Story 16: The First Time Lord

“I know the myths and legends, and I know the stories that we were told as children, but somewhere in those stories is a grain of truth. The history records are lost to us, but there is something there.”



Then: The legends tell of a Gallifreyan that was the first of their kind to be granted the power of regeneration. That person became unstable and waged a war against the ancient Gallifreyans until they found a way to defeat The First and separate the energy from the host body.


Now: The regeneration energy from the First Time Lord, stored in a casket at UNIT:X HQ, is threatening to break free and escape. Such is the seriousness of the situation that the High Council of Gallifrey ask for the Master and the Doctor to work together to find a way to stop history repeating itself.


As the Master travels to Earth with Celestia, the Doctor, Holly and Lilly visit the Deadfort - the ancient headquarters of the First Time Lord, where they discover some disturbing truths about his origin.


The end is coming and sacrifices must be made for the sake of Earth and Gallfrey's future.



This is the final in a series of adventures starring James McAvoy as the New Doctor, Felicity Jones as Holly Dangerfield and Evanna Lynch as Lilly Galloway.

A Life Less Extraordinary (Chapter 10)

Chapter 10 (Back in Time for Tea)



Mortimus wasn’t quick enough.

The Nightmare swooped down, screaming from the pit of its stomach, and reached out. Its clawed hand grabbed around Mortimus’s neck and pulled him into the air before finally releasing him. As it released him its talons ripped through the flesh on his neck and his body fell to the ground with a sickening thump.

“No,” said Holly, running to his side immediately.

Blood poured from the Keepers wounds, a pool of sticky red forming around the man’s head.

“Go,” said Mortimus, reaching up for her and pointing to her wrist. “Go…”

Holly looked up. The Nightmare had swooped over the trees, just out of view of the funeral procession, and was making another dive – this time it was aiming for her.

She had no choice. She could see the Master striding across the car park, heading for her other self. She could see her second self hiding behind the bushes. Time was in flux. She ran as fast as she could. She could hear the Nightmare soaring through the air behind her. She could feel its breath on her neck. She screamed out. The Master turned to look at her. Her past self turned to look at her.

The Nightmare reached out and grabbed her from the back of her neck just as she ripped the wristband from her wrist and pulled it away. She screamed in pain as multiple layers of fused skin was ripped from her wrist along with the band.

For a moment everything seemed to freeze. The wrist band fell to the floor and crumbled into a pile of blackened ash. Holly wondered if anything had happened at all. And then she felt it. The itching sensation she had felt in her wrist had turned to a burning. The burning feeling began to spread up her arm and up to her chest and before long she felt it through her entire body.

She fell away from the Nightmare and collapsed onto her back. The strange, twisted creature was writhing in agony, unable to focus on anything before it folded in on itself and disappeared in a twisting flash of light.

The Master and her past self were frozen in time, but all around her colour was fading from the world. It was turning black and white, the whites becoming whiter and the dark colours becoming darker. And Holly herself was glowing orange. The orange soon turned to white hot. She screamed out as the universe bubbled around her like a photograph burning in the flames.

And then there was nothing.



At the Zero Point India looked sadly at the Doctor, a tear falling from her eye. “She did the right thing.”

All the Doctor could do was nod before the world around them went dark.





Holly opened her eyes. The pain was gone. The black and white was gone. Colourful images flashed across her eyes.

She could hear Lilly’s voice. It sounded distant, but it was definitely her.

“...you are the best bloody thing to happen to me in ever...” She closed her eyes, fighting back the headache, “but he said he had a plan to make sure I was always with him. I’m...I’m worried, Dangerfield.”

“No he won’t,” said Holly, the world suddenly coming into focus. Lilly was lying on the floor in her strange time suit, the Doctor kneeling over her and frowning.

“I beg your pardon?” said the Doctor.

Holly felt her wrist and then smiled, a tear falling from her eye. “I’m back.”

