Back within the church, all the Sisters kept their heads down and one knee to the ground as they stood before the divine being, his power, Authority; the ability to command and enforce obedience within their domains, wielded by gods to compel mortals into praise and submission, compelling them to kneel in reverence before their divine presence. The room filled with women of faith, all could not be helped but be subjugated by the primordial deities' overwhelming presence, all but one…
“Hoo~ and who might you be?” The baboon says, talking towards the blue-haired woman who remains standing amongst the group. Unaffected by this authority she stood there confused about the actions of the other sisters, Hibiki included. “Why did they all kneel all of a sudden…” She thinks, overlooking this detail for a moment so she can respond to the God in question.
“I’m Wendy. It’s nice to meet you, sir.” Hibiki cries internally at this, hearing the casual demeanor her Onee-sama had chosen to speak with the primordial deity. The ape seemed to be unfazed at this before he averted his eyes elsewhere.
“I see… Where is the Priest, I have urgent matters to discuss with him…” The baboon says walking towards the direction he believes will lead him to said priest. Before Wendy had a chance to speak up, a kneeling four-eyed sister had already spoken up.
“Forgive us Lord Thot, but Father Issac has yet to return from his affairs, he should be back any day now…” Silvia speaks up from the ground. The baboon looks over to the girl in response before letting out a small sigh.
“I see… I suppose I made the trip over here for nothing then If you’ll excuse me.” The god says, turning around to presumably re-enter the portal.
“Hey wait!?” Wendy prematurely screams out, not wanting an opportunity to talk to another deity slip by her. Surprised by this sudden outburst, the baboon turns over to look at the blue-haired girl once again, noticing the white-clouded sister beside her holding back tears of embarrassment.
“I mean you came all the way here and you're just going to leave? I don’t see why you can’t relay any information to us in Issac’s place. What could have been so urgent that you had to make your way over here?” The room is silent, no reactions can be physically shown but all the sisters currently present in the room are least appalled at the lack of respect the blue-haired woman seemed to lack in the presence of a primordial being.
“Interesting…” The baboon now faces towards her, him seemingly giving away his attention he decides to entertain the maiden for a moment.
“Do you know who you're speaking to young lady?” Wendy thinks for a moment before answering. “Why do all these Gods keep referring to me as ‘young’!”
“You're the Wisdom God, the one who created the gospels for our aid, Thot, I presume.” Wendy answers back.
"Hubris invites ruin; humility receives wisdom." Thot quotes, before continuing.
“That is correct, I am Thot, the God of Wisdom and Knowledge. I swore an oath to Ra to withhold certain information and wisdom from those who do not serve the order of Ma'at. That is why I came to speak with the priest, one who I had already deemed to be a loyal servant of faith.” Thot circles Wendy, his tail flicking with anticipation. “Do you expect me to believe you young lady, are a worthy applicant of faith? That your ideals align with the ones of the cosmic order we had dedicated our soul to?” Wendy looks down, her eyes following the walking baboon as he continues to circle her.
“Try me.” At this, God couldn’t help but laugh.
“Very well, I present to you a riddle, child of spirits. Solve it, and earn my respect as well as the knowledge you seek. Fail, and I’ll refuse to answer any of your questions.”Wendy nods, stealing herself.
“I accept.”
The baboon clamps his staff, and an ethereal scroll materializes, glowing with hieroglyphs that dance before solidifying into words.
“In the morning of life, I am as fresh as the dew,
In the noon of life, I am the strength of the few,
In the evening of life, I am the whisper of love,
Solve this, seeker, and rise above.”
The church falls silent, the riddle hanging heavy in the air. Wendy paces, her mind racing. Hibiki watches, her hands clasped in silent prayer. Minutes tick by before Wendy halts, a spark of clarity lighting her eyes.
“The answer is ‘hope’.”
Thot’s lips curl into a smile, a rarity for the deity of wisdom. “Indeed, it is hope. As the dawn promises the day, as the strength of the few can turn tides, as love whispers its sweet nothings into the twilight, hope endures.” The room’s atmosphere seems to have lightened, with a few nuns letting out a sigh of relief.
“Well, as promised, I shall now share with you the message I came here to deliver to the Priest.” Wendy and Hibiki lean in anticipation, awaiting the words from the divine figure.
