1Jak sat back in the Dune Hopper as he raced through the desert tundra to Ashelin. She had been the only person in Haven who cared enough to toss him a lifeline when he was banished, so he reasoned he could at least repay the favour when her distress call lit up his communicator.
Just when it seemed the whole of Haven was either afraid of his dark eco transformation, or simply kept quiet in fear that Vegar would turn his spiteful attentions towards them, Ashelin had given him a beacon. It was this beacon that guided Damas towards him, Daxter and Pecker and by extension, saved their lives.
Jak thought more on his superpowered side, that had Haven up in arms. He knew even before he was arrested that Dark Jak was hated. What nobody else in the Mar forsaken city realised though was that the elf that hated the eco monster most of all was Jak, himself. He hated the way he looked, while transformed. He hated the way he acted; all instinct and no room for careful thought. Most of all, he hated the pain. Not just the intense pain of thick horns and too sharp obsidian claws forcing themselves through his skin but the constant ache that the ever present dark eco left him with.
All that had changed though, as he was exploring the precursor monk temple with Daxter. The pair taking in joy in finding secret places they had never set foot before. The fact they were not supposed to be there only added to the fun. Jak smiled to himself as he thought of what Samos might say in the unlikely event he ever came to find out about the unauthorised excursion. On an adventure scale of Sentinel Beach to Misty Island, this had to be a Forbidden Jungle level escapade at least.
They'd eventually come to a room with an enormous precursor oracle and Jak had felt the familiar urge he got in the water slums to get closer. This time however, instead of imbuing him with another dark power, the oracle had simply showered him with light eco, neutralising all the pain he felt within himself. The dark eco ache was gone.
The warrior slammed on the brakes when he saw the Haven governess, much to the consternation of his small best friend, but despite the grumbling, the ottsel jumped up taking his place on Jak's shoulder as he made his way through the sand.
Jak and Ashelin greeted each other, both glad to see the other, when a low rumbling ruined their reunion. The pair glanced around. Ashelin didn't trust what she didn't know and was immediately on high alert. Jak was a step ahead of her, recognising, as all wastelanders did the sound of marauders.
The fighting was brutal. Jak was glad he'd restocked his ammo before leaving Spargus. He and Ashelin slowly made progress thinning the marauders' numbers and destroying their vehicles. He glanced to the side, checking up on his visitor as she aimed at a particular irritating marauder who shot her a sarcastic smile. What she didn't see was the reason for his smarmy grin as one of his comrades snuck up behind her, sword raised, ready to make the death blow.
"Ashelin!", Jak more breathed to himself, rather than yelled and ran full force towards the swordsman. He collided with the brute, knocking him off his feet and sending his sword flying.
Right across Jak's sternum.
The gash was huge, and blood poured out on the sand. "Jaaaaak!" Daxter was wailing. The outcast's vision was getting blurry and he could just make out the shape of another marauder coming towards him. "Noooo!" his small friend was crying.
That was it. He had to do something. He couldn't leave the ottsel at the mercy of these brutes. He pulled together all of his thoughts and willed himself to pull out of it just enough to save Daxter. His vision got blurrier and blurrier and then it seemed that a bright light enveloped him, and he was lifted up. It reminded him of the precursor temple but there were no oracles here. "Is this it?" he panicked slightly, "Am I dead?"
His thoughts came to an end as he felt his feet being placed gently on the floor. He shook his head and looked round. He was back in the battle. He turned his head to the left to see a surprised looking Daxter only to be interrupted by the approaching marauder. Quickly clicking back into fight mode, he found his strength renewed and the rest of the marauders vanished under his and Ashelin's fire.
Alone with Daxter and Ashelin again, Jak made to check his wound, choking back surprise when he carefully peeled his tunic up to examine the laceration on his torso to find nothing there. "Am I going mad?" he asked his sidekick. Daxter shuffled uncomfortably on his shoulder. "You're not gonna believe this, big guy!"
"What?!" Jak was concerned now.
"You kinda went... ya know…" Daxter paused to try and find the words.
"No, I don't know! Kinda went what?!"
"Kinda glowy and sparkly and yer eyes lit up. Not meaning you looked happy, they literally lit up like a couple of Seem's candles…and Mar knows, they've gotta lot of 'em. "
"Daxter!" Jak's confusion was not helped by Daxter's babbling.
"Sorry, anyway there you were all blue and glowy and sparkly and when you'd finished, you'd stopped bleeding."
Jak swallowed, he looked at Daxter, unable to find the words to explain exactly how puzzled he was, but luckily his best friend could read him like a book. "Hey big guy, do yer think it could be from when we visited that weird precursor statue, down in Seem's basement? It did shine that strange light on you and you sorta started…yer know.. just floating. Kinda like…yer did just now."
The ottsel stopped for a second to gauge Jak's reaction. His eyes were wide and his mouth twitchy with shock. The more he thought about it, the more the novice wastelander had to admit that the feeling he got when he spaced out was exactly the same as the feeling he experienced in the temple, when the oracle had, well not cured him exactly, but offered him balance. Is this what it meant?
Jak tried to put the latest in a long line of weird in unusual instances marking his life, to the back of his mind, mentally making a note to speak to Seem about the oracle. The oasis was filled with left over debris from the marauder attack. Weapons, armours, floating globules of gaseous eco surrounded the demolition duo as they made their way over to where the Haven governess stood, checking her hellcat for damage.
A small blob of dark eco shuddered as they walked past making a direct beeline for Jak. He sighed; some things would never change. He had hoped that his recent divine encounter would have ended this, but apparently not.
He continued walking, passing a cluster of light eco, when unexpectedly, it shuddered as well, following its dark counterpart in Jak's body.
"What the hell?!" He was starting to get worried now. What had the oracle done to him? Instead of Dark Jak being confined to the realms of history, did he now have a light transformation to stabilise his dark?
He looked up to face Ashelin, who completely ignored his obvious discomfort and opted to try and guilt trip him into going back to Haven. She even tried to buy his forgiveness by bringing him his jetboard and amulet. He was glad to get them back, but it was not enough to quash the conflicting emotions that overcame him when he thought about his banishment.
Jak was annoyed. No scratch that, he was fuming. Haven City had cast him out and his only ally was only interested in his welfare because she didn't want to lose the most effective item in her arsenal. He was a weapon to her and no more. As far as he could tell, no one in Haven wanted to know if he personally was ok. They didn't care about him, only about what he could do. He told Ashelin as much and let her go back to Haven without him.
With barely a sideways glance at Daxter, Jak heaved himself back into the Dune Hopper. He had decided to return to the temple and get some answers.
As he drove through the endless dunes and volcanoes, he pondered on his decision not to go back and help Haven.
He knew he wouldn't be accepted there. He couldn't blame them when he couldn't even accept himself. The worst thing was he really had thought after the temple that he could get back to living a simple uncomplicated life. Maybe even get Kiera back. It wasn't to be however; his life would never be ordinary.
He was too changed for that, too abnormal.
