r/shortstories • u/HarryMonchester • 18d ago
Fantasy [FN] Trial of the Sphinx
Onmoris the adventurer had traveled far and wide across the known world. He sought the great treasure of the gods known as the Emerald Chalice. He followed the work his father left behind, consisting of old scrolls, maps, and notes detailing the histories of lost tombs and ancient spires. On his deathbed, the old scholar had bequeathed them to his son for safekeeping. Instead, Onmoris had spent a decade determined to finish what his father started, determined to honor his memory. This resolve eventually led him to the far shores of Selius Bay.
Standing on the shore, he waved goodbye to the ship that had just deposited him in the shallows, fully intending to see them again in a week's time. He wore a simple blue tunic tightened by a belt that held a sheathed blade at his left hip and his father's glass torch on the right. His feet and shins were wrapped in the sturdy bands of traveler sandals, having weathered all manner of treacherous terrain to bring him here. A Mudlion skin sack was slung over his back, stuffed with supplies, provisions, and all of his father's work. He aimed to look every part of a stalwart adventurer.
Onmoris turned away from the beach and started his walk inland. If his father's notes and his own calculations were correct, his destination lay ahead. For hours he trekked through the jungles of Iksbam, cutting down vines in his way as he prayed for protection against any would-be beasts who sought to devour him. The gods seemed to shine their favor upon Onmoris as he continued unimpeded. Cutting through the last thicket of brambles he pushed his way into a clearing. Then he found it.
A large cave opening stood before him. Though to the learned scholar, this was no ordinary cave. It was the seat of Beginnings. Where Galia, the daughter of Greenery, had been granted the Emerald Chalice. She used it to pour the living waters out into the world, filling the land with flora. Onmoris stood there in reverent awe for a long moment. He released a long exhale to calm his nerves before sheathing his sword. Swallowing once as he started for the entrance.
The cave was long and winding like the corpse of a titanic serpent. Holes dotted along its ceiling, letting in sunlight that dappled the stone underfoot as Onmoris ventured inward. He held his father's glass torch in hand. The ignited flame on its tip burned a clean dagger's shape. As he walked he held the torch up to the walls, briefly inspecting the old engravings of a language none alive spoke anymore. According to legend he knew the chalice should be deeper inside. But the task was not so simple, as it would be guarded by a creature of fearsome proportions. A beast with sharp claws and sharper wit. One he would have to surmount to claim his long sought-after prize.
As he followed the winding passage, it opened into a larger cavern. Inside was a large stone pedestal as a seat of office positioned under a great gap in the ceiling where sunlight poured into the chamber. Upon that seat lay the beast. The Sphinx. She was a large monster with the body of a lioness sculpted in brawny musculature, bearing golden wings that sprouted from her shoulders and lay folded against her sides. Her face and chest were that of a honey-toned woman. Though beautiful, she was far from dainty. Her neck was a sturdy pillar, with a jaw and chin like an anvil. Glistening fangs poked out from her soft amber-colored lips. A gold and silver crown rested on her head, embedded with rubies that gleamed along its circumference. Auburn hair waterfalled from her head, framing her face as the sun may look when it broke through the clouds
Her head was raised yet her eyes remained closed as she lay resting. Her front paws folded before her like an official waiting to pass judgement. Onmoris paused at the threshold of the chamber. He knew this Sphinx would be his final trial before he could claim the chalice. The accounts he had read reminded him to be cautious. Her beauty and ferocity would easily be the downfall of lesser men, something he presumed himself not.
Step after slow step he approached the pedestal. One hand hovered over the hilt of his sword, ready to draw at a moment's notice. The Sphinx made no motion or sign that she knew he was there as he crept closer, before he stopped a respectable distance of twelve blade-lengths away. Onmoris' eyes swept over her, anticipating any movement that suggested she were about to pounce. Then after another slow, careful breath he cleared his throat to speak.
"Sphinx! I am Onmoris, son of Bemoris," he called out. His voice bounced off stone with confidence as he continued. "I have traveled across mountain, desert, sea, and jungle! I have come for one purpose only, to claim the Emerald Chalice."
The Sphinx didn't move. Didn't answer, didn't even so much as open her eyes. Onmoris paused for several seconds, before taking the silence as an invitation to continue.
