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TimeLordParadox — (Crossover) The Lost Child of Azarath, Vol III
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Published: 2019-12-04 16:53:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 5015; Favourites: 5; Downloads: 0
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Doctor Who/Teen TitansThe Lost Child of Azarath, Vol III,
Chapter 8
The Reluctant Companion
Raven stepped from the TARDIS into the undergrowth. The air smelt fresh and it was cool, it was near pitch dark, and it was also deadly silent. She had been in the TARDIS so long she'd gotten used to a slight 'hum' on the edge of her perception being in the background. Now it was gone and she was deafened by the silence.
The TARDIS had landed in a forest and was surrounded by bushes. Raven pulled up her hood and for the first time regretted her attire. Why did she have to pick something which exposed her legs? They were getting cold.
Raven checked she still had the TARDIS key, it was tucked under her cloaks broach. She was about to move off when she stopped, reached back and pulled the Police Box doors firmly shut to stop unwanted visitors or vermin from getting in.
The way the TARDIS caught the moonlight made the Police Box shell look both alien and yet somehow it looked like it belonged there. She blinked. It was weird. It was like it was there, it shouldn't be there, but something was telling her brain it was supposed to be there. She got the same feeling in the Temple on Azarath when she first saw the TARDIS. But it was like the moment she tried to really focus on it some spell was trying to deflect her attention elsewhere. If it wasn't for the void it created in reality she probably would never even notice the TARDIS at all. It was like the thing was messing with her perception of it.
Putting that out of her mind she turned away from the box and looked around. What am I doing out here? She thought to herself. I'm just wasting my time. But still she pushed on, through the night. She could always find the TARDIS again by focusing on the void in space it created.
She stopped, turned back to the Police Box and for good measure cast a spell to freeze the TARDIS lock, just in case the Doctor did come back while she was out and he wouldn't be able to get in and takeoff without her. If that was the case she'll let him back in when she returns. It would serve him right for staying away for so long and making her worry.
Worry? I'm not worried, She told herself I just... she thought ...I just... she knew what she wanted to think but pushed it aside ...I just need him to fly the TARDIS. Yeah, that was it.
What for? Said another voice in her head. You don't care where the TARDIS goes. You stay locked in its depths like a ghost. She commanded that voice to shut up.
To make her search easier she floated up above the trees and cast her mind out searching for the Doctor. He had a distinctive brain pattern and heart beat so hopefully he'd be easy to find. If he is still alive. She morbidly thought. Don't think things like that! Said another voice in her head. Shut up! She commanded them both.
Smoke or steam was crawling over the moon in the distance and a light... a blue glow seemed to appear in a clearing of trees. A settlement? Or a camp? It was probably where the Doctor was and so that's where she headed. Floating above the trees, her cloak flapping behind her giving her the image of a blue ghost.
As she came over the trees she saw a large town. The buildings were made of wood, mostly two or three stories tall. The tallest structure being some kind of tower in the middle. Maybe a site of some religious worship? She reasoned.
Raven set herself down. The place looked quite primitive and she didn't want to upset the people here with her presence, and she didn't want them to bother her, but she had an idea. Taking inspiration from the TARDIS she cast a cloak of perception over her so she could walk freely and not be noticed. They would see her, but not acknowledge her existence. She was effectively a ghost now, and she walked into town.
Looking at the people around her they honestly weren't dressed that differently than she was, except maybe for her leotard. Her hooded cloak would've blended in nicely if it wasn't for a few things.
The first being that her cloak was a vivid blue, theirs was of a brown cloth made of poor materials.
The second thing being these creatures, though bipedal, were a pale shade of blue and their eyes and ears were big and dark, other than that they looked human. Clearly they had evolved to be used to low light conditions. Was this planet in perpetual darkness? If this was true then the street was still well lit despite their nocturnal nature.
She looked at what was casting the strange blue hue around the place. There were pedestals in the street like lamp posts, but instead of lanterns or burning fire like she'd expect, there was instead a kind of crystal like structure in each of them that glowed a pale blue and was putting out more light than any fire would. It kind of made the place look ethereal. Like something from a fantasy novel.
Curiously she felt drawn to one of the lanterns. She reached out, touched it and it instantly turned black instead all light vanishing from it and it looked like it radiated darkness instead. Raven's hand snapped back and it glowed blue again. Some of the locals noticed, but thanks to her cloak of perception they didn't notice her. She wondered why it turned black when she touched it but decided to put it out of her mind. It was irrelevant to her search and she'd hopefully be off this planet soon anyway.
Raven decided to hover just above the ground instead of walking. She got the feeling that though she could fool these creatures visually with her cloak of perception spell, their large ears would certainly be able to hear her footsteps and so floating would solve that problem.
As she wandered like a spectre she realised how primitive these aliens were. They didn't seem to have any form of higher technology. It was more like how Earth used to be in the medieval times. Their most dangerous weapons were just sticks and axes made out of metal and wood. No threat to her, obviously. Honestly, being here depressed her and she wanted to go back to the TARDIS. These people didn't interest her at all, they were existing, they were living, they were surviving. The ins and outs of their society were pointless to dwell on.
