Author's Notes: I changed this part a bit, just to fit in with the new story. Mostly minor alterations, but not too many. This chapter was actually where I started to rewrite Blue Eyes, but I couldn't really go back and change that story. Well, I could, but it wouldn't be fair to everyone else who had read it already.
This chapter is dedicated to fanficfanaticxoxo, WindSpriteLuxara, Eragonfan33, CherokeeBrave, the people that read the first version (whether you have an account or not), and the two guests that reviewed. You cared enough about my story to make it a part of your life, and so, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you with reader cookies and the love ingrained in these pixels.
Disclaimer: I don't own Jak and Daxter, just my OC's.
"The Unfilled temple near Haven City is one of the greatest manmade structures of our world. Few can match it in beauty or value, even the Palace of the same city it lies near. The opal is from the great jewel mines of the Icelands, and the obsidian comes straight from the Lava Fields of Drakis. The crystal at the top is rumored to be the same one mined out from the Volcanic Crater close to a certain Precursor Silo, the crowning achievement of two nameless miners lost to history. All of this is the result of the Unfilled's devotion to the Ecolians and their promises of eventual enlightenment. Just calculating the number of credits it took to build that venerable structure would overheat the current computers of Haven." -Professor Anna Baker, teacher of Unfilled history in Haven City's School for the Unfilled
Jessie woke up to see the boy and his crocadog had joined her sometime during the night. They radiated a soothing presence, like someone who was close to her. Which did explain why she hadn't had those nightmares, but still. Why her? She wasn't motherly in the slightest. She ran a hand through her messy hair and looked out at the watery sunlight streaming in through the window. Today was the day she visited her parents' graves and cleaned the temple of the Unfilled. Jessie got out of bed, taking care not to wake up the two guests, and started for the bathroom. Jamie had already gotten up to go work with Vin for a short while, so she had the place to herself.
Once her clothes were taken off, she stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water. It stun her back, but she gritted her teeth and bore with it. The pain reminded her to stay alive, to not get in too much trouble. Bubbles ran down her body from the shampoo and went down the drain.
'Just like time,' Jessie thought gloomily.
When her shower was finished, the girl got out and toweled off, then pulled on a simple combination of tank top and sweats. She grabbed a comb and began running it through her unruly mop of short, two-toned hair, averting her eyes from the green symbol in the mirror just over her chest. It was blurry in the mist on the glass, but it glowed with a vibrant passion, though no such mark was on her own chest. The mirrors in Unfilled houses revealed more than just the image of a person. They unveiled truths best kept hidden from the world.
Once clean, dressed, and reasonably civilized, she went into the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast. It would have to be fast, though, so she grabbed a granola bar and ripped open the wrapper. There was a soft breathing noise behind her, and she whirled around.
It was the kid and his crocadog, watching her thoughtfully. Jessie knelt down to look him in the eye.
"You hungry?" she asked bluntly. He put a finger to his mouth and nodded. A smile spread across her face.
"Well, we don't have much in the ways of breakfast, but here. Have a bar," she said, grabbing the box and pulling one out. It was chocolate chunk, and while it wasn't much, the kid seemed happy to have it. She then poured out some of Sparkle's food into a dish and put it on the floor. The crocadog eagerly chowed down.
'I guess Kor can't really work to feed them, can he?' she thought, watching the two of them eat ravenously. While they were eating, Jessie heard the doorbell ring. That was odd. KG didn't ring the bell. They just barged in like they owned the place, and damn the personal rights of the person living there! Although, that AI in their door probably wouldn't have let them know about the guest with the bell if he or she was hostile. Just one of the many benefits of having a paranoid personality in your security system. She left them to their "meal" and walked down the hall to the front door. A glance at the monitor for the door revealed Kor. He stood alone, holding his walking stick and looking around nervously. She put a hand to the panel beside the metal sheet and it slid open.
"Hello, Jessie. I'm here to pick up the boy," he said, smiling kindly at her. She smiled back.
"Just a minute. He's eating breakfast right now," Jessie replied, glancing back toward the kitchen. The boy and crocadog peeped through the archway to see the old man, and they hurried over to him.
"Or he's finished breakfast. Hey, try and get some food in him. He looks kind of skinny to me," she said, poking the kid's belly playfully. He put his hands to the thinnest part of him and looked at her sadly. She patted his head fondly.
"Hey, don't worry, kid. We'll meet again. Just you wait." The old man thanked her, took the boy's hand gently, and they left, moving faster than she would have guessed the old man could. She watched them go, almost sadly, then pulled herself together. She had to go to the temple. She was the only one who could do it, now that the Unfilled had no leaders to drive them on. With that firm thought in mind, she pulled on the sacred uniform, grabbed the offerings she and Luna had bought yesterday, walked out of their apartment, and down to her parked hover.