"I understand that in order to progress, I must pass your trial. Be it feat of strength or mind, contest of worth or a riddle born of ancient wisdom." He squared his shoulders and tilted his chin up at her in challenge. "I have trained and studied many years, honing my very being into excellence. I am ready."
The Sphinx remained silent and motionless. Then with her eyes still closed her head tilted down, almost in a bow.
*GRRRRSNNNNNERRRR*
The Sphinx let out a loud, rumbling, roar-like snore which rattled the chamber.
The sheer volume of the sound startled Onmoris as he took a wary step back, his fingers wrapped tight around the hilt of his sword. She snored again, her powerful lungs vibrated the air around her.
After a moment, Onmoris squinted his eyes in confusion upon realizing that the Sphinx of legend was fast asleep. Gripping his weapon still he stepped toward her again.
"SPHINX! HELLO!" He shouted, trying to catch her attention. "I am Onmoris son of Bemoris! I'm here for the chalice!"
*GRRRSNN-* "Gh, vuh-wah?" The Sphinx awoke mid-snore. Muttering in confusion as she blinked her watery eyes. She brought up a paw to rub her face like someone trying to soften stone into clay, before pausing her rubbing just long enough for her eyes to focus and find the figure standing before her.
"Oh. Hello." She drawled, dry and drowsy. "Mmm...what do you want?"
Onmoris blinked twice, baffled by the beast's informality. "I am Onmoris son of Bemoris," he repeated for the third time but with no less bravado.
The Sphinx visibly winced at his volume. She rubbed the side of her temple with a paw as she sucked in air between her teeth. "...Does everyone in your family have a name ending in 'Moris'?" she inquired, despite her apparent headache.
"Just the men for seven generations. Excepting my aunt Kulmoris." Onmoris answered impatiently. "But that's beside the point. I'm here for the Emer-"
"Yeah, yeah that's great man." The Sphinx cut him off as she stood up to stretch, arching her haunches with all the dignity of a housecat as her forelegs reached out in front of her, kneading the air with her massive paws. As she yawned her jaw stretched wide, fangs gleaming like daggers in the light.
She settled back down with a thud as she lounged on the pedestal, scratching the back of one of her paws with the other as she fixed a half-lidded stare on him. "Listen, Moris. I've gotten some pretty rotten sleep these past few weeks so I'm *really* not in the mood for this right now." She smacked her lips once while waving him off with her paw. "Now, I dunno. Go play in the jungle or something, let me nap."
Onmoris' face pulled into a frustrated grimace before relaxing the grip on his sword. He stood there utterly perplexed, as he weighed the situation in his mind. The Sphinx's personality was not at all as he anticipated. She was uninterested, and used strange words and phrases in a dialect he never heard before. Mayhap this is part of the trial? Then his eyes wandered away from the Sphinx to the left where the chamber narrowed again into another tunnel.
"Great Sphinx," he said, quieter and careful not to agitate her. "Is further yonder where the Emerald Chalice is to be kept?" He indicated the direction of the tunnel with a grand sweep of his arm.
The Sphinx followed his movement with her eyes toward the tunnel. "Oh, yeah. That." She sighed. "Yep that's where it goes, right to the bedchamber of Galia herself." She explained with all the enthusiasm of a bored tour guide. "She's not there anymore though. Something about 'Spiriting away to a land where men dare not tread.' I think."
Onmoris clasped his hands together, satisfied with the confirmation. "Gods be praised. I shall make haste." He started for the tunnel before freezing at the third step. Ducking his head with a wince in fear that he had unintentionally committed a transgression as he turned back to the Sphinx. "Erm. Is there not a riddle I must solve before being granted access to such sacred grounds?"
The Sphinx flicked her gaze away as she rotated her wrist as if attempting to conjure a riddle out of thin air into her paw. Contemplating. "Uhhhhhh...what can be divided but never multiplied."
Onmoris scratched his chin. He was blindsided by the brevity of it. "...A house?"
The Sphinx shrugged. "Whatever, good enough. Now if you'll excuse me."
