A story writen for Mythology. Fun little snippit. It's just a fun assignment, nothing serious. Please review if you like it. No flames though. As they burn.

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Sphinx Feather

(short story)

The year was 2007, and the Greek Gods still walked the earth. Hey, Gods are immortal right?

Dionysus walked into the gypsy’s tent, curious to see if she could really see into his future. One of his buddies, Pan, told him about how dead-on her predictions were, and he wanted to see if they were for real.

He stepped in through the beaded curtain and into the small candle-filled room; the candles were the only source of light. In the center of the room, was a small round table with a crystal ball floating above a circular stand below it that glowed a dull blue.

“Hello?” Dionysus called.

Behind him, another person entered the room. She looked only to be about 14 or 15 years old, with long black hair tied high up into a pony tail. Her out fit was just a simple black and white striped winter sweater and jeans. “Is anyone here?” the young girl called. She looked slightly familiar to Dionysus.

“Oh, you’re here,” a voice called from another bead-curtained room. A young, pretty woman stepped through the curtain. She had curly thick blonde hair and what looked like a navy blue kimono with beads and other talismans hanging from the sleeves and collar. “I’ve been expecting you. You’re late.” The woman said bluntly.

“I am? Sorry.” Dionysus apologized, assuming the woman was speaking to him. He was a God after all; shouldn’t he be spoken to first before mortals?

The woman sat down in an elegantly comfortable looking chair and crossed her arms in front, a grin spreading across her face. “Sit down, please.” She said.

Dionysus nodded, sitting down. The other girl blinked, seeming confused. She shrugged, ignoring the obviously arrogant boy in the chair.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” the woman said, then leaned over the crystal ball, putting her hands over it. As she leaned forward, Dionysus saw the woman was blind at seeing her milky-white eyes. The God averted his eyes and looked at the orb in respect.

The woman raised an eyebrow, “Interesting…” she said slowly, smiling, “It seems…that you have been watching too much Jurassic Park, eh?”

He had? When? Dionysus tilted his head slightly to the side, confused. He’d heard of the infamous movie, but he’d never watched it before. There was no wine in it. But maybe he’d watch if frequently in the future?

“Far too much Jurassic Park. That’s why you’re having such frightening nightmares.”

“How can I fix it?” Dionysus asked.

The woman jumped, as if startled by his voice. Then she grinned, wider than ever. “I know what you must get to make the nightmares go away for good.” She said, laughter in her white eyes. “But it will be dangerous,” she warned.

“Danger doesn’t frighten me,” Dionysus said, grinning just as widely and smugly as she was.

The woman nodded, “Good, good. But I must ask you to bring this young girl with you. She will be able to help you against the monster that guards the item.”

“But what is the item, exactly?”

“A feather.” The woman said bluntly.

“Feather? Couldn’t it be something a bit more…I dunno, magical?” The girl asked from over Dionysus’ shoulder, making the young looking God jump.

The gypsy smiled, “It’s an ancient feather. It once belonged to a phoenix and was used by an ancient extinct people that created the very first Dream Catcher. I assume you’ve heard of one?”

“Yes,” both the girl and Dionysus said, nodding.

“Good, very good. You both are educated then?”

“Yeees,” the two said.

The gypsy laughed this time, “Then be on your way! The feather is guarded by a mythical beast I think you will find familiar,” she looked at Dionysus directly with her ghostly eyes, “She is located in an old warehouse. But you must be quick, she changes the position of the feather frequently to keep it safe.” The gypsy waved her arm, signaling for them to leave.

0 0 0

Dionysus sighed heavily. His companion was really starting to but him. He’d never met someone who could talk so much! From he learned, her name was Charlotte, and her favorite hobby was playing video games. Her favorite game was Super Smash Bros Melee, favorite character was Kirby. He also found out she loved Christmas and Halloween and had an annoying older brother who would hide the remote from everyone so the TV belonged to him.

“So, what kind of creature do you think is guarding the feather? Maybe it’s a dragon! I love dragons!” Charlotte sang.

“I know you love dragons,” Dionysus said.

Finally, the warehouse came into view. It looked like no one had gone anywhere near it in oh…fifty years maybe? Possibly sixty.

“Well? Ladies first,” Dionysus grinned jokingly, stepping in before her anyway.

“Hmph! You’re kinda stuck up, you know that?” she said, following him into the large dark room.

The warehouse was only one room, the only light coming in from holes in the ceiling. There were lots of holes in the ceiling so there was plenty of light.

“Who dares?!” a loud voice demanded from the only completely dark part of the room.

“Dionysus and Charlotte. We’re here for the feather.” Dionysus said, sounding smoothly calm. Charlotte on the other hand, was clinging onto his arm glaring into the corner like someone would glare at a mad dog on a chain trying to break free and tear you apart.

