"This is where you've always been heading Time Lord and you know it." The Demonic voice laughed.
"To tell you the truth I never knew where I was going. That's what made it so fun." The Doctor replied.
Suddenly a ball of flame appeared just above the console. The Doctor tried to run away, but the flames quickly shot a bolt to right in front of him. The flaming sphere then started to form a humanoid shape with horns and cloven feet, before taking on an actual physical, humanoid form.
The creature had a furry, pale body, goat like legs and two very small horns on either side of its head. Its eyes were bright green, whilst its features were long and sharp. Its teeth were small and jagged. Finally its actual speaking voice was very different in its natural form. It was more high pitched, yet somewhat softer sounding.
"I wanted you to see me as I truly am, for I was once like you, Doctor. My name is Pan, and I am a member of the Olyscias Federation."
"The Olyscias Federation?" The Doctor said in disbelief. "They fell over 2000 years before the time period those villagers came from. You've been suffering in that monsters prison all that time?"
Elena came bursting through the door, carrying Yarox who was still weak after his ordeal.
"What's going on Doctor we've." Elena froze when she saw both Pan and the image on the scanner.
"Don't worry I'm not him, though you'll meet Scratchman soon enough, or the Devil or whatever you primitives call him. I am Pan, a once noble intergalactic traveller like your friend the Doctor here."
"Doctor what is he talking about." Elena asked.
"He claims to be from the Olyscias Federation. They were a collective of a number of highly advanced beings who sought to elevate other races across the universe to their level. They'd visit planets, fix whatever problems they could, and share their knowledge with them. They visited earth I believe many centuries ago. They helped lay the foundations for the Ancient Greeks society. Pan from what I remember was something of a renegade, who enjoyed being worshipped on whatever world he came too as a god, without doing much to help the natives."
"Those stories were exaggerated!" Pan fired back.
"Still" He continued. "It is true to some extent that I was a bit of a vagabond in my younger days, but then aren't we all? Remember I've peaked into both your memories, Doctor, Elena." They both looked away a little bit embarrassed and hoping Pan wouldn't reveal more.
"In my later years I truly tried to make amends for my selfish behaviour, and that's what got me trapped in here. My people, when we stayed on earth we detected that certain human minds were being drained by a mysterious force. With our superior technology we traced the dimensional rip. Several of us travelled to Scratchman's realm to try and save the human souls, but we ended up as the servants of Scratchman instead. Hades was once the proudest of our warriors, and now he serves Scratchman, ruling over the darkest pit of this hell. We were far from the only aliens ever to visit this planet to try and stop Scratchman. Thousands of advanced life forms have detected his presence, and the rip to his dimension. In fact the earth has a reputation in certain corners of the galaxy for being the home of Scratchman. The earthlings are pitied more than any other races across the galaxy as a result. Poor primitives have no idea that the hardships for life are nothing compared to what awaits so many of them in the beyond. Many alien species have visited the earth to try and sever Scratchman's connection to it, stop him from entering his world, some have tried to harness the power from his realm for their own purposes. All now either serve him or lie at the bottom of that molten lake, screaming forever. Many have entered humanity's mythology of course. The dark knight? He was once a noble alien warrior who came to earth to stop the ultimate evil. Scratchman not only killed him, but made him a kind of messenger, who takes people to hell from the earth, before their deaths. Charon? Once a brave daredevil, fighter pilot in the Hesrika league, now the humble ferryman of the dead."
Pan needed to stop a minute. It seemed that for all his bluster, deep down there was perhaps still a trace of the good man he once was, or had tried to be, trapped under the monster he had become.
"This is what awaits you Time Lord. I just hope that when he makes you his new servant, he finally releases me." Pan said before vanishing into a puff of black smoke. The two TARDIS doors soon opened, and despite his best efforts the Doctor wasn't able to close them. All of the TARDIS's systems appeared to be dead or at least locked.
"Well I guess we'll have to play Scratchman or Pan's sick game for now." The Doctor said to his two companions as he headed out onto the red, barren landscape. Though the Doctor was terrified, he really didn't need any persuasion to explore the landscape before him. No matter what the circumstances the Doctors hunger for discovery knew no bounds.