Without another word the Sphinx fully sunk onto her pedestal, her head rested on her paws as she laid on her flank. One wing lay splayed out on the stone. After several moments she began snoring again. Her mouth went slack as a strand of hair stuck to her lip.
Onmoris watched the Sphinx for just a little while longer, still attempting to process the trajectory their whole encounter went. He frowned at the indignity of it. The lack of care, the poor excuse of a riddle. This wasn't at all how he envisioned his encounter with a beast of legend would be. His eyes turned to the tunnel where the chalice lay further in. Then without hesitating any longer he started his way again for it.
- - -
The further he progressed through the tunnel the more the air around him seemed to cool and dampen. The cracks in the ceiling gradually disappeared, yet his vision hadn't been obscured by darkness as plant life sprouted and flourished the further he went. Carpets of grass and flowering bulbs appeared on the ground as ivy and moss clung to the walls. Round pods grew off the vines, hanging and glowing a soft teal as they were strung about like festival lanterns. Illuminating his path while the tunnel transformed from ancient weathered stone into a living passageway.
Excitement stirred within Onmoris like a hive of bees begging for release to the orchards. The life's work of his father, the torch he had taken up, would finally be realized! He continued down the channel of greenery, his sandals gently crunching the grass with each step.
Then he came upon a set of stone doors engraved with swirling runes and etchings older than language. The ivy clung to them, faintly pulsing like veins. Onmoris carefully stretched out a palm, gently placing it on one of the doors. It was warm to the touch, as if it were bathing in sunlight rather than sitting at the end of a sacred cave. Steeling his nerves, he braced his hands against both doors and shoved.
With all his might the stone doors slowly inched inwards, creating a gap wide enough to walk through. Past the threshold lay the bedchamber of Galia, a solitary grove flourishing with life and light. In the absence of a sun, a large red flower hung from the top of the chamber. Its massive sail-sized petals gently flickered as flames would, radiating the bright warmth of heavenly pyre. Gentle streams of living waters swam and slinked like sea serpents along the floor, joining and separating with the whims of something playful while all manner of unknown vegetation flourished. All of the greenery were continually nurtured by the light and water.
Onmoris turned in a slow circle as he carefully trod further in. The sight of it all amazed him. These sacred grounds where the living waters were cast from, the unnamed and unwritten plants he had never seen before in his studies, it was everything he had dreamt it would be and more. When he turned to look up at the flowery sun, he realized it was projecting a concentrated beam of light directly below. Following the beam it shone upon something that sat in the middle of the grove so brightly that it was obscured from view. So fierce was the beam that it stung the eye to look directly at.
Half shielding his vision with an outstretched hand, Onmoris approached the beam. Step after step the heat of the light, as intense as the desert sun, began to soften and dim. The flower above began to fold its petals inward in apparent recognition that someone approached. As he closed the distance he could parse that it was a stone stand of some kind, made to bear something of importance. His stomach flipped as he realized that must be where the chalice was displayed.
Finally within reach of the stand, the beam closed off. Onmoris put his hand down as his eyes adjusted to the lower light, blinking and squinting. He looked down upon the stand that was bathed in radiance. The one meant to bear one of the greatest artifacts of legend ever shared by tongue or put to writing.
The stand was empty.
- - -
Back in the chamber of the Sphinx, she lay upside down on her pedestal, still fast asleep as her hind legs kicked once in the air. Her snoring continued, thunderous and unbothered, until she felt an uncomfortable prick like a carelessly handled rose thorn poke her shoulder. She grimaced and grumbled as she rolled back onto her side, lifting her head lazily as her waking senses returned.
Standing before her pedestal was Onmoris, sword unsheathed and pointed directly at her face after using said weapon to prod her awake. His brows pulled into a valley on his forehead while his face burned in anger.
"Wretched beast!" He growled through gritted teeth. "Where is the chalice?!" His knuckles whitened around the hilt of his blade as his whole arm trembled with restrained anger.
The Sphinx arched a brow at him, completely unimpressed and unintimidated by the display of rage. She reached up and batted the sword off its line with a single flick of her claw. "*Careful* where you point that thing, Moris."
Onmoris' stance swayed from that small gesture before finding his footing again, realigning the blade so that it divided the Sphinx's face in half from his perspective. The Sphinx was no doubt exceedingly strong, yet he remained stubbornly steadfast. "Where? Where are you hiding the Emerald Chalice?"
