Adventures of John: The Doctor, the Daleks, and the Dragon

Chapter 5: The Great One

The massive beast was curled into itself, and yet it still barely managed to fit into the immense space. It was covered in shimmering golden scales, with a lengthy, serpentine tail, gigantic leathery bat-like wings, razor sharp talons, and fangs that could tear apart a semi. In other words, it was a dragon. A massive dragon worshiped by a cult of lizard men. And it was from this beast that the magic was emanating from.

"Well crap," I whispered. "I don't think I'm going to be able to get my hands on that magic."

"Bring the sacrifices before the Great One!" the lead Silurian ordered. The followers grabbed us roughly and forced us to kneel directly in front of the dragon. It sat still for a moment, and then one massive golden eye opened.

"These are the sacrifices you bring before me?" the dragon asked. "These are the greatest sacrifices yet. A Time Lord, a girl who has lived a thousand lives, and a master magician." The Silurian leader looked at us in shock. Apparently he did not realize exactly what he had caught. "But now I see that this bounty was unintentional," the beast rumbled. "Still, you will be rewarded even though it was simply Chance that sent these to you, or possibly Fate." He turned to me, a cruel smile stretching across his reptilian visage. "I can sense your power, mortal. So much power, and yet in this world you cannot tap into it." He burst into rumbling laughter. "Oh, how cruel to you Fate has been. Now you shall serve as a feast for me. I will savor your energies especially."

"Who exactly are you?" the Doctor interjected. "I'm guessing from your appearance that you are a dragon, or something that looks like one at least. But who are you? Why are you here, making these civilized people into such a primitive cult? And how do you know so much about us just by looking at us?"

"So many questions, Doctor," the dragon rumbled. "But I will answer them. After all, you have done so much for this universe that it would be rude of me not to give you a final request before I devour your essence. I am Raxalaz. I am older than your universe, and come from a universe where magic is life. The weak minds of these simple beings were easily dominated by my power, and now serve me and give me sacrifice. I devour the life essence of these sacrifices, and they sustain my magic in this magic-less universe of yours. And as to what I know of you and your companions, it is carved into your essences. I can see all of you, every moment each of you have lived." He hissed in ecstasy. "Such powerful essences you have. I will feast indeed today. Now that your questions have been answered, Doctor, I believe it is time for you to die."

What do I do? I asked myself. I can't do anything without my magic! We're helpless. Please Doctor, have something up your sleeve. Have some brilliant plan to save the day. Please!

Suddenly the doors to the cavern burst open, allowing dozens of Daleks to fly into the cavern. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"You dare enter my sanctuary!?" Raxalaz roared. "You will feel my wrath, abominations!" He took a deep breath, and then let out a massive burst of golden… sand. I stood there for a moment in shock. Most dragons breathed fire, but there were other sorts of dragons, and yet I had never seen any breathe sand. I watched closely as the sand particles struck the Daleks, passing through their force fields easily to cling to their metal shells. Everywhere the sand struck, the metal corroded away, rusting into nothing. Some of Raxalaz's followers were also struck by the golden sand, making some of them age at incredible speeds until they turned to dust, while making others age backwards until there was nothing left.

"The sands of time," I muttered. "He's a time dragon!" Until this day, I had believed the time dragons were nothing more than a myth. In the magical realms, there were legends about a group of dragons that existed outside of time, and could bend it to their will. But then again, they could very well have been nothing more than a myth, in my reality at least. This beast claimed to be older than the Doctor's universe… I searched my head for everything I had learned about the universe before the Doctor's from the show, and I realized why I was here.

Raxalaz continued to spray the Daleks with his time sand, turning the deadly alien invaders into rusted scrap metal. Magical energy surged from him with the sand, and I took advantage. Focusing my energies, I drained as much power as I could from his attack. The time sand began to work more sluggishly as the energy behind it faded, until the stream of sand had almost no effect at all. "What is happening!?" the dragon roared. He turned on me, rage filling his golden eyes. "You! Meddling sorcerer, you will regret that decision!"

I smiled at him, my ordinary appearance fading away into the appearance of a red-cloaked, golden-armored hero, wielding a flaming blade. "Actually," I told him, "I think it is you who will regret bringing me here." With a flick of my wrist, I summoned up a living inferno that chased the remaining Daleks, turning them into molten slag. I then conjured magical chains, binding the dragon forcefully. "You are the reason I am here. You opened the rift, or your presence in this reality did anyway. Magic does not belong in this universe, not for any extended time at least. Usually, whenever something magical takes permanent residence in this reality, it gets altered to fit this reality better. The magic of the Carrionite witches changed into 'linguistic-science', and the old god Yog-Sothoth developed into the Great Intelligence, and even creatures such as the Beast were forced to adapt. But not you, you refused to change, and have been devouring the essences of sentient beings to maintain your powers. Your very presence is ripping this universe apart. So, it's my job to end the threat."

"You do not have the power!" he hissed through his restraints. "They told me about you. Told me you would be coming. They told me that you would try to defeat me. But you can't. You simply don't have enough power!"

"No I don't," I agreed. "Not in this reality anyways. But you do." Focusing the power I had already taken from him, I began to drain the rest. I felt the energy pouring into me and watched as he wasted away. First he began to look sickly, becoming thin and frail. Then his scaled became dull and fell off. He shriveled up, until he finally crumpled into a pile of dust. Meanwhile, I could barely contain all the power I had absorbed. I disintegrated the ceiling, leaving a gaping hole in the earth. I soared out of the hole, flying up to the Dalek cruiser overhead. I focused the powers surging through me and sent it out in one massive blast, vaporizing the massive ship and every Dalek within a hundred miles.

I floated back down into the now open cavern slowly, landing before a stunned Doctor and Clara, allowing my fancy apparel and appearance to fade away. "Wow," Clara said, stunned. "That was impressive. And scary."

"That was a marvelous display," the Doctor told me. "But are you sure you are alright? Something like that…"

"I'm fine. Never underestimate John the Adventurer," I told them, smiling. "Now come on, I have both a cat and a LEGO set waiting for me back in the TARDIS."

. . . . .

In the TARDIS I gathered the broken pieces of my LEGO set together, and grabbed Stripes, who complained to the man-handling with an annoyed meow. Once everything was gathered a rift opened behind me. I said my goodbyes to both the Doctor and Clara, and then Pixie, the cat and I went through the rift.