K'sani A/N: Well, yeah, no one to thank but Ekobean and Shady for writing this with me. On with the second chapter, which I finally got around to editing!
Disclaimer: We only own ourselves and nothing else. The rest of it belongs to NaughtyDog, Inc. And we don't own Microsoft either, otherwise we'd all be filthy rich and we'd own NaughtyDog. Until we own a thriving software company, we don't own anything related to Jak 3, K?
K'sani's POV
I am in the middle of a tornado, circling around and around and around. I become dizzier by the second, but I grasp the green sweatshirt that I left on the couch yesterday. It had been sitting there before the green face had paid me a visit.
I jolt in midair, thrown wildly around on the whirlwinds that encompass me. I shout, and I hear the evil laughter. Oh, how I just want out! What did that stupid face want anyway? OW! Another gust of wind hits me, but this time with some debris in it. I cry out in pain, a sharp jolt arising from my forearm, but I heard nothing in response this time.
Suddenly I am torn out of the air and smashed face first in gritty sand. My ribs ache terribly, and my foot is at an odd angle, which causes me great pain. I cry out and a tear rolls down my cheek. Slowly I stand up.
A vast, lonely desert surrounds me on all sides. The wind is calm, but still occasionally blowing some extremely gritty sand in the hot, humid air, which swarms with bugs. The place, oddly silent and unwelcoming, glows in the heat and the sun sinking slowly in the far west. Or what I assume is west.
I wear only a tank top on and a pair of pajama bottoms, which are in reality thin cotton sweats. Nothing covers my feet, and I hold only a green sweatshirt. No water, no flashlight or matches, no food, and in the middle of a desert wasteland. The perfect nightmare.
I sigh and begin walking in the direction of the setting sun. The sky is alive with shoots of vibrant peach and orange; purple thunderhead clouds graze across the western sky. A midnight blue covers the east, and little bluish-white stars light up the sky. The stars are definitely unfamiliar. I know I'm not near home anymore. I must be in the Eastern Hemisphere. Oh great, I'm probably in the Sahara desert.
As the sun sinks below the low horizon, I don on my sweatshirt, mostly to keep the bugs away. My clothes stick to my skin; I perspire heavily, and my head feels extremely hot. Oh how I wish for a cold, wet facecloth. Or a jug of water. Or to just go home. Yeah, I think I'd like that last one.
A voice inside my head scolds me. I should pay attention to what is happening now, not go off and wander back home in my mind. A sound of moving sand snaps me out of my daydream and keeps me on the alert. I glanced around 360 degrees, peering into the shadows around me. Oh how I am scared.
A thing that glows a bright yellow leaps out at me, and I yell, startled. I whack it away with my hand, but it is no use. A long cut that runs along my cheek to my forehead from the creature begins bleeding. Another creature slashes out at me, cutting into my right shin. Oh the pain. I know my bottoms are torn at the knee, but I don't care. I turn to my right, and I look out over to at least thirty of the glowing yellow creatures. I begin to sweat even harder, and the blood on my face blurs my vision. I wipe it off and turn back to the direction of where the sun set and run as fast and hard as I can. I am a pretty darn good runner, and I don't run a mile in under 8 minutes and 25 seconds for nothing! Even though I am barefoot and I am hurting and bleeding, I believe I am now sprinting the fastest I ever have in my entire life. My old soccer (It's called football in the U.K.) coach would've been proud had he been here to witness it and had it not been a dire situation.
The creatures are slow across the hard desert sand, but they are persistent, and I feel like I've been running for hours on end when I see the first light of the morning. The creatures are gone, and I keep running, well, more like fast jogging, though I am exhausted and my feet hurt like heck. I look at the bottom of them while I am running. They are completely black, covered in dried blood and large blisters. Mom wouldn't be pleased, had she been there.
I slow to a light jog now, completely tired and deprived of two day's worth of sleep. When I first see the wall I think I am seeing mirages. But, no, they are definitely there! And there is a whole city there, too. Yes! I found an oasis! WATER!
As I enter the city, I look at the odd writings on a sign and I can't make out what the heck they are. They look like Greek, or Hebrew, or Arabic. Arabic would make sense because it is a very desert-like region of the world that speaks Arabic.
I have a friend that speaks Arabic. I try to remember some of her words.
All in all, I know how to say, "You are a poophead," "I like cheese," and "Hello." Not very helpful, but it might help me communicate with the locals.
I turn around and see a boy with curly hair and a girl in her mid-teens talking.
