Item #59: Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer

For context on the world, please see the Intro post and context on the Excalibur collection please see Item #51.

My next stop was to pick up the sword known as Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer, which is the ninth sword in the Excalibur collection. And this belonged to the Immortal called The Immortal One.

As we know from the introduction The Immortal One was imprisoned for failing to stop the Humans from harnessing magic by themselves and stopping the war. But because the Excalibur collection was made during the cease fire, The Immortal One was still free at this time.

The Immortal One’s job was to be the living conscience of all sentient beings. His job was to make sure that everyone does their part to keep Magusterra stable and in balance. The Immortal One mostly spent his time with the animals and magical creatures. This is because animals are mostly instinct driven and act off of what they feel like they need.

Humans on the other hand (who are part of the First Created) have a conscience built in, and could be left to govern themselves on morality, ethics, instinct control and self-control. But as we all know Humans can ignore their conscience and do as they please. Like stealing, killing, debauchery etc.

So, there were times that The Immortal One had to step in and help guide the Humans, which lead to a 7/10 success rate. But as the Human population grew that number went down and once Merlin found a way to harness magic and the war started, the number went to an all-time low of 2/10!

Luckily, during the cease fire, the number went up to 5/10. One reason for this drop was that the Humans still hated the Immortals and also there were too many people and only one Immortal One. This lead to The Immortal One to experiment on how to increase his reach.

One experiment involved was using a locust. For this The Immortal One approached Mother Nature to help him create a swarm of locusts and imbue them with the power of the conscience. When they made the first one, Jiminy, The Immortal One asked Brother Life for help to make a test dummy. For this Brother Life approached a wood carver, Geppetto, and brought one of his puppets to life. Geppetto named him (as you might have guessed), Pinocchio.

The locust, Jiminy, was given to Pinocchio as a test to see if The Immortal One can pass on his job to others. At first, it seemed to be working, as Pinocchio was growing his conscience with the help and guidance of Jiminy, but then the wooden boy fell into existential dread.

Because as time went on Pinocchio, never grew older, but everyone else around him did. Then when Geppetto died, Pinocchio, decided to not listen to Jiminy any more. Jiminy worried about the havoc that this immortal wooden child would cause and not wanting to disappoint his master, he decided to give Pinocchio some incentive to carry on being good.

Jiminy told him that if he carries on being good and listens to his conscience, he will become a real boy! This worked and Pinocchio did good deeds for many years, but nothing happened. Eventually, Pinocchio realised that Jiminy lied and in a fit of rage killed him. Filled with guilt and now alone, Pinocchio reached out to Hades, (who he called Pluto), to help him die.

Hades called for his mother, Sister Death, who also sent word to Brother Life, Mother Nature and The Immortal One. The three of them were saddened by Jiminy’s death, Pinocchio’s request and that the experiment failed. Pinocchio begged for forgiveness and gave Jiminy’s dead body to The Immortal One. They all agreed to let Pinocchio die and to never talk of this again.

Why am I telling you this story? Because when Hephaestus was told to forge The Immortal One’s sword, The Immortal One demanded that Hephaestus use Jinimy’s body in the sword’s construction. For not only did it have The Immortal One’s power in it, but it was also a way for The Immortal one to honour Jiminy.

Now let’s have a look at Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer.

Starting with the blade, which is made up of two materials. The first and most powerful is the Philosopher’s Stone.

The stone’s origins go back to when Merlin was experimenting with his new found knowledge of magic and founded a branch within his University that he had created, known as the Alchemy division, headed by a man named Nicolas Flamel, the creator of the Philosopher’s Stone.

The whole point of Flemel’s and his team’s goal was to make a magical item that can turn any metal into gold. Now the recipe for the stone is hidden in Lady Wisdom’s library, which was the price the Humans had to pay for the cease fire to be enacted by the Immortals.

But what we do know is that Flemel used one of the ten rings of King Midas. Midas was the king of Phrygia and sought to make it the richest kingdom in all of Hellada. He did achieve this, but only after saving the tutor of Dionysus, Silenus, who was actually Pan. Pan chose the name Silenus to hide his true identity. Dionysus was a devoted follower and sorcerer of Mother Nature and Brother Life.

Relieved to see his tutor safe, Dionysus, told Midas that he will use his knowledge and magical creatures to grant him any wish he wanted. Midas immediately asked for the power to turn anything he wanted into gold. Dionysus agreed and used his influence and good graces to get help from Mother Nature, who granted him an audience with The Troll King.

The two of them (The Troll King and Dionysus) worked together and created ten rings, called the Rings of Midas. Dionysus presented the rings to King Midas and told him to put one ring on each finger and his wish will be fulfilled, giving Midas his golden touch abilities.

Now as we all know, this lead to Midas’ downfall, as it turned all his food to gold, making them inedible. He even turned his daughter into gold. On the brink of starvation, he told Dionysus to take back the rings. But there was one problem, the rings were cursed. For you see, once you put the rings on, you can never take them off!

But Dionysus felt bad for the King and contacted The Troll King for help. The Troll King then worked with The Lady of the Lake, who created a new river, where Midas washed his hands, which loosened the rings. After that, Midas, left his kingdom and devoted his life to Pan, Mother Nature’s son (and was also at one point the adopted son of Hermes). The ten rings were collected by The Lady of the Lake and hidden all around the world. Only three have been found. One was by the Troll King, the second the Sorcerer King and the third: Nicolas Flamel.

The story of the Philosopher’s Stone goes on: Flemel wanted to use the ring, but knew that once it is put on, it can’t be removed. So instead he ran a series of experiments to try and transfer the Midas’ golden touch to another object that isn’t cursed. As mentioned, we don’t know how he achieved this, but Flemel did it. He transferred the ring and its power into a giant bolder, that he broke into little pieces and sold off.

