Chapter XXXVII: The Mysterious Forest Ruins
Jak: Are we almost done with this?
LES: Anxious to learn the ending, are we?
Jak: You're gonna kill me, aren't you? I bet Daxter, that you're going to kill me!
Daxter: Hey!
That night, Jak lay in his own room, quietly listening to the soothing desert sounds outside. He felt... as close to 'at peace' as he had felt in a long time. Sure, he had just sworn his loyalties to Damas, and he probably just made a lot of enemies, but, the way he saw it, he was pretty good at making enemies. Anyway, Sandover had been the last time that he could truey claim to be 'at peace,' but Spargus was a close second.
This made Jak wonder... Tiatin said he would only find peace in Haven, but so far, mostly all he found in Haven was a butt-load of pain. The only thing to be said about his time in Haven City was the one glorious night that he spent with Keira.
However, a question he had asked himself a long time ago popped into his head. What about the future? Where would we live?
Jak knew that his acceptance into Haven City was only temporary. Even though the Council had been dissolved, if Jak attempted to move back to the city, the entire population would rise up in protest. As soon as everything went back to normal, he'd be forced out into the desert again, to live in Spargus for the rest of his life. It wasn't too dim a prospect now, not when he had a life, a future here in the desert city. But to be separated from Keira... he didn't think he could bare it.
Then he got to thinking... not everyone who lived in Spargus was a banished criminal. Some had left on their own. Maybe Keira would be able to leave Haven City behind her forever to live in Spargus. He couldn't see how, though. Her world... her life... was in Haven City. But... she called him her love... her life. Maybe she would come to Spargus with him.
Jak pushed that out of his mind. There was little use worrying about that now. When the time came to worry, than Jak would worry.
The time of reckoning is upon us. A disembodied voice said.
Jak sat up swiftly. "Who's there?"
The time has come for you to chose... The voice continued. Chose between the Darkness and the Light.
"Who are you?" Jak demanded. He thought it might be Tiatin, but it didn't sound like Tiatin. It sounded... older... more powerful.
Which to chose? The easiest path, but the one that leads to your doom; or the harder path, the one that leads to victory and salvation... salvation for your race... salvation for you...
"Stop playing these games with me!" Jak yelled.
The Time Map does more than allow Time Travel. The voice said. It's true purpose is to unlock the potential of the machinery hidden deep in the forests of Haven. I will send you there because time is short... time itself has begun to toll against you. The Time Map will fix that...
"I don't..." But Jak never finished his statement because he suddenly WAS in Haven Forest! One second, he had been in his room in Spargus, and then he was laying on the grassy floor of Haven Forest. "What the...?" Jak gasped.
Remember, the Light Path is not always the easiest one, but the destination is the place where you ultimately want to be. The voice said. And remember Vhearaii Lva Nameless One you are the one with the power to save us all... The voice faded on the wind.
Jak looked down and found that he was fully clothed and armored. Two orange objects lay in the grass beside him. One was the Time Map, and the other was Daxter, still fast asleep.
"Dax!" Jak hissed, picking up the snoring rat. "Dax! Wake up!"
Daxter woke up slowly. "What's it?" He mumbled. Suddenly, he saw the forest around him. He woke up instantly with a shout. "Hey! Where are we?"
"Shh!" Jak hissed. "We're in Haven Forest. Someone... or something brought us here."
"Hey, what's that machine over there?" Daxter asked, looking just behind Jak. Jak looked around, it was the same machine that Jak had used to view the Dark Ship, The Veelen.
"Some kind of telescope." Jak answered. He picked up the Time Map, picked himself off the ground, and walked over to the telescope. There was a slot on it clearly marked 'For the Time Map' so Jak put it in its corresponding slot. The machine hummed loudly as it activated once again. Jak walked over to the eye piece to look in to see what he had to see.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Daxter asked.
"Come on, Dax, it's a telescope!" Jak said. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Famous Last Words." Daxter commented.
Jak ignored him. It was a telescope for crying out loud! What harm ever came from looking through a telescope? He pressed his eye to the eye piece.
He had just a single glance at the Dark Ship before the strangest feeling filled him. It was like someone entered his brain and was attempting to pull it out of his head. Jak fought against it. "AUGH! Get out of my head!"