“Back?” said the Doctor. “You didn’t go anywhere.”

Holly looked down at the Doctor and then smiled down at him. “Doctor, I have a very long story to tell you.”



Lilly was sleeping. She had pretty much passed out just after Holly had quickly explained the situation she had found herself in. It had been all too much for her. The Doctor had carried her to her old bedroom, gotten her out of the time suit, and had left her to rest.

“Will she be alright?” asked Holly, eager to reconnect with the woman she had fallen in love with.

“All in good time, Miss Dangerfield,” said the Doctor. “You and I need to go over this little adventure of yours in more detail.”



A few hours later and the Doctor and Holly were standing beside her grandfather’s grave. It was a sunny day and she could hear crows cawing in the trees. They always unnerved her. Why did they always hang around graveyards?

“And you’re sure everything is alright?” asked Holly.

“Everything is back to normal,” said the Doctor. “I checked the timeline and apart from a very small kink during the arrival of the funeral procession, none of it ever happened. The timeline reset. It was unable to cope with the changes.”

“And the Master?”

“He likely snapped back to before he left.” The Doctor shook his head. “He’ll know that something went wrong though. He’s a Time Lord. We tend to sense things like that.”

“But what’s to stop him trying again?” asked Holly, looking over her shoulder and almost expecting the Master to reappear with a gun.

“I’ve known him for a long, long time. He’s learnt not to repeat the same plans again. I always defeat him.” The Doctor smiled.

“Hey,” said Holly, “it was me that defeated him.” She smacked him playfully on the arm.

“Do you know how happy I am to have you two back with me?” said the Doctor. “I’ve missed having Lilly on board.”

“Me too,” said Holly. “We’ve got a lot to catch up on when she wakes up.”

“And we have a lot to do as well,” said the Doctor. “This stuff with the First Time Lord is worrying me.”

“And what about Zero Point? Mortimus died. Who’s there now?”

The Doctor shrugged. “I never meddle with Zero Point in case I have to. Maybe Mortimus is still there. Maybe he never left. Maybe it’s someone else.” The Doctor nodded. “The silly old fool.”

“And one more thing...India.”

The Doctor looked sad and handed Holly a computer tablet. “I’m sorry.”

Holly looked down at the tablet and closed her eyes, fighting back the tears.

“Not long after I met you she was killed in a car accident. She had her funeral back in the US a few weeks later.”

“I promised her I’d not forget her. I promised her.”

“Holly,” said the Doctor, his hands on her shoulders, “this is what the Master does. There are always consequences. He made sure that we’d lose no matter what we chose to do. He never changes.”

“But what about India?”

“India had a short life, but I’m sure she was happy. The India you knew never existed. But at least up here,” he said, pointing to her head, “you’ll always remember her. As long as you keep her in your memory she’ll never die.”

The Doctor turned to go.

“Do you mind if I stay a while?” said Holly. She turned to look back at him. “Just for a little while?”

The Doctor nodded. “Just for a little while, eh? We’ve got work to do.”

Holly nodded and smiled sadly as he wandered off towards the waiting TARDIS. Holly looked down at her grandfather’s grave and she thought of India who was now resting in her own grave halfway across the world.

The sun had disappeared behind the clouds and it was beginning to spot with rain. Somewhere out there evil was lurking, waiting in the shadows. And it was about to be reborn.



Zero Point

The room was different now. It had changed from its medieval look to a much more homely, clean look. It resembled a fashionable New York apartment. In the open plan apartment, across in the kitchen, a bag of popcorn was turning in a microwave. Across to the other side of the apartment a young woman with red hair sat and watched Holly on a flat screen television.

The microwave ‘dinged’ and the young woman got up. She looked ahead and smiled. The real her had died back in the original timeline, but this version of her – the aberration that had been trapped at the Zero Point – had survived. She hadn’t been forgotten. She nodded and closed her eyes.

She had become the new Keeper.

India had survived.

India lived.





