Zenda ran forward, trying to keep her feet moving as fast as possible. A bullet of light passed by her head but she ignored it. She had to keep on going. Running on and on, she looked forward to see the mountains of Solace and Solitude looming infront of her. She remembered what Greynis had told her before he had yelled at her to run.
“Follow the mountains. Follow the mountains.” She said again and again as she neared closer. Suddenly, the barrier that had protected the Time Lord Citadel shattered, pieces flying everywhere. Zenda shielded her eyes as the blast blinded her momentarily but she continued on running right as the light faded enough for her to see.
“Follow the mountains. Follow the mountains.” She said again, only focusing on that one sentence. “Follow the mountains. Follow the-”
An explosion of some kind echoed from behind her and, before she could make out the last word, her world turned black.
She woke up to a ringing noise that echoed in her head and the smell of smoke that rose from the ground around her.
Sitting up, she pressed her hand against her forehead to try to stop the pain. “Ugh....” Slowly, she looked up at her surroundings.
“No...” She managed to say as she took it all in. The Time Lord Citadel was ruined, the barrier broken, and Dalek saucers lay crashed on the ground.
“No...This-this can’t be happening.” Zenda tried to stand up to only fall to the ground again, her head ringing even louder than before.
“The Citadel......Greynis....”
She tried to stand once more before giving up. There was no more energy left. The physical exhaustion and the mental exhaustion of seeing the place where she had lived for her whole life destroyed and her friends and family wiped from existence was too much for her to handle.
Closing her eyes, she placed her forehead against the ground and started to cry. Her sobs echoing across the desolated land.
Finally, she remembered something Greynis had told her. It was one of his teaching sayings from a few years ago that he had referred to often during that session. The words came only as a whisper but they were just loud enough for her to understand.
“Keep on going. Just, whatever you do, do not stop. If something happens, take a second to notice it and then move on. If you stay in one place for too long you’re as good as dead.”
It was an essential lesson for her because of her “handicap”. She looked at the ruins once more before pulling out a silver ballpoint pen from her pocket. The one side sent a spark flying every once in a while. Zenda looked at the damage before cursing under her breath. It was in pretty bad condition, so bad that it couldn’t be fixed. She created a small portal using her sonic pen and smiled as it expanded infront of her.
“Seems like this worthless piece of junk isn’t so useless.” She said with a tiny tone of happiness before it shattered in half. “Take back what I just said.” The pen hit the ground with a hollow ‘thud’ as she stepped through the already closing portal.
