Serenity Art Attack: Riddle of the Sphinx (Patreon)

Hey folks! How's it going out there?

This week, we have another Serenity request! This one focuses on a team that doesn't get quite as much spotlight as the Seasons, though you may recognize them from a certain Quest - the Serenity Arts!

It was fun to write some of these girls! If I get the chance, I certainly wouldn't mind writing more for them. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the story!

One head and one tail,With a glistening sheen,My rumoured power to compel,Borders on the obscene.What am I…?

The Serenity Seasons, those stalwart defenders of humanity, protectors of Sapphire City, and occasional thralls to those possessed by the power of Desire. Though the forces arrayed against them are great, Serenity Winter, Serenity Summer, and Serenity Spring will always fight to save the day!

But, you know, they’re not the only ones doing that.

The world is wide, and Serenity teams across the globe fight against the corrupting forces of Desire every day! From the heart of sweltering Pascua to the depths of frozen Stern, wherever people gathered, Serenities would soon arrive to protect to peace. They kind of had to, or else Desires would beat them to it.

No, never let it be forgotten that each team out there faces their own struggles, fights their own battles, and suffers their own losses. Most of which they would probably all agree they don’t want the world to see.

Still, it wouldn’t be fair to let the Seasons hog the spotlight. Let’s take a look at how the other side lives, over in another city, a place named Ruby Canyon, under the protection of the Serenity Artists…

“This is ridiculous.”

“I mean. We’ve fought worse.”

“She’s a reject from a furry convention mixed with a math teacher! How do you do worse than that?”

The two conversing were the unmistakable Serenity Dancer and Serenity Melody. A powerful pairing under normal circumstances, but these circumstances were hardly normal. After all, normally the streets of Ruby Canyon were normally slick black roads, not lanes of sand. Likewise, the buildings were usually made of brick, metal, and glass (or similar variations), instead of these awkward looking sandstone constructions. Something had clearly gone quite wrong in these parts.

That something was obvious, at least, as it was almost certainly the large creature in front of the pair, to which Dancer’s angry description had just been applied. Large and clearly in charge, she was easily three times as tall as either Serenity, and that was while she was sat on the floor, her long four legged body stretching out behind her, tail flicking above her rear like a cat’s as she smugly eyed up her prey.

She was very cat-like, in fact, with her legs ending in soft, padded paws, and a sheen of golden fur covering her body. Though, she certainly wasn’t all cat, either. She had giant wings, like those of an eagle but bigger, sprouting from her back, folded at the moment but ready to unfurl whenever she wished. They didn’t look like they’d actually give her enough lift to fly, but you could never be sure in cases like these…

And her head, especially her face, was obviously human, even though it was also furred, and may have had a couple of whiskers. Her eyes were closed, giving her a look of serene peace that her incredibly smug grin then immediately spoiled. Dark blue hair fell around her shoulders in straight, long locks, all the way down to her massive bare chest, her breasts just as large as the rest of her.

She was a Sphinx – and she was a Desire, of that there could be no mistake. And, equally unmistakable, she enjoyed playing with her food.

“My dears,” she purred, covering her amused mouth with a paw, “if you’re just going to insult me instead of answering a simple question, I may just have to count that as a forfeit for both of you.”

Serenity Melody raised her hands, the facemask she wore (because what were the Arts, if not expressive in their own way?) hiding her disarming and apologetic smile. “Woah, woah, no need to be hasty! I’m sorry for my friend. D gets frustrated. I swear, normally she doesn’t hate furry conventions or math teachers!”

At her side, the long haired brunette, Serenity Dancer, folded her arms in annoyance. “I’m not taking the math teacher part back.”

Melody groaned. “D…”

“What? Numbers are fine, stop bringing letters and weird formula things in!”

“Don’t make the D stand for Dumbass in front of the Desire,” the shorter of the pair hissed, elbowing her friend, before raising her voice. “Anyway, very sorry if she’s caused any offense. We’re still working on your riddle!”

The three of them were stood – well, the Desire was laying, letting the sandy ground push her chest up – atop a building that had once been the city library, but was now a massive stone temple, complete with endless rising steps and large open burning braziers, lighting the area under the dark night sky.

(The fact that it was close to noon mattered little to the proceedings. Within the Desire’s territory, you couldn’t even see the Serenity Seal which surrounded the entire area.)

Indeed, it was at the top of this temple, upon the highest roof, where the Serenity Artists had confronted the heart of corruption, the cause of the confusion, the beast that had burdened them all with this trial.

Things had not gone to plan.

“Why don’t we just attack her?” Dancer complained, gesturing to the Sphinx. “She’s right there. One Seal and we can all go home. I had stuff to do today!”

Melody rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, D, why don’t you?”

“Well, I mean…” The brunette shifted uncomfortably, rubbing the back of her neck. “I don’t want to be rude or anything…”

“What’s that, my dears?” The sphinx’s tail waved in the air. “Plotting to cheat over there?”

“No!” Both Serenities shook their heads firmly. Because despite what a lot of people believed, being a Serenity had never meant you couldn’t be a liar as well.

“Good! Attacking the judge is a surefire way to get disqualified, you know.” The Desire winked, smug grin only growing wider.

Ah. The pair shared an awkward glance.

“Just to check…” Melody looked back to their foe, voice lilting. “What happens when someone’s disqualified?”

The grin grew wider still. “The same thing that happens when you forfeit or give me an incorrect answer, of course~”

A groan. Yes, that had been what they suspected. The pair knew exactly what happened to those who answered the Sphinx incorrectly. This entire city was littered with poor fools who had failed to satisfy her. Some had become minions, sphinxes in miniature who roamed the city streets looking for victims. Some had become decorations – hieroglyphs carved into the walls, or bejewelled sarcophagi waiting to lure in unwary seekers of riches, only to snare them inside.

Serenity Scribe had been incensed. “This isn’t historically accurate at all!” She’d complained. “This is like five different ancient cultures being smooshed together!”

Of course, Scribe wasn’t with them anymore… Hopefully Style and Painter had fared better out there. The team of five had gotten separated early on, and now the singing and dancing duo were on their own. Alas, neither one of them would claim to be the brains on the team…

Which was why Dancer was still complaining. “I should kick her. Like, right now. I’ve done it before.”

“You’ll just get turned into something stupid.” Melody grumbled, folding her arms. “Something stupider, I mean.”

“Hey!”

“I know, it’d be really hard to find something that dumb. Now quit messing around and help me solve this stupid puzzle!” Melody was usually a very sweet and patient soul – though as her enemies often learned, she had a wild side she was eager to unleash upon anyone who actually got in her way. Or against her friends when they were being dumb. In her view, Dancer could often qualify as both. “Ow!”

The brunette had flicked her forehead. Say what you like about her smarts, but her speed was top-notch. “Don’t ask me about stupid puzzles. She wants something with a tail and a face. It could be anything!” There was a reason she was trying to cheat, even if that wasn’t quite how she’d put it. It wasn’t that Dancer was dumb – no matter what Melody might have said on the subject – but she was a rather direct thinker. Word games and conundrums were not her forte, and just the idea of them was making her restless. “It’s probably a monkey or something, I don’t know.”

“Oh!” The Sphinx looked up, eyes glittering. “Was that your answer, girl?”

“No!” Alarmed, both Serenities raised their hands this time. “Just, y’know, speculating. Still conferring!”

The Desire laughed, leaning on her elbow. “So rude of you, getting my hopes up. Tick tock, girls,” the Sphinx reminded them. “Don’t take too long deciding what you’re going to say.”

“What, is there a time limit?”

The Desire just grinned. “Not as such – but you might find that if you dawdle, you’ll end up giving me your answer without knowing it~”

The Serenities looked at one another again. “The heck does that mean?”