Jessie drove through the streets on her hover, taking wide corners and barely avoiding hitting several KG bikes and Hellcats, not to mention the numerous other hovers in the air. She shot past shops opening up for the day, whizzed through security gates, and flew through the gardens toward the gate close to the Stadium. Not the one that led to the Mountain Temple and Haven Forest, but one that led to a quiet grotto deep in the mountains. The road leading to it was silent – not even birds called on that winding path – but that was a mixed blessing. She could mourn the dead without distraction, but at the same time she was all alone.
Her feet trod the beaten path by memory, stepping over places where roots from ancient trees had broken through the ground, and brought her to the grotto. A ray of sunshine from some ancient mirrors placed by the very first Unfilled shot down onto the crown of the opal and obsidian temple, casting a spray of rainbows across the steep stone walls from a large crystal placed at the tip. Her heart was heavy, but Jessie walked on, past the temple to a marble monolith just behind it. In the traditional style of the Unfilled, it had swirling designs worked into the stone along the strands of silver that ran through it, and names were carved into it.
Leo Walsh, Quentin Jackson, Gaea Tiersen, Jane Zenith, Lucy Sagai, Joker Sagai. Those were the names most recently carved into the stone. Small gems of six different colors symbolized their rank among the multitudes of the Unfilled. Green, Blue, Red, Yellow. Purple, White, descending in the traditional order of the Vessels. And the last were the names of her parents. Something hot and wet ran down her cheek, and Jessie realized she was crying. It didn't matter; no one could see her here, in this place forgotten by a war-torn city and its tyrannized people. Not even the rest of the Unfilled bothered to come here anymore. Why visit, when the only people who could help them communicate with the Ecolians were dead? She shook her head bitterly. The only people who even payed their respects to the temple were Luna, Jamie, Jinx, and herself. There was something wrong about that, and she supposed it had to do with the fact that there were still so many claiming to be Unfilled within the city. If they truly believed that the Ecolians were the link between human and Precursor, then why didn't they try to help? Why did they leave an orphaned girl to take care of something she shouldn't have to worry about until she was of age to become a Vessel?
Jessie stopped herself. It wasn't their fault. After the tragedy during the attack on Dead Town, many of the Unfilled had become confused and disoriented, and some had even been arrested. Their voices in government, the only people who could have tried to remedy the ensuing distrust between the faithless and the Unfilled, had died of mysterious circumstances, and now they were looked on as traitors to the cause. They had felt when all six Vessels had died, and the many who had served in the Krimzon Guard had even stopped fighting to mourn their deaths. But that had only led to unfair trials and even more fear of her people, not to mention countless more being killed by Metal Heads who had taken advantage of their moment of weakness. They couldn't help it that when they joined the ranks of the Unfilled a mental bond was formed during the Rite of Passage. The Eco that they had ingested in powdered form had strengthened any latent psychic powers, and in some cases unlocked them, and the tests for Vessel eligibility depended on which Eco they reacted to best. But at the same time, they knew whenever one of their own was dying. If an Unfilled left the land of the living, everyone felt the pain of losing them, even if they hadn't known them personally. That was what made that strange religious sect so hate-filled toward murderers, torturers, and the new regime under Baron Praxis. It didn't help that when the king and queen went missing, along with their child, the Unfilled who had been loyal to them had also vanished, and many of those left behind blamed the Baron. That was why so many had joined the Underground's cause, even if it was in pacifistic ways. Some would offer safe houses, some would provide supplies, and a few even went so far as to sabotage the KG's efforts. But after the Great Purge, few remained in Haven besides Jessie and her family, a few close friends, and those who were not allowed to leave the city due to work or legal reasons. If only she was old enough to be a Vessel, like her mother and father before her. She could lead her people back to a brighter future, and—
Her head shook to break her reverie. Now was not the time to mourn the lost or dream of the future, but the time to focus on the present. And right now, the temple needed to be cleaned. The Ecolians could not speak to their faithful from a filthy temple. It was sacrilegious, not to mention offensive to the faithful that remained and those who traveled here to pay their respects.
She hadn't realized she had sunk to the grassy floor until she felt the dew seeping through her robe into her sweats. Jessie stood up, brushed some grass from her knees, and walked back around the temple. The sun had risen higher, enough that the tops of the cliffs were bathed in golden light. How strange, that the closest city was almost constantly plagued by storms, and yet half a mile away it was sunny. But that was nature for you. Green Eco worked in mysterious ways. How else could grass and flowers flourish in such a dark place like the Grotto of Whispering Secrets?
The steps leading up to the elaborately woven curtain that closed off the temple's interior weren't even worn, although they were hundreds of years old. The pattern in it was that of a million different things, and every second it was shifting. That was the doing of the Ecolians. They managed to preserve this place for their followers' benefit and even enacted some control over a part of their domain. Even if almost none of those followers came to visit and pray anymore. She pushed past the curtain, which then swung back into place with the sibilant swish of heavy fabric.
