Origins: Sphinxes

Chapters

Origins: Sphinxes
The Desert
The Journal

Origins: Sphinxes

Origins: Sphinxes

Twilight Sparkle went to the door in the morning and was both surprised and elated to find the package on the ground outside. After the Sphinx Invasion was stopped, Twilight had sent to Canterlot for any information about Sphinxes that could be found. Unfortunately, the answer was none. She then reached out to Empress Dune Sea, Equestria's newest ally- courtesy of the power of the Elements of Love- for any literature she'd be willing to part with about her people. Of course, the Golden Ocean was a long way away so delivery was slow, but the response was more than Twilight had expected.

Instead of a dry textbook on Sphinx history, what she now held in her hooves was an autobiography of Dune Sea herself! Excited, Twilight ran to the nearest table and opened the book to begin her research.

A young peasant girl looked up through the night sky at the bright moon that hung like an orb of hope in the air. She closed her eyes and pretended that she could feel a trace of warmth from the cold night. She never liked being cold. The hours of dawn and dusk were her favorite; the sun was warm without scalding, and the cool air of the night still kept one refreshed without stabbing at the bones.

With a sigh, she looked down at her paw. The splinter was still there, of course. She couldn't just wish it away. The Moon Queen did not grant the pitiful wishes of a peasant girl. She only granted the wishes of the most powerful and righteous.

"Dune!" a voice called. The young sphinx looked to the east where a faint orange glow was starting to arc over the horizon. Along that line came her older sister, Loess. The winged sphinx ran across the flat sand, smiling at Dune Sea, and the younger sphinx smiled back. As Loess came closer, Dune lifted her paw and showed her the splinter.

Loess sighed, but her face wrinkled into a soft smile. "Climbing through the lumber yard again?" she asked. Dune Sea shook her head, her tightly coiffed mane not shaking a bit. "Were you on the scaffolds?" Dune Sea nodded, giving her sister a sheepish smile. Loess sighed and rolled her eyes. "Here," she said, leaning down and biting the edge of the splinter, gently pulling it from her younger sister's paw.

The younger sphinx winced and hissed a bit, then smiled and shook her paw in the air. "Thanks Lo." she said, nuzzling her sister's neck affectionately.

"Welcome Dune," the elder sister said back, returning the affectionate gesture. "Now lets go," she said, standing a little more upright, "Bed time."

"But I wanna watch the moonset," Dune Sea argued with a pout. Loess rolled her eyes. The day she let Dune's pouty face get the better of her was the day Loess loses all control of her sister and Dune Sea's childish antics would determine every decision they made.

"Its your bedtime," Loess said, "And if you keep arguing I won't tell you a story." At that threat Dune Sea's eyes widened and she nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Okay okay, I'll go to bed!" she said, turning and running for their shack, all indicators that she had had a splinter in her paw apparently gone. Loess followed her sister at a more relaxed pace, enjoying the gusts of warm air from the east where the sun was rising, and by the time she was inside their home her little sister had already curled up in bed and was looking to her eagerly.

Dune Sea loved the stories Loess told her before she went to sleep. They filled her mind with fantastic and magical thoughts that gave her the most vivid and amazing dreams. Tonight, Dune had already selected the story she wanted to hear, and as soon as her older sister had pushed a cushion over beside Dune's bed to sit on while she orated the tale the younger of the two sphinxes made her request.

"I wanna hear the story of the Moon Queen and the Days of Night!" she said.

"Again?" Loess asked. Dune nodded and pulled her thin blanket closer about herself. Loess chuckled, rolled her eyes, and then sighed in humorous defeat. "Okay then," she said, "I will regale you once more of the time before the heat and the Sun.

"We are the descendants of the descendants of the original sphinxes. Generations upon generations ago, over a thousand years. The original sphinxes were created by a powerful magic; a spell of life and power that only the strongest of the gods and goddesses can wield.

"The most beautiful and most powerful of them all, The Moon Queen, felt distraught at the world around her. Her brother-gods and sister-goddesses were all creating life in various shapes and forms, but none that were worthy to walk upon its Majesty with the same sentience with which the gods did. Therefore, she decided upon a course of action that would demonstrate to her brethren that their haphazard creations were inferior.

"She came here, to the Golden Sea- then known as the Silver Sea- which she herself crafted in mirror homage to her original masterpiece; the great silver Moon. She made this land so that the world might always remember what the surface of that distant haven is, yet not quite so beautiful so as to make us cease her longing to return to the heavens where she belongs.

"You see, she never wanted to come to this world. She was of the Stars and of the Sky, from the infinity beyond thought, but she was brought here by the others, all led by the Elder, the Solar Sovereign, where they could all have their own fun. The Moon Queen, however, was shunned. The others largely left her to her duty of overseeing the sky and the stars and her moon.

"Once she set her mind to it, she came to the Golden Sea and created the very first sphinxes. They were not as sphinxes are now; they were greater, far far greater. Demigods in their own right, the True Sphinxes were almost as powerful as the Moon Queen herself. They could dance upon the wind and travel great distances faster than any other mortal creatures. They could endure any foes and were powerful enough to shatter solid stone with their bare paws. They even had access to magic that none could fathom, but their greatest and most powerful ability was their ambition. They would never stop in whatever goal they set for themselves, and they always succeeded.

"The creatures made by the other gods were jealous of the greatness of the True Sphinxes and complained to their creators. The other gods demanded that The Moon Queen undo what she had done and make simpler creatures, ones similar to their own creations. The Moon Queen had no choice but to concede, and so she diminished the True Sphinxes to what we are now; three subsets of what we once were. Some can fly with their mighty wings, others have indomitable spirits and are strong of body as well, and still others can call upon the arcane arts and divine potent potions and conjure powerful spells.

"For a time, there was peace and prosperity..." Loess looked to her sister and found her asleep. Smiling, she got off of her cushion and adjusted Dune sea's blanket. "I'll finish the story tomorrow," she whispered into her sister's ear before kissing her cheek as she slept peacefully.

Loess looked out the window at the burnt-orange sky. The sun would be up and the heat would be stifling soon. This was why Sphinxes slept during the day; it allowed them to survive the heat and be productive in the cool night air. Loess was nothing if not a productive Sphinx, and she knew that she would need to use the time before the sun rose wisely. She did a quick check through the shack and decided to take their large jug out to the oasis to fill with water so they would have some for the day's heat. She grabbed an extra bucket as well and balled up an extra blanket in it; if they soaked the blanket and hung it in the room it produced a cooling effect.

