Jak and the Wormhole (short story)

 was the sixth short story in Time Lord Fairy Tales.

Publisher's summary
After burying a strange device on his farm, Jak finds himself whisked away on an incredible adventure. Faced with a mysterious, horned enemy, it's up to Jak to save the world from total destruction.

Plot
Jak lives his mother on a farm that has been struggling ever since the death of his father. Most of their cows have been killed by a disease and the surviving cows have had to be sold off along with their grazing fields. When only one cow is left, Jak begrudgingly takes it into town and talks to it along the way so he can keep his spirits up.

When they pass a very grand-looking house, Jak hears a voice calling for help. He goes through the gate to find a man wearing a bloodied shirt. To his surprise, the man is actually Councillor Jevan who tells Jak that he has to make amends for betraying everyone. He explains that he didn't betray everyone through choice, but he was tricked into believing that he would be creating a bright future for the world.

After Jak agrees to help him, Jevan gives him an egg-shaped object that he took from the monster that attacked him before it was brought into Jak's world and killed. He tells Jak that the object must be destroyed before more of the monsters come. However, Jak is more concerned with selling the cow at the market so he can have some money, prompting Jevan to give him a bag of coins. When Jak tries to refuse the money, Jevan is already dead.

After returning to his home with the cow, Jak tells his mother about what happened to Councillor Jevan and that he must destroy the device that the Councillor gave him. Unfortunately, the device is not so easily destroyed as the axe and fire fail to destroy it. Jak decides to dig a hole and bury the device in it before going to bed.

The next morning, Jak wakes up to see a wormhole in the spot where he buried the device last night. When he decides to investigate, he decides to walk into the wormhole to find that it branches ahead, with one path leading to a window from which he sees the ruins of a city. Walking further along the corridor, Jak sees a number of locked doors before hearing a pair of deep, growling voices.

Ducking into the shadowy entrance of one of the passageways, Jak sees the source of the voices: two bull-like creatures talking about the activation of the device and the wormhole not being in its appointed place, which causes them to believe that Jevan has betrayed them, but they are not concerned as everyone on his world will die when the Nimon complete the great journey of life.

As they pass Jak who is still hiding in the passageway, one of the Nimon asks the other one about the Princess who they plan to either execute or leave to die. Once they're gone, Jak decides to go to where they just came from so that he can meet the Princess.

Jak soon comes across a large set of double doors guarded by one of the Nimon. As he hides behind the corner, another Nimon informs the guard that the Princess is to be executed. Upon hearing this, the guard begins to unlock the door to the cell where the Princess is held and enters it as Jak runs forward and picks up the metal bar that was used to secure the door before using it to bring down the guard.

Jak sees the Princess and remarks that she doesn't look much like a princess, to which the Princess replies that he doesn't look like a hero, but she is thankful that he saved her life. The Princess introduced herself as Jahanna and that she was a Princess before the arrival of the Nimon who destroyed the world where she lived. Jak decides to bring her from her prison cell to the world where he lives.

Jahanna is lead down the wormhole by Jak who manages to avoid being caught by the Nimon. However, just as they are getting close to the entrance that Jak came through, a Nimon finds them and charges at them, prompting Jahanna to take a wrong turn towards the window that showed the ruins of her world. Jak uses his jacket to cover the window before Jahanna can see it. Before the Nimon can kill him, Jak pulls his jacket aside and leaps at Jahanna, dragging her to the floor.

The Nimon doesn't go out the window until Jahanna charges into it with her shoulder, causing it to fall to its death with Jak grabbing Jahanna to prevent her from going the same way. Jak and Jahanna run out of the wormhole to find themselves in the field behind Jak's house. Jak tells Jahanna that he tried to destroy the device that created the wormhole, but buried it when he was unable to destroy it.

They both dig up the device which is a black-light generator. Jahanna opens the device by pressing several of the studs on its casing, allowing her to destroy it by stamping on it. With the generator destroyed, the wormhole vanishes before the Nimon can come through, with Jak's mother and cow apparently being none the wiser.

Jak's mother is counting the money that Jevan had given Jak. She tells her son that there is enough money to keep the farm going for years, and enough to give a home to Jahanna, who Jak tells his mother is homeless. Despite being filled with sorrow at the loss of her home, Jahanna is thankful to Jak for saving her. After cleaning herself off, Jahanna joins Jak and his mother for supper in a dress that Jak's mother has kept since she was Jahanna's age. Jak tells her that she looks like a princess.

Characters

 * Jak
 * Jahanna
 * Councillor Jevan

Worldbuilding
to be added

Continuity
to be added