The Elemental Power Rangers
An *Nsync Alternate Universe
Part 6
King Sphinx, High (School) Jinx
Lance couldn't decide if he was having a good day or a bad day.
It was a Monday, so in general that would make it a bad day, or it certainly did according to Justin. Then again, Justin pretty much thought every day was bad until he'd been awake for at least two hours. The guy did not do mornings.
The weekend had gone rather well, actually. They'd been attacked by Silkants in the park on Saturday afternoon and almost been overwhelmed because there were civilians present so they couldn't morph, but Joey came to the rescue. He'd been working the lunch rush at his parents' restaurant, so the Green Ranger was free to arrive on the scene and handle the silk-squad until the rest of them managed to get out of sight and morph. There had been pictures on the front page of Sunday's paper, but no more attacks occurred so they managed to spend a few hours learning about the history of the Power from Gaion and working out with Chaz so they might stand a chance fighting Silkants unmorphed in the future.
Lance's first few morning classes had gone smoothly enough; some of his classmates groaned about the amount of homework that was assigned considering how close to the end of the school year it was, but Lance didn't think he'd have any problem getting it done in study hall after lunch. But now he was in gym.
Swim class.
Which caused the dilemma between Good Day or Bad Day. Lance loved to swim, always had; he swam like a fish and made sure he took whichever block of Phys Ed had Swimming in it every semester. If there had been a block that offered swimming twice, he would have taken it in a heartbeat. So pretty much that was all of the Good.
The Bad was the part where most of his male classmates were hotter than Hell, most of them in both physique and facial features. Lance had pretty much gotten to the point where he could ignore it, carefully not looking at anyone below the neck, which the girls seemed to appreciate and the guys only took as normal. But "certain things" had been getting harder to control of late, maybe because suddenly being a superhero and saving the world a few times a week had a side-effect of making one confront one's mortality. Lance had the depressing thought that he didn't want to die an un-kissed virgin when Joey had been enthusiastically embellishing the story of his date with Kelly the night before. Some of Lance's lower extremities were taking a renewed interest in the toned bodies around him.
So Lance wasn't sure if it was a Good Day or a Bad Day, but he decided watching Marc Strauss walking along the side of the pool as Lance maintained a slow sidestroke to keep himself facing Marc and matching his pace was definitely a Good Thing. Getting caught sporting an enormous boner in the pool would be Bad, but he still had to reach the shallow end and then swim all the way back, so Lance didn't figure there was much chance of that. And the bulge of Marc's package in the front of the biker shorts he was wearing as swimwear was extremely nice.
Lance nearly inhaled water with his gasp when he saw Marc's package twitch. He valiantly suppressed the urge to choke and gasp, swallowing convulsively as his gaze shot up to the senior's face to see if he had noticed.
Marc's stare was tracking away from Lance as he watched Jess Devlin and Terri Cooper walking toward the deep end of the pool, chatting animatedly with a lot of hand and arm gesticulations and apparently not paying any attention to the ways said gestures caused their... ..assets to move.
Lance shifted to a much faster power-crawl and pulled ahead of Marc, reaching the shallow end and turning around to head back to the deep end as the red-faced senior dove into the pool from the side to hide his own "condition". Lance grinned into the water as he swam back to the other end of the pool, figuring he didn't have as much to worry about as he had originally thought. He could always either point helplessly at one of the girls in their bikinis if anyone paid too much attention to him, or he could just look at the girls the way all the other guys in class were and take care of any "swelling" problems in short order.
The problems were a little different and a little harder to take care of in the locker-room after class. If "little" meant "lot", with extra emphasis.
Lance had to shampoo his pale blond hair thoroughly to keep the chlorine from turning it green, so he always tried to get in the showers right away. The problem was that a lot of the coaches encouraged their students to "work hard", which was a lot like playing hard, but either way the coaches seemed to approve of their students getting really sweaty and ended their classes slightly early to give the students time for full showers, instead of quick changes and wet washcloths.
Half the basketball and football teams were showering as well as the swim class, and they showered naked. And damnitall if they weren't all just as good looking as Lance's classmates. Lance faced the corner of the showers and scrubbed his knuckles through his sudsy hair, hoping a self-inflicted noogie would be enough to cause deflation. When that didn't work he allowed the last of the shampoo to flow into his eyes, hoping the stinging irritation would be more efficient. Except now he couldn't see and was most likely about to stumble into another guy's muscled naked body, and damn if that thought didn't get him all hot and bothered again.
Lance stood under the spray facing the wall and blinking as he mechanically rubbed at his arms and body, hoping for a miracle and wishing the locker-room showers had individual controls so he could set his to freezing. His traitorous mind was contemplating whether or not Marc might be showering nude and if he might be able to see Marc or any of his other classmates stripping off their swim trunks.
Salvation came in the form of Justin Timberlake.
Justin was a clean-freak, pouting if he ended up in a class that ran almost to the end of the period and didn't leave time for a proper shower. His current basketball class certainly didn't fall into that category; Coach Mitchell loved Justin and coveted his joining the varsity team next year when he was a junior. So Timberlake was already finishing his quick shower, shaking the excess water out of his curls as he exited the showers. Justin was just as cheerful wet and naked as he was at pretty much all other times, not uncomfortable with nudity in the slightest, be it his own or others. He smiled at friends from the football class or Lance's swim class as he exited to the locker room proper, receiving smiles in return as the popular golden boy he was. His grin turned fiendish as he saw Lance in the corner by the door, facing away from everyone and not seeing Justin at all.
Justin slapped his splayed hand flat against Lance's back with a resounding smack, open palm landing squarely beneath Lance's shoulder blades.
"Hurry up, Bass; it's Monday, Joey's bringing FatOne leftovers to lunch!" Justin called loudly over Lance's bellow of pain, not-quite-running into the locker room to get away, grinning like a maniac as most of the other guys in the showers laughed.
"TIMBERLAKE, YOU BITCH!!" Lance hollered after him, grinning to himself as the flash of pain made him wilt with a quickness. "Christ, I've got a bright red handprint on my back now, don't I?" he asked rhetorically as he tried to peer over his own shoulder. Lance felt much more secure after shouting, his deep bass voice certainly stood up to any manliness tests that might occur to anyone in the locker room. Justin was popular, but he still squawked like a girl when surprised.
"Dude, Timberlake's hands are ginormous; it goes from here to here!" Tito Wendel grinned at Lance, poking his back at two points almost a foot apart. Lance grinned back, meeting only Tito's eyes, nice safe locker-room machismo and banter.
