damned_institute | Nightshift 34: The Sphinx's Chamber

Entry tags:

Nightshift 34: The Sphinx's Chamber

[from here]

This room certainly wasn't like the other ones, and Callisto stepped inside warily. No suits of armor. No droids to attack them. Even the dismal allure of the basement's darker chambers was gone. In their place were warm golden walls...

...and a large creature seated in the center of the room.

She supposed she should have warned Qui-Gon before allowing him to enter, but she simply moved forward, intrigued by their new discovery. The creature (animal?) might have been a large cat except for its head, which was more human like. Because of this, and because they hadn't been attacked immediately upon entering, Callisto assumed that the beast had to have at least some semblance of intelligence. For all she knew, it could be the one behind these games - and if that was the case than she and it needed to have a heart to heart chat.

"My, isn't this a sight?" she said out loud, stopping her approach a few feet from the base of the platform.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The question really was if it was a threat. Qui-Gon had seen countless species in the galaxy; seeing a being with a feline body and a humanoid head didn't surprise him any more than the concept of life beyond the stars did. It was watching them with intelligence in its eyes, which meant it was a sentient...which asked the question of if it was trapped here or it posed another test.

Either way, they were about to find out.

Qui-Gon couldn't hold Sanzo any longer. He sidetracked over close to the door to carefully settle the wounded monk onto the floor, doing his best not the aggravate the injures any more than he had to. That settled, the Jedi limped over to join Calliso, gazing up at the strange creature. He couldn't use the Force to give him a clue as to the being's mindset and, in fact, couldn't even pick up Callisto's presence either: he would simply have to settle for eyes and ears.

[ Erin here! Sorry for the wait! ]

"A true sight would be a human not knowing their place in front of a superior being," the creature said suddenly, looking towards Callisto rather than straight forward as it had been. Its voice was low, quietly irritated and most definitely of a higher level of intelligence than most of the other monsters that the Institute housed. Its emerald eyes narrowed. "Do you humans have an idea of what happens here or should I explain myself before you say something with truly regrettable repercussions?"

Callisto took a good long look at the being before them, trying to put the image with any number of stories she'd heard. She didn't like thinking back to fond memories of her childhood, but the image of a creature with the body of a lion and a human head was something she knew she'd heard somewhere. And it spoke as though it expected one of them to know what it was.

It had something to do with Thebes, didn't it? That's right. It guarded the road and ate people that tried to get by. Except no, there was something missing... The ex-warlord appeared to take the matter into serious consideration, one hand on her chin as she thought. It ate passengers on the road to Thebes, if...

...if they failed its riddle. "You're no seriously going to ask us... a question are you?" She hated riddles. Hated them immensely. She wasn't even going to say the word. "Is there another passageway behind you or something?"

Qui-Gon's eyes flicked from the enormous being before them and then to Callisto. She seemed to have an inkling about what it wanted. The Jedi remained standing just behind her, observing how things would turn out, ready to act - or try, he wasn't too sure how his mobility right now - in case he needed to. The human-headed creature in the room continued to stare down at them with brilliant green eyes that shone with fierce intelligence. Judging by its words, it was possible it would be a threat.

Callisto guessed it would ask a question. Qui-Gon wasn't sure what manner of question it would be, but he supposed guessing wrong wouldn't be good. He only hoped that between the two of them, they could give the correct answer. If it was about Earth, Qui-Gon knew he could not contribute much aside from what little he'd gleaned so far.

"Yes, I am going to ask you a question," the beast growled as he shifted his weight on his paws, seeming miffed at Callisto's comment. He narrowed his eyes. "Of course, you have no obligation to. If you want, you can brave the maze just across the hall to claim your prize."

After a moment, the sphinx closed his eyes and recited a speech he must have delivered many times before:

"You have two options of which there can be several outcomes: You may decline my test and I will allow you to leave at your leisure and brave the other trial; it is a daunting one, to be sure, and one you may not live through to the end. You may also choose to stay and ask to hear my riddle, though once you have heard it, the doors behind you will shut and only a correct response will get you out with the prize. Should any one of you address me with a wrong answer or should you find yourselves unable to respond within five minutes' time..."

A smile crossed the sphinx's features as he opened his slitted, cat-like eyes.

"Then you will find yourself in greater mortal peril than you could have ever encountered in the other trial."

At those words, Callisto was about half ready to turn around and walk right out of the room. She didn't need this creature. It wasn't even so much the punishment of failing to solve the riddle that bothered her as much as having to solve it in the first place. What sort of prize was it going to offer, anyway? "If what you have to offer is anything like what we got out of the last trial, then I'm not sure it's worth it..." Another gaudy trinket with no real use? She'd pass.

And why did they even have to try the other trial? She might be all for just turning back the way they'd come in the start. Playing the games down here wasn't nearly so fun anymore. She didn't like being the entertainment.

Callisto didn't leave, however. They still didn't know what the prize really was, and it was possible that it was better than the previous one. Something better than gold or jewels, even though she doubted this. Turning back towards Obi-Wan but not looking at him, she sighed and placed both hands on her hips. The disgust she felt with having to put up with this was very apparent.

Well, they'd already learned one additional thing just by being here: the alternative was some kind of labyrinth, possibly dangerous. Both "trials" were dangerous, but in what way was left to be found out. Gazing at the feline-humanoid being, Qui-Gon noted its every detail. A predator's body. The casual, seemingly lazy flick of its long tail. Claws that could easily pierce a human body. Perhaps it would attack them if they failed to answer the question it would pose if they stayed. It certainly looked big enough to swallow a human whole without much trouble.