“The…feather? HAH!” suddenly, the figure jumped out of the shadows, landing on all four paws lightly. She was a sphinx. Half woman, half lion. But since this was the 21st Century, she had a shirt on. “If you want that remnant of a bird, you’ll need to answer a riddle!”

“Oh! I know the one she’s going to ask! I read it in mythology!” Charlotte exclaimed.

Dionysus blinked. There was a class about mythology? Cool.

“Here’s the riddle,” she sounded like an executioner about to pull the lever, and enjoying it. “This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down!” she laughed maniacally, enjoying her job a bit too much.

“Hey! You got that from The Hobbit!” Charlotte said.

“I’ve read that book! Very good,” Dionysus said. But he didn’t remember what the answer to that riddle was! And neither did Charlotte. Great.

“Answer incorrectly and you die!” the Sphinx laughed again.

“Psychotic lions…ugh…” Charlotte groaned.

“…Time?” Charlotte half-guessed.

Dionysus glanced down at her, slightly impressed.

“WHAT?” The Sphinx roared.

“I said TIME! Is that the answer?” Charlotte asked.

“Dang it! I don’t have a rock to jump off of this time! Oh, just TAKE IT!” the Sphinx basically threw the fiery red feather at the two of them, Dionysus catching it between to fingers in a very suave fashion.

“No more feather guarding! I’m going to Hawaii!” the Sphinx beat her large eagle wings and burst into the air, flying through one of the large holes and disappearing into the distance, laughing.

“How did you know the answer?” Dionysus asked curiously.

“I remembered what Bilbo said. He asked Gollum for a bit more time, and Gollum freaked. So I remembered time was the right answer!” Charlotte said happily.

“Oh, so it was a guess?” Dionysus asked, sounding a bit unenthusiastic.

“No! It was all intellectual!” Charlotte poked her brain for emphasis.

“Sure. Okay. Whatever you say.” Dionysus shrugged, grinning.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Charlotte barked.

0 0 0

“We got the feather!” Charlotte sang, jumping into the gypsy’s room and sitting down in the chair before Dionysus could.

Dionysus seemed a bit peeved at this.

“That was fast. So, what riddle did that old bird use?” the gypsy asked, stepping out of her back room again. This time, her kimono was gold, but had the same charms on it.

“The time one from The Hobbit.” Charlotte said happily, handing the feather to the gypsy.

“Interesting. Didn’t know she could read.” The gypsy shrugged. She took out a small circular object from one of her large golden sleeves.

“A Dream Catcher?” Dionysus asked curiously.

“Of course!” the gypsy put the feather on the Dream Cather and handed it across the table. Dionysus reached his hand out to grab it, but Charlotte got it first.

“Thank you! Finally, the bad dinosaur nightmares will go away!” she said cheerfully.

“Wh-what? I thought this would be my Dream Catcher!” Dionysus exclaimed, sounding annoyed and surprised at the same time.

“Oh silly, silly, God of wine. I just sent you with her to make sure she was kept safe. You are related to her after all.”

“What?” They both said at the same time.

“She’s Charlotte! Does the name not sound familiar to you?” The gypsy smiled.

“You mean that Charlotte? Athena’s great granddaughter?” Dionysus sighed.

“COOL! So you’re the God of wine right? Wow! I knew your name sounded really familiar! So are we like, cousins then? Sweet! We should play Super Smash Bros together! Or World of Warcraft! Have you ever played an online game like that? If not, we could play Monopoly!”

“Ugh…” Dionysus felt like banging his head against something hard. Possibly something made of steal.

“She’s the young Goddess of everything fun to do. She’s quite amusing.” The Gypsy said.

“I hope you’re not teasing me,” Charlotte said, squinting at her.

“Of course not!”

“Hey, while I’m here, will you tell my future please?” Dionysus asked.

“Alright. Let’s see…” the gypsy put her hands over the crystal ball again. “I see you…getting drunk on wine again next week…”

“Is that it?” Dionysus asked in disbelief as the gypsy put her arms down.

“Yes. The upcoming year of your life is pretty uneventful…Oh wait! No…I sense something else in your future…” she put her arms over the crystal again.

“What? What is it? A date with Aphrodite?”

“Ew! Aren’t you two related?” Charlotte stuck her tongue out.

“Hey, us Upper Gods can do that.”

“Yuck.”

“I see…Charlotte will get you addicted to the game Chutes and Ladders…and also…the movie Lord of the Rings. Your favorite characters will be Merry and Pippin.”

“WHAT? I’m going to be hanging out with her?!” Dionysus yelled.

“Yes.”

“Yay!” Charlotte said, giving her long distance cousin a bear hug.

“Need…air…lungs…being crushed…sentences…fragmented…” Dionysus wheezed.

“Well, have fun!” The gypsy smiled cheerfully. “Now shoo! I have to clean up my shop!”

The End.

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Please review if you enjoyed it :D