Chapter XVI: Return Of The Pure Light

LES: I can practically hear my fans cheering for joy! Before this chapter is out, Jak will get a bit 'Lighter', if you know what I mean. (wink)

Daxter: Eww!

LES: Is everything dirty to you?

Daxter: Yes! I can make anything sound dirty. Go on, say something… anything!

LES: Television.

Daxter: (puts on seductive voice) Boy, I'd like to watch your television!

LES: … That's it. I'm done. (leaves)

Daxter: Listen to this one! (puts on seductive voice again) 'Grandma's Chicken Salad!'


Jak ended up back in the main chamber of the temple. He was surprised to find that he was visible again. He looked back at the Warp Gate, figuring that the act of warping negated the invisibility.

No problem. Jak walked over to the Dark Idol that he noted before. He touched it and he became invisible again. He walked over to the hall and walked calmly down it, under the guardian eye, and through the doorway.


He walked down the hallway and came across the problem room. There was a switch in the middle of the room that seemed to open the door into the next area. Except that the switch was guarded on all sides by some sort of Precursor weapons.

"Great." Daxter, who had crawled out of Jak's holster immediately after crossing the door's threshold. "What now?"

"Time to get invisible." Jak said. There was a Dark Idol on the other side of the room. "Wait here, Dax." Jak said. Daxter got off the shoulder guard.

The elf moved around the room, keeping as close to the wall as humanly possible. Thankfully, the machines could not sense his presence. He reached the Idol and touched it, disappearing again.

He moved into the center and stepped on the switch which activated a small door that Jak hadn't seen. See, there was another larger door that Jak had expected to be the way out. What also made it conspicuous was the fact that it had a large carving on its face that made it look like Mar's Seal. Jak tried to remember where his seal was… Oh yeah… back in Haven City along with everything else he owned.

He moved back over to Daxter. "Dax, it's me." He gave a quick warning before picking up the Ottsel. He moved around the edge of the room for the open doorway. Then, he went through the hallway and into the next room. The room was huge and in the center… it was a huge Oracle. The stories were right, it could only be the most powerful Oracle in the world.

Suddenly a familiar and highly unwelcome voice sounded through the chamber. Jak paused, and thankful that he couldn't be seen due to his invisibility, listened in on the conversation that was taking place. "I want no excuses!" It was Count Vegar, the very same rat that had Jak banished in the first place. "You told me this could be done! Now make it so!"

"But we have so little time." It was obviously Seem. "The Day Star approaches! You know what it brings!"

"Unfortunate, yes." Vegar said. "I'll deal with that as soon as I have full access to the Catacombs."

"You'll deal…?" Seem began, obviously confused by Vegar's statement. "But… only one…"

"Only one may defeat the scourge the Day Star brings in its wake." Vegar finished. "I know. I am confident that the Precursors will make the right choice in this matter."

"But…"

"Silence! You just continue your work here, and I'll deal with those idiots in Haven." Vegar said. "I promise, you will meet your makers."

They left the chamber. Jak looked at Daxter. "Why are the Catacombs so important?"

"I don't know." Daxter said, walking up onto the platform that ended right before the Oracle. Jak stood in the center of the platform which, strangely, was shaped just like Mar's Seal. The monks obviously held Mar in very high regard. "Hey, lookie here! It's one of those goober-eyed Precursor thingies!" Daxter exclaimed, pointing at the Oracle.

Then, the Oracle 'woke up'. Its presence filed the room. "Greetings, Great Warrior. Your return brings us great hope. But your return may be too late, for fate hangs in the balance on naught but a single thread of hope."

Daxter looked back at Jak. "Did you understand any of that?" He turned back to the Oracle, making weird signs with his hands. "Speaka da normal language, okay?"

The Oracle ignored him. "You must use all the power you can muster to survive this terrible test, Great One."

"I can handle it!" Daxter said instantly, thinking the Oracle was speaking to him.

"I was talking to the tall one, shorty." The Oracle said shortly. Jak blinked, for he had never heard an Oracle insult someone before.

"Hey!" Daxter protested.

"Someone wants to speak with you now." The Oracle said to Jak.

"Who?" Jak asked.

"Greetings." A new voice said. Jak turned around. It was a Precursor, the very same Precursor that Jak released from the Precursor Stone months ago.

"Jak… it's the Precursor…" Daxter whispered, for he recognized him too.

"Please, Great One, it would be an honor for you to call me by my name… Tiatin." The Precursor said.

"Tiatin?" Jak asked, confused. It was a name that meant 'Dark Fate' in the old Precursor language.

"Yes." Tiatin said simply, like he didn't really want to talk about it, as if he were ashamed of his name. "You are an extremely powerful individual, but your current abilities will not be enough to see you through the upcoming challenges. And, what is worse, your Darkness will be unable to save you by itself." The Precursor approached Jak. "With your permission, Great One, I will unlock an ability that has been lost to you since the terrible tragedy three years ago."