Melody shrugged. “No idea. But it’ll be bad. So we should solve this puzzle fast, before- Do you hear music?”

Dancer blinked at the sudden change of subject. “Music? That’s more your thing than- Wait…” She tilted her head, listening. “Wait, yeah. I think I… What is that?”

It was a quiet, but distinct melody. Soft, gentle notes drifted on the evening breeze, seeming to play in tune with the glitter of the stars above. It was the sound of… a flute, maybe? A wind instrument of some sort, for sure. A gentle, relaxing piece that sounded out slowly, but with perfect pitch and rhythm to turn the desert night into a serene paradise.

“It sounds… pretty…” Dancer murmured, her head swaying slightly as she listened, like she was trying to locate its source by ear. The music seemed to be coming from all around them, though. No matter which way she turned, it was just as sweet and soothing as before.

“Yeah…” Melody nodded, a smile pulling at her masked lips… Before she suddenly jolted, shaking her head and slapping her hands over her ears. “Wait, don’t listen to it!”

“Huh?” Dancer was still swaying. “Yeah, uh, sure, I’ll get right on that in a minute…”

The shorter Serenity rolled her eyes, and then slapped her hands over Dancer’s ears instead. The brunette immediately gasped, as though she was coming up from a deep dive underwater.

“Woah!” She gave herself a shake, pulling away from her friend and glancing at her with irrational annoyance. “What the hell was that?”

Melody shrugged, squinting one eye as she tried to block out the sound of the music with willpower alone. It wasn’t too hard – the tune was still pretty quiet – but it was still annoying. “A distraction. We have to focus.”

“Right!” Dancer clenched her fists and cleared her head.

“We need to solve this stupid riddle!”

Immediately, the taller Serenity waned. “Seriously? … Ugh, fine.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “What was it again?”

Fortunately, this was one thing that the Sphinx was only too happy to help with. “One head and one tail…” She began-

“Wait!” Only to find herself silenced by Dancer’s raised palm. “Okay. One head. One tail. What’s only got one head and one tail?”

“Practically anything that has a tail,” Melody answered, her voice glum. “I mean even humans, technically, if you count their tail bone.”

“I dunno, I’ve met some guys who have two heads…”

“What?” The purple Serenity blinked, momentarily distracted by her friend’s weirdness. “Really?”

“Well they certainly weren’t thinking with their brains, I’ll tell you that much.”

“Dancer! Focus!” Melody stomped her foot. “We need to solve the riddle!”

Indeed, that would probably be a good idea. As the two argued, neither of them noticed as the music began to grow louder, once again drifting through their ears and threading a string of relaxation through their brains. Shoulders were starting to loosen. Fists were uncurling. Distracted by one another, the Serenities simply ignored the pleasant feeling buzzing through their minds. Why complain about feeling good?

They did spot something else strange, though. Dancer’s brow furrowed, a relaxed frown forming on her face as she stared at her teammate. “Hey, when did you get a tan?”

It was, surprisingly, a valid question. Serenity Melody was not a girl who got out in the sunshine much. Sure, she wasn’t a complete shut-in – that was really more Scribe, or Painter when she got really in on a project – but ‘tanned’ had never been a descriptor that fit her.

Not until today, anyway. Because as Melody looked down at herself, she found, much to her surprise, that her skin had taken on a nice healthy bronze tone – one that was growing darker by the second. In moments, she was starting to look like she actually belonged in this desert environment – like she actually spent time sweating out under the hot desert sun.

“Uh.” She looked back up, then winced. “The same time you did, I guess?”

Dancer blinked, and then did the same self-check as her friend. Oh boy. If anything, her tan was even more pronounced. She looked like she’d been living out here for months.

‘Don’t worry about it’, the music seemed to say, feeling refreshingly warm in their ears. The pair found themselves swaying again for the moment, a rush of heat flowing down both women’s skin, and darkening their tans another step.