The End

A Life Less Extraordinary (Chapter 9)

Chapter 10 (Tears of the Future)



Mortimus sat in the armchair, his hands holding on tightly to the hot, steaming mug of tea. The Doctor, India and Holly were sat in a row in front of him, their legs crossed as they eagerly waited for the Keeper to tell them exactly what was going on with the visions.

Mortimus took a sip form his drink, the fire crackle making the four of them glance momentarily to its glowing embers, and then he raised his head.

“The stories of the Slayer-”

“I know about them,” said the Doctor, interrupting the old man. “I had a childhood, remember? The stories used to fascinate me.”

“I hear you even found one of the castles that he used to occupy?”

The Doctor frowned. “Allegedly that he used to occupy.” He looked to Holly and India. “During my 13th incarnation – the TARDIS had crash-landed on a moon called Lanix, not too far from Gallifrey. There was a ruined castle there but not much else.”

“It’s said that the Slayer planned his battles from Lanix. The books called it the Doomhouse.”

“Or the Deadfort, depending on whose interpretation of the legend you read. Personally I preferred Tosterakium’s version.”

“The one with the unicorns,” said Mortimus, remember a childhood memory.

“That the one,” said the Doctor, nodding along with him.

“Unicorns?” said Holly, a confused look playing across her face.

“None of that matters,” said Mortimus. “What matters is here and now and what we do with this timeline.”

“Well I’d quite like to know a little bit more about this Time Lord Slayer,” said India.

“Another time,” said the Doctor. “Mortimus is right – we need to look at the current problem.”

Mortimus nodded and relaxed back in his armchair a little. “How, I don’t know, but in this timeline, and in the original timeline, the Slayer is returning.”

“But he’s just a legend,” said the Doctor.

“But one that is based in the long and distant past,” said Mortimus. “Those stories come from somewhere. I can’t pinpoint exactly where he is from and what brings him back because the timelines are so clouded and confused, but I do know that in this timeline he wins. He devastates entire planets including Earth and Gallifrey.”

“You said that this timeline needed to be destroyed,” said Holly. “How would that work?”

“And why is it in danger?” said the Doctor. “Forgive me, Mortimus, but I’m the same Doctor whether I’m with Lilly or not.”

Mortimus shook his head. “But you’re not.” He finished his tea and put the mug down on the side table. “Already you have spent so long trying to hide Lilly from the Master that the Slayer’s plans have already been put into motion. If you continue to chase Lilly and bring her back you will allow it to consume you. The Slayer will use your lack of focus to launch his attack.”

“But I won’t. I promise I won’t,” said the Doctor. “I know what matters. I would never allow the galaxy to fall into chaos.”

“Wouldn’t you?” said India. “I’ve seen how dedicated and devoted to her you are. You blame yourself for how she is.” India looked at Holly. “She says that Lilly was better in her timeline – that she was healed.”

“Nearly healed,” said Holly.

“Can you remember when the Master followed us to starship Centaur? You were so eager to get Lilly away from him that you allowed the Master to kill half the people on that ship.”

“I didn’t do that on purpose,” said the Doctor. “I had to get her away.”

“Exactly,” said India. “Where does it stop?”

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but realized he didn’t have any kind of defense. It was true – he had allowed the Centaur to fall all so he could get Lilly away from the Master. He had failed those people.

“Don’t fail the universe,” said Mortimus. He sighed and shook his head. “When Holly arrived I realized I had just the weapon I needed to bring this timeline crashing down.”

“Great,” said Holly, shuffling uncomfortably, “I’m a weapon.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Dangerfield, but yes you are.” He leant forward and pointed towards her wrist. “The Doctor wanted me to re-weave you into this new timeline, but I knew that if I let the temporal energy build up it’d eventually explode, and when it explodes…”

“It’ll be like a chain reaction,” said the Doctor, staring straight ahead. “This timeline won’t be able to cope with the disruption and things would snap back, taking Holly right back into her own timeline like a rubber band.”

