Enthralled
The Doctor visits the ancient planet Helheim, the planet known for chronicling and documenting the entirety of the universe and its history in its libraries; home to the Skalds, the great prophets and scholars of the universe, and their slaves, the Thralls. Following an attack on his life, and joined by a young native to the old planet, the Doctor is thrown into the chaotic downfall of the most composed, most established of planets.
Part One
Prologue
Edda emerged from her chambers pale and taut-lipped, her eyes wide for she was disturbed by what she might see when she closed them. Her hands were tightly clutching fistfuls of her gown, for she had little else to do with them, and she believed they would expose her fear should she leave them free to fidget. Her entire being trembled meekly – yet she continued on briskly, determined. Her forearms and thighs felt cold, her stomach heavy with a cool dread. Edda did not stop for anyone, raising a stern hand to those who asked for her attention and she carried on to the Great Library, ardent to record what she had just witnessed: what had disturbed her sleep in such a manner as to reduce her to a quaking, feeble shell. What had she seen had been the future – the inescapable truth, a promise of what was to come. An oncoming storm would arrive within a week, at most, and would destroy everything.
But time, much like their historic documents, could be altered. Re-written. The future could always be changed, steered off course, commandeered and rectified. Edda, swallowed the bitter saliva in her mouth. She knew she had to change such a future. Nothing could be clearer to her. It was as if she had thrust her head into icy water. She was burdened with a purpose, a duty, an unavoidable obligation to her home and her people. It was her responsibility, as the highest skald.
The sky was grey in Helheim that day, like thinned smoke from a dying campfire, dull and unattractive; unremarkable in every way. Helheim was not commonly graced with charming weather, but the bleakness of the cloudy sky was exceptionally disappointing. The air was chilled, breezy; pinching any exposed skin it came across, as the people went about their business. It was a calm day, normative; nothing out of the ordinary. The irony of such normalcy on this day was truly quite cruel. Of course, it was not completely ordinary everywhere, for if that were the case then there would be no story to tell.
Edda was a tall, spindly creature, with little meat on her bones, and even less colour in her cheeks. She'd seen four-hundred-and-seventy-two springs, and had never joined another in matrimony, nor had she ever had offspring. It was a shared opinion amongst many of the other skalds that if anyone's heredities were to carry on, it should be hers. She was not particularly beautiful – her face was thin and her eyes sunken, but she had a striking look about her, a look which commanded your attention for it was one that reminded you of her power. What makes Edda worth mentioning is that she was gifted with a sense of predicting the future, and that she will play a vital role in the story.
She was a Skald. Creatures blessed with a wisdom challenging even that of the Time Lords. They were peaceful, meticulous people, devoted to chronicling the events of the Universe, piece by piece. They were humanoid, with ivory white skin, and eyes black at the scleras, and yellow at the iris. Their lives were dictated by that of what was happening everywhere else, and their sole purpose was to write and study it. What for? Anybody's guess. Skalds treasured knowledge over everything else, and they were known all over the universe for their documenting of the history of everything, of time itself even. But nobody really knew why; or perhaps that answer, once known, is now simply lost to us like so much else is about the quiet world of the Skalds and Thralls, the planet known as Helheim.
Helheim was a small planet, in a remote part of the universe. Not much is known about it, not much ever was. It was peaceful, quiet, almost silent, and its people did not stray from their duties. Everyone had a role to fulfil, a job to do, and they did it without fail. And that was that. It was the home to the Skalds, sometimes considered the wisest, fairest creatures of the universe, and to the Thralls. But I'll explain that a little later, for now, let us return to Edda.