Standard disclaimers apply, yadda, yadda, yadda...tho why a fanfic needs a disclaimer I have no idea...

A/N: So I'm re-working the layout of this fic and all chapters will (eventually) be re-posted with better paragraph structure. The story itself won't change (or the changes will be minor, such as punctuation and spelling.

Chapter 1: The Black Desert

Jack found himself standing in the middle of a dark, barren desert like expanse. It was like nothing he had ever seen before; dark and foreboding. A harsh wind blew around him, kicking up the black sand in tiny whirlwinds. It looked like tiny shards of black glass, glittering in the darkness like some evil eye staring at him from the gloom. A shattered mirror, ground to dust so that it no longer reflected anything, but absorbed it instead.

There was nothing around but a few short, gnarled trees with no leaves upon them. The sky was almost as dark as the sand that surrounded him. There was no sun, no moon, no clouds, not even stars in the sky, only darkness. Yet, even with no light source, the sky seemed to have its own dull glow that illuminated the vast expanse, but very little. That's when he realized that he was standing on the brink of a deep, dark pit.

He could see bodies, broken and twisted at the bottom, floating like ghosts that were only dark images of what had been. Somehow he knew that if the wind wasn't howling the way it was, he would hear wails of pain and anguish from in there. Voices raised in the agony of being left without hope. The pit wasn't completely dark though. In the very center of it was a perfectly round pool of light that shone like the sun, but somehow shed no light. It was like a beautiful, white, iridescent stone, shining bright in the surrounding darkness.

He stood on the brink of the pit, staring into it, but not moving. He knew, deep in his heart, that the pit held peace, but also pain; while the desert held a long hard journey. He could go either way and he accepted that, but he stood there, with the knowledge floating around in his consciousness, unable to move. Somehow he felt that he couldn't make the decision on his own. He wasn't ready to decide. He stood on the edge of the pit, waiting.

Just waiting.