Sphinx^

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"How do I get my pendant back?" Sam repeated, crushing all of Mikyla's hopes of a proper question about the Trials.

"Uhhh..." The fairy raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well you see," Sam started orating, "It all started with this small test in school where we went through a portal and-"

Mikyla facepalmed as Sam recounted everything that happened thus far and hoped maturity wasn't part of the passing grade. When Sam got like this, there was no stopping him, just in the same way Sade used to be. He went on and on, the sun barely shifting in the sky, but eventually after what felt like hours or boredom, Sam drew to a close.

"And then we heard your riddle and then you came up to us and that's when I asked if you knew how to get my pendant back." Sam finally concluded.

The fairy shook her head. "That was an interesting story and all but I can't help you. Once a portal closes, it can't be opened up again except from its way of entry. I'm actually surprised you made it this far without realizing it. Most elves try to go back through the portals as soon as the second Trials starts but I guess you aren't like most elves, huh?"

"What's That supposed to mean?" Mikyla's eye twitched slightly. She'd had enough of magical beings for a while and she couldn't quite tell whether the faeries were friend or foe at this point.

"For starters, you made it out of he lightning realm in record time. Normally Nizzre' raps too fast for anybody to hear. I keep telling her that sometimes to do things fast you need to take your time but she's been stubborn for a thousand years and she'll probably be stubborn for a thousand more." The fairy sighs before peeking up as if remembering something. "That's right! You must be the strange elves Su'aco has been breathing into the wind."

"Su- who' O?"

"Su'aco." Mikyla corrected Sam. "The wind fairy. Her name literally means 'Wind' in Quenya."

"Well we are elemental faeries after all. If you haven't guessed by now, my name is Har'dro."

"Which means 'Earth' in Quenya, right?" Sam asked to which Mikyla and Har'dro nodded.

"Yup. Exactly. We faeries inhabit the forests of your world from time to time according to dimensionional shifts and currents. Strangely, however, you almost smell out of this world but that would be too ironic now, wouldn't it?"

"Why can't we go back through the portals? Is it a one way system and what are dimensional shifts and currents?" Mikyla took her chance to ask a question after Har'dro brought up all the dimensional travel and other magical transportationy things.

"Although you probably won't believe me, the portals are in place to actually keep things in rather than out. Most of the time you have fences or whatever to keep pesky neighbors out but if you haven't noticed by now, each portal is sort of a mini doorway into another place/dimension. We're all living in the same forest but every time you step through the portal it's like a gateway across worlds or multiverses to be precise." Har'dro scrunched up her face as she realized the two Nobles weren't really following along. "You see, in one universe the forest is completely normal whilst in another it's completely mountainous or hectic with lightning bolts flying everywhere as I'm sure you just witnessed. These are merely fragments of parallel realities- oh, here's a fun fact. Did you know that there are so many alternative universes that you can find an exact replica of yourself but in a different gender and class?"

"What! No way!" Sam shook his head in amazement, his obsession with the pendant overcome with childish curiosity. "I can't believe that there would be a girl version of me... and as a Dreg? How impossible is that!"

"It's more real than you think..." Mikyla muttered under her breath as what Har'dro slowly all pieces together.

"Huh? Did you say something Mika?"

"No, no." Mikyla shook her head with a lopsided smile. "I was just thinking that it would be absurd for that to happen is all..."

"Alright. But one thing doesn't make sense." Sam pondered out loud. "Where's the forest? The place looks like a desert."

Har'dro shrugged. "This realm is more rocky and mountainous but at this location it's mostly sand. Further out we've got enough cacti to count as a forest and if you walk far enough you'll eventually get to you know where..."

"We know where?" Mikyla repeated, doubtful.

"You know." Har'dro raised her eyebrows up and down. "You know where."

"Right..." Mikyla agreed, understanding that the conversation wasn't going anywhere. "We know where."

"Yeah exactly." Har'dro beamed before pointing to where the sand flattened into multiple dunes. "Just that way."

"But there's only more sand dunes!" Sam complained.

This time Har'dro giggled. "Nah. Those aren't sand dunes- they're just really really really - like really really- far away mountains. Kind of like the chimera mountain but much much farther."

Sam and Mikyla sweat dropped and they didn't think it was due to the heat.

"I don't think I have anymore questions anymore so I guess I'll be seeing you guys. You already know the riddle so all I can say now is good luck!" Har'dro winked before shattering into a miniature sand storm.

Sam and Mikyla watched as the sandstorm blew away into the desert, leaving a faint trail towards the supposed mountains. It would be a long and arduous trek but they would have to make it nonetheless.

"You ready?" Mikyla turned towards Sam with a light smile.

"No."

"Yeah, me neither."

—————

Night fell before Sam and Mikyla could reach the first dune on the horizon, their hopes of ever reaching the fabled mountain range dropping as fast as the temperature. Despite the cooling temperature providing a gratifying relief at first, it soon became apparent that there would be no sleep that night lest their bodies frosted over from lack of movement.