The only problem was that the stone could only turn other metals into gold. Anything else the stone comes into contact will yield no results. But Flemel didn’t stop there, for he wanted to also try and make the stone create gold that can grant him immortality. Flemel got this idea when his fellow alchemists were using gold to cure illnesses and diseases.

But Flemel didn’t want to make the stone to help cure Humans from sickness, but instead he wanted to prolong his own life so that he doesn’t have to give up his soul. Now, let me tell you the story of how Flemel got one of the ten Midas rings.

Flemel searched the world over, but couldn’t find the eight that were still hidden. And in a desperate attempt, he made a deal with a demon/devil called Beelzebub. Demons/devils are dark entities that come from an unknown origin. Most of them were captured by Sister Death and imprisoned in the pits of hell. But these devils/demons can be summoned and deals can be made. They all ask for the same form of payment: a person’s soul. Why? No one knows. Sister Death was told to find out, but she said that since the Humans know these entities are dangerous they deserve to lose their soul. She also added that a deal is a deal, if you promised your soul then they can have and do as they please with it.

Flemel, with the help of fellow alchemist Paracelsus, called forth Beelzebub and sold his soul for one of the missing Midas rings. Beelzebub used his magic and gave Flemel one, but on the condition that Flemel’s soul will be taken a year after he creates the Philosopher’s Stone. And now that Flemel had the stone, time was running out.

But no matter what Flemel did, he couldn’t make himself immortal. Until one day he realised that Humans have traces of metal in them. So he increased the magic of one of the pieces from the bolder and turned his assistant into a gold liquid, similar to the ichor, the blood of The Immortal One. The only difference is that the ichor only has to be drunk once to grant immortality, whereas Flemel’s “Human gold” only gives immortality for ten years. After those ten years, one must turn another Human into gold and drink that again.

This helped Flemel avoid giving his soul to Beelzebub. But once this was found out by The Immortal One, that Flemel was not only prolonging his own life, but kidnapping people and selling this “Human gold,” The Immortal One intervened. Flemel ran and hid, but when the cease fire happened, Merlin and Paracelsus, hunted down Flemel and tied him up. Flemel had two years before he had to drink from the gold again. Merlin locked Flemel up for those two years and even gave up all of Flemel’s research and the stone to the Immortals.

After two years, Flemel was released and within a day he was hunted and killed by a hell hound. His soul was then given to Beelzebub.

Hephaestus wanted to use this Philosopher’s Stone as the blade, for not only will it increase The Immortal One’s power, but it could also help him turn mortal enemies into gold and if he is wounded, The Immortal One can use the sword to help him heal himself if he should be fatally wounded. This stone was the first thing Hephaestus thought of when making the sword, because The Immortal One is not much of a sword fighter, in fact The Immortal One is the only Immortal who doesn’t have a primary weapon! Instead The Immortal One uses his main form, a giant snake, to fight, but that won’t help him against the other swords in the Excalibur collection.

Hephaestus told The Immortal One of his plan for the blade and The Immortal One agreed that it could help him make up for his lack of sword fighting skills and gave Hephaestus the special Philosopher’s Stone.

But Hephaestus felt that The Immortal One might need some extra help with healing his wounds if he is fighting another Immortal, because the stone won’t work on Immortals.

So Hephaestus had to come up with another contingency plan to not only add to the sword’s power, but to also give The Immortal One something that can heal him without any preparation. And that was the water from the Fountain of Youth.

The creation of the Fountain of Youth goes back to the beginning of Magusterra, when The Immortal One wanted to have collectors, much like the ones that Lady Wisdom has, to document and report back to him the state of all living beings’ conscience and morality. But to do this, the collectors would have to be somewhat invincible and immortal like The Immortal One. So, The Immortal One, found Humans he deemed wise enough to tell right from wrong and navigate the complexities that came with judging the actions of others.

The Immortal One approached many tribes and kingdoms and with the help of Lady Wisdom, he chose a handful of Human settlements. Now it was just figuring out how to keep them from aging, without turning them completely immortal, which was made forbidden by Sister Death.

For this The Immortal One approached The Lady of the Lake. She proposed that they “water down” The Immortal One’s blood/ichor and created a fountain (the Fountain of Youth) filled with water that the chosen Humans must drink to heal all wounds and keep them young. This proved to work and these “collectors” helped The Immortal One ascertain where his guidance and attention was needed the most.

This proved to be such a success that The Immortal One and The Lady of the Lake created more bodies of water similar to the Fountain of Youth, such as hot springs in the Nihon region, the Hvergelmir, mentioned in the creation of The Lady of the Lake’s sword and many others.

But with all things that gave Humans power, it was abused and exploited. Wars and invasions took place, where many innocents were killed. Causing The Immortal One to abandon his plan of using collectors and taking away the water that granted them immortality.

The Immortal One, alongside The Mighty Phoenix, dried up the magical water sources. All, except for two: the Hvergelmir, which was guarded by The Lady of the Lake (who only allowed those she deemed worthy of using its healing powers before it got corrupted) and the first and most powerful, the Fountain of Youth, which was hidden away.

We know what happened to Hvergelmir, but what about the Fountain of Youth? Well, a very clever explorer by the name of Juan Ponce de León from España lead an expedition to find it, in which he succeeded. He found it in the south of Gitchi Mikinaak. But Ponce de León learned from the Anishinaabe and other surrounding tribes about the destruction and pain that follows the fountain! Ponce de León had the Anishinaabe call for The Sandman, who then put Ponce de León in contact with The Immortal One.

Ponce de León, The Immortal One and The Troll King quartered off a small area surrounding the fountain and cut it off from the mainland of Gitchi Mikinaak, creating a new island. This island would be placed in the middle of what is now called the Bermuda Triangle, an unpredictable and dangerous area. Juan Ponce de León also volunteered to be the guardian of the fountain on the island in case the triangle fails to stop those seeking to find the island. The Immortal One also gave Juan Ponce de León an army of Macrobian people to help him and start a small society.

