Nightshift 29- The Sphinx's Chamber, Basement

[loyal-soldier.livejournal.com]

[from here]

TK's first impression as he stepped into the low ceilinged room was that this place was really trying too hard to impress. The gold-colored walls might have been pretty, but it really wasn't doing much to detract from his general feelings about the whole facility.

Especially once his attention was grabbed by the large four-legged thing with a human face sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room. Well, bugger.

Comments

[secret-orchard.livejournal.com]

Turning to face his companions more than the sphinx because he was horribly afraid of being mistaken for answering, Armand dropped his chin to his chest while he thought. He could see birds in his head, birds flying all over in Paris. On the roofs, in the fountains... but every part of a bird he could think of got wet when it swam.

Eventually, he bit his lip and sighed. "I defer to your judgement, Citan. I could figure it out eventually, I'm certain, but not so quickly." Not when he was too scared to think very clearly. "If you have any idea, tis best you answer for us."

And it had been a long, emotional and exhausting day.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

"Have you come to a decision?" The sphinx rumbled, tail swishing back and forth behind him. He narrowed his eyes at the humans. "You have three minutes left, so use them wisely."

[loyal-soldier.livejournal.com]

TK still didn't have the faintest idea about what the others might be thinking of. He tried to think about it differently, visualize some sort of flying creature over water. It wasn't all that easy, since he'd never had any reason to pay attention to birds before. But trying to think about the details just made his thought process wander off and get lost. This never used to happen. Ever.

This whole business with riddles felt a lot like trying to figure out where sniper fire was coming from. Figure it out fast, or the results wouldn't be pretty. His thoughts went off on another, almost related tangent, trying to focus things back on trying to think about the situation in the riddle. But his mind just started listing off the aspects of camouflage he'd been taught to remember, especially useful for dealing with snipers. Movement, sound, silhouette, shine, shape, and...

...Shadow. It only just barely seemed to fit the answer, but it was a possibility. He turned to the others, even though he disliked the idea of turning away from the sphinx. "Shadow?" he spoke quietly, hoping the creature wouldn't take the first, probably wrong idea as their answer.

[reanalyze.livejournal.com]

Citan nodded when TK spoke.

"That was my guess, as well. I can't think of anything else it could possibly be." Though it was ridiculous, as a shadow wasn't a part of the bird. And birds didn't cast shadows all of the time. And depending on the angle of the sun, or how high the bird was and how low the clouds were...

But it was a riddle, and they were hardly logical.

"Then it's decided," he went on, and turned to the creature.

"We have our answer. The part of the bird which is not in the sky," - (assuming that the bird was flying without cloud cover, when there was a sun, and when the sun was at an angle that wouldn't throw a shadow to the side, his mind added) - "is its shadow."

[secret-orchard.livejournal.com]

Armand held his breath, hoping that they had it. It made sense to him, with the birds in his mind. The shadow wasn't technically part of the bird, but... yes. These were intelligent men, and it was likely the answer he'd have tried eventually. Eventually.

He watched the sphinx anxiously for the verdict, ready to hide behind the others at least long enough to draw his knife if it should spring at them.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

The sphinx paused, as if considering, and then gave a smile more genuine than the ones before it.

"Very good, humans. Your kind has gotten wiser... or perhaps I have gotten softer."

The creature turned its head and reached backwards with a foreleg, as if grabbing something from underneath his sizeable bulk. Once he finished, he outstretched his paw and presented to the humans their prize: A miniature shield made of silver and engraved with unknown markings.

"This is the Coliseum Shield," the sphinx said, tone somber. "I have handed out many versions of it in my long days, but I have yet to hear of a man, woman, or child for whom it has brought nothing but misery."

As if foreseeing hesitant looks from the humans, he sighed. "No, there is nothing evil about the artifact itself, but where it will take you is certainly a place of death and despair. I warn you now, humans, that I can give you directions, but their destination is not for the faint of will and heart.

"In the ballroom, you might have noticed a door to the south--one of such intricacy that it either repulses or entices all who see it. That is the door to the Coliseum, and should you find the partner to this artifact in the east end of this basement, you will find yourself able to enter so long as you are willing to make a sacrifice. Should you survive the trials within, from which many venture but few return... You will be able to proceed further into the bowels of this heinous Institute."

The sphinx bowed his head and then laid down on his haunches again, his paw still outstretched.

"That is all that I can tell you. I wish you luck."

He closed his eyes and went still.