Chapter XXX: The Tomb of Mar

LES: The Tomb with some added danger, provided by yours truly! Now, more of THE DREADED 'KICK ME' SIGN!

Jak: (still walking about, wondering why Samos had hit him so hard)

Sig: (walks by and notices the sign on Jak's back, then kicks him swiftly in the rear)

Jak: Dammit! Why the hell…? (glares at Sig) Why'd you kick me?

Sig: (shrugs) Everyone needs a good ass-kicking, cherry. (walks away, laughing to self)

Jak: WTF?

Jak and Daxter were now on the other side of the door. "Great, just great, now we're stuck in here!" Daxter growled, glaring at the large stone doorway, which was firmly closed.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Jak said. "We'll just pass whatever Tests the Oracle throws at us, grab the Precursor Stone, then get the hell out of here. I'm used to passing these sort of tests."

"Uh, hello, you're forgetting one thing." Daxter said. "Only the Heir of Mar can face the tests and, oh yeah, THAT'S THE KID!"

"Hey, I'm sure nothing in this Tomb will be a challenge for me."

"One question, though." Daxter said. "Why did you get all hypnotized back there? You were walking toward the door like a zombie or something."

"I…" Jak started, and then he paused. He knew this was going to sound extremely stupid to Daxter. "I heard someone calling my name."

"Jak—are you going crazy? You're hearing voices everywhere! THERE'S NOTHING HERE!"

"Jaaak…"

"Shhh!" Jak hissed. "Do you hear it?"

"Jak, there's nothing here, watch!" Daxter faced the dark tomb. "Hello!" His voice echoed, but nothing else seemed to happen. "See, there's nothing…"

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and fires sprang up all over the Tomb, dimly illuminating the darkness, for the fires seemed to be dark, purple fire, like it was made of Dark Eco. These fires gave off little light, but what the light did reveal was a long staircase down into a huge chamber. However, the floor of this chamber was made up of Dark Eco, an enormous lake of the evil substance spread from wall to wall.

"Whoa… that's a lot of Dark Eco." Daxter commented. "You were right after all, Jak, the Kid would've survived this."

"Sometimes… I hate being right." Jak said, and then he stopped suddenly, staring into the shadows of the Dark liquid. As he stared, he moved down the staircase. When he reached the bottom, he gasped. "What the hell?"

"What? What do you see?" Daxter asked.

"Look." Jak said, staring at the Dark Eco.

Daxter looked and gasped. "What the hell are those things?"

Daxter had said this because large beings were arising from the Dark liquid. Great, lizard-like bodies that stood at least eight feet tall. Dark Eco dripped off their great scaly bodies and their jaws opened, revealing razor-sharp teeth. These creatures all had pale skin with dark marks on their skin that looked like some sort of primitive tribal tattoos and they had five-foot long tails to complete the picture.

"Jaaaaak…" The foremost one hissed in an oily, seductive voice, revealing the creature that had originally called Jak into the Tomb. It was strange, though, the creature wasn't even speaking any language that Jak consciously knew, yet he seemed able to understand it perfectly. Then Jak realized that it was the strange hissing language that Dark used. Perhaps Dark was helping him understand. That would also explain why Daxter couldn't hear the voice.

Jak, praying that Dark would allow him to communicate back, began to speak… in a series of growls and hisses. "How do you know my name? What are you?"

"Uh… Jak?" Daxter asked uncertainly, but Jak ignored him.

"We are the Dark Watchers. We have been charged by the Great One to guard this Tomb and it's contents. Many have we hunted down and torn apart. As to how we know you… The Great One." The Foremost monster hissed. "It told us of the one's coming. But… the chosen one was rejected at the door… too young. Why would the Oracle ignore you?" Jak honestly had no idea what the creature was talking about.

Another spoke up. "Perhaps they masked out each other's auras. The Great One could not feel him."

"Speaking of feel…" The Leader said. "What are you?"

"What?"

"What are you?" The monster repeated. "You feel like an elf, but somewhere… deeper… we feel something else… something like us…"

"Feel?" Jak asked. "We do you use the word feel?"

"Because, we have no… what do you call them… 'eyes'." The Dark Watcher stepped forward, into a patch of light. He was right, the place where their eyes should have been, the skin had scabbed over the eye-sockets. "We have no need for eyes in the Darkness. We feel our way towards our victims."