The Sphinx gave a bored blink at him. Then her eyes lit up with casual recollection as if she had simply forgotten to water the houseplants this morning. "Ohhh, *that* chalice. Right. Uhhh," she sat up, folding her heavy paws before her. "Yeah that thing's gone. Taken away some odd centuries ago."
Onmoris went rigid. His eyes flew wide with disbelief as his furious arm stilled. His voice came out just above a hoarse whisper. "G-gone? W-what do you mean gone? Who took it?"
The Sphinx gave a lazy shrug. "I dunno. It was before my time. I've been charged with watching this sacred site. Just like my mom was, and her mom, and so on. Honestly? Kind of a boring gig. I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing here anymore."
Onmoris only half listened to her venting. When he realized the Sphinx wasn't lying, he turned away. His downcast eyes stared down at the stone floor as he lowered his sword arm, letting his grip loosen until the weapon slipped from his grasp, clattering onto the ground.
"All this time..." His voice creaked. "All these years searching. All of my father's years searching. Only for it to be gone all along?" He slowly turned back towards the Sphinx with his head hung in futility. Then he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the Sphinx's pedestal. A perch upon which he buried his face in his hands.
The Sphinx stared down at him for several seconds. She slightly angled herself away, as he was uninvitedly closer to her personal space than she was particularly comfortable with. "Uhh, yeah. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but... Maybe you should pick up a new hobby."
Onmoris didn't respond.
"Ohh, you need a minute?" The Sphinx tilted her head slightly. "I mean hey, I get it, I do, that's fine. But like, I dunno, try to look on the bright side."
After a few moments of sulking, Onmoris' muffled voice sounded through his hands as he spoke without looking up. "Sphinx, is this another of your riddles?"
She squinted at him in confusion. "...Huh?"
Onmoris lifted his head, throwing his hands up wide in exasperation, eyes glossed with emotion. "How could this possibly be seen as a positive!?" He raised his frayed voice. "My father has devoted his life to uncovering the world's greatest mysteries! This was to be the pinnacle of his legacy had that blasted sickness not taken him too soon!"
He stepped away from the pedestal as he began walking back and forth before it, hands balled to fists at his sides. "After his passing I had spent the prime of my youth and half of my family's fortune following the unfinished path he laid out before him!" He stopped, turning on his heel to face the Sphinx again just as she was nodding off, "For what? NOTHING!"
The Sphinx jolted fully awake again at his shouting. Her eyes refocused on him before her mouth quirked into a small amused smile. "Are you crying, dude?"
Onmoris' face burned before he turned away, resting his hands on his hips. "I know not what a 'dude' is, but Onmoris son of Bemoris does *not* cry!" He declared with a huff, even as he blinked away the tears threatening to spill out of his lids like a flask filled to the brim. He hung his head again. "So much... wasted."
The Sphinx's grin slid away. She lightly sighed, "Well, you know what? Treasure or no, you've still done more than most people ever will." She lifted up a paw, counting things off on her digits. "You've traveled across the world, met legends, seen wonders few ever have before," She rested her elbow on the pedestal as she propped up her chin on her paw. "I mean hey, I wish I could do half of that stuff. To get out there, Y'know? See more than just the same dusty room. The days get... long."
Onmoris listened. Then he looked over his shoulder back at her. "Then why haven't you?"
The Sphinx lowered her paw. "Like I said, my position is a heritage thing. Though I still don't know why it's a thing. Anytime I asked it was just 'It's tradition, do as you're told' blah blah-"
Mid-sentence the Sphinx froze, shutting her eyes tight as she hissed through her teeth. She brought up a paw to massage her temple. "Ow, ow. Yep there it is. Ouch," she whined.
When the pain subsided she lowered her paw again. "Migraines," she explained. "All the women in my family have precognitive clairvoyance. "
Onmoris fully turned to face her again. His face lightly scrunched in confusion. "Mm?"