“I never wanted this,” said Holly. “Surely there has to be another way.”

“There isn’t,” said Mortimus, getting to his feet. “This timeline must die for the old one to be reborn.”

“I can’t let you do it,” said the Doctor, also getting to his feet. “Now I know what’s at stake I will do everything in my power to stop the Slayer. You need to re-weave Holly.”

Mortimus shook his head. “I can’t risk it, Doctor.”

“I am ordering you, Mortimus.”

“This timeline shouldn’t even be here,” said India.

“India,” said the Doctor, turning to her and taking her hands, “you know what this would mean, don’t you?”

“That everything I’ve been through will never have happened? Yeah, I know, but let’s face it; it’s not been a total trip of a lifetime, has it?”

The Doctor didn’t respond. He couldn’t respond to that.

“Why let this timeline survive when there’s a much better one out there?”

Mortimus took Holly’s hand. She looked at him with terrified eyes.

“Will you trust me, Holly?” he asked.

Holly wasn’t sure what she couldn’t trust anymore, but she did know that she wanted her world back. For once she realized that the Doctor was wrong.

“Holly, please…” said the Doctor.

Holly looked between the Doctor and India. “I’m sorry, Doctor, but the Keeper is right. Lilly was better, you were better and you were focused. If it means the universe will be better off then I’m gonna have to go with your bearded friend here.”

The Doctor turned to face the pair and puffed his chest up. “And I can’t allow that.”

“I’m afraid the decision has already been made.”

Holly looked between the two Time Lords – one her friend, one a stranger – and for the first time she didn’t trust the Doctor. She was fearful. Was this the dark side of the Doctor that was due to become obsessed over Lilly? She knew she couldn’t let that happen.

She felt Mortimus grip her hand tighter and tense up. He was going to make a run for it. She closed her eyes and then heard the Doctor yell.

She opened her eyes. India had grabbed him and knocked him to the ground. “RUN!” shouted the redhead as she collapsed on top of the Doctor.

“I’m sorry,” said Holly as Mortimus pulled her past the two of them and towards the exit.

“Just don’t forget me,” said India as they passed. “Find me!”

“I will!” said Holly.



Holly and Mortimus were standing behind the cemetery gates, the wind once again whipping at Holly’s long, dark hair. Behind them stood the familiar blue of the TARDIS. She had groaned and resisted when her and the Keeper had jumped on board and effectively kidnapped the ship, but she had relented.

Holly wondered if the TARDIS had actually known that this was the only way to protect the universe – to protect her precious Doctor.

“Why are we here again?” said Holly, keeping behind the gate as the funeral procession rolled on past again. “Why do I have to be at my granddads funeral three times?”

“Because this is the moment it all changed,” said Mortimus. “This is the moment the Master killed you and changed time.” He looked into her eyes. “It’s also the weakest point in space and time right now. There are three iterations of you here. Your original self, yourself that I sent back here and then you.”

“But I tried to stop it last time and it didn’t work.”

“I thought it would, but it didn’t. But this time all you have to do is remove the wrist band.”

Holly looked to the band. It had been itching for hours now. It was almost burning her wrist and she scratched at it. “Will it hurt?”

“Momentarily,” said Mortimus, “and then you will be back where you belong, the timelines resetting themselves.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I can’t for certain,” said Mortimus, “but this is our best shot.”

“Okay then,” said Holly, her hand going to the band.

“No,” said Mortimus, grabbing her wrist, “not yet. You have to wait for the Master to arrive.”

Holly looked at him. He was as scared as she was. She couldn’t fully trust him, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. She nodded at him in agreement, and then something caught her attention and her face turned to a look of horror. Flying in over the trees, its clawed hands stretched out in front of it, was the Nightmare.



To be concluded...

