Now that Cataclysm is coming closer, this is on post Wrath of the Lich King and will be kept up with what's happening in game.


Chapter One: Starting Out.

The first thing he had decided on was that these alien beings were regarded with suspicion, so if they knew he was alien too, they'd probably try to do something...not so nice. So, the first thing he did was make sure he used his human pseudonym, Doctor John Smith, so that they wouldn't know.

It didn't really matter. There were a few Draenei (the alien race, he had soon found out their species name) running around the camp. Some were cooking deer meat. Some were killing crabs. Another was sewing some clothing by a campfire by a human woman who seemed to be showing her what to do.

An odd thought struck the Doctor then. If the TARDIS refused to go, and hopefully all she needed was a bit of a break, then they'd be stuck living like this too. They'd have to make a living in a primitive world. They'd have to sew clothes, or smith, and they'd have to find their own food and cook it if they were going to be staying out here. Although there looked to be shopkeepers selling food around.

Which made it clear to him that they'd be cooking. None of them had any of the coin that these people used.

The Admiral had been nice to them, though he was wondering why they'd not known where they were. They had told him that they'd crashed a flying machine and hadn't been able to tell where. This was believed, which meant that these people could at least travel by air. That was good. Not as far behind as he had first feared, but still primitive, especially compared to his companions' time frame.

He had let Donna take over the talking from there, since she was the one that spoke the language, so to speak. He had tuned the conversation out, instead looking around the small camp the odd group of people had set up, and the boats bobbing on the water in which they had gotten there.

They were large boats, nicely built. He missed the TARDIS already.

He watched one of the crabs down by the shoreline scuttle about, before running back into the water and sighed, sitting down with a thud into the sand. Well, he was definitely not happy with situation, and he should make it clear to everyone else that that was the case...

Rose joined him in short order, and he grimaced at her. "Well, it could be worse, I suppose..." he stated, flicking a stick he found near him into the water.

"Yeah. Still, this could be fun."

He looked at her like she had gone crazy. "Fun? We have no idea how long we're stuck here. Anything could happen to the TARDIS while we're away from her with her defences down...she could be blown up! Guess I'm just worried..."

She leaned against him and patted his knee. "You've got to stop worrying over everything, especially when it comes to the TARDIS."

Sighing, he nodded. "Yeah, but I can't help it. She is all I have left of home, after all..."

They fell into a deep, but comfortable silence, one of those of which he used to fall into with Rose all the time, especially when he was working on fixing some part of the TARDIS and she wanted to keep him company. It was something he had missed, though he had done the same thing with Martha and to a lesser extent, with Donna.

And speaking of, Martha was now making her way down towards them, waving at them from the camp and jogging her way down. "Donna says that there's a Draenei encampment, part of a broken ship, further to the east, that might be able to help us get started here. You know, doing jobs for money, that sort of thing. She also mentioned those classes again. We'll probably have to pick one each. Like that's going to be easy."

It sounded like Martha had paid about as much attention to the conversation between Donna and the Admiral as he and Rose had. He grinned. "Well, allons-y! Might as well get started now. I think that the TARDIS will be alright where she is for a bit. And we can come back and see if she's working later. I think she just needs to repair a few things herself. Shouldn't take more than a few days."

Martha and Rose nodded, and together they walked back up to the human camp, making sure to thank those around them for the help, before walking back up to the first Draenei hamlet. They took the road heading east, and marched through a river, thankfully at a place where it wasn't very deep at all. After a few more minutes, in which a hill was climbed and they went past a few more giant crystals, they came across what they had been told about. Scattered around the area was the remnants of part of a crashed ship. There were still injured people scattered about the place, moaning in pain. Some were lying still on the grass, dead.

The Doctor shivered, dreading having to go through with this. Still, the more people he could help here the better. Martha looked like she was ready to get down and pick up one of the big males with her own hands, though he was twice her height and about three or four times her weight.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "Leave him Martha, we're not strong enough to move him, and we may injure him even more in the moving. Leave him to his own people. They'll have a better chance of helping." The large, slightly grey by nature, male was unconscious and hadn't heard, but he was definitely still breathing.

