From the summit of the ruins on the rocky hill, Redmane could see out across the rest of the island chain known as the Fangs of Frost. They stretched onward to the north for miles, most of them barren crags like the one he presently stood upon. The dark sea churned around and between them, over a maze of reefs certain to be the demise of any ship foolish enough to find itself in such a place.

  He felt fortunate to possess wings.

  To the north, beyond these small islands, Redmane spied a larger expanse of land blanketed in snow. Its southern edge featured a strip of beach large enough to host a convention of walruses. He could smell them from all the way over here.

  A few hundred of those would be a good amount of Corpus. And he’d eaten worse.

  But perhaps it would be best to save such a meal for after. Or in the event of an emergency.

  Redmane took wing and went to battle with the wild currents of the wind again. When he’d reached a fair elevation, he could see farther out across the snowfield, and realized the island ahead was larger than it first seemed. And there were more of them, to the northeast and northwest, interspersed with more small craggy islands in the spaces between. His eyes scanned over the snowfield, in search of his next batch of foes.

  He didn’t realize he was looking down at a pack of Ice Wargs until one of them moved.

  It lifted its head and sniffed the air.

  Ice Warg

  Beast

  Level 133

  Redmane realized the clumps of white sitting all around it, which a moment ago resembled nothing more than snow covered boulders, were its pack mates. The Ice Wargs were larger than the varieties of Warg he’d yet seen. Now that he knew what they looked like at rest, he thought he’d passed some on his way. Perhaps the one called Gale lay somewhere nearby.

  [Ice Warg] marked as Prey

  All the nearby islands lit up.

  There were packs of Ice Wargs spread throughout the Fangs of Frost.

  Perhaps that was how the place earned its name.

  Redmane’s gaze swept over the islands beneath him. There were a goodly number of Ice Wargs spread about. He could spend his time searching for their Alpha, but a better idea came to mind.

  He came to an easy landing in the snow, folded his wings in and howled.

  Voice of the Beastlord

  All he had to do was stand there and wait.

  From all around, packs of Ice Wargs came running in answer to his call.

  Within minutes, Redmane found himself encircled by a dozen or more of the beasts, each roughly the size of an ox. They had dark eyes and claws, and coats of snow white fur, and they regarded him with calm curiosity. Their growling was more cordial than it would have seemed to a non-canine.

  Then their leader appeared, and the others stood aside for him.

  Gale, Ice Warg Alpha

  Beast

  Level 140

  Gale stood a head taller than the rest. He towered over Redmane, but his manner was as placid as the others. Redmane had the impression that his docile approach was not the result of fear or supernatural coercion, but simply because these beasts were the uncontested lords of this icy land. They felt no fear because there was nothing in their world to fear.

  The Alpha lowered his head curiously, looking Redmane up and down, sniffing at him.

  What is this one. Why does it call to us.

  I come to slay the Sphinx and claim this land for my own, said Redmane.

  One of the Ice Wargs nearby cocked her head to the side. Sphinx?

  It’s nearby. It lives within an old church or temple. A human dwelling, said Redmane.

  Ahh… A human dwelling. There are some of those about. Most are old and crumbled. One isn’t, but it’s sealed shut. No one can get in.

  Redmane pointed in a northerly direction. It would be that way.

  Gale looked in the direction he pointed. Yes. But we do not go there. It has a dangerous aura.

  When I’m finished, there will be nothing there to avoid.

  The Ice Wargs looked around at each other.

  He wants to kill what’s in there? said one.

  Can he even get the door open? said another.

  The human dwelling would make a fine shelter, an older Warg said. If we could just get inside.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Redmane felt these Wargs were not only larger, but more intelligent than the other breeds of Warg as well. He stood and listened to them engage in a thoughtful discussion with each other about the prospect of sheltering in the Sphinx’s lair and the potential benefits and risks thereof.

  There’s something else, said Redmane.

  The Ice Wargs stopped talking and looked at him.

  He nodded toward Gale. You and I have to fight. The System marked you. If I am to claim this land, I must defeat you.

  Several Wargs lolled their tongues out in an obvious show of mirth.

  Gale seemed amused as well.

  You don’t look like you’d fight well. You’re so small.

  You’d be surprised, said Redmane.

  The Alpha chuffed. You are strange, small one. But so be it. Help us open the human dwelling, and I’ll give you a fight.

  There’s something dangerous inside that building, said Redmane.

  Then we’ll fight that first, and you can fight me after.

  Redmane considered it. Nodded.

  We have an accord.

  It resembled the Tomb of Vos.

  Except snow covered this ancient black building instead of vibrant foliage.

  The structure was also significantly larger. Standing at its massive doors, Redmane looked up at the building and wondered at its original purpose.

  Vos, his wayward son from the dawn of this world, existed quite a long time before the Five Heroes and Kraal the Devourer.

  If this was where they housed the Sphinx, it meant that Belskaya and Vos’s cooperation went beyond the lending of a special weapon.

  There may be other things in here. Another Abyssal Well, at the least.

  Gale, the Ice Warg Alpha, sat on his haunches next to Redmane.

  The door is sealed by human magics, he said.

  Perhaps I can open it.

