//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Precursor Knowledge 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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With Errol defeated, and his plans to corrupt their planet torn apart, the first thing the siblings did was watch as Twillight and Midnight gathered their powers for a time and cleaned up the mess left behind by Errol's awakened Terraformer, since both of them were sure that leaving the pieces of the machine around was a bad idea and dismantled the machine before sending all of the components into their storage area, something Midnight intended on doing with every piece of the Dark Maker ship, those that survived anyway. Starlight and Cozy, on the other hand, were standing near Jak and were making sure he was fine from his ordeal, as he had channeled his full Prism Sage power and had done something interesting, given that a powerful being was standing near them, one that made all of them, as in the siblings, Daxter, and Alvin and his brothers, wonder what in the world had happened during their battle with Errol. Of course that wasn't considering all of the things that Errol had mentioned back when they were aboard the Dark Maker ship, before the Precursors fired that beam at the ship and destroyed it, because while Jak and his sisters were sure that Errol had been lied to, as he served the Dark Makers, they had to wonder if there was some truth to what he had said and meant that they needed to talk with Elder and the rest of the Precursors. Thinking about that reminded them that Gol and Maia were also Ottsels, something they hadn't thought about all that much since they had been focused on taking down the incoming threat to their world, meaning both of them might have some additional answers for the siblings, even though Jak was sure that their father would want to have words with them as well, since this was a secret that they hadn't told Damas, before he sighed and focused on what they would be doing in the near future.

While they did that the powerful being, who Jak had interacted with in some manner, stood nearby with his back towards all of them, where it was clear that he was gazing out at the Wasteland and Spargus, why they had no idea, though they were interrupted by one of the shadowy portals opening, as in what Gol and Maia used and not what the robed figured had used, before discovering that Maia had come to inform them that they would be gathering in Haven for the party to celebrate their victory. As such Alvin and his brothers transformed into their true forms and carried Jak and his sisters on their backs, while the being jumped into the air and used his power to propel himself towards the city, which Twilight and Starlight found to be interesting, even if it was similar to what Starlight used since she didn't have a set of wings like both of her sisters, but she didn't mind that difference and did her best to keep up with them. Thanks to Alvin and his brothers it took the siblings no time at all to reach Haven City, where they discovered that everyone who called the city home, not to mention the Neo Metal Heads and their Wastelander allies, were already reacting well to the news of their victory over their enemies, as a new party was underway and it brought a smile to their faces, as they were happy to see this, though while they would have loved to join this party they focused on the conversation that would happen soon and leave this as something to do after their talk. Instead of heading for the Catacombs, however, they headed for Freedom HQ, as it did have a large chamber that they could use for their discussion and had to be where Maia meant, since there weren't a lot of vehicles that could take people down into the depths of their world, so using the building that had served as their base of operations, the main one since Torn was going to restore Daxter's bar soon, seemed to be the best thing right now and they found that no one was outside the building when they arrived.

Such a thing allowed them to land without having to worry about crushing anyone, which let the dragons return to their Ottsel forms after everyone climbed off their backs, though once that was done they headed inside and used the lift that was in front of them, which took them up to where the Council rested, even though the Council members had multiple buildings that they could meet in and they had been using another one after the war broke out, to make sure they were out of the way while assisting Praxis in keeping the city intact. Of course the lift moved passed the chamber that Jak, his sisters, and their friends had used to plan out their war against their enemies, coming to a stop two floors above it and revealed a large meeting chamber that was just as large as the previous room had been, only this one had no machines in it, save for the one that linked them to the outside world, or whoever they were talking to for that matter. Sure enough they found Praxis and Damas in this chamber, along with Samos, Keira, Tess, and Seem, though they focused on the main guests of honor, which happened to be Elder, Gol, and Maia, as it looked like the other two Precursors were likely back in the core of their planet, dealing with the machine and whatever it was connected to, meaning Elder could focus on what all of them would be talking about and not be interrupted. The siblings could guess why the majority of them were here in the first place, like Samos' Sage nature or the fact that Praxis and Damas were leaders of their own cities, even if Praxis was planning on handing everything back to them at some point, though Keira and Tess seemed like odd decisions and none of them argued with what they were seeing, as they were more interested in learning what the trio had to share with everyone that was present right now.

Of course Damas and the others turned when they noticed the door open, and some eyebrows were raised instantly as they gazed upon the figure who was following Jak and his sisters, though as they entered the chamber Daxter found that an area had been set aside for them, which happened to be where Keira and Tess were sitting near, so he jumped down and took a seat near his girlfriend while Alvin and his brothers sat near one of the walls, making sure they were out of the way while Jak and his sisters took their seats.

