They had walked for what seemed hours on end, through darkness and narrow passage-ways, through rock and tunnel and water. Hagros had decided that they should not stay in one place too long, so they ended up moving through the caverns like nomads, only resting until they needed to. Which was now.
The passage ahead had been blocked by fallen boulders, and it would take some time for Hagros's men to clear the path; time most spent sitting down on uncomfortable rocky surface, as they tried to enjoy this gracious moment of not using one's legs, which were now hurting like never before.
The Doctor put on his glasses and stood before the blocked passage-way, examining the fallen boulders, touching it with his hands, as if by touch alone the Doctor could clear the way through. Eyes turned his way and whispering grew as they watched the Doctor, maybe even expecting something to happen.
But nothing happened.
The Doctor turned away from the blocked passage-way, making way for Hagros's men to do their heavy work.
''Are you a sorcerer?'' Diolan asked.
The Doctor smiled as he leaned against the cavern wall, putting his hands in his pockets. ''Why'd you say that?'' he asked.
''No reason.'' Diolan said. ''It's just...''
The Doctor took his hands out of his pockets and revealed his sonic screwdriver, and a small, green, shiny object the size of his hand.
Diolan gazed in wonder, acting as if he didn't see, how the Doctor's sonic screwdriver kept on humming as it sliced off the parings of the apple with an invisible knife, surprisingly accurate and gentle, as if the apple had simply decided to shed its fur.
The Doctor took a clumsy bite from the apple as he smiled at Diolan.
''Apple?'' said the Doctor to Aeryn as she sat down next to him.
''No thank you.'' said Aeryn immediately. ''I'll pass.''
''Its good for you.'' said the Doctor, trying to persuade her still.
The Doctor held the shiny, light-green apple in front of Aeryn, luring and enticing her with a gracious, all-knowing smile which annoyed Aeryn yet again. Somehow he knew Aeryn was feeling hungry.
''Its from Earth.'' said the Doctor. ''Its fruit. Falls from a tree every now and again, containing unbelievable taste. And that isn't surprising knowing that the best cooks do tend to be trees. Although there was this chef on the planet of Mintaka who...''
''Stop talking and just give me the apple.'' Aeryn said, holding out her hand in frustration, staring at the dark ground.
Aeryn was reminded of the long silence neither of them chose to break during that long walk through the caverns, and the blasted, optimistic smile on the Doctor's face. A expression of hope, but was it real?
She sat down on a seemingly flat rocky surface, taking off her heavy, black, leather boots with a sigh of relief. She saw the Doctor glancing at her white socks before quickly looking away.
''Be careful not to lean too far back.'' said the Doctor. ''Or else you'll find yourself falling for quite a while...''
Aeryn glanced, without meaning to, over her shoulder into the vast darkness behind her, a gap in the cavern floor of which the floor remained unseen in the shadows.
''I'll probably just fall a few metras.'' said Aeryn. "Nothing serious."
But the Doctor said nothing, pointing at a small drop of water which was climbing down a gigantic stalactite hanging from the ceiling above the gap.
The drop of water reflected one ray of pure light at them as pale light of Hagros's lanterns shined on it, as the drop of water descended even more and more, until it could no longer cling on to the rock and fell into the shadow.
Aeryn gazed down, expecting to hear a faint sound as the drop would touch the ground below, but that sound never came, and Aeryn respectfully moved away from the gap behind her, turning to the Doctor with an annoyed and hateful smile.
''You know, I really hate you.'' Aeryn said. How did he know everything?
''If you're right, you're right.'' the Doctor said smiling, but for one moment Aeryn could see him glancing suspiciously at the green apple in her hands.
But before Aeryn could think any further, a voice interrupted them.
''Tobian?'' it said.
Although the Doctor (on purposely, Aeryn noticed) had stationed himself away from the large group of survivors, an old woman now stood in front of them, addressing Diolan.
''My name's Diolan.'' said Diolan, made uncomfortable by this woman's sudden appearance.
''You know this woman, Diolan?'' the Doctor asked.
Diolan hesitated.
''Tell her Tobian!'' the woman said. ''Tell them who I am! The woman who raised you as her own son! How long has it been since you left, following your brother's footsteps?''
Diolan still wouldn't say anything, and somehow Aeryn knew that Diolan would not say anything whilst either she or the Doctor were around.
''Answer her Diolan.'' said the Doctor.