"We're going to lunch next; I'm gonna feed him his 'fro," Lance muttered darkly, still grinning. "With ketchup," he added as he left the showers, making Tito laugh.
=+=
Isis sat on a plush chair in her library at a bean-shaped table, sitting in the well of its inner curve with her research materials spread out around her. She flipped through a few notes, theories she had come up with to explain the Gorgon's growth without her intervention, and compared them with what information she had concerning mystic barriers and banishments, and the use of Dark Power. She grunted in annoyance when she found nothing that conflicted with her original theory; in fact, she found nothing but support for it, despite as much of a surprise as it had been.
The Master was able to use his power to enlarge a monster without her assistance with only two obsidian shards in place.
That does not bode well, she mused, frowning as she considered her options. I have no way of knowing how much more his powers will increase as the final shards are placed. Will the third allow him to perceive this world? Without my aid? I cannot have the Master gaining too much independency from me before I'm ready. I worked too hard to gain independency for myself to allow that. I sent a squad of Silkants to keep those Ranger youths busy as I fetched the rest of my resources from my old lair; I will not have that risk been taken in vain.
Isis flipped through a thick and ancient tome absently as she considered her problems, trying to distract her mind so that subconscious inspiration might strike. The book she had retrieved two days prior was a catalogue of the various monstrous minions that had served the forces of Evil over the eons and instructions on the various ways they might be summoned. Isis grinned as the slough of pages flipped from one creature to another, the combination of the two giving her an idea.
"Resphon!" the sorceress called as she marked the page with a black ribbon from the book's spine, then flipped back to the first monster that had inspired her, speculating on it and considering its abilities.
Yes. The King Sphinx is powerful, but I can summon it. His bravado shall provide sufficient distraction for me to summon something worse, something the Master would never consider might lead to inhibiting his own plan, Isis thought to herself with a wicked smile. And it will serve mine just fine.
"Yes, Mistress?" the cheetah-headed scribe asked as he entered the library, bowing to his empress.
"We are summoning the King Sphinx," Isis declared, turning the tome for her servant to see. "Gather your scrolls, and a falcon-feather quill. And..." she went on, pausing until he looked into her eyes so she could stress her next command. "..the Onyx Candle." Resphon's jaw dropped with a gasp, then snapped shut as he realized he had just betrayed his reaction to his mistress. "Do it," the sorceress frowned at him, the angry aura of her power filling the room to let her servant know his slip had not gone unnoticed. "I shall prepare to use it while the King Sphinx provides a distraction. You will use the scrying glass to witness the battle, and when necessary you shall use a charm I will provide to enlarge the monster."
"Me, Mistress?" Resphon asked as his feline ears stood up straight in surprise, then laid flat against his skull as he realized he had not only betrayed his feelings for the second time in as many minutes but had also questioned his mistress.
"Yes, you," Isis smirked at him, an expression that was all dark amusement and very little humor. "The Master provides me with Dark Power to grow the servants of Evil; He does not care when he provides it. I shall bind it in a charm for you to use on the King Sphinx, and I shall use the Onyx Candle while the Rangers are occupied. Worry not, Resphon," she proclaimed as the tip of his tail twitched, the agitation too much for him to contain even if he could school his face to neutrality. Isis smiled in wicked anticipation, knowing the summoning of the monster and the preparation to use the Onyx Candle without alerting Gaion's mystic sensitivity would take until nearly nightfall, the perfect time to use the Candle. Resphon was correct, the Onyx Candle was indeed quite dangerous, but she could use it.
"I have the situation well in hand."
Resphon found Isis' smile of satisfaction as she stared into the middle distance, anticipating, nearly as disturbing as the thought of using the Onyx Candle.
=+=
JC's last Monday class ended at six, so he headed over to the cafeteria building to get some dinner while the food was still relatively fresh. He ignored the bustle of activity around him, grunting wordlessly at any and all attempts to get his attention. He took a seat at a tiny table in one corner and started mechanically eating his dinner. JC Chasez had not had the best of days.
It had started off as a grumbly enough Monday morning, never fun to get up early for Lit class when he had been blessed with sleeping in the day before. But Chris had done his usual sleep-til-the-last-possible-minute-then-go-screaming-around-the-room-and-rush-off-to-Psych204-at-the-last-possible-SECOND thing, making enough noise to function as an alarm clock for JC no matter how many pillows he stacked on his head, and kissing him deeply for all of ten seconds before sprinting out the door. It was the rest of the day that had sucked. It had started in the dorm showers, where some asshole had apparently dropped his soap, laughing like a hyena on a sugar rush and calling out "Hah, I dropped my soap!" in Neanderthalic glee. Another asshole two stalls over had cheerfully called the first one "fag!" and laughter had echoed from several of the showers. Apparently seven thirty in the morning on a Monday was a busy showering time on the dorm's second floor.
The gay jokes had continued, turning into a shouted discussion that all three or four participants seemed to find utterly hilarious, until JC wanted nothing more than to scream at the top of his lungs what assholes they were. But he didn't feel like outing himself to a bunch of obviously non-supportive jock-type shitheads, especially not first thing in the morning while he was wet and naked. He had finished his shower as fast as he could and barely swiped his towel over himself and rubbed at his hair briefly before wrapping the towel around his waist and grabbing his bag, striding back to his and Chris' room in his bare feet at a near running pace. He had calmed down as he brushed and blow-dried his hair in their room instead of the bathroom, dressing and making his way to breakfast. He had gotten his morning coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs with ham and had just settled down into eating when a noisy group sat down at the table behind him.
He had recognized the voices. The same group of jerks from the showers. Still regaling each other with "fag" jokes.
JC considered the option that perhaps he was being paranoid, but he could swear it was a theme that had followed him all day.
Snickers at the back of the room in History of Literature as comparisons were made between The Illiad, several of Shakespeare's works, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Tasteless comments about male nude models by the passing peanut gallery in the hall outside the art studio where JC worked on a painting for one of his art classes during the gap between History of Literature and his French elective.
Whispered comments about "froggy French fags' by more of the stupid jock types in French, who obviously only took the class as a required elective and not because they had any interest. JC had blushed like a tomato after a particularly offensive comment was made in a completely off-hand manner at the same time the elderly professor pointed out that JC's last name was French.
And to top it off, his first-year Theater class somehow managed to get on a wild tangent about the homosexuality of all the Shakespearean players having been male, thus meaning every original enactment of Romeo and Juliet had been between two men. JC had sat in a corner and studied his lines and textbook, trying not to grit his teeth audibly. They weren't even doing Shakespeare; they were doing Death of a Salesman.