Glancing over her shoulder at her sweet little sister one more time, Loess left the shack and shut the door to keep the heat out.

"And that was the last time I saw my sister," Dune Sea said to the scribe seated on the floor at the bottom of her dais. "She never returned from the desert that day. I waited for her until I was out of food and water, then I went to the town looking for her. The Royal Family heard of my plight and took me in, raising me as one of their own...mostly. I'll detail that leg of my life at a later time."

The scribe bowed her head and finished writing the last of the Empress's words. "Your Righteousness," she said once finished, "Might I beg the honor to impose a question upon you?"

Dune Sea, now an adult, was gazing up at the bright blue sky, as near to the sun as she could manage. A generation ago it had been unheard of for so many Sphinxes to walk so openly in the sun, but so many things had changed since then. Too many, some argued.

Ordinarily, the Empress would have swiped her claws across the insolent scribe's face for begging such an honor, but speaking of her long lost sister had put her in an unusually benevolent mood.

"Ask your question," She said dismissively, her scowl fixed on the sky.

"Might I hear the rest of the legend?" the scribe asked, "I had never heard the tale in my lowly existence."

Slowly, the Empress turned her emerald gaze down upon the scribe and the youth quailed before it. So weak, so pitiful. I cannot believe I used to be so. she thought.

"Consider yourself lucky," she said in a calm, quiet tone that was ever more terrifying to her subjects than any vocalizations of rage. "I did not slay my adopted brethren to become Empress and fight tooth-and-claw to become the most powerful alchemist and spellweaver in the Empire to recollect childhood tales to a lowly servant. However, speaking of my dear missing sister has put me in a mood I have not felt since before that night. I shall regale you of the rest of the tale, but first come closer."

With clear trepidation, the scribe took to her feet and climbed the few steps of the dais up to the large, sofa-like throne where Empress Dune Sea lounged. Once she was near, the Empress's eyes flashed crimson and a red aura surrounded the scribe. With a yelp she made as if to run away, but instead began to levitate in the air. Dune pulled the young Sphinx in close and gingerly wrapped her forelegs around her as her sister had once done with her.

"Shhhhh," Dune Sea said gently, urging the scribe to relax. "Relax, little one, and I will continue the tale." Either the scribe feared to disobey the Empress, or she truly wanted to hear the rest of the old legend. Either way, she soon began to relax herself and sink into the embrace of her Empress.

Looking back up to the sky, Dune Sea began to speak.

"Before I created the Draft of Chill, we Sphinxes were condemned to hide from the Sun. It hampered our ambitions. But the Sun did not always exist. Back when the True Sphinxes were made and changed to what we are now, all was dark and beautiful. The blue sky was clear and the vastness of eternity could be seen. This was when the Moon Queen still roamed free, when we sphinxes were peaceful and prosperous.

"We were still too great, however, and the Moon Queen refused to diminish our greatness any further. She may have reduced the physical and metaphysical exploits of the True Sphinxes, but she never took away the greatest power of all; our ambition. It was our ambition that caused even the brothers and sisters of the Moon Queen to be jealous. They knew that not even they would be able to stop us should we turn against them, or should the Moon Queen turn us against them.

"The eldest sister of the gods, the Solar Sovereign, intervened. She would not be outdone by her younger sister, and so she assailed her and with great and terrible magic from the ancient days beyond recall, she banished the Moon Queen from the world. To diminish her power further, the Solar Sovereign created the cursed Sun to burn our backs and scorch our Silver Sea into gold.

"But, even in exile the Moon Queen protected us. For half a day she can remove the Sun from the sky and cool the lands that we may continue to thrive, but the half-days had diminished our kind and reduced us to a small series of communities. We did not want for much and we kept ourselves hidden from the Solar Sovereign lest she decide to finish undoing all that the Moon Queen had done."

For a moment the Empress fell silent. She turned her eyes away from that horrible blue sky and looked down at the scribe, who remained awestruck in her embrace. "When I was your age, we could still see the Moon Queen upon her home in the sky. However, she is no longer to be seen. She has broken her imprisonment and left the moon."

"Where is she?" the scribe asked, as they all did.

"She is within me," Dune Sea said, "Her spirit has joined my own. When she became one with me, I knew it was our time. The time for the Sphinxes to claim what is rightfully ours; the world. And that, young one, is why we march to war against the Zebras. We shall expand the Rising Sun empire until all that the Solar Sovereign holds dear is under the domain of the Moon Queen."

Dune Sea released the scribe and the youth jumped free from the throne. "Now be off," the Empress commanded. With a bow, the young scribe grabbed her scrolls and ran off. Dune Sea watched her leave. Her tail twitched and a guard came to her.

"Have the scribe killed." she commanded. None could know she had a soft spot for children.

The Desert

The Desert

***

Tonight was the third night since she had left. Dune Sea could no longer wait; she had little water left and the desert was a cruel place to those without water. Her sister had never been gone for more than one night, and she always told Dune where she was going. Wherever she went, she was in trouble or something had gone wrong. Dune Sea may have been young, but she knew she had to do something. She needed to find her sister.

She couldn’t achieve that by staying in her hut and dying of dehydration. She needed to get to Supplicium City, the capital of the Empire. Somesphinx there would be able to help her. Her big sister had always told her that Supplicium City was the gem of the Empire; a place where the sand was still silver and the Sun never touched a sphinx.

Dune Sea waited until sunset; when the air began to cool and the Moon began to rise. She took the jug that held her last sips of water and drank it all. She wouldn’t have the strength to carry it with her, and she needed all the hydration she could manage. Supplicium City was only a single day’s travel from her home, but crossing the desert alone was a dangerous and draining experience. If she did not do it, however, she would die.

With nothing but a blanket folded across her back, Dune Sea left her shack. The shadows of the sand dunes in the west were already stretching near to the opposite horizon where the cool darkness of night was inviting her. Supplicium City was to the east and slightly southerly from her home, and her heading was in that direction.