Just a quick mention: the Macrobians were a people from the kingdom of Macrobia, who possessed the River of Paradise, another one of The Immortal One’s diluted ichor, to give them immortality. The Macrobians were also similar to the Anishinaabe, in that they respected The Immortal One and humbly accepted his gift. The Immortal One appeared to them as “the healing python of the hills” which he was known as by the surrounding kingdoms. The Immortal One found them to be loyal and honourable, thus chose them to be part of his collectors. And even though they never let the River of Paradise corrupt them, The Immortal One still took away their magic water to stop invaders from attacking their kingdom.

Hephaestus requested for some of the water from the Fountain of Youth and shared his plan with The Immortal One. Hephaestus will carve a gap in the blade, much like The Mighty Phoenix’s sword. Then with the spell The Lady of the Lake used to create ice that never melts, he will place the magic water in this gap.

The Immortal One sent his eldest son Jormungandr, the world serpent, who was imprisoned in the oceans of Magusterra, by Zeus, who at the time went by the name Thor (this was his warrior name given to him by Odin, when Zeus was under Odin’s tutorage).

Hephaestus climbed on the back of Jormungandr, who escorted Hephaestus safely through the Bermuda Triangle to the island. There the guardians were waiting with a pail filled with the contents from the Fountain of Youth.

With the Philosopher’s Stone and Fountain of Youth, Hephaestus set to work assembling the blade. First he carved out the shape from the stone, then used the stone’s magic to turn it halfway into gold. Then Hephaestus went straight into heat treating and quenching. When the blade cooled, Hephaestus used the spell he learned from The Lady of the Lake and turned the water he was given into ice and imbedded it into the gap of the blade. After that Hephaestus told The Immortal One what the spell was to turn the ice back into a liquid.

Now for the hilt. For this Hephaestus researched everything in The Immortal One’s domain in search of something that is both powerful and practical, a similar dilemma he faced with Mother Nature’s sword. But just like Mother Nature’s sword, Hephaestus decided to go simple and use things that don’t have to be shaped or formed, just added.

Because as Hephaestus read through his books, he came across Queen Xiwangmu, the daughter of Sister Death and The Immortal One. Queen Xiwangmu lives in Zhongguo, by Mount Kunlun, where she grows the legendary Celestial Peach trees. These trees bare the peaches of immortality, a fruit that restores the youth of those who eat from it. But like most things that do this, one must constantly eat a peach every few years to retain the youthfulness it gives.

According to history, Xiwangmu, was first put in charge of the Zhongguo underworld, by her mother. But not liking the doom and gloom that came with the job, she took on the second job that her father gave her, which was to help guide the Humans and develop their conscience. Xiwangmu is one of the few children of The Immortal One to be efficient in this regard.

One way Queen Xiwangmu manages to follow out her father’s orders and be the second best ruler of an underworld (Hades being the first), was that when a Human died she would judge a person based on how morally righteous they lived their lives. The more moral they were, the more likely she would be to offer them a job to help be the people of Zhongguo’s conscience, by giving them a peach and making them immortal.

Xiwangmu basically did what her father did with the Fountain of Youth. But instead of having many different gardens with Celestial Peach trees, Xiwangmu only had the one garden where she personally handed out the peaches to those she deemed worthy to be by her side. And if one of her helpers goes morally corrupt or disobeys her, then she can refuse to give them a new peach and send them straight to the underworld!

Xiwangmu came up with the idea with Nüwa, the daughter of Mother Nature. Hephaestus realised that the power of immortality doesn’t come from the peach, but is rather transferred into it. The main power comes from the branches. So, Hephaestus told The Immortal One about this and how he wanted to use one of these branches as the hilt. The Immortal One, proud of his daughter that did what he failed to do, agreed that a branch from the Celestial Peach trees would make an excellent addition.

Now to attach it to the blade? For this Hephaestus also kept it simple and wanted to use a similar technique that was used for Mother Nature’s sword. Hephaestus wanted to grow a plant around the blade and hilt! And this plant was the famous Boxthorn plant of eternal life.

The boxthorn was one of the first plants that Queen Xiwangmu and Nüwa. But they were told by Sister Death to not use that plant because unlike the Celestial Peachs, the Boxthorn plant of eternal life gives one full immortality without the need to keep on eating the plant.

Sister Death took the Boxthorn plant of eternal life and gave it to her daughter Ereshkigal, the head of the Jazīrat al-ʿArab underworld, for safe keeping. Ereshkigal hid the plant at the bottom of the underworld lake. But the plant isn’t there anymore. Instead it is protected by Ningishzida, a snake that guards the gates to the underworld of Jazīrat al-ʿArab.

The story goes that the tyrant king, King Gilgamesh, who was hated by the Immortals, their kin who live in Jazīrat al-ʿArab and the people of Uruk (Gilgamesh’s kingdom). They all hated him so much that they sent an assassin, Enkidu, to kill him. Gilgamesh was born from the clay of Prometheus, which means he has super strength and incredible healing abilities. Enkidu is also a child born from Prometheus’ powers, thus making him perfect to fight Gilgamesh. But instead the two became friends and Enkidu vowed to stand and fight alongside Gilgamesh. This angered the Immortals, who sent other monsters to try and kill King Gilgamesh, but with Enkidu by his side, the two men defeated everything that was sent their way.

Now, Gilgamesh’s clay statue was sealed away in a hidden vault by his parents, meaning that so far the only thing that can kill Gilgamesh was either a worthy opponent or old age. But Enkidu’s was still in the possession of Prometheus. Sister Death and Brother Life convinced Prometheus to give Enkidu’s statue to them. And they used this clay representation of Gilgamesh’s best friend to kill Enkidu.