''His name's Tobian!'' the old woman cried. ''I should know! I gave it to him!''
''My name's Diolan!'' Diolan cried with difficulty. ''I chose it myself!''
''Tobian, don't be silly!'' the old woman said.
Another, far younger woman with curly brown hair appeared behind the old woman, reaching out to her.
''Jaleeth! No!'' the woman with the brown hair cried.
''I am not your son, woman!'' Diolan said. ''You...you mistake me for somebody else!''
''You're mad!'' Jaleeth cried. The woman with the brown hair tried to comfort her, tried to hold her back, but the old woman wouldn't budge. ''I raised you! I remember it like it was yesterday, when I found you two lying on the sidewalk, in the pouring rain! And now you cast me aside, push me out of your life, for the second time? How dare you! Me who fed you! Who clothed you! Who loved you like you were my own!''
''I don't know you woman!'' Diolan cried. ''I chose my own name! You...you don't control me anymore...''
That last sentence Diolan whispered, and only Aeryn and the Doctor heard it, but they said nothing.
''How dare you!'' Jaleeth yelled, fighting to get to Diolan, but the woman with the brown hair wouldn't let her. ''How dare you!''
Finally the woman with the brown hair won, and managed to get the old woman back to the other side of the cavern.
But even there, she would not stop looking into Diolan's direction.
''I'm sorry...for that.'' Diolan eventually said. ''She probably mistook me for somebody else. That...demented...woman...''
And Aeryn knew he was lying, hiding something away from them; something that he didn't want them to know.
''Probably.'' the Doctor said, swallowing as he tried to find the right words to break the silence. ''It's hard to let go of someone you love. You don't want them to go, and sometimes you forget they ever left. But they did.''
''And sometimes... you must let them go, for you have no choice.'' Aeryn said.
The Doctor smiled slightly.
''Quite right.'' he said.
''Everyone has their secrets.'' Aeryn said to herself. ''Everyone has something to hide.
A past. A future.
Something they hide, or hide away from, but its the present which matters, right?''
She could not help but wonder of all those secrets.
Diolan's.
The Doctor's.
She was unaware that her eyes had wandered through the cavern, gazing at rock and stone, and finally she was looking at Hagros, but lost in her thoughts she did not realise it until a few moments later, and then she noticed that Hagros was staring at her too.
No wait, not at her.
Aeryn looked over her shoulder.
Hagros was staring at the Doctor, with a horrid look in his eyes.
''What about the plan, Doctor?'' Aeryn said.
She was reminded of the moment when Aeryn had asked him if he could do it. If he could save them all.
And he said yes.
But he had not said when.
They were sitting in this gloomy cavern still, running away from the Viridimon. Not fighting the Viridimon, like the Doctor had promised.
Aeryn shook her head.
The Doctor had not promised her anything.
''Doctor?'' Aeryn asked again.
''We can't do anything without Hagros's help now.'' said the Doctor.
''Well, what do we need?'' Aeryn asked.
The Doctor started to pace around, thinking of the plan.
''We need as many men as possible.'' the Doctor said. ''And we need navigation.''
His eyes drifted to the cavern's ceiling, trying to pierce through the rock and see the night sky and stars.
''We don't know where we are. We don't know where to go. And finally, I think we need a diversion. Something to draw the Viridimon out. To lure him somewhere he can't get to us.''
''Why do you keep referring to the creature as a 'him'?'' Diolan asked.
''It's a him.'' Aeryn immediately said. ''Definitely.''
''I couldn't have said it better.'' the Doctor said.
Aeryn had that thing in her mind, torturing her, imprisoning her. She had felt that thing inside her long enough to know that it was male. Aeryn didn't know it. She felt it.
Another silence followed, and Aeryn couldn't bear looking at the Doctor any longer without wondering about his secrets. The things he wouldn't tell them. The things he unwillingly showed her.
The image of the young girl which was burned in Aeryn's mind. The young girl; burning, floating, into a vast bright white.
She shook that image out of her head, put on her boots and stood up.
''I can't stand it anymore doing nothing.'' Aeryn said. ''I'll see if I can find Hagros.''
Aeryn wandered through the group of survivors who all looked up when she walked past them. Aeryn ignored their glares. Almost all of them hated Peacekeepers, this Aeryn now realised. The people of this settlement had all been oppressed by the Peacekeepers many years ago, until their now current Monarch took over. Some say he was elected, but no-one had ever cast a vote. More say he simply bought this settlement out of the hands of the Peacekeepers. Lyan Nektar his name was.