Dune Sea needed to travel with care; the Golden Ocean was vast and if she missed her initial heading by too much she would be lost and, very likely, die. Youth was naive, but Dune Sea had lived out on the edge of civilization with only her sister, and her sister had forced her to learn many of the basic survival techniques, including how to keep your bearing in the desert at night.

In many ways, desert survival was instinctual to a Sphinx. They were born in the sand. They died in the sand. They were created in the sand by The Moon Queen. The Golden Sea was there world. It was as much part of them as they were of it. Dune Sea felt no fear of the desert as she crossed it, but she did feel fear for some of the creatures she might find in the desert.

Scorpions and vultures were the most dangerous, but Dune had been educated in how to deal with them. For a vulture, use the claws. For a scorpion, use the paws. A vulture was a coward; a strong bird that can do harm, but a coward nonetheless. She could fight off a vulture. Scorpions, though, were very dangerous creatures. If she spotted a scorpion, she would be running as fast as her little paws could carry her.

Spiders, snakes, coyotes, the number of dangerous beasts in the desert was quite staggering. It was also rather terrifying. But death from dehydration was just as scary. More scary, even. Creatures were merely a possibility. Dehydration was a certainty.

Dune Sea crested the top of a sand dune and looked out over the expanse of sand before her. Golden grains of earth glowed with a burning orange intensity as the setting sun cast its final rays across her field of vision. The dark purples and blues that grew on the shadow side of the dunes were inviting; they would be cool in short order. When the Sun had fully set then all the desert would be safe for her.

The air was cool enough now that she could travel. She had to take it easy and move slowly. She never climbed up a dune this early in the night; the air was still warm, just not hot. Sweating was dangerous in the desert as it lead to faster dehydration. When the cold chill of the night could be counted on to keep her body temperature regulated then she could exert herself. Until then, she had to stay calm, keep to the shadows, and keep her heart rate down.

Dune Sea thought of her sister as she walked through the shadow side of a long sand dune. Loess had only been gone for two nights yet the younger sphinx missed her so much. Tears were a waste of water though. Crying was a luxury that could not be afforded by one so poor as herself.

The sun finally vanished and the Moon was rising higher in the sky. Dune Sea looked up and saw the silhouette of the Moon Queen against the great silver-blue orb in the velvet black sky. She closed her eyes and began to pray.

The Sun goes down and the Moon comes up,

The sands go on and on.

There is little water to drink from my cup

I trek until the dawn.

Hide from the light, remain unseen.

The day is flawed, the night pristine.

The world’s true glow; a silver sheen.

I live to serve the Moon Queen.

After the traditional litany, she appended her own desires. She wanted her sister back. She wanted to find her in Supplicium City. Dune Sea needed her sister to be there. She needed to find her. She would give anything to find her older sister.

Loess she thought mournfully. She closed her eyes and sniffled a little. No tears though. Never tears. No tears allowed.

Tears and sweat must be kept.

Breathe only through your nose.

Wasting moisture is inept

Drink blood of your foes

It was another lesson taught to Dune Sea when she was younger. Still young, she knew the truth of it all. They all pertained to keeping yourself hydrated in the desert. Do not cry, do not sweat. Breathing through the mouth waisted ten times as much body moisture- expelling it into the air- than breathing through the nose.

The last line tended not to be understood by the youth of the sphinx culture until they were old enough to be told explicitly what it meant, but Loess hid nothing from the young Dune Sea. They were alone out in the desert; she needed to be ready. To have a foe was to expend moisture when fighting. Either with sweat or when cut and blood loss. Once your foe was dead, it was most useful to drink their blood to replace what you lost and gain their extra moisture.

Dune Sea had drank blood already. A vulture had attacked her one day when she was fetching water. The water had spilt and been lost into the sand. When Dune Sea succeeded in breaking one of the vile bird’s wings with her claws and a lucky swipe, she drained the beast of as much body moisture as she could stomach before fetching more water from the oasis.

It had tasted absolutely disgusting and Dune thought she would get sick from it, but she managed to keep herself composed and stomached the terrible taste until she could drink it down with water. She never wanted to do it again, but she knew if needed she would have to.

Now, her prayers finished and her mind set to her task of travel, Dune Sea picked up her pace. She bounded across the sand as fast as her paws would take her. It was not a full out run; the loose surface of the desert would never allow that. But it was fast, and it was efficient. Most of the strain was in her upper legs as she pressed her paws into the sand as little as possible.

She sprinted short distances before walking. She had to keep her aerobic muscles relaxed so that she used little air. The more air she used the more her blood would need to circulate, and that would use more energy and cause more heat within her. She could not afford to sweat.

After a few miles her muscles began to burn terribly. Without proper oxygen circulation, they were not getting the refreshing air that they needed to function at optimum efficiency. Dune Sea slowed. She knew her own pace from countless trips through the sand. Never so far and alone, but the presence of others would not change her pace nor would distance traveled. Efficiency of movement was the key. Once your pace was known, it was your own. The wealthy who could afford luxuries had the time to adjust their pace over time, but the majority of Sphinx life was spent on basic survival.

The young sphinx went on for miles. The Moon slowly moved through the night sky over her head; every time she looked up she could see the Moon Queen looking down, watching her progress across her Silver Sea. It heartened the youth to imagine the great Moon Queen overseeing her journey and keeping her safe. She still yearned for the safety and comfort of her sister Loess, but for now the face on the moon would be enough comfort.

The Moon was at its zenith when Dune Sea saw the first blemish in the otherwise smooth sandscape. In the distance there was a shadow on what otherwise should have been a completely moonlit face of a dune. From where she was, Dune Sea could not make out exactly what it was, so she altered her trek a little to approach it.

Sliding down the slip face of a sand dune, she kept her gaze on the distant shadow, trying to discern it. It was not moving in any perceptible way, so she lost the hope that it was another sphinx. She could trade her blanket as shade when the sun came up for some water. She was not yet thirsty, but the promise of water later would be welcome by the next night.

By the time she reached the base of the dune her hopes had been dashed. The shadow on the sand face was naught but the exposed skeleton of a long dead creature. Likely having died years ago, the bones were preserved under the sand of many sandstorms and exposed similarly as the dunes shifted over time.