Elena meanwhile was more reluctant. She wasn't eager to see what other fears or horrors Pan or any of Scratchman's minions could cull from her mind, but she knew she couldn't let the Doctor just walk off on his own.
"If only he'd just think once before he goes off" Elena moaned to Yarox who was still weak and needed Elena just to walk.
Scratchman wanted the Doctor and the TARDIS brought to him separately as that way if the Doctor escaped from Scratchman's minions then he would still be stuck here. It was always better to separate your enemy from his or her weapon, the Demon thought to itself.
Outside the air of the planet was intensely hot. Elena and Yarox almost collapsed at first, whilst even the Doctor had taken rest on a nearby rock, though he quickly jumped up as it was scorching.
As the three time travellers got closer to the molten lake they could hear the moans and the screams of those trapped within getting louder and louder, whilst the sky above's flames meanwhile seemed to get darker and more unstable. Almost as though they were excited.
"I can see why Scratchman wants to leave this place. Only problem is he seems to have a bad habit of making everywhere he moves too the same." The Doctor said as he stared at something in the distance.
It was hard to make out clearly in the scorching heat, but the Doctor could see something begin to move from behind one of the rocks. It looked like a long clawed arm.
Suddenly however hundreds more creatures began to crawl out from behind the rocks, under the sand and some even emerged from the burning sky in front of the Doctor, Yarox and Elena.
There were hundreds of different types of beasts. Some resembled rotting corpses, others giant horned Demons, some were flaming figures just like Pan had been on earth. The army of monsters pushed the Doctor, Yarox and Elena back to the very edge of the molten lake.
With nothing to lose, the Doctor and Elena tried to fight the monsters, but they were hopelessly overpowered. Yarox despite still being somewhat weak from the torture also did his best to help his friends. The three time travellers were pushed towards the very edge of the cliff over the molten lake.
"Stop, the master wants to speak with the Time Lord personally."
The Doctor looked up to see a small, cloaked figure emerging from the crowd of abominations. Its face was green and rotting, whilst its teeth were small and very sharp.
"My dear Doctor, I hope you haven't been made too uncomfortable." The figure said in a seemingly sincere and polite tone.
"I am Charon, the ferryman of the dead. I will take you across the lake in my boat."
"Boat? I thought it was a raft the Doctor said.
"It used to be, but hardly anyone would ever make it across. The souls would pull them in. Even with the boat, so few people make it across. I keep telling Scratchamn to upgrade, but to be honest I think that's the point. Don't worry though, he really wants to speak with you, so you should be safe."
"Safe? I'd rather take my chances in the lake." The Doctor said.
"Well, to be honest so would I, but you can't fight the master. You can't fight him anywhere, but certainly not in his domain."
With no other choice, the three time travellers headed across the burning sands to a dock where there was a single vehicle parked. What looked like a large, strange, purple boat, shaped like a cone, with a hatch opening up at the front.
"It's from my home planet, or rather its meant to look like it." Charon said.
"Nothing like a little piece of home eh." Yarox replied somewhat nervously.
"Not at all. This is the boat I died in. It was ripped apart by one of Scratchman's monsters, the Kraken, that he sent to terrorise the earth."
"Oh god, I saw that creature. I had a brief encounter with it back in the village. That was enough." Elena mentioned.
"It's continued to kill me many times since. The Kraken actually lives in the lake. Often it will tear this ship apart and throw the souls into the lake, before devouring me. I always reappear back in the harbour however, waiting for the next group of souls and my next death."
"I'm sorry." Elena said.
"It's okay, I no longer fear death. How could I when I've died hundreds of times already. It's the waking up bit after that's the worst. I just hope one of these days he lets me rest."
The inside of the ship was dark and dank and filled with rotting corpses.
"Your latest passengers I take it?" The Doctor asked.
"No my first. They were the other members of my team when we first came to earth. We all had such high hopes that we would be the ones to take down Scratchman. Their bodies are to serve as a reminder of my failure, but I stopped caring a long time ago."
The boat sped through the lake.
"It won't take long. The masters castle is on the edge of the lake. He likes to watch the souls suffer in the morning." Charon said.
"I just can't wait to meet him" the Doctor replied.
Yarox sat at the edge of the room, away from the bodies. Once again Elena was the only one to notice his discomfort and tried to console him, whilst the Doctor kept bugging Charon with questions.