“Envy and Gluttony have awakened, with the ladder awakening within one of the members of our faith…” The room is left speechless upon this news, not one but two of these demonic forces have awoken at the same time.
“That is all I had come here to report, have a good day.” The god says as he turns around to enter inside the portal.
“Haaah!? Hey wait a minute, you can't just drop a bombshell like that and just leave us empty-handed!” Wendy says, stepping a foot forward.
“I am simply a harbinger for information, I need not interfere with the acts of mortals, I’m sure you’ll devise a plan to counteract this sudden hurdle...” he says while not changing his direction and walking straight to the portal.
“Grr, Hey you! Get back here!” Wendy says angrily, now storming to the baboon’s direction.
“Onee-sama!!” Hibiki screams out, trying to catch up to a sprinting Wendy. Now on the other side of the portal, the baboon looks to his back to hear a loud rambunctious sound being emitted from his view. Out of the portal, he had just come through sprawled two vibrant hair-colored girls. The small sister, who was chasing after the other, had fallen on top of her as they stumbled into the portal.
“Ouch!” They both say in unison, Wendy had landed on her butt while Hibiki landed safely on top of the other.
“Gah! Mou~ what were you thinking Onee-sama! Follow a deity through a magic portal!”
“Oh shut up, you know how impulsive I am already. Besides, no one told you to come running after me!” Wendy says, still below the white nun.
“Ehh! I told you I wasn’t going to let you get into any more danger alone! How can you be so cruel to your precious Imouto who simply wants to protect you!”
“I'm not the one who usually needs saving between us! Now get off me!!” The two continue to bicker, amongst their view a large stress mark can be seen formulation onto the baboon’s face.
“Would you two be quiet!” It snaps, causing the sisters to quickly get off each other and sit in a posture reminiscent of Japanese seiza.
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“You two… Do you have any idea how prohibited it is for mortals to enter the realm of the gods without invitation? Your brashness has boundaries that stretch beyond the mortal coil," Thoth scolds, his tone echoing with annoyance. Wendy, still catching her breath from the tumble, tries to regain some semblance of dignity. "Look, we didn't come here to sightsee. You dropped a pretty heavy hint that something bad's going to happen, and then just decided to bail on us. What kind of god does that?"
Thoth, regaining his composure, shifts his weight slightly, leaning on his staff. "Your valor, while commendable, borders on recklessness. However, since you've shown such... determination, perhaps there's more to our discussion left to be sought out… That is… if you can escape this realm…" His eyes, old as time itself, seem to peer into their souls.
"What do you mean?" Hibiki asks, curiosity overcoming her earlier frustration.
“Has it not dawned upon you yet? Where do you think we are?” The two look at their surroundings for a moment, the room being a vast area of darkness and nothingness, below them is a ground of sand, with small embers of light encapsulating the darkness of the void they have found themselves in. Before any of them could answer, the ground below them rises up, as a sandstone temple-like structure starts to take form. It formulates and constructs around them until its shape is solidified, revealing the head of a giant golden pharaoh. This was the Sphinx.
“W-wwwhat the hell is that!” Hibiki screams out in fear as she steps behind the other girl for safety.
“Behold ladies, this is the Sphinx, Guardian of the Infinite Library, keeper of Knowledge and Riddles. “The two stare blasphemously at the entity that had just appeared before them. This golden figure illuminated their surroundings, showing them to be in more of a setting close to being at the bottom of a pit, the ground standing on a pasty tiled pillar covered in limestone, surrounded by a ring of what seemed to be ‘Black’ water. They look up and see a golden light shining above-said pit, which looks to be about 6 to 9 meters in length.
“You see girls, one cannot just enter my Library. With an array of dark forces and false profits in this world, many have sought to invade my sanctity to attain knowledge for dastardly reasons. In order to prevent this, I created this safety measure to eliminate any unnecessary trespassers.” Thot says as he stares up to the Sphinx which then glows in vibrance, now formulating his prepared riddle for the next being who deems entrance to Thot’s safeguard.
"Born from that which gives life,
I soar without wings.
I can drown the strongest towers
yet fear the sun’s gaze.
What am I?"
The Sphinx says, testing his audience. Thot then responds accordingly.
“A Shadow.” The Sphinx’s eyes glow green upon receiving this answer, its power engulfing the baboon and lifting it above the air.
