Chapter Four: Fading Light
Jak rubbed his throbbing head and sat up. He checked his hand for any signs of blood, none. He then made a quick check to make sure the rest of his body was okay. His clothes weren't torn or dirty, he had no scrapes or cuts or broken bones. Running a hand through his long yellow hair he tried to make sense of it. He knew that he was just in a crash, and yet there was no sign of it.
Jak broadened his line of vision to his surroundings. It was darker than usual, Keira was crouched down next to him, her features and the way her body was crouched suggested that she was crying, but no sounds erupted from her still form. Crowds of people were surrounding him, all wanting to get a closer look at what happened but none moving. It was as if someone had pushed the pause button and forgot to tell him.
Jak reached out to Keira, but as soon as he did, her figure disappeared into the dark. He looked around, the crowds also began to follow suit, one by one disappearing into the darkness. Until only he and the cold stone floor remained visible.
Jak paced around the small space he had. He figured he had two choices, one to stay in the small bit of visible space or two to venture into the darkness. He was always a sucker for exploring unknown places so, curiosity getting the better of him he started to take his first steps toward the black abyss. It wasn't until to late that he had realized his mistake, and was now in complete darkness. The little shred of land was no longer visible; there was no going back into the light so he continued on in the dark. As if he had any other choice.
* * *
Keira looked helplessly onto Jak. She wanted desperately to make him better to help him off of the ground. She was afraid that if she tried to move him she might inflict more injury on his already frail body. The crisp zoomer frame was still on top of Jak, and was too heavy for her to remove.
She hated it.
This feeling of utter helplessness. The known fact that she was physically too weak to offer him a bit of help. And the fact that she was the reason he was in the condition he was in now. She hated the gossiple people of Haven City, who where too encompassed in their own lives to care that the one person that had saved their butts when every one else had given up hope, was lying on the ground bleeding to death.
Guards rushed over to the scene and hurried to keep the crowds from getting a good look at what had happened. After all they were just following orders. A hellcat landed in the street a couple of meters from her and Jak; Torn jumped out and ran over to her.
"What the hell happened here?" He asked in his usual harsh voice. Keira made an attempt to use her voice but only a squeak escaped her dry lips and made its way towards Torn's ears. Torn could see how grief struck she was and decided not to persist in the interrogation.
"We need to get this off of him," Keira said in a quiet whisper, finally able to find hear vocal cords.
Torn concurred and he lifted the frame off of Jak single handedly, tossing it to the side. The young man had definitely seen better days, and by the look of things was bleeding from a gash in his leg. Torn knew that the flow of this unusual black blood had to be stopped immediately. He tore a strip of Jak's pants and wrapped it around his leg so tightly that no blood would be able to pass. Torn then proceeded to check for any other threatening wounds and for Jak's vitals, which were week but never the less, existent. Finally confident that Jak could be moved without doing him anymore harm, Torn picked him up and carried him to the palace.
Daxter had been sitting on the banister in the main hall waiting for Jak to come back to get him. Ashlin had been clever enough to close the heavy oak doors behind her, thus denying the pestering Daxter entry into the room. Feeling left behind and unwanted, the little Ottsel sat watching guards come in and out of the palace. His ears perked up when they heard Torn's familiar voice echoing through the hall.
"Finally he comes back to the palace. Boy is Torn going to get it, since when did that lazy maniac get a life. When Jak—"Daxter watched Torn carry Jak through the large metal doors, "JAK!"
'Oh no. I knew it was to good to be true. Jak must have left the rat here,' Torn thought to himself. Previously thinking that Daxter had died in the crash, he watched the orange fuzz ball bound off the banister and sprint towards him.
"What did you do to Jak?" asked Daxter. Finally seeing Keira he asked, "What did he do to Jak?"
Keira broke out into a silent sob. Daxter couldn't understand why she was crying, was it something he had said. He went over to comfort her; after all, the ladies did like to cuddle him a lot. He had that effect on women. Daxter hopped up onto Keira's shoulder and watch Torn take his best friend down the hall.
* * *
Jak continued to wander through the darkness of his mind. He didn't know what else to do. It was weird. There was ground beneath him and with every step he could feel its solidity, but his shoes made no sounds. He was now purposely stomping to see if he could make a sound any sound. Nothing. Jak opened his mouth and started to yell. Nothing. He didn't understand this new phenomenon. Either he was deaf, or the darkness was preventing or absorbing all sounds he made. And he was not going to believe the first option.