"Victims?" Jak asked.

"I'm sorry to say, Dark One, but we must kill you." The Leader said. "The Great One told us to never allow anyone to pass us. Such a waste… we could've had a wonderful conversation. It gets very empty down here… in the Darkness."

The creatures unsheathed their claws with sickening 'shhhk' sounds to about a foot in length and they approached Jak menacingly. There were about a dozen of them in all.

Jak swore under his breath. "What's going on?" Daxter demanded.

"We have to fight them." Jak explained.

"So you're speaking in a normal language again, huh?"

"I'll explain later." Jak said hurriedly. And then… "Daxter, get off!"

"What?"

"Get the hell off my shoulder!" Jak hissed. "Go hide somewhere, you'll only get in the way." Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and ran off somewhere to hide, and then Jak lost sight of him.

Then he allowed himself to transform. He made a great effort not to cry out as the Dark Eco tore through his body. He doubled over, teeth gritted in pain, as horns ripped out of his forehead. Then his fingernails lengthened into long, cruel claws and the rest of his body followed in the dark transformation. Finally, the transformation was complete, but Jak's mind remained dominate. He suppressed his Dark Eco powers for a short while and, after hesitating for a second, he walked out into the Dark Eco.

Even in his Dark transformation, the substance burned him. Jak clenched his jaw to keep from crying out. If he cried out, he was dead. The Dark Watchers were confused, they could no longer sense their prey. "Where is he?" The Leader demanded, 'glancing' around at their surroundings. "He's hiding among us!" All the Dark Watchers turned to face each other, as if suspecting them.

Jak froze. If he used only a minimum of Dark Eco, he could possibly stay in his Dark form for several hours. And since he was standing in a pool of the stuff, he could stay this way until the Dark Eco supply ran out, which could be years. But it burned terribly, Jak had to fight with all his strength to keep tears from forming.

The Leader walked up to a Dark Watcher, claws flashed, and the unfortunate Dark Watcher fell into the Dark Eco in two pieces. Then it moved on to the next one… and the next…

Jak realized it was only a matter of time before he was flushed out. Six Dark Watchers out of the original dozen had been slaughtered and another was brutally slaughtered. Five left, including the Leader… Jak liked those odds a lot better, but he figured might as well let the Leader do most of the dirty work. Three more died at the hands of the Leader, only one plus the Leader left now. Finally, the leader moved to Jak. He raised his claws to slice the Dark Elf in half as he did the others.

Suddenly, Jak made his move. He stabbed out at the Leader with his own claws, catching him under his guard, and under the creature's rib cage. Jak sliced his stomach open and watched with a morbid curiosity as it's insides spilled out into the Dark Eco.

"AUGH!" The Leader cried out in horror. "It's him! Get him!" The Leader hissed as it fell to the ground.

Suddenly, the last Dark Watcher tackled from behind Jak and he fell face-forward into the Dark Eco. He tried desperately to get up, but the monster wouldn't allow Jak to get his face above the Dark Eco. It was burning his face, his mouth, and his throat. He was pinned down and drowning in Dark Eco!

Suddenly, a memory rose unbidden to the surface of his mind. The Krimzon Guard Captain had him pinned. He couldn't get up! And then Jak realized with horror what that Captain wanted… what he was planning to do…

The memory filled him with such rage that he couldn't keep control anymore. Dark easily pushed Jak's mind aside and took over. Dark roared in anger and forced himself up with explosive force, sending the Dark Watcher and about a ton of Dark Eco into the air.

The Dark Watcher landed on its feet several feet away from the Dark monster, and the monster in question stood up from the Dark Eco, the evil substance dripping off his body.

He looked terrible. The extended amount of time submerged in the Dark Eco had eaten away at his skin. He had terrible burns and large bloody holes that covered his body, and his clothes were so torn up, there was barely enough fabric left to preserve his modesty. Forget shoes, those were long gone.

But such a rage burned in Dark's eyes in the middle of his mangled face, Dark completely ignored his wounded body and leapt at the Dark Watcher and preceded to tear him apart.

Dark may have been a full three feet shorter than his adversary, but it was obvious that the monster was rusty in the act of killing from lack of action. Dark was a seasoned killer, a murderer, and when it came to taking someone's life, Dark knew what he was doing.

After mutilating the beast to his satisfaction, Dark rested a claw against the monster's neck. The Dark monster let out a long hiss that could best be translated as 'last blood in mine!'. Then, with a quick motion, Dark drew the claw across the monster's throat, cutting his windpipe. It was dead within seconds. Dark stood up, still bleeding terribly from many wounds that did not seem to want to heal, and walked over to the Dark Eco-free platform and stepped out of the substance. And slowly allowed himself to change back into his host's form.

Dark slipped away and Jak was able to maintain control of his body. However, he came back and realized that he was injured, terribly injured, as the pain overwhelmed his senses and bypassed his taboo against signs of weakness. He let out a cry of intense pain and fell to the stone ground, unmoving.

Daxter, who had been hiding like Jak had told him was attracted by his cry of pain. He saw Jak lying on the stone ground, looking horribly mutilated. "Jak! Jak!" Daxter ran down to Jak's side. "What happened?"

The elf didn't even bother to open his eyes, it simply hurt too much to move. "The bastards… never touched me." Jak whispered. "It was the damn… Dark Eco."

"Come on, Jak, you can lick this!" Daxter said. "You'll heal! You have to!" Daxter looked over at the Dark Eco pool. "I'll help you over to the…"

"No." Jak gasped. "It's too much. There's too much… I couldn't handle it…"

"Jak, you idiot!" Daxter said, but there was no anger in his voice. "This is all your fault!"

Jak winched as more pain shot through his body. "Tired…" He breathed.

"No!" Daxter cried when he realized what was happening. "You've got to stay awake! Jak, stay away from the Light!"

"I see no Light." Jak struggled from each breath. "There's only Darkness."

"Don't you dare die, Jak!" Daxter cried. "You're not supposed to die like this!"

Jak tried his very best to smile, but it just couldn't happen. "I've been dying a little bit every day since we came here."

"But… what about Praxis… and Erol?" Daxter asked. "What about your friends? What about Samos and Keira? What about me?"

"Dax… Tell Keira… tell her I…" Jak paused as another wave of pain washed over him.

"What? Tell her what?" Daxter demanded.

"Tell her I… I'm sorry." Jak whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't talk like that!" Daxter said. "Please, Jak, don't talk like that!"

The elf didn't respond, he only lay on the ground, oozing Dark Eco, silent and unmoving.

"No!" Daxter cried, he wanted to shove Jak in an attempt to wake him, but the Dark Eco didn't allow that. Daxter couldn't tell if the Dark Eco oozing out of Jak was his own or the Dark Eco of his death. Slowly, he calmed down and realized that Jak was still alive, only just. He could see his chest rise and fall slowly as he breathed.

Daxter resisted the urge to try to wake his friend. "That's it, Jak, old buddy. Just heal. You've got to heal."

Daxter didn't know how long he waited there, for Jak to heal or to show any signs that he would be okay, but it felt like hours. Suddenly, Daxter heard a rumble, it sounded like a rumble the Oracle would make.

"Oracle?" Daxter asked, looking up at the tomb's ceiling.

"You should not be in this sacred place." The Oracle rumbled, a hint of anger in its voice.

"I know." Daxter said hurriedly. "But, please, you've got to help my friend! He passed the dumb test, he killed those Dark things, but he's dying. It's all your fault!"

"I was not the one who drew him into the Tomb. It was merely himself." The Oracle said. "He allowed the voice of Darkness to seduce him."

"But you've got to help him!" Daxter said.

The Oracle remained silent for several seconds before it finally answered. "The Dark Eco was too much for your friend's already delicate immune system. His Eco tolerance cannot allow that much Darkness in his body. His system has overloaded and the Darkness is tearing him apart from the inside. Your friend had Eco Poisoning and will be dead within the hour."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Daxter asked.

"The Precursor Stone." The Oracle rumbled. "It has the power to stop an Eco Tolerance overload. It will flush the extra Dark Eco from his body and return him to normal, or at least as normal as he can be. It will not stop the death that is still written out for him in a few months. This is one of the many powers of the Precursor Stone."

"So… can I have the Stone please?" Daxter asked.

"On one condition." The Oracle said. "After you heal your friend, you will give the stone to its rightful owner."