“This will be a wonderful new test for you girls. You see, the Sphinx not only requires the answer to its riddle, but it also measures the worthiness of your souls. Its eyes are able to detect both desire and intent, with those emotions and your answer coinciding with Ma'at, it will allow you entrance to my sanctuary.”
“Wait, what will happen if we don’t get it right!?” Hibiki asks curiously.
“Ahh, well this realm is also linked to the Du’at, or the Underworld. If it deems you unworthy by failure to comply with its wishes, it will unleash a swarm of undead souls into the pit, those souls will then drag the intruders into the Du’at, condemning them to eternal Darkness, now good luck!” Thot says while being elevated out of the pit and into the Infinite library.
“WHAT!” The girls say in unison. Their scream is met with empty sounds as the small deity has already made his quick exit.
“That Dick!” Wendy says while snickering her teeth.
“On ho… this is bad, Onee-sama what are we going to do!”
“Obviously we need to solve this damn riddle…”
“Oh… well it can’t be that bad, after all, you did figure out Thoth's riddle earlier!” Wendy looks skeptical for a moment.
“Actually… I just so happened to see that riddle on Twitter the other day…” Hibiki looks at the sister with a chibi-like dumbfounded expression.
“Are you serious!?” She yells out, drawing a blush to the older of the pair.
“Look, in any case, let's just go ahead and get this riddle shit out the way, this place is giving me the hibbie-jibbies!”
“Who says hibbie-jibbies anymore…”
“Hibiki!”
“Right! Uhm, Mr. Sphinx sir… we’re ready for thy riddle!” The Sphinx’s head moves down slightly as it gazes at the Spirit Sisters. It then begins reciting its next riddle.
"I dance on the edge of light and darkness,
a guide for some, a herald for others.
I am always moving,
yet I mark the time for many.
What am I?"
“...” The two girls are left speechless, trying to wrap their minds around the meaning of the divine entities' words.
“Any ideas…?” wendy asks
“Nope, not a clue…”
“Gah! What the hell! Aren’t you sisters supposed to be smart!”
“Hey, riddles don’t have anything to do with intellect, it's about perception!” After a few seconds of anticipation, the Sphinx’s eyes start to glow a bright red, antithesis to the green glow it showed earlier. Above its head appeared a few magical Hieroglyphics, after a bit of formulation then took the form of numbers, more specifically, a countdown.
“We’re being timed!” Hibiki yells out in fear!
“Okay plan B!” Wendy yells out.
“Huh!? Plan B! We have a Plan B! That’s great! What is it!”
“Panic!”
“Huh?” Wendy then turns around looking at all her vanishing points, seeing that this pit has a few cavern-like creeks to it, passageways if you will.
“Panic, brainstorm and think of any answer that comes to mind, use that big brain of yours to solve this damn riddle. While you're doing that…” she says before pausing to look at the sister.
“I’ll find another way out of here. I don't believe for a second that God would just leave us here to die, there must be something down here that would aid us in the event of not fulfilling the sphinx’s wishes!” Wendy says before running through one of the corridors.
"Wait...! Onee-sama, that's too reckless!" Hibiki's plea echoed through the air, but it fell on deaf ears as the determined young maiden had already resolved to pursue her daring plan.
“Mou…! She’s always like this… Okay, riddle, riddle, what's the answer to this dang riddle!” Hibiki ponders while trying to avert her eyes from the ticking countdown, deciphered in the old Egyptian language it reads about 3 minutes. Following Wendy, she can be seen running through the pit’s halls.
“This pit… the Sphinx’s lair… from the sound of this place, I bet there are a couple of holy treasures kept inside here!” As she says this, she passes by a few rooms filled with such ancient artifacts, a golden vase surrounded by hieroglyphics, another room holding a chest filled with doubloons, another a statue of Anubis stands sentinel, its jackal-headed visage staring impassively into the darkness. Nearby, an ornate sarcophagus lies partially open, revealing glimpses of jeweled amulets and finely crafted relics nestled within.
“Gah, all this junk looks pointless!” Wendy says as she keeps running through the halls, trying to find something that could aid her and her partner's escape. Back with Hibiki, she’s still trying to brainstorm an answer to the riddle, now, only 2 minutes remain. “Mhh.. let's see what it was again… ‘I dance on the edge of light and darkness, a guide for some, a herald for others. I am always moving, yet I mark the time for many. What am I?’...! Could it be… Death?” A loud ‘Error’ Sound could be heard emitting from the Sphinx.
