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But it was dripping upwards into the air.

With each drip the pool grew larger. Instead of spreading horizontally like water on the ground, the dark red accumulation hung vertically in the air. Soon it was the size of a plate, then of a portrait. Finally, when all the blood from beneath the body had been exhausted, the dripping stopped, leaving just the crimson pool suspended at head height like a mirror of red mercury. Its edges were ragged as torn cloth, but the surface appeared flat and uniform, a slight sheen visible across it.

Ìnteresting,' the Doctor murmured. He shuffled towards the shape, his movements still hampered by the shackles. Ì've never seen such a phenomenon before - I wonder what it signifies...' He reached out to touch the hanging blood, the remnants on his own fingers seeming to pull his hands closer. The pool shimmered and the Doctor stopped himself, just before his fingers plunged into the blood.

`Stay back from it!' the general ordered. He pulled the rifle from the trembling hands of a soldier beside him. 'Is this loaded?' The soldier just shook his head, eyes still fixed on the apparition.

The Doctor peered into the viscous liquid, trying to focus on something beyond its surface. 'I thought I saw a movement,' he muttered. 'There! Definitely something moving!'

Doulton dug into a discarded bag of ammunition on the ground and began loading the rifle. 'Doctor, I am warning you - stay away from that - that - thing!'

But the prisoner ignored him, concentrating instead on trying to discern the meaning of the crimson apparition. À face... I can see a face...'

`Your own reflection, man! Now step back or else,' the general warned.

Òr else what? You'll do to me what your trigger-happy men did to him?' the Doctor snapped back angrily, indicating the corpse by his feet. 'There! There it is again - a face, and a familiar one at that!'

The others stared at the visage forming on the surface of the blood, the pool reshaping itself into a perfect oval. Redness faded from the centre of the apparition, to be replaced by a woman's face. `Nyssa? Is that you?'

Nyssa gasped, surprise and delight in her voice. 'Doctor! They said I could speak to you but I didn't think it possible!'

`Nyssa, are you all right?' he asked anxiously.

`Yes, I'm fine. Doctor - it was true, it was all true!' `No, Nyssa, you're -'

`My father is here!'

The Doctor shook his head. 'No, Nyssa, Tremas is dead. You know your father is gone.'

`He isn't! He's alive, or alive again, or whatever happens in this place. And you won't believe who else is here.'

`Nyssa, please, listen to me carefully,' the Doctor pleaded.

`You must come back. You can't stay there!'

The young woman's face clouded with uncertainty. 'Why not?

What's wrong?'

Doulton finished loading the rifle and brought it up to his shoulder, taking careful aim down the long barrel. 'Doctor, step away from that devilish apparition - now!'

`No! I must warn her!' The Doctor didn't even look back at his captor. `Nyssa, I haven't got time to explain now Please, just trust me. YoùThis is your last chance, Doctor!' The general rested his finger on the trigger. 'I'll give you three seconds to step away!'

`Nyssa, you must find the way back!'

`Doctor, I can't understand what you're saying. This place, it's everything I -'

Òne!'

`Nyssa, please, just listen to me -'

'Two!'

`Doctor, I -'

"Three!' The general pulled the trigger.

Suddenly the image shattered inwards, showering Nyssa with glass and blood. She felt as though something was ripping her backwards, a vast weight invading her body, slamming into her very being. Nyssa tumbled to the ground, pain stabbing into her chest. She looked down and realised she was bleeding. Just before she passed out, Nyssa thought she could hear someone screaming. Is that my voice?, she wondered as darkness closed in. It sounds more like a man's voice...

The Doctor cried out before collapsing to the ground, his features spattered