"Jak! Jak! I'm losing ya, buddy!" Daxter cried.
"It's-it's linking me into the Dark Maker ship systems..." Jak's voice quavered at the mental struggle to stay in his own body, but he felt himself losing. He could literally feel himself being torn apart as his... soul was ripped from his body. "They're... they're taking me to them!"
"Jak! JAK!" Daxter cried. But Jak didn't seem able to hear him any longer. Suddenly, his eyes rolled back up into his head and he fell to the ground, apparently out cold.
Daxter panicked, thinking that he had been killed... but he calmed down and realized that Jak was still alive. He was breathing regularly, and his pulse hadn't changed in the slightest. But he didn't respond to any attempts to get him up either. Then Daxter remembered what Seem said about people with no souls. 'You can live without your soul, but you are trapped in an inescapable living death.'
Then Daxter realized that his buddy was not dead at all, but he wasn't alive either. He had lost his soul...
However, Daxter was only partially right. It was true that Jak's soul no long resided in his own body, but it wasn't lost in the void either.
After the endless void where nothing exists, Jak found himself in a physical body again, but the body was not his own. He looked down and jumped in surprise, and act that propelled him several feet into the air. He saw three-toed clawed feet. He looked at the rest of his body. He was made completely out of Dark Eco. He was... as crazy and insane as it sounded, controlling the body of a Dark Maker!
"Hey!" Something shouted at him in the Ancient Language. It was a true Dark Maker. "What are you doing?"
Thinking quickly, and making sure that he didn't look or act surprised, Jak replied in a typical 'talking to a superior' voice. "I'm standing, sir." He said in the Ancient Language.
The Dark Maker stared at him for a second as if to detect foul-play. It didn't sense anything amiss, however, and turned away. "Get back to work. I've got an invasion to plan, and everyone should be working when there's war to be made." The Dark Maker walked away.
Once he was gone, Jak began to admire his new body. He was impressed. This Dark Maker's physical abilities were many times what his was, which was really saying something. Every movement was so natural and effortless. Now Jak understood how the Dark Makers moved so quickly for sure large creatures. These things were the perfect killing machines. Even if you took away their mastery of the Ancient and deadly Dark Eco, they were more than a match for him. He realized it was only sheer dumb luck that had saved him from being sliced into a million pieces by the Dark Maker he fought earlier.
He looked around at his surroundings. Everything seemed to be made out of Dark Eco and Jak knew that he was standing in a corridor on the Dark Ship, Veelen. There was a window and Jak looked out it, and gasped in wonder.
It was his own planet.
He was seeing his own planet for the first time in his life.
While elves had all sorts of technological advances on the ground, space travel, or even stable orbit was still beyond them. It suddenly struck Jak how laughably puny that world was, the same one that he'd risked his life to save twice before. It looked like nothing more than a green-blue marble floating against the empty void of space.
Suddenly, there was a noise... a groan, and Jak spun around swiftly. Then, even more terribly, a scream of pain. Driven by a morbid curiosity, Jak followed the noise to its source.
He came to a doorway that was protected by Dark Eco. Jak almost walked away when he realized that he was in a Dark Maker's body, and that Dark Makers had complete control over the Dark substance. So, with a wave of his huge, clawed hand, Jak willed the Dark Eco to part for him, which it did, opening up for him without complaint.
What he saw inside caused an unfamiliar emotion, pity, to tug at his heart. It was the same room that he dreamed about all those months ago, the one where the sorry being was being tortured by those Dark beings. He knew now that those Dark creatures were Dark Makers... and he knew now their victim... it was Erol.
The elf that had been Jak's mortal enemy, that STILL was Jak's mortal enemy, was in bad shape after Jak's Light Eco-based assault, and he was near-death. The only thing that kept him alive was the various life-support machines. It seemed that, when the Dark Makers altered his DNA, they neglected to give him any tolerance to any of the other Ecos.
Jak had seen Dark Eco Poisoning... hell, he almost died because of it. But he had never seen Light Eco Poisoning before. It was similar to Dark Eco Poisoning, by the look of things... the vomiting and the pain, except Light Eco vomit was running down from the corners of Erol's mouth. Even as Jak watched, he vomited more, almost drowning in his own vomit... all and all... not a pretty sight.