She turned her attention back to the Doctor and she cast her mind out to find him. But she found something else which caught her attention instead. It made her come to a stop just in time as a large body of water came down in front of her and splashed to the floor leaving a large puddle. Wherever she was they clearly hadn't invented the toilet yet as someone had dumped a fowl smelling bucket out of their window into the street. She passed over it quickly before she gagged on the smell and followed the strange thing she could sense in her mind.
In the middle of town there was a stone well, and there was something about it that caught Ravens attention. This thing was the strange presence that she could sense. But why? She approached it and the closer she got the more it unnerved her. She looked down into it but she couldn't see much since it was still night. How long did nights last on this planet anyway?
Staring down into the blackness made her feel like she was peering into her very soul.
Hel...hello she called down telepathically, but whatever was down there it didn't have the capacity to answer her back, or it wouldn't answer back. She felt cold and a deep queasiness of anxiety rose up in her, but she forced it down to remain calm, and serene. The last thing she needed were her powers going haywire here of all places.
Now she heard the sounds of cheering and whaling of a crowd being carried by the wind. Something was going on in the next street and the villagers loved it. She glanced back at the well for a brief second and decided It didn't matter, and she floated away to investigate the crowd.
Floating over the houses and into the towns square she saw the villagers tossing vegetables at a man in stocks. A man she instantly recognised. It was the Doctor.
Raven admitted she got some small pleasure seeing the Doctor get pelted like that with smelly vegetables. That serves him right, she thought. A small, throaty giggle escaped the bottom of her lungs, she'd decided she had changed her mind, she didn't want to go back to the TARDIS just yet, this was good entertainment.
"No, listen, just listen to me, please!" but the Doctors words were squashed as something impacted and exploded in his face showering him in fowl juices.
As the villagers pelted the Doctor, Raven used her powers to sneak some blue looking vegetables out of someones bag and hid them under her cloak. A small, almost evil smirk played on her lips for what she planned to do with them.
It was a good few minutes before the crowd was forced to disperse and the Doctor was led away at spear point. Three guards in some kind of battle fatigues marched the Doctor away. Raven followed them around the back of a large building and to a smaller, stone building half built into the ground and the Doctor was thrown into one of the underground rooms. A cell of some sort. The door being locked and bolted behind him.
"No, listen to me, please." the Doctor pleaded. "I think you're all in terrible danger."
"Quieten down, mad man" said one of the guards banging on the bars "You deserve worse for what you've done" and the guard walked away.
"But I never did it, you have no proof." But the Doctor gave up when the guard left, locking the outer door behind it. "Why do they never listen?" the Doctor sat down and looked like he was contemplating what to do next.
Raven waited until the guards went away before she cast a spell, and a dark portal formed in front of her. She manipulated it so it connected to the Doctors cell, and smirking again she used her powers to catapult two of the squishy blue vegetables she had through it and got the satisfying sound of a splat as they hit the Doctor.
Raven then passed through the portal herself and finally let her feet touch solid ground. The portal vanishing behind her. She quickly hid her smirk as the Doctor, hair dripping with slimy juice, spun to look at her.
"Raven?!" the Doctor exclaimed wiping the mess from his face. "Am I glad to see you."
Ravens face didn't show any greeting, she looked at the Doctor with a neutral expression. "I think I should leave you here." Raven said "Whatever you did, I'm sure you deserve it."
"They think I'm the cause of their problems, and that I'm some kind of 'pale demon'!" the Doctor exclaimed indignantly.
"Welcome to my world" Raven said flatly.
"Listen, did you notice anything strange as you came into town?" the Doctor asked "Anything that disturbed your finally tuned senses?"
"Yeah, you. You need a bath." Raven said looking at the Doctor up and down. His velvet coat was ruined as liquid and juices had soaked into it, same with his shirt, trousers and waistcoat.
"I'm being serious." The Doctor insisted.
"Yeah, so am I" Raven replied. She knew a spell that would clean everything off the Doctor in a split second. But she was enjoying his discomfort too much, though she didn't show it externally. She tried to remain dead inside, from the outside at least.
"I meant anything of a psychic nature?" the Doctor continued "Over the course of 'three moons' -what these people call months- it seems people have been disappearing."
"Fascinating" Raven said dully, she wasn't interested at all "Now, are we going back to the TARDIS?"
"No" the Doctor said firmly "There is a presence here, and I suspect it is malicious."
"So?" Raven asked.
"So?" the Doctor echoed, he looked at her as if she was some immoral demon. Well, she was. Why did that surprise him? "Haven't you been paying attention? People are vanishing, they might even be dead. Don't you want to help them?"
"I don't know them." Raven said now staring at the Doctor like he was some mortal. She also hoped it would unnerve him. But it didn't have the effect she wanted of it. In fact the Doctor didn't even notice.
"Would you even help them if you did know them?" the Doctor asked. Ravens eyes rolled a little as if that was a stupid question to ask of a demon like her. In reality, she wondered if she would. Likely the answer was 'no' but she wasn't sure. "Look, just help me. Just do this... this one time for me?" For him? What do I owe him? "Just this one time? Please!" Who is he to tell me what to do? Does he honestly think, 'please' will make me do anything?
Raven sighed slowly "Okay, fine" What?! What am I saying? She thought. But she knew the Doctor wasn't going to come with her willingly, she could drag him away but she knew she wouldn't hear the end of it from him. Best to do what the Doctor wants, then she can return to her reading.
"You're a star" the Doctor said clapping his hands together.