Jak felt a small breeze pass him, and stopped dead in his tracks. He felt it again on his left side. He turned hoping he would be able to see something, but there was nothing but the darkness. The breeze passed him again this time behind him, something was here and it wasn't just him. Jak began to spin on spot to see if he could catch this invisible assailant. He felt it again on his right side and lashed out at the invisible force. His fingers had touched something, almost like hair. Jak waited and waited and waited but the force did not return.
The ground below Jak's feet had begun to loose its solidity. He tried to move away from the melting floor but it had consumed his lower leg in no time at all. He wildly searched the area around him with his arms, desperately trying to hold on to something. His nails tried to dig into the solid ground around him, but he was almost up to his neck in the deformed black floor.
It was the most unusual sensation he had ever felt. As the floor had consumed his entire body, Jak discovered the ever mind boggling sensation of weightlessness. In other words it was as if he was floating in the floor. No ups, no downs, no nothing. He was rather enjoying himself in this newly discovered state. However, in no matter of time at all, Jak was caught in the middle of a summersault when weight became aware that he was having too much fun without it.
Jak plummeted toward the ground. The air whistling as it passed his ears and combing his long yellow hair. He hit the ground with a thud; it wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. And to his surprise he actually heard a sound for the first time since he had entered this place.
A blinding light turned on just behind Jak. He turned around, shielding his eyes from the source, and found a magnificently bright yellow sphere in a rich blue sky. It was like someone had finally found the light switch to the sun. Jak turned around to take in the rest of his surroundings. Golden sand sparkled in the sunlight, the crystal clear water made a soft splash as the waves made their way up the beach. He knew this place. He looked to his left, and sure enough were the huts of Sandover Village. He was home, but how?
He ran across the loose sand towards the village. In his own excitement, Jak almost tripped over the steps separating the sandy beach from the grassland of the village. He ran passed the villagers and huts, across the bridge and up the steps leading to Samos's hut. He stepped through the tiny door leading into the hut, and saw Samos and Keira standing with their backs to him, obviously deep in discussion over something or other. Jak cleared his throat to get their attention.
Keira turned around, brushing her shining green hair out of her eyes as she did. Her lips were already stretched in the form of a smile and her eyes closed. As soon as she opened her eyes to see Jak, her smile faded and the sparkle in her eyes vanished almost instantly. Jak could sense her fear, it excited him in a way he had never felt before. Keira let out a scream, almost knocking Samos off his logs. Samos turned around and saw Jak. Without warning he was blasted through the wall of the hut by a green beam. He landed in the middle of the Village, and oddly enough it didn't seem to hurt him. Jak looked around Sandover and saw the people looking fearfully through their windows. He didn't understand, these people knew him, why were they so afraid.
Samos floated down from the hut, glowing with green eco, staff raised posed to strike Jak again if he had to. Jak noticed Keira watching him from the hut, obviously to scared to come down. And then he something he had not been expecting to see. Daxter. And he wasn't two feet tall and orange, he was the bucked toothed boy Jak knew before the Dark Eco accident. Coming up behind Dax was another boy. He recognized the yellow-green hairstyle anywhere. It was his younger self.
* * *
Jak was brought to the Palace's infirmary, where he was laid down on a cold metallic table. Guards with various injuries were scattered around the room. Their red uniforms sticking out like a sore thumb in the clean white room.
"Hello commander, what seems to be the problem?" Asked one of the nurses. She was dressed in white scrubs with a red stripe down the side of the pant legs.
"Its not me that needs tending to, its him," answered Torn motioning to Jak's motionless body.
"Oh," said the nurse obviously not noticing Jak before hand, "But commander, we don't treat civilians here."
Torn towered over the nurse, "Is that so," he hissed in a low menacing voice, "Well you might want to rethink that decision, this here is no civilian, can't you see the uniform."
"I-I'll get a d-doctor over here immediately, sir," stuttered the nurse who was very intimidated by Torn's show of power.
* * *
Jak narrowly dodged a beam of green eco as he stared transfixed at his younger self. How he had missed the light he had once possessed. It wasn't that it had vanished never to be seen again; it was on the other hand, held captive deep within him. The innocence of his younger self annoyed him, and he couldn't help but wonder 'what if'?