"I'm sorry Yarox, I know what you saw. I saw it too. This is the price of the life we live. The freedom, from everything, responsibility, time itself. "
"It's not that." Yarox said with regret.
"I, I wasn't strong. When those Daleks or whatever they were, the hallucinations were torturing me I, I gave in Elena. I betrayed you and the Doctor."
"We know. We saw it."
"I understand if you want to throw me off the TARDIS."
"It's not my choice I'm afraid. I don't blame you though. Scratchman, or whatever that creature conjured up your darkest fears."
"But what if those Daleks had been real? I would have told them everything. I would have happily taken them to the TARDIS just to be free from that pain. I don't think I can cope."
"Where will you go? You can't go back home. Suppose we just dump you somewhere, and then you find you can't cope there, but you have no one to help you? I admit there is still a lot about the Doctor I don't understand, but I know he'd never just leave you somewhere or give up on a friend. Also even if he did, I'd go with you."
Yarox was greatly moved by Elena's words but he still couldn't help but feel he didn't deserve her loyalty.
"Fascinating" the Doctor said loudly.
It wasn't really but he was trying to annoy Charon by distracting him with pointless questions about the ship, but the ferryman of the dead was not taking the Doctors bait.
Charon didn't seem malicious like Pan. He seemed quite laid back and even charming in some ways, but really he was more just detached from everything around him. The Doctor felt he could strike him physically and Charon still wouldn't react.
Just then the ship suddenly stopped.
"It's the souls from the lake. Misery loves company and all that. Don't worry they are easy to deal with." Charon said as he reached for a weapon under the counter.
The damned souls started to rip the hatch open. Elena and Yarox stood beside the Doctor, though he was just as defenceless as they were. Elena made sure to try and push Yarox behind her, though he tried to push her behind him. He was determined to make up for his earlier cowardice.
The creatures bodies were burned almost beyond recognition. The skin of each of the monsters was black and decaying, their eyes were burned out sockets, and their green broken teeth were exposed.
Despite this however they could somehow see very clearly and shuffled towards the Doctor and Charon.
"This weapon will take them down. It destroy's their souls completely. I don't think they want to harm us, they just want it all to be over. I'm more than happy to oblige." Charon said as he fired at the souls, burning all of them into nothing.
As soon as Charon tried to start the ship again however the Doctor seized his chance and tried to tackle the ferryman of the dead. Charon however just simply hurled the Doctor across the room. Elena next tried to use her Acturian kung fu on Charon, but she was overpowered just as easily.
Yarox next prepared to strike but Charon simply laughed at him. It was the only emotion the ferryman of the dead had shown so far.
"I have to take people across a burning lake to hell. You really think that I can't defend myself?" The ferryman asked, only for Yarox to wisely back down.
Suddenly however both Yarox and Charon were both distracted by a hideous shrieking sound.
"No it can't be." Charon said.
"It was a trap, those souls were"
Charon tried to start the ship, but before he could three hideous, blue, winged monsters descended on the hatch.
"Harpies!" Charon screamed as he tried to start the boat. The boat wasn't moving however because several more souls in the lake were holding it in place. "Incredible" Charon thought to himself. He had never seen so many souls be able to hold off the agony from being in the lake for this long.
One of the Harpies instantly ensnared Elena in its talons, whilst another tried to grab the Doctor, but Charon brought it down with one shot of his gun.
Unfortunately the Harpy with Elena quickly ascended to the skies above the lake. Charon couldn't fire on it now without sending Elena into the lake of fire. She was in those monsters custody.
The Harpy's talons tightened around Elena's shoulders enough to draw blood as the Cyclops struggled to break free. Elena's constant fighting very nearly caused the Harpy to lose her balance and go tumbling into the lake with the time traveller in tow.
"I'm here to help. Keep on with this and we'll both end up in the lake." The Harpy shrieked. Its voice was so high pitched, Elena almost couldn't make out what it said.
Elena didn't trust the Demon, but she realised it was pointless to keep fighting the beast. Wherever the Harpy was planning to take her, it couldn't be worse than the pit, she hoped.
"We have to find her" The Doctor pleaded with Charon.