Possibly a sphinx, possibly a sand shark. She had no way of knowing unless she climbed the dune to examine the bones. There was no need to though; it was further out of her way and up the dune. It would waste time and energy. Whatever it was, it was dead; the dead had no bearing on the world. They were gone. The bodies were used for whatever they could be used for and the spirits left this realm.

The youth continued on. Her life, quite literally, depended upon her efficiently crossing the desert of the night while the air was still cool and the sand still silver. With no reliable markers of land or sky to gauge her distance, Dune Sea needed to travel far and fast. She could survive one day in the golden sand beneath her blanket. Two would be fatal.

As she left the barren discovery behind her, the bones did force thoughts of her sister to her mind. Where could she be? Dune truly hoped that Loess did not return home after she had left and then set out to look for her. They had both understood that, in an emergency, they would meet in the capital city.

The memory of their emergency plan gave Dune Sea some more heart. It was possible that she might fight Loess during her trek to Supplicium City. Not very likely given how vast the desert was and how easy it would be to pass her on opposite sides of a dune, but possible nonetheless.

The new spring in her step helped the young Dune Sea cross the sand swiftly, almost as though a new wellspring of energy was tapped within her. A ‘second wind’ of sorts. Unfortunately, this boost of energy inspired by good spirits only lasted a few more hours. As the night dragged on and the Moon fell more and more back to the horizon, Dune Sea knew she would need to find or construct a place to hide soon. Once the sun came up and turned the Silver Sea back to Gold the heat would be dangerous, if not deadly.

A thin, pink line began to emerge from the eastern horizon. Dune Sea saw an adequate dune valley up ahead; two large dunes on the east and west, leaving the direct sunlight for the middle hours of the day. The hottest hours, yes, but still only a few hours rather than half the day or more.

She would find the lowest point in the valley of sand and dig a pit down into the sand until she found the cool, packed sand that hadn’t known sun in many moons. She would use the blanket on her back to pitch a roof that would prevent sand from falling down onto her and burying her alive.

Once she was between the sand dunes, Dune Sea was surprised to already find a pit in the sand. Not a complete pit; sand was still being tossed out of the top. Whoever or whatever had dug the hole was still in there, digging it. The young Sphinx slowly approached; intent on inspecting the hole’s current owner; examining a carcass that was out of her way would have been a waste of time, but potentially finding a friend in the desert with a pre-dug hole for her to rest in was more than worth her time.

Near the edge of the pit, Dune Sea closed her eyes to focus her magical powers. Her sister had trained her as best as she could, and Dune showed exceptional promise, but she was still young and still needed to focus, even for something as simple as packing the surface sand so that it did not shift under her paws and fall back into the hole.

Leaning over slightly, Dune looked down and saw the back of another sphinx in the hole, its paws digging away at the sand. It was a flying sphinx, and the large wings on its back were half-flared. He was putting sand on the tips of his wings and flicking the wads of sand up and out of the hole with them.

“Hello!” Dune Sea said, projecting her voice so that she was not really shouting but spoke loudly and with confidence; she was greeting him on purpose after all, and she did not want him to be startled if he didn’t hear her.

The winged sphinx stopped his digging and turned in the hole to look up at her over his shoulder. The two looked at each other warily for a few seconds. Dune sea could see age lines in his face, but they were not so numerous as to make him appear aged; he was older and well traveled. His fur had the hardened quality of one who traveled in the desert for much of their life.

“Hello,” he said in return, giving her a friendly smile. “Are you seeking shelter from the sun?” he asked.

“Yes,” Dune Sea said, “I can provide a blanket to cover the entrance if you will permit me.”

“Never turn away a stranger in the sand,” the winged sphinx said, “For you are friends with a common enemy; the Golden Sea. It is our way to help one another.” With a smile and a nod he said “I believe I have time to widen my pit some. You are magically inclined, I see,” He had observed the green aura that existed within Dune Sea’s eyes. All active magic caused the aura around the eyes, and as long as Dune maintained her hold on the sand around the edge of the pit she would have the glow. “Will you be able to secure the blanket on your own?”

“Yes,” Dune said. She sat down at the edge of the pit while the other sphinx began to widen his pit. He didn’t need to make it too much wider, and with Dune holding the sand in a semi-solid fashion he was able to dig with greater ease and swiftness.

“Do you have any water with you?” he asked at one point. Dune told him that she did not and he gave an understanding shrug of his shoulders. As soon as the hole was wide enough for both to fit comfortably in, the younger sphinx jumped down into the pit and stood beside the older sphinx.

She sized up his height and used her magic to lift the blanket from her back. It unfolded and spread out, filling the area of the hole above his head all along the circumference. She had to focus and part the sand along the outer edges of the pit so that she could fit the edges of the blanket into it evenly. Once the blanket was stretched and firmly planted in the sand- both Dune and the stranger tested it- she released her hold on the sand at the top of the pit and pulled some of it down over them. The faint light that came through the blanket was blacked out as the sand covered it and provided a layer of insulation against the sun. Now in the complete darkness, both of the sphinxes laid down on the cool sandy floor to rest.

“My name is-” Dune Sea began to say, but was cut off by the deeper voice of the other sphinx.

“Do not exchange names just yet,” he said, “I am glad for your gift of magic and cover, but I do not wish to die with you.” It was an old axiom of the Sphinxes; never travel with anybody you would not wish to die with. If they exchanged names, it would be a sign of companionship. As of now, it was just an alliance of convenience.

“Then what shall I call you?” Dune asked.

“Call me You” he said, ‘And I will address you similarly.”

“So...we’ll both be You?” Dune asked.

“Of course,” he said, “If you address me and I address you, there are only the two of us here, so who else could You be?”

Dune Sea thought about it, but found that the more she thought the harder it seemed to understand.

“Um...do you know how far we are from Supplicium City?” Dune asked.

“I do not,” her desert ally said, “I have been lost for several days. I used up my last water two nights ago. If I do not find any next night, I do not think I will live to see another moonrise.”

Dune Sea knew what he spoke of. He must have drank abundantly to survive two nights without water, and he must have practiced desert discipline with master-like skill.

“I know which way to go,” Dune said. She knew vaguely which way the city should have been. However if she was wrong, than her fate would be no different from his. They may not wish to die together, but they very well could. “Can you carry me in flight if I show the way?”