  Redmane climbed the black stone steps before the doors, examined them. They bore the image of Vos, standing guard with his hammer in hand. The God Breaker. Redmane wondered if the weapon itself would act as a key, a token of recognition.

  But he’d eaten it. He was the God Breaker now.

  For lack of any better ideas, Redmane placed his hand on the sealed doors, to find out if the magical seal thereupon would recognize the aura of Vos’s favorite toy. He noted that the black stone was surprisingly warm against his palm. It gave the impression that the building itself was like a living thing.

  And indeed, it responded.

  It happened when Redmane was just about to remove his hand. At the last moment there was a great, deep rumbling as the massive doors began to slide inward, slowly revealing the deep darkness inside.

  The ears of all the gathered Ice Wargs perked up.

  He did it!

  Remarkable!

  Interesting scents in there. And… It’s warm!

  Gale looked down at Redmane.

  What sort of beast is a Sphinx? Is it a good fighter?

  I imagine it will be. The last one was.

  With that said, he strode into the darkness.

  As it had in his son’s resting place, torches throughout the room sparked to life as soon as he set foot inside, bathing the ancient stone in golden light. Gale and a few other Ice Wargs came in behind him, looking around at the intricate carvings all over the walls.

  Redmane was looking too, for there were scenes on the walls.

  First there was a depiction of a star falling from the sky and impacting on what he supposed was this very island, and a tribe of people investigating the crater.

  And then… Another island, with a massive city upon it, surfaced from the depths of the ocean.

  The tribesmen met with the folk of this strange city. There was an exchange of what appeared to be documents. The newcomers were educating the natives, it seemed.

  The next scene illustrated the coming of more native peoples, arriving on boats from parts unknown to learn from the folk of the city from beneath the waves. One of them he recognized, as the artist had taken pains to make his appearance stand out from the others.

  It was Vos.

  He’d come to learn from these folk.

  If the next scene was accurate, he became their star pupil. Vos stood at a forge, holding a sword aloft while his mentors stood at his sides, pleased with their student.

  But he learned more than the art of smithing. They taught Vos and the others literacy and astronomy, they taught them about agriculture and architecture, how to mark the passage of time by count of days and phases of the moons. Vos sat at the front of every lesson.

  In one or two of these depictions, he looked angry.

  The final image on the wall, the presumptive end of the story, was another depiction of Vos standing before the forge. This time he held aloft the God Breaker.

  The city from beneath the waves was no longer in the background. Perhaps it had returned to wherever it came from.

  So Vos learned the ways of civilization from these outsiders. And he took it upon himself to reshape his world afterwards.

  Redmane knew the rest of that story.

  He investigated further, checking from room to room. There were dead interred here, in dark stone sarcophagi. Not many though. He supposed these few were people of some import. He also found what appeared to be classrooms or lecture halls. And after discovering a staircase leading downward, a great forge as well.

  Meaning this very building was the place depicted in those scenes above. It was a school, before becoming the final resting place of its students.

  There was a passage in the back of this room which stood out starkly from the rest. Not a man made doorway, but a natural fissure in the stone. Redmane followed it, Gale and two Ice Wargs close behind. The cavern shrank as it descended and curved, becoming almost too cramped for the great beasts to continue on. But just as they were about to begin shoving themselves bodily through the tunnel, it opened out into a wide, high-ceilinged gallery deep beneath the earth.

  Redmane’s eyes widened.

  He beheld the Seal of the Sphinx.

  It looked exactly like the Seal of the Manticore, a swirling ball of crimson energy, crackling with lightning and pulsing like a beating heart. Pillars of bone, etched with glowing magic runes, encircled the central sphere of power.

  It smells like you, said Gale.

  Redmane stared at the Seal.

  He was about to expand again. He wondered what he would become this time. What he may learn, or understand.

  Presuming he survived.

  It was difficult to kill a god. But even so, there were states of existence he dearly wished not to return to.

  Redmane took a slow breath inward, and released it with equal restraint, to ease his nerves. For a moment he pondered spawning Vang and his lot, but he decided against it. He had three helpers with him already, more than enough. If he needed more help than that, he’d be in trouble.

  Redmane glanced at Gale. Ready?

  The Ice Warg Alpha inclined his snout in a nod.

  He walked into the circle of giant bones, and the air shimmered and distorted around him as he passed, as if it were a membrane briefly stretching and then relaxing. Gale and his pack mates followed behind him, the four of them approaching the center of the circle and the ball of flickering, flashing energy.

  Just as it had the first time, the guardian of the Seal walked out of nothingness to face them.

  She was blue.

  All blue — the skin of her face and human torso, the fur of her four legged, catlike body, the feathers of her great wings, and even her tail, which began like that of a forest cat and ended in a tuft of dense, razor sharp quills. She resembled a union of human, lynx and owl. Redmane noted how quiet her paws were on the ground, the peacefulness of her smile, the eerie quality of her eyes. They were pools of black with red points of light for pupils.

  And she had a third eye upon the center of her forehead. Its eyelid was a vertical slit, which opened to reveal yet another glowing dot of red on black.

  Destina the Sphinx

  Monster Type: Primordial

  Level 150

  PATREON