This frightened Gilgamesh, for although his clay statue isn’t with Prometheus, he didn’t know where his parents hid it! And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find it. So Gilgamesh went out in search for the secret of immortality.

Gilgamesh traveled all over Jazīrat al-ʿArab and even spoke to Utnapishtim, a Human that follows and worships The Immortal One. From him, Gilgamesh learned about the Boxthorn plant of eternal life at the bottom of the underworld lake.

Gilgamesh went to the underworld (this was before Ningishzida became the guardian) and with the help of Urshanabi, one of Gilgamesh’s royal boatmen, they sailed the lake of the underworld. Within a few hours Gilgamesh found the boxthorn and with his superhuman abilities was able to dive in and retrieve it. Ereshkigal was alerted and as Gilgamesh made his escape, she pursued him. Gilgamesh was able to hide from Ereshkigal in the world of the living, but as he went to bathe in a nearby river, Ningishzida, sent by Ereshkigal, stole the plant. Ningishzida was then made the guardian of the plant and the underworld gates.

Hephaestus contacted Sister Death and asked her for a seed from the Boxthorn plant of eternal life to help construct The Immortal One’s sword. She agreed, but only on the condition that Utnapishtim keep watch over Hephaestus in case he was tempted to eat the plant himself.

Hephaestus was guided to the underworld gates by Utnapishtim, who spoke to Ningishzida and got the seed. With the seed, Hephaestus did the same as he did with Mother Nature’s sword. He planted the seed and manipulated the flower to grow around the blade and hilt, holding them tightly together.

The boxthorn was also a good deterrent from those who wish to steal the sword. Because the plant stem is covered in sharp thorns that pierces the hand of anyone who holds it. Now, you might think this is a problem for The Immortal One, but as Hephaestus found out while forging the Excalibur collection, The Immortal One and his kin (that have his powers) can’t feel pain.

Then there is the final three pieces. Hephaestus knew that the sword needed more power to stand up against the other Immortals and their swords. This lead to Hephaestus finding an emerald from the mines of Kemet. Specifically, the emeralds from the royal mines of Queen Cleopatra.

Cleopatra used magic to grow special green crystals, that look like emeralds, but actually aren’t. In reality the crystals are grown from the venom of Nehebkau, the snake headed one, who is the guardian of the underworld gates of Duat and the son of Sister Death and The Immortal One.

From his venom, the powers of immortality can be found, but the venom itself is deadly. So, Cleopatra had her sorcerers crystalise and grow green emerald-like stones, that gives those who hold it eternal youth. It is said that Cleopatra seduced Nehebkau into giving up some of his venom to her.

But when Nehebkau learned what she was doing with it, he collapsed the mine and stole the crown in which Cleopatra had imbedded the largest of the green “emeralds” in it. Hephaestus told The Immortal One, who then got the crown from his son.

Now it was just a matter of figuring what to use to attach it to the sword and add an extra boost of power. For this Hephaestus decided to make the emerald into the pummel and to use the needle of Koschei the Deathless to hold it in place.

Koschei was a powerful sorcerer from Russkaya Zemlya, who like Gilgamesh, was afraid of death and wanted to be immortal. Koschei is the son of The Immortal One, but like Nathanael (Father Time’s son mentioned in The Sandman’s sword), Koschei was born with no powers and was abandoned by his father.

Angry and resentful of his siblings, Koschei, became evil. He tortured and killed innocent woman and children. But the fear of death, sent him on a journey to find a way to gain immortality. For even though he had none of his father’s powers, Koschei was very skilled in using magic and a genius when it came to alchemy.

Koschei used his magic to find and steal the body of Baldr, the son of Odin and Frigg (Odin's mistress). Baldr was Frigg’s first born and she was afraid of losing him. So much so that she had Odin use his ravens to spy on The Immortal One and find a way to keep Baldr from harm. Through this Odin found an ancient charm/spell that was created by Brother Life, Sister Death, The Immortal One and Lady Wisdom.

This spell, when cast allows the caster to command all things in Magusterra to not harm, attack or kill the one the charm is casted upon. Frigg used this charm/spell to make her child immortal. But one thing that Odin and Frigg weren’t told was that not all things can be commanded to do no harm.

You see dear reader, The Immortal One and Sister Death were afraid of this charm falling into the wrong hands, so they put in a failsafe or a weakness in the spell. And that is that the one who has the charm can be killed by only one thing: mistletoe!

Why mistletoe? Well, why not? Think of it, of all things that can kill you in this world, who would ever suspect mistletoe? When The Immortal One found out what Frigg had done, he hired Loki, a sorcerer who hated Odin, to kill Baldr. Loki managed to trick Odin into trusting him, and when alone with Baldr, Loki spiked his ale with traces of mistletoe.

Now although Baldr is dead, the charm is still attached to him, which is why Koschei wanted his corpse. Koschei using his magic, extracted all the metal from Baldr’s bones. Koschei manipulated the charm/spell still flowing in Baldr’s body and slightly tweaking it.

Koschei, turned the metal from Baldr, into three very long needles. Then he took one and inserted it into his eye and used it to remove his soul and place it in that same needle. Now that Koschei’s soul is in another vessel he can no longer be traced by Death and his body was also invincible!

When The Immortal One heard about Baldr’s missing body and that his son, Koschei, cannot be seen by Sister Death, The Immortal One hunted Koschei down. Koschei caught wind of this and went into hiding, but in his haste he accidently left the other two needles behind, which was now in the protective custody of The Immortal One.

Koschei knew his only weakness was the needle that contained his soul, for if the needle is broken then his immortality would be gone and he will instantly perish.

To prevent this, Koschei hid the needle in an egg, the egg in a duck, the duck in a hare and the hare in a wooden chest. Then he buried this chest under a tree on a faraway island. The idea was that the needle would keep the duck and hare alive as long as they are near it.