It was hard for him to see things like this. Now more than ever. He was very much in tune with how it feels to have everything crumble under your feet and everyone around you injured or dying. Or, in his case, dead.

Rose grabbed his hand and squeezed it, more for comfort than giving comfort, if the look on her face was anything to go by. He squeezed back.

Martha nodded and sighed. "We can't do anything to help, can we?"

He shook his head. "No. Not right now, anyway. Maybe after a while and a little crash course on their species, we'd be able to help, but right now, no."

They continued up to where there were quite a few Draenei present, and made for the inside part of the ship. What they found there wasn't in as much disarray. They had an area to one side completely appointed to looking after the injured and dying, and shops set up with armour and weapons, needed for life on the primitive side.

It was clear to the Doctor right now, watching as the Draenei looking after the injured went about his duties with compassion and worry, that this race, though they might look fierce on first look, were a peace loving people.

Donna, deciding she would be spokesperson for their little group since she knew the most of the world, walked up to one of the shopkeepers, a female selling cloth and leather armour, premade, and smiled at her. The Doctor in that moment felt himself swell with pride. She had changed a lot to the woman she had been when they had first met.

"Hi! I was wondering...can you help us? We crashed too, you see, and there are just 4 of us, and we have no idea what we're doing..."

The woman looked at them and smiled. "It is unfortunate that you, too, have crashed upon this world. Proenitus may be able to get you started. He is just outside. Some of our young are just starting out here, too. See, out there."

She pointed outside where two male Draenei, one larger than the other, were standing talking to each other.

Donna smiled back at her, nodded her head and waved them on. "Thanks."

The Doctor couldn't stop grinning at Donna. But she was getting them around, which was good enough for him right now. He was uncertain of how well he'd take up arms again, after the disaster that was the Time War.

Proenitus and the young male turned to look at them as they made the short walk outside to where they stood.

"Hmm, not in armour. Have you come from one of the cities? We are not ones for doing business here. You'd have to go to the ruins of the Exodar for that," Proenitus stated in greeting and, putting a hand on Donna's shoulder just in case, the Doctor took the lead.

"Hello. And no, we aren't in armour. We crashed here, too. Not far away from the little village your people are building near the river. We don't know where we are or how to start, but it may be a while before we can leave again, and we have no way of living here. We need to learn the way of the land, so to speak. We were told you were the man to see to start us off."

A smile lit up the young Draenei's face and he held out his hand. "Greetings! I am starting here too. I not long come of age to train past that of a child. I am Khaetis, I have been told I have the soul of a paladin. A warrior of the light. I am now starting that road of training. Perhaps we can travel the journey together? It would be good to not do this on my own, and I am the only one now starting."

Donna held up a hand, one finger pointing towards the sky. "Hold on. Do we choose which path we will be on, or is it chosen for us?"

Khaetis looked at her and grinned. "It is in our beings to become what we set out to do. The aura of a being tells us what class they should take. Look with your hearts and not your eyes, and you should see."

The Doctor grinned and closed his eyes for a second. He had two hearts, how would that make him different?

Opening his eyes again, looking with more than just his eyes, a trick he had learnt a while ago, he started. Each of them had a colour surrounding their body, all of them different. It wasn't their normal auras. It was something else completely. The very air seemed to be making it, changing them to fit in with the world around them.

Khaetis had a pink glow surrounding him. Donna had a light blue, Martha was a brilliant white, Rose was green and as he looked down at himself, he saw a dark blue colour. He was not used to seeing such a thing on his own body.

He frowned. "This...is not normal, but okay, what do these colours mean?"

"You see what he's talking about?" Rose asked, and the other two girls turned to look at him too, and he realised he was the only one that could see what Khaetis had said.

"Yeah. Colours. I have dark blue, you're green, Rose. Martha, you're the most brilliant glowing white I have ever seen and you're a light blue, Donna."