The darkness was silent for a little. Dune could hear him breathing unevenly so she knew he was still awake. She wondered what he was thinking; it did not seem like that hard of a question. Unless he was taking mental reckoning of his strength; it was very likely that he might not be strong enough anymore to carry her.

“I can try,” he said finally, after almost a minute of silence. “But I need to rest now if we are to attempt this,and I will need to have you do all the work of digging us out in the evening.”

“I can do that,” Dune Sea said.

“Then I can fly you.” he responded, “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Dune replied. She closed her eyes against the darkness of the sand and relaxed. In no time at all, she was asleep.

She woke up several hours later and used her magic to move the sand above them. When there was only a very dim light coming through the blanket she knew the worst of the day was past. Without waking up ‘You’, she concentrated her magic to lift the sand away from the blanket, then removed the blanket from the hole. The sky was fading orange to purple above them and the warm air that drifted down was not a fraction as scalding as a true desert day would have been.

‘You’ woke up at the urging of Dune Sea, and together they tore down sand from the walls of the hole and climbed out. They took a few silent moments to stretch while Dune looked up at the sky and at the surroundings. No signs of shifting sands from the past day, so the two long sand dunes that they had burrowed between were still oriented the same direction relative to the path that Dune and ‘You’ needed to take.

“Okay,” the older Sphinx said, “Which way shall we go young one?”

Dune Sea was finishing folding her blanket on her back when she pointed. “That way,” she said, “I’m not entirely sure the dist-aaaaaaaaance!” she felt his arms wrap around her midsection and suddenly she was in the air, soaring high over the sand. The soft beating sounds of You’s wings was barely audible over the sound of the air whipping past Dune’s ears and through her mane.

The desert extended beneath and before her. It was massive. Dune knew it was massive,but seeing it from this new elevation, this new vantage point...it put the entire scheme of things into a new perspective for her. Having a mental understanding that it was massive did not compare to seeing it stretch beyond the horizon you were used to seeing.

Dune Sea was captivated by the snaking shadows cast by the setting sun, and the growing sheen of soft silver where the sunlight had all but vanished. She was so entranced by the desert that she did not see the city on the horizon.

“I believe we have found our salvation,” You said loudly, loud enough for Dune Sea to hear. She was brought from her thoughts and looked out ahead; on the horizon was a large dark mass that seemed to twinkle in places. As You flew closer and closer, details began to emerge. Large stone buildings with light coming from windows carved in the walls. Palm trees and plants visible within the streets. Even sphinxes soon became visible; walking around and flying through the air. They had made it to Supplicium City.

The winged sphinx landed just outside of the city gates and the two approached. The gates were open now that it was night and the city was awake; traders were pushing carts into and out of them. The two entered and looked around in wonder for a moment, but then both were drawn to a sound that had escaped them in their amazement; running water.

They ran to the edge of a fountain and dipped their heads into the cool water. Both drank as much as they could stomach before withdrawing their heads, panting contentedly.

“Thank you,” Dune said to him, “I don’t think I would have made it here if you hadn’t flown me.”

“Thank you as well,” he answered her, “I would not have come this direction without your aide.”

“So, what are you going to do now?” Dune Sea asked.

“Me? Well, I do not quite know. I shall see what the city has to offer. What of you?”

“I’m going to find my sister,”

“Well, I wish you luck in your venture. I hope we meet again.”

“You’re...you’re going to leave?” Dune Sea asked. She scarcely knew the sphinx, but she felt some connection to him now. They had gone through an ordeal together and both had escaped death with the help of the other.

“Yes,” he said, “But I will not be leaving the city. Not for a long time. If we meet again, may we both be fat with water.” He bowed his head to Dune Sea and said “Farewell for now, young one.” before turning and leaving; leaving Dune Sea alone in Supplicium City.

The Journal

The Journal

~*~*~

Work in the Royal Library was a true blessing for Dune Sea. Not yet of-age, finding any source of employment was in and of itself a miracle. Children were supposed to remain with family until they became of-age at twelve, supported solely by those relatives who were employed. With no family, Dune Sea was a rare case in the normally close-knit society of Sphinxes.

Her sister had vanished months ago, leaving just before dawn to fetch water at the nearest oasis while Dune Sea slept. Their parents had died many years before than, before Dune Sea could clearly remember. It had always been Loess, her older sister, who cared for her. Once she disappeared, though, Dune Sea had to abandon the small shack in the middle of nowhere and find civilization if she hoped to survive.

The journey across the desert had only taken her two nights, which was fortunate because any longer and she would have died of dehydration. Even without the cursed sun shining rays directly upon her, the desert had ways of pulling the water from you. A winged sphinx that Dune Sea had met along the way aided her in traveling in exchange for direction for he had gotten lost in the endless sea of sand. Dune had known which way to go, and the two together made the last leg of the journey to Supplicium City.

Supplicium City! The capital of the Sphinx empire. Where the Royal Majesty sat on the Lunar Throne, carved from moonrock and decorated with obsidian. The home of a thousand Sphinxes where even the daylight could not stop the activity and work of the spirit of the Moon Queen.

Those were the stories and rumors, at least. Dune Sea had learned first hand that being a lone child in Supplicium City was just as dangerous as being out in the desert. On her first night in the capital she was attacked by three grown sphinxes who wanted whatever she had with her. All she had, unfortunately, was a blanket that she had brought to keep the sun off of her during her time in the desert.

After roughing her up a bit and leaving the young sphinx with a few bruises and scratches, and of course taking her blanket, Dune Sea had to limp her way through the city to continue the search for her sister. She spent many days sleeping between buildings and under shop awnings to stay out of the sun. There was plentiful water in Supplicium City with its abundance of fountains and free wells that she did not go thirsty, but she was soon going hungry.

Odd jobs paid her in food and occasionally in shelter. It was not until she was seen by the Royal Majesty's wife cleaning stones from the road her caravan was walking down that she was brought from the city streets and into the palace. She was washed up and presented to the Royal Woman and offered a job in the palace. With no real reason or option to refuse, Dune Sea was placed in the library where she was, quite simply, a 'gofer'. The librarians sent her on minor errands all over the palace and the library, going to fetch things or deliver books and restock the books on the shelves.

