The Time Ring

“Mousy?”

Jeremy was worried. His sister woke up a mess and moreover, she talked about some Noli guy in her sleep. He didn’t know what that meant and the Doctor seemed to be keeping the answers for himself. However, Mousy became completely different afterwards. They didn’t even want to go back to the party. They remained in the TARDIS for precaution.

“Mouse, you scare me. You’ve been staring into space for a while now” She didn’t even glance at him nor speak. She wasn’t even blinking.

“I think it would be better if you go back to your aunt, Jeremy. Someone has to be there and cover for Mousy” The young man frowned.

“What about my sister?” The Doctor placed his hands on Jeremy’s shoulders and started to push him towards the door.

“She will be fine here. I can look after her for a few hours” Jeremy didn’t look convinced but he left anyway. The safest place was definitely beside the Doctor. He didn’t doubt the Time Lord.

However Mousy wasn’t staring into space for nothing. The view of a planet on fire really shook her up. The abandoned children, the woman who wanted nothing but save the young ones, the buildings collapsing and that guy were still fresh. She could still hear the burning sounds and the screams. She could still feel his piercing gaze. She didn’t have to close her eyes to remember her dream. She could still hear and see their entire specie dying.

“I have a few questions to ask but let’s start with something easier” she only turned her head to his direction and blinked. “I’m pretty sure that Jeremy can’t see it but I can. You have this energy surrounding you protectively” He reached out to touch it. It sent vibrations through his fingers. It wasn’t harmful. It was just new.

“Noli Aedifex” She walked closer to the Doctor and stared into his brown eyes. He had nothing swirling through his orbs. His eyes were normal. She leaned closer to his face and touched his nose with hers. The Doctor gulped. “His eyes were bright yellow and had energy swirling through them. He had so much energy running through them” He raised an eyebrow and pushed her back.

“Do you remember what he said?” The Doctor hurried to the TARDIS and started to search for that planet. Mousy sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“Unfortunately, yes” She walked beside the Doctor and leaned on the machine. “He was repeating this weird questions and called me Aedifex”

“Aedifex is the word for ‘the maker’ in Latin”

“At least we have an answer for that” The Doctor turned to glance at her and chuckled. She was going back to normal. That was a good sign.

“What else?” She hummed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Was there something significantly more important than his name?”

“That’s the weird thing. I don’t think that was his name. He told me he’s the Fear. And he asked me who was the Creator” The time lord tilted his head to the side in confusion. He didn’t know what that meant. He didn’t even know the specie she dreamt about. He didn’t recall any planetary massacre in the last few thousand years; at least not at such a high level.

“Let’s try something else” She shrugged. He walked in front of her and held her head between his hands. They both closed their eyes and concentrated on each other.

The Doctor saw exactly what she saw in the dream and even more. He saw bits of her mind that she never knew she had. He saw memories that weren’t hers and he saw his face. He got pushed back by a weird and strong force. He got thrown both physically and mentally out of her mind. Mousy ran to his side and helped him back on his feet.

“What happened? What did you see?” Her eyes were still their original color and she had the same curious glint in them. But that guy was strong.

“I think we have a problem. A really big one” She didn’t understand. She could feel the fear crawl into her soul. But, she didn’t know why she was so scared of someone she had never met before.

“The planet you dreamed is Gatoradius 7. It’s the home of Gatekeepers. But that planet doesn’t look at all like the one you dreamed about. It has too much good taste” She raised an eyebrow and stared stupidly at the time lord. That was his argument; very interesting. “Besides, their eyes don’t have an iris. That guy you dreamed about is an amazing creature” She scoffed. “How did you know his name?”

“I didn’t. I just-“ Her eyes widened. She remembered the box. It had a name written on the side. She still had the box, right? She went up to the desk but it had nothing remotely familiar on it. Her head snapped to the door. “Jeremy. That little brat took it with him!” She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. It suddenly became so hard to have a sibling.

Jeremy did, indeed, take the box with him. Once the Doctor threw the ring inside and closed the lid, Jeremy stole it. The puzzle wasn’t needed anymore. It had already been resolved. The box itself, though, was amazingly done. It was handmade, that was for sure. He turned it around and inspected it throughout. It was made out of what looked to be pine wood. It was really strong and harsh at hand.

“If this is a time ring, then the box must have kept it dormant” He hummed and leaned against the wall.