"No." Raven said more to herself rolling her eyes, "I'm just a sucker."
Raven helped by teleporting both herself and the Doctor out of the cell. She wanted to teleport him directly to the TARDIS and force him inside. But at the last second her mind teleported them to the strange well she'd found. Where the Doctor wanted to go.
"Tell me" the Doctor asked "Did you notice anything out of the ordinary about this planet?" the Doctor stepping from the portal.
"Is that a serious question?" Raven asked, everything was out of the ordinary for her on this planet. She sighed and resigned herself to the fact she was about to get a lecture.
"The planet is tidally locked between it and it's star. Meaning it rotates as fast as it orbits its parent star, so this side of the planet never gets sun light, but the other side gets roasted. The same way the Earths moon is tidally locked with the Earth so only one side faces the planet." the Doctor said, he was rattling off ideas more for his own benefit than for Ravens. "The only light this side gets is from the moon. But here is the big question." the Doctor paused for dramatic reasons, Raven rolled her eyes for tolerant ones. "The planet orbits a red dwarf star, but the moon shines a pale blue. Which means?" he was asking her a question.
Raven couldn't care less but she found herself answering it in her mind. She knew little about science, but from what little she had read she knew what the Doctor was implying. A red dwarf star would only put out redder hues of light. So why was the moon glowing blue?
The Doctor waited and Raven refused to answer or play this stupid game of his. "Come on" the Doctor encouraged her.
Raven sighed again and gave up "A red dwarf star emits only red light, the moon should be red." she said like someone indulging a child. "Anything else, teacher?" she added mockingly.
"No, that was exactly the answer. Very good, miss Rae"
"Don't call me, Rae" Raven cut across.
"Well, don't give me that attitude" the Doctor quickly said, and before Raven could react the Doctors lips were flapping again. "Fascinatingly the disappearances happen whenever the moon is either blocked by clouds, or is on the other side of the planet." the Doctor finally was coming to the point. "Now interestingly, this well is built at an awkward angle. It's not going straight down, it's tilted at a ten degree incline in such a way that the moon shines directly into it." Raven looked at the well. He was right, it wasn't perfectly straight, but it was such a mundane detail she never picked up on it. "Why?" the Doctor asked "Subsidence? Or was it built like that? What did you sense down there?"
Raven sighed again like a moody teen and told the Doctor what she'd sense down there. Some kind of presence but it wasn't a complex one. Or one that could, or would answer back to her telepathic calls.
"Is any of this relevant?" Raven asked afterwards.
"Is a grain of sand relevant?"
"No!" Raven insisted.
"And that just shows the failure of your imagination." the Doctor said as he leaned over the edge of the well, holding some kind of flash light he used to shine down the throat of the well. "Little Timmy!" he cried and his voice echoed back "Can you hear me?" Raven rolled her eyes.
"Not everything is going to be connected." Raven reasoned.
"And until we can clearly eliminate certain things as irrelevant, lets pretend they are." the Doctor said. Raven was astonished at the Doctors ability to answer her back at a million miles per hour "Have you noticed the glow stones that light this place?" he turned to Raven again and pointed up "Remind you of anything?"
Raven looked up, saw the blue glowing moon. Understood what the Doctor was saying, that those stones came from the moon. Probably blasted off the surface by meteor impacts and later fell to this planet years later. When Raven didn't play along the Doctor began to verbally explain.
"The rocks must come from the moon, blasted off when..."
"Okay, I get it!" Raven said, not shouting but in a higher pitch to stop the Doctor talking.
"Well, your social skills are a lot to be desired" the Doctor said "But that explains why the moon glows blue, not red. It doesn't glow because of light reflected from its parent star. It curiously produces the glow itself." The Doctor was now rubbing his fingers over his knuckles as he thought, almost like a poker player hiding his cards.
"Right," the Doctor said "That's as far as I'm up to. Where do we go from here?" he wondered to himself.
Back to the TARDIS! Raven wanted to say, but she bit her tongue.
"Let's work out what we don't know." the Doctor said, drumming his fingers on the back of his head. His eyes wandering everywhere as his brain ticked over.
"Yes, lets." Raven said sarcastically.
"We don't know what's taking these people. We don't know why the people are being taken, we don't know what for, we don't know what criteria they possibly meet that others don't. We don't know how this odd well fits into all of this, if it indeed does. We don't know why the attacks happen when the moon is covered."
"We don't know why we should care" Raven said out loud, the Doctor ignored her.
"We need some information gathering" the Doctor said "I'm sorry Raven, but you're going to have to talk to some 'real' people."
Raven's face fell more than normal "No" she said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. She'd agreed to help the Doctor out, but this was crossing a line. She didn't 'do' people. She didn't 'do' crowds. She didn't 'do' socialising. She didn't 'do' adventuring. She didn't 'do' helping.
"I can't do it, they'll lock me back up again in two heart beats the moment they see me" the Doctor said.
"And I'm tempted to let them do it." Raven said giving the Doctor a look which still clearly and firmly said No.
"Your purple eyes means you look almost like them. The blue hue of the lights makes your grey skin look like a similar hue to theirs. The ears might be a problem." the Doctor commented.
"You're not doing anything to my ears!" Raven stepped back away from the Doctor, ready to cast him into another dimension if he laid a finger on her.
"Don't be silly, just keep your hood up, and your cloak closed, and you can pass for one of them." the Doctor insisted.