"Jak, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, Cozy Glow, Daxter, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, you eight have done well in your quest to save this world," Elder commented, speaking the moment the group started to move towards their seats, though they could tell that he was pleased with their actions, just like how everyone else was pleased to have the Dark Maker ship out of the picture, though as that happened he noticed that the rest of the people in the chamber were still unsure of him and both of the transformed Dark Sages that were near him, "and while I know many of you would rather celebrate this momentous event, given that you have destroyed the Dark Maker ship that Errol was trying to use, I also know that a few of you have questions and would prefer to have them answered before you do anything else. I am called Eon, and I am the leader of the group that was sent to this world, though my assistants Atten and Rhonos are back in our base of operations, the Planetary Defense System, making sure everything is running smoothly for your world... and, for those of you who haven't had a chance to meet them yet, Gol and Maia have joined us as well."

"That means there are other groups of Precursors in our world, correct?" Praxis asked, as he wanted to make sure that fact was cleared before they did anything else, even though he could see that Damas was looking over at Gol and Maia, where he assumed that the King of Spargus was trying to figure out if he was annoyed that his Advisors kept this information from him or if he should be pleased that they kept the secret, like the Precursors no doubt wanted when they allowed the pair to return to the surface.

"Correct. Also, the name of our race isn't 'Precursor', rather that is what the people of this world call us, but for now it will suffice for our purposes," Eon replied, though as he spoke Twilight had a feeling that Atten was the surfer and Rhonos had to be the one with a helmet on, something she decided not to worry about since there were far more important things for them to talk about and all of them had something they wanted to ask, or at least most of them had a question or two while others, like Tess, were just here to make sure someone else was just fine.

"Okay, but why do you use the Oracles, statues, and images to talk with us?" Cozy asked, because if the Precursors had a physical form that they could use, instead of the being of pure energy that emerged from the Stone that Kor had been after for a long time, it made her wonder why none of them bothered to talk with anyone face to face, even though both Gol and Maia seemed to be able to make their own physical bodies, despite the fact that they seemed comfortable in their Ottsel forms, before she considered something, "And what about that being of pure energy we saw when Young Jak used his pure power to open the Precursor Stone?"

"The Oracles are part of our system to keep balance in this world, as in they are some of our eyes and ears, allowing those like Seem and their monks to speak with us," Eon answered, meaning that if one of the Precursors found something bad in part of the world, such as something happening in the Wasteland for example, it was likely the responsibility of the group that was in charge of that area to deal with it, like how Seem might tell Damas about something and he'd react accordingly, making the siblings wonder how many of their missions had been influenced by such a thing, "though the design of the Oracles came from the ancient Humans, when we first arrived made contact with them, and we've been using it since that day. The image, however, is also a Precursor, or at least one of the forms we take during our evolution, and it is usually the form that many associate with the term your people use, hence why it's the one we picked out and use whenever whoever we're talking to is far away from one of the Oracles, like when you were entering the Eco Mine... the reason we do things this way is because we would not be able to complete our mission if we used our real faces, hence why we fluffed up the myth and stuck to using the Oracles."

"Okay, you're a Precursor, and that means Gol and Maia are as well," Samos said, where he was piecing together what had been said so far and what it might mean for those who were like the Dark Eco Sages, even though Jak and his sisters could see that he wasn't too pleased with the fact that the race he and the Sages had been looking for, an ancient quest of sorts based on what the siblings recalled, before he beckoned to Daxter for a moment, "but tell me, does that mean that Daxter is a Precursor as well?"

"That is more difficult to explain," Eco said, where he raised his hand for a moment and drew upon his power for a couple of seconds, something that caused everyone to watch as the chamber to glow for a second or two before an image of the energy being Jak and his sisters had seen appeared before all of them, causing the siblings to lean forward a little while a few of the others raised their eyebrows for a few seconds, "I know some of you are familiar with what we call an Eco Spirit, which is what we call this stage of our evolution, as it happens to be the one most people associate with the name given to our race, and they are no longer bound by any rules or universal laws, meaning they are manifestations of pure Eco and can do just about anything... like how a Green Spirit, for example, can lead to the creation of new life on a planet, once the Spirit sinks into the ground and becomes part of that world. Now most don't use their powers, rather they decide to travel through space, and sometimes even time as well, mostly to learn more about our universe, the promise we made, and the dangers that plague our reality, before eventually settling in one of the unclaimed planets that they will have discovered, which usually calls other Spirits to them and they all sink into it, eventually leading to it's Eco energy awakening and, more importantly, allowing life to start growing."

