Prologue

The dark moons of Kryseri flickered in the bright blue eyes of Nine as he watched the nearby stars implode. Despite it all, the fresh scent of blood as it cheerfully danced on the breeze, and the Dencai trees wilting their blackened-red leaves, he found himself facing the side of his melancholia. He thought about it, the event that used to put him into such an ecstatic fit that it was only until he licked his hands clean of the intestinal fluid and brain matter that his solemn self would return again. Yet it had been years, decades even, since he had truly gotten off on their hunting. Now it seemed to bore him to sadness.

He heard a rustle in the bushes below the platform as he sat dangling his feet off the edge, and he sighed, bringing his hand up to massage his tired face. Before he could even turn to the leading staircase, Ten playfully leapt past the last few steps, and slid over on his knees to him, outstretching his arms in a grand motion.

"Hullo, brother!" He paused for effect, and smiled widely. "Isn't it a beautifully horrid day?"

Nine mustered an unimpressed nod, and turned his eyes back to the dying stars, "Yes, very atrocious."

The smile faded as he crawled over to him, shoving his legs off the edge and drifting his eyes to him, holding a sympathetic gaze. "What's wrong, then?"

There is a brief moment of silence, and both started to share the quiet mood of sadness. The planet around them was caught in a push-and-pull anomaly that threatened to tear it apart, but as it was uninhabited, and the world belonged to the three brothers and orphans of Gallifrey, it was always plagued by that silent misery, if one only stopped to hear the stars cry out.

"So where is he?" asked Nine wearily.

"W-Who?" uttered Ten quickly, now purposely staring at the sky, pretending to pay such attention, when all he was doing was counting the moons.

He got to about eighteen when he finally glanced at his brother, he nervously smiled at the knowing look. "He fell into a tar pit again, didn't he?"

Like a guilty child, Ten pressed his mouth together and he forced innocent puppy-eyes, "No." He murmured.

"Then you pushed him in this time."

With a sigh, Nine stood up and marched toward the descent of stairs, and Ten quickly staggered up after him. "Oh, like it's that big 'a deal. I made sure he had a rope to hang on to before I left."

Each stomping step and he shook his head, "And how long did it take you to find me, brother? I know you knew I'd know about it if you came around here, so how long did you stall?"

"Like he doesn't deserve it." He muttered, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets.

"Which tar pit?"

Ten shrugged, "I thought you knew everything."

"I do. I know by the onyx splotch on your sleeve that it's the Westward tar pit by the acid geysers." He turned his head and gave him a stern look. "I was just hoping you would have the decency to tell me yourself."

The pair of boots treaded through the small slope that bore grass with the colors of violet and olive bled into its blades, and the bellowing roar of the sky turned their eyes to catch a glimpse of the Yuuar star release its red lightning upon its sister, Yuuir.

"That's you both, you know." said Nine loudly, and the ground lightly shook as fragments of Yuuir crumpled away. "You know what would happen if Yuuar killed its sister?"

"Not this lecture again." grumbled Ten, and he hung his head, watching his shoes kick up clumps of dirt.

"A dying star is the birth of a black hole, and all of us can feel in our bones how this planet hangs on the skin of stability. If Yuuir is destroyed that would devastate everything around us."

"I know, brother. I'm just as intelligent as you."

Immediately, he stopped and turned to Ten, and a wide smile spread across his face as a hearty laugh escaped his mouth. "Oh really?" He thrust his hand up towards the pair of stars. "Well, one day one of you is going to break hell upon this place and it'll kill us all. And for what?" He clutched Ten's collar and pulled him close to look him in the eye. "He may be a pestering little brat. But don't worry." With a quick shove, he turned back around and continued walking. "You both are equally irritating."

His bottom lip lightly quivered, yet he pressed it still as he somewhat pouted, "You never yell at him!" He shouted defiantly.

Again, he stopped and turned around with an expression of bewilderment, "I'm about to right now for provoking you." He motioned his arm forward. "I assume you want to see that."

"A little bit." murmured Ten quickly, and he shuffled after his older brother. "Carry on, then."

They continued walking in the light of the exploding sky, through the black-barked forest, and down past the amber-colored river that flooded over the soggy shores around it. It was all how Nine preferred to travel across his land. On foot. Staring at each thing, and always ignoring the quiet boredom of the brother that at least had the sliver of decency to follow at his pace. It was true, if they wanted they could run across the whole planet before their prey could release a scream of terror, but he considered himself old fashion. He liked walking, and this time Ten didn't pay it any mind. They both knew their younger brother was off in some peril that he had mouthed himself into and who were they to show up too quickly and save him? He would never learn his lesson if they did. Though he never did regardless.