If someone should find the chest, the hare would run away. If someone catches the hare, then the duck would fly away and back to Koschei. Very complicated, I know, but like the mistletoe, I would never have expected it. So it is kind of brilliant.

Koschei then became Koschei the Deathless and carried on in his evil ways. When Merlin learned how to harness magic, Koschei the Deathless, just became more powerful and even obtained the ability to shapeshift into different monstrous forms. But eventually Koschei, was caught by a Marya Morevna, a strong female warrior. Knowing she couldn’t kill him, Marya Morevna, imprisoned Koschei in a stone closet, to stop and torture him into telling her where he hid the needle.

Years went by and Koschei didn’t say a word. Within those years Marya Morevna married Prince Ivan Tsarevitch. Morevna warned Prince Ivan to not open the stone closet, but one day when Morevna left for a quest, Ivan grew curious and opened the closet. There he found Koschei in chains and in a state of decay. Ivan felt bad for the poor man and released him. Ivan even gave Koschei water and food. When Koschei was revived, he used his magic to escape.

When Marya Morevna returned she explained everything to Ivan. Feeling bad for what he did, the Prince offered to help Marya Morevna recapture Koschei. But in fear that Koschei might seek revenge, Morevna and Ivan left the castle and put body doubles in their place. This was a good thing, for Koschei did return and killed the body doubles.

This left Koschei with a false sense of security and gave Ivan and Morevna the opportunity to follow and spy on Koschei. They tailed him for a long time and one night found him in a drunken stupor, where he mentioned an island near his place of birth that he used to visit. Marya Morevna thought this might be where he hid the needle. She and Ivan went to a map maker to find the location.

Koschei on one of his killing sprees found the map maker and noticed a map with his home on it and found out that the Prince and the female warrior were still alive.

Prince Ivan knew that Koschei would know the fastest way to the island, so he went to meet the witch and servant of Sister Death, Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga put the Prince through a set of trials, which he passed and gave him a horse that was the fastest in the land.

Ivan and Morevna raced to the island and got there the same time as Koschei. Ivan kept Koschei busy, while Morevna searched the island for the needle. She did find it, but the hare ran away. She caught it, but the duck slipped away and flew towards Koschei. But to stop the duck, Prince Ivan mounted Baba Yaga’s horse and slashed the duck open with his sword. As the egg fell out it rolled towards the mighty Marya Morevna, who then stomped on it, crushing the needle within. Koschei instantly turned into dust.

Hephaestus explained his need for one of the last two needles. The Immortal One, feeling guilty for abandoning Koschei and not helping him, decided that it was a good way to honour and give Koschei a second chance of redemption. Hephaestus was given both needles. Hephaestus fused them together and used it to nail the emerald to the peach tree branch.

After that, Hephaestus, fulfilled The Immortal One’s wish and attached Jiminy to the cross guard.

Hephaestus then called it Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer and presented it to The Immortal One in the Celestial Plain.

I however was sent to collect it from The Immortal One himself at the Great Midgard Ocean. A large body of water, where The Immortal One was imprisoned, forever to remain in water until the last days of Magusterra. And like Lady Wisdom, The Immortal One had his shapeshifting powers taken away, leaving him stuck in his true from. But unlike Lady Wisdom, The Immortal One was allowed to keep his sword close by him, because the other Immortals trusted that he will only brandish it when he has to.

The ark took me to the shore of the Great Midgard Ocean, where I was greeted by The Immortal One. I won’t lie, when he submerged from the water in his giant snake form, I almost had a heart attack. He handed it to me in the wooden chest that once housed Koschei’s soul needle. He then bid me farewell and went back under the water.

I put the chest next to the other swords and immediately got another mission to go and pick up the next sword: Item# 55 The Troll-riða blað or the Earth crusher.  

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Item #53: The Sophia or Wisdom’s cutting edge

For context on the world, please see the Intro post and context on the Excalibur collection please see Item #51.

The next sword I was sent to acquire was the sword belonging to Lady Wisdom and the third sword in the Excalibur collection.

Lady Wisdom is the Immortal in charge of collecting and documenting information about Magusterra’s history, art, literature, music, inventions etc.

She also had a hand in some of Magusterra’s most important creations, such as helping The Mighty Phoenix and Brother Life in the making of the sun. She was also the architect who designed the Endless Void, the Celestial Plane and also the methods of using magical creatures and beings to give Humans magic, which lead to her downfall.

For as we know from the introduction, Lady Wisdom, was tricked by Merlin to show him the secret vault where she kept all of her research pertaining to the creation and harnessing of magic. As a result, this lead to Merlin giving the Humans the ability to harness magic by themselves and starting the war between the Humans and the Immortals.

For allowing this to happen, Lady Wisdom was punished and imprisoned in her Library. She may not leave her prison under any conditions or have any visitors (except when an Immortal wants to know something). The only job Lady Wisdom has is to write down and document the pieces of information that her collectors (mostly owls, foxes and lions) bring her. These collectors roam the planet and record events, collect new books/scrolls, music sheets, copies of paintings etc. and bring them to Lady Wisdom for documentation.

Lady Wisdom also had her shapeshifting abilities, that all Immortals have, taken away. Meaning that she is stuck and is to forever remain in her true form, which is a being that is a combination of an owl and a dragon. This form also scares off anyone who wants to enter the Library.

But Lady Wisdom was allowed to join the meeting when discussing the creation of the Excalibur collection. Although her seat at the table was taken away and she had to stand five feet away in chains. There Lady Wisdom and Father Time (who before her imprisonment, were in a romantic relationship) made a case for why Lady Wisdom should also have a sword.