"Still... it might be more pleasant to vomit Light Eco than Dark Eco." Jak said, mainly to himself. As he looked down at Erol, he felt a rare ounce of pity. "You poor bastard, look what they've done to you. This is why only Channelers should handle the Ecos." Jak stood there for several seconds before he spoke again. "I should kill you... right now. It would be the best thing for both of us... Tiatin would say that. Better to die quickly and almost painfully than to suffer days of Eco Poisoning." Jak placed his deadly claws against Erol's throat... ready to cut into his throat, and let his own beating heart drive the blood from his body. "You should thank me, Erol. I am showing you more mercy than you would have shown me."
"Hey!" A new, Dark Maker voice yelled. Jak looked around. It was a true Dark Maker, standing in the doorway. All the Dark Maker saw was one of his own kind trying to murder their own Champion. "Traitor! You're trying to..." But the unfortunate Dark Maker never finished his sentence. Jak leapt forward with Dark Maker speed and sliced the creature in half.
Jak stared down at the body, and he heard more Dark Makers coming down the hall, attracted by the commotion. "Shit!" Jak swore just before the Dark Makers piled into the room, about a dozen in all.
The one leading them gasped when he saw the body. He looked at Jak, who hid his Dark Eco-covered claws behind his back. "You there! What happened here?"
Then Jak realized the value of being in a Dark Maker's body. He could probably play this off if he didn't say or do anything stupid. "There was a traitor!" Jak said in his oily Dark Maker voice. "He was trying to destroy our Champion! He and I came in here to stop him, but he killed him and got away." Jak prayed to the Precursors that this story would hold up to the Dark Maker's scrutiny.
It seemed that the Dark Makers didn't question his story. "Well, go out there and help us find him! Karnac will kill us both if we allowed a traitor to run amok." The Dark Makers turned around and rushed back out into the hallway to find the 'traitor'. Jak had no choice but to follow them. It would've looked suspicious if he had remained behind. Dammit! I should have killed Erol, and then the Dark Maker! I could have been done with this whole thing!
He followed the Dark Makers for a while, before he separated from them, traveling down a separate path on a whim, or, at least he thought it was a whim. He came face-to-face with a door marked 'Shield Control Room', and Jak walked in.
As soon as he saw the inside, and the large generators that powered the Ship's shields, the same strange feeling of slowly being pulled out of his body returned, but this time, the pull came from his chest and stopped... like a warning. "There must be something for me to do in here." Jak said, clutching his chest. Then, it was so obvious. He had to destroy the Shields. Without the Shields, the ship would be vulnerable to attack.
The same voice that brought him there filled his head. Destroy the generators that power the Shields, and we shall take care of the rest...
There was another tug at Jak's chest and a gasped. "Okay, I'll destroy them!" He moved over to the large generator and, using his super-human strength, pushed the object over where it fell and shattered into a million pieces... irreparable damage. Lights began to flash and alarms began to sound. "Now get me the hell out of here!" Jak yelled.
A final tug, stronger than the last ones, pulled him out of the Dark Maker's body and back into the void. But the void wasn't empty this time. A being, a Precursor that radiated so much energy that Jak was almost suffocated by its pure power, stood before him. "Our hero." The Precursor said. "You have tipped the scales once again. We, the Precursors, may finally win this War, with you at our side, as our Brother."
"Your Brother? Jak asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"You have the potential." The Precursor said. "Look down at yourself, Lva Lm Vl Vhea. One Of No Name."
Jak did as he was told and gasped, despite himself. It wasn't the his body, or even the body of a Dark Maker that he saw. He was in the body of a Precursor...
Before Jak even had time to ponder what he had seen, he felt the pull at his chest again and he past through the void and was suddenly in his own body again. He sat up swiftly. "What the...?"
"Jak! You're awake!" Jak looked around. It was Keira who had spoken.
Confusion filled the elf. "Where am I? What's going on?"
"Jak, calm down!" Keira said soothingly. Jak could tell that she had been crying. "After you passed out in the forest, Daxter used the hologram emitter to call us. He told us..." Keira paused, apparently over-come with emotion. "He said that you had lost your soul."