Khaetis grinned at them. "Your paths are chosen then. Come, I will take you to the trainers and see about a weapon each."

The Doctor wasn't too happy with the thought of using a weapon, but right then they didn't have much of a choice. If doing chores was what would get them money enough to eat and stay clothed, then so be it. If the chores included killing then he'd have to learn to adapt just as much as the girls will.

"Dark blue is the way of the shaman. Green is the way of the hunter. White is that of priest, our main healers. And light blue is that of mage."

A huge grin spread over Donna's face at that. "I'm a mage. How brilliant is that?" After a few seconds, she began to laugh, loudly and fully, pointing at the Doctor like there was some huge cosmic joke going on. "Shaman! You're shaman!"

He frowned. "Is that...bad?"

Donna shook her head. "No! It's just...they call you the Oncoming Storm! And you're a Shaman!"

With that, the other two girls began laughing too. He was reminded of the time Sarah Jane and Rose got together and spent half an hour laughing at him. He still didn't know what that was about.

"Shamans can throw lightning bolts at things, Doctor. Lightning, storms, get it?"

He grinned back at them, now getting the joke. "Ah, well, I guess my nickname was well earned then."

They went to the man helping with the injured first. He was the priest left in the wreckage. He took a look at the group, his eyes stopping on Martha and he grinned widely at her and bowed. "Ah, a sister in the healing arts. Welcome. We have much need of healing in this area. A lot of us were injured when our pods were thrown from the ship."

Martha was both pleased at what life had chosen for her in this place, and that it included healing more than the act of killing, but while she grinned at the priest, she couldn't help but have it fall into a frown in short order. "I'm sorry, I'm just starting here and don't know any healing other than what I learnt on my own planet."

The priest nodded and ushered her forwards. "Come. It is your calling. I can teach you the basics in holy spells. You will be able to defend yourself just as much as you can heal and look after others."

The Doctor nodded to her, letting her know it was alright to go with him. But, before they could get too far away one thing was clear, they needed somewhere to meet up after they had finished learning basics.

"Martha! We'll meet here afterwards. Good luck!" he called out, but she didn't go too far away, since the priest needed to look after his patients.

After Martha was settled, next was Rose, who was left with a female Draenei. The two of them immediately made fast friends by the looks of it.

He was next, taken to a man who looked different to the Draenei. Khaetis told him he was a lost one, but not to talk about it any further than that. Donna was taken not too far away from him, to a woman dressed in a rather revealing dress.

"Greetings. I am Firmanvaar, Shaman left here to look for new members. It is odd, humans do not learn the way of Shaman. As they don't learn the way of the hunter. You and your friends are different."

The Doctor grinned and shrugged. "We're not originally from this world."

"Ah. Well, let's start off with a weapon..."

He stayed put, while his trainer, odd as the man was, wandered away out of his view, to get him what he must assume was an appropriate shaman starter weapon. When Firmanvaar came back with a small one handed mace and a shield, he almost choked. He had never once used a shield in his life, nor a mace. Though he had bumped people on the head quite a bit with other things before.

Still, this was becoming all too real to him and he was wishing right then to run to the TARDIS and stay in her for the rest of the time until she was ready to leave. Running was what he was good at, not fighting.

It was after he was armed that he was begun in the ways of learning how to harness the energy in the air to literally turn it into crackling lightning. The energy in electrical form. To his horror, he found he wasn't too good at it. He was told he'd get better.

The second thing he was taught was what was supposed to be a simple healing spell. It didn't heal for very much, but it would keep him alive if needed. If he could get it right.

Sighing, feeling tired and worn out, he made his way slowly to the centre of the room, where Donna and Rose were waiting for him. Both with big grins on their faces. Figured that the girls would be better at this then him. He flopped himself down between the two and groaned. "How can you two be happy. I'm worn out..."

"Yeah, gotta watch your mana, Doctor."

He frowned. "My what?"

"You only have so much...energy I'll call it, to use spells with. Once that runs out, you can't use it anymore until you've either drank mana potions or rested. In the game it also is gained back by drinking normal drinks, but that doesn't seem likely here. Still, I'll be able to make food and water soon enough."

