and things take a turn for the magical...

"Hang on, did you see that?" the Doctor asked, pointing his flashlight at the wall where another one of those words was. It had a faint glow about it.

"See what?" Ida asked, looking around and finding nothing.

"That word right there, it just moved. The letters kind of jumped around. Hang on," he went closer and examined it "no… it can't have!" he looked at it closer "I'm here…" he muttered, running his fingers over the word.

"What?"

"That's what it says. I'm here." He looked at the words in disbelief as they changed again "help…" they changed again "I'm here…" he looked at the words closer, then said "but that's impossible!"

"I thought you said those words made no sense" Ida said, a bit confused.

"Yes, that is what I said, but it's almost as if there's something here changing the words. And it's calling out. It needs help or something" he shook his head "But that's impossible. It can't just change the words; they're engraved in the wall."

"So what's going on?" Ida asked, looking at the Doctor.

"I don't know" he said, rubbing his head "I don't know"

Upon entering the cave, Alice suddenly felt the presence of something at the back of her mind. What the…? she thought, closing her eyes and feeling around to figure out what it was. She suddenly felt something like fire there and opened her eyes in shock.

Young child, so far from home… a voice whispered

Alice knew that voice. It was the Dragon. What are you doing here!

This is where I live, it replied

Alice's mind flickered back to the dream. Where's the Doctor? she asked, getting a bit worried.

Who? the dragon replied

He's a Time Lord, if that helps. Alice added.

The dragon paused, and Alice felt its mind search around for a second. There is a Time Lord in here, along with someone else. I think it's a human. Hard to tell these days, I'm getting old. It laughed.

So he's still alive? Alice asked, unable to stop herself from letting out a sigh of relief.

Of course dear little one, why would he be dead?

Alice's mind went back to the dream, and she felt the dragon take in the information it was given. She got a sense of shock coming from it, but then it let out a laugh.

Oh curse my blasted subconscious, it said, all I was trying to do was reach out to someone, it either got mixed up on the way over or your subconscious read it wrong. Or that is a possibility of what might happen in the future…

Alice broke out in a sweat, a possibility!

Sorry child, but if my dragon instincts kick in too quickly, I don't think I'll be able to do anything. I can do my best to keep him alive, but if he ends up saying something that might offend me… It trailed off, as if it wasn't so sure about that fact. It must have sensed the discomfort radiating off of Alice because it said: I'll help you find your friend if you can help me get out of here.

How am I supposed to do that?

Why should I tell you? Dragon's like their riddles.

Alright, Alice let out a sigh. After a minute a question sparked into her mind and she asked it to the dragon. What's your name?

The dragon laughed again I have many, a few of which you would spend forever trying to say. But I was called Shyfire by an old friend of mine. She could feel it smile at the back of her mind, and couldn't help but grin also.

Deciding what the best idea to help the dragon was, Alice heading into the tunnels in search of the Doctor.

After a while of fruitless efforts Alice said silently to the dragon: hey Shyfire?

Yes child? The dragon was quick to respond, almost eager, in fact.

Do you mind helping me? I need to find my friend and I have no idea where he is. Do you think you could help?

Shyfire took a minute to respond. He's on his way to where I am, and I can lead you to me. Maybe you'll run into him on your way.

Sounds like a plan to me. Alice thought, something off to the corner caught her eye, and she saw a faint glow in the shape of words. She went over to them, and looked them over. It took her a second to decipher what it said, for she didn't really recognize the language. But after a minute she got it: 'this way' it said.

She walked on a bit farther, where more words were glowing. She followed the path of glowing words, stopping to read each one as she went. They all said the same thing 'this way, this way' soon enough it became a small whisper in the back of her mind, stopping only when she was heading the wrong way.

It was a pressing nudge now, pushing her in the way she should go. It became more than just a small feeling after a while. It was now an explosion of the senses. Sight of glowing words, a tingling on her skin, there was a different sound for each direction, even the smell of the air was different.

It was almost as if she was walking blind, not even walking at all. Just going, going to where she needed to.

No! something inside of her cried out, and Alice stopped, nearly falling to the ground at the sudden release of whatever had been holding her. She stood and caught her breath. I don't need to find the dragon, she told herself, I need to find the Doctor.

She was on her knees now, unsure of exactly how she got there. She looked at the words that were only glowing faintly now, and slowly ran her hand across them. A jolt of power surged through her as she touched it, and an idea sprang to her mind.

Alice put her hand on the word again, and a map of the tunnels popped into her head. She used the newfound power to point out life signs, and found four of them. Her own she found quickly, knowing exactly where she was somehow. The one in the central cavern was large and complex. Two others right next to each other, one plain and simple while the other was complex, but not as complex as the dragon's.

There he is! She thought and sent a message out through the impossible words on the wall to him.

The Doctor watched as the word he had been studying for the past who knows how long changed again. He squinted at it, trying to make out what it said.

'Doctor…'

He watched as the word flashed and changed again.

'Be careful…'

It changed again

'I'm coming to find you…'

"Now that's weird" he muttered, "no, scratch that. This is just downright creepy."

"What is it Doctor?" Ida asked

"It knows my name…" he said, sounding quite terrified at the thought "odd, impossible words on the wall know my name. Or whoever's controlling them does. And it's coming to find me."

It changed again, glowing brighter as it did so 'this way'

"And it's telling us what way to go…" he turned to Ida "do you think we should follow it?"

She shrugged "maybe it will lead us to the central cavern, we do seem to be lost."

"Or it could lead us to our dooms…" he mused "shall we go find out?" He got up and started following the path of the glowing words, Ida at his heels.