The party wasn’t over and his aunt saw him enter through the kitchen back door. She gave him a pointed look and made a sign for him to move and talk. He rolled his eyes and placed the box down. He only took a few steps when he glanced back at it. It was dangerously crowded and if someone were to see it, it would be a problem. He decided that the box itself had no role therefore he took the ring and put it on. He felt a sudden surge of electricity run through his hand but that was all.

“Let the fun begin” He had a mischievous glint in his eyes. He smirked and arranged his costume. It was time for him to have fun, too.

Unknowingly, the ring shined a faint yellow color. However, it was different than Mousy’s. It looked and felt the same but it had a different story. It was the side of a coin while Mousy’s ring was the other. Much like the sibling relationship between her and Jeremy, the rings had a deep bond with each other; one that waited thousands years to surface.

“Why are you trying to get me out?” The Doctor rolled his eyes and pushed her towards the door.

“Because Jeremy took the ring and went to the party. Therefore, we have to go too. We need to keep an eye on the second time ring” She raised an eyebrow and shook his hands off.

“Is that really the reason?” He blinked and shrugged.

“I had to take care of you for a few hours. It’s been a few hours and everything you did was murmur and hum some strange song” She frowned and walked back to the central machine.

“I hummed some strange song? How come I don’t remember that?” The Doctor watched her move around chaotically. She had no aim whatsoever. “How did it sound like? Was it pop?”

“You were staring intensely at the door and looked a little lost in your own world. Now that I think about it, you looked like you were waiting for something” She blinked and stared at him accusingly.

“So you -being the great and chivalrous man- thought I am completely fine and just wanted to go back to the party. Because I love parties” He shrugged. Now that she voiced it out it did sound silly.

“Then what about visiting some other fairy tale place and destroy it?” His tone sounded judging even if he was only teasing her. She looked offended, kind of.

“Excuse me but that wasn’t my fault. It was Jeremy who didn’t want to become Peter Pan’s legacy, alright?” He raised an eyebrow and watched her with amusement. The two siblings were companion material. Too bad they were alike and were well, two.

“Of course not. He would be dead now” She shrugged. She looked pretty indifferent now that her brother wasn’t in real danger. “You wouldn’t want that, would you?” She narrowed her eyes at him playfully and pointed her finger at him.

“You, how old are you? You should understand already how this brother-sister relationship goes. Didn’t you have siblings before? Or at least a best friend?” The Doctor opened his mouth, ready to respond but he closed it quickly. He wasn’t in the position to discuss about that. She raised an eyebrow. The atmosphere around him changed suddenly. He had some secret issue and it only made her more curious to find out more about his life.

“We should probably go back to the party” She scowled and hit the ground with her leg; like a child. He sighed. She was acting like a spoiled brat sometimes.

Suddenly, Mousy frowned. She started to feel dizzy and the Doctor multiplied after each blink.

“Doctor, why are you in three different shapes?” He raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

“You’re not getting out with only this excuse” She took a step forward and tried to keep her balance. It was quite a difficult task. She swayed for the whole distance to the Doctor. His expression changed quickly and helped her sit. “I think I’m going to faint”

“What do you feel?” He was looking at her exactly the way her mother used to: like a guinea pig. She made a funny face and slapped his face. That definitely surprised him. Her hand just flied on his face out of nowhere.

“Don’t look at me like I’m nothing” He grabbed her hand and noticed something weird. She was getting paler. “I think I know what’s going on” He stared at her worriedly. “I think that guy wants to tell me something, again. Doctor, I’m getting dragged into another dimension by the ring”

“But that’s impossible. It doesn’t have that power” She shook her head. She could finally understand the swirls of energy in the ring.

“Not if the dimension is kept inside the ring” The Doctor was left speechless. He looked at the ring and saw it glow brightly. Indeed, something was moving inside. His theory about Mousy’s body was getting more realistic. A normal human, even a scientifically modified human, could not become energy and be transferred.

Inside her aunt’s house, Jeremy was experiencing the same phenomenon. He started to feel a sudden need to take a seat in a secluded area. He went into the bathroom and tried to brush it off. It was working very well. He looked into the mirror and saw something that terrified him. It wasn’t his face. Heck, it wasn’t a male.

“Who are you?” The woman inside the mirror tilted her head to the side and smiled. He rubbed his forehead. His eyes were stinging. He noticed in the mirror. The ring was shining a green color. It was getting brighter and brighter. The woman glanced at the ring.

“It’s my time now” He frowned. Maybe wearing the ring wasn’t such a good idea after all.