"Trust me, she's better off with those Harpies than you both are. Either these souls will tip the boat, or worse you'll end up where I'm supposed to take you." Charon said.
More and more of the souls kept climbing over board whilst hundreds of the ghosts gathered round the bottom of the vehicle and started to try and pull it down.
"We're sinking, quick shut the hatch." Charon shouted as he tried to operate the controls.
The Doctor was able to seal the lock with his sonic screwdriver before dozens of the damned souls could enter, though unfortunately three of the Ghosts had managed to crawl into the ship itself during the commotion. One of the Ghosts literally phased through Charon from behind, and then wrestled his gun free, before throwing it to the floor. When the Doctor tried to reach it, one of the creatures floated in front of the weapon at a tremendous speed.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
At the back of the room the Doctor could see the Ghost that had attacked Charon toss his body to the ground.
He wasn't sure if the legendary Ferryman of the Dead was alive or not, and he didn't particularly care.
Yarox meanwhile again in a sign of bluster to make up for his earlier showing, tried to attack one of the Ghosts, but the Doctor held him back.
"They've been burning in a lake of fire for thousands of years. I don't think we will be able to hurt them with our fists." The Doctor said.
"Well what are we going to do." Yarox asked.
"Try and reason with them"
"What?"
"You heard me."
The Doctor stood seemingly unafraid of the three ghosts who shuffled around him. In reality he was absolutely terrified, but the Time Lord hoped he could gain the damned souls trust more if he came from a position of understanding, rather than necessity.
"I am the Doctor. As hard as this may be to believe, I am not your enemy. The creature who imprisoned you in this lake, he wants my vessel to escape this realm. If you kill me now, he'll still have my vessel, and he'll eventually find a way to use it to escape. If you help me, well maybe I can escape and make him pay for what he has done to you."
"We know" one of the corpses said in a feminine voice. It had obviously been a woman in life, but the body was little more than a skeleton.
"That's why we were trying to help you."
"What?"
"We are part of the last resistance of this universe against the terror that threatens yours. You don't think we'd be on the side of the monster that dropped us in the lake of fire do you?"
"Well no I suppose not, but when you're burning in a lake of fire you might not always be able to think straight." The Doctor replied.
"Charon said that the lake turns you into monsters? Granted he's not the most trustworthy source, but." The Doctor said only for the ghost to interrupt him.
"He's right. The fire burns most people's identities away until they're nothing but animals. Some of us however endure through the fire, for whatever reason. Love, hope, or a desire for vengeance against Scratchman. One in every million souls condemned to that lake, still remembers who it is, though only one in every million of the souls who remember, is not driven completely insane, like those Scarecrow's that attacked your dimension. Eventually those of us who kept our identities decided to get together to protect ourselves. That's when the Harpies contacted us."
"They didn't seem to be too friendly." Yarox said.
"Trust me they are the good guys. They are the last of what was once a mighty race in this universe. One every bit as advanced as yours Time Lord."
"Ah so you know about me then." The Doctor said, trying not to look too prideful.
"The Harpies do. They've been fighting Scratchman for a millennia. They wanted to help you escape. It was our job to keep the Ferryman of the dead occupied long enough for the Harpies to get you to their command. Trust me, given the dangers that exist in this lake, even that was a tremendous task. Sadly we failed. If the Harpies were to return now they'd be swamped by the other souls in the lake. They'd never get you to safety in time."
"Well if you'd just explained then I'd have been happy to go with you. Still we're not entirely blameless. I should have learned by now after 10 lifetimes, not to judge people by their appearances. Is there any way we can contact the Harpies?" The Doctor said.
"No I'm afraid not. It won't be long before Scratchman's most heinous minions will be here. We have to escape to Ammit's cave." The leader of the Ghosts said.
"Ammit are you insane?" Another of the other Ghosts replied.
"Not even Scratchman's most dangerous Demons will dare follow us in there. Only Scratchman himself would, but he's too lazy to attack right away. Ammit's cave might give us the time to formulate a plan."
"Assuming Ammit doesn't eat us all right away?"
"That's a chance we will have to take. We cannot allow Scratchman to get hold of the Time Lord. You heard what the Harpies said he will do to the other universe, or rather to my universe. I come from the planet earth too Time Lord. Even I struggle to remember who I was at times, but I do know that the person I was in life did not deserve this."