“Oh come on! How about… fate?” The error sound blinks again.
“Mou!!! This isn't fair! I don’t want to die down here!” Hibiki says as she begins to panic.
“Stupid little banana-eating baboon! The second I get my hands on him I’m going to…!” She says before hearing the countdown hit 1 minute.
“Oh no…!” She says. Cutting to Wendy she’s still looking through the rooms when she starts to feel the presence of a dark aura. Running up to the room from which the source of the malicious energy was being emitted. She takes a look inside and sees a small silver artifact standing on top of a pillar. This artifact looked like a crescent moon jewel placed on top of a black disk, the whole artifact emitted a light divine glow to it.
“What is that…” Wendy ponders before examining the room further. Below the pillar was a ring on the floor that covered the entire room. This pool-like construct emitted an aura that had a foreign power to it, one that Wendy was not familiar with. This black-purpleish aura was one of Death…
“The Du’at, the Underworld… This must be an opening to it… how the Sphinx calls upon the undead souls from… but why place that disk in this room of all places…” She thinks this before an idea pops into her head, one that is as impulsive and dangerous as most of her other ones by far. Thirty seconds remain on the clock as Hibiki continues to spill out false answers, tears are forming in her eyes as she’s starting to lose faith in escaping her awaiting fate.
“No no no no no! At this rate, I’m really going to…” She thinks before going over the riddle one more time. “A guide through darkness and a herald of the coming light… what could that be… Wait!”
“The moon!?” Hibiki yells out, 5 seconds remain on the timer, 4, 3, 2…
“Ding Ding '' The Sphinx's eyes glow green signaling the right answer to its riddle being said. Hibiki’s eyes sparkle in relief.
“I… I did it!” But before she could relax, the eyes of the sphinx suddenly went red again, unleashing a dangerous wave of vicious energy. Around the tiled floor, Hibiki stood on, a liquidly slime-like structure started to rise up, dark evil spirits started to rise from the primordial waters, these entities being the undead souls that wander the cold and obsolete lands of the underworld.
“Huuuuh!? What is this…! I Got it right, didn't I!?” Hibiki yells out, seeing the undead souls slowly rise up from the black river around her and start to circulate to her position. Seeing the threat slowly approach her, she shrinks down to a feeble position covering her ears and shutting her eyes. The dark figures continue to slowly approach her as she starts to shiver and tear up at the thought of being submerged in the eternal darkness.
“No… Onee-sama!” She thinks out loud, though this cry for help was kept inside her head, it’s almost as if she screamed it out loud with what event transpired directly after. Upon her request, Wendy bursts through the walls around the Sphinx, breaking through the concrete and lunging straight to the Sister’s location. Landing right behind her she places her feet quickly onto the platform and grabs hold of the sister bridal-style before lunging up into the air.
“Onee-sama!?” Hibiki yells out startled, not foreseeing this outcome.
“Hold on!” Wendy screams out, causing the girl to tighten her arms around the heroine’s neck. After her jump back into the air Wendy quickly latched up onto the pit’s walls. Now running up the walls vertically up to the surface, Wendy attempts to cover the distance of the 6 to 9-meter pit. The dark spirits, vast in their numbers, now had fully risen from the Du’at, gaining strength from their freedom they quickened in speed, rising up in attempts to grab the running girl.
“I don't get it! I solved the riddle Onee-sama! Why are those things coming after us!”
“I stole something!”
“What!?” Before the two can continue this banter, Wendy is forced to pick up the pace as the undead spirits start to circle in. She lunges up the vertical wall reaching the top, and jumping into the air, while still holding her sister in her arms, she flips around for her eyes to see the coming disaster before her. Reaching into her pocket and grabbing hold of the Moon Disk she stashed away, the Undead soul's hands start to reach out to the sisters as they close in. In response to this, Wendy throws the artifact in their direction allowing it to burst and shine upon reaching the undead souls. Reaching the hurds center, it burst like a light bomb, catapulting the sisters up to above the pit while simultaneously purifying the dark aura around them, forcing the undead souls to retreat back down to the black waters and into the Du’at. After being catapulted to the surface, the Sisters land unceremoniously in front of the doorway to Thot's sanctuary, otherwise known as the Infinite Library.