The boy and the girl are having a soft conversation, and then they both look to me. I shift uneasily. Why do they stare at me like that? I'm not a person from a freak show!
I slowly walk up to them, and greet them in Arabic, assuming that they are from the oasis. Both stare at me blankly, and I frown. The girl looks like she is Hispanic or Latino. I think I'll try Spanish.
"Hola." This time the girl smiles, and greets me back. The boy grins as well.
"Tu hablar Ingles?" the girl asks.
"Yes," I reply.
"Hello!" exclaims the boy. I nod in acknowledgement. I am exhausted.
"Agua? Sleep? Jubna?"(Water? Sleep? Cheese?) I ask. They nod, and point to one of the huts. I walk inside and collapse on a cot after I get a quick sip of water, completely drained. I do believe I slept for thirteen hours before I introduced myself to Shadowsister and Ekobean.
Ekobean's POV
I found myself falling in a swirling vortex of green light. Every inch of my body burned as I fell. I closed my eyes so tight that they hurt, wishing for it all to stop. And then it did.
When I came to I found myself lying on my back in sand. Sand? Where the hell was I? Wincing, I rose to my bare feet surveyed my surroundings. Oh crap.
In every direction there was nothing but sand and dunes. The occasional dust devil churned to life across the barren wasteland, but there was no sign of life. Hot wind blew in my burning face carrying miniature sand bullets into my eyes.
"Hello?" I yelled. There was no response. I didn't even hear an echo.
Gathering my wits, I looked toward the direction of the setting crimson sun. A vast palette of colors glittered across the sky like one of my dad's paintings. I would have admired it if I weren't so scared. Judging by how it was on the horizon, I was guessing that it was either morning or evening. So that was either west or east. With no other ideas in mind I began to follow the sun.
It wasn't long before the colorful sky turned a deathly shade of black. So it had been evening, therefore I was going west. Even at night the desert was hot. My throat was dry, my muscles ached, and my mind was beginning to wander. My thick layer of hair wasn't helping either. I knew I should have shaved it off. I began thinking of home. What would my parents say? They'd probably wonder where I'd gone and why. They'd scold themselves for not "being good parents."
I gave myself a sharp pinch. I had to stay focused. I had no idea where I was, and I didn't know what kinds of things lived in the desert.
My question seemed to be answered momentarily. I heard a sharp clicking not far behind me, like claws or pincers smacking together. I whipped around to find myself nearly face to face with a glowing yellow creature. It looked so familiar. Where had I seen it before? It looked almost like it was made of metal.
The creature gave a howl and charged at me. Screaming, I began to run, only to be knocked to the ground by another creature to my left. I frantically scrambled to my feet and sprinted as fast as humanly possible away from the glowing yellow monstrosities. I heard more clicking, more footfalls.
The creatures were running next to me, past me. They surrounded me on every side. I looked about for a way out, any opening by means of escape. None. The creatures began to close in, their claws clacking with anticipation.
There was a far off whoop and a roar of an engine. Two vehicles that appeared to be dune buggies roared into view. The creatures shrieked and began to flee. The dune buggy roared up next to me. A large man that held a large bronze staff looked over at me with two hard eyes. "You called?" he asked.
"Uh..." I stuttered, "N-no, but I...who are you and where am I?"
"You have a beacon, where is it?"
What? What was he talking about?
The pointy-eared man sighed. "Get in. We already have one like you, you show up on our sensors, but no beacon."
Still confused I loaded myself gladly into the buggy and we sped off into the distance. Soon we came upon a small city in the cliffs. The man said it was called Spargus City. Soon I was introduced to the girl they were talking about. They said her name was Shadowsister, but I could hardly believe that was her real name. She looked more like me than the other people of the city. She had normal ears. She looked to be Spanish, or of some similar nationality.
In the morning the two of us talked about our encounters. Apparently "Shadowsister" had had the same strange encounter of the floating face in the TV screen as me. Soon another girl joined the party, apparently named K'sani. She was wearing torn pajama pants and a tank top, and seemed to be rather worse for the wear. Wherever the three of us were, it didn't seem to be very friendly.
Shady's POV
My trip through the 'swirling green vortex thingy of nauseating nauseatingness' was nauseating. Honestly, it was like riding the Ranger, the Gravitron and all theses other thrill-rides, ALL AT THE SAME TIME!
After what seemed like ten grueling minutes of nauseating queasiness I was finally met with the relief of stopping, which was soon replaced by a pain in my hip.