A Life Less Extraordinary (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8 (Victory to the Master)



The Keeper – or Mortimus – was frantically trying to adjust his projection device in his chamber. He hadn’t managed to get back to Holly and India since the incident outside of the car and he was worried. He’d detected numerous disruptions in time and Holly now appeared to be on board the Doctors TARDIS. He needed to get back to her. He had to make sure he escaped from this place.



“Yes, this place has certainly seen better days,” said the Master, sitting down on the sofa next to Lilly and folding his arms. “Hello, my dear.”

“Hey, Daddy,” said Lilly, smiling.

“Glad to see you’ve finally come around to my way of thinking, Illithia.”

“I’ve been on your side for some time now.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?” said the Doctor, helping Holly over to a chair in the corner of the room. “The Master shouldn’t have been able to track us. You helped him, didn’t you, Lilly?”

Lilly nodded. “Guilty as charged.”

“Why?” said India, looking more upset than she realized she should be.

“When that psycho came on board,” said Lilly, nodding towards the very pale Holly, “I realized something was up.”

“Ah, yes,” said the Master, getting up off the sofa and crossing over to Holly.

“Stay away from her,” said the Doctor.

“Take it easy, old man,” said the Master, crouching down in front of her. “Multiple time disturbances and…ooooh, what’s this?” he said, taking her arm and looking at the device. “Oh, tut, tut…”

“Apparently she’s from a changed timeline.”

“Let me guess,” said the Master, getting to his feet and grinning. “Moi?”

Lilly nodded. “Apparently you killed her. Stopped her from making me become a better person.” She pretended to stick her fingers down her mouth.

The Master chuckled. “I cannot believe you’d let a Human girl change your heart.”

“I didn’t,” said Lilly. “Lucky for me really.

“She was a better person,” said Holly, feeling herself unable to control her anger any longer. “After what she did to Caleb-”

“The kid deserved it,” said Lilly.

“Lilly,” said the Doctor, stepping forward and grabbing the Masters arm, pulling him away from his companion, “I’ve already said time and time again that Caleb was an unfortunate accident.”

“No it wasn’t,” said Lilly. “I mean to kill him, you know?” She grinned at the Doctor. “It’s just taken a while to realize that. Like it’s taken a while to realize a few things.” She looked at her father and smiled at him. “I think I’m ready now.”

“You can’t think to go with him,” said Holly. “Please.”

“When will you get it in your stupid, thick skull,” she said, bearing down on Holly, “that I am not that same stupid blonde bimbo that you met. I am his daughter.”

“So you’re just doing this for him?” said Holly.

“No,” she shouted, “I’m doing this because this is who I really am.” She jabbed at her chest. “This is the true person inside. The real woman. Illithia.”

Holly didn’t know what to say. She looked to the Doctor for some words of support, but she just closed his eyes and shook his head, a look of defeat on his face.

“That’s my girl,” said the Master, “finally back in the fold.” He took her hand and guided her towards the TARDIS doors and his waiting ship beyond. “Maybe we should go and meet your other siblings.”

“Don’t do this, Koschei,” said the Doctor, one final attempt to stop them.

The Master turned and smiled at his old adversary. “For once, my dear Doctor, you’re just going to have to accept the inevitable. I’ve won. I’ve beaten you.”

“Lilly…” the Doctor said, a pleading look on his face.

“I’ll let you live, old man,” said Lilly. “I owe you that at least.”

The Doctor’s arms fell limply by his side as Holly watched on in abject defeat as Lilly and the Master exited the TARDIS, the doors closing behind them. The doors banged shut with such a force that she thought she could hear the sound echoing around the console room over and over again.

Eventually India, who had kept quiet, stepped out of the shadows and leant on the console. “So, what now?”

“Now?” said the Doctor. “Now we get her back.”

“Doctor, that’s not going to work,” said India. “She’s gone.”

“We can still try,” said the Doctor, rushing to the console and tracking the Master’s TARDIS as it disappeared into the vortex.