"And what are you going to do?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm going to find a glow stone to examine." the Doctor said, pulling out some kind of tube device. It looked kind of like a big spoon on the end with a red shaped bullet pointing ninety degrees to the handle. She'd seen him using it when he was working on the TARDIS console. It produced a high pitched noise Raven found highly irritating.
Raven sighed deeply, a raspy noise escaped showing her irritation. But then she had a thought. She quickly realised she could bargain for something here. If the Doctor wanted her to do this then he'd have to give her something in return and she knew exactly what she wanted. "Okay, I'll do it, but only under one condition." she said, "that you have the TARDIS move my room closer to the library, and I want the bathroom moving closer to me too."
"Done" the Doctor said and was already moving off.
"Wait" Raven called. The Doctor stopped, turned to look at her as Raven charged her powers. She formed black energy over the Doctors skin and blasted it out with such force that all the rotting vegetables he'd been pelted with came flying off him, including the juices that caused him to stink. He was now as clean as he was when he left the TARDIS and with no awful scent. She figured he'd suffered enough indignity of looking like he crawled out of a trash can.
"Thank you." the Doctor said. "This saves me a trip to the dry cleaners."
"I did it to save my nose. Not save you your dry cleaning" Raven said. Liar! A voice in her head said. Shut it! She commanded of it.
"Of course you did" the Doctor replied, showing he didn't buy it and walked off leaving her alone to learn how to socialise by herself.
I really, really, hate you, Doctor! She thought, and that she did mean.
Okay, here goes. Raven thought as she walked among the residence of this town. Dropping her cloak of perception spell. She looked around wondering where on Earth does she start seeking information about missing people? How does she go about talking to these people, at all?
In her stomach a small amount of anxiety bubbled up, but she forced it down. She guessed most normal humans would be concerned about giving offence to these people if she said the wrong thing. But since Raven wasn't invested in the Doctors game, nor was she concerned that those people could hurt her because of her powers, she just walked up to the nearest person and asked.
"You! What do you know about the missing villagers?" the reaction was exactly how she predicted. They hesitated and walked around her like she was a threat and looked at her as if she was nothing they'd ever seen before.
She sighed, Okay, you've read enough books. Where do people go when they need information? She asked. A pub? A bar? A restaurant? But what if these people didn't have their own equivalent of alcohol? What did they even eat?
She attempted to be more casual, so she walked up to someone else a few streets later and said "Interesting weather we're having tonight." but there must've been something wrong with her delivery because the creature stared at her before saying "It's horrid!" and it moved on.
She sighed again deeply to clear her irritation. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. Though she couldn't tell, her attempts to be 'friendly' with the locals actually did make her sound like some unnatural devil spawn. Which is what she was. But that image wasn't helping and she didn't know how to put on any other face to reassure them.
"Hey, are you lost?" and Raven turned around and looked down. It was a child, a child of these people. It was looking up at her curiously. Raven wanted to recoil. She still didn't like children.
"Ye..." she stumbled "Yes." she was on her guard in case this little monster tried to trick, or do something to her. Her powers were ready and she was focused on this creatures neck ready to inflict damage if it tried to attack her.
"You must be from the Northern settlements!" the child declared. "They look really funny." Raven didn't bother taking offence, it would be pointless. After all, to her they all looked funny.
Part of her told her to kneel down and bring herself down to the child's level. But she stopped herself as she moved to do it. If she knelt down she'd be exposing herself and relinquishing whatever sense of dominance she might have in this situation if this creature acted up. She never considered that giving up her dominant stance might be a good thing that would put the creature at ease.
"I..." she hesitated trying to choose her words wisely "Is this place safe for me?" she asked "I've heard stories of people going missing."
The kid looked sad "We're not supposed to talk about it."
"P..." she stopped, and she had to force the word out of her mouth "Please..." she decided to play down her dominant position a little though she still refused to kneel down. "I'm a small, lonely little girl and I need to know if I should stay here." She failed to notice the tone in her voice was very robotic, even for her, as she said this.
"Girl, what's a girl?" the creature asked, and Raven realised they might not even have genders on this planet. She wasn't interested, so she didn't ask.
"Is it safe for me in this village. Yes or no?" Raven was losing her patience, and the child looked scared, like it knew something but was too scared to say it. Or maybe it was scared of her. Raven tried kneeling down now, giving up her dominance over the situation altogether, but she'd already scared the child and Raven's attempts at a reassuring smile didn't help. Raven didn't realise her smile looked more creepy than her blank expression. The creature looked frightened and intimidated and was starting to retreat after Ravens smile faded to a frown and her eyes betrayed the anger she was feeling.
"I don't have time for this!" and before the creature could get out of her grasp Raven's right hand came out of her cloak, like a long, slender, bony claw and clamped down on the child's head firmly so it couldn't pull away and Raven dived into its mind. The things mind was simple and she found the information she wanted quickly, it was close to the surface, and Raven extracted everything she needed from it about missing people. She pulled out before the child knew what had happened, and as she removed her hand the child stumbled back having felt Raven rummage around inside its head.
Raven stood back up and said "Thank you" and the kid ran away in terror, screaming, and so it should. Run away, Raven thought here comes a monster.
"I really, really hate kids" Raven said aloud.
-----
Chapter 9
Pretending to be a Monster.