Jak and his sisters watched as the energy being turned into what they assumed was a seed and observed it as it joined up with several other Spirits, all possessing the same seed shaped appearance, before Eon moved his hand and time seemed to speed up for the image of the planet they were observing, where they watched as all sorts of creatures started to grow and thrive on his imaginary world, or at least that was what they thought before discovering that he was using their world as his example, especially with Humans and Lurkers being shown.

"Eventually life forms on the world, and by that point a team of Moderators will have created the various structures and a variety of Oracles, and, in time, some people will develop a certain power," Eon continued, where he paused for a second and beckoned to several individuals that were in the room, Jak and his sisters for one, Gol and Maia for another, not to mention Samos and Keira, before ending with Daxter, who tilted his head for a moment as he realized what he was even talking about, something the others realized as well, "that's right, certain individuals unlock the power to tap into the types of Eco that exist in the world around them, and I mean the same six types that you are all used to using or seeing, and that leads to the existence of Sages. Back when all of you were in Sandover Village there were many Sages in your world, even if most had no idea what power was sleeping inside them, such as Samos and Keira for Green, Gol and Maia for Dark, the Blue, Red, and Yellow Sages for their respective types, Daxter and his bond with Light Eco, despite the lack of any being in the environment at the time, and our heroes, Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, standing as Prism Sages, which is, by far, the rarest type of Sage in existence, able to utilize all six types of Eco and even combine them."

"I'm... a Sage?!" Daxter exclaimed, something that was swiftly followed by Eon nodding his head to confirm his statement, where he raised his hands for a moment and summoned one of his Eco blades, about the only thing he was capable of at the moment, though Jak and his sisters were pleased to find that Daxter was showing how much he had matured since all of them started to fight for Haven and Spargus, as the immature version of him would have rubbed this in Samos' face or something, but now he seemed calmer than usual, maybe his nature as a Light Sage shining through, "I... wow... I'm not sure what to say right now..."

To the siblings that was definitely a sign that Daxter had matured and, if they were right, his nature as a Light Sage had to be influencing him in some manner, even though Samos seemed surprised by this turn of events as well, while Keira and Tess seemed happy with him, before everyone turned towards Eon again, as everyone was interested in what else he had to say and what else they might learn, even though they wanted to get to the questions that Twilight and her sisters had for Eon, all while the odd figure remained standing by the closed door, likely deciding not to bother them while listening to what they were talking about.

"Don't worry, I will teach you more about your powers later... and Jak, only Mar's line has ever produced Prism Sages, but I will speak on your sisters later," Eon said, something that caused Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as it made them wonder what in the world he might share with them, before he waved his hand and they took a few seconds to watch as an image of a Human Daxter appeared, like how he looked before his fall in the pool of Dark Eco, which was followed by it taking on a more Sage-like form, with robes, and ended with it transforming into an Ottsel, just like what Jak and his sisters were used to seeing, "Anyway, overtime a Sage's power will grow, regardless if they use it or if they can't, due to the Eco type not being in the environment around them, to the point where their body cannot handle all of their power, causing them to transform into a much smaller form, one with far greater control over their abilities, but it won't be to the extent that Twilight and her sisters are used to using... or the Sage might experience an event, like falling into a massive pool of Dark Eco, that will trigger the transformation into our empowered form. Those who reach this form will live for a long time, be it for a few hundred years to even a thousand, and in very rare instances even longer than that, while their power continues to grow, before eventually we reach the point where not even this form will contain our great power and causes the individual to encase themselves in pure Eco, usually in the color of the type they represent, where we sleep until our casing breaks open, leading to the cycle repeating all over again."

Eon moved his hand once more and they watched as the image of Daxter transformed into a light blue stone, which was his nature showing through, before eventually it broke open and a Spirit revealed itself, even if Eon made sure it looked like Daxter so they understood his explanation, one who drifted into a Time Tunnel and disappeared, even though it did end in the image coming to rest in a new world and had several other Spirits join him, creating a new world for the rest of the Precursors to watch over.

"But Mar's chrysalis was green... shouldn't it have been more of a random color?" Starlight asked, as that was bugging her, even though everything Eon was telling them was more than enough to break one's mind and she was sure that Praxis was having a hard time understanding all of the specifics of this conversation, meaning he likely understood part of what they were learning and might have questions later, "And what about this 'promise' you made?"