"No one deserves this." The Doctor said with regret.
"Still if this cave is the only way forward then we need to get there at once." The Doctor continued as he started to examine the controls.
"I'm sorry this machine is unlike anything I've ever seen. Charon is the only one who can help us. I do hope you haven't killed him." The Doctor said.
"Not at all, he's a victim just like us. Besides if we did he'd just come back again."
"Ah of course, I can't throw stones though. I've come back 9 times already." The Doctor joked.
As soon as he awoke, Charon tried to overpower the three Ghosts who managed to restrain him.
"We need your help Charon." The female Ghost said.
"Why on earth do you think I'd help you? Don't get me wrong I feel bad for you, the little feeling I have left, but you know as well as I do, its a good idea not to cross Scratchman." The Ferryman replied.
"I also know that you hate your existence. You might try to act as though you don't care, but deep down every second you wish it would just end. You were once a hero and now you're a lap dog for an evil greater than you could have ever imagined. Worse you bring people to him every day. If you help him now, he'll keep you alive in this state forever. What if I were to tell you that I could end it." The leader of the Ghosts asked.
"I'd say you were a liar, a desperate liar who still doesn't realise that you can't fight him." Charon replied.
"We want to make our way into the Destroyers cave." She explained.
After a few seconds silence from Charon he replied.
"Then I'd say you were insane."
"It's the best place to hide for us. Ammit though dangerous is just an animal. None of Scratchman's Demons will follow us in there. It will give us time to contact the Harpies, and eternal rest for you. You know that when Ammit devours a person's soul they die for good. Even Scratchman can't bring them back."
"I'm surprised he would have something like that? Is Ammit not too merciful a creature for old Harry Scratch?" The Doctor enquired.
The Ghost explained. "He uses it to keep the Demons who are loyal to him in check. Also its been quite an effective method of torture for us too. Every second in that lake is agony, and just up ahead is a creature we know will end our pain. All of us have tried to swim towards it, but we are pulled back, either by the current or."
"Or what?" The Doctor asked.
"The Kraken."
"You don't have to tell me about the Kraken. I've tried to get into Ammit's cave a billion times, only for that tentacled monster to eat me every time. There's no way we can get past it." Charon said with regret.
"Yes there is. The Harpies have prepared a ritual that will weaken the beast. They've been working on it for centuries. We just have to chant it when it emerges."The female Ghost protested.
"What if it doesn't work? What if Scratchman." Charon said before the Doctor interrupted.
"If you will allow me to interrupt. From what I gather before this horrible mess you were once a good man. The fact that you want to be free of the life you are living now shows that some trace of him still exists. Tell me would the person you were before not take any chance he could, no matter how remote to stop a monster like Scratchman?"
Charon was silent for a few minutes before he started to work the controls.
"I suppose it can't get any worse for me." The Ferryman of the dead said.
"You'll need to tell your friends out there to let us go." Charon said to the female Ghost.
The Harpy had arrived at its destination. An immense purple mountain that looked as though it was phasing in and out. The mountain had the ability to change its location which was how it had eluded Scratchman for such a long while. Gathered at the foot of the mountain meanwhile where hordes of hideous creatures, clearly the servants of Scratchman. It couldn't remain here much longer.
There was no entrance, and the Harpy simply flew into the mountain. Elena screamed at it to stop, but before she knew it she was inside a gigantic dark cavern. Below she could see hundreds of strange creatures. Centaurs, Harpies, Satyrs, Cyclops, as well as what looked like living skeletons all gathered together in front of a colossal golden altar where a larger, blue Harpy sat.
Elena's Harpy flew her towards the larger Harpy, who was clearly in charge. In fact she was their queen.
"I am sorry we were unable to get hold of the Time Lord." The Harpy said as she lowered Elena down in front of its master.
"What about the TARDIS?" The Blue Harpy asked of its other subordinate.
"I'm afraid the platoon were ambushed by Demons and... We failed. It is in Scratchman's care now." A Centaur standing by the throne said.
"I have one of his companions. We might be able to use her." The Harpy that had captured Elena said.
"She's worthless" The queen Harpy replied, much to Elena's annoyance. Not that it cared.