As an Enchanted Sphinx, Dune Sea was taught to use her magic more conservatively and efficiently. She learned how to levitate not just one book with ease and precision, but dozens. Now, after a month and a half of working in the library, she was able to do her job in half the time. With no other work to occupy her the other half of the time, she had taken to reading.

History was her favorite subject; she liked reading accounts of ancient times where legend and fact were twisted around the same tale. Where proof of the greatness of a sphinx could be interpreted as fantasy with the same authority.

Tonight she had found a very old book. It was in the storage closet which she had spent the last few days cleaning out. Covered in dust, the only insignia on the front was a pawprint. The binding of the book was a dark, dark blue, almost as dark as the night sky, and the pawprint was the silvery blue of moonstone. She gasped quietly as she touched it with her own paw. That much moonstone was worth a fortune! She could pry it out of the book cover and afford her own house. If she bought a small one she could also probably feed herself for a year.

Before she worked on that, however, she had a desire to know what was in such an old, valuable tome. Carefully blowing the dust from it, her eyes glowed red and the book cover slowly opened. The first words inside were:

The Personal Narrative of Plateau

The First Emperor of the Sphinxes and the first Sorcerer King

"Emperor Plateau?" she whispered to herself as she gazed down at the name. She had not read a tenth of the history books in the library, true, but she had not read any mention of Emperor Plateau. To her knowledge, the First Emperor's name was supposed to be Fang the Conqueror who united the Eight Tribes over six hundred years ago. She decided that she was going to want to read more.

If you are reading this....

~*~*~

If you are reading this, then it means that my writings have been preserved in what my son has called a 'library'. The concept is strange and foreign to me, but it is likely something you have grown used to, or are growing used to depending on just how much time has passed. You, reader, may not remember well, if at all, but libraries did not exist in my time, or for most of it at least. In fact, no solid structure existed. Not for purposes of preserving knowledge, healing the sick, or even casual living.

I am a second generation Sphinx. My parents, Starlight and Oa, were among the first of our kind to be willed into existence by our mistress, the Moon Queen. I was a part of the first generation to be, as they say now, 'naturally born' in the Silver Sea. You may not believe me, but the sands in which you now walk were once the most beautiful shades of silver, gray, and blue that the eye could have beheld. Children would even pretend that they were on the moon itself while frollicking through the silvery sand.

Now, however, the truth is hidden behind horrible golden glare and the heat of the Solar Sovereign, our Moon Queen’s arch nemesis. I hope one day that the Moon Queen will be freed from her imprisonment on her own Moon. Perhaps she is by your time. Whether or not the world has returned to normal, let this first-paw account serve as a reminder and a guide should a similar fate befall our kind.

Back in the Silver Age of our kind, we traveled the silver desert in large packs of families. We were nomadic and flourished by hunting the other creatures that dwelt in the desert. My personal favorite is the grey snakes that seek us in our sleep for warmth. Easy to catch, and delicious when cooked properly.

Prior to Moonfall I was a polecrafter. We had little need for shelter beyond shielding us from bright moonlight when we wished to sleep and the occasional sand or rainstorm. Because we moved almost daily, the shelters we made were sheets woven from palm tree leaves or created from the sand itself and poles to hold them up.

I crafted the poles from sand and magic, shaping and solidifying the otherwise fluid-like grains into sturdy rods of varying lengths and widths for the pack to use for making simple shelter. The poles lasted a few days so we used them whenever we made camp then just let them lay when we left; they broke up back into normal sand on their own if unmaintained.

Life was peaceful and easy. My beloved wife, Dust, and myself had two children; our son Granule and our daughter Moon Beam. They both took my dark eyes and their mother’s pale brown coat. Both also had the black mane of Enchantment so I took more responsibility for them than my winged wife as I was better able to contain any sporadic bursts of magical energy they might display.

Time was rather static back then. The Moon remained in the sky at all times. It moved around and went through various stages of illumination, but it never vanished from the sky. We had no concept of ‘days’ or ‘nights’ as it was all one, eternal, beautiful night. Until the Dawn.

I remember that sunrise as clearly now as if it had just happened. I was resting by an oasis with my wife. Our pack had just settled into the area and our daughter was out with the other growing cubs with the hunters. Our son remained with us, practicing his magical abilities. He wished to learn how to form sand constructs as I did, though he wanted to make sand sheets rather than the poles.

Granule was the first to see it. A thin red line where the bluish black sky touched the silver ground.

“Hey daddy, what’s that?” he asked me. I looked where his paw was pointed and looked curiously at the growing light in the distance.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “Perhaps a fire?” What could have caused such a large fire as to encompass nearly half of the horizon, however, was beyond me. Over the next few seconds, though, we all knew it was not some sort of fire. There was a definite bulge along the red line at one point, and the line was no longer a line . It expanded and widened, climbing higher into the sky, erasing the stars. The moon was sinking opposite this rising red light. None of us had ever seen this phenomenon and no one was ready.

“Daddy...what’s happening?” Granule asked. Dust had come to stand with us and the rest of the pack that had not gone out hunting were now crowding together, everyone looking up at the sky.

Just as the moon vanished, the bulge on the horizon flashed a bright light over the land, and all of the silver ground began to take on various shades of red and purple. This did not last long and the sand began to fade to gold and tan.

My heart was beating hard in my chest as I closed my eyes against the bright glare. What was this bright light? Looking down, I used my paw to shield my eyes and slowly opened them again.

As it had been moments ago, the entire land was now gold and brightly lit. The sky was a pale blue with not a single star to be seen. I could not look directly at the strange bright object in the sky, but I could tell it was not the moon. Even as I stood there in fear and confusion I could feel a heat growing in the air around me and as that bright light beat down upon me.

“What is that thing?”

“Where is the moon?”

“It’s getting hot!”

“What’s going on?”

“Everyone stay calm!” I yelled while focusing on the sand. “We need to make some shelters or that thing is going to burn us to a crisp.” This was mostly an assumption, but as I stood there I could feel it getting hotter and hotter, so I felt it safer to find a way to hide from it than take a chance that could be fatal. I was already concentrating on the sand, making tall and thick poles that would last a little longer than usual. Some of the other enchanted sphinxes began to form poles and sheets out of the sand and within minutes we had several tents erected that kept the bright hot light off of us. This was a temporary solution, and we all knew it, but it was all I could think to do at the time.

