And here the adventure begins...
Chapter One
Long before the hour of need, it shall appear. Long before the words of ancient are spoken, it shall appear.
Long before the moment that could shatter the Hourglass of the universe forever, it shall appear.
Watch for the signs. Watch for the warnings.
The Doctor tossed the book over his shoulder and pulled another from the shelf. He flipped through the pages rapidly, grumbling in frustration as he found nothing yet again. Why weren't there more books on werewolves? He could find whole sections in libraries on werewolves in the 21st century!
"What is that?" a distant voice called the Doctor out of his intense thoughts.
"What?" he turned to the blond beside him, following her finger to where she was pointing. He frowned at where she was pointing. "That's just an hourglass."
"I know what it is," Rose snapped. "But it wasn't there a minute ago. It just appeared there."
"Really?" the Doctor raised a brow, leaving his frantic browsing of the books on the shelf as he approached the metal hourglass mounted on the wall. It was beautiful and intricate, almost every grain of sand having been carefully carved into the brass. He reached inside his coat, fingers barely brushing his sonic screwdriver before a voice stopped him.
"Doctor, I believe that I've found something!"
At this he turned back to the owner of the house and to Queen Victoria. An hourglass that may or may not have been there a minute ago was going to have to wait. There was a werewolf running about.
Sunlight spilled in from outside. It didn't exactly feel like it should be a sunny day. The Doctor chewed on his knuckle absently, his gaze flickering back to the wall between this world and the void. After another glance at the swirling portal, his eyes caught on something.
"Alright, so if you lot didn't create the sphere then what's with the hourglass?" the Doctor questioned one of the Cybermen standing next to him, pointing to the ghosting shape of a hourglass in the rift. It was nothing more than white wisps that churned constantly.
"The hourglass has no origin with the Cybermen," it answered in a chilling metallic voice.
Rose was down with the sphere alongside with Mickey and one of the scientists. She was just glad that she had managed to convince the four Daleks that exterminating them at that moment would be detrimental to their plans. Just as she was going to speak again, she saw something in the surface of the golden sphere. She looked at Mickey and apparently he'd seen it, too.
"What's with the hourglass?" Mickey asked her quietly, keeping it so that the Daleks wouldn't see or hear them. They focused on the undulating almost molten form of the shapely glass for a brief second.
"I don't know, I've seen something like it before," she answered just as low. "Before, in Scotland."
And before they could ask the Daleks why it was on their sphere, it was gone. Mickey glanced at Rose and said, "It's like it was never there."
The Doctor came to an abrupt halt at the corner of the hallway as two Judoon guards stalked passed, causing Martha to nearly crash into him. Once they were clear he sprinted down the next hallway and again came to a halt.
"What is it now?" Martha shouldered her way around him after nearly ramming into his back and found him staring at a bronze statue flanked by potted plants. "It's just a statue, now c'mon!"
"How long has that been there?" he asked carefully, laying a hand on the cold metal as if to actually make sure it was there. It was smooth with tiny bits of sand carved delicately into it.
"I don't know, we've got too many of them to keep track of," she paused, seeing the Doctor's face contort with worry, and maybe even a hint of fear. "Although, I've never seen one of an hourglass before."
The Doctor stared intently at the burning sun, feeling the heat of it on his face. His mind was starting the get heated, he could sense something about it. It was alive! The sun was a living object, and it was furious.
"No," he whispered as he started to heat up with a ferocious fire on the inside, making it feel as if his internal organs were beginning to flame. Before he turned his head away, there was a large spout of fire and light. It formed into a shape that he had come to fear whenever he saw it. The golden light of the sun even formed the sand in it as it fell through the shapely glass. "The hourglass."
"Donna, you just had to go and get yourself kidnapped didn't you?" the Doctor shook his head as he stalked through the dark night, trailing where the red head had been taken. He finally arrived to his destination, walking through the veil and taking in the sight before him. Everything was dimly lit by candles and volcanic vents, in which their eerie orange light echoed off of the bronze and marble statues around the cavernous room. His darting eyes landed on a statue made of marble and plated with gold. "No," his voice went hoarse as he approached it.
And the furious shouting of Donna broke the silence. He turned and lunged away, figuring that he better save his new companion than worry about an hourglass that seemed to be stalking him.
The giant wasp dropped down from the ceiling, blocking the door frame completely. The threesome before it stared at it in awe and horror before it lunged forward, its sting ready to kill. They ducked and its tail hit the wall. Turning around as they started to run, its wings bumped a table and several items fell off to shatter on the floor.
The Doctor turned his head sharply as a couple of glass valuables crashed to the floor. His looked at the wasp, the table, and the only item that hadn't shattered. Feet frozen to the spot, he was unable to move as the small hourglass rolled along the floor towards him. The sand inside was golden with silver flecks, and even seemed to glow. Jerking his head back up to the wasp, he realized that it was also staring at the hourglass curiously and almost fearfully. But that only lasted for a second before it returned its attention back to chasing him.
Blood of silver, eyes of pine, and heart of ice holds the Hourglass with a gentle,
yet bloody and battle hardened hand.