Raven repeated her brain drain on several other people in the town. They were totally uncooperative so this made things a million times easier and quicker. She made sure only to strike when they were out of sight or when they least expected it. This way she was able to quickly track down those who knew the missing people well and get any additional information from them. She kept doing this until she'd built up a coherent picture of the people who'd vanished.
From what she could tell they were all roughly the same age. Some had bad 'scale-rot' and a couple had an obsession with collecting stones but it wasn't anything that connected all of them. Except one thing, she just realised. They apparently knew each other and went to the same tutor to learn skills, this cultures version of a school in other words. There was also another that they all knew of from that 'class' but that person had gone missing many years previous and she decided it wasn't worth looking into.
After learning all she could she hovered away so she could find the Doctor. Again she projected a perception shield around her so people weren't freaked out by a blue ghost hovering around the place. She went into the forest tracking the Doctors distinctive aura and found him sitting over some rocks buzzing them with the tube thing of his. She landed and told him everything she'd learnt which wasn't much. She expected the Doctor to be disappointed, but he listened to it all as if it was all relevant to his investigations.
Half of her wished to dip into his mind to see how he saw things, his behaviour was so alien even to her.
"You found all that out pretty fast" the Doctor said, checking the pocket watch in his waistcoat. "I only left you fifteen minutes ago."
"I can be very persuasive when I want to be" Raven commented. She didn't mention how she actually got the information. She had a feeling the Doctor would not approve and she didn't want another lecture from him. But he still looked at her with suspicion as if he could read her mind. He couldn't, could he? She felt her mask slip as her eyes went a little wider at that thought showing concern, or fear. No, it was definitely concern. She corrected.
"Well, while you've been making friends..." Raven couldn't tell if that was a quip at her expense or not.
"You've been collecting stones" Raven said making it sound mundane and silly.
"Yes, and interestingly the rolling ones gather no moss." the Doctor said. Raven didn't know if that was witty or not, but it sounded like a silly and pointless comment to make.
"The glow stones have similar properties to the moon up there." the Doctor said pointing up. "It's entirely possible that's where it all came from. It seems to have a kind of phosphorescence, but the energy output is unlike anything humans would have seen on Earth. Its atomic structure according to my Sonic Screwdriver" he held up his tube device "indicates an Alkaline, Earth Metal silicate. 'Earth Metal' meaning a chemical group, not that its from Earth." He explained. "But it's crystalline structure indicates a kind of psionic resonance."
"You mean it reacts with brain waves?" Raven summed up. Why couldn't the Doctor explain things simply, in few words? But irritatingly he was doing that thing again which made him almost impossible to look away from once he got into his swing.
"In a manner of speaking." the Doctor held up a piece of glow rock. "I have a hypothesis. Hold out your hand." Raven did as instructed almost without thinking about it and the Doctor dumped the rock into her open hand. The glow slowly faded until it became a dull, gray rock. Then its surface turned black and it seemed to irradiate darkness.
"That's Fascinating." the Doctor said "It's reacting to your psychic potential."
Raven began to feel dizzy and sick to her stomach. She felt like something was munching at her. Trying to pull on her soul. She dropped the rock, it glowed white again and she came back to her senses.
"Psionic sickness from having your chakras pulled on." the Doctor summed up, "not pleasant. I could feel it tug at my own telepathic abilities."
"Did you know it would do that to me?!" Raven exclaimed a little louder than she wanted.
"I had a hunch" the Doctor said before noticing the tone in her voice. "Relax, you're fine. Don't get emotional over it." Raven really wanted to hit him for that remark.
"It's like the glow stones emit energy, but can absorb it through a number of different methods. From the vibrations of my Sonic Screwdriver, to the psychic potential of a moody teen." But the Doctor continued on before Raven could react to that. He had a habit of doing that. "But do you know what else is interesting?"
"What?" Raven couldn't help herself, she had to ask it.
"I analysed that deep well we were near, and its not made from stone, or at least the inside of it isn't. It's made from rock like this one. Therefore, it isn't a well. Or it was never intended to be one."
"The suspense is killing me" Raven said flatly.
"It's arrangement is more of a storage facility. Dozens of these glow stones arranged in a pattern to store an even larger amount of energy. Like some kind of a battery, or maybe as some kind of harnessing focus." the Doctors face turned dark as he realised something. "The well is dark" he said.
"It's a well, they usually are." Raven replied.
"No, I mean really, really dark." the Doctor said "I shone a light down it and despite it only being fifty feet deep I couldn't see the bottom. Therefore something is down there and the stones are draining away it's psychic potential."
The Doctor rattle all this off to her like some kind of murder mystery. Raven had to admit to herself that she was captivated by the way the Doctor used his voice to tell her all this, altering his voices' pitch and vocalisation, going down at grim realisations and higher at an exciting discovery. It was like his voice was able to push and pull your attention, grabbing it at the start, leading it along, and as he rattled on his voice would get lower and your brain had no choice but to wilfully follow it down to hear the conclusion. It was like watching a Shakespearean performer at a theatre work their magic. It was that command of his voice that kept her mind at attention despite her wanting to ignore it and focus on stuff more important to her.
The Doctor touched his tube device, his Sonic Screwdriver to his lips as he thought.
"Not enough information" he concluded "Not enough to come up with a definite answer to whats going on."
