Tears ran down her face, falling to the stone and dirt below. Dinah still couldn't move her body but that didn't inhibit the tears from flowing rapidly from her eyes. She wallowed in self pity for a while her history was being destroyed. Dinah had read all the books, she knew the history and that it could be rebuilt in an effort to calm herself. Instead anger began to consume her body and she stared out at the shadow nearl the pile of burning manuscripts and scrolls.
"You monster," Dinah called out. Her voice akin to a snake's hiss. "You bastard. You sneaky coward. Why would you do something so horrible."
The shadow's face (or at least what she assumed to be the 'face') turned towards her, the fire light dancing on the shadow. That was definitely wrong thought Dinah to herself, shadows were destroyed by light. But it was only a blip in her mind. She was furious with the knowledge that was being destroyed in front of her. She didn't care much if she lived or died. The only reason she would want to continue on her existence was to keep the history alive. She had after all read all the documents, she knew the entire history of of the sphinxes and anything that their race learned during their time. She tried to to shake the thoughts focusing on her anger towards the foul dumb beast. As he had to be stupid to destroy the history, right?
Dinah squinted toward the shadow, it moved slowly toward her and bent low. It's eyes (possibly, she couldn't entirely be sure where its eyes were) looking at her. She couldn't move her muscles...but her vocal cords still worked not to mention her mind, the strongest muscle of all!
"You're a bastard, why would you destroy such a wealth of information?"
While she spoke to the monster that held her captive she searched her recent acquired information and history for some reference to the shadow monster that lay in front of her. Nothing came to mind. Nothing. She had no idea what the creature was as no sphinx before her had come across such a being.
As the shadow leaned in close Dinah felt a darkness wash over her and the next time she opened her eyes she was stuck in a cell. Dinah knew right away it was a special cell, one meant for mythological creatures such as herself. This cell was designed specifically to hold sphinx. She cast her eyes down and it was then that she realized the screams coming from individuals all around her.
Dinah stood up and walked toward the front of her cell, gripping her hands on the bars, she could tell it was iron and silver which caused a slight burning sensation in her palms. She released the bars and looked to the left and right and she realized she was surrounded by other creatures, captured and inprisioned...whereever they were.
Unfortunately for Dinah it wasn't simply being inprisioned. Each day a foul creature would come to her cell and feed on her of sorts. Each day she felt weaker and closer to death. However, she never cried and she never called out in pain, she had some inkling it would only further benefit the creature that fed on her very essence...maybe even her soul.
In the cell they had taken away almost everything, but not her mind. Her mind was continually working and identifying ways for self preservation and a possible escape.
***
Erin stood in front of the the yellow eyed sphinx. Her heart aching for the young woman.
"What happened?" Erin asked innocently. As she spoke she leaned in close, waiting for the answer she knew that would be coming shortly.
Dinah took a deep breath and blinked a few times before looking at the woman opposite of her. "I remained captive for many." She paused briefly, "many years. Alone and Isolated." Dinah blinked again and several tears fell down her face. She had no intention to become emotional in the conversation. "Tortured and slowly dying." she looked away from Erin. "My freedom came at great cost." She concluded, her voice sad and distant.
Erin didn't speak for a brief second and rapidly leaned in and wrapped her arms around the sphinx holding her tight. "I'm sorry."
Dinah didn't know what happened, but as Erin spoke the words and in combination with the embrace, she began to cry. Her entire body shook. It was the first time she had truly grieved for all that had happened to her. For the pain she had endured, and the sadness.
For the history of all sphinxes, although Dinah did spend the last 200 years or so writing out the histories again. Everything that had been stored in her mind she put in books once again. She still had a long way to go until her task was completed. It was what she did while the others searched for answers, Dinah wrote down the past.
For the longest while she remained limp and then a warmth radiated from Erin's embrace. It was slow at first, but quickly gained traction before the warmth covered her entire being. Dinah recalled that she hadn't felt this way since she was little and in the arms of her mother.
As the warmth spread through the sphinx she raised her arms and hugged Erin back. "Thank you." were the only words that slipped forth from her mouth.