"Holy mother of crap!" I yell.
I slowly roll off the rock penetrating my hipbone. I then lie on my side for a minute, to ease the stomach flipping. I swear I felt like throwing up. I slowly roll back onto my back, but something crept underneath. I realized I still had my bag.
"Arghhh!" I quickly sit up, causing a shot of pain to my hip, and frantically checked my bag.
Thankfully:
My MD player was still in piece;
All my MDs were present and accounted for;
None of my Chupa Chups were crushed;
The M&Ms box was slightly munched, but otherwise ok;
The snacks still looked edible;
I still had my precious bottle of water.
Now, phase two.
I place the bottle on the ground and draw a line where the shadow stopped. I waited for a while and watched as the shadow lengthened. It was evening. But it was mid arvo when I last remember!
'What have you gone and done this time?' a voice in my head says.
'This time?' I haven't done anything bad before! The worst trouble I ever got into was a lunchtime detention for not handing in my homework in year nine!
I tried to stand up but my injured hip caused me much pain, so fell back on the ground, tears in my eyes. No matter what I did, my bloody hip hurt.
"It better not be dislocated or fractured or something," I say aloud. If it was, I'm surprised at how little it hurt. I thought I would have passed out from the pain. Eh, whatever.
I got up as slowly as I could, trying not to hurt my leg, and started hopping in a random direction. I needed shelter, food and medical attention (just in case, it's not like I wanted my leg amputated coz of an infected injury).
I limped my way to wherever; my MD was on softly, playing into one ear. I was slightly paranoid. My surroundings were arid; there was nothing in either direction. I probably would have noticed if anything was approaching, but I had an over-active imagination. Oh, curse this imagination of mine! I kept thinking that Sandbeasts were going to spring from the sands and swallow me up.
Damn fantasy stories. Why did they have to be so good? And damn Emily Rodda for coming up with Sandbeasts in the first place! Hmm, I wonder what will happen in the next Deltora Quest book? Wait! This is what gave me the paranoia in the first place! Damn!
"I swear on the dirt that I'm standing on that should I ever find a piece of legible fictional literature it shall only be read by my eyes if it be a sappy romance love story! OW! Fucking leg!"
I really needed to find shelter and other life forms, preferably civilized.
'Hell no! Go nomadic tribal!'
Stupid voice.
I had a brain wave. I took my pentacle from a round my neck and held it in front of me. It hung there, unmoving. I don't usually perform spells and magick, but this wasn't really magick, and it was an emergency damn it!
I scanned though in my mind for a deity that might help me. And I found the perfect one.
Archangel Raphael. Angel of communication, healing, knowledge, and travel. Perfect!
It would help if I had my Angel card, but I had to rely on the magick. It wouldn't work, otherwise.
I asked Raphael for guidance and protection.
'Point me to the healing I need, to people who will care,' I ask.
I looked at the dangling pentacle. It hovered there for a second, and then did what I was hoping it to do. It moved! It moved to the right, ever so slightly.
'Go thata way,' it said.
Oh, thank you so much!
I start walking in the direction the pentacle was pointing. I slip my pentacle back on and continue walking, while crying. It was getting dark.
'I thought you liked the dark,' commented the voice.
No, you are thinking of shadows. And by that I mean I act like a shadow.
'You mean the way you don't get noticed?'
Yes. Isn't it a cool trick?
'Yeah! You can just slip away unnoticed and they would be none the wiser!'
Pretty much. And. Hey, why the hell am I even talking to you?
'I'm your subconscious.'
Well, you suck!
'Well, just look at what I have to work with!'
I kept on arguing with my mind for a while. At least it was something to do.
Oh my God, we sound so like Gollum!
'I reckon! How cool does he look?'
Cool! I'm so into CG at the moment! I'm thirsty.
'Then drink something, fool!'
I take out the bottle of water and drink a bit. Living in Australia had its advantages.
I was deep in thought, trying to ignore the pain in my stupid hip. I was half-blinded by tears, which was probably why I didn't see what was ahead of me.
I bumped into something that was also moving. Whatever it was, it was moving faster and was much stronger than me, and it sent me to the ground, landing fucked-up hip first.
I scream in pain and swear my head off. My body was surely to be crippled.
"Crap! Are you ok?" a male voice asked. He sounded American. He also sounded really concerned.
"NO!" I yell. I wasn't pissed at him, my hip hurt. Instinctively, I kick him in the shins. I was actually aiming much higher but I WAS in the ground.