His train of thought became disgruntled when Samos fired yet another green beam at him, it hit him squarely in the chest. Jak landed in a puddle of water and upon seeing his reflection in the rippled water, understood why Samos was firing at him. His skin was a pasty white colour, his eyes were black and bottomless, and his hair white with two black horns protruding from his skull. He didn't know why he hadn't realized it before.
"Jak, Daxter get back here!" yelled Samos.
Jak looked up upon hearing his name just in time to see a foot collide with his face. The two young people continued to try and defeat Jak with only their feeble kicks and punches. He knew that as long as he was in this form he could not be hurt. He could hear the cheers of the villagers as his younger self and Daxter continued to try and beat the crap out of him. Jak rolled his eyes and picked Daxter up by the scruff of his neck and threw him towards Samos. It took great self-control to not rip out Daxter's jugular. Jak knew only to well how blood thirsty he got while in this form.
His younger self, however, proved to be more of a match than Daxter had. When Jak attacked, his opponent ducked, rolled, or leaped out of the way with astonishing speed. The same held true with Jak, he would duck, roll, or leap out of the way of any attack thrown at him. True he didn't need to dodge the attacks, but something was telling him that this younger version of him was not to be tested.
The younger had just finished a brilliant display of kicks, punches and a combination of both when Samos fired yet another green eco beam at him. This distracted Jak just long enough for his opponent to strike him with a spinning kick. Jak went flying back into the hut behind him. Unlike the other attempts to hurt him, this one actually worked. Jak didn't understand, he was invincible; nothing could hurt him, especially a kick. Jak looked up at his younger self and saw a glowing light surrounding him.
'White eco? But that isn't possible.' Jak thought to himself. He rolled out of the way of another attack. 'He is getting over confident' said a small sinister voice in his head. But Jak chose to ignore it and rolled again. 'You can end this, just use one of the dark powers,' said the voice again. Jak wasn't so lucky this time, the younger had anticipated a roll and did a dive punch right into Jak's ribs. Jak heard a crunch at which he had had enough; it was either this figment of his imagination or him.
Jak grabbed the arm of the younger and threw him to the ground beside him. Sparks of Dark eco shooting out in every direction, Jak let the voice inside his head take over. Driven by anger and fueled by fear, Jak started slashing at his opponent until the white glowing light was only a faded white mist.
* * *
Before the final blow was struck Jak was pulled out of this unconscious state and back to reality.
Jak rubbed his throbbing head and sat up. He checked his hand for any signs of blood, none. He then made a quick check to make sure the rest of his body was okay. His clothes weren't torn or dirty, he had no scrapes or cuts or broken bones. Running a hand through his long yellow hair he tried to make sense of it. He knew that he was just in a crash, and yet there was no sign of it.
Jak broadened his line of vision to his surroundings. It was darker than usual, Keira was crouched down next to him, her features and the way her body was crouched suggested that she was crying, but no sounds erupted from her still form. Crowds of people were surrounding him, all wanting to get a closer look at what happened but none moving. It was as if someone had pushed the pause button and forgot to tell him.
Jak reached out to Keira, but as soon as he did, her figure disappeared into the dark. He looked around, the crowds also began to follow suit, one by one disappearing into the darkness. Until only he and the cold stone floor remained visible.
Jak paced around the small space he had. He figured he had two choices, one to stay in the small bit of visible space or two to venture into the darkness. He was always a sucker for exploring unknown places so, curiosity getting the better of him he started to take his first steps toward the black abyss. It wasn't until to late that he had realized his mistake, and was now in complete darkness. The little shred of land was no longer visible; there was no going back into the light so he continued on in the dark. As if he had any other choice.
* * *
Keira looked helplessly onto Jak. She wanted desperately to make him better to help him off of the ground. She was afraid that if she tried to move him she might inflict more injury on his already frail body. The crisp zoomer frame was still on top of Jak, and was too heavy for her to remove.
She hated it.
This feeling of utter helplessness. The known fact that she was physically too weak to offer him a bit of help. And the fact that she was the reason he was in the condition he was in now. She hated the gossiple people of Haven City, who where too encompassed in their own lives to care that the one person that had saved their butts when every one else had given up hope, was lying on the ground bleeding to death.
Guards rushed over to the scene and hurried to keep the crowds from getting a good look at what had happened. After all they were just following orders. A hellcat landed in the street a couple of meters from her and Jak; Torn jumped out and ran over to her.
"What the hell happened here?" He asked in his usual harsh voice. Keira made an attempt to use her voice but only a squeak escaped her dry lips and made its way towards Torn's ears. Torn could see how grief struck she was and decided not to persist in the interrogation.