The man who ran when the Viridimon's soldiers attacked. He fled in his precious ship when his famed, elite guards were all infected. And the only one who they could count on was the head of their community council: Lazar Hagros.
Who was now nowhere to be found.
''Where the hell is he?'' Aeryn said to herself when she had sought every corner of the cavern, unable to find him.
But instead, she found someone else. Someone she had forgotten about when the Viridimon attacked and forced them to withdraw into the caverns.
Ferril.
''You!'' said Aeryn.
She saw Ferril talking nervously to his children, with a forced smile, but when Aeryn approached and cornered him, he nearly exploded in anger.
''What do you want?'' yelled Ferril. ''Just get away from me!''
Aeryn glanced only once at the frightened children, who were lead away by Deborah in her white gown.
''I'll make this brief.'' Aeryn said with a cold rage. ''If you ever touch your children again...''
''Get away from me!'' said Ferril trying to walk away, but Aeryn pushed the old man with the huge moustache back against the rock wall.
''Look!'' Ferril said. ''I will not listen to this dren a second time!''
''Second time?'' asked Aeryn.
''Yes...'' answered Ferril, still trying to get away without success. ''I've already been threatened...!''
''By whom?'' asked Aeryn.
''By that monster of a man!'' Ferril said. ''That Doctor!''
And as Ferril pointed into his direction, Aeryn froze, for she thought the Doctor hadn't seen it, how Ferril treated his children. She thought he didn't care.
''He threatened me.'' Ferril said, with a hint of true fear in his voice. ''He said he'd find me. Wherever. Whenever. He said the fires of damnation would be...would be nothing compared to what he'd do to me!''
Aeryn glanced over her shoulder at the Doctor, and although he seemed to be talking to Diolan, Aeryn knew that he saw her. That he was looking at her.
''I will never hit them again, all right?'' Ferril said. ''I swear to the Gods that I will treat them right from now on. Just...just leave me alone!''
Ferril pushed Aeryn out of his way, and Aeryn did not push back.
How the Doctor had spoken to that crowd amazed Aeryn; how easily he convinced them to stand up and keep moving.
He spoke of hope and faith, yet all Aeryn could see was a very clever manipulation, tricking all those people into having faith in him. To follow him.
Yet the Doctor never took advantage of the faith they had all put in him.
Never did he do anything but smile and be optimistic.
But where is their freedom? Where is their victory?
Had the Doctor given all these people false hope? Had he given Aeryn false hope?
And all Aeryn wanted now, was the truth.
But then she realised there was no truth. No garantuee. No promise.
There was only the Doctor. And you believed in him, or you didn't.
''Look out!'' one of Hagros's men cried.
They had been trying to clear the cavern's doorway, lifting the boulders out of their way and crushing others into dust with a pickaxe. Yet one wrong decision had now caused for the cavern to collapse yet again, and boulders came crashing down upon them.
Three large rocks were tumbling down and where easily avoided by three of Hagros's men who stood the closest to it. The others quickly backed away.
Aeryn ran towards the danger, dropping the apple without realising, when she saw the smaller rocks falling, causing no harm, but they were merely the advance guard for a larger rock which would follow and fall directly upon one of them, most likely crushing them to death.
Aeryn jumped over sitting people to get to that man just in time, her hands cradling the rock just as it hit his back.
But then Aeryn noticed she wasn't the only one holding the rock in her hands.
A pair of skinny, pale hands lifted the rock as well, higher and higher until the man could crawl out of danger.
''Excellent timing.'' said the Doctor with difficulty.
''I could say the same of you.'' said Aeryn, experiencing the same troubles.
Aeryn's body was trembling under the intense weight, and the pain grew stronger the longer she held the rock in her hands.
And when she looked up, gazing into the Doctor's big eyes, all she could think of was him.
The mystery that was the Doctor.
The Doctor and that blonde, beautiful girl, floating into a bright white background. Into nothing. With eyes full of fire.
Eyes like the Doctor.
And when Aeryn and the Doctor finally dropped the rock down on the ground, Aeryn backed away from the Doctor, as suddenly, and she did not know why, a name popped into her head. Just like that.
A name she had never heard of before. A name she didn't know was a name. But somehow, at that moment, she knew it was.
And Aeryn wondered how the Doctor had planted it there, in her mind. For how else could she have known?