Soon they reached the slight tilt of the ground that led them upwards, and when they reached the top of the hill, they looked down at the dip of earth, like a barren ocean, that seemed to have swallowed a haven of sickly trees. Each tree was bone-white and about as thick as a thumb, and not one had any sort of branch or twig growing out of it. There were cavities in the ground all around them, each hissing violently from the oncoming acid they were about to spew.

Their shoes crunched into the brittle, yellow grass that had grown resistant to the chaos that plagued the area, and the blue eyes of Nine scanned intuitively around the low walls that surrounded the starved sea.

"Which tar pit?" His brows furrowed as he tried to focus his hearing past the heightening growls of the geysers and the high pitch scream that quickly followed their build-up. "Brother, this is only amusing when it's late in the day. I'm already in a foul moo-"

"Wait." uttered Ten, glancing around, confused. "He was in Jaika."

Furiously, Nine darted his head to him, "Jaika? That chasm is one of the deepest in this area." He slowly turned his head back and looked to the place where the tar pit rested, and saw only a vine dangling inside of the blackened ooze. "If you've killed him-"

He immediately shook his head, "No. He was only down by the waist, there's no way he couldn't have gotten out."

The ground under their feet quickly became slick from the excess of tar that had leapt out from the pit, and Nine looked to his brother with a stern, questioning expression. It almost appeared smooth as glass, with only a few bubbles brewing through the thick schlup, and the tethered vine that was kept firmly pulled inside of its mouth. Neither of them believed that it was their younger brother who remained clinging to it, so as Ten walked over to the stump that held the tangled beast, he retrieved a knife from his pocket and began scraping it against the vine. Nine stared down at the pool, looking for sign of any sort of struggle amidst the abysmal gunk, and something caught his eye. It wasn't the faintest appearance of a struggle. There was an average sized bubble that clung to the side of the pit's rim, and it seemed to slowly grow larger and then, just as slowly, shrink. He tilted his head curiously at it, and as the vine snapped, it sluggishly slithered as the pull of the tar dragged it inside.

"I'm assuming he got out somehow." muttered Ten, and he glanced all around the pit and shrugged. "Knowing him, he's probably off at the platform, sitting there waiting for us."

Quietly, Nine knelt beside the rim and his arm dangled over the bubble as it continued to grow and shrink. "Just for that? Why would he go through the trouble of making you push him in if he was just going to race back to where we were? No, he's far too bored for that old trick."

He sighed and folded his arms, "Well, what else are you suggesting?"

As Ten glanced to his brother, he was surprised to find a small smile on his face as his fingers gently teased the thin layer of tar that kept the bubble intact. "Remember that old tale they used to tell us in school, as sort of a warning to those unstable blokes?"

Ten squinted as he remembered, then nodded. "Something about what someone did in a foreign place, with only a gun as something familiar."

His fingers clawed around it and prodded it a tad more roughly, "The exact story was of a man who was banished and despised by his own people. They cursed him and threw him on a different planet, galaxies away. It was so primitive that he conquered it quickly. The only thing that could hurt him was a gun his people tied to his thigh upon his banishment. There were no violent beasts that posed any threat. No natives that wished to overthrow him. Basically, he was lord and master of his own planet and it all came so easily to him." His blue eyes glanced up to meet the dark brown of his brother. "However, he was not that type of man. And after centuries of ruling over his dull little rock, the gun started looking very nice."

"What, did he kill himself?" He asked, slightly shaking his head from disbelief.

Another strange brought-on smile, "Kill himself? No. He just wanted danger." Nine looked back down to the bubble and saw that it was no longer shrinking. "He wanted to push himself to the very edge of what he was cursed with. He wanted to wrestle with Death. The madman wanted to kill It. So he went off and killed every single creature on his planet, from the Gorganui beast to the peaceful Kiio people of which he ruled, until he was left all alone. Then he took the gun and he pressed it against his shoulder." Slowly, Nine's right arm began to drift towards the pool as his left tightened its grip around the bubble, and in the corner of his eye he saw his brother frantically rush to stop him. "And he pulled the trigger."

With just the coupling of a gentle squeeze and a forceful thrust, Nine effortlessly threw the tar-covered body out of the pit. It lifelessly crumpled onto the ground as Ten raced to its side and began wiping the suffocating gook from its face. And another strange smile came upon Nine as he heard his brother groan disgustedly.

"It's not him." He grumbled. "It's just a corpse from a previous hunting."

Nine stood up and flicked the tar from his hands, "Of course it's not him, brother. He's stupid, but you honestly think he would risk ruining his clothes for a prank?"