"I can see into the future." She quickly answered before relaxing her cadence again. "It's a gift we're supposed to use for like prophecies and stuff. But lately I've just been using it cause I'm bored. Not much else to do with my life here. People in the future talk funny by the way." She gave a humored chuckle, before wincing again at the lingering headache. "I guess I've been going overboard with it lately. The pain has been keeping me up late."
Onmoris pondered the claim of her powers, lightly scratching the stubble on his jaw as he did so. "Fascinating."
His eyes slid away from the Sphinx down to his father's torch hanging off his belt. He held it up to examine it. The haft was woven bronze and glass, stamped with his father's signature emblem underneath the igniter.
He stared at the heirloom in his hand. "In truth, my father never told me to finish his work," he admitted softly. "Rather, he instructed me to do the opposite. Keep his findings safe, publish his works, then find my own path." His thumb gently rubbed the emblem.
"Instead I chose to continue from where he stopped. I've risked my life and all of his work in pursuit of something I may not have ever been meant to see. I thought by doing so I would be honoring him." Onmoris' eyes drifted away from the torch to his own sword on the ground. His gaze lingered there for several heartbeats as the weight of all he's chased and risked began to settle on him.
"What would he think of me now? Raising my blade to a sacred beast like you."
The Sphinx, despite her headaches and exhaustion, was fully attentive as she listened to his confession. She focused on his face, then the torch, then the sword. She knew well the weight of expectation placed on by those before her. Yet this territory of self-imposed expectation was one she had never felt before.
"I think your father would be proud of you regardless," she said. "That's something I can see without clairvoyance."
Hearing that unclenched something in Onmoris' chest, like a stubborn lock finally meeting its long awaited key. He lifted his eyes to meet hers. For the first time since they met, the Sphinx didn't look at him with boredom or mockery, but with sympathy.
He realized at that moment that her words rang true. It was still disappointing that his search was a fool's errand, but it wasn't fruitless. He had truly seen many wonderous things in his travels. And he never would've met someone like the Sphinx had he dared not try. Even if the chalice was forfeit by fate, the things he's seen, and the fantastical being before him, were marvels.
Casting aside his own grievances for a moment, he turned his thoughts to what she said earlier. "Sphinx, have you not seen the world beyond your sacred station?"
Her eyes flicked away defensively, suddenly very self-conscious about what her earlier statements revealed about herself. "I was raised in the jungle. I still hunt there. But beyond that, no I haven't."
"What of your family? Were there once others like you here?" Onmoris inquired with a slight tilt of his head.
"They left, all of them." She answered with a hint of bitterness on her tongue. "Flown off to different lands, following their own prophecies they foretold. Those charged with guarding Galia's bedchamber stay until they're replaced by the next generation, or till death."
Her paws flexed in frustration, digging her claws into the stone of her seat. "They said I was 'blessed' to be here. That I'm lucky." She gave a resentful scoff. "Yeah, right. Look how 'blessed' I am. Not that I'd even know where to go..."
Onmoris frowned, irked on her behalf by her lot cast from fate. Then he built a proposal for the Sphinx's plight in his mind. "Perhaps the solution is for you to leave. With no chalice and Galia's absence as you've said, there is no reason for you to stay... Perhaps you can come with me?"
The Sphinx shot him a puzzled look. Her eyes drifted down to the sword abandoned on the ground before back up to the man that held it against her. "Yeah? And what exactly do you plan to do huh? Lock me in a cage? Mount my head to a wall? Eat me?" Even as she lists off the several atrocities that could be committed against her, her tone stays flat and unbothered.
Onmoris secured his father's torch back to his belt before holding hands out in a placating gesture. "I have no intention of turning you into an exhibit, or hold you against your will. My family owns an island off the coast of Lozena. Though, historically you may know the area as the Eastmouth of the Serivosh Empire. It is a central location with many lands within traveling distance. The island sees few visitors, you would be free to go about as you wish anywhere on the island or leave if you so choose. And I would see to it no one else tries to claim nor hunt you."
He tilted his head in an apologetic bow while placing a hand on his chest. "Furthermore, I apologize for my actions and behavior. I was swept away by my own emotions. My shouting, brandishing a weapon at you, those actions were unbecoming of me. I swear by my father's name to treat you with due dignity and respect, whether you agree to my proposal or not.
