Tears of Time
Episode 2
The Hellfires of Siberia - Part 2:
A dark spirit passed through the labyrinth under the Earth. Into the caverns blew a mighty wind, which stoked the fires underneath even further. These fires were not of the Earth, but rather, made by man.
Whether or not the fire's creator was human in Lyra's sense of the word was up for debate.
The group of tribesmen that found Lyra and The Doctor on the sand flats had ushered them into their shelter - an underground network of caves and rock. Fires danced erratically, and their lights flickered on cave walls. A glimmer of sunlight pierced through cracks in a nearby wall, the only indication of the cave's entrance, far in the distance. Lyra could still taste the acrid smoke from the volcano, which had not erupted fully yet. Only smoke came out, neither lava nor fire.
Lyra sat in a circle with the six tribesmen and The Doctor, each of them kneeling around a dying fire. The Doctor was previously in the middle of trying to convince the tribe to let him go back to the TARDIS to save them all, but the offer was refused, on the grounds of an "evil one" that would be released if The Doctor did so.
"So, Deyanna, how have you managed to hang on for so long here? Nothing grows here, there's no water, and from what I've seen so far, the heat should have killed all of you long ago." Deyanna, the leader and matriarch of the tribe kneeled opposite The Doctor around the embers. Beside her were three other women and two men - they made up the group of hunters that found the TARDIS not long ago.
"We have been blessed by the Earth itself… and just as it gives, it will take away…"
"What does that mean? Show me - how do you get the water? The food? The fuel for these fires?"
"We will only reveal our lives to those who we trust.. and you have proven to be untrustworthy, man from beyond… your curse fills our skies with fire..." Deyanna continued, stretching her sun-browned arm, draped in crimson silk towards The Doctor. She then moved her arm to the left, drawing the attention of the other members of the tribe - she was pointing directly at Lyra.
"But you… you have hardly spoken since your arrival… who are you?"
Lyra turned to The Doctor, raising her eyebrows in confusion, before turning back to face Deyanna. "I'm a friend of his, just passing by as well - my name's Lyra. Don't mind The Doctor, he can get quite irritable at times."
"I'm not irritable! I'm just right!"
"You certainly were not right when you got us into this mess."
"I wasn't that 'not right', Lyra!"
"Missing the mark by 500 million years seems far off to me!"
"Silence!" Deyanna roared, slamming her spear into the sandy floor below, which shook the few remaining flames in the central fire. "Tell us more about yourself, Lyra…"
"I'm not really that special, you know - back home, all I would do is invent things, and try to make people's lives a little better."
"Invent?" Deyanna continued, peering closer into the wood ash and embers of the fire. "Are you saying that you could create things to help others survive?"
"If that's how you would like to put it, then certainly."
Deyanna slammed her spear into the ground two more times, and raised her arms around her tribe. "Then, it is decided!"
"I'm sorry? What has been decided?" The Doctor asked.
"A creator… one who harbors the same kindred spirits as the Hellfires above… your spirit is required this hour!" Deyanna thrust forth her hands toward the fire, and Lyra could see "Andraea, you will go with me to the Hollow, alongside the primitive! All of the others, you will remain here with this 'Doctor'!" Deyanna cried out, accompanied by the rhythmic pounding of spears around her, the sound crescendoing to a deafening thunder. All six of the men and women in robes stood, and raised their spears. Once more, the group surrounded Lyra and The Doctor - but this time, Deyanna and the other woman, Andraea, prodded at Lyra's side until she was separated from The Doctor. He, on the other hand, was left in the company of the other four tribesmen.
"Hollow? What Hollow? Tell me what you're doing with Lyra, and I guarantee that I will be able to help you!" The Doctor shouted over the clicking of spears and shouts of the tribesmen.
Deyanna moved her spearpoint away from Lyra, and hissed coldly at The Doctor, "You have brought hellfire on our people! We dare not risk a second curse from above!"
"You keep throwing that word around, cursed. Who is doling out those punishments for the curse, anyways?"
"Hellfires, Doctor! Your arrival, your vessel prompted the Earth to shake, fire to burn from high mountains, and ash and smoke to overrun our world!"
"Oh, you mean the volcanoes out there? I can help you with that! Just let me get my box, and I'll get you out of this hellish place! From the look of it, there's no food, water, or anything that allows you to hold on in the first place!"
"That is the blessing of the Hellfires… Lyra, you will see it with your own eyes, in the Hollow…" With that said, Deyanna returned to Lyra's side, and whisked her off into the caverns with Andraea, paying no attention to The Doctor's pleading.