So now he had a headache, and he was pretty much ready and just about willing to kick the next over-testosteroned lummox who made the slightest negative remark about homosexuality in any form between the legs. And then in the face when they went to their knees. And then in the ribs, repeatedly, when they collapsed. He really, Really, REALLY hoped he was in fact not just being paranoid, because if he was, that meant those sorts of comments were always going on around him, and he had only noticed today because of his paranoia. If life were really that bad, that would totally suck.
JC eyed the pearlescent sheen of his Power Ring as his right hand automatically chopped bits of mystery meat off the piece on his plate and forked them into his mouth. He couldn't help grimacing at the fact that saving the world as an Elemental Power Ranger also meant saving intolerant assholes. JC frowned at himself, sighing as he realized how bleak he'd allowed his outlook to become, and wished Chris' last class didn't get out an hour later than his own did. They hadn't made dinner plans since their Monday schedules never crossed until Chris' English course let out at seven, but after the day he'd had, JC seriously wished they had. Maybe he could just pitch his dinner that he wasn't tasting anyway and go wait for Chris outside the Language Courses building. Except Chris might have plans already; JC hadn't seen him all day and they always ate separately on Mondays, so maybe Chris already had something in mind. Maybe he should have agreed to the cell phone his sister Heather had insisted he buy last summer. Then he could call Chris right after class, except Chris didn't have a cell, either.
He eyed his ring again and contemplated the fact he could summon his morpher and let Chris know he wanted to talk to him that way. Nope. No using the Power for personal gain, he admonished himself. But it was tempting.
JC finished his dinner and returned to the dorm, dispirited and lonely.
What he really wanted was for Chris to come in the door immediately after second-year English because he was missing JC just as much as JC was missing him. JC sighed and turned on the stereo, flopping across the bed and staring at the ceiling, still miserable. He knew he was being a sentimental romantic, and an unrealistic one, at that. Chris was not going to rush home to hold him; he would at least get some dinner first. JC knew he was just missing his lover extra hard due to the craptastic day he'd had. He closed his eyes, trying to tune out the stupid miserable world around him, then snapped them open a few minutes later when a warm form laid down next to him and slipped a hairy forearm under the back of his neck until his head was resting in the crook of an arm, the arm's hand curling around his triceps comfortingly and enfolding his shoulder in a half-hug.
"Miss me?" Chris asked softly as he grinned down into JC's face, knowing the younger man had had a rough day and was missing him. He could tell by the way JC had been lying so tensely, actively trying to tune out the world around him, meaning it was bothering him deeply.
"How'd... ..you... Yes." JC smiled back up at Chris as he decided it didn't matter how or why Chris was there already; JC was just glad that he was.
"Class got out a little early, and Ron was waiting outside with forty-nine cent McBurgers," Chris answered the mostly unasked question, then dropped a kiss on JC's forehead. "I know Monday is Anonymous Meatloaf Day unless you wanna pay extra, and I'm betting you didn't even really finish that, so I've got a burger or two for you here, too," Chris went on as he pulled JC up into a sitting position. The generic dorm bed mattresses were exactly seven by three and a half feet, so JC and Chris had pushed their beds together in one corner of the room and turned the mattresses sideways across both frames the first day there. Chris pulled JC close to hold him for a moment, kissing the side of his face and breathing into his hair before settling back and putting the bag of food between them.
"So, tell me all about today's suckage," Chris encouraged, unwrapping a hamburger and handing it to JC, who sighed and rolled his eyes at the stupidity of it all, but smiled gratefully at Chris for asking nonetheless.
"It's just been a theme today, wore me down..." JC explained as they ate, comforted by the mere fact of Chris' attention.
Half an hour later, they were lying on the bed facing each other, knees intertwined, JC's hands under Chris' shirt and Chris' in JC's hair, lips pressed together and tongues exchanging fading tastes of ketchup and fried hamburgers. Gross as the idea sounded verbally in his head, JC's body didn't think there was anywhere he'd rather be, in the tactile sense. Actually, his body was just beginning to think there were far too many cloth barriers between it and Chris' when their rings pulsed. They both froze in shocked disbelief, eyes slowly siding to the right to watch the last of the six-beat pulses of magical light flash from the gems in the Power Rings.
"Fuck me with a chainsaw..." Chris growled in exasperation as they separated, JC flopping onto his back with a groan and hiding his eyes behind the crook of his arm. Chris propped himself up on his right elbow, fingers stroking JC's left biceps as he rotated his left wrist back and forth to summon his morpher. He lowered his hand to prod the flashing tip of the star above his black boulder symbol with his right thumb, then spoke into it. "Chris and JC here, Gaion, we read you," he said, trying not to sound too put out. It was their responsibility to save the world so young lovers everywhere could enjoy their moments together. He just didn't like having his own moments disturbed, particularly when JC was in need of a few of those moments after the day he'd had.
"Rangers, The King Sphinx Is Threatening A Highway Interchange Less Than One Mile Southwest Of Your Position. He Is A Very Powerful Monster, More Powerful Than I Would Have Thought Capable Of Passing Through The Dimensional Breach At This Point. Beware His Hurricane Wings, Rangers, And Let The Power Protect You."
"We got it, Gaion; we're on our way!" Chris replied as he and JC scrambled off the bed, right hands fisted around their magic rings. JC met Chris' gaze and nodded in sync with him.
"It's Morphin' Time!" Chris called, thrusting his fist to the side to initiate their synchronized morphing gesticulations, both of them sweeping the backs of their hands before their chins, staring over the tops of their Power Rings.
As one, their left hands swept up from their sides, palms held flat in line with their wrists, facing to the right as their elbows locked in a ninety-degree angle.
With another snap of motion, their left elbows came up, putting their forearms perpendicular to the floor, in line with their right forearms, Power Rings level with their morphers.
They rotated their left palms to face themselves, the colored bands of their morphers flaring with energy as JC's appeared and they came online.
Still in perfect synchronicity, they rotated their left wrists back again and simultaneously raised their right elbows level with their shoulders, pivoting their fists to point their knuckles at the morphers on their other arms, the Power Rings aligned perfectly with the receptacles in the morphers.
Their right fists surged forward, closing the gap and plugging rings into morphers, brilliant flares of rainbow energy filling the room as the connection was made.
Chris and JC turned their right forearms ninety degrees, the backs of their hands facing forward as the light flared to blinding intensity, obscuring them from sight as they were transformed into Elemental Power Rangers and thrust their right hands to the sky, teleporting into battle.