He went to the ground, clutching his shin.
Score!
'Right on!'
Now that he was at my eye level I took a while to look at him properly.
He was taller than me, everyone always is. He had curly brown hair.
'Hey, that's Jack's hair!'
Wow, I know. Hey, what about that shirt he sometimes has?
'Yeah. "Jack lives here." Gold.'
I wasn't done with my 'introduction' yet. I grab my bag and whack the guy on the head with it. The rest of him falls to the ground.
I scramble to get to my feet and run in the opposite direction, but something grabs onto my ankle, which was part of the leg that had 'the hip.'
Once again, I scream my head off. I was bound to end up a mute by morning. Actually, that wouldn't be much of a change from how I live now.
"Are you ok?" asks the thing that is holding me to the guy on the ground. Serves you right!
"Yeah, I'm fine," he says, rubbing his nose. Mwahahaha-OW! Hip.
"Two down, one to go."
"Which one's this?"
"This is Shadowsister."
"What are we gonna do with her?"
"We'll take her back to Spargus and have her checked up. Either she's in a lot of pain or she communicates by making head-splitting noises." Hey, I resent that remark!
"Hey!" I yell. "Stop referring to me as if I were unable to comprehend what you are talking about and could you please grab onto my other ankle if nothing else! I mean, come on!"
The guy holding my places my gently down on the ground, next to the other guy.
The guy holding me was... odd. He had big ears. No, not big. Long. And pointy, like an elf or something.
Something makes contact with my arm and I scream for the more-than-once time. I notice that the 'normal' looking guy is trying to help me up. He gets me to my feet, trying ever so hard not to hurt me and begins to guide me to a dune-buggy type thing.
"You sure do scream a lot," he says, trying to make conversation.
As luck would have it, I was in one of my 'I-take-every-comment-as-a-personal-verbal-assault/attack' moods. I.e. I kick him in the shins, again, in the same place as before. His hands immediately go to the point of contact.
"What'd you do that for?" he yells.
"Coz I damn well felt like it!" I yell back.
"Will you two shut up!" says the elf-thing.
"NO! Now someone better tell me what the fuck is going on, coz I sure as hell would really like to know what the fuck is going on! And for the love of God, your excuse better make sense!" I scream my lungs out.
"Please, remain calm."
"I was gonna go for a walk and this stupid head appears and I got through a stupid thing and end up in this fucked up place! I don't know where I am and I don't know how I got here! AND my leg is fucked up! HOW THE BLOODY HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO REMAIN CALM!"
"Well how do you think I feel?" asks the 'normal' guy.
"The same as I do! You're just dealing with it by God knows what method!"
By know I was over flowing with tears and my throat was almost as sore as 'the hip.' The guys remained silent, probably staring at my crying figure.
"I just wanna go home," I whisper, my voice all croaky coz of screaming too much.
'Like you were trying to do at the Footy match!'
Not the best time for your smart-arse comments.
'Normal' comes up to me and puts a hand on my shoulder.
"I wanna go home too," he tells me. "But we don't know how to get there. We should stay here until we find a way back. And we should get your hip checked."
I nod and wipe away my tears. We get into the dune-buggy and begin the drive to food, bed, food, shelter, food, medical attention, food, more people, food, the odd human sacrifice here and there, food, food. Did I mention food?
I apologized to Ekobean, the guy I kicked twice in the shins, for kicking him in the shins. He appeared really sleepy. I was tired, but not sleepy. Stupid jet lag, vortex-lag, whatever.
When we got to Spargus, Eko waited patiently as I got my hip looked at by the medic.
"It's not bad. Your bone is just heavily bruised. You'll have to stay off it for a while," informed the doctor.
"Define 'a while?'" I ask.
"A few days, 'til it's completely healed."
"Yay!" My voice full of sarcasm.
Eko helps me get to the hut where we were gonna be sleeping. There were thick rugs on the floor and pillows scattered around.
"Aren't you sleepy?" Eko asks as he's lying down on a rug.
"It's only lunchtime," I reply, knowing he knew what I meant.
I sit down on a rug. Eko falls asleep quickly and I am left to entertain myself. I knew I should have packed a book. But that gives me an idea.
So I sit in the hut, Eko asleep close by, and draw my surrounding with as much detail as I possibly could. Random images of fantasy creatures make their way onto my drawing pad. I continue drawing and sketching, listening to my MD for inspiration, until early morning. And I had no intention of stopping.
This was either a very realistic dream or one hell of an adventure.