"The Time Lord is the only one that matters. Only he can pilot his ship to escape from this reality. Scratchman will find him and force the Doctor to create a rip to their universe."
"The Doctor would never give in to that monster" Elena protested.
"Trust me. No one can withstand Scratchman. The Time Lord will eventually break. All is lost."
The crowd started to go insane. Their leader didn't even attempt to calm them down. What could she say?
"There must be something we can do." Elena's captor/rescuer begged.
"What do you propose? Launch a full attack on Scratchman's castle?" The leader replied.
"Why not"? Elena asked.
"Don't be fooled by our army alien." The queen snapped back, acknowledging Elena's existence for the first time. It's tiny compared to Scratchman. We'd be lucky to last a few hours, and we still don't have anything we can harm that abomination with."
"Well maybe a few hours is all we need" The lesser Harpy said.
"Like you said. The most important thing is to make sure that Scratchman doesn't get his grubby mits on the TARDIS. Our universe is done." She continued.
"Don't say that?" One of the Cyclops screamed. He was followed by cheers from hundreds of his comrades.
"One day we will be free of Scratchman, one day our descendants will celebrate overcoming that Demon."
The Harpy Queen didn't even bother to reply at first before finally admitting the truth to herself.
"If we can get the TARDIS back to the Doctor it might be a worthy cause. Tell me what happened to the Doctor when you last saw him." The Harpy queen asked its subordinates..
"Several of the damned souls we were in contact with had stopped Charon's boat, but they won't last long before either Scratchman's souls or Demons arrive" The Harpy who had rescued Elena explained.
"Still there is a chance they haven't got to him yet. We need to send more Harpies to try and find him, whilst the rest of us take the front and try and rescue the TARDIS." The Harpy Queen ordered.
"What about the Black Knight?" A Centaur asked.
"We can't afford to risk him being exposed now. If this battle doesn't work, he will be our final option, but we need to get the TARDIS. The Doctors companion is right. If we can do anything to stop that Devil from doing this to another reality, won't that be worth it? We need to take the war to Scratchman himself."
Not all of the crowd were convinced, but enough were that it might make a difference, Elena thought, though her, the Doctors, Yarox and her universe's chances were still looking very slim.
Meanwhile back in the lake.
"There it is. The cave of the destroyer." Charon said.
"Well we can't just wait for the Kraken to turn up. Come on enough dilly dallying." The Doctor interrupted somewhat nervously.
As the ship moved closer to the cave however, suddenly it was rocked by something so hard it caused the Doctor, Yarox and all of the damned souls to fall off of their feet.
Charon scrambled up and opened the hatch. Above he saw a sight that terrified even he, the man who had been killed an immeasurable number of times already.
It was the sight of literally hundreds of Demons descending from the firey skies. These weren't just any old Demons however. They were Scratchman's personal elite. It hadn't taken Scratchman long to realise that something was wrong. (This was his domain after all.)
"There's no chance we can fight those monsters off." Charon said.
"We can't just give up" the Doctor responded, only to see that all of those around, save for Yarox (who didn't really know the gravity of the situation) had done just that.
"Trust me there's no point, those Demons are the strongest force Scratchman has." The female ghost said. "It would take." Before she could finish, she and the others were quickly alarmed and delighted by the sight of hundreds of Harpies, flying towards the Demons. Within a matter of seconds the Demons and the Harpies became caught in a truly vicious battle with one another.
"It can't be?" The female Ghost said.
"The Harpies are launching a full scale war."
"They won't stand a chance." Charon replied.
Sure enough the Demons were easily dominating the Harpies in the fight. Just one of Scratchman's hideous minions was able to tear apart three of the Harpies at once. Still the Harpies at least vastly outnumbered this small army of Demons, though even then they were only able to inflict a few small casualties on the Demons. Still at least the winged creatures sacrifices were keeping the Demons away from the Doctor and the others.
The largest of the Demons kept tearing its way through the Harpies to try and get at Charon's vehicle, but every time it did, more Harpies would surround it.
Some of the damned souls from the lake also tried to join in the battle as some of the Demons and the Harpies flew closer to the lake. The very few who came in on the Harpies side were dispatched easily however.