"Mar is, shall we say, unique," Eon explained, where he raised a hand and stroked his chin for a few seconds, showing that he had to think about this and collect his thoughts before revealing more information to them, or maybe it was to give all of them some time to digest what they had learned so far, even though Daxter was thinking about what they had learned so far and understood that falling into that pool of Dark Eco moved him further along the evolutionary path of the elder race of their world, "It is true that he was a Prism Sage, one so powerful that he was able to turn the tide against Kor and his dark tide, while setting up Haven City and all of his tests for one of his descendants, and his power caused the change into our Ottsel form a lot sooner than what is common for us, leading to him remaining in the shadows until that, too, was unable to contain his power, which brought about the Stone you found and unlocked. That much is true, but the reality of the situation is that he wasn't Human, or a Precursor for that matter, rather he was a physical manifestation of this world's own soul and he did everything in his power to make sure his people were safe from harm, to the point where he even followed our evolutionary path and used our Chrysalis state, the Stone, to stabilize his powers, and when you freed him he didn't travel through time and space to find another world to inhabit, rather he bonded with the rest of his World-Soul, a fact that drew the attention of the Dark Makers to Feolorath... that's the name of this planet, in case you had no idea what this world was called."

"Wait, you mean Errol was telling the truth?" Jak asked, as the mention of the 'World-Soul' reminded him of what they had learned while they were stalling Errol, back on the Dark Maker ship, though it was something they had ignored while all of them waited for the Precursors to fire their beam and take down the enemy ship, even though this information caused his sisters to focus on what Eon might say next.

"In a way, yes. Our race is one that travels across the universe, and we were approached by a race of powerful beings, who were stronger than us, that we sided with," Eon replied, something that caused him to wave his hand and they watched as a number of icons appeared before their eyes, a few being his race and seven being tall figures who seemed to shrink to the size of Humans, or more like the strange being who stood nearby, even though one of them was eventually consumed by a foul darkness and caused it to split a world in half, before ending with a world with a glowing heart, "these beings were the Titans, immensely powerful beings who brought order to our universe while looking for ways to defeat the vast darkness that threatened to invade our reality. Their leader, a being called Amun'thul, didn't force us into an agreement or force us to bend our knee, rather he asked that we lend him and his kind our aid in ordering the rest of the universe, as in continue what we had been doing for a long time, while keeping an eye out for worlds that had World-Souls, which are the nascent slumbering souls of a Titan, which we were to protect until they matured into adulthood and then repeat with all of the other worlds... to be honest, Feolorath is the only planet we've found that has a World-Soul. Based on what we were able to figure out one of the Titans betrayed the others and we lost contact with Amun'thul, though it was around that point in time that some of our kind found a tainted world, infested with a dark force the Titans called the 'Old Gods', who drove the Precursors who found that world mad and brought about the creation of the Dark Makers, not to mention the war between our two forces that cut down on the number of Precursors in the universe."

"With the destruction of the Dark Maker ship, and all the Terraformers, the balance should have been shifted back in your favor, right?" Samos asked, though at this point mostly everyone was trying to come to terms with what they had learned, that the Precursors were both Humans and Ottsels at the same time while also being somewhat weaker than the Titans, while Jak and his sisters considered the information that was being shared with them.

"That is correct, and I'm certain the other remaining Precursors will reveal themselves once they learn that we no longer have to worry about our corrupted friends," Eon said, even though he seemed a little sad about that, making Jak wonder if he might have known someone who was corrupted by this 'Old God', before the elderly Ottsel sighed and focused on the rest of their conversation, as he knew that there was more to be said and more questions to answer, even though he, Gol, and Maia knew it was only a matter of time until Twilight asked a question, "Feolorath, like I said previously, is the only planet where we discovered a slumbering World-Soul, and the installment of our structures and observational devices did cause him to awaken, not all the way mind you, and it eventually lead to him creating his own Avatar, a living being who held a fraction of his own power and followed our evolutionary path."

"Mar!" Damas exclaimed, as it made sense when he considered the stories about the legendary hero, that one day, out of nowhere, he suddenly appeared and started leading the people towards safety, all while fighting against the darkness that threatened to overwhelm them all, even though those who followed him never understood who his parents were, nor did they figure out where he came from in the first place, thinking he was from another continent, but now it made sense in a odd and strange way.