Jak sat up, he was back in the Freedom League HQ, in some sort of infirmary. He took Keira in his arms and simply held her for the sake of holding her. "I didn't lose my soul." Jak said comfortingly. "I just had a little out-of-body experience." He said with a small smile.
"Daddy told me you might not be coming beck from the Wasteland." Keira said. "What are you doing back here so soon?"
"I guess I have some more stuff to do here in Haven." Jak said.
Keira pressed herself into Jak's embrace and smiled against his chest. "I love you." She said.
Jak smiled warmly as he held her closer, if at all possible. "I love you, too." Keira had her arms wrapped tightly around his back... a little too tightly. "Ow!"
Keira pulled away instantly. "What is it?" She asked.
Jak looked away from her, trying to ignore the stabbing pain that had shot through his back just a second ago. "It's nothing." He said. But he knew that Keira knew that he was lying. "It's just some old wounds."
"But... your healing powers take care of wounds, don't they?" Keira asked.
"Yeah, they would. But... there are some wounds that even my healing powers can't fix. Besides... these wounds are from my prison time... during the time when I was more animal than elf... before I got my healing powers." Jak paused. "Even after all these years... they still hurt sometimes..."
"Let me see." Keira said.
Jak hesitated. "I never wanted you to see the scars. Even that night... I preyed to the Precursors that you wouldn't notice anything."
"Is that why I couldn't touch your back?" Keira asked.
"I guess..." Jak smiled sorrowfully. "I guess pushing you away like that brought more attention to it than if I had just let you feel them." Jak sighed, seeing that Keira wasn't to be swayed. He took off, first his breastplate and then his shirt. Then he turned his back to Keira and what she saw brought tears to her eyes.
It was like Jak's back was one big scar, wounds that have never fully healed even though two years had pasted since he first received them. It was like someone had taken a cheese-grater to Jak's back. "Oh Jak..." She almost cried. "Who did this to you?"
"Erol." Jak said. "Dark Eco injections was not the only torture we were subjected to. These 'knife' sessions happened during our blackouts, so I don't remember them. All I remember is waking up to being in pain. He concentrated on our backs, so we wouldn't die. But, after we got our healing powers, he moved on to other places... like my face." Jak shook his head. "Every other wound I've ever received has healed, but these ones refuse to be healed... not even my Light Powers can take the scars away. I guess I'm cursed with them as a memory of my time in prison... of my pain..."
A tear ran down Keira's face as she gingerly touched a jagged scar that was all that was left of a long and ragged wound. "Jak, I'm so sorry that this happened to you..."
"Shit happens." Jak said simply, pulling away from Keira's touch. "I know that better anyone else. Bad stuff happens, but I can't let it get to me. At least... Ashelin had that god-awful torture device destroyed..."
"Exactly." Keira said, moving around to Jak's front. "But... maybe there's a reason that you have to keep these scars."
Jak smiled, and then changed the topic, desperate to talk about something else. "I wasn't sure if I ever was going to see you again when I left for Spargus." Without another word, Jak tenderly took Keira's face in his hands and pressed a loving kiss to her forehead. Keira turned her face upwards until their lips met in a slow, passionate kiss.
"Sweet Precursors!" The couple pulled apart instantly. Daxter was standing in the doorway, staring at the couple. "Oh my God, Jak, you're awake! We thought we had lost you for a second! Even Samos was positive that you had lost your soul... oh..." Then Daxter seemed to realize the scene he had walked in on. "Oh... we're you making out? I'm sorry... I'll just... leave..." He backed out and closed the door.
Jak shook his head. "Now... can we try that again?"
Keira smiled. "Anything for you, my love."
They kissed again.
After a long make-out, several embraces, and billions of whispered sweet nothings, they finally emerged from the infirmary, but Jak stopped Keira in the hallway. "Keira, you know I love you, right?"
Keira stared at Jak. "Of course I do."
Jak took a breath to calm his nerves. "Keira... will you...?"
"Are you two love birds done yet?" Daxter, who had just walked into the hallway, demanded. Keira glared at Daxter for interrupting yet again. "Oops..." Daxter ran away swiftly.