=+=
The entire team reappeared from their teleport just west of South Division Avenue, immediately north of Route 408's westbound lanes. Only a few hundred feet west of them was the monster, a hulking slab of gray muscle, with calves and biceps like footballs and a chest that might have been slightly flattened basketballs. King Sphinx was dressed in turquoise and gold, with a few rubies and sapphires glinting scarlet and vibrant blue under the highway streetlights that were just coming on for the evening. Golden bracers and greaves covered his forearms and lower legs, leaving his clawed hands and feet uncovered. His combination kalasiris/ceremonial-loincloth appeared to be woven gold filament, as did the headdress framing his bestial face, headdress and belt both adorned with jewels and Egyptian-looking symbols. King Sphinx's brow was thick, bent in a permanent frown over his jet black eyes that were proportionately too large for his face, making them look like the eyes of an animal, as did the short snout bearing a jawful of incisors instead of a human nose and mouth. His upper torso was bare other than a golden chestpiece that narrowed as it reached across his back, leaving room for the enormous pair of pale gray wings protruding from his shoulder blades.
King Sphinx turned to face the Rangers as they appeared, snout pulling back in a snarl that revealed his fangs in a smile something like a growling dog's, his jet-black eyes shining malevolently. His wings fluttered slightly in something Chris was worried might be predatory anticipation as he contemplated the Rangers, eying them like fresh cuts of meat. JC grimaced behind his white helmet, realizing the monster was standing under a major highway interchange, and there was another even bigger one less than a thousand yards to the south. Rush hour was just passing, but there was still going to be traffic on all of those roadways continuously for the next few hours. They couldn't let the monster damage those elevated streets, not to mention how badly traffic would be disrupted until repairs could be made. Lance frowned behind his own blue helmet as he considered that the Egyptian sphinxes this King Sphinx resembled were traditionally guardians, but the Sphinx of the Ancient Greeks had "guarded" a mountain pass by devouring any who would pass by that could not answer her riddle. Lance didn't think they could take any reassurance in the fact that this sphinx was male.
"Rangers..." King Sphinx growled at them as he grinned, his voice a low rumble crossed with a hyena's piercing, manic laugh. "..So good of you to come. But I'm afraid you must be going!" the monster cackled as he leaned forward, spreading his impressive wingspan wide and flapping powerfully. Even the first downstroke of his wings caused various bits of litter on the ground between him and the Rangers to tumble toward them, but the further strokes as King Sphinx laughed mockingly were enough to force the Rangers to brace themselves to remain upright, and the gray and golden monster showed no sign of stopping.
The Rangers struggled forward, attempting to close in on the monster before he overwhelmed them, but the gale-force winds were too much. The Black Ranger summoned his Elemental Stone Staff and used it as a brace, planting one end in the ground behind him and gripping it at a forty-five degree angle to hold his position, but he couldn't move forward. The Red Ranger tried to sprint forward before the wind grew too strong but was blown head over heels before he had covered even a third of the distance between them and King Sphinx, tumbling helplessly across the ground back past his teammates before his momentum bled off and he sprawled to a stop. The Blue Ranger watched in frustration as his younger teammate was bowled off his feet, dropping into a low crouch with one leg extended behind himself, presenting one side to the monster to lessen his air resistance. The Elemental Ranger of Water managed to avoid being blown over, but he couldn't move forward any more than the Ranger of Earth could and was in a much more limited posture. The burly Green Ranger spread his feet wide in a low stance and managed to stagger a few steps closer to King Sphinx, but he was blown off his feet as well.
JC had instinctively turned sideways to the wind, his trim build providing a minimum of surface area for the monster's hurricane force to blow against, but he seemed to be faring better than his teammates even more so than that. Realizing why, the White Elemental Ranger of Air fought back with that advantage.
"I call upon the Elemental Power of Air!" the White Ranger cried out, feeling every aspect of the atmosphere around him as the Power surged through his form. He reached out to his element, bonding with it and pressing it forward, back against the monster. Even JC's power of Air could not stop King Sphinx's Hurricane Wings, but it could and did redirect the turbulent airflow back against the feral creature, diffusing its efforts to the point where the other Rangers could rise. The team got to their feet and moved against the monster's winds, the White Ranger's own wind at their backs allowing them to close in on King Sphinx.
King Sphinx snarled in displeasure at their ability to draw close and reached one hand to his side, curling his clawed fingers into a grip around a pale seven-foot quarterstaff that appeared in it, topped with a golden Egyptian symbol resembling a question mark. The massive muscles of the monster's arm flexed as it twirled the weapon into a two-handed grip, then it leaped at the Rangers, powerful wings carrying it even farther as King Sphinx sprang to attack.
As soon as the hurricane winds dropped, the White Ranger directed the Air around him down at King Sphinx, driving the monster back to the ground before his wing-powered leap could carry him into the Rangers' midst. The gold-clad monster snarled as it landed in a crouch, ducking further to evade the Red Ranger's high kick and knocking the young warrior's other leg out from under him with a casual backfist. King Sphinx whirled the staff in his other hand and flapped his wings wide as he rose, driving back the Blue and Green Rangers as they tried to outflank the monster and forcing the White Ranger to leap back, out of the weapon's reach. The lion-faced monster kept his staff spinning as he turned to the Black Ranger, both staffs clacking their ends together repeatedly as they fought.
>>"Justin, keep it distracted, so it doesn't overrun Chris. Guys, Weapons, quietly, we'll surprise it," JC commed to the other Rangers over their helmet headsets. Chris nodded once in his direction when the white-uniformed youth looked, Justin already charging King Sphinx from the other side, bellowing a battle cry that turned the monster's head.
"Elemental Wind Whip!" the White Ranger called out softly as he circled behind the monster. JC curled the fingers of his right hand and swayed his arm as he moved, a ten foot lash of space-age bright white leather appearing in his hand, the tip flowing with the wave of motion to come up to him, being gripped by his first two fingers while he retained his grip on the weapon's handle with the other two.
"Elemental Hydro Hammer!" the Blue Ranger stage whispered, loosely curling his fists in alignment and drawing them to shoulder height at his right side as a deep blue mallet with a four foot handle appeared in Lance's hands, its cylindrical head nearly a foot long and six inches in diameter, hovering at the ready behind his helmet as he quietly stepped forward.
"Elemental Forest Flail!" the Green Ranger murmured forcefully, curling his right fist under his loosely opened left hand, a bright green morning-star ball and chain appearing in Joey's hands as he drew them apart, the chain drawing taut as he held it between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, cupping the spiked ball with his fingers before tossing it into the air and setting it spinning as he moved in.
