"Begin." He announced and I sucked in a deep breath for what was to come.

Ayla spared no time before she ran towards me. I readied my weapon, but in mid-run she had disappeared and I let out a small gasp, forgetting her ability.

It was quiet for a moment and then I heard her breathing behind me as she swung her sword. I ducked quickly at this, falling to the floor and got up hurriedly as she swung her weapon again.

It clashed with mine and I could sense that her strength was notably weaker than mine, as was shown by how I was slowly pushing her back, little by little. She seemed to notice this also and looked down to her feet before disappearing yet again.

I let out a heavy sigh at this, looking around hastily. She appeared again right above me as she fell and her shoe drove into my back, causing me to stumble forward. My elbows grazed against the ground as I fell and I looked to her.

She was panting heavily, some fly always coming out of her pony tail and I could tell she was tiring by using her powers, just as I was. That was probably her plan- she knew I was stronger in combat, so she was using her ability to deliver surprise attacks until I weakened. Yet, even she knew, she could only keep it up for so long.

I made the pretence of getting up on wobbly legs as she moved towards me and I delivered the softest blow against her sword, making me stagger back slightly. This happened for some time and I could feel her guard coming down with her attacks.

It was clear to her now that she could win in combat and she jogged towards me. I used the time to open the doors quickly and the liquid came running out like a tsunami, heating my body and burning my eyes. She swung her cutlass yet again and I swung with all the force in me using the doublesword, causing her cutlass to fly out of her hands near the edge of the circle. With her body unarmed, I delivered a kick to her torso sending her falling backwards with a choked sound.

I moved towards her body, my doublesword pointed to her and she gave me one last weak look before disappearing. I knew then where she would reappear. She would want to grab her weapon. Instead of facing that way, I feigned indifference and looked around. It was only when I heard the sound of her reappearing did I turn around quickly and hit her with the mid-handle of the sword before she could grab the cutlass. She let out a small scream at this and I used the time to my advantage, delivering a side kick which caused her to fall over, her body half out of the circle. I let out a breath as I looked to her form.

"Hanna wins." Bomani spoke and I moved forward at his words towards Ayla, helping her off the ground. She pouted as I did.

"No fair, I wanted to win." She whined with a small playful smile and I knew from that, she was okay. I laughed slightly as I hauled her up, looking to Maya who was cheering me on now, seemingly having forgotten her own loss.

"Have a break." Bomani called out to us and I looked around as footsteps neared. I smiled when Abrax came to us.

"Hanna, that was incredible." He praised with a kind smile before looking to Ayla.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concern clouding his eyes and she nodded, putting an arm around me.

"It was a well-deserved win!" She exclaimed and I leaned into her at her words.

"Take this." I turned at the voice, looking to Emut who offered me some water. I muttered a small thanks as I took downed the contents of the bottle. Emut smiled at me as I did.

"I didn't expect that." He said and I smiled at his words, watching as his eyebrows furrowed.

"Your eyes changed." He stated simply, brushing his hair back and I frowned at his words.

"What happened with my eyes?" I asked to which Emut shrugged slightly, shaking his head in disbelief.

"They went completely white."

I turned when I heard Demir's voice, watching as he approached.

"Oh." Was all I said in response, eyeing him flatly. After his words last night, I didn't think he deserved anything more.

He seemed to notice this as he raised an eyebrow, but said nothing of it as he turned to Emut.

"Ustaaz is calling for you." He told him to which Emut turned to me.

"We'll talk later." He promised and I stuck out his bottle for him to take, but he shook his head with a small laugh.

"Keep it." He said with a smile before backing away towards Bomani. I saw that Bomani was holding the ceramic box that Negus had given us to take for the travel and I wondered what they were to be discussing.

"I wish for a rematch." Maya spoke suddenly, stomping up to Demir and he rolled his eyes tiredly.

"And I wish for more sane company." He retorted, making Ayla giggle and Maya smirked slightly.

"I'd hardly call you sane, right Hanna?." She remarked, turning to me and I shrugged heavily.

"I don't know." I answered, not even wanting to discuss anything pertaining to him to which Maya tutted before turning to Demir.

"Well, once anyone gets to know you, they'll become familiar with your crazy antics." She said bitterly, but Demir was looking to me with a small smile. I merely glared slightly before turning back to drink some more water.

"Hanna doesn't think I'm insane." Demir spoke suddenly and I almost choked on my water, giving him a distasteful look.

"You must be insane if you think I find you sane." I replied at his accusation and he raised an eyebrow.