Our meager shelter did not help us for long. The heat began to permeate the air itself and soon we were all laying down, our fur matted with sweat. Our once plentiful stores of water began to noticeably drop as thirst became prominent. Several members of the pack began to talk about rationing water but most were distracted with worry; the hunting party had not returned yet.

I opted to lead a search party to find the hunters. I wanted to find my daughter; her absence in this strange phenomenon was more than unsettling. I was beyond worried about her. I told Dust to take Granule with the rest of the pack. They were all to head to the oasis we had passed by during Low Moon; the phase of the moon we were accustomed to when it was lowest in the sky.

A small search party was formed- myself and four others- and we were given half of the pack’s remaining water stores so that when we found the hunters we could give them some; undoubtedly they were thirsty from this heat, and they did not take any water with them. While the rest of the pack began to head back towards the oasis I bade my wife and son goodbye, promising them that I would find Moon Beam.

We set out into the blazing heat and light. For a while, the five of us took turns, two at a time, to erect and levitate sheets of sand over our search party to help block out what will be called the ‘sun’ in coming years. This expended our energy swiftly, however, and the air and sand itself were stifling with heat and burning our paws. We gave up the attempt at hiding from the direct light and just accepted it as an unavoidable pain.

The pack had fixed patterns and rules for hunting because of how easy it was to get lost on the ever-changing landscape of the sand. One short windstorm was always enough to hide tracks and shift entire dunes enough to make it impossible to know directions from visual cues alone. The stars had been their guiding lights to train the young cubs in navigation, but over time memorization took hold and even now, with the stars gone, we knew which way to go.

Crossing the desert was easy for us, despite the heat. Our paws knew how to tread the sands lightly and we could see soft sand before we walked in it. Even with the heat and the new shades of gold and tan disguising what we were used to, the basic lessons held true. We were not, however, prepared for the rapid increase in heat.

Since we had separated from the pack it continued to grow hotter. The evil light in the rose ever higher, hovering over our heads and glaring angrily down at us, as if we were the ones causing misery. There were no dune shadows to rest in from the intolerable heat and we had already gone through almost half of the water we had brought with us.

“Where are they?” one of the search party asked. It was Gust, an old friend of mine. He was not really a worrier, so when he voiced this thought I knew that everyone must have realized what I noticed long ago; the hunters were not where they belonged.

“We should have found them a demicycle ago,” Gust continued.

“They might have sought the oasis when that...that...thing replaced the moon.” I offered as I was not willing to give up hope.

“Then they would have come back the way we’ve been traveling.” Gust argued.

“Fine!” I barked, baring my teeth at him. We were all hot and angry and scared for our families and friends who were lost. I could not speak for the others, but I was worried about my wife and son making it to the oasis. It was hotter now than ever, and without him there someone else with a high temper might do to them.

“You can keep complaining,” I continued, “Or you can spread your damned wings and take another look from above!” Gust was the only flier among the group and we had been sending him up to get a look around the area at semi-regular intervals; whenever we thought it was a good idea. As he ascended, the rest of us formed a shelter out of the sand to block the direct sunlight. As much as we may have desired to continue the search- as much as I wanted to find my daughter- we needed to rest or we would certainly succumb to this unnatural heat.

Gust shouted “I see something!” and we saw him fly a little further ahead of where we were traveling before coming back. “Its them!” he called, circling around to go back that way. The rest of us, excited, ran from the shelter and up over the dune that had concealed them. We had been one dune away for the last few minutes. How frustrating!

I was halfway down the dune when I noticed Gust bending over one of the others. Then I noticed that all of the members of the hunting pack were laying down. My heart froze and despite the heat I felt a chill run down my back. No... I thought, No...it can’t be... but as I came near the first prone form- a member of the pack I knew by name but did not know very well- I knew it was not impossible. He was dead.

My heart stopped for a moment. I could not breathe. I could scarcely think. My mind was filled with a static haze because the only thought that formed was my daughter out here, one of the dead hunters and my mind could not cope with that reality.

“Plateau!” I heard a voice shout from a great distance, “Plateau! Moon Beam’s here! She’s alive!”

My head snapped in the direction of the voice. It was Gust and he had flared his wing over one of the hunters laying on the ground, shading her. I ran over, a new energy in my limbs. My heart pounded and I felt water start to fill my eyes.

I slid to a stop beside them and knelt down. My daughter! She was breathing, but very faintly. I touched her head with my paw and felt her to be as hot as the sand upon which she lay. Urgently, my eyes flared with magic power and I removed one of the waterfilled canteens tied around my neck. I splashed some on her face then turned her head gently with my paw to pour some into her mouth.

“Moon Beam,” I whispered, “Moon Beam can you speak?” She did not say anything but she did swallow the water I slowly splashed in her mouth. She would live, but I knew I needed to cool her down.

“Are there any others?” I asked Gust as I began to magically form poles from the sand, fusing them into rigid structures.

“I’m checking,” Gust said as he walked over to another fallen sphinx.

“Form a shelter over any survivors!” I yelled to the other three who were walking from sphinx to sphinx, “Splash some water on them and pour slowly into their mouths. They are severely dehydrated and overheated!”

I looked back down at my daughter as the shade provided by the sand sheet propped up by the poles protected her from the direct heat. Carefully, I splashed more water along her body to try and aid her in cooling down. I pushed through her dense main to pour some water at her neck. I needed to be very careful though; wasting what little water we had left would help nobody. As it was, we were going to be hard pressed to make it to the oasis.

But Moon Beam was alive! A great weight had been removed from my chest when I saw her breathing, but she was not out of harms way yet and I needed to stay focused. Not just for her sake, but for everyone’s. Of the two dozen hunters, only seven were still alive when we found them, and two more passed while we tried to cool them off. We moved the five survivors together under shade and moved the dead together, laying them down in more honorable positions. The desert would devour them in its own time.

As the sun moved through the sky we adjusted the shelter to keep the light from them and sparingly gave them more water, allowing ourselves to go thirsty for the time being. Gust went back into the sky to check if there were any oases nearby, but returned to no avail.

A miracle came at a most unexpected time. When the sun was at its lowest and the wall of sand we erected as keeping it’s light off of us and the slowly recovering survivors of the hunting party, I could see stars starting to twinkle in the sky on the opposite end of the sky.