Dusk had brought ripping winds that caught on any loose fabric and whilst the intensity was child's play compared to the wind realm, the constant bartering of pellets of sand was an eyesore in the most literal sense. Even in lieu of the glacial temperature drop, the night provided sparse solace, the moons beam barely dimmer than the suns ray.

Thirst may have posed a threat yet in the platitudinous migration to where the land metamorphosed, it was the sole irritant urging them forward. Mikyla had quickly grown irksome from Sam's nonsensical drivel and with no imminent threats in sight, he slowly became a burden rather than a help. Nonetheless, it had become apparent enough that the effects of losing the pendant created an external fluctuation in Sam's demeanor, his tone becoming flatter and the odd observation of a scorpion infused with an energy that seemed almost hollow. In spite of his change, however, Mikyla felt it was better to leave him alone in plight of imposing detrimental effects, or worse, getting more involved with a Noble than she had too.

"Help!" Sam's voice rang out in a short burst of inspired enthusiasm, this time though filled with enough emotion to attract the best part of Mikyla's attention.

"Help!" Sam turned to Mikyla and as she fixated her attention on him, the reason rose to the surface.

Perhaps it was the trick of the moonshine but from Mikyla's perspective it looked like the land around them was getting taller, the dunes elongating as if soaking up the midnight glow and fueling their sudden growth. It wouldn't surprise her. After everything she has seen so far it would be quite normal if the ground was a living, breathing creature. It was the earth realm after all but with a quick flounder from Sam, Mikyla's initial judgement  was revoked.

"Sam." Mikyla looked towards her feet and confirmed what was happening. "Stop moving."

For a second, Sam obeyed but a quick look to Mikyla who was in the same position unnerved him even still and he floundered even more.

"Sam. Stop moving."

Sam didn't respond. Instead he merely shook his head violently and flailed around even more causing himself to be swallowed by the earth faster than before:

"Sam, before I rip myself out of this quicksand and drown you myself, stop moving!"

"But I'm gonna drown!" Sam wailed.

"No you won't!" Mikyla flared her nostrils, her patience worn thin. "It's impossible to drown in quicksand and if you just stood still for a second you would find that you don't sink anymore."

"Fine." Sam sniffed. "But if I drown it's going to be your fault."

Holding his gaze, Mikyla dared him to even twitch, her eyes steely in the moonlight.

"See?" Mikyla smirked. "I told you we would stop sinki-"

Suddenly a gaping hole swallowed the Nobles and they plunged towards the center of the earth, darkness swallowing them whole. Their weightless bodies descended into the unknown and just as they felt their flesh make contact with something solid, they tensed hoping to dampen the impact but it was futile. It wouldn't have made the slightest difference. There simply was no need because strangely enough, their impact was cushioned by a mattress and as they blinked in confusion, the darkness dissolved around by the glow of an old oil lantern swinging precariously by their faces. An oil lantern and a stern expression as if set in stone.

With hot oil brimming dangerously close, Sam and Mikyla sat up bolt right only to find themselves staring into a tangled jungle of what appeared to be wiry fur. Peculiar as it was, it was not as outlandish as what peered back through the brambles or even the bulbous rock that protruded from its center. To any sane elf, the obscurity would be quickly classified as an abstraction of a boogly-eyed portrait but as a thin slit cracked open within the entanglement, it proved to be more than two dimensional.

"And what might you be staring at?"

Somehow Mikyla's ears and eyes didn't seem to cooperate. She was sure she was looking at a bush about three feet tall that just so happened to have an oil lantern strung to one of its gloved branches (which wasn't the strangest decoration if you took into account for the mining hat that fashionable sat on top of its peak) yet it seemed to speak a rough version of Quenya as if it were a sentient being. 

"I, uhhh..."

As if being withheld for taking to long to answer, Mikyla felt a tremor through the earth before Sam and herself were promptly lifted by the scruffs of their necks for all to see. Likewise, from the two Nobles sudden ariel viewpoint, it became apparent what was going on.

From directly upwards, the ceiling was a mere few meters tall with a small protrusion where Sam and Mikyla had fallen through. Nothing strange there. Directly in front and to the sides were a series of cave walls that zigzagged into open spaces and the such. Nothing peculiar either. However, directly behind them was a twelve foot bolstered elven figure crafted from stone and a quick look into the shiny gemstones that made up its eyes quickly averted Mikyla's own to the ground where they were swiftly widened in fascination.

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Word Count for Chapter 23: 1902
Total Word Count: 38896

Authors Note:

Hope you liked the UNEDITED chapter 23! Don't forget to press on those magical stars to light up Mikyla's future path and leave a comment telling me what you like so far or what you don't like. Thanks for reading so far.

Happy reading
~ Dracollavenore