Fading magic leaked from a nearly dead sigil in the chambers within the peak of the mountain. After centuries of hope the sisters were deciding who amongst their elite would rise to take the empty number of the Knowledge Twelve. The other eleven had waited longer than they should have because their seer magic told them their sister wasn’t dead and that they should wait, but now the last sigil of their power was facing starvation.
Az the First Sister of the Knowledge Twelve had gave the order all those years ago to pull back from their lands not in the domains of the sphinx and whenever roaming outside, they needed a stealth sister with them. After watching the clear betrayal take place, the humans and goblins could no longer be trusted even if it was only the actions of disgrace of an organization that perverted the quest for knowledge that was to blame.
Each of the sisters had watched through the seer to see the atrocities their Seventh Sister had faced at their hands and that had made the decisions for Az. Their knowledge was to be kept within the mountain until the Twelve were complete and they could birth numbers closer to that of those savage races.
Even with the order, their advancement demanded new knowledge and so, the last few centuries have all been about getting bits and pieces here and there through the use of the shadows. Their seers were also constantly performing their magic to keep up on the state of the planet and ensure their enemies were not marching on them. Some had tried to uncover their mysterious disappearance over the years and simply never came out of the Shadow Labyrinth, a design from the very first Knowledge Twelve who have now ascended to Elder status.
Az walked through the ranks of the sphinx to find any standouts that could handle being one of the Twelve. Most assumed it was just a rank designation within the hierarchy of the sphinx, but this was not the case. Being one of the Twelve connected your soul with the unbroken circle surrounding the flame of their mother. When this happens, a second class is gifted, and it is always the same. Keeper of Knowledge is one of the highest honors a sphinx could be granted, and it was one each of the sisters took seriously.
Knowledge was always the path forward for a sphinx, but once obtaining the honored class, it became even more important. The more knowledge you collected, the more powerful you became. A full Knowledge Twelve could topple whole cities by themselves, but they have always leaned more towards peace. Wise decisions from the original Twelve had even set up safety in the form of treaties with the other “intelligent” races on Motholo which also underlined their contracts for knowledge trade, contracts that a few humans and a few goblins broke that day those many years ago.
A feeling spread over Az as she walked by one who had just conquered the labyrinth below. She was powerful and bursting with delicious knowledge. This was the type of candidate that they wanted to fill the Knowledge Twelve once more.
“Sister, where have you obtained this knowledge?”
“First Sister, I was one of the chosen to go on the distance flight with the Fourth Sister. It was enlightening to see the world and observe other races. Knowledge breakthroughs came to me daily and I even broke through to my chosen elements. Lightning, and Shadow, First Sister.”
“What an odd combination. I can feel the knowledge and power radiating from within your soul. I believe you are ready for ascension to Twelfth Sister. Be prepared to feed the knowledge to the sigil in the unbroken circle.” As she finished a smaller sphinx showing the energy of youth darted from the air nearly running into her.
“Fir…st…Sister.” The young sister was trying to catch her breath.
“What is it young one?”
“Come quick! The seers say it’s important.”
“An attack?”
“I do not know.”
“Come, sister. What is your name?”
“Bol.” The lightning and shadow sphinx answered immediately.
With that they flew with haste to the chamber of the seers. When they arrived, a scrying array was active to fill the whole wall with an image. An image they never thought of seeing again. Their Seventh Sister had somehow risen once more.
“Where is she?”
“Ah, First Sister, so far we have not been able to pinpoint her location.”
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“Is she safe?”
“From what we can tell, yes. We have watched for several hours to ensure it wasn’t a trick. She seems to be on a ship with humans, a strange owl, and a boy of a race that we do not know.”
“Humans?!” When the First Sister exclaimed, the whole room started to hiss.
“Yes, but it seems they are helping her to get home.”
“It must be a trap of some kind. A way into our domain to break out defenses.”
“We are not sure, First Sister, but it is a possibility. She has had several conversations with the owl and the boy with silver eyes about unlocking one of her skills. Our thought is that her captors had locked the flight ability.”
Another hiss filled the room. “A sphinx born of the wind element blocked from flying? That’s cruel. And this owl and silver-eyed boy are attempting to unlock it?”
“As we have seen, First Sister.”
