Father.

The word rang heavy in Kairos’ mind, as he rode Rook above the western plains. “I’m going to be a father,” he whispered to himself, the thought making him feel both anxious and excited.

“I am so happy for you!” Rook congratulated his best friend, his snake-tail wagging like a dog’s. “I am so proud, Kairos! You are finally an adult!”

“I am older than you,” the [Griffin Rider] pointed out.

“I’m more mature!” The griffin peeked over his shoulder. “Could I spoil your hatchlings? Can I, can I? I will build a beautiful nest for your eggs, almost as shiny as mine!”

“Rook, humans do not lay eggs.”

“You don’t?” Rook tilted his head at his best friend. “Oh right, you don’t. But then how can you make sure your young hatch safely?”

“We can’t guarantee any of that.” And an incoming war would make them less safe than ever. “It’s a constant struggle to grow old in our world.”

“Sheesh, you mammals are so confusing. No wonder you need us birds to get things done!”

Kairos ruffled his friend’s feathers, before glancing at the ground with his spear in hand. The Nemean Pride had left a trail of devastation in its wake, the bones of pegasi and sheep left abandoned in the open. Nessus’ scouts had tracked the monsters to a hill with a cavern, which they would probably use as a lair until they depopulated the local countryside.

Kairos doubted the Pride would get anywhere near the Stone Garden of Euryale though. The gorgon was a [Demigoddess], and had lived on the island for centuries without anyone bothering her. The Nemean Lion either avoided or tolerated her presence.

Kairos couldn’t say the same for his beloved Andromache, who currently studied magic with the gorgon. He had come to pick her up and return with her to Histria, to prepare for the hunt. Though the Scylla was blessed with invulnerability, a Nemean Lion’s claws could cut through almost anything and might bypass her protections.

“Don’t tell Andromache, Rook,” the [Hero] told his companion. “About the pregnancy. This stays between us.”

“What? Why? You’re a father, you should tell everyone!”

“The news will hurt Andromache.” His mistress’ curse made her sterile, and learning that her romantic rival was pregnant would only add salt to the wound. Kairos would rather tell Andromache after lifting her malediction, to soften the blow. “So shush.”

To his surprise, Rook decided to argue against it. “Kairos, she is stronger than that! If you love her, you can’t hold anything back. Friends don’t keep secrets from each other, so why should it be different for mated pairs?”

“You keep a secret stash.”

“Yes, but that’s different! My secret stash won’t hurt anyone but me if it is discovered. The truth will hurt less than the lie.”

He… he had a point. Andromache would find out on her own at one point, and she might see Kairos keeping it secret as a breach of trust. Their relationship was strong, and survived even his marriage with Julia. It could survive the truth.

“Then how should I tell her?” Kairos asked Rook. “In a way that won’t hurt her?”

“Tell her kindly, of course,” the griffin said. “Kindness can cure any wound!”

Somehow, he managed to make his naive statement sound wise.

Kairos rehearsed a way to broach the news to Andromache as softly as he could, and he realized that he wasn’t sure how to deal with it himself. He knew this day would come, but children… While they were growing closer, his marriage with Julia had been a business transaction first and foremost. Kairos knew they would make good parents, but they faced great dangers ahead. Mithridates hadn’t hesitated to have a child assassinated, and any heir Julia gave birth to might become a target.

And there was also that small matter of the werewolf curse… Kairos had had a vision of a figure heralding the return of the wolf god Lycaon, calling the [Hero] to join their hunt. The same evil might come after his blood.

He needed to prepare. Perhaps he should invest in detection Skills, or set magical defenses around his ho—

“Boo!”

Rook abruptly let out a screech of surprise, as the sphinx popped into existence right next to the griffin.

Kairos was almost thrown off his friend’s back, but managed to regain his balance. The [Hero] raised his spear to keep the sphinx at bay, the human-headed monster smiling in amusement at the gesture.

“Kairos, hang on!” Rook immediately dived down, the griffin and his rider zigzagging across the skies. The sphinx responded by vanishing from their sight.

[Invisibility]. She could use the [Invisibility] spell, or a similar Skill.

“I can’t smell her!” Rook warned while retreating towards the clouds. Kairos summoned winds around the two of them, trying to detect the sphinx by seeing variations in air currents.

It was a lost cause. The flying lioness reappeared again a few meters away from the duo, a glittering glow surrounding her. Kairos’ [Magical Knack] Skill identified the protection as a powerful [Wind Resistance] spell, shielding the creature from magical winds. It explained why she didn’t make any sound while flapping her wings, turning her almost undetectable.

“Now, that is most rude!” The sphinx said in ancient Greek, before flapping her wings to hover right in front of the griffin and his rider. “Is that how you greet a kind stranger, Kairos of Travia?”

Kairos frowned in response, his fingers tightening around his spear’s shaft. “How did you learn my name, Aglaonice?”

“Oh, you answer a sphinx’s question with another?” the creature chuckled. “Your [Turncoat 2] Skill protects your information from the scrutiny of [Elite] Ranks and below, but I am a [Hero] and an [Oracle]. I learned all about you through my daily scrying. I even know of these traps you are laying for my lion.”

Ugh, seers were just the worst. Still, Kairos lowered his spear. If the creature truly wanted to fight, she would have struck them while under the cover of invisibility. Either Aglaonice wanted someone to boast to, or she had come to negotiate. “Perhaps we could discuss that like civilized people?” the Travian [Hero] asked.

“Now, that’s better,” the sphinx laughed heartily while she flapped her wings, the jewels in her hair and on her skin glittering as she did. “Going somewhere, handsome? This area is very dangerous.”

It took all his willpower for Kairos not to show his nervousness. “Indeed,” he replied serenely. “I heard the woods are full of lions, so I fly above them.”

“And I’m with him!” Rook added proudly, glaring at the female monster.

“Didn’t you know, my little birds?” The sphinx licked her lips hungrily, the way a cat did before jumping on a helpless mouse. “Some lions fly.”

“And turn invisible?” Kairos should have expected as much. If the sphinx could see him through the veil of [Invisibility] before, then she could probably cast the spell herself. “How did you find us?”

“I can smell you for miles,” Aglaonice replied oh so sweetly. “That [Monster Lure] Legendary Skill does not make you stealthy to us monsters. It did arouse my curiosity though. Were it not for it, I might have eaten you and your pretty bird for dinner.”

Rook gasped. “But we’re both part lions and part birds! That would be cannibalism!”

“All meat tastes the same when cooked,” the sphinx responded with a wicked grin.

“Perhaps I could invite you to a meal then?” Kairos asked mirthfully. “We were on our way to a nearby swamp, to visit a gorgon friend of ours.”

“Oh, you know my dear Euryale? It seems we have the same destination then.” Somehow, Kairos wasn’t even surprised that the sphinx and the gorgon knew each other. “Perhaps we could travel together then? I do not bite. Not to the death...”

“But of course,” Kairos replied with false civility. “Rook, if you would.”

“Ah ah ah.” Aglaonice moved in Rook’s way. “It is customary among us sphinxes to trade riddles with strangers. Would you care for a little match?”

Nessus was right, sphinxes did have a deep need of asserting their intellectual superiority. “Only if we wager,” Kairos replied playfully, sensing an opportunity.

“I was about to ask we spice up the game too.” Aglaonice’s smile turned downright deadly. “If you lose, I will strangle you.”

“Charming,” the Travian replied dryly.

“Me too?” Rook asked, horrified.

“Yes, you would be what some merchants call a freebie,” the sphinx chuckled, though behind the laugh there were teeth. She might have a human face and charming demeanor, but this creature was a wild monster to the bone. A civilized beast, but a beast all the same.

“And if I win,” Kairos said, “you will step aside while we slaughter your pride. I guarantee no harm shall come to you.”

Aglaonice exploded in laughter. “Now, you are as bold a thief as I ever met,” she said, her eyes fluttering. “Are you trying to slay my lion and claim me as your own? I know you manlings will breed with anything, but I am not that kind of lioness.”

“Nothing of the sort,” Kairos replied, who found one wife and a concubine more than enough. “But I would rather avoid slaying potential allies if I can.”

“A wise policy, but I must deny your request... for now.” The sphinx chuckled playfully. “How about this instead? If you win our bet, I will answer your questions. Share some wisdom.”

“Deal,” Kairos said, “though I wonder why you don’t simply strangle me now and dispense with the games.”

“It has been a long time since I last matched wits with a wily mortal, and I have the feeling you will prove an interesting challenge.” The sphinx pointed at a small mound sticking out of the hinterlands. “Let us rest there. Our lovely gorgon can wait.”

Kairos nodded sharply, realizing that the sphinx could have shot Rook down from the skies like she did with pegasi if she had so wished. The griffin and the sphinx landed on the cold grass, with Aglaonice slouching on the side, her amulets glittering on her breasts and fur. “Better,” she said, raising an eyebrow when Kairos dismounted while still carrying his spear. “Put that weapon aside, manling. Unless you need it to compensate for something else?”

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“Nobody has yet to complain about my length so far,” Kairos replied with the same deadpan tone.

“Perhaps I should see for myself,” Aglaonice replied playfully, her gaze turning serious. “Enough with the witticisms. We shall trade riddles until one of us cannot answer correctly, and ladies first.”

Kairos stood still. “Go ahead.”

“What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in one thousand years?”

As she uttered her question, Kairos sensed an invisible weight falling on his shoulders. If he trusted Rook’s expression, the griffin felt it too. “You used magic?” the [Hero] asked Aglaonice.

“I bound us by the terms of our wager,” the sphinx said with a cunning grin. “If you fail, your limbs will lose strength, and that funny throat of yours shall close forever.”

“What? That’s cheating!” Rook protested. “Kairos, can’t we strangle her ourselves if we win?”

“We promised to talk it out,” Kairos replied, before pondering the sphinx’s question.

“Something about time?” Rook asked, confused.

“No help, griffin,” the sphinx chastised him. “Let your manling seal his own fate. And yours, by the same occasion.”

“Kairos, can we eat her after we win? I can take the breasts, and you the wings.”

It didn’t take long for Kairos to figure out it was a trick question. The answer was in the words themselves. “The letter M,” the Travian answered. “It comes up once in the word ‘minute,’ twice in ‘moment,’ and never in 'one thousand years.’”

Aglaonice scoffed. “It was an easy one,” she said.

“I was about to say the same!” Rook declared proudly, though Kairos knew he was lying.

“Before I ask my riddle, could you clarify the rules?” the Travian [Hero] asked the haughty sphinx, who sharply nodded. “How do you define a riddle? Can it be a logic puzzle, a question of general culture… How confident do you feel?”

“Oh, you wish to spice up the contest?” As Kairos expected, the haughty beast took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. “I will answer any question you ask.“

“Any question, truly?” Kairos pushed his luck. “No take backs?”

Aglaonice smiled arrogantly. “Kairos of Travia, I know what you are thinking,” she said. “You want to beguile me with a question whose knowledge you think I do not possess, or a test you believe cannot be solved. But there is no problem beyond my reach, no mystery I cannot solve. Do your worst.”

Let’s put that boast to the test, Kairos thought before asking his question. “What’s hidden beneath my bed?”

The sphinx glared at him. “A good riddle is a test of intelligence.”

“If you truly learned everything important about me, then you should have the answer.”

The sphinx’s eyes briefly shone with an angry golden glow, Kairos realizing that she just cast a divination spell of some kind. “A poisoned dagger, to slay intruders,” Aglaonice answered.

“Cheater, you used magic!” Rook protested.

“I never forbade the use of our abilities,” Aglaonice replied. Clearly, neither she nor Kairos would play fair.

However, if her divinations could provide her with information that specific, then she could probably unlock any secret she wished unless blocked by [Demigods] and above. He had to think outside the box. “That answer is correct,” he conceded.

“Of course it is. I have been playing this game since long before you were born.” Aglaonice licked her fur like a cat. “Next question. A ship with twenty-six manlings onboard sinks. Every single passenger perished, eaten by a Cetus, and yet there were four survivors. How is this possible?”

Kairos frowned, trying to find the paradox’s source. Was it a play on the numbers? Was it about the Cetus’ nature? Every single passenger perished, but there were survivors… perhaps the four belonged to the crew, and didn’t count as passengers?

No, it was another trick question. That devious cat liked to play on the wording.

“The four survivors were married, not single,” Kairos answered.

The displeased glitter in the sphinx’s gaze told the [Hero] he had guessed right. “Correct,” Aglaonice said. “Your turn, manling. You better think it over, because nobody has lived to tell the tale about my third question.”

“You’re sure I can ask any question?”

“Stop playing coy, manling, and try your luck.”

“Alright,” Kairos said, before making his gamble. “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?”

For a moment, the sphinx didn’t say a word, as she registered the question. Her eyes flared with a golden glow, but no divination could help her solve that particular riddle. “That question is a paradox,” Aglaonice said angrily. “It cannot be solved. You do not even know the answer yourself.”

That was the entire point. “You said I could ask anything,” Kairos replied while trying not to sound too pleased with himself. “No take backs.”

“You are fiendish,” she hissed.

“I’m a [Rogue],” Kairos replied. “Now, give me your answer.”

The monster bit her lower lip in frustration, trying to find something, anything that could fit. “They give up,” Aglaonice answered with hesitation.

“An unstoppable force does not stop,” Kairos replied with a shrug, “I win.”

The invisible weight vanished from his shoulders, Rook screeching in happiness. Aglaonice responded with a mix of frustration and amusement. “That was a new one,” she said. “I shall remember to clarify the rules next time I challenge a manling. You are a devious, cunning race.”

“Is this the moment when you say you didn’t promise not to eat us?” Kairos asked, half-expecting treachery.

“Maybe, but I promised you answers.” Aglaonice crossed her paws, like a lion on a rock. “Go ahead.”

“What do you know about us?” Kairos asked immediately. “Who do you work for? Why didn’t you kill us?”

“Are you not greedy for knowledge? One question at a time, manling. I know much about you, Kairos of Travia. I have been watching you since the moment you slew the Cetus who made this island’s waters its territory and established that little colony of yours.”

So she had been spying on them since the very beginning? “Why didn’t you come down from the north to hunt us? Aren’t you bound to destroy intruders?”

“We will talk about sworn oaths later,” the sphinx replied. “As for killing you, I figured we would get around to it when time came to hunt for winter. Why waste good food? Imagine my surprise when a season passed and that little colony of yours had grown from hundreds to thousands… and you came back from your latest trip with the [Golden Fleece].”

Ah, here it was, the reason for this talk. “You aren’t sure your Pride can win this time,” Kairos guessed. “You don’t want to be on the losing side.”

“You would kill me?” The sphinx’s eyes fluttered, and she blew him a kiss. “Look at me, poor helpless me. I am weak and in need of a kind protector…”

“I don’t believe you,” Kairos replied dryly, not taken by her act. That creature was dangerous and treacherous. “Nobody capable of reaching level 60 is defenseless.”

“Maybe,” Aglaonice replied with a predatory grin. “But I admit someone capable of slaying Jason of Iolcus might very well defeat my lion too. And what an army you gathered around you too. Other [Heroes], powerful [Elites], thousands of soldiers… My lion’s pride is strong, but they are so few. A wise woman hedges her bets.”

“Isn’t he your mate?” Rook asked, confused. “Don’t you love each other very much?”

Aglaonice snorted. “You think an animal like him is in charge, griffin? I let him mount me when I feel like it, but this is strictly a trade on my part. He offers me protection from adventurers and other dangerous denizens of the island, and as far as I am concerned, this is all he is good for. He is my pet, not the other way around.”

Kairos wasn’t certain if she spoke the truth, but if she did then there was an opportunity to exploit. “Are you bound to defend the dungeon?”

“Not quite,” Aglaonice explained. “I was contracted to take care of the Necromanteion’s observatory, record celestial movements of stars and planets, and warn the Master Below of intruders’ presence on the island until a certain day comes. A day that will come very soon, after which my service shall end and I will receive my reward.”

And she would rather live until that day. “Who is this Master Below? The dungeon’s master?”

“I know the answer, and I want to tell you, but I cannot. Oaths bind me.”

“And I suppose other oaths prevent you from taking harmful actions against other protectors of the dungeon?” Kairos asked, the sphinx answering with a smile. “When is this day due?”

“With a celestial alignment next year.” She waved her tail. “If you swear not to cause me harm and protect me until that time, I shall, say, disappear when you go confront my lion. I cannot take action against him, but I can simply sit this bloody battle out. If you prevail, I’m sure we could form a… mutually beneficial relationship.”

So she was looking to trade one protector for another, or failing that watch them kill each other while she remained safe? “That deal benefits you, whoever prevails,” Kairos pointed out.

“Of course. That's the principle of a good agreement.” At least she was honest in her treachery. “So, manling, interested?”

“I don’t trust her, Kairos,” Rook whispered to his partner. “She’s ready to cast away her own allies to save herself!”

“I can hear you,” Aglaonice pointed out. “My claws are sharp, and my ears sharper.”

Kairos shared his griffin’s belief, but if he refused… if he refused she would warn the Nemean Lion of the traps ahead, perhaps even fight at his side, which would make taking over the dungeon far more difficult than it already was. Should he form a deal with her, one backed by oaths and magic? Or should he simply play along until an opportunity to kill her arose?

“I must consider it,” the Travian said, needing more time to think. “We can discuss an agreement in detail at Euryale’s mansion.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” she said, before rising up. “After you answer one last riddle.”

Kairos frowned. “I won the game.”

“You said it yourself, I didn’t promise not to eat you,” she replied coyly. “I am a wise woman, but I cannot leave this place defeated. I have a reputation to keep.”

“It will be difficult to make a deal if I die.”

“Who said you would die?” she asked playfully. “You are refreshingly intelligent for a manling, and chimerae and manticores are not good enough to satisfy my mind. I think I will keep you as an intellectual sparring partner. A trophy, if you will.”