"The disappeared people?" Raven suggested. "Couldn't it just be something mundane?" she sighed. She tried to mimic the same trick the Doctor did, but upon hearing herself she could tell it didn't have nearly the same effect. In fact it sounded more like she was whining.
"Well..." the Doctor said waving his had dismissively "It's a possibility, but usually in my experience a mysterious dark well made out of a psychic absorbing stones, followed by several disappearances are rarely unconnected. Now assuming I'm right, and I usually am, I suspect the key may lie with that child who went missing years ago" he held up his hand to Raven as if he knew what she was about to say "Yes, it might be unconnected, it might be pointless to look deeper into it. But we won't know unless we look."
The Doctor began pacing, and Raven stood there watching him like a sister playing along with a little brothers play time, or that was the view she was telling herself.
"Why don't we just destroy the well and be done with this?" Raven said but the Doctor cut across her. "No! That's a terrible idea. We don't know what the well does, or what it contains. What it's even imprisoning, if it is imprisoning something or someone."
"Like I care." Raven said out loud trying to take control of her own head and dictate to it what to do, what to say and how to behave. It wasn't like her to pay attention to someone so strongly and she was determined for it not to be like her at all.
"Look" the Doctor sighed heavily as if she was grinding on his nerves. Good, she thought. "I don't believe for one moment you're as heartless as you pretend to be. You just think you have to be that way because you believe nobody can ever see you as anything else but a heartless monster. So you don't bother to try to be anything else. I can see it in your eyes, deep down there is a 'Raven' you're suppressing, the one who cares about beings other than herself, and that 'Raven' is desperate to get out, spread her wings, and fly."
Raven let those words hang in the air. "Finished?" she asked as if it all that meant nothing to her.
"There is good in you, Raven, that's why you resist your destiny instead of following it. But if you're not ready to break that cycle and let it flower. If you're not ready to be someone else then I suggest you go back to the TARDIS and continue pretending to be an un-redeemable monster."
"Yes, perhaps I will!" Raven said with more emotion than she intended. What she really wanted to say was I am an un-redeemable MONSTER! But didn't want her emotions to dictate and tell her what to do, despite that she refused to admit it was an emotional response that made just turn away from the Doctor and head back towards the safety of the TARDIS.
Silently flowing through the forest in the air to get back to the TARDIS the emotions inside Raven seethed and grew and a dark glow flowed around her.
Why was the Doctor so invested? Why was he interfering? By the look of it these people were content. Looking at the village they were happy as they were, so why couldn't the Doctor leave them alone? He was like an arrogant child poking or prodding an ants nest to see how the ants reacted. Sure a couple of people have gone missing but there will probably be some mundane explanation surrounding it all and the Doctor was just making a mountain out of an ant hill.
And pretend to be a monster? She isn't pretending. She is a monster! She could feel it in her core. She was cruel, she was nasty, she was unpleasant, she was twisted and creepy. She was a demons daughter and she didn't want to be anything else because she couldn't be anything else! She wanted people to cower at her shadow, to run and hide at her presence, to scatter at her foot falls, she wanted people to fear her so they would go away and leave her alone!
There was a loud crack as power escaped her, fired from the jewel in her forehead and it struck a nearby tree that, up until that point had been stable, and now as she watched, slowly and comically it began falling over and landed with a crash on the floor.
She took a very long and slow deep breath to clear her mind. This was all the Doctors fault!
"Help!" someone cried "Somebody, help!" the cry was ethereal, almost ghostly.
"I shouldn't interfere" Raven said to herself "I want to go back to the TARDIS" she said her thoughts aloud because she seemed to be ignoring her own internal monologue. And she was still ignoring her own monologue because she was floating in the direction of the voice.
She went through the forest towards a large lake of water. Mist seemed to hang in the air giving the place a creepy, yet mystical look to the place. Raven wasn't scared, though. She liked it, she almost felt at home.
"Please, help me!" came the cry again. "I'm drowning."
"I can hear you!" Raven cried out "Where are you?!"
"Can you hear me?!" the voice cried, there was something in the way that it echoed that Raven didn't like. She suddenly had the sense of being led along like bait into a trap. But what could they do against her? She was a powerful sorceress. Whatever trap they have laid she will easily get out of.
That was until some kind of black mass jumped out at her from the water and struck her in the stomach, bringing her to the forest floor.
As she composed herself, a black mass had dropped from the trees. A black mass that seemed to be forming into some kind of creature, bipedal, two arms, two legs, and a head. But the outline wasn't solid and looked almost like how a child might draw a person. Though it was totally black and eye-less Raven got the impression it was looking at her. Looking hungrily at her. It advanced towards her and Raven used her powers to project a dark energy wall between her and it.
And the thing stepped straight through it was if it was air! Ravens mouth fell open. Her force walls never failed! She tried to blast the thing away with stream of dark energy from her finger tips, but the thing stood there and looked like it was absorbing it all!
Raven stood up, grabbed rocks, stones, boulders and fallen trees from all around her with her powers and tossed them at the creature. But the creature either batted them aside or warped his entire form to avoid them.
That's when the creature attacked. It flung out its arms and Raven was caught square in the chest and she was flung back against a tree before rolling onto the floor again.
The creature melted into another black mass and flowed through the forest. It wrapped around her legs, crawled up her hips, over her arms and chest, and finally over her face. She tried every kind of defensive spell she could think of to get this thing off her, but everything she tried didn't seem to faze the creature.