The labyrinth sounded dangerous as well. Either way, they were facing trouble.

Settling his weight off his injured knee, accepting the pain of it but moving on, Qui-Gon glanced back at Callisto.

"What would you like to do?" he asked, noticing she hadn't just wheeled around and left. Something was keeping her here. Trying to access the Force to sense her emotions, Qui-Gon sighed inside: he couldn't. It was like being a youngling again, unable to do what seemed to be impossible at the time, as if he was trying to move entire starships. The only way he could read Callisto now was to study her body language and her words. There was no telling if reinforcements had arrived for the training room back there or if they were doing a sweep - they could have limited time, but Qui-Gon's voice was unhurried, calm.

"You humans," the creature lamented with a sigh, waving one of its great paws in the air. "The treasures by themselves may not be worth much, no, but... there is a deeper purpose to them that your simple mind seems too impatient to grasp."

He paused, listening to the humans for a moment more before giving something of a shrug and settling down.

"No matter. Decide as you will."

Simple mind? Callisto scowled. She could hardly be blamed for thinking them worthless without prior explanation. Here's a tacky trinket! Oh, but hold onto it. It might be useful. Mind games never went over well with the blond.

Unfortunately, the Sphinx had been correct about her impatience. And now everyone seemed to be leaving the choice in her hands, which was a very poor idea indeed. She threw he hands up in the air and grumbled.

"All right! Give us your damn riddle." She just hoped Qui-Gon would continue to make himself useful, as much as she hated relying on someone else.

Then it was a riddle, designed to teach. To a Jedi, how you arrived at an outcome was as important as the outcome itself. This lesson, however, could be quite deadly and Qui-Gon kept this in mind even as he gave a small bow of acknowledgment, dipping his head, as if the feline-being was simply a gracious host doing them a favor and not one who could possibly bite their heads off in one snap if they got this wrong.

"Thank you," he said simply from his place at Callisto's shoulder. He wouldn't waste his time thinking of the ifs. They would answer the riddle as best they could with the information they had at the moment.

The beast narrowed its eyes at Callisto's as a sudden, heavy click sounded from the doors from which the newcomers had entered.

"You might want to be a little less impulsive with your choices, child," he said in a threatening tone to Callisto, though the volume of his voice remained low.

After a moment of glaring at the woman, he raised his head with regal poise, booming out in a level tone:

"Three lives have I. Gentle enough to soothe the skin. Light enough to caress the sky. Hard enough to crack rocks."

The sphinx paused, then bowed his head.

"You have five minutes."

Callisto made a frustrated sound. She took to biting on a fingernail, brows knit in concentration. Riddles were always so difficult, and then the answer was always something unimpressive so you felt even more ridiculous when you couldn't solve it.

It was taking most of her willpower just to keep from blurting out the first things that came to mind as she had with Hercules. The answer to that riddle had been "time." That wasn't the case here, was it? No, time didn't soothe the skin. Creatures wrinkled as they aged.

Well, she'd have to take this piece by piece. What soothed the skin? Cream? She rarely used the stuff so she wouldn't know... and that didn't do any sky caressing. So what did? Clouds? Birds? Things that flew? Which one of them would crack rocks? A hammer could crack rocks, but she was pretty sure it didn't fit into the first couple categories. Hercules could crack rocks. Did Hercules caress the sky often? His dad was a god. But gods lived on Mount Olympus which probably didn't count as the sky...

Qui-Gon was silent as he thought about the riddle. Three lives, three stages. It would have to be gentle enough to touch and yet it had the strength to break rocks. And, apparently, it was also airborne. The Force wouldn't bring him any answers. But perhaps he didn't need it, because after another minute, he thought he had the answer. Water. Three stages and each of them fit the riddle: liquid flowed against one's skin, steam floated, and ice could exert enough pressure to crack rocks.

The Jedi stepped forward, gazing up at the feline-creature. Its jaws were even more impressive up close.

"The answer is water," Qui-Gon said.

The sphinx paused, as if considering, and then gave something of an exasperated sigh. He glared at Callisto

"You're lucky to have picked someone wise to travel with, girl."

The creature turned his 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."

He placed it in front of the humans and then sat back on his haunches. "I can tell you where to use the object, but it is not a place for faint of will and heart, or the..." he glared at Callisto "..impatient.

"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 if you have this artifact's brother, 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 again.

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

He closed his eyes and went still.

Qui-Gon accepted the shield. It was surprisingly heavy in his hands, gleaming molten silver and covered with engravings - what they signified, exactly, was beyond him. He returned the feline-creature's bow solemnly, watching as it closed its large, slitted green eyes and settled back, going still as stone. Qui-Gon turned away, considering the being's words: the door to the south, a place of challenge just as the others had been. Perhaps it was even more dangerous. And what was this sacrifice?

Was this help of some kind, disguised as tests? Or was this more of Martin Landel's games?

Qui-Gon believed the feline-creature when it said they would go to the heart of the Institute. It was an instinct, a gut feeling and while Qui-Gon didn't believe in following every feeling blindly, he knew the being was telling the truth in this case. It, he got the impression, was neutral, administering the test and nothing more, nothing less. What would they find going further in? There was the chance of learning more about Martin Landel and his dangerous power, or even encountering the man himself. Considering what was at risk here, the Jedi Master was inclined to take the chance.

He turned to Callisto.

The night came to a close and that was the last thing he remembered.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nightshift 34: The Sphinx's Chamber

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject