We walked into a glorious, multi-leveled library where Elara was on her hands and knees, staring at the ground gobsmacked.

“What?” Elara’s sharp voice echoed off the marble floor. “Why am I here? I’m not supposed to be allowed in here.”

Every wall around me was covered in shelves. Each level housed shelves upon shelves, reaching towering heights and disappearing into the airy expanse above. The scent of stale paper and leather wafted through the air, mingling with the faint aroma of wood polish.

My gaze floated across the multi-leveled arrangement, marveling at the sheer quantity of books. There’s got to be thousands—tens of thousands, maybe. The shelves were laden with books of varying sizes and colors, some with intricate bindings, others with faded titles etched with barely legible scripts that were losing against the test of time, and even some had no visible identifying marks.

Dust motes swirled lazily in the light beams from the suspended crystal chandeliers floating in midair, casting a warm, amber glow on the plethora of books. A grand staircase, adorned with ornate railings and carved with motifs of water spouts, ascended to the higher tiers of the library, circling upwards to the theoretical ceiling.

Everywhere tables and reading nooks spread across and even built into several of the shelves. Plush armchairs nestled in cozy corners, their upholstery worn from the touch of countless others who had been here before.

I could only stare at everything and let my jaw hang loose at the marvel.

Shadara walked over and knelt next to the banshee. “Is this where the sphinx lives? Are you sure you have the right room?”

“She has the right room.” A deep, commanding voice resonated from above us.

“Why do you trespass into my realm?” The words rolled off the unseen speaker’s tongue, carrying an air of authority that sent a shiver down my spine.

Shadara stood beside me. “There’s something going on. We were told someone could be attempting to target you and threaten your life.”

A deep, resonant chuckle filled the room. “That’s rich. Murderers are saying my life is in danger. Speak before I boil you in pitch, for all you’ve done is incite my anger.”

A massive male sphinx’s head crept over the end, two levels above us. His size dwarfed the other two sphinxes I had seen. But his eyes were odd. They were milky white, like clouds were perpetually covering them. His feathered wings spread out as he leaned forward.

“Did you think I couldn’t smell the blood on your hands?” His mouth opened to reveal sharp feline fangs.

The realization slapped me. I held up my hands. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t kill him. We found him like that.”

The sphinx growled as he bounded from his perch. He hit the ground in front of us, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Silence!” The sphinx’s roar thundered, causing the room to tremble. “Baku lies murdered mercilessly. For such an infraction, death is the only penitence. Kneel, and I will end you painlessly.”

“We’re here to help,” Shadara said, jumping in front of me. “We know who did that. It wasn’t Rina.”

Elara stood up yet kept her head lowered. “What they’re saying is true. It was my sister.”

The sphinx turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Elara. “You have no sister. As a construct of the Soul Nexus, therefore, there is no past beyond your creation. Yet there is more to you than meets the eye, something sinister—a complication.”

The sphinx’s eyes never focused or moved. He’s blind. A blind sphinx in a library. That sounds like a hell I want no part of.

Elara turned her head and shuffled back a few steps. “We don’t know what happened. I felt so angry, so guilty, and so alone. Now I have this power I know nothing about.”

“Enough. Your anomaly is not my concern.” The sphinx snapped his head back at me. “You have no proof of your actions beyond testimonies. These two entered with you, so they could be conspirators in these.”

My eyes darted to Shadara, who had a hand inching towards her bow. She better not be thinking about fighting him.

I tapped Shadara’s arm before stepping in front of her. “We don’t have any proof. But neither do you. Your entire argument hinges on you smelling blood. How do you know this blood even belongs to this Baku?”

The sphinx dragged his claws across the stone floor. “Baku has been my friend for many years. His telling of tales has often left me in tears. I seek closure. But it would be wise not to test me, the judge and executioner.”

Shadara put a hand on my shoulder. “But we are here to help. Gary told us you were in danger.”

Elara’s voice quivered as she looked up for the first time. “We can’t return to the same hallway where we found the body. The Nexus won’t take us back to the same place. My sister—the real Elara’s sister—is headed here. We don’t know why.”

“The lycanthrope?” The sphinx’s tone softened slightly. The worry on Elara’s face was palpable as she froze at the sphinx’s words. “There is truth in your words, it seems. She’s already here.”

With a wing, the sphinx pointed to a corner above us as a shadow grew out.

“Ruining the surprise, that’s so unsportsmanlike,” a thick, rumbly yet distinctly feminine voice said from the growing darkness. “I’ll have to do something about Gary when I’m done here.”

From the pool of black, she materialized, her form like a wraithlike silhouette sculpted from the darkness itself. Her eyes, red, luminescent orbs, burned with palpable hatred.

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Her every movement was fluid and graceful. Her outline merged seamlessly with the pool of darkness that quickly receded, revealing her full form. Midnight black fur danced like living shadows, shifting and coiling around her like a shroud.

A pure, ominous pressence exuded from her as she grabbed the railing with long, vicious black claws and dug them into the wood effortlessly. She leaned forward, letting the light attempt to illuminate her visage. Framed by cascading, shadowy tendrils that coalesced into a full mane, her face was that of an elegant wolf. When she grinned, revealing her serrated, near-blindingly white teeth, my knees nearly buckled.

Elara’s sister made a show of eying each of us in turn. “My, my. What a veritable feast gathered here for me!” She eyed Elara with an extra-predatory grin. “And my sweet sentimental sister—how you’ve changed. Back then, you were worried I’d become the monster.”

“Tasha!” Elara stomped her foot. She looked like she was about to sprint off towards her sister, but held back. “What happened to you?”

Tasha rested her head in one hand while tapping the railing with the other. “Elara, so naïve then, and naïve now. I’ve become so much more than you or anyone else ever thought possible.”

Elara’s voice pierced the silence. “You’re responsible for killing that man in the hall, aren’t you? Why?”

Tasha tilted her head. “That fool was going to get in the way. He had the audacity to think he could stop me. So I dealt with him and double-checked all the other doors had been sealed. It seems I missed one.”

Elara shrank under Tasha’s gaze. “But he was innocent.”

Shadara’s tail lashed. “You had no right...”

“Right?” Tasha chuckled. Does she think this is funny? “Adorable little cat; rights are for those who hold the power to claim them. The Nexus, these corridors, this labyrinth—it’s all a facade. A deception that suffocates potential and denies opportunity. I’m going to end this corrupt system of depravity.”

Shadara’s hand tightened around her bow. “By murdering everyone?”

Tasha’s gaze drifted to Shadara. “You see, the Nexus perpetuates a cycle of giving power to those who already have it. It’s time that I end this.”

The sphinx folded his wings to his side and stepped to the more open section of the room. “Your rebellion extends to annihilating all in your path? What happened to warrant all this wrath?”

“It’s not rebellion; it’s liberation." Tasha slammed her fist on the railing, shattering it. She sneared at the shattered woodwork. “The Nexus is a prison that needs to crumble for true change to surface. It trapped me and my sister for its own amusement in its little game. It gave us the illusion of hope by providing us with a system. That was the key to the trap—the system. I will claw my way out of this prison.”

“Tasha, you were never like this.” Elara folded her hands over her chest. “It’s true; we set out to escape our home—from oppression. But murder, destruction, and this—this is going too far.”

“Don’t you dare!” Shadows covering Tasha’s body flared out and destroyed several bookshelves and a large section of railing. “There is no such thing as too far. This place pits you against me. I didn’t ask for you to cure me. There’s nothing to cure. But if you weren’t going to leave well enough alone and help the Soul Nexus slow me down, then I had to kill you.”

She killed her sister and has no remorse for it.

“How can you kill so readily?” I asked. “Why have you stayed here for so long? Why even come here? What is your end goal if you reach the top, destroying everything along the way?”

“All of this is knowledge, hoarded by the Nexus. Why?” Tasha held out her arms and motioned to the entire room. “The Nexus doesn’t need all this. Does it share it? No. What does a sentient world that grants wishes have any use for any of this? Why does it not just give everyone one wish? Because it wants to hoard its power. It wants to lord its position over all of us because it simply can.”

She really likes the sound of her own voice, doesn’t she? But why does it feel like she can make good on everything she’s saying? It was a mistake to come here.

“You only call it a prison because you let it feel like one,” the sphinx said. “The Soul Nexus is capable of granting any wish. Such gifts must be earned. Only those worthy of succeeding in the challenge that is the Soul Nexus can sift through the chaff that then must be burned. It is all a simple transaction. And as in all deals, something of equal value must be offered up. In this case, it is one’s soul. There must be stakes; otherwise, even the simplest of wishes will be an empty goal.”

Is the Nexus truly a prison, or is it, as the sphinx claims, a place where wishes are earned through a transaction?

“You’re deluded if you think any of this brings any resolution,” Elara’s voice wavered slightly as she inched closer.

Tasha threw her head back and laughed. “Resolution? Oh, there will be a resolution. It will end when everything here lies in ruins, with me standing atop it all and everyone inside freed.”

“Why not just climb the tower as normal and use your wish to free everyone instead?” Shadara asked while slowly heading to a far wall, away from everyone else.

Tasha’s eyes narrowed as a flash of hatred flashed in them. “You dare question me? You, who know nothing about this labyrinth of deceit? This place imprisoned my sister and now uses her against me. This kind of evil must be stopped. Her story is not the first.”

The shaylips that are born here have no choice. Tasha wants to free everyone, but how far is she willing to go to do that? She already killed her sister, so I don’t think there’s any morality left in her. But is that the kind of dedication it takes to succeed?

The memory of Bark’s emaciated corpse played in my mind. “Just because you’re willing to sacrifice everything, destroy everything, and kill everyone, that doesn’t mean you will succeed. And with each life you end, you feed the machine you claim to be fighting.”

“I’ll offer you a chance since we have history.” Tasha extended her hand towards Elara. “Join me and break free from these chains that bind you. This place has wronged you. Now stand up and fight it.”

Elara clenched her fists. “I refuse to permit such unbridled havoc.”

Tasha’s lips curled into a snarl. “You’ll understand when you’re stripped of every false hope this Nexus has fed you. When you realize the truth, it’ll be too late.”

I shook my head. “You don’t have to do any of this. The ends don’t always justify the means.”

Tasha took a step off the edge of the platform she was standing on. She grinned at me as she strode towards me. I couldn’t move. My mind couldn’t make up if it wanted to fight or fly.

She stood over me by four inches. “I remember being a weak, pathetic human once. So frail…so scared.” She wrapped her hands around my neck. A biting cold ate at my skin. “It’d be so simple to snap your neck right now. It would be the kindest thing I could do for you right now. But there’s something odd about the way you smell.”

She lifted me off the ground and held me even closer to her face. Her gaze paralyzed me. “If you want to keep up with me, you could ask to join me. So, one bite, and you’ll receive more power and speed. You’ll be harder to kill. Everything will become clearer. And together, we’ll rip this whole place to shreds.”

“Put her down.” Shadara had an arrow pulled back and aimed at the creature holding me by the neck.

Tasha grinned. “I was about to offer you the same deal, but I see you’ll not listen to reason. Also, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I was prepared to only kill the sphinx this morning, but killing all of you would be an acceptable outcome too.”

Shadara growled and pulled back even further. She released the arrow. Tasha put me in the path of the arrow, and it pierced through the center of my torso and struck Tasha, digging in only an inch or two. The wound burned as blood poured out. My lungs quickly filled with blood as the werewolf laughed as she pulled the arrow out with her free hand.

“So, you’ve killed your friend and chosen death.” Tasha crushed my neck and threw me across the room into a bookshelf. “In the face of annihilation, I wonder how much you’ll scream, begging for a mercy you’ve already spurned.”