She couldn't breathe! She tried to draw breath but it felt like this creature was trying to work its way into her lungs. She covered her mouth and pinched her nose to deny it entry to her body.
She tried to think, tried to find some way of getting this creature off her. But her lungs began to burn, they desperately wanted to breathe. She was panicking and getting emotional, her powers were flying out of her control, causing loud bangs as trees exploded in dark blasts, the water in the lake boiled, and a dust devil was stirred up. But none of it useful, none of it focused and none of it stopping the creature. In fact it seemed to like the chaos all the more.
Raven was helpless. She had to breathe, she had to take a breath! I'm going to die!
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Chapter 10
The Shayde
Raven's lungs burnt and things began to go black. The grip on her mouth and nose were weakening and she could feel the creature working its way between her fingers.
She felt a power building in the pit of her stomach. In her panic something was happening.
Suddenly the creature was gone! Raven impacted the ground, knocking whatever air was left in her lungs and she drank down the fresh air from around her. As she caught her breath she got up onto her hands and knees and saw she had moved. She had instantly and without thinking teleported herself a few feet away and up into the air.
The creature writhed as it struggled to figure out where its prey had gone, but it wasn't stupid, it quickly realised Raven was behind it.
Raven got to her feet and ran into the undergrowth, the creature chasing after her.
She leapt into the air and flew, or she did for a few seconds. As she gained height every now and then she'd suddenly drop a few feet. She couldn't focus, this was a life or death situation and the stress of it was making it hard to focus on her powers.
Eventually they stopped entirely and she dropped to the floor. She avoided serious damage by grabbing onto the branch of a tree that broke her fall. Raven landed on the ground and took off running as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't think, she focused all of her energies on fleeing the thing that she was certain was following her.
She leapt up and tried to fly again but the power wasn't coming. She tried to teleport again, but again for whatever reason the power wasn't working. After a while she came to a stop, panting for breath and tried to collect herself. She was certain she'd out ran the thing, so projected her mind out to find out where it was.
She could sense something! But it wasn't the creature. It was one of the villagers out in the forest gathering fruit and berries, by itself. Why it was by itself she didn't know. It must still be their waking hours, she reasoned.
But then she felt the creature, the black mass, and it was creeping towards the villager.
It's distracted. Run, run, now! Raven's mind commanded of itself, but she hesitated, she was conflicted. RUN, RUN! and in a split second Raven did, but towards the villager. As soon as she could see the pale creature she shouted out to it.
"RUN, RUN, SOMETHING'S COMING!" the villager looked at her, but couldn't react in time. The dark creature rose up and swallowed the villager within itself. Raven wanted to help, but she was rooted to the spot because she felt the villagers life force slowly fading in distress, and terror. It faded, faded, faded. Gone.
Raven had never felt anything like that before. She felt cold.
Immediately the creature stepped off the villager and the pale person crumpled to the floor, totally drained of any kind of life. Just a dead husk.
Now the creature came for her again, and Raven turned and ran again as this thing followed her.
Stupid girl, her mind told her. As she ran she kept jumping into the air trying to focus. Fly! Come on, fly! FLY!
Suddenly her legs snapped together as the creature caught up and it warped one of its tentacle like appendages around her legs. It stood over her, in a humanoid form, but its arms split into multiple, wriggling masses like something out of a nightmare. It began to descend upon her, melting into a liquid mass and began to rise up over her body again.
In desperation Raven managed to gain enough focus to draw all kinds of things towards her and fling at the creature. Rocks, stones, sticks, fruit but the more it rose up over her the weaker she could feel her powers becoming as it began to drain her. It was coming up her chest and suddenly she called a stick to her hand to beat at the creature but before a blow could be made the creature writhed as if in agony and pulled itself off and it quickly slithered back into the forest.
Heart pounding Raven sat up, covered in some kind of sticky goo that dripped from her. It shone like oil does on water.
She wondered what had just happened as she stood up and a light caught her attention. It was on the end of the stick she had in her hand, it was a Glow Stone. Raven reached up and touched it, and it instantly turned black. Then from the forest she heard the creature moving. She quickly removed her hand from the stone and it glowed again and the black mass retreated back into the bushes it had started slinking out of.
She could see it over the bushes watching her, waiting for its moment to strike.
Experimentally she held out the stick and pointed it at the creature. It retreated further.
So, it doesn't like the Glow Stone, Raven thought, and she sat down on a nearby rock gathering her strength. She was safe, for now, so she collected herself and her thoughts.
This stick in her hand was some kind of walking stick and must've belonged to that villager she saw get drained.
Yes, the villager. The villager was dead. She had felt death claim the soul of it. She had never really experienced death. Not like this. Screaming and shouting, fighting for survival as something slowly snuffed out your existence without hesitation. It had been so sudden for the poor creature and it made her feel... 'emotional' just thinking about it.
It's just death, she tried to reason, death is a natural part of life, stop getting worked up over it! You didn't even know the thing!
Raven breathed. She'd also never really been in any real danger before. The Monks of Azarath were never any real threat to her. They were pacifists. She was like a lioness with the Monks her tamers, she could easily turn on and destroy them all if she wished. Living a sheltered life in the temple and with no real enemies she'd always assumed she was pretty indestructible. Whatever the universe could throw at her she could deliver back, ten times over and then some. But the moment she was in real danger her focus faltered, her powers either faded or went haywire and she was left helpless. She might as well be a defenceless girl, she was useless now.