“No,” said India, “we’ve been running from him for ages. Lilly hasn’t changed. She hasn’t made any effort to rebuild her life. She’s lost.”

“I won’t believe that. Lilly is still there somewhere.”

“She’s not,” said Holly, quietly from the sofa, her hand clutching at her wound. “She’s really not. India is right – Lilly has gone. The Lilly I know and love never would have done this.”

“I think I know her better than you, Miss Dangerfield,” said the Doctor.

Holly got to her feet. “No you don’t. Not the real Lilly. The real one that grew and changed. You don’t know that girl at all. That girl never existed and I can’t let that continue to be the case.”

“You heard the Doctor though,” said India, “we can’t fix this timeline.”

“Can’t we?” said Holly. She held up the wrist band. “Mortimus let me loose in this timeline for a reason. I reckon we should go and find out why.”



The TARDIS landing was much rougher than they thought it would be as the ship materialized back at the Zero Point. India poked her head out of the door and then stepped outside gingerly. “I didn’t think I’d be seeing this place again.”

“What’s up with the lights?” asked Holly, as she followed India out of the box.

“Must be connected to Mortimus trying to escape,” said the Doctor, exiting the TARDIS and locking the door behind him. “This place is looking a bit precarious.”

They made their way down the black, marble corridor, their footsteps echoing loudly as they went. Just when they were about to reach the tunnel down to the Keepers domain the lights flickered out. When they came back on Mortimus was standing there in front of them.

Holly jumped back. “Jesus Christ!”

“What are you doing here?” asked Mortimus. “Why have you returned?”

“What are you trying to do?” asked the Doctor.

“I beg your pardon?” asked Mortimus, his eyes looking between the three of them.

“Cut the fake surprise,” said the Doctor. “We know that you’re up to something. My alternate self sent Holly here to be re-woven into this new timeline. So why didn’t you do it?”

“My dear Doctor,” said Mortimus, taking his hands, “it’s so good to see you again. And suspicious as always I see.” He laughed nervously.

“Mortimus, I know you have your reasons, I just don’t know what they are,” said the Doctor.

Mortimus looked at the Doctor and then let go of his hands. He looked away and then down at the floor. He looked frustrated and scared.

“Tell us what’s wrong,” said Holly.

“I’m ashamed,” said Mortimus, unable to make any kind of eye contact with them. “I’m ashamed because I’m frightened.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being frightened,” said India.

“Frightened of what?” asked the Doctor.

“Of what I’ve seen happening to this world.”

“I don’t understand,” said the Doctor. “What have you seen?”

Mortimus took the Doctor and Holly’s hands and nodded to India. “I need the three of you to come with me.”



When they eventually reached the room Holly and India had been in before he knelt in front of the old TV set and switched it on. On the screen was a myriad of images showing war and desolation raging across various different planets.

The Doctor squinted his eyes at the grainy picture, recognizing some of them – Skaro, Earth, Gallifrey, Theen, Masker, Vorlaris – but not all of them. On each world buildings fell and fires broke out. Images flashed up of crying children and starving people.

“Switch it off,” said India, unable to watch any more.

“What is this?” asked the Doctor, turning to Mortimus, a tear already trickling down his cheek and disappearing into his white beard.

“This is our world, Doctor. This is our universe.” He crossed over to the armchair and sat down, looking utterly dejected.

“You can see all of time from this room,” said the Doctor, “so what are you seeing exactly?”

“Everything,” said Mortimus. “This is what happens to this universe if this new timeline continues to exist.”

“I beg your pardon?” said Holly.

“This universe that the Master created will become what you saw in those images.”

“What, because the Master and Lilly were reunited?” asked Holly, doubting that herself.

“No,” said Mortimus, shaking his head in frustration, “because of the First Time Lord.”

“I beg your pardon,” said the Doctor, his eyes widening.

“I’m sure you’ve heard about it. The legends of the First Time Lord. The story of the Time Lord Slayer.”



To be continued...