"Now..." Keira turned back towards Jak. "What were you going to ask?"
Jak cleared his throat nervously. He had lost his nerve. "It's nothing." He walked away towards the control room.
Keira watched him go. "Oh Jak... I wish you would let me heal your scars."
Jak walked into the control room in a general bad mood. "Sleeping Demon." Torn said teasingly. "So, you do live." Jak growled.
Ashelin walked up to the elf from behind. "Oh, Jak, we were worried about you."
"Well, I'm fine now." Jak said.
"That's good that you're fine. But Haven City is not 'fine'. Things are going down the crapper really fast." Ashelin said. "We've got to lighten the load."
"And I suppose you know how we can do that?" Jak asked as Daxter came into the room slowly to avoid attracting Jak's wrath.
"We've got a plan... but it's risky." Ashelin said.
"Well, of course, it couldn't be easy. Nooo!" Daxter exclaimed. "And I'm sure Jak and I are on the very short list to head up the mission, huh?"
"No." Ashelin said. "This mission is of vital importance. I'm giving it to Torn and Jinx."
Daxter blinked. "WHAT?" He demanded. "I suppose you don't think we're good enough! You don't think we can do it!"
"Daxter..." Jak sighed with exasperation.
"Let me remind you that this team of Daxter, Jak, and Daxter has taken on just about every scary thing this world can throw at us for three... count 'em, THREE adventures!" Daxter ranted.
"Dax!"
"This is an outrage, Jak!" Daxter continued his rant. "We're the heroes! We're the ones on cereal boxes for God's sake! And I'm about to release my own line of sports shoes! I've got a contract!"
Jak stared at Daxter. "Cereal boxes? Sports shoes? When did all that happen?"
Ashelin shook her head in annoyance at the orange rat. "You two are on the mission. Your job will be to cover Torn and Jinx in a vehicle filled with explosives. Make your way to the Metal-Head nest in the old Farming District. Together, you'll blow open the Nest."
"Oh..." Daxter said, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?"
"You didn't give me the chance." Ashelin hissed at Daxter, and then she turned to Jak. "And Jak... please be careful. I... we can't afford to lose you."
"I know." Jak said rather calmly, considering the look that Ashelin was giving him, a heated look, but not a heated angry look... He walked away, followed by Daxter.
Once Jak was gone, Torn exploded. "What the hell was that?" He demanded.
"What?" Ashelin asked, rather taken aback by Torn's outburst.
"That whole thing there!" Torn practically yelled. He paused, thinking. "You love him, don't you?"
Ashelin's jaw dropped. "How dare you suggest that? Jak and I are just friends! You know, that was always your problem... you always assumed that I was seeing other people behind your back!"
"I'm only telling you this because I still... care about you." Torn said. "If you pursue this... crush, it will only break your heart. Jak has Keira, and I've never seen him look at you the way he looks at her! He will not leave Keira for you."
"There's nothing between me and Jak!" Ashelin said. "Besides, it's none of your business anyway, Torn!"
Torn stared at the she-elf for several seconds. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when he breaks your heart."
"I won't." Ashelin said. Torn stormed out after Jak. When she was all alone, she began to weep. It was all lies, and she knew it. She knew of her feelings for Jak, she knew that she had fallen in love with him... even if that love was not returned. But she also saw the truth in Torn's words. Jak would never leave Keira for her. She saw it every time she looked at him. He was head-over-heels in love... but he was in love with someone else. It was almost more than she could bare. "I'm so sorry for complicating things, Jak." Ashelin cried. "But I love you."
LES: What? Me? Alluding to a Jak/Ashelin relationship? It doesn't really seem possible, yet, here I am. And, yes, Ashelin IS in love with Jak... as in love, love. I don't see why you guys are so surprised. I've been hinting this since the last few Chapters of 'Back To You'. Oh, the drama! The intrique! The sheer angst! Angst! ANGST!
Muse: Are you feeling all right?
LES: Not really... so hungry.
Muse: I thought so.
LES: (It's Super-Bowl time when I wrote this, so has had to sustain off chips and dip for, like, a week.) Fooood... Damn Super-Bowl! How I hate this time of year! (is blown up by a million Super-Bowl fans)
Muse: O.o That's not good.