Deyanna, Andraea and Lyra were deep in the shadows. "Perhaps this is what they're so afraid of, nothing more than the dark." Lyra wondered, before realizing that the active threat of an erupting volcano would most likely outweigh any fear of the dark. She kept all of her thoughts to herself, refusing to speak unless spoken to - even though the prospect of the Hollow greatly intrigued her. They went left and right, left and right, guided only by the dying lights of torches behind them.
At last, the three women came to a stone wall, flakes peeled away from it by the passage of time. At the center of it lay a stone door, unlike any door Lyra had ever seen before. Deep down, she knew that it was a door, but there appeared to be no way to open it. No handle, no hinges - almost as if the door was cut out of the rock and placed back in. Lyra found herself moving towards it in curiosity, but was wordlessly stopped by Andraea and Deyanna. The two women in robes stepped away from her sides, and gracefully stepped towards the door, stopping in front of two impressions in the ground, covered in the ubiquitous sand that blew in from the scorched plains. The two women then took their spears, and thrusted them shaft-side down into the impressions, one on each side of Lyra, as she watched perplexedly.
Just then, a powerful noise rumbled through the darkness: the door in front of the three was ever so slowly shifting away, revealing an empty space inside. Soon enough, the door had rolled back into the cavern, letting traces of firelight pass through the gap. After remaining silent for far too long, in Lyra's opinion, Deyanna spoke: "Enter the Hollow, young Lyra, and observe our plight with fresh eyes…"
Although she desperately wanted to resist, to possibly further the argument that it was really The Doctor, not her, who should help them, Lyra remained silent. She followed the two women into the opening, and the true nature of the tribe's survival was revealed to her. In front of her rested a crystalline lake, thousands of meters wide, shimmering with the aura of row after row of torches that lit up the walls. All around the lake, Lyra observed crates and barrels, many already broken into, but the majority left undisturbed. Furthermore, Lyra noticed that the lake was not continuous - mounds of earth produced a bridge that led directly to the center, where a set of pedestals rested.
For the first time since she was separated from The Doctor, Lyra spoke, much more cautiously than she usually did: "Is this the Hollow you referred to earlier?"
Andraea was the first to answer, speaking in a lighter tone than Deyanna used, "Yes. This is our sacred place, where the Earth itself blesses our people. It nourishes us, provides us with food trapped in wooden vessels. We retrieve the food first, and use the wood to give back to the Divine… there is much more to see, Lyra.." Andraea left Lyra's side, and grabbed the cracked remnants of one of the overturned wooden crates, while Deyanna grabbed a recently extinguished torch from the stone walls. Afterwards, the two beckoned for Lyra to join them - and move forward into the cavern.
Lyra felt the slightest of trembles pass through her body. The other two women, no longer preventing Lyra from moving with their spears, guided her up to the bridge over the lake. Lyra reluctantly followed the two, and although the lake seemed enormous, the time passed quickly for her. She found herself in the middle of the lake, on a near perfect circle of earth. Gentle waves crashed at her feet, quietly moving the earth while leaving the pedestals she observed earlier alone. In all, there were six pedestals - one large pedestal in the center, and five smaller pedestals that circled the central one. Each one appeared to be constructed out of the same stone that built up the walls of the tribe's shelter.
But what was most striking to Lyra was what each pedestal held. Each of the pedestals held a clay jar, ornately decorated with carved patterns and shapes. Lyra had no clue what any of the symbols she saw on the jars meant, but she noticed that like the pedestals, there were five smaller jars surrounding a larger jar in the middle. Atop each jar rested a plain clay lid, and these lids prompted Lyra to wonder what could possibly be inside each jar. Lyra peered over the central jar, and notice a hole that pierced through the top of the lid.
Deyanna ratcheted her words out again: "Lyra, you have entered the Hollow of Hollows - you are standing on the most revered ground of our people. This is where we humbly ask for your guidance… if you agree to our request, we will release you and your 'Doctor'..."
"That sounds perfectly nice, but what do you need my help with? Why don't you ask someone who knows what he's doing, like The Doctor?"
Deyanna continued, "Do you not remember the fires that stirred under the mountains upon his arrival? He foolishly attempted to lie, to cover himself from his actions… but you did not."
"So, you just think that I'm 'better' than him?"
"That is not all - remember, you yourself said that you invent, create, make people's lives better… we ask that you save us, a dying people… you are a gift from above…"
"Above? What does that mean?"
"We will demonstrate, Lyra, and show you our devotion for the fires that save us… observe our sacred ritual.." Deyanna reached for the lid of the central clay jar, before warning Lyra, "All we ask of you is that you do not blaspheme."
"How do I not blaspheme, exactly?"
"Do not look into the contents of the vessel once it is opened - none of us are permitted to do so!"
"What would happen if one of us did look inside?"
"No one is certain, because no one ever has looked… we avert our eyes as a sign of respect for the Hellfires."