The Red Ranger had summoned his own Blazing Broadsword as he fought King Sphinx with the Black Ranger, the two of them coordinating their efforts to keep the monster's staff busy with one of them so the other could strike. King Sphinx proved more than capable of fighting two Rangers at once, twisting to avoid one weapon and parrying the other with his golden-topped staff, using his superior size and strength to press Chris and Justin back.
>>"Ready, Guys..." JC commed to Joey and Lance as they quietly closed in, also so that Chris and Justin would know they were about to make their move.
>>"..Now!" As the three Rangers stuck, King Sphinx thrust with his legs and flapped his wings, suddenly leaping into the air. The White Ranger's Wind Whip snapped between the monster's ankles as he rose, where his shoulder blades had been the second before. The Green Ranger had swung his flail at the monster's right ankle as the Blue Ranger had swung his mallet at its left hip, but King Sphinx had timed his move perfectly, flying up to evade all five of their weapons. JC immediately lashed his whip again, ensnaring the monster's ankle at the height of his weapon's ten foot reach.
King Sphinx snarled as his upward momentum was suddenly impeded, then frowned down at the White Ranger below him. He laughed, flapping his wings harder, and JC gasped as he felt himself nearly leaving the ground. The Green Ranger was immediately at his side, Joey's weight and morphed strength alongside JC's pulling the slimmer Ranger back down off his tiptoes.
>>"This guy's wings're giving us no end of problems," Chris commed to the rest of the group as he gestured for the Blue and Red Rangers to back up, making a triangle with him beneath King Sphinx. "Lance, Justin, get ready to clip those wings!" the Black Ranger finished, dropping into a crouch.
"I call upon the Elemental Power of Earth!" the Black Ranger yelled as he crouched, feeling the Power surge within him.
Chris felt the incredible force of hundreds of millions of pounds of bedrock grinding together, the tectonic force of a continental plate or three flowing through his form as the monster swept the golden head of his staff through the White Ranger's Wind Whip. The golden shape topping the staff burst into scarlet flame as it moved, flashing through JC's Elemental Weapon and causing it to vanish, sending the White and Green Rangers to the ground in a heap. The Black Ranger surged upright, springing into the sky with the power of an earthquake behind his legs, dismissing his own weapon as he rose above the monster and brought both fists down in a hammerblow to the base of King Sphinx's neck.
The monster plummeted to the ground, stunned, wing-muscles in its back temporarily paralyzed by the blow that propelled its towering form into the ground. King Sphinx dropped to his knees as he hit, falling forward to support himself on his hands, still dazed as the White and Green Rangers rose. The Red and Blue Rangers seized their moment and charged forward with matching battlecries, sword and hammer raised overhead with both hands. The two youngest Rangers brought their weapons crashing down perfectly in sync, smashing them into the thick bone and musculature of the monster's wings at the width of its shoulders as the Black Ranger dropped down behind them.
King Sphinx screamed in agonized fury, surging to his feet in a run as his back arched with pain, plucking his staff up off the ground as he rose and holding it horizontally as he crashed between the White and Green Rangers, knocking them aside once more before they could fling themselves out of the way. Bellowing in rage, the monster whirled back to face the other Rangers, one wingtip dragging on the ground and the other wing twitching limply, bleeding. King Sphinx howled in fury, his face a snarling rictus of hatred as he raised his staff upright, its top bursting into flame anew. He swept it in an arc at the Blue, Black, and Red Rangers, scarlet flames surging off its top in the same shape as the symbol they came from, slamming into their chests in small explosions that knocked all three off their feet, mystic sparks flaring from their uniforms as they were damaged.
"On the ground before me, smoking and battered," King Sphinx snarled at them mockingly, yet still angered. "Just where I want you. Now, I finish you!" The monster reached its right arm behind itself, the top of its staff still ablaze, preparing to thrust it forward and blast them all.
"Elemental Blades!" Chris cried out, each of the Rangers seizing the crystalline knives sheathed on their left hips as King Sphinx struck. The blazing bolts of scarlet fire burst forth from his out-thrust staff, but the Power Rangers were able to intercept the flaming mystic symbols with their Blades. The Red Ranger seemed to have taken a less direct hit or sustained less damage from the first barrage that had knocked them off their feet; Justin already had one foot under himself and batted the incoming attack back at the monster with his Blazing Broadsword. He still had his Elemental Blade in his other hand, wondering if he would need it but smiling with satisfaction that he wouldn't as he rose, smirking as the scarlet flame he had batted back at King Sphinx struck the monster's hand, forcing it to drop the staff with a snarl of pain as the other Rangers got to their feet.
>>"Lance, your Hammer!" Chris demanded as they stood, the Blue Ranger handing over his Elemental Hydro Hammer without question. As the monster snarled in surprised pain and then regained its bearings the Black Ranger switched his Elemental Blade to his left hand, grabbing Lance's Hydro Hammer with his right as Lance passed his own Elemental Blade from his left hand to his right. Chris took one step forward as he reared his arm behind himself, much as the monster had done, then hurled the Hydro Hammer into King Sphinx's chest with the last of his Earth Power enhanced strength. The anger-narrowed eyes of the snarling monster widened as he saw the tremendous velocity with which the weapon flew at him, far faster than he could dodge or block.
"Blades! Bring 'em Together!" the Black Ranger called out as the monster was staggered, King Sphinx being forced back a step and dropping to one knee with his arms and wings falling limp as the breath was forced from his lungs.
Chris held his Elemental Blade out before him with his right hand, point lowered at the ground slightly. JC stepped up to his right side and reached across himself to hold the tip of his Blade next to the tip of Chris', Justin following suit with his left hand on Chris' left side. Joey and Lance crouched before JC and Justin, leaning back on their inside arms, their inside legs tucked beneath them and outer legs turned out to the sides, their thighs aligned with their other arms as they held their Elemental Blades across themselves to the formation.
"Ready..." the Black Ranger called as he raised his left hand high overhead, the White and Red Rangers' arms across his back as the five of them huddled together, feeling their combined power grow. Even as the lead Ranger spoke, the black boulder image on his helmet gleamed and projected a beam of energy into the point where all five blade-tips met. At his sides, the White Ranger's whirlwind chest emblem and Red Ranger's flame emblem did the same, as did the Blue Ranger's cresting wave and Green Ranger's solitary tree beneath them.
"FIRE!" Chris shouted, sweeping his left hand down to point at the panting monster, laser-lines of energy connecting each of their five glowing elemental symbols to the others, forming the outline of a five-pointed star around the five-pointed star-shape of their Elemental Blade formation. The star of energy surged forward, flashing into King Sphinx and blasting the crippled-winged behemoth off his feet in a brilliant flare of colorful energy.