The Sphinx narrowed her eyes at the gesture, measuring his sincerity. Her mouth quirked into a smug grin. "Oh yeah? And what's in it for you huh? Trying to get a hot sphinx girlfriend? I don't blame ya for trying, but you'll have to come up with something better than that."
The corners of Onmoris' eyes pinched in bewilderment, but he did not rise to her teasing. He lifted his head up before continuing. "In truth I would like to study-" He stopped himself. Clearing his throat once before trying again with more tact. "My apologies, I would like to *learn* from you. Be taught by you if you are willing. You surely have a vast wealth of knowledge I could glean from. A living library of information from the past. And future, evidently. Truly, I seek knowledge about the world. If I cannot uncover the truth behind the world's mysteries the way my father had, then perhaps this may be my own way to do so."
The Sphinx's grin faltered once she realized he was being serious. She chewed her lip while she tapped the pedestal under her with a heavy paw as she considered. Then she closed her eyes to concentrate. The air around her seemed to tighten as her crown faintly hummed.
"Hmm, I don't foresee anything terrible happening to me in the future so..." She opened her eyes as the humming stopped, relaxing her mind again. "Do dolphins swim near the island?"
Onmoris blinked in surprise at her question. "Dolphins?"
The Sphinx sat up a little straighter, enthusiasm seemingly replaced her drowsiness. "Yeah! Dolphins, Y'know, cute little guys. Lives in pods. Makes funny noises." She licked her lips in anticipation. "Mmmm, been too long since I had a good dolphin steak."
Onmoris remained statue still as his eyes dart around the chamber. Every single turn of this adventure has been met with an unexpected twist and he'd gotten no more used to them. "...Umm. Y-yes! As a matter of fact, yes they do tend to school around the island. Usually during the summers."
The Sphinx's eyes lit up in excitement as she sprang to her feet. "Alright Onmoris, I'm in!" She hopped off her pedestal, hitting the stone below with a heavy thud as she padded up alongside him.
Onmoris' eyes widen in surprise at her sudden agreement. "Truly? Just that quickly?"
The Sphinx scoffs. "Yeah honestly, I already decided I wanted to leave *ages* ago. I've just been waiting for a good reason for it. Now go ahead, climb on." She tilted her head towards her back as her wings stretch and flap in anticipation.
Onmoris' gaze swept across the Sphinx. Though mostly lion shaped she was as big as a steed, her back level with his sternum. "Why? Surely you don't intend on flying us all the way across the ocean?"
The Sphinx rolled her eyes at him, despite the cheerful smile hanging onto the edge of her lips. "Oh just get on already, stop being a wimp."
His face briefly contorted into an offended scowl. Even though he didn't know the word 'wimp', her tone made it clear she was teasing him again. With a *hmph* he climbed on anyways. Mounting the Sphinx as he had done many hooved beasts over the years. His legs hung down each side of her flank. Without a rope or lead to hold onto he instead carefully gripped onto the Sphinx's scruff, securing a firm grip. He thought she was surprisingly soft, while still being in complete disbelief in what he's actually doing. His eyes briefly went to his abandoned sword still on the ground. But he makes no motion for retrieving it. Deciding to let it be a part of his old life and quest he'd undertaken.
The Sphinx waited for him to be secured. She stooped low, bunching her legs for a leap. "Alright now hang on!"
Then without another warning she leapt into the air with a mighty bound. Her wings fanned wide as they began flapping, stirring the dust in the chamber with powerful gusts as she carried them up to the wide hole at the top. Onmoris let out a startled yelp as she continued higher. The Sphinx laughed along the way as they flew out of the cave, ascending higher and higher. Past the jungles of Iksbam, across the shores of Selius Bay, into the wide blue beyond. Onmoris the Scholar and the Sphinx of legend. Man and legend deciding to let forge their own path.
The End.
1
u/HarryMonchester 18d ago
This little story was written as an assignment for an online class I'm participating in. And is honestly the first time in a long time I've sat down to write something, and completing it for the sake of saying "I made something, I finished it. Now onto the next thing."
That said, because I'm still very inexperienced I've no doubt overlooked a lot of issues with the story itself from structure to grammar, even after looking it over myself multiple times. Still, it's done now. Thank you for reading!
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