of such questions…Precursors watches you…choose wisely in the end…abandon Haven or protect it…

Jak gasped again…next thing he knew, he was being flung out of the tomb in super fast motion and back to the platform he fell from. It was like he was pressed fast forward! He landed butt first. Jak opened his eyes and saw him back on the platform. That voice…what was it? He's been hearing so many voices. But that didn't stop Jak now. For some odd reason, he felt determined.
"I have to tell Christof that I found it, the tomb of his father and his ancestor!" Jak cried to himself. He didn't care if he was talking to himself; he just kept climbing and climbing and climbing…until he found the switch to open the second door. He managed to push the first switch in the first trial which send a beam of blue light to the giant double doors. Upon pressing the second one, another beam of blue light came which reached the giant double doors.
"I…I did it." Jak smiled, "YES!" A floating platform took him down and Jak hover boarded over the swallow water. When he reached the double door, it opened and there…standing right before him were Daxter and Ani!

"Hey, the lights back on! I can see!" Daxter cried. Ani notice Jak first and barked.
"Daxter! Ani!" Jak cried out.
"JAK!" The little animals ran towards Jak where hugs were exchanged.
"I'm so glad you two are okay." Jak smiled, "Where happen to you both?"
"We had a hairy experience! No thanks to you!" Daxter cried out, knowing he rather not see that giant spider again.
"Well, I had quite the experience myse-" Jak started until he was interrupted.
"Welcome young warrior. Many eons have passed since our hope burned so brightly. Today you have proven yourself worthy to receive Mar's legacy." The Oracle's voice rang loud. The trip gasped slightly from his voice which rang deep around the large area they were in. The entire area was the same as the rest of the tomb, but there was another bottomless pit, only crossable with a bridge. There was a wide road lined with pillars and in the far back, a giant statue of Mar, with a wide green Gem on it.
"He's talking about me! Thanks, your holy-statueness." Daxter bowed. Ani rolled her eyes, "This tomb wasn't so tough!"
"What you are about to receive contains grave power, and with it comes grave responsibility." The Oracle started. Jak, Daxter, and Ani started to walk towards the giant statue.
"Eons ago, the Precursors waged a terrible war with the Hora-quan, those dark creatures you refer to as 'Metal Heads'. Driven by their dark leader, the Metal Head legions destroyed our great civilization, and now they swarm the universe unopposed, looking for the last relics of our power. Mar tried to hide the Precursor Stone in this tomb to protect it from them. It is our last hope, and you were chosen to keep that hope alive."
"Huh?" Jak gasped, "I think you've got me confused with someone else. I just want the Stone."
"It is time to fulfill your destiny! Behold!" The Oracle obviously ignored him and instead let the three eyed the green gem.
"Wow! Let's get the goods!" Daxter started heading there, but was interrupted when a flying machine came out of nowhere.
"You fools! You brought me right to the Stone! Your pitiful Underground friends were no match for my guards above!" The Baron's voice rang. It was a spidery machine and it attached itself to the statue.
"Praxis!" Jak gasped, "How did he get here?"
"Now I will gain the power I need to crush my enemies!" Praxis spoke through, and he started to take the gem out, "And after claiming the Stone, I'll begin with you!"
"Abomination! The Precursor Stone was not meant for you!" The door behind them closed, trapping them all.
Jak was enraged. The Baron paid no attention to Jak at the moment as he was busy using the front legs of his spider mech to pry the stone off. Jak cursed and took out his morph gun.
"STOP IT, PRAXIS!" Jak shouted as he shot the mech, the bullets only ricocheting off it, "That stone isn't yours!"
"Like bull it ain't!" Praxis cried, "I AM the King of Haven Kingdom, this stone was entrusted to Mar, I AM Mar's blood, it's rightfully mind!" Jak kept shooting, however hopeless it was.
"DAMN IT! I SAID LEAVE IT ALONE!" Jak cried, "I won't let you do this!"
"SHUT UP!" Praxis cried, then his mech started to chuck bombs, already lit.
"YAHHH!" Daxter screamed, clutching tightly onto Jak's shoulders. Ani barked madly, even though it wouldn't do a lick of anything with the bombs. Jak suddenly got an idea. He quickly ran up and took one of the bombs, then chucked it at the mech. It was a heavy bomb, so he had to use both his arms. The bomb flew and landed around the middle of the mech, promptly damaging it.
"ARGH!" Praxis cried, aware that his mech couldn't handle his own bombs. Bitten by his own dog.
"Guys! Grab bombs, throw!" Jak ordered, "Before they blow up!" And the trio did so. Daxter, with his skinny arms was having a trouble time, but his thick ottsel tail was more then enough to swing the bomb like a baseball. Ani charged towards the bombs, each hitting Praxis. Praxis was frustrated at this point. His mech wouldn't be able to take anymore bombs. Damn it, he didn't care. He WANTED that stone. No, he needed it. The constant digging and pulling, he wouldn't give in. He would get what he wanted. The bombs kept coming and his mech was this close to crumbling and dropping Praxis to the bottomless pit.
"He got the stone!" Daxter cried. Jak gave an appropriate, "HUH?" No one, not even Praxis knew that the stone was finally out of the giant statue and in Praxis' mecha arms. Praxis laughed his sinister laugh. Jak and the others notice the entire tomb was crumbling from all the bomb chucking and battling.

"Oh-no." Jak gasped.
"Nice try, but the Stone is still mine! Don't worry... I will use the Stone to its full potential. Soon, all who oppose me will be destroyed by its power!" And Praxis flew off on his mech, barely maintaining power as it is.
"No…" Jak gasped, 'How DID he get here! He can't use the pendent, he doesn't have powers from the Precursor, how?"
"Jak! We have to leave!" Daxter cried, "This entire place is crumbling!" Jak nodded, although reluctant for some odd reason, took his hoverboard, and flew off. He ran up the narrow way where he first came from. It seemed Praxis manage to blow up the way in. Jak entered the ruin doorway and was shocked.
"Kid!" Jak cried, "WHERE IS HE?"
"Same goes for ol' Green guy and Kor!" Daxter shouted, "Among others."
"Where are they?" Jak cried, "HOW DID PRAXIS KNOW WE WERE HERE?"
"Jak! Let's worry about that later, we gotta scram!" Daxter cried. Jak, once again, reluctant, left the tomb, the entire place caving in. The people in Haven City watched as the doorway to the tomb spewed out dust clouds. Jak manage to escape in the nick of town, with Daxter and Ani grabbing onto him. The three were covered in dusts and panting for air. The people from all over the city watched the trio. Jak slowly got up and saw the people eyeing him.

"What are you all looking at?" Jak cried, "Get out of my way!" He ran past the people before any Krimzon Guards could come over.
"Jak, where are we going?" Daxter asked.
"Back to headquarters!" Jak kept running. Daxter and Ani didn't see the hurt face Jak had on.
"Jak…what do we do when we're there?" He asked.
"I…I don't know."
To Be Continued…