Snow fell lightly onto the ground, softening the sounds of the city of London. It was dark, the only light being provided by street lamps that cast reassuring shadows on the white snow. He crunched slowly back towards the blue box, his head spinning and every joint aching from the deadly dose of radiation. His feet faltered slightly, causing him to go on his knees in the snow. The coolness of the snow felt so good to his feverish flesh. Tilting his head towards a street lamp, his brown eyes caught sight of a mysterious creature standing in the street not that far off. It was an Ood.
My song's come to its end, the Doctor thought sadly. A tear slipped from his eye at the thought of dying. He didn't want to die; he had so many years left in this tenth regeneration of his. There was so much more he could do! Time after time he had saved the Earth with its wonderful humans, and this is what he got in return. Death was not the ideal reward in his opinion. Looking back at the Ood, he got an odd feeling that something was bothering the creature. Its soft eyes looked a bit confused as a sudden gust of wind kicked up the snow around it. Its figure soon just disappeared into the night, leaving the Time Lord by himself.
He furrowed his brows in curiosity as something appeared in the churning snow. There was a feeling deep down in his gut. It was something that he had felt a few times, and it meant nothing but trouble. The wind picked up speed, howling into the lonesome night as the snow wisped into the figure of a shapely glass. The Doctor snapped his head up sharply as the lights on the street started to go haywire, the wind blowing harder throughout all of the streets of London. Standing up and teetering on his feet precariously, he glanced at the distant tower of Big Ben. His sharp eyes could just make out the hands of the clock spinning round and round in both directions.
"What?" he looked back to the hourglass of snow. There was a shadow behind it, slowly taking form. He closed the distance between him and the TARDIS, placing a hand reassuringly on the wooden doors. His hearts pounded in his ears and he could feel regenerating energy pulsing through his veins. He was in no shape for a confrontation. "What?" his voice raised an octave as the hourglass broke and the snow fell to the ground freely, revealing a very human form standing in the street. Everything went dead silent. Not even the usual nightlife of the city could be heard.
The Doctor didn't bother to finish with a last 'what', but instead unlocked the doors and stepped into the safety and warmth of his ship. Normally he would've stayed and faced whatever was coming at him, even if he was on the verge of regenerating. But whatever or whoever that was gave him a very bad, eerie feeling which he didn't like whatsoever. He turned to the control console, shrugging off his trench coat and throwing it on a fork in the coral like columns. Lifting up his hand and studying the back of it, a familiar golden glow started to emanate from his veins. Letting his hand fall to his side, he paced around the central column and flicked several switches on. The old ship groaned and shuddered as it took off into space, basically just orbiting the Earth for the moment. She wouldn't dare take off into the vortex at the moment, something was wrong and she could sense it.
The Time Lord clapped a hand over his ear at the sudden high pitched shriek that appeared in his mind. He glanced at the console, looking for any warning signs or alarms that could tell him why his beloved ship had just yelled at him telepathically.
"What's wrong old girl?" he whispered, grasping at his chest as the first wave of regeneration started to appear. "Please don't do this to me now." Again, the TARDIS was sending him sounds that he could usually understand. Now they were all just gibberish, grinding gears, and the wheezing of the centuries old engines. "What's wrong with you? Why are you so distressed? Just tell me, old girl!"
His eyes widened as what appeared to be a shimmering golden cloud materialized in the time rotor, tendrils of the foggy substance flickering out and around the console. And then the ship went silent. The central column stopped pumping up and down, the wheezing stopped, the golden fog disappeared, everything just…stopped.
He could hear his hearts in his ears and his own labored breathing, but everything else was silent. Silent, except for an echo of his breathing, a bit labored against the doors.
The Doctor turned on his heel slowly, tilting his head up as he caught sight of someone braced on their knees against the doors. Now he knew why his ship was so upset; he could sense it too, deep down. There's no way this person could have gotten inside without him hearing her. There's no way his ship would've let her get inside in the first place.
"Who are you?" he asked as he took a step back and bumped into the console. Carefully he laid his hands across the numerous buttons and switches, being cautious as to not flip the wrong one. Frost nipped at his fingertips as they touched the cold metal of the control panel, something that was usually warm with energy. "How'd you get on my ship?" he tried again when there was no answer. He was becoming painfully aware that he couldn't hold off his regeneration for much longer, for every muscle and every fiber of his being was burning and pulsing with pain. "Don't you know how to speak?"
The woman seemed to catch her breath and stood up. She rubbed her bloodshot eyes and silently crept across the grating towards him, arms shaking at her sides and a very cold air coming from her. The Doctor's breath fogged in the air like it would on a cool early morning in the English country side, and a sound similar to cooling metal came from the grated floor as the woman set down her feet softly as she came at him slowly.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" the Doctor questioned as he skirted around the edge of the console, putting a hand on his side to try and mute the pain. Still the woman said nothing, simply taking a matching step forwards. "Tell me now and I may be able to spare you from seeing or being harmed by what's about to happen."
She looked at him with dark eyes and ran her fingers through her sterling silver hair. Her mouth opened and when she spoke her voice was frosty and determined, "I'm here to stop time from unraveling."
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