“Impossible. Our fellow races of this world, have not practiced the old magic in centuries.”
“To our surprise, we have seen this boy perform similar magic to enchant the ship they are on. Yu watched and was quite impressed with the boy’s prowess.”
“An outlier then. Well, I want reports every hour. If he can unlock her skill, then she will return to us within days. If he cannot then it will be a long journey by ship and then by foot for her to return home.”
“Should we send a deployment of stealth sisters to escort her home?”
“The unknown is too dangerous at this point. Let us observe further. Seventh Sister is quite formidable with her flame and wind birthright.” She went to turn and get the other Twelve when she stopped and turned back. “Keep an eye on that boy as well. He could prove helpful, and those eyes contain knowledge that we do not know ourselves.”
Bol watched all of this take place and she couldn’t help to have mixed feelings. Of course, she wanted Seventh Sister to return after so many years away from the domain, but this was about to be her chance for ascension. She had worked hard and even conquered the labyrinth to obtain as much power and knowledge as she could before the selection.
Her soul desired to be a Keeper of Knowledge as every sphinx’s soul does, but hers was louder. Ever since she was a hatchling the unbroken circle had called to her. The flame was like a heartbeat that kept her thirsty for all that they do not know. Now, she would have to wait for another ascension opportunity which could be a millennium. Could she wait that long to fulfill her destiny? Why were there only twelve?
Doubts started to fill her mind even though she knew it was wrong. Yet wasn’t it the way of the sphinx to be curious? Where was the line? With a surge of courage, she decided to ask.
“First Sister, why are their only twelve?”
Az froze where she was and turned. “Oh, Bol, I forgot I had dragged you along. Apologies.” Then her wings flared out before retracting like she was stretching. “To answer your question, there are only twelve because there are only twelve sigils in the unbroken circle.”
“Yes, but are we certain that each sigil was only meant to signify one sphinx? Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to the flame of our mother if each sigil shared knowledge with hundreds of sphinx?”
“I see. It would be more beneficial, but it was written by the original Twelve that each one was tied to a soul meaning a singular soul. Why would we question the original Twelve who are now Elders?”
A little shame flushed through Bol’s humanoid face. “We shouldn’t, First Sister. If each sigil is only meant for one soul, could we not create more sigils?”
“Now that is something I’ve pondered myself. Why deprive our mother’s flame knowledge when we could give her so much more. I believe the answer to that comes from the fact that when it was made, there were only the original Twelve in existence for our kind. In there, do you know why I asked to keep an eye on the boy?”
“You said he could prove useful. Is it because of this “old magic” you spoke of?”
“I’d expect nothing less of such a bright sister. Yes, it is. This old magic is a lost art, and only very few can perform. Have you learned of class masters?”
“I did witness one on my flight. He was powerful for an elf.”
“Ah, yes. I believe I know who you speak of, and he has my respect. Well, these class masters are those that have rediscovered this old magic, and used it to push themselves beyond by interacting with their own soul.”
They turned and Bol found them standing above the flame of their mother. Around the flame was the unbroken circle. A series of lines and sigils encompassing the flame. It looked dull compared to when she saw it as a hatchling.
“Magic has faded from the circle in the absence of Seventh Sister. We need Twelve to power the sigils with knowledge. However, to your point, a simple solution for this would be to create another circle with more sigils. These lines or pathways for magic were created using the old magic a long time ago by our mother.”
“You want to ask the boy to help create another circle?”
“Very good, young one. Yes, if he is proficient then it could be beneficial for the sphinx.”
“Why not just ask one of these class masters?”
“They have only mastered this magic on themselves. I have never seen one use it on an object outside themselves. For this new circle, we would need someone who could do both.”
“Well, how do you know this boy can?”
“Our seers said as much. Remember that they said Yu had watched the boy use this magic to enchant the hull of their ship? Well, the seers also said that conversations between our sister, the owl, and the boy took place talking about possibly unlocking a skill. If he can, then that is the mastery of the old magic that we need. These sigils are very delicate. Of course, we would have to test him thoroughly before letting him near the mother’s flame.”
“Yes. No outsider shall lay eyes on the heartbeat of our sisters!”
Az laughed. “Exactly. Now let us go find the rest of the Twelve. We need to make plans.”