Though there was still a turmoil going on in her mind she eventually achieved focus, despite the fact there was a murderous shadowy mass at the edge of her perception desperate to get at her and murder her.
She tried to make herself rise into the air. But nothing happened. She leapt up and hoped to catch herself but she was dragged down to Terra Firma. Why weren't her powers working?!
Okay, I'll walk, she decided and reached out for the black void that was the TARDIS. She couldn't sense it. She couldn't sense anything at all! What was wrong with her? What happened?
You're frightened, you're emotional, a voice in her mind said. I am not! She said back. Liar.
This was all that stupid Doctors' fault, another voice in her mind told herself, if he hadn't walked out of the TARDIS and gotten tangled up in stuff that isn't his business we'd never be in this situation. But as much as it made her feel better to think this and as much as she'd like to blame the Doctor for this, it was her own fault.
If you'd not been so caring about people you don't know you would've floated past that voice, or left the village creature to be bait, and we'd never be in this situation, her mind told herself. No, that wasn't it. It was true though, but she denied it. Why? She didn't know. She just didn't want that to be the conclusion for some reason. As her mind settled the truth of the matter hit her. I... I... I was defeated by my own hubris? Her mind concluded and questioned. Yeah, that was it. She'd assumed nothing could harm her, so she'd walked into the jaws of death expecting to walk back out again, and death had snapped its jaws shut and tried to swallow her.
Raven felt normal again, minus her powers. So she began to think out loud to help her concentrate "Okay, the TARDIS is out, unless I stumble upon it somehow. I should make it back to the village and look for the Doctor. If I can find him again."
She set off carrying her Glow Stone stick as protection. She could sense the creature around her, still hunting her, but the Glow Stone made it keep its distance. Why it didn't like the Glow Stone Raven didn't know.
As she walked she realised she was covered from the chest down in some kind of sticky goo. It wasn't foul smelling, it just made her feel icky. Raven hoped this civilisation had invented the shower and she hoped they didn't have any kind of monetary system because she didn't have a single penny.
As Raven walked through the forest she began to realise how unfit she really was. She'd never needed to run or have regular exercise on Azarath. She spent most of her days meditating to control her powers. The only reason she was so slim is because she needed to eat very little to maintain herself. Why would she need to be physical when her powers did everything for her?
Maybe it wouldn't hurt to build up some stamina, she reasoned. So I don't have to rely on my powers all the time.
She held up her free hand and tried to focus and conjure a ball of dark energy. A dark energy ball appeared, but it kept flickering like a flame trying to grip to life, winking in and out of existence. Effectively it was useless.
She saw a glow in the distance and decided to follow it, hoping it would lead her back to the village. Indeed it did, and the creature stopped following her. But she was aware she couldn't cast her cloak of perception over herself. She was fully visible to the entire village and she was quickly realising the reception to her had changed. The people looked at her as if she was unwelcome, and without her powers she felt more vulnerable than usual. She pulled her hood up in an attempt to hide herself.
It could be the oily like black liquid that was staining her cloak but she got the vibe from the people that they saw her as a threat. She got a bad feeling she was about to pay for something she'd done earlier.
Raven rounded a corner and saw a crying child in the distance, holding hands with a bigger version of itself. It pointed at Raven and shouted at her. Raven's face went paler than usual as she realised that was the kid she'd used her powers on to extract information.
"Oh no" Raven mouthed as the bigger creature came towards her.
Raven took small steps back. If she'd had her powers she would've stood still and not felt threatened. But as she was now, helpless, she was... concerned for her own safety. She used the word concerned because she didn't want to use the word 'scared'.
"You! You hurt my child!" the creature shouted at her.
"S-sorry" was all Raven could say to calm the creature, but it looked like 'sorry' wasn't going to be enough for it. Behind it there were others starting to gather and Raven took another step back getting ready to retreat.
"I bet it's all her" someone shouted "I bet she's the reason people are going missing." the mob nodded in agreement.
"She's a demon!" cried another "A monster" said another "Kill it!"
Time to run, and Raven span on her heel and took off as fast as her own legs could carry her. Her heart pounding, trying to supply her muscles with oxygen and power to carry her away from danger, but her body couldn't run forever. These creatures were probably hard workers and maybe hunters, she wasn't going to be able to outrun them. She was in dead trouble.
Raven rounded a corner and into an alley. She felt something grab her hood and pull her back, through a door that slammed shut in front of her. Her assailant clamped a hand over her mouth and held her tightly to itself. She closed her eyes to prepare herself to feel the villagers beating her. But not a single blow came, and the sound of the mob seemed to be fading into the distance as it ran past the door, not through it.
The hand was removed from her face. "Making more friends, are we?" said a familiar voice. She spun around. It was the Doctor! Angry she thumped him on the arm, it wasn't hard and the Doctor barely felt it.
"Hey, what was that for?" he complained. But Raven just stared at him with eyes that showed irritation at him. In reality she was pleased to see him but she didn't want to express it in her body language because the sheer smugness would be unbearable.
-----
To Be Continued...
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Comments: 1
hey are still going to make Mario and Luigi the mask season 3
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