The others objected because they feared that Lady Wisdom might use it to escape, for they could see that she was going a bit stir crazy! But Father Time reminded everyone that Lady Wisdom is the keeper of very important and dangerous information. Thus if she is attacked and defeated this knowledge could end up in the wrong hands.

The other Immortals agreed that Lady Wisdom should also have a powerful weapon, because her only primary weapon are throwing daggers. But they also put Father Time in charge of watching over the sword so that Lady Wisdom can’t use it whenever she wanted. To do this, Father Time, had an extra room built on top of the Library. In this room, Father Time created a force field that only he can lower.

 

He also had a bunch of magic mirrors installed all over the Library, to keep surveillance over the place. Father Time uses these mirrors to watch over Lady Wisdom and to also keep an eye out for thieves or invaders that seek to destroy, kill Lady Wisdom or steal information. If this happens then Father Time would lower the force field and allow Lady Wisdom to use the sword, if her primary weapon fails her.

But just in case Father Time goes rogue and starts attacking the other Immortals, his control over the force field would be lost and would disappear, so that Lady Wisdom can get her sword to protect herself. The mirrors watching over her would also shatter.

Anyway, let’s have a look at the sword, given to Lady Wisdom: The Sophia or Wisdom’s cutting edge.

Starting with the blade. Hephaestus wanted a metal that was strong enough to cut through anything and also withstand any attack or blow. So this lead him to Athena, Lady Wisdom’s and Zeus’ daughter. Most of Lady Wisdom’s children are not only wise like her, but are also brilliant battle and war strategists. And Athena is one of the best.

Not only that, but Athena has even invented new fighting styles, battle formations and weapons. She also has powerful weapons, that being her spear and shield. But it was the shield specifically that drew Hephaestus’ attention. For not only was it made from an alloy metal that is only known to Athena and her mother, but it was impenetrable. So much so that Hephaestus believed that it would even be able to block an attack from all of the Immortal’s primary weapons!

According to Hephaestus’ research, the shield is known as Aegis. It was forged by Athena herself after her father, Zeus, took her under his wing and taught her how to fight. When Zeus saw that she was ready to go out on her own, he told her to make her own weapons. Athena traveled the world learning everything about blacksmithing and metals. She even met Hephaestus on one of her travels.

With all her knowledge gathered, she returned to Zeus on Mt. Olympus. There, Zeus, gifted her a forge that he had built for Athena on her return. Athena experimented and through trial and error, she created her shield, Aegis. Athena also incorporated the eyes of a gorgon into her shield.

A gorgon is a creature that has snakes for hair, bat wings, a serpent tail and eyes that turns anyone into stone when they look into them. Athena uses these eyes to help her in battle. But to stop her from accidently turning anyone into stone she used her knowledge and added a special metal to the shield that can temporarily negate the eyes’ powers. This metal was also used in the shield that Perseus used that helped him kill the gorgon Medusa.

Hephaestus wanted to use this shield as the blade because of its strength and power. But there was one problem, Athena most likely wouldn’t give up her masterpiece. The only way to get Aegis, is if Lady Wisdom commanded her to, but as mentioned Lady Wisdom wasn’t allowed to leave her home.

Hephaestus contacted Zeus, through his grandmother, Mother Nature, to set up a meeting with Athena. Athena, still grateful for Hephaestus’ help with her research, agreed. In this meeting Hephaestus brought up the Excalibur collection and Lady Wisdom. He really implied the importance of this collection, and that he would need her shield. Athena first refused, but then Hephaestus proposed a trade.

For you see, the reason why Athena went to Hephaestus for help in her research, was because Hephaestus was the one who forged The shield of Achilles. Which, before Aegis, was the most powerful shield in all of Magusterra. And after Achilles’ death, the shield was given back to Hephaestus. And now Hephaestus was willing to give it up for the Aegis. This intrigued Athena, but she still refused because her shield was more powerful then The shield of Achilles. After a few hours of negotiating, the two came to a compromise:

Hephaestus can take Aegis and cut it in half. One half of the shield will be used in Lady Wisdom’s sword; the other half would be combined with The shield of Achilles. The one and a half shields would be melted down and forged together to form The Shield of Athena. Making Aegis even more powerful.

Hephaestus agreed and gave Athena The shield of Achilles. Hephaestus cut Aegis in half and helped Athena combine her half of Aegis and The shield of Achilles to create The Shield of Athena!

After that, Hephaestus went back to his workshop and went to work turning his half of Aegis into a powerful and strong blade. It was while melting down, forming and heat treating the blade that Hephaestus realised that the shield had traces of The Sandman’s sand. Which explains how Athena was able to incorporate and use the eyes of a gorgon with her shield.

Hephaestus wanted to use this ability that the shield (or blade) had. But he didn’t want to use the eyes of a gorgon. Hephaestus was told by Lady Wisdom, of the eyes of two beings that are directly connected to Lady Wisdom’s domain. These beings are Hugin and Munin, Odin’s ravens.

Odin, as mentioned in the document discussing Life and Death’s swords, is Lady Wisdom’s son. Odin is probably Lady Wisdom’s favourite, because he, like his mother, is always on the hunt for knowledge. So much so that Odin wanted to learn the forbidden knowledge that Lady Wisdom hid from the world. Odin went to see his mother and begged her to share what she knows. Lady Wisdom refused. But Odin persisted and even told Lady Wisdom that he will pay any price. This got Lady Wisdom’s attention and told her son to give her some time to think about it. After a year, Lady Wisdom, named her price: Odin would become her spy!

There is one thing I forgot to mention and that is that Lady Wisdom can record and know all secrets of Magusterra’s animals and magical beings. But when it comes to Immortals and even some Humans, Lady Wisdom must ask for their permission first to write down their secrets and their history. Sometimes Lady Wisdom can’t even see what the other Immortals or Humans are doing, which means that some events never get recorded.

