Chapter 3 - The Basement of Myths

The Doctor strolled over to the silver elevator nearby.

"Where are you going?" The King asked in annoyance

"To the elevator" The Doctor responded before turning to Rose "coming Rose?"

Rose strolled over towards him as The Doctor pushed the button on the elevator. The silver door of the elevator opened with a slam.

"Why?" The King asked still annoyed

"I'm going to see if there's anything hidden in this palace, and the basement seems a good place to start, doesn't it?" The Doctor replied as Rose walked into the lift

"This is my palace and what you are doing is prohibited" The King demanded

"Well your authority is overruled" The Doctor answered "are you coming?"

"I will not join this foolish escapade!" The King replied adamantly grabbing his grass-pipe

"Goodbye then" The Doctor replied pushing the button marked "0"

Just as the doors began to shut the King jumped into the lift. In seconds they were on the ground floor of the palace.

"The only reason I've joined you is for security reasons" The King added as they stepped out of the elevator

"Okay, where's your basement?" The Doctor asked

"We don't have a basement" The King answered "so that will be that over, please leave"

"Who told you there was no basement?" The Doctor questioned

"It's been in the architectural plans for centuries, there's nothing under there but desert" the King replied

"We'll just test that" The Doctor said interrogating him

He squatted to his knees and gave three swift knocks to the metallic floor. The sound was a completely hollow sound.

"Explain the hollowness then" The Doctor questioned demandingly

"The palace is built on top of the old King's court; that may be the ground floor of the old court" The King replied

"I thought you said that the plans had nothing under here" The Doctor questioned

"I heard about the court being under here, I thought it was another one of those stories the volunteers like to speak about" the King replied adamantly

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his brown coat pocket and manoeuvred it over the metallic floor in the shape of a large square. With a blue flashing light and a buzzing noise the metallic inch thick square floor fell into a hole with a slam of metal hitting concrete a second later.

"Do you have a torch?" The Doctor asked the King

"You can cut through metal but you don't have a torch?" The King spoke out loud in confusion

"Well the sonic screwdriver does have a light but it's not the best" The Doctor replied getting irritated

"Here's a torch, please get this foolishness over with" The King said hurriedly passing him a small yellow torch with a light crystal "I don't know how I'm going to explain this to the volunteers"

The Doctor smiled at Rose and King Diap XXIV and jumped into the hole with the alien torch. A second later The Doctor shouted up at them.

"It's not deep at all, come down!"

Rose lowered herself into the hole and the King reluctantly followed. The Doctor turned on the crystal light and lit the space in front of them. They couldn't believe their eyes. All over the ground were thousand of miscellaneous strewn items. Books, files, precious metallic objects and other random objects were scattered, some covered in inches of dust. The basement went on for at least a mile. The Doctor couldn't help noticing the King's shocked face.

"This can't be real!" The King exclaimed "there are mythical things here, items written in pages of bygone lore, there are… files" the King's shock turned to anger as he neared a large pile of files "these are law files, my law files that went missing a few weeks ago, who would steal them!?"

"You tell me" The Doctor replied trying on a dusty silver silky hat that lay on the ground "name someone who dislikes you"

"What? This is Barcelona! Nobody dislikes me." the King replied in disbelief "we only get a handful of criminals; I don't see why anyone would steal the files and place them down here"

"Who are these volunteers, I'd suspect them first before anyone" The Doctor replied deep in thought "whatever it is, this has been going on for centuries"

"The head volunteer Cxlim picks them, he's been here for years, he was here way before me" the King replied

"I think I'll have a little chat with this Cxlim, see if he knows about this" The Doctor said "but first, let's see what other items are here"

They walked further into the grimy basement, looking at random objects as they passed through.

"Doctor" Rose spoke out "why did you give that King the weapon? I'm still confused"

"Good question" The Doctor mentioned "I really can't remember, that regeneration really gave me chronic amnesia, I only know what I looked like having met my former self a few hours ago"

"You really are a strange one" the King added shaking his head "meeting your former self"

As they walked they came upon a large object covered in a silver silk sheet.

"What exactly is that?" the King pondered

The Doctor pulled the silk sheet off. Standing was some sort of bulky silver machine with a glass case on top. Inside the glass case was a large light attached to the side.

"This is some sort of light energy weapon" The Doctor muttered as he explored with his sonic screwdriver "this is too advanced for your species just now, never mind thousands of years ago, someone left this here for a reason. Worryingly it is also on a…"

The Doctor suddenly halted and put his hand to his head. "Rose! That temporal amnesia is beginning to clear! I can feel it! I can feel all the memories seeping in! Note this down Rose! Quickly! I came here because… I knew the history of this planet. I knew that Avniexg invaded Barcelona. I knew I had to soften the blow somehow. So I gave King Rael III the Deringer to encourage him to be armed! Did you get that Rose!"

"What…Yeah I did Doctor, that was creepy, you started to speak like… the other Doctor" Rose said almost shocked

"What did I say? It's gone again" The Doctor said getting frustrated

"You changed time for the better, and it landed up for worse" the King replied "I know what's going on Doctor"

Suddenly they could hear the sound of a key opening a nearby wooden door.

"Quick! hide!" The Doctor whispered quickly running for cover, the King and Rose following him in panic.