"No brilliant soul is exempt from a mixture of madness." He reasoned and I let out a scoff at his words, placing my bottle against the shelf.

"In order for your reasoning to work, you have to be both brilliant and have a soul. I believe neither of the above applies to you." I concluded snarkily, flipping my hair back and his eyes glimmered at my words. Abrax placed an arm around Demir's shoulder with a smile.

"What has he done to hurt you so, girls?" He asked jokingly and I smiled sweetly at Abrax.

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Abrax. You're too pure to ally yourself with a devil." I answered and Maya let out a snort.

"They're all devils, none of them deserve a pedestal." Maya exclaimed, her eyes narrowing in on Abrax who looked around in confusion. Ayla let out a small giggle before nudging both Maya and I.

"Aw, you're too hard on them both! Leave them alone!" She urged with a happy smile and both Maya and I flicked her forehead simultaneously, making us laugh and her let out a wince.

"Guys." Emut spoke, nearing us and I turned as he looked to us all, a serious look in his eyes.

"We've read the clue for the Mars key." He announced and a small silence took over the group before he spoke again.

"We're headed for the sphinx."

*********************

"The sphinx is a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human." Maya begun, looking out the window of the carriage and I tightened my hold on my doublesword as she continued.

"She is considered a spiritual guardian and the weapon with which Ra is able to punish the wrongdoers of Aaru." Maya finished, her expression grim as she turned around.

"And, she's the one guarding the Miftah of Mars?" Ayla squeaked out and Emut nodded with a sigh.

"I spoke with Ustaaz on this. When the Goddess Hathor scattered the keys, she made it so they were difficult to attain, in order to prevent others from collecting them all." He explained and I let out a sigh at his words.

"Well, we're going to need to get them before Anouke." Demir added darkly and a small silence descended in the carriage.

It was then that the carriage jerked to a halt and Abrax looked to the window.

"We're here." He said and Ayla grabbed her bow from behind us, her arrows strapped to her back.

We made our way out and into the bleak evening light of the desert. The sound of our footsteps were muffled by the sand as we walked to our destination. The carriage could only go so far without getting stuck in the deep sand.

Maya let out a groan as she walked, breaking the silence.

"Demir, can you not just rid us of this sand whilst we walk or do you use your powers for useless acts?!" She spat out and Demir made a small grunt of a noise.

"If by 'useless acts' you mean defeating you in combat then yes." He retorted, smiling slightly as Maya kicked sand to him. Ayla let out a small laugh at this as we walked.

"Yeah, Demir you can create a slide for us here, if you wanted, right?" She said cheerily and I smiled, nodding in agreement.

"Or make a sand Olaf." I giggled out to which I received some odd looks. I sighed then, feeling pity for them for not knowing the context of my joke.

"What's that?" Ayla questioned and I shook my head, knowing I wouldn't be able to explain it.

"That's a habit of Hanna's. She loves saying Earth words to confuse us." Emut called out from the front and Ayla let out a laugh before perking up, jumping slightly as we walked through the sand.

"Ooh! We should do the same and confuse her.... Shabti!" She shouted out the foreign word and I nudged her as we walked through the heavy sand.

"Ankh." Emut called out from the front, smiling teasingly when I looked aghast at him having sided with Ayla.

"Not you too." I muttered with a roll of my eyes.

"Stelae." Abrax said with a laugh and I looked to him with in shock to which he mouthed a 'sorry'.

"Udjat." Demir added, not even turning to me when I glared at him, but I knew he could see it from the small smile on his face.

"Ba." Maya added and I slapped her arm as she was right next to me.

"Maya! You're teaming up with the so-called enemies!" I accused to which she rolled her eyes. My legs were aching as we walked through the deserted desert and the half moon bathed us in light.

"Do not pretend as though you haven't aligned yourself with them already. I accepted that I lost you after your Earth trip, just as I had lost Ayla long back." She said playfully and I let out a sound of disgust.

"Align myself with Emut and Demir. You can't accuse me of such grotesque actions without basis." I said, pretending to retch, making Maya and I laugh which shortly turned to a yelp when we nearly slipped on some sand as we walked.

"Careful, wouldn't want you to slip." Demir warned dryly yet the small glimmer in his eyes showed that the slip was not an accident.

Emut let out a laugh at this, throwing his arm around Demir as they walked.

"Come on, Demir, let's move our grotesque selves away from their clumsiness." He joked to which I kicked sand in their direction.

"Losers." I muttered, looking to Maya, but she was looking up in awe. I followed her gaze, stopping when my eyes landed on the large statue in the distance.

There, among the dunes stood the Sphinx.