I am the Doctor!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of the Dr Who universe, they are the sole property of their creator and as such I make no money from this or any other story that I write for this site.
Summary: A young boy is about to be tested as he stands before the time vortex.
A/N: Just a small story from the beginning of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. I have always thought about what it would have been like for the small Gallifreyan boy and his thoughts and desires and what they might have been as he stood before the time vortex that was to change his life and that of Gallifrey forever.
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The sky was a colour of burnt orange overhead, a deep almost reddish orange that was both foreboding and yet at the same time comforting as the long line of young boys made their way towards the citadel enclosed within the mighty glass dome under the might of their planets' twin suns.
One of the smallest boys at the back of the long line stumbled over something in the long red grass as he followed the others with whom he had trained for so long. He was small for his age, small and slender unlike the others of his group, his peers who unlike this boy was more bulky but despite his size the smaller boy seemed to radiate a power that the others did not process and it was for this reason and this reason alone that he had been amongst those chosen today, to look into the vortex of time.
Not all those born of Gallifrey was chosen to look into the vortex, for many the power within it was too much for their minds and indeed many of those who were chosen did not survive the test, their minds forever destroyed by the immense power that time itself was.
The boy had been passed over before for selection into this select group a number of times, it had been thought because of his size and his perchance to daydream that his mind would not be strong enough but on one of his endless wanderings when he was able to escape his tutors and the stern attitude of his father who himself was a time lord the boy had wandered into an almost forgotten building within the dome, it housed many former sentient matrix's of time machines, that no longer answered the call of those who would command them and it was one of these almost forgotten matrix's that had called out to the boy and he had answered it call.
The still living sentient matrix was the Tardis, a machine that had for many a generation travelled the time streams and had done a great many things before being considered too damaged or too far gone to be controlled and had this been consigned to oblivion to die the way of all sentient minds, to fade from existence and be no more.
It was still morning on Gallifrey as the boys made their way to where the portal for the time vortex stood and the boy looked around at the land surrounding them and it, the second sun was still rising in the south causing the silver leaves on the trees to shimmer and shine as though they were a living flame that crossed the plains and red slopes of the never ending mountains and the boy wondered if he would remember the scene in front of him if his mind did not survive the testing.
A small part of the boys mind quailed at the thought of being nothing more than a mindless zombie not able to remember this scene let alone his own name or his family and another thought crossed his mind as he thought of the disappointment that he knew would be in his father's mind, the disappointment and shame that his youngest son was such a failure.
It was not long before it was his turn and he stepped forward as the others had done and prayed that he would not end up a mindless simpleton like a few ahead of him he could see being herded away by guardians that had accompanied them and the two stern time lords that stood to one side watching those that were about to become either time lords or simpletons.
As he turned his eyes towards the pulsing light that seemed to fade as it flowed through the cold vortex of space within the time stream, he felt his mind being pulled as though apart and he felt, he was unsure what he felt but to the small part of his mind that seemed to be able to escape the strong pull of the vortex as though all time around him was standing still and he was oblivious to all and everything as his mind was consumed.
The keepers continued to watch impassively as the boy stood before the power of the vortex and it seemed as though his mind was being destroyed, another child not strong enough or good enough to be one of them but then the boy stepped back from the vortex and turned his eyes towards them, eyes that were glowing instead of being dull and lifeless like those who minds had broken and muttered the immortal words that was to forever change his life and that of all of Gallifrey.
"I am the Doctor!"