The reason for this is so that the Immortals can have some level of autonomy and secrecy to do their duties. And as for the Humans, I have written that they are part of the First Created and thus have the power to disrupt Lady Wisdom’s duty to gather information. Just like Merlin was able to hide his real intent when befriending Lady Wisdom.

But this rule didn’t sit right with Lady Wisdom. So she told Odin that he can have the knowledge he seeks, but he must give up a part of his soul to her! Odin agreed, but to this he had to be on the verge of death, so that his soul could be “loosened” and easily extracted.

To achieve this, Odin went to meet Yggdrasill and asked if she could help him reach the point of death, but not actually die. Yggdrasill agreed, but only if he helped her hold back the dragon Nidhogg. Nidhogg is a being of chaos and no one knows where he came from. Nidhogg is mostly attracted to anything associated with death and as we know from Mother Nature’s sword, Yggdrasill is a part of that domain. Because of this, Yggdrasill is constantly attacked by Nidhogg, who goes underground to eat her roots. 

Odin lead an army to fight off the dragon plaguing Yggdrasill. Nidhogg proved to be quite powerful and Odin only managed to chase it away. Knowing that it would come back, Odin stationed some of his best warriors at Yggdrasill’s roots to hold off and chase the dragon away every time he came back.

Yggdrasill was grateful and told Odin that he should go find the highest branch and hang himself from it. There Yggdrasill will do all she can to make sure that the rope doesn’t completely tighten around his neck.

Odin was told this process would take nine days. So Odin took a deep breath and just… well hung around for a bit. During these nine days two ravens landed on Odin’s head and attacked his right eye. As briefly mentioned in the document talking about The Sandman’s sword, the eyes are the windows to the soul, making them best way to get to it. During the nine days, the ravens clawed and pecked at Odin’s soul through his right eye. And with his left eye, Odin was busy memorizing a map that lead to the Well of Mimir. A well that Lady Wisdom used to hide the most dangerous and secretive knowledge. Lady Wisdom sent a snake to Odin with the map and a message that told him he should go there to find what he wanted.

After the nine days, Odin committed the map to memory. And the two ravens flew off with his eye and half of his soul. Not wanting to waste any time, Odin followed the map and came across the giant Mimir, protector of the well. The giant prepared to attack, but once Odin showed his eye to Mimir, the giant knew who he was. Mimir lead Odin to the well and submerged the son of Lady Wisdom in the water.

There, Odin sunk to the bottom and his head was flooded with forbidden knowledge. And among the things Odin learned, was how to use the Well of Mimir to heal himself. So, when Odin resurfaced, he was healed, except for his right eye, which is gone forever. But other than that he was back to full strength and went to see his mother.

At the Library, Lady Wisdom, presented Odin with the two ravens that attacked him. She told Odin that the birds were now a part of him and that he can use them to gather information, specifically information on the other Immortals, their kin and some Humans that Lady Wisdom found to be suspicious. These two ravens were named Hugin and Munin.

Hugin was sent on missions to observe what others were doing at the present moment. Hugin basically tracked and gathered information in real time.

Munin was sent to gather past information. This could be anything from finding out the history of Lady Wisdom’s target, or to add context to what Hugin found. Munin has the ability to actually travel to the past. And this is possible because Lady Wisdom revealed to Odin, who his father is: Father Time!

Odin used his ravens to spy on many beings for his mother. Odin also used his birds to spy on Sister Death. This is where he learned how to build Valhalla, and fell in love with Death.

Hephaestus thought this would be a good addition to aid Lady Wisdom, for like her children, she is also a brilliant battle planner. But there was one problem with the ravens. When Odin sends his birds out, he can only see what they have learned once they return to him. This is why Hephaestus wanted to use their eyes.

Hephaestus went to see Odin, to explain the situation. Hephaestus told Odin that all he wanted was one eye from each raven to put in the sword. This way when Lady Wisdom has to use the sword, she can summon the ravens and use them to study her opponent with Hugin. And with Munin she can learn about her enemy’s weakness through their past.

And since Lady Wisdom would have the eyes of the ravens with her, she could see directly what they see in real time. Hephaestus also told Odin that this was the only way Odin could keep his ravens. Odin agreed and gave one eye from the two birds to Hephaestus. Now although, when Lady Wisdom told Hephaestus about the ravens, she made Hephaestus keep this a secret. But because The Lady of the Lake was overseeing the Excalibur collection’s construction, the secret was revealed. As punishment, all of the information Lady Wisdom gathered in secret, was confiscated and destroyed. Odin was still allowed to keep his ravens, because they have half of his soul in them, but he can’t use them as his mother intended. 

But the Immortals did agree that the addition of the raven eyes was necessary to help Lady Wisdom fight off intruders or a rogue First Created. So they decreed that this is the only time that the ravens can be used. But occasionally, Father Time (who also just found out that Odin is his son), would use Odin and the ravens to gather information on any changes that the Humans make to the timeline.

When Hephaestus added the raven eyes, he then set to harden the blade, by heat treating it in the Eternal Flame (which was then given to The Mighty Phoenix) and then quenched the blade in the Well of Mimir.

Now Hephaestus had to figure out what to use for the hilt. For this Hephaestus went deep into his research and was even granted limited access to Lady Wisdom’s Library! There Hephaestus found what he was looking for: The Cintamani Stone.

The stone’s origins are quite interesting. It was created when The Mighty Phoenix was trying to make the sun. The Mighty Phoenix first approached Lady Wisdom for help and the two of them worked together, but their first attempt was a failure. For one, the “sun” they made burned out quickly and became a second moon. And since the first moon is the reason for the changing tides, which can cause dangerous, but manageable, floods, with two moons, the floods where uncontrollable and caused many to die.