"We need to get this off of him," Keira said in a quiet whisper, finally able to find hear vocal cords.
Torn concurred and he lifted the frame off of Jak single handedly, tossing it to the side. The young man had definitely seen better days, and by the look of things was bleeding from a gash in his leg. Torn knew that the flow of this unusual black blood had to be stopped immediately. He tore a strip of Jak's pants and wrapped it around his leg so tightly that no blood would be able to pass. Torn then proceeded to check for any other threatening wounds and for Jak's vitals, which were week but never the less, existent. Finally confident that Jak could be moved without doing him anymore harm, Torn picked him up and carried him to the palace.
Daxter had been sitting on the banister in the main hall waiting for Jak to come back to get him. Ashlin had been clever enough to close the heavy oak doors behind her, thus denying the pestering Daxter entry into the room. Feeling left behind and unwanted, the little Ottsel sat watching guards come in and out of the palace. His ears perked up when they heard Torn's familiar voice echoing through the hall.
"Finally he comes back to the palace. Boy is Torn going to get it, since when did that lazy maniac get a life. When Jak—"Daxter watched Torn carry Jak through the large metal doors, "JAK!"
'Oh no. I knew it was to good to be true. Jak must have left the rat here,' Torn thought to himself. Previously thinking that Daxter had died in the crash, he watched the orange fuzz ball bound off the banister and sprint towards him.
"What did you do to Jak?" asked Daxter. Finally seeing Keira he asked, "What did he do to Jak?"
Keira broke out into a silent sob. Daxter couldn't understand why she was crying, was it something he had said. He went over to comfort her; after all, the ladies did like to cuddle him a lot. He had that effect on women. Daxter hopped up onto Keira's shoulder and watch Torn take his best friend down the hall.
* * *
Jak continued to wander through the darkness of his mind. He didn't know what else to do. It was weird. There was ground beneath him and with every step he could feel its solidity, but his shoes made no sounds. He was now purposely stomping to see if he could make a sound any sound. Nothing. Jak opened his mouth and started to yell. Nothing. He didn't understand this new phenomenon. Either he was deaf, or the darkness was preventing or absorbing all sounds he made. And he was not going to believe the first option.
Jak felt a small breeze pass him, and stopped dead in his tracks. He felt it again on his left side. He turned hoping he would be able to see something, but there was nothing but the darkness. The breeze passed him again this time behind him, something was here and it wasn't just him. Jak began to spin on spot to see if he could catch this invisible assailant. He felt it again on his right side and lashed out at the invisible force. His fingers had touched something, almost like hair. Jak waited and waited and waited but the force did not return.
The ground below Jak's feet had begun to loose its solidity. He tried to move away from the melting floor but it had consumed his lower leg in no time at all. He wildly searched the area around him with his arms, desperately trying to hold on to something. His nails tried to dig into the solid ground around him, but he was almost up to his neck in the deformed black floor.
It was the most unusual sensation he had ever felt. As the floor had consumed his entire body, Jak discovered the ever mind boggling sensation of weightlessness. In other words it was as if he was floating in the floor. No ups, no downs, no nothing. He was rather enjoying himself in this newly discovered state. However, in no matter of time at all, Jak was caught in the middle of a summersault when weight became aware that he was having too much fun without it.
Jak plummeted toward the ground. The air whistling as it passed his ears and combing his long yellow hair. He hit the ground with a thud; it wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. And to his surprise he actually heard a sound for the first time since he had entered this place.
A blinding light turned on just behind Jak. He turned around, shielding his eyes from the source, and found a magnificently bright yellow sphere in a rich blue sky. It was like someone had finally found the light switch to the sun. Jak turned around to take in the rest of his surroundings. Golden sand sparkled in the sunlight, the crystal clear water made a soft splash as the waves made their way up the beach. He knew this place. He looked to his left, and sure enough were the huts of Sandover Village. He was home, but how?
He ran across the loose sand towards the village. In his own excitement, Jak almost tripped over the steps separating the sandy beach from the grassland of the village. He ran passed the villagers and huts, across the bridge and up the steps leading to Samos's hut. He stepped through the tiny door leading into the hut, and saw Samos and Keira standing with their backs to him, obviously deep in discussion over something or other. Jak cleared his throat to get their attention.