The way Charon's ship had come had been completely cut off by hordes of Demons and Harpies fighting meaning their only way was forward now regardless.
"We have to move now" The female Ghost said. "We have to get you and your craft out of this reality Time Lord. You must promise us that when you get back to your reality, you will let the great powers of your universe know about what is happening here. Quarrantine the earth if need be to stop Scratchman from using any other unwitting alien like yourself's technology from being used by this Demon."
"I promise" the Doctor said, though he didn't really mean it. The Doctor wasn't sure about letting other life forms, including even his own people know about the earth. For all he knew it could make the planet more of a target. Other life forms could want to destroy the earth to prevent any chance of Scratchman from clawing his way into our universe. Other aliens meanwhile might stupidly come to the earth for the challenge and glory of being the one to defeat Scratchman like before. At the same time however, the Ghost was right. Unless the portal to Scratchman's realm was closed, the monster could always use any other stray alien's technology for his own ends, or even humanity itself once it reached a certain stage of development.
Still he couldn't worry about that now. All that mattered was getting the TARDIS.
"We still need to get to Ammit's cave." The female Ghost said.
"Why?" Yarox asked.
"Would you rather go through the war up ahead?"
"I'm just glad that once we get there it will be all over for me." Charon said as he headed towards the cave.
Just as Charon moved the ship forward however the Kraken's tentacles started to emerge from the water.
Charon froze for a few seconds before driving his ship furiously into the monsters arms.
He didn't even push the demonic ocotopoid back an inch. It simply enveloped the ship and lifted it off the ground.
"Akasio, Leranak, Hesial" The female ghost chanted which caused the Kraken to drop the vessel and become docile.
Charon for the first time drove the ship past the Kraken, but just before he reached the cave he stopped.
"What are you doing? We don't have much time." The Ghost said frantically.
"Just one thing." Charon said as he opened the hatch. Outside whilst the Harpies and Demons were fighting. (Or rather the Harpies were being slaughtered.) Charon spat on the docile Kraken.
"I couldn't have died for good without doing that." He said.
On the other side of the valley meanwhile, the rest of the rebellion were preparing to launch their attack on Scratchman's castle. The castle was made entirely from the bones of various creatures. Literally entire species worth of life forms had been sacrificed just for the Devils fancy palace.
Elena had joined the army advancing to the front. The Harpies did not know or even trust her, but they needed all of the forces they could get.
This was where the bulk of the army was. Hundreds of Harpies in the sky, as well as two gigantic Dragons, centaurs, cyclops and living skeletons marching on the ground.
Sadly however even after all this time, the creatures underestimated Scratchman
"There is a future for us you know." Elena said to one of the Cyclops just before the battle, who she naturally felt a certain kinship with.
"I'm from it. I know that Scratchman doesn't win. Well I know its possible that he doesn't win at least. The Doctor tells me that we make our own past when we time travel. Its always the present for us if that makes sense, but."
"Please I don't need extra encouragement. I'd gladly die 1000 times if it meant trapping that monster in here. This entire world is crumbling. Why do you think he sent his minions to bring you and the Doctor here? He is at his strongest in his castle, but even then his power decreases every day. Oh Scratchman denies it, even some of our generals deny it and hold onto false hope that one day he can be overcome. The sad truth is this entire reality has been bent and broken so much that even Scratchman can't sustain it for long. When it vanishes he'll be trapped in the eternal nothingness that this universe will become. Unable to draw energy from any other reality, any life form. We'll all die instantly, but we'll be free. A being of his power, will linger on and possibly be condemned to an eternity of torment in that nothing if we can just hold him. I'd say that's worth any sacrifice."
"Don't you want to save your world? You're happy to see your history, your culture just vanish in the blink of an eye." Elena asked.
"It vanished a long time ago, and it wasn't in the blink of an eye. Now the creature responsible will pay."
As they advanced on the castle, hordes of monsters began to emerge from all around and from every window. Some of the bones that made it up even began to come to life and form into Frankenstein's monsters made up of the bones of numerous different creatures. Under the bones were flames, showing that actually the skeletons didn't even support the castle. They were simply decorations.
Giant horned Demons of various kinds, creatures made of fire, rotting corpses, they all made up the bulk of Scratchman's army.