“Do you have an answer for me yet, girls?” The Sphinx asked, clearly amused. “Because I fear you may be running out of time to find one~”

The pair shook their heads, trying to clear them, though it wasn’t as effective as either of them would have liked.

“What was the next line?” Melody asked, rubbing at her face. Maybe that would help.

“One head and one tail,With a glistening sheen,” the Sphinx answered, lounging in place. “Shall I continue?”

The two Serenities looked at one another, clearly uncertain – but Melody shook her head. “No, let’s just… Okay, it’s got a head, a tail, and a sheen. What’s got a sheen?”

Dancer groaned. “I don’t know, a cat? A wolf? What’s a sheen?”

“It means it’s, like…” The shorter Serenity grunted, holding her head. It was so hard to think, the music kept drowning out her thoughts. “Like it’s shiny or something.”

“Oh. A unicorn, then? Wait, do unicorns have tails…?”

“Uh…”

The two trailed off, still swaying where they stood. The music was really starting to fill their heads now, leaving them feeling strangely sluggish as well as relaxed. A sort of stupefaction settled over them – though both would have protested that the other was already stupid enough. A thick haze filled their heads, pouring in through their ears, filling them to the brim… There was so much of it that there wasn’t room inside them for all of it

But that was okay. They were making room. Both Serenities felt the urge to stretch, to unwind their tense muscles – and with heads so thick, lulled by that sweet lullaby, neither could resist. Dancer yawned, covering her mouth as she rolled her shoulders, arching her back, while Melody reached for the starry heavens above.

But those stretches didn’t come with the same pop of satisfaction they expected. Instead, the tension inside them just seemed to build inside them, forcing them to stretch harder, to push their limbs to the extremes…

Of course, if they’d been paying attention, with their eyes open instead of lidded, their heads not full of song, then they might have realised the truth. They weren’t stretching like they thought they were, but they were most certainly stretching. Their backs were growing longer, their spines lengthening, limbs growing. Each attempt at yawning and groaning just added inches to their height – or pounds to other parts of their bodies, which were slowly starting to swell too, hot desert air filling their lungs, the warmth pushing out into their chests.

It was a good half a minute before the pair actually felt relief, felt their bodies settle into the shape they were supposed to be. By that point, both of them were feeling too sedate to notice their changes, despite how obvious they were. After all, before Melody had been pretty short, while Dancer had been pretty tall. Now they were both the exact same height, which was somehow taller than Dancer had ever been, standing at almost half the size of the Sphinx in front of them.

They hadn’t just grown upwards, though. Both women’s chests had taken the chance to puff themselves up significantly, stretching their white Serenity uniforms to very tight proportions, opening up cleavage windows for the two of them despite their outfits normally lacking such a feature. But then, you really needed something like that when your chest was twice the size of your head, right?

Both Serenities swayed – not simply drifting with the breeze, but rather finding themselves shimmying with the song, each note in the phantom tune encouraging their hips to swing left or right in a tantalizing rhythm. It was a very pleasant feeling, one that felt almost impossible to pull away from…

… Until the Sphinx coughed, at any rate.

“Excuse me, girls, I really do want to hear your answer,” she said, her tone still amused, but starting to colour with irritation. “It’s no fun if you don’t even try, you know.”

The pair blinked slowly, eyelids still only rising half way up, their gaze thick and uncertain. “Huh…?”

That was Dancer. Melody managed a more succinct, “Um. Right…”

The Desire grumbled, looking more and more annoyed by the second. “I can’t prove how much smarter I am than you if you let yourselves go braindead before you get my question wrong,” she groused. “Try harder! Come on. The next line was ‘My rumoured power to compel’, remember?”

The Serenities groaned, but the Sphinx’s words rang in their heads, louder than the music. They shook themselves, trying to focus. The compulsion to sway was strong, but the compulsion to answer her riddle was stronger still.

