Chapter One

She looked up briefly, if not to compose herself, then to simply take in her surroundings. The sky was a brilliant but sinister red, and the air around her smelt of death and destruction. In the surrounding forests, huge fires burnt away whatever beauty had existed before. But none of that mattered to her. All that mattered was that the man, kneeling before her and begging for mercy would receive nothing of the sort, but would be killed by her hand.

"Please," his voice cracked with agony, and his eyes filled with tears once again. "I have done nothing wrong!" He lied, of course. It was his fault the war had even started; she knew it to be true, as did all the others that had fought with her, and in turn, died before her eyes.

"Enough," She said, and then without hesitation struck the man down with one swing of her sword. From behind her she heard a woman scream with sorrow; she had thought she was alone. This could mean something terrible, or that is how she saw it, at the very least. And very rarely was she wrong. The woman pushed by her and held the recently dead man in her arms, as though he were her entire world. The woman sobbed, and then turned to look at her with dark eyes.

"What have you done?" The woman cried out dramatically. "Sirah, what have you done?" Sirah looked back down at the woman; she had been walking away, sick of all this nonsense.

"How do you know my name?" She asked the woman, struggling to keep the fear from showing in her expression. The woman smirked, as though Sirah's fear gave her new strength and confidence.

"I know many things, Sirah. You have destroyed the wrong man here tonight, and so you will pay. I heard his last thoughts, as I do when those I love die, and I suffer. But you, demon warrior child, will suffer even more." She looked up to the sky and began to mumble, and Sirah felt her blood run cold.

"You cannot scare me, witch. I fear your magic not." She tried to stand her ground, but the overwhelming sense of fear she now had stole away whatever confidence remained. Her eyes widened as she watched the woman take a dagger from her skirt and stab herself in the stomach. She felt to the ground on top of the man, and began to die. Sirah doubled over in pain, and began to scream out. "What is this? What is happening?"

A sharp, burning sensation on the back of her hand attracted Sirah's attention. She watch on with horror as her skin began to scar itself, a single word forming in blood. She was too scared to even realise that the scarring would be permanent, or that more scars were slowly forming on her body. She stared at the single word until it finished forming itself, and then began to cry.

Justice, the word was.

Justice.

In what seemed like a whole other universe, which was actually just a different planet, a young, shortish girl with light brown hair was walking down the street from her work. The peak-hour traffic noises made it impossible for her to hear her iPod properly without deafening herself or making her ears bleed, so she gave up and shoved it back into her pocket with a sigh. Sometimes she wished she could escape the city in which she lived. Sure, it was a smaller city than the others, but not only was it noisy every time she had to walk somewhere, but it was also the most boring place she had ever been to in her life, and she was stuck there.

Yet even though she hated the fact that it was noisy, she didn't rush home. Naomi was never one to rush, simply because she was worried she'd miss something important. She had noticed things so many times before whilst walking slowly somewhere that had mattered later on in life. But there were of course some things that could escape even her notice. But if anyone were to ask her, she'd deny it. The thing is that no one asked her, or pointed out the things that she missed. So she didn't realise that she was being hunted by shadows her whole walk home.

Not until she went to unlock the front door and found that it was already opened. Bracing herself, she slowly edged the door open and called out, "Who's there?" She lived alone, so the door being open was very strange indeed. She didn't expect an answer, of course. A robber or murderer wouldn't call back to her. But a response it what she received anyway.

"I'm the Doctor. You're house is a war zone. Well, it's about to be. Did you know that it's full of shadows?" The source of the voice wasn't in view. Naomi closed the door behind her and edged towards the sound of the voice, which seemed to be coming from the kitchen.

"Well, shadows generally form when there's a light source. Do you need help with something? Mentally, perhaps?" She couldn't resist being sarcastic and cruel when the opportunity arose. It was her automatic defensive response to danger, a response she fine-tuned and developed throughout her horrible high-school years.

"Yes, ha, you're very funny," the 'Doctor' clearly wasn't amused. "But these shadows are out to kill you, and they survive without light. But I don't quite know what they are. Long story short-" There was a crash, and then Naomi peeked around the corner into the kitchen.

Standing in the middle of the room was a strange, gangly man in a brown suit. His hair was messy and he had a rather large chin. He turned to look at her and she noticed his bow-tie and suspenders, both of which were a distinctive blue. He didn't look very confident. In fact, he looked a little afraid. "What just happened?" Naomi asked severely. The 'Doctor' looked back over his shoulder, and then began to run, pulling Naomi along behind him by the arm.

"You need to come with me, and we need to get out of here, okay? I'll explain it all when we're safe!" He pulled her out the front door and then a little further down the road. He stopped short in front of a blue phone box, and then opened the door. "In," he demanded, and Naomi was too confused to come up with an excuse not to. She stepped inside, and looked around. The Doctor pushed passed her, closing the door behind her and walking over to what looked like the main controls in a panic.

"Bigger on the inside...Awesome," Naomi said in an attempt to hide her amazement. In reality, she was freaking out more that she had only five minutes earlier.

"Okay, I like you. Usually people are too shocked by it all to think." Naomi tried not to meet his gaze, but instead continued to try and be impressive. She didn't know why, but she felt a need to impress this mysterious man. "What's your name, miss 'I'm not scared by the TARDIS?'" The Doctor didn't pause to look at her; he seemed to be doing something important.

"I'm Naomi." The Doctor smiled, and Naomi wasn't sure what to make of it. "And you, you were the Doctor, right? Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor," he said with a smirk. "And you? Naomi who?" Naomi seized the opportunity to make a snide remark.

"Just Naomi." This remark made the Doctor pause, and he looked a little bewildered.

"Alright, 'just Naomi,' hold on tight!" He pulled one last lever on the controls, and the machine began to lurch and make strange noises.

"What is this thing?" Naomi yelled, holding onto a nearby railing for support as she was nearly thrown off her feet.

"Time and relative dimension in space, also known as TARDIS; she's a time machine! Well, and a space machine. She travels through time and space, as the name suggests. Isn't she beautiful?" He stroked the main part of the controls lovingly, and Naomi felt that it was a little strange.

"Shall I leave you two alone for a moment, then?" She yelled.

"That's quite enough from you!" The Doctor laughed and gathered himself together, acting like nothing had happened at all. He started to dart around again, and Naomi guessed that they would be landing soon. Wherever… and whenever that may be. But the Doctor looked concerned, and this made Naomi worried.

"What's up, Doc?" He didn't look at her, but was staring a small television screen with worry.

"Well, we were headed to another country, but it seems that we… we're being dragged by something. We're being forced into a different time and place. The land outside the TARDIS now is hostile. Something's not right here, and there are two options. Something wants our help… or something wants us dead. Most likely the second option; that's what usually happens when I'm around." Both the Doctor and Naomi fell forwards and the TARDIS was stopped in its tracks. Naomi began to stand but the Doctor stopped her. "Shh," he said, and they both waited on the ground. After a few moments there was a knock at the door.

"Doctor? Are you in there, Doctor? I need your help!" The Doctor scrambled to his feet, but was still cautious when opening the door. Naomi followed in and gasped in shock. The girl standing before them was covered in scars that looked like words, and she was in tears. "They're coming for me!"

"Who are?" The Doctor asked as the girl tried to enter.

"The Witches – they're coming. Please help me!"