How else could she have known that girl's name...how?
Hagros's men, although experiencing shock still, returned to work, and the Doctor sat down on the rocky ground, curling his back in such a way he was almost lying down.
And Aeryn sat down behind him, putting his back against his, for she dared not look him in the eyes.
Not now. Not during what she was about to do.
Aeryn ignored the glances of the curious people sitting in far in front of her, and waited for the right time.
When the Doctor felt most comfortable. When the Doctor would let down his guard.
#Panic on the streets of London...#
Ironically, panic spread through the cavern when all of a sudden this noise echoed against the unstable walls of rock. Music unknown to them all.
And when Aeryn looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, she could see him fiddling around with a small, strange device in his hands.
''Sorry!'' the Doctor yelled. ''My fault! That was me, yeah, sorry!''
This feeling of false alarm did not amuse them, in fact, quite the opposite.
Still trying to apologise, the Doctor quickly put the device back in his pocket and sat down with a sigh, settling his back even closer against Aeryn's.
And when Aeryn felt the Doctor's warmth spreading into her own back, she knew he was comfortable, and strangely enough, so was Aeryn.
And although the people around them were all tense, the Doctor seemed calm, and most importantly, not suspecting of what Aeryn was about to do, and so Aeryn took a deep breath, and took a shot.
''Who's Rose?'' Aeryn asked.
The silence which followed lasted for mere seconds, yet it was long enough to send shivers down Aeryn's spine.
''Who's Crichton?'' the Doctor asked.
Aeryn's heart stopped beating.
With only one word, one name, the Doctor had found her weakness. With one name the Doctor had put a mirror in front of Aeryn, making her realise that she was no different. Just as silent and reclusive about her feelings and past.
Just like the Doctor, Aeryn had secrets. Just like the Doctor, Aeryn had lost someone she loved.
''I'm sorry.'' said the Doctor.
''Don't be.'' Aeryn said. ''I'm not.''
She stood up and walked away, not seeing the hint of disappointment in the Doctor's eyes, and not noticing the unusual bump against her shoulder when someone passed her.
''Where is my son?!'' a voice cried behind Aeryn.
Aeryn turned around and saw Jaleeth yelling at the Doctor.
''He is my son! I'm telling you!''
''I wouldn't know.'' the Doctor simply said.
''You wouldn't care! That is what it is!'' Jaleeth cried. ''You say you're here to help us! But you're just like all the other Sebaceans!''
''I'm no Sebacean!'' the Doctor yelled.
''Well I don't care!'' Jaleeth replied.
''Leave him alone.'' Aeryn said, feeling that familiar anger bottle up inside of her again. A sensation which she had learned to enjoy, for feeling it meant she was still alive.
''Get out of my way Peacekeeper!'' Jaleeth said. ''You don't care about my son!''
''Jaleeth!'' Hagros cried, suddenly appearing, trying to settle the argument. ''Leave them alone!''
''I don't have to listen to you!'' Jaleeth said. ''You who accused the Monarch of being a coward, and then you ran away yourself! I still remember how you froze when those green-eyed things attacked!''
''I am head of the community council!'' Hagros cried.
''You are head of nothing, seeing that all the other members of the council have all been infected!'' Jaleeth yelled.
The woman with the brown hair appeared again, trying to grab Jaleeth's arm and pull her away.
''No!'' Jaleeth cried, resisting her kind words and gentle touch. ''I won't be silenced this time! I'm here for my son! Where is he?''
''He's not your son!'' Aeryn said.
''By damned he is!'' Jaleeth cried, pointing at the third eye at the centre of her forehead.
''This eye isn't just for show, Peacekeeper! We know when someone is lying! We can see it! I can even smell it!''
''Don't be ridiculous!'' Aeryn replied.
''Frell you!'' Jaleeth said, moving closer to the Doctor.
''I don't trust anyone of them to do the right thing Doctor!'' Jaleeth said. ''Except for you! Convince my son to come back to me! He looks up to you! You can deliver my son home!''
The Doctor remained silent.
''Please Doctor!'' Jaleeth said. ''I beg of you...''
''If he does not want to talk to you,'' the Doctor said. ''there's nothing I can do about it.''
''You lie!'' Jaleeth yelled.
She attacked the Doctor in frenzy, pushing him further back, until they stood at the very edge of the gap in the cavern's floor.