=+=
Resphon watched King Sphinx fall, knowing the moment had come to act.
He tapped the fallen monster's image on the scrying glass with a tiny wand made of lodestone, giving the monster a minute surge of magical energy to keep it from being banished once more. Isis had cast a charm on the wand, a charm that caused the recipient of its energies to glow brightly, a golden aura that would swiftly grow in intensity, as if the fallen creature were about to vanish in a flash of dimensional energy.
This bought Resphon the few seconds he needed to perform his task.
Isis' scribe set the discharged wand aside and carefully picked up a mystic object lying on the table to the left of the scrying glass. It was a circular shape of polished ebony, but gnarled and twisted with points sticking out from its edges like a wreath of muted thorns. The inner ring of its circle was inlaid with a writhing pattern of silver filagree, but Resphon handled it carefully, delicately, because of what was within that ring. Black lightning crackled throughout the interior of the ebony circle, flickering from one crisscrossing point of silver to another, writhing blackness in the center of the ring.
Resphon carefully held the ebony circle over the glowing image of King Sphinx, then lifted a pendant with his other hand. It was a silver bauble on a fine golden chain, like a rounded diamond or a teardrop with a softer point on the base end. The cheetah-headed minion slowly lowered the bauble through the ebony circle, the black lightning connecting with its lower point and distending the flat plane the mystic energy was coruscating across as it lowered. The crackling lightning flowed from filagree, to bauble point, back up to filagree, until the bauble's tip touched the glass.
Then the black lightning flowed into the glowing image of King Sphinx with a flare of darkness.
Resphon exhaled with relief, setting both mystic items down on the table as he watched the battle surge into new life in the scrying glass. He paid careful attention, despite the fact his duties were now complete.
Behind him, Isis' voice could be heard echoing from the dark chamber where she communed with the Master, the darkness seeming to flicker and throb as she chanted invocations and incantations over the Onyx Candle and its black flame. Resphon's ears laid flat against his skull as he tried to be unaware of what was transpiring behind him, but the tip of his tail continued to twitch, back and forth, back and forth, gradually faster as his nerves frayed gradually further, no matter how hard he focused on paying attention to nothing but the view in the sheet of crystal before him.
=+=
The Power Rangers watched in satisfaction as King Sphinx fell, rising from their huddled grouping as the monster cried out and began to glow. Justin swore as the black lightning erupted out of the cloudless night sky and struck the fallen creature, but he ran into position along with the others, spread apart to summon their Avatars. Even as the black lightning drowned out the golden glow and grew King Sphinx to a hundred feet in height and healed his wounds, the Rangers had taken their places and turned to face their giant opponent.
"We need Elemental Avatar Power, NOW!" the Black Ranger cried as he stretched one arm to the sky, the other Rangers following and joining in on the last word. The Rangers crouched and leaped dozens of feet into the air, streamers of brightly colored energy flowing behind them, bearing them up into the sky and flowing around them. The auras swirled around the Rangers as they hovered, coalescing into humanoid shapes a match in size for the enlarged monster. The radiant energies formed into each Ranger's Element, effectively wrapping each Ranger in a giant elemental golem.
King Sphinx was standing inside the looping exit and entrance ramps that connected Interstate Route 4 with westbound Route 408, while the Elemental Avatars were still west of South Division Avenue and south of 408's longer exit ramp to I4. The giant monster snarled laughter and charged the Avatars, intending to smash right through the ramp and send any number of cars to their doom.
JC's White Avatar of Air ran forward, thrusting its arms at the monster. The tight white cyclones that made up its form unraveled at the elbows, surging forward as twin torrents of whirlwind air pressure to drive King Sphinx back before he could crash through the barrier of the highway ramp. The gray monster snarled in surprise, unused to having his ability of hurricane-force winds being directed against him. The snarl changed to a sneer of delight as King Sphinx turned around, spreading his wings and allowing JC's whirlwinds to propel him towards the opposite side of the looping ramps, where he would smash through both of them.
The White Ranger dropped his attack in alarm and made his avatar spring into the air, flying over the highway to come at the monster from the other side, but he knew he would never be able to get there in time. Fortunately for JC, even as he had been restraining King Sphinx's charge, the other Rangers had been directing their Avatars to join the battle. Lance's Blue Avatar of Water had charged forward and flung itself headlong at the monster's feet. The Blue Ranger's avatar collapsed into a surging wave as it bellyflopped into the ground, gaining momentum and flowing beneath King Sphinx, slowing the colossus slightly as it stumbled on the avatar's liquid form. The Avatar of Water threw two firehose-stream tendrils up to encircle King Sphinx's wrists, the tendrils changing into the avatar's hands as it re-formed into its humanoid shape, holding the monster back from the highway.
Just as King Sphinx was going to overpower the more slender Avatar JC's Avatar of Air flew into position and unleashed its whirlwinds once more, blowing the monster back into the middle of the looping ramps. The Avatar of Water maintained its grip, allowing its arms to transform into watery tendrils once more, ready to pull King Sphinx back if he should try to smash through the opposite side again. What the Blue Ranger had not anticipated was King Sphinx igniting the top of his staff and thrusting it at his avatar, using the pull of its tendrils in his attack's favor.
Lance was saved by the other Avatars joining the fray after carefully stepping over or ducking under the spiraling ramp. A blazing disk of flame sprang into being before the head of King Sphinx's staff, projected by Justin's Red Avatar of Fire and holding the weapon back. The Blue Avatar stepped back so that neither Lance's Water nor Justin's Fire would interfere with the other, as did the Red Avatar, but it kept its shield up, prepared to intercept any more blasts from the blazing staff. Chris' Black Avatar of Earth engaged the monster next, battling King Sphinx staff-to-staff with a pole of bedrock it had drawn up from deep beneath the earth's surface, just as the Black Ranger had fought it with his Stone Staff earlier.
The Black Ranger could direct the Black Avatar's motions with the staff just as easily and skillfully as he could wield his Power Weapon, but King Sphinx was just as skilled at roughly one hundred feet of height as he was at seven. He would have quickly outmatched Chris, just as he had been capable of fighting Chris and Justin simultaneously before, but Joey's Green Avatar of Wood had moved as close to the ramp as it could before plunging its arms into the soil up to the elbows, roots and tendrils of wood whipping out of the ground to ensnare King Sphinx's ankles. The giant monster could have outfought the Black Avatar or pulled free of the Green Avatar's grip, but he couldn't do both at once.
