#tsete

Her light frame tiptoed down a dimly lit hallway. Blue orbs of light flitted in sconces against the walls. The hallway was far longer than she had imagined. It seemed only a dozen or so paces from end to end. No matter how long she walked, she could not reach the doors. She huffed in frustration, one of her mother's spells must have been used to safeguard the archives. Sisi wasn’t patient enough to master spells like her mother. She was more of a brute force kind of girl. She decided to outrun the magic, but It was to no avail. Only now, did she realize she hadn’t moved at all. She glanced back at the entrance of the hall, and she was no closer into the hallway than she had been when she first started walking.

A memory of her father walking down the hall came to her mind, almost as if called on. He had been talking to her mother somewhere else in the house. He chuckled at a comment she made as he backed down the hall.

“Ah!” Sisi turned around and began to walk backwards. Finally, her small wings brushed up against a pair of doors. “You are not he of the metallic flight, nor she of the waves. Who are you?” A soft voice whispered to Sisi. It took her by surprise. “I am S-” She paused, and thought before she spoke again. “I am she of the songs.” Sisi had worried about revealing herself, to what seems to be another protective spell. “He did not grant you access, nor did she. You of the songs, answer or be restrained.” ‘Crap’ Sisi thought. ‘Not a riddle, please, not a riddle.’ “Two are born of the same mother. They are born on the same day, the same year, the same time. The two are not twins. How can this be?”

‘WHAT?!’ Sisi thought in absolute frustration. ‘A riddle?’ She clenched her fist. Sisi knew not to answer incorrectly. The incorrect answer to anything a sphinx, or a sphinxes spell could lead to death; or worse. ‘Hnng, they are twins! They have the same mother, the same birthdate and time, two of them. They are twins! What else could they be?’ Sisi plopped herself down on the floor. The spell that protected the door gave no clues, not even another whisper. It simply waited for an answer, wrong or right. Sisi, brows furrowed, thought about her classes. She tried to remember anything that might help her understand. ‘Aha! The Rhyder brothers!’ “They are triplets!” Sisi spoke proudly, as if she had the answer all along. When the spell did not answer her, she began to worry. “They are triplets, all born at the same time, to the same mother, on the same day of the same year. Or quadruplets... Quintupl-” The door clicked, interrupting her other possible takes on the same answer. She reached a hand out, and pressed firmly. The cold stone of the heavy door gently swung open without much force. Magic seemed to hum to life as she entered. Gentle warm light filled the chamber. Books lined every wall, shelves seemed stacked in on themselves. A reading table sat at the center of the chamber. She was lost the moment she took a step. So many choices before her, her first adventure in this chamber was about to begin.

It had found her, or her it, a black and gold spined book. It was thick, old, and heavy enough to make her struggle with it back to the reading table.

The book was filled with hieroglyphs, diagrams, phrases and writings in languages she’d never heard of. Still it called to her. She saw something in the nonsensical writings. There were inventions, buildings, and mentions of spells in modern languages. It seemed like this book was both old and new, ancient and modern. She hadn’t realized the golden glow that began to brighten from the pages she turned.

Sisi seemed to float over a city of gold. The buildings tore at the clouds. Flying chariots delivered people to and from. An immense pyramid stood on its top at the very center of the city; much like the one in her own city. That is what drew her closer. Into the heart of the upside down prison. Who was imprisoned there? Why? Questions and answers began to flood her mind. It was looked at her before she looked at it, long before she looked at it, the book, long before she was, long before they were, and long after.

She wanted to look away, to scream, but there was no sound. Alone, in the archive, she sat frozen in place. Gold light shone from her eyes and the book. Her fingers clenched down on the desk.

Footsteps echoed from the hallway. “My child, you should not be in here!” Sihili rushed to her little girl. When she reached out, Sisi looked at her mother. The siren froze in her place. Tears of gold dripped down from the corners of Sisi’s eyes. “No, my child...” Sihili knew everything in that moment. She saw everything. The questions that all would ask, and the answers nothing could answer. That nothing had a voice, and that everything stared back.

‘How long have they been here?’ Tsete ground his teeth together. The pit in his stomach grew. He knew what awaited at the end of the hall. There were already several servants paralysed at the opened doors to the large room. His mind was racing with thoughts, the strongest of which was ‘How much longer was Thipa going to take?’

The sphinx seemed to arrive at the thought. A tall woman, covered in a bronze shimmer, strode toward Tsete. Thipa took a humanoid shape taller than most sphinx would. Her pride and stature was hard earned, even beyond the mighty Platinum Champion.

“She found it, of all those that were after it, she is the one who found it.” Tsete could not hold his anger back any further. “Your masters have done this to my family.”

“A risk we all agreed upon, Tsete. It was you who were given the task to protect it. Let us not waste time assigning blame. Your daughter may yet be salvageable.”

“SALVAGEABLE!?” He nearly roared.

Thipa let a glare fall upon him. Her bronze eyes swirled into an aquamarine color. “What is two halves together, but not whole?” Tsete felt weak in the knees. Thipa wielded the only weapon that could so easily wound him. He was bound to answer the sphinx. “My daughter.”

“What do you really think to get back from this? This is your price.” Thipa’s eyes shifted back to bronze. “This is what you pay to be allowed to let the two of them continue to exist.” She said no more as she walked down the hallway. The siren’s spell that enchanted the hallway was no more. Thipa cast a spell and a violet light formed a transparent shield in front of her face. Each servant she passed had long since been dead. They had suffocated in their paralyzation. “Rest in knowing all, your questions have been answered.” Thipa whispered as she passed Sihili, who had met the same demise. Sisi’s cheeks were covered in a stream of golden tears, down to her chin. “My poor child.” Thipa knelt in front of the young sphinx. She flicked her wrist and the large book closed itself. Sisi’s form did not change. “It is too late then, the first has taken hold.” Thipa began to chant, she held her hands out before her. “My child, may this day be forgotten. May he who hides be forever within, and for us forever without. My child, may your tears be cleansed, my child, may this day be forgotten.” Thipa cupped her hands under Sisi’s chin. Tears dripped slowly into Her hands. She began to chant again. Time passed as her hands filled with golden tears. The spell Thipa chanted would weave the golden tears into a sheet of metal. It flattened, and warped, working the metal into a visor. She called for Sisi “This punishment is not meant for you young one. This prison is not your own. You will not be alone. May your tears be forgotten. May this day be gone.” Thipa placed the now elegant, golden visor against the child sphinx’s face. For all of Thipa’s pride, her eyes watered. Though Sisi was not a full sphinx, no child deserved such tragedy. “If only we could all forget this day.” She whispered as she held Sisi. Thipa stood with the girl in her arms. She took a moment to regain a steady breath before heading to the hall. Tsete watched Thipa carry his daughter out of the chamber. Silent tears falling from his eyes from the sight, fearing the worst. Thipa nodded, “She sleeps for now, champion. When she wakes, she will not remember.” Thipa gently handed over the child to her father. “You would do well to make a believable story. Do not let today’s actions be a total loss. The power within that book is now within her. Should that be discovered, she will be sought after. Enjoy your remaining time with her, I will return within a week to begin her training. It will be hard for her to hide the power of a Khuul.”

Tsete could only nod. He refused to take his eyes off of his daughter. “Will I ever be able to see her eyes again?” “No.”

His broken breath gave way to his sobs. “And her mother?” “Was there.”

“Gods, why?”

His heartache touched Thipa far too unexpectedly. “I must take the book to the archives.” She struggled back her own tears. “You may go say your goodbyes. I will send help, for their removal... And further arrangements.”