Jaleeth's sharp nails pierced through the Doctor's wrists as she struggled with him in a blind fury, pushing the Doctor further and further, until...
Aeryn grabbed her back and pulled her away, throwing Jaleeth on the ground, before reaching for her weapon.
''No!'' Diolan cried.
Aeryn looked at Diolan, a distraction which gave Jaleeth the opportunity to pull herself away from the arms which tried to hold her down and attack Aeryn, pushing Aeryn against the wall: pushing Aeryn straight through it.
The weak wall of rock crumbled when it could not handle the weight of them both, and Aeryn fell down on her back, gasping for air as dust filled her lungs.
''Aeryn!'' she heard the Doctor cry.
Aeryn pushed Jaleeth off of her and tried to climb back on her feet.
Her back felt excruciatingly bad and wounded, and the dust made her unable to see, but her ears heard Jaleeth scream her lungs out, and as Aeryn turned around, she soon discovered why.
A dark, terrifying hole or gap was gazing right into Aeryn's eyes it seemed. A hollow eye of a huge skull.
A skull of a gigantic skeleton.
''What the frell...'' Aeryn said.
They were surrounded by gigantic skeletons of monsters long gone.
''Get out of there!'' the Doctor said. ''Now!''
Jaleeth and Aeryn did as the Doctor said, coughing as they tried to get the dust out of their lungs.
Jaleeth was welcomed by the hands of Hagros's men. Aeryn suddenly found herself in the Doctor's arms.
The Doctor instructed them to let the skeletons wait, letting the air rid itself of bacteria before they would enter.
''What are they, Doctor?'' Aeryn asked, knowing he'd know the answer, but the answer somehow surprised her, yet in the end it didn't. It was such a logical answer that Aeryn thought there could not have been any other way.
''They're Viridimon.'' said the Doctor, peering into the darkness of the cavern with a lantern in his hands, which pushed back the shadows with pale light.
Aeryn counted at least five skeletons lying motionless and half scattered across the cavern.
Five skeletons with five huge skulls with one big gap in its centre; the place where its eye used to be.
The Doctor crouched to examine one of the skulls with his sonic screwdriver, putting his glasses on with a swift and subtle motion.
''I'd say they're about fifty years old.'' said the Doctor. ''Give or take a few months.''
The blue glow disappeared with a flick of a switch.
''These caves were abandoned fifty years ago.'' Hagros said.
''Coincidence?'' said the Doctor mysteriously. ''I think not.''
''How did they die, Doctor?'' Aeryn asked. Her solemn voice echoed through the small cavern, as she kneeled down next to one of the skeletons. One which she nearly crushed when she fell through the wall.
''Hard to tell, really.'' said the Doctor. ''Since it happened so long ago...''
He walked slowly among the remains. The word which sprung to Aeryn's mind was ''respectfully''.
''But I'd say they died of starvation.'' finished the Doctor.
''Starvation?'' asked Aeryn confused, but the Doctor did not answer her immediately.
''I was wrong in saying that the Viridimon were seekers of knowledge...'' answered the Doctor in his most mysterious of voices. ''They don't seek.''
He paused, and his eyes seemed to be glowing in the darkness.
''They devour.'' he said ragefully.
''No-one really quite says it like you do, Doctor.'' Solem said from within the shadows.
Aeryn stood up and gazed into the small corridor which lead away into the darkness.
And there it was. The sight they had come to fear: two green eyes burning brightly in the darkness of the caverns, approaching them, and with it, a figure was seen emerging from the darkness. Only one.
''Please, do go on.'' said the Viridimon, speaking through Solem.
There was a strange silence as the Doctor gazed into Solem's eyes. The last time they saw him he killed Mairic and Baelen, infected Aeryn and burned the room they stood in to the ground.
''Viridimon eat knowledge.'' the Doctor went on. ''It's the only thing which keeps them going. Literally. They die if they can't find new knowledge. New things to know. Just, new.''
Solem smiled.
''And without it,'' the Doctor said, looking upon the skeletal remains which surrounded them. ''they just wither and die.''
Their eyes met again.
''Very, very slowly.''
Solem looked away, and in the Doctor's eyes, Aeryn could see nothing but a complete, undeniable void of sadness.
''I'm sorry.'' the Doctor said. ''I'm so sorry.''
''I lived on Doctor.'' said Solem. ''And so did you. The Timewar claims its victims, no matter whether they fight or hide.''