“Uh. Right. Tail. Head. Shiny. Compel. Uh.” Dancer breathed deep, looking towards Melody, barely even registering how much her friend had changed .”Maybe a kangaroo after a shower or something? They have a pretty strong kick…”

“That’s propel, D,” Melody grumbled, too sleepy to be properly annoyed, but still disappointed. “Compel means, like… y’know. Make someone do something, or... something.”

Her concentration was quite obviously shot. And Dancer wasn’t fairing any better. That flute – or whatever it was – just drowned out everything else. They were trying, but it was so hard to think… And so easy to sway…

“Uh. Oh. Um. Desires? Desires compel people, right?” The brunette was still trying, at least.

Melody’s nose wrinkled. “Do Desires have tails?”

“… Sometimes?” The Serenity gestured towards the Sphinx. “I mean, she does, right?”

“A rather fine one, I feel,” the Sphinx nodded, wiggling it behind her.

But Melody didn’t look convinced. “I dunno. I mean, sometimes they don’t even have heads.”

“True…”

The pair pondered together, struggling to think of an answer. But if they’d been paying more attention, perhaps they might have spotted a certain hint they were being given. The soft music streaming in through their ears was sending more waves of warmth down through their bodies, this time to their lower halves…

Dancer’s legs had long been a point of pride to her – she had said they were her finest feature more than once. They were what had earned her the name Serenity Dancer, after all, providing her with speed and grace unmatched by anyone else on her team. So she probably should have had some strong feelings about the warm tingling sensation that was beginning to flow through her calves, about the peculiar – though pleasant – softness that was thrumming from her hips to her toes.

That would have required more awareness though. Captivated as she was by the music, and focusing all the mental energy she had spare on the riddle, the brunette simply had no mind left to give to what was happening down below. As her thighs began to thicken, and her legs rubbed together, all she had to say was, “How about a monkey?”

“How does a monkey compel people…?” Melody asked, ignoring how she was feeling just as odd.

“I mean, if it’s got a gun or something…?”

“… Shut up, D.”

Dancer’s pants split open as her legs plumped up, growing far too girthy to be held by any mere uniform, no matter how magical. But as the fabric ripped, it didn’t reveal tanned skin – instead, purple scales glistened in the burning torchlight. Up and down her thigh, more and more of them showing through as more and more tears began to give way.

Then last of her clothing beneath the waist shredded itself completely as her legs melted together, forming into one single long purple limb, a tail that curled around beneath her, swallowing up her feet as it grew longer and thicker. Soon it lay coiled beneath her, perhaps twice the length of her upper body, its belly pressed against the cool, sandy stone beneath her, her powerful scales blocking even the slightest discomfort from the grit.

Dancer barely noticed, save from the realisation that it was suddenly so much easier to sway. And at her side, Melody was ignoring the fact that the exact same thing had just happened to her, too.

But the Sphinx certainly noticed, her annoyance growing by the moment. “Tick tock, tick tock girls. Are you going to answer or not?”

The pair stared at her blankly, eyes glazed, jaws slack, drifting from side to side. “Uh…”

“Oh for…” The Desire growled. “The full riddle is:

‘One head and one tail,With a glistening sheen,My rumoured power to compel,Borders on the obscene.What am I…?’

Now give me an answer and lose properly!”

For a moment it seemed like her anger would do no good. Dancer just sighed at her, her breath rattling like a hiss… But a moment later, Melody groaned and shook her head. The force of the Desire’s demand had been just barely enough to crack through her haze, and she knew this was her last chance.

“Uh.” She closed her eyes, hands clamping over her ears to try and block out the music. Desperately, she marshalled all of her focus. Head, tail, sheen, obscene… Wait!

In a flash of inspiration, the answer came to her. That had to be it. Quickly, she barked it out. “A coin?”

“Oh?” The Sphinx dipped in closer, lowering her head to look the pair in the eyes. “Is that your actual answer, girls?”

Melody wasn’t cowed. She nodded firmly, fist against her chest. “Yes, that’s our answer! You’re a coin!”