Keira turned around, brushing her shining green hair out of her eyes as she did. Her lips were already stretched in the form of a smile and her eyes closed. As soon as she opened her eyes to see Jak, her smile faded and the sparkle in her eyes vanished almost instantly. Jak could sense her fear, it excited him in a way he had never felt before. Keira let out a scream, almost knocking Samos off his logs. Samos turned around and saw Jak. Without warning he was blasted through the wall of the hut by a green beam. He landed in the middle of the Village, and oddly enough it didn't seem to hurt him. Jak looked around Sandover and saw the people looking fearfully through their windows. He didn't understand, these people knew him, why were they so afraid.
Samos floated down from the hut, glowing with green eco, staff raised posed to strike Jak again if he had to. Jak noticed Keira watching him from the hut, obviously to scared to come down. And then he something he had not been expecting to see. Daxter. And he wasn't two feet tall and orange, he was the bucked toothed boy Jak knew before the Dark Eco accident. Coming up behind Dax was another boy. He recognized the yellow-green hairstyle anywhere. It was his younger self.
* * *
Jak was brought to the Palace's infirmary, where he was laid down on a cold metallic table. Guards with various injuries were scattered around the room. Their red uniforms sticking out like a sore thumb in the clean white room.
"Hello commander, what seems to be the problem?" Asked one of the nurses. She was dressed in white scrubs with a red stripe down the side of the pant legs.
"Its not me that needs tending to, its him," answered Torn motioning to Jak's motionless body.
"Oh," said the nurse obviously not noticing Jak before hand, "But commander, we don't treat civilians here."
Torn towered over the nurse, "Is that so," he hissed in a low menacing voice, "Well you might want to rethink that decision, this here is no civilian, can't you see the uniform."
"I-I'll get a d-doctor over here immediately, sir," stuttered the nurse who was very intimidated by Torn's show of power.
* * *
Jak narrowly dodged a beam of green eco as he stared transfixed at his younger self. How he had missed the light he had once possessed. It wasn't that it had vanished never to be seen again; it was on the other hand, held captive deep within him. The innocence of his younger self annoyed him, and he couldn't help but wonder 'what if'?
His train of thought became disgruntled when Samos fired yet another green beam at him, it hit him squarely in the chest. Jak landed in a puddle of water and upon seeing his reflection in the rippled water, understood why Samos was firing at him. His skin was a pasty white colour, his eyes were black and bottomless, and his hair white with two black horns protruding from his skull. He didn't know why he hadn't realized it before.
"Jak, Daxter get back here!" yelled Samos.
Jak looked up upon hearing his name just in time to see a foot collide with his face. The two young people continued to try and defeat Jak with only their feeble kicks and punches. He knew that as long as he was in this form he could not be hurt. He could hear the cheers of the villagers as his younger self and Daxter continued to try and beat the crap out of him. Jak rolled his eyes and picked Daxter up by the scruff of his neck and threw him towards Samos. It took great self-control to not rip out Daxter's jugular. Jak knew only to well how blood thirsty he got while in this form.
His younger self, however, proved to be more of a match than Daxter had. When Jak attacked, his opponent ducked, rolled, or leaped out of the way with astonishing speed. The same held true with Jak, he would duck, roll, or leap out of the way of any attack thrown at him. True he didn't need to dodge the attacks, but something was telling him that this younger version of him was not to be tested.
The younger had just finished a brilliant display of kicks, punches and a combination of both when Samos fired yet another green eco beam at him. This distracted Jak just long enough for his opponent to strike him with a spinning kick. Jak went flying back into the hut behind him. Unlike the other attempts to hurt him, this one actually worked. Jak didn't understand, he was invincible; nothing could hurt him, especially a kick. Jak looked up at his younger self and saw a glowing light surrounding him.
'White eco? But that isn't possible.' Jak thought to himself. He rolled out of the way of another attack. 'He is getting over confident' said a small sinister voice in his head. But Jak chose to ignore it and rolled again. 'You can end this, just use one of the dark powers,' said the voice again. Jak wasn't so lucky this time, the younger had anticipated a roll and did a dive punch right into Jak's ribs. Jak heard a crunch at which he had had enough; it was either this figment of his imagination or him.
Jak grabbed the arm of the younger and threw him to the ground beside him. Sparks of Dark eco shooting out in every direction, Jak let the voice inside his head take over. Driven by anger and fueled by fear, Jak started slashing at his opponent until the white glowing light was only a faded white mist.
* * *
Before the final blow was struck Jak was pulled out of this unconscious state and back to reality.