"Who's that?"

"The one that lays dying before us. He passed the Test, he slaughtered the guardians that I set to guard the Stone long ago. Without the Watchers, the Stone is defenseless. He may have been able to take it had he not gotten sick."

"Deal." Daxter said instantly. Suddenly, a new mass rose out of the Dark Eco lake. A small, stone that glowed with it's own green light. The stone zoomed straight to Daxter, who gripped it.

The stone was light and it had the Seal of Mar engraved on the top. "Place the stone next to his skin. It will heal the wounds and flush out the extra Dark Eco."

Daxter looked down at Jak and almost laughed. He was almost NOTHING but bare skin. So Daxter pressed the stone up against his shoulder.

The effects were immediate. Jak's wounds began to ooze Dark Eco even worse than ever, expelling all the extra Dark Eco that infested his body. It took a while, but eventually, all the excess Eco was gone. Then the many wounds and burns began to heal themselves.

Almost as soon as the last wound was healed, Jak opened his eyes in shock; he sat up. "What happened?" He demanded.

"Whoa, calm down. You've been healed." Daxter explained. "Here you go." Daxter said, handing the small stone, which fit perfectly in the palm of Jak's hand, to said elf. "It's yours."

Jak stared at the stone. "Is this…?"

"The Precursor Stone?" Daxter finished Jak's unspoken question. "Yep."

"Welcome back to the World of the Living, Great Warrior." The Oracle boomed. "It has been hundreds of years since our hope has burned so brightly. What you have just received contains grave power, and with it comes grave responsibility. Are you ready?"

"For what?" Jak asked, standing up and putting the stone in his one still-intact pocket.

"To see." The Oracle said.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the Tomb disappeared, and was replaced by a bright sun-lit field. Jak noticed that Daxter was not there, and he appeared to be alone. Then he looked into the distance and gasped. It was a sight he had never beheld in his life. It was a city, a huge one, that was many times bigger and more beautiful than Haven ever could have been. The city was glowing with it's own light that lit up the entire horizon, like it's own sun. "Where am I?" Jak wondered out loud.

"You are in my memory." A disembodied voice that Jak recognized as the Oracle's filled his mind. "Don't worry, nothing here can hurt you, for you are not of this timeline. No one can see or hear you."

"Well then… I guess the question would be… when am I?" Jak corrected.

"A short while after I was created." The Oracle answered.

"You mean…" Jak paused to piece the information together. "I've gone back to the time when the Precursors are still alive?" He looked at the distant City. "And that's a Precursor City."

"Correct. The City you see is Agaurhiqsvz-Rszoq, the Capital city of the Precursors on this planet."

"Everlasting Light." Jak said, translating the name from the Ancient Precursorian. "It is well named."

The Oracle didn't say anything for several seconds before it spoke. "Sadly, the City is not well named, for no trace of its beauty was ever left of it. It's light, as so many others did, faded." The Oracle paused again. "Oh, and here comes Belathor."

"Belathor? A Precursor?" Jak spun around to see the Precursor for himself.

He was rather surprised by what he saw. The Precursor had the same bodily shape as an elf, except it seemed to be made out of pure Eco. It also radiated so much power that even Jak, who wasn't a part of that timeline, could feel it. "Yes, a Precursor. Belathor was a leader of the Precursors, an elder, that is why even you can feel his power." The Oracle said.

"Then he probably would have been powerful enough to cure me." Jak said. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Here was a Precursor right here in front of him, looking down at the City. He could've been cured if he could exist in this timeline.

"I'm afraid it is impossible to transport your body, which is still in the Tomb, here." The Oracle said. "An Oracle is given a set amount of power when they are created. To attempt to bring your body to the past would certainly destroy us both."

Suddenly, the scene changed again. It appeared that they were still standing in the same field, for Jak could still see Agaurhiqsvz-Rszoq in the distance, though it was now a shadow of it's former self. The light had dimmed and smoke rose from every section of the City. It was the same field, except now it was a battlefield.

Everything was dead. The fresh battlefield was littered with carcasses of… Metal-Heads and also small pools of Eco that Jak couldn't identify. "What are those?" He asked, referring to the Eco pools.

"All that remains of the Precursor army that defended Agaurhiqsvz-Rszoq for eons." The Oracle said sadly.