"Three years?" Jak asked. "I was thrown into prison three years ago."

"Exactly, and in doing so, Haven took away the one thing that could save them in the end of all things." Tiatin said. "It was the worst blow to your chances of survival possible. They took away your pity, your mercy, and your humanity. They took away the child-like innocence that could have saved them. They took away your conscience. They took away the light that bound you closely to my race. But… the Pure Light is not dead… he merely sleeps as I did in my egg. But he, like me, can be reawoken."

Most of this speech was lost on Jak, especially how the Precursor mentioned a bound that he shared with the Precursors. "What are you talking about?" He asked.

"With your permission." Tiatin repeated, ignoring Jak's question. The Precursor held his glowing hand a few inches from Jak's forehead.

Jak, aware that he wasn't going to get any answers out of the Precursors yet, could do nothing else except to agree to receive whatever the Precursor was giving him. "Okay, you have my permission."

The Precursor touched Jak's forehead. At first, the elf's eyes were closed, and then they opened wide with shock. The Dark Eco in his body was being forced back and it was being replaced by a feeling that he had not felt in a long time, one that was almost forgotten in the pain of his life. He actually felt content with his life, something that was alien to him. The Precursor removed his hand and Jak backed away from him.

"What is it?" Daxter asked, worried.

"Dax! The Dark Eco!" Jak stared at his hands. "The Dark Eco feels… far away…" He looked at his friend and grinned broadly. "I feel better!"

Tiatin interrupted. "You do not yet realize what has happened, have you?" Jak looked confused. "Please remove the armor for one of your arms."

Jak looked even more confused, but he started to unstrap the bracer from his left arm.

"I am terribly sorry, Great One." Tiatin said. "Do not fight me."

Suddenly, Jak felt his mind being pushed off to a side of his own head. It was very much like when Dark forced his way to the surface, except the new mind was vastly more powerful than either Jak's or Dark's minds. Jak felt, at a distance, Dark Eco becoming active in his body, but the only thing that seemed to chance was his right hand. It paled and land claws grew from his fingernails.

Then, completely against his will, for the Precursor was controlling his actions, his clawed hand rested on his left arm. Then the claws began to cut into his own skin.

Jak panicked. He had seen those claws sliced through armor easily. Cutting off his arm would be no problem. The claws dug deeper and blood began to flow.

"Jak!" Daxter cried. All he could see was Jak trying to cut off his own arm. "What the hell are you doing?"

Jak felt the claws scrap bone, but thankfully, they didn't go deeper than that. Then he felt his mind and body being returned to him, and the pain of the wound hit him full force. He let out a cry of pain and anger and held a hand against the terrible wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Fuck!" He swore loudly. "What the hell have you done to me?"

"It is necessary." Tiatin said. "Now, concentrate on the space between yourself and the Darkness."

Jak was almost too angry to listen to the Precursor, but he did as the Precursor told him. He concentrated on the place between himself and the Darkness and, suddenly, a bright light flashed in his mind. Jak looked down at himself in shock as the light seemed to spread across his body. He watched as the light spread across his skin until his body seemed to glow all on its own. The most wonderful feeling filled him, one that he remembered as if from a long forgotten dream. It was a feeling he never thought he'd feel again. It was the feeling that only channeling Light Eco could give you, every good feeling in the world wrapped up in one Eco.

"Oh my God…" Jak gasped, looking at his glowing hand.

"Oh my God!" Daxter repeated.

"Now, concentrate on healing the wound." Tiatin said.

Jak did so. He gazed at the wound. As his body had changed, so had his blood, it now had turned a brilliant white. The wound began to glow with its own light and it began to heal itself. But, unlike the old Dark Eco healings, this was not painful at all!

Daxter watched in amazement as something he say happen only once before happened before his very eyes. His best friend was using Light Eco again! There were differences from the last time Jak used it when he was seventeen. Instead of keeping his blue eyes, his eyes were now completely white, and not regular white, but brilliant glowing white. Daxter watched as Jak healed himself. "Jak! You've got your healing powers back!"

"And it's better than ever!" Jak said. "It doesn't hurt anymore!"

"Exactly." Tiatin said happily, as if Jak's happiness was his whole world.

"How is this possible? I haven't channeled Light Eco since before Haven!" Jak said.

"The power simply lay dormant inside you, but it was still there." Tiatin said. "I simply woke it up."

'What's happening?' Someone in Jak's mind asked, and it wasn't Dark. 'Where am I?'

Dark perked. 'What's going on?'

"Tiatin, what's going on here?" Jak said. "There's someone else inside my head!"

"It is your conscience." Tiatin said. "Just as your demon has its own persona, so does your Light Side."

'Light side? What's that? I don't understand.'

'That's you, idiot.' Dark hissed.