Slowly, Ten turned to him and he groaned in disbelief, "You're not..-" and as the wide smile continued to grow, he marched up to him and pointed an accusing finger up at his face. But before he could even yell at him, a figure leapt from the tar pit and tackled him to the ground.

"HULLOOO, BRO'THUR!"

The eldest and youngest both laughed as they watched their middle try to force the tar-covered 'monster' off of himself, yet it was too late, he was already covered in the seeping gunk.

"GET OFF ME!" He shouted, flailing his arms up at the head, slapping off handfuls of tar until the childish, smiling face became visible.

"He's right though!" Eleven shouted back. "I wouldn't risk ruinin' my clothes!"

Immediately, their struggling stopped and he stared up at the grinning face with an even more disgusted, "You didn't." expression. His eyes rolled back to look at Nine, and when he saw that his older brother was covering his face with his hand, and still chuckling, he grimaced and began struggling more frantically.

"The more you fight me, the more tar gets knocked off." said Eleven cheerfully, and he looked up at Nine. "How are you feelin' today, brother? Still sad?"

He shook his head, still smiling as Ten shoved his elbow in the youngest's stomach and he threw him off. "It's sort of a win-win for me, little one."

Ten staggered up to his feet and turned around in a huff, running his foot into Eleven's gut and repeatedly kicking as he lay immobile on the ground.

"You're getting it all over your shoes." Nine said quietly.

His angered petered out, and he stood a bit awkwardly, watching Eleven as he gripped his stomach and groaned. As he tried to muster one final laugh, he was quickly met with one final kick, and Ten whirled around and marched towards Nine, who flinched back, surprisingly a bit terrified.

He raised his arms in protest, yet more so to defend his face if Ten went off punching, "Hey, he asked me to do it!"

"Way to defend your brother!" gasped Eleven as he finally caught some sort of breath and the pain began to subside, albeit, sore just as painfully. "And here I was, about to share my greatest idea ever." He weakly staggered on his feet and began wiping the tar from his skin until he stood entirely clean from it, standing with his hands on his bare hips as he stared proudly up at the sky. "Then again, I might have internal bleeding, so who knows how long I'll be alive."

Ten scoffed at his fake, grim tone and he gritted his teeth, scrubbing dabs of acid into his stained coat. "You better hope it won't be long. Put some clothes on!"

He turned to Ten and showed him all his glory, "Why? Am I gettin' you hot?"

Nine lightly chuckled, reaching behind a large rock and pulling out the pair of trousers, and he quickly tossed them to him, "Get your trousers on, and tell us your idea."

"Well, I found a new planet we can try." Eleven grinned as he fed each lanky leg through and pulled it around his waist. "It's got about six billion inhabitants and they're not at all bright. Barely made it to their own moon, and I think that's a sign, since they only have one." He smiled to himself. "You know what they say about planets that only have one moon."

"No, what?"

A quick loathing glare is exchanged between the two youngest, and immediately Nine leapt in between them and shot them each a calming smile. "So where is this planet, brother? Sounds nice."

"Nice?" Eleven scoffed, "If by 'nice', you mean 'nice place to pick up some fast food', then sure."

Only Ten noticed the faint wave of sadness that came over him, and with no more than a gentle pat to his shoulder, Nine quickly buried it away. "What's this planet called, then?"

The grin had him pause for whatever effect he thought would add, "Earth."

Immediately, Nine looked critically at Ten. "Did you feed him some of the acid again?" Yet he only shook his head, almost unsure if had this time or not.

"Oh come on!" He persisted, swooping around them and squeezing them all closely together. "It'll be fantastic! We all need a good hunt, up our spirits a bit!"

Nine sighed doubtfully, "I don't know."

"Neither do I."

With a forceful pat on each of their shoulders, he shoved them forward, "You both always say that before we have one, but during and after, we're always glad we did! You both have been so dull and miserable, I can't put up with it." As they tried to drift away from him, he clutched on the back of their collars and yanked them back. "It'll be fun. Trust me, let me plan it this time."

"Trust you?" scoffed Ten, swatting off his grip. "You're grossly immature and insufferably impossible."

He grinned, "And if you let me do this, I promise you'll get a taste of that as well." His eyes darted to Nine and he pushed out his bottom lip and pouted, making his eyes very big and very sad-looking.

Nine sighed. "Do whatever you want, brother." He dropped a heavy palm on his shoulder. "You can plan it this time."

Eleven thrust his arms in the air with a triumphant shout and excited words of planning and in the same moment, Yuuar roared out another burst of its red lightning, and a few more fragments of its sister scattered away through the sky. Only the blue eyes of Nine paid it any mind.