Kairos smiled. “So if I win, I live free, and if I lose, I live as a slave?”

“I’m sure you will get around to it,” she said, her tail wagging. “So? Will you try your luck, or do we skip to the ugly part?”

“We have defeated worse creatures than you!” Rook said with a screech. “Let’s beat her, Kairos!”

“No,” Kairos decided. The creature was a higher level than they were, and a battle could go either way. Besides, even if clearly untrustworthy, this creature might prove more useful alive than dead. “I accept the terms. Ask a question… but one that I can solve.”

“Wise.” The sphinx licked her lips. “Then, here is the last question you will never answer. If in the first proposition which you utter, you speak the truth, I will let you live and enslave you. But if you speak falsely, I will strangle you. What will you choose?"

They were done playing.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Rook complained. “There is no way it can go well for Kairos!”

“It is also cheating to use a question without an answer,” the sphinx replied with a cruel, whimsical grin. “So, manling? Are you done cheating me?”

No, not at all.

Kairos answered her fiendish smile with one of his own.

“You will strangle me.”

The sphinx blinked once, then twice.

Her face lost all color, as she opened her mouth, only to close it. She extended her claws, and then retracted them. She clenched her jaws, her eyes blazing with fury. She moved from denial, to anger… and eventually, to depressed acceptance.

Aglaonice wordlessly flew away towards Euryale’s marsh, her beautiful face twisted into a frown of frustration.

You earned a level (total forty-eight) and 3 Skill Points.

“I don’t get it,” Rook said, confused.

“She promised she would enslave me if I spoke the truth,” Kairos explained. “But if she tried to enslave me instead of strangling me, my statement would have become a lie. If she did try to strangle me, my words would have become the truth. She had no way out.”

“Oh, devious!” Rook whistled, before following the sphinx. “Serves her right for challenging us!”

The griffin and his rider flew after the angry sphinx, both reaching a foul bog on the island’s western hedge. Aglaonice landed near a witch house at its center, attended by undead servants. A red hydra slithered inside the marsh’s toxic waters, alongside a host of serpents.

And Kairos glimpsed Andromache raising the dead in the grass.

While his concubine often adopted her true monstrous shape to practice magic, she wore her human guise more and more lately. She had traded her usual chiton for a green peplos, bound by a girdle of red gemstones. The bright colors only enhanced her unnatural beauty, and the darkness of her hair.

She looked up upon sensing Kairos approach, her blue eyes shining as their gazes locked. She still wore the shark-teeth necklace the Travian had given her so long ago.

“My other half,” Andromache smiled upon seeing the griffin rider land. “Rook.”

Instead of answering with words, Kairos dismounted from Rook, set his spear aside, and took his mistress in his arms. He felt her hands move to his back as their lips met tenderly, a shiver of desire going down his spine. If they had been alone, he would have taken her right here and then, on the grass.

“I missed you,” Kairos whispered after breaking the kiss.

“Me too,” she answered, her forehead against his. “I was away for too long.”

Kairos ignored Aglaonice’s gaze on them, and instead glanced at a skeleton standing behind his concubine. The creature looked like a reptilian humanoid’s corpse, which the [Hero] recognized as a Spartoi. He had fought a few in Achlys.

“You are improving as a [Necromancer]?” Kairos asked, curious.

“I figured I might as well get my own servants,” the witch replied as she adjusted her hair. “It will be a while before I can staff your ship with the dead, my love. Spartoi are the easiest undead to raise, but also the costliest. Dragon teeth do not come cheaply.”

“I could buy a few for you, if you wish,” he answered before lightly kissing her on the neck. “Your wishes are my commands.”

The witch replied with an amused gaze. “I shall remember that.”

“My, my, so you did bind yourself to a Scylla,” Aglaonice said, her anger suddenly replaced with amusement. “How very bold of you, manling.”

“Who is this?” Andromache asked with a raised eyebrow. “A new pet?”

“A sore loser,” Kairos answered.

“Better than a bad winner,” Aglaonice replied. “I am not done yet with you.”

“Aglaonice will hound you forever now, Kairos,” a new voice said, as a dark figure stepped out of the witch house. The hideous gorgon Euryale warmly welcomed the newcomers, her bronze claws joined, her snake hair hissing. “Few can match her wits, and now that you did, she will torment you until you lose.”

“Euryale, I see you have gathered a new coven,” Aglaonice said, resting on the grass. “Here I thought the ages had made you more solitary.”

“I am selective, not solitary,” the gorgon replied, before politely nodding at Kairos. “Will you break your bread with us, Kairos?”

“With pleasure,” he answered.

By now, Kairos had grown used to dining with monsters.