"Respect? What do you-"
Lyra was cut off by Andraea: "You will be able to see the vessel, but you will not be allowed to look inside.."
At that moment, Deyanna lifted the lid of the clay jar, being careful to look across the lake, and not at the inside. Andraea held a handful of cracked wood she had salvaged from the crates earlier, and she dropped it inside. Immediately after, Deyanna grabbed the torch she brought with her, and thrust the lid on the jar. With both hands, she carefully gripped the torch, and moved it over the hole bored into the lid.
Within seconds, a hissing noise broke the silence of the three women - Lyra noticed a stream of pale yellow gas escaping from the hole in the lid, making direct contact with the torch. Blue sparks began to jump across the wood, and moments later, a brilliant orange flame blazed and crackled to life. The fire grew larger and larger, encompassing the torch, and the mysterious gas did not flow any more.
"How did you do that? That's incredible!" Lyra exclaimed, her voice lifting up her spirit.
"This is our respect for the Hellfires that dominate us. We revere and honor the fires that sustain us…"
"This is an act of… worship? Is the fire itself your God?"
"If that is how you see it, then yes - you see, our world is by nature, combustible… fire gives heat and light, yet it ravages all, leaving nothing in its wake. Is there no viewpoint that hellfire evokes other than reverence? And certainly here, with the parching fires of the sun and of the mountains, Hellfire shows itself to us, demanding us to declare it sacred!"
"What does any of this have to do with me inventing a way to save you people?"
"We once numbered in the thousands, our tribe… we were once a mighty people, with no regard for the powers of Hellfire. Eventually, the waters dried, the green seeds and beasts left us, and the mountains began to ignite. We turned away from our wickedness and revered the Hellfires, hoping that in their mercy, they would spare our people. Generations later, we are only six." Deyanna paused, seemingly attempting to grab onto an ever-changing past. "There were once many of us, including inventors and creators, such as yourself. Those people constructed the gate we stepped through not long ago, to guard the treasures we discovered here…"
"You discovered all of this? The lake and the crates and jars?"
"Yes.. in future years, we took the jars, and arranged them as they are now, as a sign of worship and dedication to the Hellfires. Now, our food supplies are dwindling just as our people, our waters have slowly been tainted, and the fires outside the caverns have increased greatly. We urge you to follow in the footsteps of our former creators and inventors, and use your spirit and ingenuity to bargain with the Hellfires, and save us…"
"...you want me to invent a way for you to stay alive?"
"No! It is much more significant than that! Our past creators reflected the very image of the Hellfires themselves. They were the mediators between heaven and Earth, and were our most sacred people."
"No, I think there's been a big misunderstanding here! I know how to invent. By that, I mean that I know how to create devices and products that help make life easier for others, not serve as your priest!" Lyra considered saying something about how all of the tribesmen were following the wrong God, but kept her mouth shut, out of fear of what they might do to her if she were to 'blaspheme' the Hellfires.
"You are our only chance at survival! Serve as our mediator, Lyra, and save us from destruction! Save us from the wrath of the Hellfires, and the curse that your associate has brought onto us!"
"I have two options here," Lyra thought, "I could either say yes and pretend like I know what I'm doing, and maybe get myself out of this mess, or say no and possibly be murdered. Who knows what those spears are actually for?" Lyra found that fear was a much more powerful motivator than glory amongst a small group of tribesmen.
"I'll do it. I'll try my hardest to save you." Lyra softly uttered. "But in order to do it, I'm going to have to do something you're not going to like..." Lyra had a plan. More realistically, about twenty percent of a plan. She knew the best course of action would be to contact The Doctor, but she knew from experience that she wouldn't be able to persuade the two women who watched her with rapt attention. So what else could she do?
She could signal The Doctor to come to her.
And there was only one way she believed she could do that.
Lyra, Andraea and Deyanna stood in a circle around the central pillar. Fear began to choke Lyra, snaking its way around her throat, yet she knew what she needed to do. Her arms trembled, cautious of what lay ahead of her. Then, she lifted the lid off of the central jar, and peered inside of it.
She only saw inside of it for a fraction of a second, but what Lyra saw sent a chill down her spine. In that single moment, she observed a bubbling, churning grey liquid that crept up the sides of the fragile clay jar. From the inside, she heard a staccato click-click-clicking noise that mixed with the bubbling and filled her with dread. Lyra blocked out everything around her to focus on the liquid - including the screams of the two robed women. Lyra could not discern which scream came from Andraea, and which from Deyanna.
That is, until Lyra jerked after hearing the screams, sending the jar shattering to the ground.
A tremendous splash echoed through the cave. No liquid reached Lyra or Andraea. But Deyanna…
Her screams rattled the stone walls, and her cries shook the torch fires around her.
Not screams of devotion or reverence.
Screams of torment.