Inside was strangely lit. Twelve small pedestals of solid gemstones rose from the mosaic floor, each pair of colors framing a throne of the same crystalline material. The two closest to her were the Vigorous Throne and the Ensanguined Throne, the former of which was made of blue jewels that crackled with electricity, and the latter of which was made of an almost blood-red crystal that had the faint tang of iron in the air around it. Their pedestals released steady streams of Blue and Red Eco. Further into the room were the Serene Throne and the Passionate Throne. The Serene Throne was made of a single glowing white gem shaped into a seat with a peaceful air to it, while the Passionate was made of an opaque red-violet stone that shone like the obsidian surrounding it; it made her feel so strange. If Jessie hadn't known better, she would have thought it was liquid, because of the shifting nature of its surface and the occasional flashes of indigo. Light Eco and Dark Eco flowed from these pedestals, providing light that was a tad too bright and light that cast wicked shadows on all it touched. Finally, at the rear of the temple stood the Bountiful Throne and the Watchful Throne, green and yellow-gold objects of power. Bountiful whispered of the joy of life, and its colors ran through all the shades of green that were possible. The atmosphere of this throne was vibrant, and any second now she expected flowers and wildlife to spring up around it. In contrast, the Watchful Throne was solemn, and it made the back of her neck prickle. Its golden stone spoke of the color of a hawk's eye, and indeed it seemed to be watching everything around it, searching for the key to victory. Green and Yellow Eco sprayed from the pedestals, the life and awareness of each invigorating her.
Jessie took a cloth from a small alcove near the front and started wiping down all the surfaces to a glassy shine. First came the walls and the shifting images they held, showing glimpses of the past that all too soon changed to visions of the future. Once the roiling opal and obsidian was clean, she turned to the mosaic floor. Swirling patterns similar to the ones on the monolith had been carefully inlaid into the mortar, creating lines of power for the Vessels to communicate fully with the Ecolians. At the thrones, six lines of red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and white ran toward the center of the ring of seats and met in a small pillar made entirely of Eco crystals. All the effects of each Eco radiated from it, from the healing powers of Green to the vision-enhancing effects of Yellow, from strengthening Red to energizing Blue, and from calming Light to quickening Dark. It was almost too much for her to touch it, but the crystal pillar must be clean. The channel between the Ecolians at the core and the Vessels at the crust must be kept open for when the next generation of Vessels could begin their role as leaders of their people. It took all of Jessie's willpower to avoid giving in to the whispers of the Eco, the tantalizing tastes of the power it would give her, and when she was done she breathed a sigh of relief. But the hardest part was yet to come.
Now she had to clean the thrones. At first, only the Vessels could touch their respective thrones, but after the Dead Town Tragedy and the Great Purge, the few Unfilled remaining agreed that Jessie should take on the role of preserving the temple, and that meant coming into contact with the thrones. And it wasn't just because she was one of the few who still came. When she had been initiated as a little girl, she had shown aptitude for all six Ecolian leaders. It was only through the insistence of her parents that she hadn't been signed on as a full-time temple guardian, and instead merely had to pay her respects once a week.
Jessie ran the cloth down the smooth surfaces of each throne, murmuring the name of the corresponding Ecolian and starting with the Vigorous then going clockwise.
"Azura. Lumina. Viridis. Saffron. Umbra. Rubeus," she chanted, fighting back the feelings that were threatening to overwhelm her. The suggestive whispers of the Ecolian leaders in her head tried to get her to sit on each throne when she touched them, but she knew better. Unfilled that had dared to sit on the thrones before they were old enough to handle the surge of power that came with it all too often were fried mentally, their spirits stolen away by the Ecolians. They were not harsh gods, or demigods as the Precursor Monks claimed, but they were swift to enact punishment on those who dared to go against their orders. Especially Saffron. The Yellow Ecolian despised those who were not patient, and perhaps that was why it was frequently at odds with Azura, who applauded the eager and the young. The rivalries between Ecolians were too complex for Jessie to comprehend, and while there were some compatibility issues between those of the opposite elements (Green and Yellow were Earth and Wind, Blue and Red were Water and Fire, and Light and Dark were just that), it was most often the personalities of each Ecolian that produced such divided ranks.
"Jessie, darling, why don't you accept us? You know you could do it. You have the strength," Umbra whispered into her ear as she wiped down the Passionate Throne.
"So many heed our advice, though they do not realize it. Why don't you join them? Become one with us, as others have done before you," Azura joined in, its voice persuasive and slick. Jessie shook her head violently.
"Get out of my head. You still have to wait two years, and maybe new Vessels will appear by then. Now leave me alone!" she shouted into the empty temple. Their voices faded away and she stormed out of the temple. But a small part of her toyed with the idea of becoming a Vessel right now, defying Unfilled tradition and accepting the burden of leading her people into a new golden age.
Author's Notes: No reviews this time. Oh, well. C'est la vie. Happy New Year, everyone!
Wild Cat 214, out!