"Indeed, and while he walked this world I stood with him... we just had the artists forget about me, to capture his likeness in all the statues," Eon stated, showing them that Damas was correct in assuming who he was talking about, which was all too easy for everyone to figure out at this point in time, before the Precursor smiled for a moment, likely recalling the time he spent with the hero of this world, "I taught him about his Eco powers, as I'm positive that several Spirits decided to call this world home, long before we met the Titans anyway, while we bested both the initial force of Dark Makers and Kor's advance forces... that's how we knew that the Planetary Defense System would work. Eventually it came to an end when Mar underwent the transformation into the Chrysalis state, where we followed the plan he came up with and stored it in the depths of his Tomb, for one of his descendants to find and use with the weapon he built, and once that was done we made sure the last of our tracks were covered before locking ourselves inside the core, forming the last layer of protection for his World-Soul. Of course Gol and Maia grew to the point where they transformed into Ottsels, so we had to open one of the side paths to the outside world and ushered both of them to join us, allowing my assistants and I to train them while they waited for your eventual return, plus the other Sages you knew all evolved as well and are currently working with the rest of our kind in monitoring this world... in fact, Samos, you probably have a few more years left before you undergo this stage as well."

"Eon... when we opened the Precursor Stone, did that mean we released the missing fragment of Feolorath's soul and, at the same time, awakened him?" Twilight asked, because it sounded like the slumbering Titan had used, without knowing what he was doing, used part of his own soul to create the Avatar, to create Mar, and by using Young Jak's power to open the Stone they likely freed that fragment, something that caused her to turn towards the odd being, as now it made sense as to why he looked a lot like Mar, because he was Mar and made his last words, that they would meet again, true, even if they hadn't thought about it until this point in time.

"You set the gears in motion," Eon replied, making Twilight wonder if not using the Precursor Stone in Mar's Gun caused a change that not even the Precursors had been expecting, like maybe it was supposed to drain some of the Stone's power before allowing them to release the Spirit, but by ignoring the gun they allowed Young Jak to release a full powered Spirit into the world, one that caused Feolorath to awaken.

"I see. Well, I do have one other question." Twilight said, though there wasn't that much else for her to cover, as they had found out a lot of things, like that pretty much everyone in the world was a slumbering Precursor and were waiting for the conditions to be met so they could continue down the evolutionary path, that they had caused a Titan to wake up and also learned about his time as Mar, and a number of other things that would make anyone take a few minutes to go through all of the information, before she beckoned to herself and her sisters, "What about us? We aren't Human, nor are we like any of the other races that call this world home... so what does all of this mean to us?"

"Believe it or not, but we've been trying to find out more about you three," Maia answered, as she and Gol had been silent the entire time and had been letting Eon explain things, given that he was their elder and knew more about the various ins and outs of a Precursor's evolution, plus the promise they made to help locate and secure the other slumbering Titans in their universe, before she sighed for a moment as she considered what she was about to say, "we know that you three are nothing like the people of this world, your magic is beyond anything we have seen, and your Sage powers are unlike any that exist in our records... frankly, if you had been born on this world, you would have been considered anomalies, beings of curiosity to be exact, and we would have come to you a lot sooner. Based on what we can tell, you three come from one of the other worlds that exist in our universe, though it is hard to tell if its one that the Precursors have been to, and you were sent here to aid Jak in saving the world from the Dark Makers, or if maybe you came from another world that is not like the ones the Precursors have settled on, like a coincidence or something... what we do know, however, is that there are more energy signatures like yours that are scattered throughout our universe, so there are more like you out among the stars, but we haven't pinpointed your planet yet. The one thing we're sure of is that you three are similar to Daxter, Jak, and all of the other Sages of this world, you three will, at some point, undergo the transformation into Ottsels, like those who came before you... and to be honest, with how powerful all three of you are, we're worried about that happening, as there's no telling what might happen."

"Indeed, though we have some theories on the matter," Gol added, something that caused the siblings to pause for a few moments, as it sounded like the Precursors might be worried about what might happen if one of the sisters was allowed to ascend to the next stage, especially given all of the powers that each of them possessed, but they remained silent as they listened to what they were learning right now, "Starlight and Cozy, you two might end up just fine, with a normal body with markings to indicate all the types of Eco you have access to, and if you ever got to the Spirit stage I'm sure just one of you would be able to seed new life on a planet, without needing any other Spirits to join you... Twilight, well, we're sure that you might end up fragmenting into your six selves, meaning if you reach the next stage you'll end up creating six entities, not just a single Precursor. Other than helping you come to terms with your powers, and what the future holds for you and the rest of this world, we'll keep looking for your planet... we'll decide what to do once we've located it."

Jak sighed as they learned that, even though he wasn't expecting to hear such a thing when they decided to speak with Eon and the others, though at the very least he knew that the next thing they needed to do was figure out which planet that his sisters came from and how to get there, but first he guessed that all of them could take a break and join the party, before they even worried about what the future held for them.