"I'll stick with resting if this is what that is."

Rose laughed and patted his knee. "Poor Doctor. Dunno what you're complaining about. You've got a little mace. I have this huge sword to learn, and a crossbow! Hunter is the ranged weapons class. Also, I'll get to tame a pet and keep it with us. I'll be able to talk to animals."

Donna nudged Rose with her foot and winked. "Not as good as druid. You'd be able to turn into animals then. Still, I got mage. My favourite class! I can make fire, hah! And I have frost armour. Come on Doctor, I dare you to touch me."

He shook his head, and decided to lie down. The ground was hard and uncomfortable, since it was some type of metal, but right then, he'd sleep on anything as long as it stayed still.

He had almost fallen asleep when an equally exhausted looking Martha joined them, looking sleepy but pleased with herself. "Hello. Sorry it took me so long. I was helping to try and heal some of the injured. This is brilliant right now. I don't like how I've learnt a spell to hurt things too, but not all Priests are healers I learnt. I will be though, I think..."

Donna grinned and nodded. "The only one that doesn't look happy is the Doctor. What happened to you then?"

"Me? I've got a shield to lug around on my back, a weapon at my side, I've learnt how to make lightning bolts out of thin air and I'm wiped out. I want to go back to the TARDIS now. See if she's ready to go. But I'm too tired to get up..."

Martha grinned at him. "That reminds me. Courtesy of the Draenei and what little supplies they have here, we all get a backpack each and a bedroll to sleep in."

She handed one of the bedrolls over to him and he grunted at it. It had been a while since the last time he had used one of them, but given the circumstances he took it. It was made of two blankets and a piece of sheepskin for warmth.

Well, at least they'd be warm and at least relatively comfortable, if they found the right spot to bed down. Also, there was a place so that it could be tied to the backpack, so there wouldn't be any loss of bedding.

He unrolled his, glad for the warmth other than the cold floor and was almost instantly asleep.

"They're like old fashioned sleeping bags!" Rose stated, as she unrolled her own bedroll and climbed inside as the weather turned colder as the sun set completely, leaving them with little warmth.

The Doctor and Martha were asleep, having exhausted themselves with their first lot of learning their very own beginning spells. All she had learnt was to put a bit of extra punch into the swing of her sword. That wasn't going so well. She had trouble using it, since it was big and awkward to use. It was also rather heavy.

Martha and Donna, she had spotted, were both carrying large sticks for their weapons. Quarterstaffs. Well, no one could say she hadn't learnt anything by watching Buffy as a kid.

"Yeah. My Gramps showed me how to make a bedroll out of blankets when I was a kid. For the nights we went and stayed up on the hill while he was stargazing. I loved it. Still, a premade one is better than cold hard metal any day. And I forgot how it was done"

They fell into silence, apart from the rustling of the Draenei around them as they went off to sleep too. The odd groan from one of the injured that had yet to be seen to occasionally trickled to her hearing, but other than that, it was kind of peaceful. Kind of.

"Do you think the TARDIS will be ready tomorrow? As much as I'm actually enjoying this, I'd like to go back home soon."

Donna sighed, "Dunno. Hope so. This isn't exactly what I had in mind for a great adventure. If we're really unlucky, we might get attacked by Horde before Martha learns to resurrect the dead. And if we all die, well...who knows, maybe we'd just stay dead..."

"It's different when you're living it, isn't it? It's not just a game any longer, its real life. I don't want to have to fight other people."

She heard Donna sigh again. "Yeah I know. Night Rose."

"Night."

Not having used as much of this mana stuff as the others, Rose wasn't as tired as they were. It took her a long time to fall asleep. By the time she did, she'd only gotten 4 hours of sleep in, and the sun was rising.

There was nothing to stop the dawn from waking her. It was the best alarm clock nature could possibly come up with.

All she knew was that the day would bring about it either them leaving, or having to work to stay alive.

She hoped they'd just leave.