''Timewar?'' Aeryn wondered.
''I was but a child when we sought refuge on this rock, chosing to hide in its very core.'' Solem said. ''I understood nothing of what was going on, but my mother, my dear mother, explained it to me.''
Solem touched the skull of one of the skeletons with a loving grace, hesitating at first, but endulging himself when the feel of the cold bone was beginning to feel good.
''She told me everything she knew.'' Solem said. ''And all that old knowledge was new to me, Doctor. It fed me. It kept me alive. It kept me alive to see all of them die. Slowly, as you said Doctor, but you can't possibly imagine what it was like.''
''I can't.'' said the Doctor.
''To see the life finally be drained from their eyes. One by one they succumbed to the shadows, and I was all there was left of the Viridimon when finally my mother died. A child, alone in the dark. The last of his kind. And I knew I had to survive...''
''And you did...'' the Doctor said. ''You did survive.''
''A stroke of luck, Doctor.'' said Solem. ''Or was it fate? Who knows? Fate has drawn you to me, Doctor. And fate wants us to be together.''
''I doubt it.'' the Doctor said.
''Think about it.'' Solem said. ''I...the one who is destined to seek knowledge by blood...meeting the one man in the entire universe with all the answers...the only one left of his species, just like me...''
Solem paused, gazing upon the Doctor like an animal looking upon its prey.
''I would give...everything...to know...what you know, Doctor.'' Solem said. ''I would do...anything. Even offer you the lives...and minds of all of the people I infected in return! Think about it Doctor! They would live! Isn't that what you want? You'd give back everyone's freedom...and I mean everyone...and at the same time you would live in a dreamworld of your own choosing! Think back to when you entered Aeryn's mind! When I tasted you, Doctor! When I had that magnificent glimpse into your mind! Think back!
You could be back amongst your own kind Doctor! Gallifrey could stand tall once more!''
''But only in my mind.'' said the Doctor.
Solem grew desperate in his attempts to convince the Doctor, and his eyes caught Aeryn standing beside him.
''You could be with her again, Doctor.'' whispered Solem. ''Separated no more. Free to roam every single one of your memories with her, for the rest of eternity.''
''You should leave.'' said the Doctor.
The soft tone of this threat terrified Aeryn. The sadness and rage seemed to build up inside the Doctor, like a volcano ready to burst.
''But Doctor...'' Solem said.
''I give only one warning!'' said the Doctor. ''Leave now! Before I rip you to pieces!''
Solem backed away only slightly, and when he did the storm inside the Doctor seemed to calm down, if only to let the fire inside him burn longer.
''I gave you a chance to save them all Doctor.'' Solem said. ''But now...you've only made it worse.''
''No,'' the Doctor said. ''It is you who's made it worse.''
''And what are you going to do about it, Doctor?'' Solem said. ''I have an army! You have nothing! Look at them!''
Solem pointed at the people standing behind the Doctor, under the arch of the broken, rock wall.
''A jealous leader.'' Solem said, pointing at Hagros.
''A frightened kid.'' Solem said, pointing at Diolan.
''An old hag.'' he said, pointing at Jaleeth.
''Five men with useless guns.'' he said, pointing at Hagros's men.
''And beautiful Aeryn Sun...full of doubt. Full of anger.''
The Doctor seemed to take a step forward, as if he was protecting Aeryn with one single gesture.
''And fifty more frightened civilians!'' Solem went on. ''Is that your army, Doctor?''
Solem laughed, mocking the Doctor, but the Doctor stood motionless, gazing into Solem's green eyes with an unstoppable fury.
''You can't stop me Doctor...just face it...'' Solem said.
''You think you know me...'' the Doctor said. ''Just because you saw into my mind once?''
''No-one knows you, Doctor.'' Solem said.
''That's not true.'' the Doctor simply said with defiant eyes. ''Everyone knows me. The Destroyer, they called me. The Oncoming Storm. I am the Doctor, and when you say I have nothing, you are wrong. For I have this...''
The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver in front of his face, quite casually.
''And it is very good...at doing this.''
With one push of a button, a blue glow and a smooth hum, the cavern between Solem and the Doctor came crashing down, forming a perfect wall of many boulders, none of which even fell close to the Doctor's white shoes.
And as the dust settled, the Doctor turned around, and everyone made way for him to pass, terrified by his presence and power. None said a word, fearing an unspeakable rage.