“Look!” I said in an awed voice. The stars were returning! And every minute that passed more became visible.

“The stars!”

“And the moon!”

“The moon!” We all shouted in delight as it rose from the opposite end of the sky. Once it fully became visible the sun had fully vanished and all of its light had gone. We could feel the air cooling as we gave great shouts of joy. The moon was returning! The hell we had all gone through was over!

“Wait, what’s that?” one of the others asked. We looked at him and he was looking at the moon. We looked back at the moon and for a moment I had no idea what he was talking about. But then I saw the odd shadow across the once pure bright surface. There was a figure upon the moon; a shadow. Something rearing its head with a protrusion from one end.

It was the Moon Queen, or at least her profile. I gaped at the image of our creator upon the moon, and at an impulse I bowed towards it. I was not alone; all of us standing were bowing towards the moon.

“What is this omen?”

“A sign of fortune! She is going to oversee our journey back to the pack!”

“Yes,” I agreed, “A good omen. The moon and darkness returns and the Moon Queen has heralded it. She banished the bright heat and saved us.”

“Not yet,” Gust said, “We are still low on water, and we will have a hard time making it back to the pack..”

Or what’s left of it. I thought grimly.

“Let’s go. Our pack will be waiting at the oasis by now. Gust, go back into the sky and keep an eye out for enemy packs or allies. The rest of us will carry someone on our backs until they are strong enough to walk at pace.”

I lifted my daughter onto my back, comforted by the sound of her breathing and her occasional muttered words to me. I told her to stay silent and conserve her strength. Now that the air was cooling to normal temperatures she would recover sooner. We all started back the way we had come. The return of the stars was also a return of our ability to navigate, and we traveled much faster now that the sand was a familiar, comfortable silver.

It took hours for us to regain the distance traveled to find the hunters, and hours more to catch our first glimpse of our pack. Moon Beam and the others had recovered enough to walk on their own about halfway back and we all split the last of the water we had with us. Now we were all incredibly thirsty and in dire need of water, but the oasis was within sight and we knew our thirsts would soon be quenched by the fresh water of the oasis.

Or so I thought.

I found my wife and son sitting together with a few members of the pack.

“Where are the others?” I asked when I was close to them. They both looked up at me with surprise and joy, but neither moved. I saw they were both trembling. I told them that Moon Beam was safe and resting before I asked my question again.

“They...they all...” Granule began to say.

“Only a few of us made it this far.” Dust finished. I gaped at her. I had thought they would have trouble without enough water, but for all save a half dozen of the pack to die on the way from dehydration?

“We were attacked,” My wife continued, as if reading my thoughts. My surprised expression could only have grown more surprised.

“Attacked?” I asked.

“Yes.” she said. “Another pack swarmed us. They wanted our water and they killed everyone who tried to stop them. Once they took all of our possessions they left. Those that were not dead were hurt more than we could help, and the heat made us keep moving without them.” Her voice was weak and it hurt to hear her speak like this. It almost sounded as though she had died in the attack; she seemed impassioned and distant.

“Then we got here,” My son entered the conversation. He, at least, had feeling in his voice. He was scared though, I could hear that very clearly. “We weren’t the only pack to get here. A large one, I-I think it’s Sand Storm’s pack, were here first a-and attacked anyone who tried to get too close. They wouldn’t even let us in the shade of the trees. Th-they said that w-with so many sphinxes coming, th-the water would be used up.”

“So you haven’t had a drink since you were attacked?” I asked.

“Before then, even,” Dust answered, “We were rationing as best we could manage. Our turn was just after the attack.”

“Wait here.” I said, angry. I was as thirsty as I had ever been in my life, but I would bite off my own tail before letting my family go thirsty. I stalked towards the oasis, and as my son had said, I was stopped by two stout and powerfully built sphinxes. I told them that my family needed water but they refused to let me go further. I told them about my pack’s predicament but they did not care one bit.

I left them be; they were both bigger and stronger than I was, and they did not appear to be as near utter dehydration as me. I could not take them alone, nor did I think the few able in my back could help me if those two had their friends come to their aide. But everyone could.

I traveled around the oasis, speaking to every sphinx I could find, finding any pack leaders present who were sharing my pack’s problem. I proposed to them all that I would travel to the other packs and form a joint force of all who were able to fight to remove Sand Storm’s pack from the oasis, and one by one they all agreed.

All of the fighters joined me on the north side of the oasis. Without preamble, I charged forward and I heard the patter and hiss of paws moving across sand. A small handful of guards emerged from the trees of the oasis but retreated once they saw our sheer numbers. I breached the treeline and continued running to the water.

The fighting happened while I was unconscious. A blow to the head from a massive paw I had not seen. I came to to the sounds of roaring and shouting and screaming. I saw bleeding bodies everywhere and sphinxes fighting each other in the sand and in the sky through the treetops. But when I looked up through the leaves, winged sphinxes were not the only thing I saw. I also saw the sky, and the absence of stars on one end.

“No...” I said, forcing myself to stand up. My head throbbed from the effort and I felt a burning sensation on myside. I looked and saw blood; I had been bitten. But I could not linger on that; I needed to get out of the trees. I walked towards the starless side of the sky and emerged. Those who were not fighting were standing around looking at me. They heard the sounds of fighting from behind me, within the oasis, and saw my state and were afraid taht we were losing. I honestly did not know.

I looked over and beyond them. To the glowing red haze in the distance, and the small bulge of light that was growing.

“No...” I said again. The light was returning. The darkness was fading. I stared at it for minutes as the light became brighter and brighter. Soon those who were looking at me noticed it and turned as well. Cries of terror and rage sounded in the silence.

Silence?

“Plateau!” a voice called from behind me. I turned and saw Gust limping towards me. “Plateau! We did it! Sand Storm is dead and his pack has fled. We've won!”

“No...” I said as light flared up behind me. I saw my shadow cast over his surprised expression. “No, we didn’t.”

~*~*~

Dune Sea closed the book quickly and held her breath. She’d heard someone walking by and did not want to be caught unawares. The pawsteps passed and she breathed again. This is a good book. she thought as she levitated it into her pack leaning against the wall. She put her pack back on and left, not wanting to be found stealing library property. It was a good book, but not worth having her paws chewed off by sandlions.