"What?"

"Eons before the your time, just at the time when your kind were still furry little creatures of prey, a great war was fought on your planet. The Precursors and the Hora-Quan, creatures that your kind have accurately called 'Metal-Heads', both wanted control of this planet. For thousands of years, the two armies fought one another. The Precursors had near-limitless power, and the Hora-Quan had equally limitless numbers. The Precursors were horribly outnumbered, and it didn't help that our forces were already stretched thin due to another conflict of higher priority that was happening at the same time. The Precursor elders couldn't spare more to this planet. So, driven by their dark leader, the Metal-Head legions destroyed all traces of our civilization on this planet, and now they are swarming the universe, clearly intent on destroying the last ruminates of our great civilization."

The scene changed again. They were in Mar's Tomb, but it was not the present. It was still the past. But Jak's mind was still on the Ancient War. "But what sort of conflict could be so important that the Elders would abandon their people on this planet?" He asked.

"Someday, perhaps, you will learn. But not today." The Oracle said. "Now, the Elders have resigned to allow the Elves, who are now the dominate race of the planet, to deal with the Metal-Heads."

"Wait, if the insanely powerful Precursor armies couldn't defeat the Metal-Heads, how do you expect us to?" Jak demanded.

"Because your race has what ours did not… numbers." The Oracle said. "Only one Precursor child can be born to a pair of soulmates every few hundred years, if they decide they want to bare children. As you probably know, there is no marriage in Precursor society, but soulmates. And to have a child together… this is the ultimate vow of love."

"I know." Jak said. "Samos taught me."

"Your kind, on the other hand, do not have such views on childbearing. Your kind can reproduce almost constantly. But only one may face the Metal-Head Leader in the end."

"Three guesses who that is." Jak said sarcastically.

"The Prince." The Oracle said.

"What?" Jak asked.

"Only the Heir of Mar can stand a chance against the might of the Metal-Head Leader. Don't ask any more of me, for I cannot tell you."

Suddenly, Jak's attention was drawn to the entrance of the Tomb. A figure entered the Tomb, he had on a hood and cloak and he was carrying a package in his arms like it was his first-born son. The man unwrapped the package, revealing the Precursor Stone.

"That's Mar, isn't it?" Jak asked.

"Mar found the last Precursor Stone on this world and, knowing its supreme value, he decided to hide the Stone from others who wanted to find it, but not to keep it, to destroy it. The Metal-Head Leader is obsessed with finding the Stone, for it is the last great threat to him. Mar hid it in this Tomb o protect it from him. It is our last hope for this planet, and you were chosen to keep that hope alive."

"So, what do I do with it?" Jak asked.

"Sadly, you could never use the Stone to its fullest potential. Only one with a heart that is pure and untouched by pain could do it, and you, unfortunately, have neither." The Oracle said. "However, there is a gun that Mar built near the Metal-Head nest. This gun has remained dormant for years, but it can be powered up with the Precursor Stone. You can use the gun to open a way into the Metal-Head nest."

"And why would I want to go to the Metal-Head nest?" Jak asked.

"I cannot give you a reason yet. I'll just say that everything will become clear to you… only with time. Only time can reveal all of life's secrets."

"Oracle, tell me." Jak said. "Am I going to die?"

"Only the Angel can tell." The Oracle repeated the line from Onin's poem. "Only you can truly decide your fate."

"Are you saying I'm going to have to chose whether I live or die?" Jak asked.

"Who've already made that decision." The Oracle pointed out.

"Of course! I want to live!"

"Now, you're actions from this moment on must reflect that decision, or you will die." The Oracle said. "Now let us go back." With a flash, the Oracle and Jak returned to the present time.

LES: Now, more of the 'Kick Me' sign bit:

Jak: (Still highly confused, walks past Torn)

Torn: (Gets a good look at the sign on Jak's back) Hey, Jak!

Jak: (stops) What?

Torn: (Walks up in front of Jak, waits a second, then POW! Kicks him right in the groin!)

Jak: (holding self and tearing up) What the… Why the hell'd you do that?

Torn: (shrugs) No reason, really. I just felt like it.

LES: (glares at Torn)

Torn: What? It didn't say where to kick him!

LES: (shakes head with pity)