One of the two Dragons on the Harpy Queen's side flew down towards the horde and breathed fire on all of Scratchman's forces turning the Demons into ash, whilst the creatures made of flames dissipated.
However just as it looked as though the tide could be turned in the rebels favour, five more Dragons from Scratchman's castle emerged from the top of the highest tower. None of Scratchman's Dragons were as powerful as the two the army had managed to capture however. That had been their greatest victory against Scratchman in all the millennia they had been fighting the monster.
However whilst Scratchman's Dragons were not as powerful, they were still strong enough to divert the Dragons attention away from the forces below, causing the rebels to lose their advantage. Alone and on the ground the rebels again were no match for Scratchman's forces.
During the fight, Elena much to her shame kept to the side and tried to avoid fighting any of the monsters. It didn't take her long to realise that fighting these beasts wasn't a smart option. The Cyclops she had spoken too was killed in a matter of seconds by a large flaming Demon, having barely been able to even lift his sword.
She hoped that perhaps she could sneak her way into the castle, which is where the TARDIS most likely would be. She had no idea what she was going to do when she got there, but it was better than just getting pointlessly killed on the battlefield.
The Doctor, Charon, Yarox and the the ghosts meanwhile had successfully made their way deep into Ammit's cave before the Kraken recovered. The inside appeared to be a temple of some kind, with a completely alien design. The ruins of whatever civilisation had once thrived on the planet Scratchman had decided to make his base of operations.
On the walls were paintings of incredible creatures, either the rulers of this once proud world, or perhaps the Gods they had once worshipped. It seemed likely that Scrachman would choose a holy building as the place to keep his most vile, and feared pet.
"I don't like this. The Destroyer should be here. It's toying with us." The female Ghost said.
"I hope Scratchman hasn't killed her just to spite us." Charon replied.
As they reached the end of the cave they saw a wall of fire over thirty feet tall.
"I don't think the sonic screwdriver will get through that." The Doctor joked to try and lighten the mood.
"It's okay we have enchantments that can break Scratchman's wall of fire, we'll have to move quickly." The female Ghost said.
As soon as she started the ritual however, the ground below her started to shake, and in a matter of minutes a Crocodile's head as big as an elephant came bursting through the ground and devoured the Ghost lady in a single bite.
"Ammit" Charon said excitedly. "Peace at last."
Ammit soon burst out of the ground completely. Its body was over 50 feet long. Just as described in the myths, its head was a Crocodile, whilst its body was that of a Lion, and its legs were that of a Hippo. Its head was also covered in a large mane too.
Everyone ran from the beast except for Charon, who ran towards it.
Yarox and the Doctor only noticed at the last minute, but could do nothing to help him. In one bite, Ammit swallowed the ferryman of the dead.
The monster lumbered after the Doctor, Yarox and the remaining souls, all of whom it picked off one by one, until only the Doctor and Yarox were left.
The Doctor felt that perhaps the souls much like Charon were desperate to be free of their burden too. Had he and Yarox perhaps been misled by those Ghosts into going on this suicide mission.
Ammit smashed all of pillars and ruins as he furiously chased after the Time Lord and Yarox. Both stuck together in the confusion, though at one point they did become separated by a falling pillar. There was nowhere for them to run. Each time the Doctor and Yarox made it back the way they came from the lake, the Kraken's tentacles would rise from the depths, whilst at the other end, the flaming wall kept them out. They simply ran around in circles whilst the Doctor searched for a tiny hole and opening, but he found nothing. Not even somewhere to hide.
By the 6th time they had run around, the Doctor was so exhausted that he almost collapsed.
"This isn't the most athletic body I've ever had Yarox I'm afraid. I've maybe not looked after it as much as I should. Too much Venusian cuisine." The Doctor said through gasps of air.
"We can't give up now Doctor."
"Believe me my boy, I don't want too, but I think I'm going to pass out."
As Ammit advanced on them again, the fire door suddenly vanished and a tall, middle aged man, with greying dark hair, a handsome face and a bright orange suit emerged. Ammit instantly bowed in reverence too him.
"Watching you run away from the monster stopped being amusing after the third time, but I could never go easy on you." The man said.
"Allow me to introduce myself Time Lord. I am Harry Scratch."
To Be Continued