'Who are you?'

'Your worst nightmare.'

Dark! Jak hissed in his head at Dark.

'What?' Dark asked in his worst 'I'm-innocent' voice.

Jak turned his attention to his new Light Side. Uh… listen here, Light…

'Light? Is that my name?'

Uh… I guess. Jak thought at Light. Listen…

Tiatin interrupted. "Maybe I had better explain." Everything went silent as Tiatin began to speak to the newborn Eco being, explaining its existence to it. It was something that even Jak didn't really understand. Finally, Tiatin stopped. "You will find your Light Side will be far more docile than your Dark Side… he is also less aggressive and far more curious about things in general. He will be something of your conscience."

"What?" Jak demanded.

"No way! Jak has a conscience now?" Daxter asked. "I guess it will be harder for him to kill people now!"

"No it won't." Jak said stubbornly. "I'll only feel slightly guilty."

"One last thing." The Precursor said. "Do you have a Dark and Light Eco Crystal, at least one of each?"

Jak nodded. "Yes."

"Those Crystals will be very useful to a being of your abilities." Tiatin said. "The crystals can be used to increase your powers hundreds of times for your Eco forms, respectively."

"Hundreds of times?" Daxter asked. "So what are we talkin' about here?"

"If you use this for your Dark Eco Side, you will effectively become a true 'Army-of-One'." Tiatin said. "But, be warned, it is not wise to use this increase in power over and over. The strain on your body is too much for anyone, no matter how powerful to handle; the same goes if you hold the power too long. The powers will end up backfiring, in effect destroying yourself. Use these powers only in extreme emergencies.

"What about my new Light powers… healing… is that it?" Jak asked.

"No, not at all." Tiatin said. "As you travel to your final destination, I will unlock them as you become mentally, physically, and spiritually ready for them."

"And what is this Final Destination?" Jak asked, but he had a feeling he already knew then answer.

"The final war… The War of the Champions." Tiatin said.

"The War of the Champions? What is that? I've heard it before in the old legends somewhere…" Jak began.

"The ancient legends of your kind?" Tiatin scoffed. "They only can tell you what happens, not what the ancient war actually is." The Precursor paused. "Those legends only say that two Champions will be chosen by each side, one of the Precursors, and one of our enemies. Those two Champions will fight to the death and the living Champion will be the victor." Tiatin laughed. "All that information can be deduced from the title alone."

"So… what is this war… really?" Jak asked. "And what's my part in it?"

"I will tell you one day when you are ready for the information what the war is." Tiatin said. "As to your part in it… is it not obvious?"

"Am I a Champion?" Jak asked.

"Do not worry, you shall know when you are ready to know." Tiatin said.

"More secrets?" Jak sighed. "This is why I'm tired of saving the world."

"Do you not want to save your world anymore?" Tiatin asked.

"Are you going to try and stop me?" Jak asked.

"No." Tiatin said simply, catching Jak off guard. "It would be foolish to try. Only you can decide whether to fight or not, and I would not try to force you into a fight that you do not wish to fight. That would be counter-productive. Go back to Spargus and think it over. I am sure that, whatever you decide will be the right choice."

"You're actually giving me a choice?" Jak asked, surprised. "No, that's not how that works. It's either do it or go to hell."

"Maybe for your race." Tiatin said. "But we Precursors understand the power of freewill. I will not force you to fight our battles. But, we both know that you will eventually."

"So, if you know that I'm going to fight anyway, how can I make a choice?" Jak asked.

"Because you are going to do the right thing." Tiatin said simply. This Precursor was really giving Jak the creeps. "That is what makes a hero a hero. It is not strength or speed or skill, but your heart."

Jak shook his head. "I'm not buying this." He said.

"Do not decide now, by all means." Tiatin said. "Think it over, wait until you know the full magnitude of your decision. At least wait until you know how many will people will be affected by your choice." Tiatin waved his hand through the air and Jak suddenly found himself back in Spargus in his own room.

He blinked in confusion. Then he realized that Tiatin must've teleported him back to Spargus. "Think about it, hero." Tiatin's disembodied voice said before fading away.

"Whoa… creepy." Daxter said.

'I think you should do it.' Light's voice said inside Jak's head.

"Don't start!" Jak said out loud.

"What?" Daxter asked, thinking that Jak was speaking to him.

'As much as I hate this…' Dark growled angrily. 'I agree with pussy-boy.'

"Stop! You just want a fight!" Jak yelled.

"Uh… is this a private conversation?" Daxter asked.

"Yes!" Jak growled. "Never mind!" He hissed as he fell to the bed.

"Jak?" Daxter began cautiously. "What do you want out of life?" He asked. "It might be easier to make a decision if you know what you want."

Jak didn't answer for several seconds. Finally, he spoke. "I want a life of my own, not one that is sorely dedicated to others. I want… peace."