King Sphinx growled in displeasure and reared back, allowing the Earth Avatar to press him as far as he could go within the Wood Avatar's grasp, then shoved forward, bracing himself with a powerful sweep of his wings. The Air Avatar had been unable to keep its cyclones trained on the monster when it was in close combat with the other Avatars, but it could and did throw up a whirling wall of winds to keep the monster back. The Water Avatar collapsed into a wave that surged up again to catch the Earth Avatar before it could fall into the highway. King Sphinx swept the scarlet flames of his staff's head at the Fire Avatar in a feint, twisting to sweep the staff's tip past his feet as the red Avatar brought its shield up. The staff's blazing end crashed through the Wood Avatar's restraints, freeing the monster as the Green Ranger's avatar reared back on its knees, yanking its arms out of the ground.
>>"AOW!!" Joey cried out in pain, audible to his teammates over their helmet comms. "Jesus, my hands! FUCK that hurt!!" he yelled bitterly, the pain still audible in his voice.
>>"Joey, you okay!?" Lance called out as his and Chris' avatars regained their feet. King Sphinx had sprang into the air the moment he was free, easily evading a fireball Justin's avatar threw at him and turning to face JC's avatar as it flew up to him.
>>"I think so... ..give him an extra lump for me, 'C!" the Green Ranger responded.
JC grunted back an affirmative, but he was no more able to fight King Sphinx one-on-one than Chris had been. The White Avatar of Air could hover indefinitely, being comprised of air, and could actually fly with great speed, but King Sphinx was proving to be more maneuverable, or at the least was far more experienced in aerial combat than JC was. By flapping strongly with his wings or suddenly ceasing to flap them and dropping, the monster was proving capable of dodging both the cyclone blasts from JC's avatar's arms and the fireballs being thrown by Justin's avatar's hands. JC managed to evade some of King Sphinx's strikes with his blazing staff, and even managed to bat aside one jab by parrying behind the staff's blazing head with the back of his avatar's forearm, but it wasn't enough. JC kept getting clipped, and with a clever backflip King Sphinx managed to get behind his avatar, swatting it in the side as JC turned to face the monster once more.
Chris made an incoherent noise of protest as JC's shout of pain echoed over their helmet comms, the Black Avatar of Earth's shoulders heaving with its director's breath as the Black Ranger watched his lover's avatar fly backwards, keeping JC's eyes on the monster as it backed out of reach. JC realized how Joey had felt; fire consumed both air and wood. Justin's avatar could fight King Sphinx, but it couldn't fly. They needed to get King Sphinx back on the ground. JC thought maybe he could disperse the whirling winds that made up his avatar's form into a storm that nothing would be able to fly in, but he wasn't sure where that would leave him, since he was in the middle of its chest. He was also afraid the storm would quickly dissipate into nothing; once his avatar lost its cohesion, it would disperse entirely. He wouldn't be able to keep the roaring winds from stilling; they would just whirl out and be gone.
The White Ranger smiled as he realized he could maintain a windstorm area of effect and slowed his retreat, allowing King Sphinx to close in on his avatar.
King Sphinx snarled in anticipation of tearing his opponent apart as he surged forward, staff held overhead and wings flapping strongly as he charged the Air Avatar, ready to slam the burning head of his weapon into the avatar and consume its form, and the White Ranger inside with it.
JC waited until the last possible second, to be sure the monster would be close enough. He watched King Sphinx's wings flap, over and over as they propelled the monstrously muscled gray colossus at him. JC waited until the beginning of the last downstroke of those wings before the monster would reach his avatar, so the wings were going in the wrong direction to provide King Sphinx any air-brakes at all.
Then he swept his avatar's arms forward and generated the biggest wall of winds he could.
King Sphinx slammed into the shield of whirling air, trying to spread his wings wide, which only provided greater surface area to be caught in the White Ranger's trap. JC directed his avatar to fly over the monster, maintaining the wall of winds and turning it parallel to the ground. He flew over the center of the space between the looping highway ramps, in the middle of the four Elemental Avatars waiting below. JC released the air shield but left the White Avatar's arms extended toward King Sphinx's tumbling form, unleashing twin cyclone bursts against him and pummeling the monster into the ground.
The other Avatars moved in as their opponent crashed into the ground, but King Sphinx instantly rolled to his hands and knees with a roar, thrusting himself upright and snapping his wings wide to keep them back, grabbing his staff with both hands.
>>"Joey, get his legs, with me!" Lance yelled out, collapsing his avatar into a wave and flowing over the monster's calves. "My water won't be as vulnerable as your wood or 'C's air; together we can hold him!"
>>"Got it!" Joey called back in confirmation as his avatar dropped to one knee, up to its wrists in the ground and entangling King Sphinx's lower legs with vines and roots, preventing the monster from rising. 'Chris, J, get him!"
The Black and Red Rangers directed their avatars to close in, but King Sphinx roared in outrage, making his staff blaze more intensely than they had seen yet, flapping his massive wings. Being in a kneeling position did not prevent him from using his Hurricane Wings attack. Justin's avatar actually began to waver as it was driven back, being of considerably less mass than Chris' stone avatar. The fiery avatar did not actually gutter or even flicker, but it was becoming in danger of doing so as the winds increased, slowing even the Black Avatar of Earth.
The White Avatar of Wind flew up behind King Sphinx, just above him, and unleashed its twin wind tunnels against the monster's wings when they were extended behind his back, pinning them to the ground. King Sphinx continued to bellow his fury, leveling his staff at the two avatars before him and unleashing a torrent of scarlet flame. The Red Avatar of fire leaped in front of Chris' avatar, a fiery shield deflecting the mystic flames and holding them back as Justin directed it forward, advancing until his avatar could seize the blazing head of the monster's staff and pull it to one side, hanging on tenaciously.
>>'Chris, it's all you!" Justin called, hanging on doggedly and struggling to wrest the staff from King Sphinx's grasp even as he pulled and fought back to free his weapon. Chris hesitated for one moment, wondering how fair it was to beat on an opponent with five of its six appendages pinned, then shook his head and directed his avatar to step forward. If King Sphinx was too stubborn to let go of his staff, that was his problem. Although if he did he would then be facing two avatars instead of one. And as tough as he'd been so far, and how gleefully ready he had been to kill who knew how many motorists, Chris couldn't feel too bad if the monster were being opposed by as many avatars as it had free limbs. Left alone, King Sphinx would probably destroy the entire 408/Route 4 highway network, or probably even all of Orlando.