There was a moment as the world held its breath. Even the constant flute music seemed to pause, waiting to see what would happen. And then…

“Nope!” The Sphinx leaned back, her wide, smug grin returning to her face. “Wrong. The answer was snake.”

“Wha-?” Melody blinked at her, head swimming. “N-no way, that doesn’t make any sense!”

“Sure it does.” The Desire shrugged. “They have one head and one tail each, their scales have a nice sheen…”

“Yeah?” The dizziness was getting worse. Dancer was drifting from side to side like a metronome now, and Mel could feel the compulsion to join her. “What about the compel part?”

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’ve seen those movies,” the Sphinx waved a wing. “You know, the animated ones? Snakes are always hypnotizing people in those.”

The Serenity’s jaw dropped. “That doesn’t count!”

“Does too.” The Desire huffed, sticking her nose up in the air.

“No it doesn’t! That’s just a cartoon! Real snakes can’t compel anyone! Money! Money compels people!”

“Well I did say it was rumoured, didn’t I?” The smug grin returned. “There’s nothing rumoured about your answer. Everyone knows you can compel people with money. So I win…” She raised a paw, snapping her fingers. “And you lose~!”

“Wait, bu- Buh…” Melody tried to object, but the instant the Desire signalled, the music in her ears tripled in intensity.

So soothing…

There was nothing she could do. Warmth surged within her as her thoughts were smothered by the sweet serenade, sent into blissful slumber by its pacifying power. The pair of Serenities slumped against one another, drooling as their eyes rolled up in their heads. The warmth inside them both grew hotter still, bubbling and boiling, until they couldn’t possibly contain it. Their clothes began to smoulder, and then burst into flame, reduced to ash in an instant.

What was left was a very different kind of outfit – one designed for pure titillation, and nothing else. Soft, see-through silks wrapped around their chests and hung from their arms, white for Dancer, blue for Melody, with pretty sashes around their waists to complete the look. Golden jewellery dangled from every limb, embedded with pink and purple gems. Their bodies were on full display.

They’d become little more than pretty trophies for the creature who had defeated them.

And said creature was delighted, laughing it up. “Oh! Oh, that was good. Ahahaha, man, I was really worried  you were going to run out of time.” She wiped her brow. “I mean, same result, but it’s so much less fun if you guys don’t get to know what idiots you are before you lose, right?”

“Of course, Misssstressss,” the pair purred, their now forked tongues sliding over the words as they bowed before her. “Our intellectsss are insssignificant in front of your magnificcccenccce.”

“Exactly!” The Desire crowed, obviously enjoying their praise. But she paused as she saw one of her new lamia lieutenants yawning, chuckling at the sight. “Ah, still feeling sleepy? Well you are cold blooded, aren’t you girls? I can enjoy your dancing in the morning – let’s get you two to bed.”

Still grinning, she reached out, summoning an instrument into her hand – a purple flute, or something similar. With a flourish, the beast lifted it to her lips and blew.

The soft sound that echoed from it immediately made the two snake girls sit upright at attention. The music slid in through their ears and took control without even the slightest resistance, sending the pair swaying from side to side, showing off their curvy bodies as much as possible, completely at the mercy of the rhythm.

For a moment, the Sphinx played, enjoying the way the music made them move like puppets… But eventually, she relented. Slowing her tune down, she steadily wound the pair around one another, letting them gently drift downwards as a wicker stitched itself together around the pair’s tails. A tall basket that would make for a fine bed.

Under the sway of the music, the two former Serenities sank together, coiled up so tightly that they may as well have been one being. Their chests squished together, their lips closing in for a kiss…

And then the lid slid shut.

For a moment more, the basket rocked, and then it went still. The music ceased.

“Lovely,” the Sphinx purred, setting the instrument down. “I’ll have to make sure that the next idiots who challenge me end up just as much fun~ Now, what will my next riddle be…?”

She grinned, her tail swishing, and sat down to wait – for the next fools to come and be swallowed by the desert heat…