Chris made his avatar belt the monster a few times, narrowly dodging out of the way of the claws on King Sphinx's left hand, then kicked him in the face. Chris thought about the pain they had heard in Joey's voice before, and the way his heart had frozen in his chest, when he heard JC cry out. It wasn't fair. JC needed an evening of comfort, and instead had been forced into a battle by himself, getting overwhelmed and attacked from behind, almost getting seriously hurt.
The sounds of battle, the whirl of winds and crackle of flames, snarls of monstrous rage and growls of pain, the thud of black stone striking gray flesh, the blaring horns of traffic caught in a jam as rubberneckers tried to watch the fight a few dozen yards away instead of getting the fuck out of there like they should have, the audial memories of the monster's snarls of malicious glee, of their staff melee, of the team going down in sparks of defeat as the monster bowled them over and shot them down, of Joey's and JC's cries of pain... They all washed together into a white noise between Chris' ears, cutting his brain out of the circuit as he rained blow after blow into the monster, determined to make sure it never hurt anyone the way it so obviously wished to.
A few moments later, the Black Avatar of Earth stepped back, its frame once more heaving with effort, reflecting the state of its director.
>>"Man, what's it gonna take to put this guy down?!" Chris grunted in disgust. King Sphinx was still struggling wildly against the efforts of the five avatars restraining him, but all of his glaring attention was focused on the Black Avatar of Earth. His pharaoh-esque headdress was crooked above his feral brow, frowning over his nearly-rabid black eyes as they glared with hatred at Chris' avatar, one of them nearly swollen shut. The monster was panting with the exertion of his struggles, blood and spit dripping from his open jaws, particularly from the gap where a foot-long fang had been knocked out. Dark gray blotches on the paler gray skin showed where the creature was bruising from the beating it had taken, but King Sphinx was nowhere near finished. If anything, he was just angrier than ever and all the stronger because of it.
>>"Maybe Earth isn't the right Element to beat him?" JC asked. "I mean, the real Sphinx is a big stone monolith-thing, and the other monsters have had weaknesses, like the Jasmine was a plant; J burned it..."
>>"Yeah, but the Gorgon was stone, too, and Chris finished her off," Joey contradicted.
>>"And the Nightmare's powers were from people's dreams; dreams aren't an element," Justin added.
>>"Without the people's dreams, the Nightmare couldn't use its power," Lance interjected calmly. "The Gorgon had a mystic symbol on its chest, a power source. Chaz told us the Jester's mask connected it to our dimension, so it was almost the same as a power source," the Blue Ranger went on. "What does this guy have that's like that?"
>>"Gaion mentioned his Hurricane Wings, and they were sure doing a number on us before..." Chris murmured, eyeing the furious form before him. "Wait. The symbols. His staff shot fire symbols at us, and he's got more in his costume!" the Black Ranger cried in excitement as the realization struck. His avatar turned, picking up the bedrock staff it had dropped earlier when King Sphinx had knocked it over. Chris calmly directed his avatar to bludgeon the monster's left elbow and shoulder so he couldn't interfere with the avatar's aim, then carefully pointed the staff's tip at the giant ruby in the center of King Sphinx's belt.
The monster shrieked in outrage as the staff speared forward, smashing the ruby and the Egyptian symbol for fire engraved in its surface, causing the flames coming from his own staff to wink out. The Black Avatar of Earth reared back, then smashed the sapphire in the center of King Sphinx's headdress, rocking his head back as the jewel shattered.
King Sphinx screamed as his form exploded, feathers swirling everywhere as his clothing and weapon vanished, his gray flesh growing blurry as he whirled into a hurricane-like form that screamed its rage at losing its corporeal form.
>>"JC, Together!" Justin shouted, making his avatar step in front of what was left of the monster, between it and Chris' avatar. JC's avatar dropped down behind it, and together they projected walls of wind and flame, pressing them together as the avatars advanced forward. The wind and water that formed King Sphinx's hurricane-based form were dried out and stilled by the Red and White Avatar's shields, the defeated monster vanishing with a last fading cry.
The Black Avatar of Earth knelt on one knee and returned its bedrock staff to the depths of the earth where it had came from, then restored the surface where their battle had damaged it. The other Avatars had nodded or bowed to the motorists who were still watching, JC's making a small "move-along" gesture at the largest snarl of traffic. The Avatars struck the Ranger's teleport pose, left fists fingers up at their hips and right fists thrusting up into the sky, each of them transforming back into a nimbus of colored energy that dispersed as the Rangers teleported to the Crystal Chamber.
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Resphon watched King Sphinx fall, and wondered if his mistress would be pleased by the turn of events. She had claimed the monster was nothing more than a distraction, after all, despite its being powerful.
The cheetah-headed scribe gasped as his mistress staggered up behind him, startling him with her sudden and silent appearance.
Her hair was utterly disheveled beneath her headdress, in disarray with wisps sticking out in every direction, the silk of her form-fitting gown twisted and rumpled, hanging askew on her sweaty frame. The sweat was still rolling down her face, her cheeks flushed visibly even with her dark complexion, her make-up in distorted rivulets. Her lips were glossy with spit instead of coloring; her frame trembled with exertion as her chest heaved, and the kohl around her eyes had run down her face like inky tears.
Resphon gasped again as he saw Isis' appearance, and would have gasped a third time when he saw her eyes, had he any breath remaining and his jaws weren't still hanging open.
Isis' eyes, normally a piercing midnight black only the slightest shade closer to brown than the glistening kohl around them, were now a tarry jet black from lid to lid, far blacker than the kohl on her face and showing no difference between pupil and sclera, if either even existed anymore. The scribe snapped his mouth shut as he realized his mistress was not just trembling with exertion but with near-orgasmic euphoria, her blood-red lips stretched wide in a smile that was nothing less than exulting in power and success. Isis was euphoric with triumph and nearly drowning in the rush of power from the magics she had just channeled.
"Resphon..." she murmured, actually clutching at his shoulder for support, her hair and gown still rippling in a wind he could not feel, hear, or smell, "..I believe I need a rest. Nothing and no one is to enter this room or the chamber beyond until I say, on peril of your life and afterlife."
Resphon swallowed audibly and nodded, unable to speak and resolutely not looking over his shoulder at the chamber behind him. The tip of his tail began switching back and forth, nearly as fast as his heartbeat.
Isis smiled wider but more coherently, pleased at his response. She shoved her way away from him, tottering away from the table and staggering toward the exit to her throne room and personal chambers beyond with a happy laugh, waving the hand that had been on his shoulder dismissively without looking behind her.
"Oh, and that goes double for disturbing me. Destruction. The Black Flame comes."
Resphon's tail froze, expanding to twice its ordinary size as his eyes widened and his every strand of fur stood on end.