This lead to The Lady of the Lake and Brother Life to step in and destroy this second moon. This resulted in a meteor shower that affected the eastern region of Magusterra. To make sure this didn’t happen again, Brother Life joined The Mighty Phoenix and Lady Wisdom and helped them create a sun that was safe and life sustaining.

Now, the pieces from this second moon scattered all around the eastern world and became known as The Cintamani Stone. It was used by many Kings and even caused a battle in Ilaṅkai among the Siddhars. The one power the stone was said to have was that it granted wishes. But this isn’t entirely true, for the stone actually gives the holder enlightenment and this then leads to wisdom.

What I mean by this is that a King who has the stone can wish for riches or to win a battle, but the stone doesn’t instantly grant the wish, instead The Cintamani Stone helps them generate ideas and plans to help them achieve their objective or want, through rapidly increasing their intelligence. There are many stories of traveling monks possessing the stone to help them survive the wilderness. Or stories about King Lha Thothori Nyantsen who found the stones when it fell to the earth and used it to lead his people in Bod. Other Kings built thrones out of the stone so that they can constantly be enlightened and give their people wisdom. The most notable kingdom that has an abundance of this stone is the hidden kingdom of Shamballa.

The Cintamani Stone was also used by other magical beings and creatures, such as the King of the Naga, a half human/snake hybrid. But as mentioned this stone caused wars, so, the Immortal, The Troll King, in charge of the earth, stones and mountains of Magusterra declared that The Cintamani Stone is now a part of his domain and banned anyone from searching or mining for the stone. He did allow those who have the stone already to keep what they already have, but if any fights break out because of them, The Troll King would take those away as well.

To make sure that the stone is kept out of the hands from everyone, The Troll King sent all the fragments of the The Cintamani Stones to the mountains in Bharat. Then he appointed his strongest son, the King of the Yakshas, Kubera, as the guardian of The Cintamani Stone and the mountains.

Hephaestus knew that the powers of Lady Wisdom dwelled in the stone fragments and thought that even though Lady Wisdom was already the wisest and most knowledgeable among everyone, imagine what would happen when she is given a stone that increases her wisdom and ability to come up with a battle plan to defeat her enemy!

Hephaestus reached out to The Troll King, who felt bad for Lady Wisdom and agreed to give up a piece of the The Cintamani Stone, by sending a mole to retrieve it from King Kubera.

But Hephaestus could tell the sword wasn’t as strong as the other two that he made before. So he went deeper into the Library and found something that he knew would help Lady Wisdom fight and compete with the other swords: The forbidden spells of Blood Magic!

When the Humans asked for magic, it was Lady Wisdom’s responsibility to choose what spells and magic the Humans can have and to hide the most dangerous ones in her vault. But Lady Wisdom didn’t stop there, for she furthered her knowledge of magic and even created the most powerful and darkest magic: Blood Magic. Lady Wisdom knew that this magic would be fatal if it ever fell in the wrong hands, so she never wrote it down and instead memorized it.

But when Lady Wisdom was on trial for allowing Merlin to see the forbidden scrolls/books, the other Immortals worried that she might use Blood Magic to escape and forced her to erase it from her memory. Lady Wisdom compromised with the Immortals. She proposed that instead of wiping her memory and risk losing this knowledge, she said that maybe it should first be written down and hidden. Then once it is documented they can clear her mind of the knowledge. The other Immortals agreed that Blood Magic could be useful if there is an attack from the unspeakable horrors that they have been imprisoning in Atlantis, Tartarus, the nightmare lands etc.

Sister Death nominated Thoth to be the one who should document the Blood Magic spells and hide it. Thoth, the ibis headed one, is Lady Wisdom’s eldest. He is a scribe that documents and records everything in the desert lands of Kemet. Thoth even works closely with Sister Death’s son Anubis, to go over the history of a deceased person, so that their heart can be judged fairly. Thoth also gets help from Wadjut, the cobra Queen. Wadjut is the daughter of Ra and Mother Nature. Wadjust uses her powers to grow plants that are used to make the special papyrus papers that Thoth uses. Since Wadjut is also the granddaughter of Brother Life, she is also a guardian of the living, specifically the Kings and Queens of southern Kemet.

But the reason why Sister Death nominated Thoth, was because one of his main duties was to record all magic and spells of Kemet and hide the ones deemed destructive or chaotic. So far Thoth has kept Kemet intact and under control.

Lady Wisdom agreed and went to see her son in the desert lands, where she spent a full day explaining what Blood Magic is and the spells that can come from it. Then after, Lady Wisdom had all traces of Blood Magic removed from her mind. It is said that Thoth was shocked at the darkness and suffering these spells could bring, that he immediately hid them and never went back to that spot ever again. Well until now…

Hephaestus consulted with the other Immortals about attaching three spells to the hilt, so that Lady Wisdom can use them to defend herself. The Immortals were concerned about this plan. But Hephaestus told them that he has spoken to Thoth, and they both, alongside Wadjut, came up with a new type of papyrus that allows a person to read what is written on it, but once they look away from the parchment, the reader will forget what was written on it.

So if Lady Wisdom has to use the sword before the final battle and uses Blood Magic, it wouldn’t matter. Because she will have to put the sword back, or risk the other Immortals and the chosen Human (who wields Caliburnus), to come after her with their swords from the Excalibur collection. And when Lady Wisdom puts the sword back in the top room, she will have already forgotten what the spells are or even remember what the paper attached to the sword said.

This impressed the Immortals and they all agreed, but they had one caveat, they get to pick which spells can be used. For this they had Thot enter the Celestial Plane. There Thot didn’t tell them the spells, but he did tell them what the spells did, thus keeping his oath. When he went through the list, of which there was twenty, the Immortals chose these three: one is to use the blood of the enemy the blade has cut to control them. Two is to bring back anybody the sword kills as a zombie to fight on the wielder’s side. And lastly, three is that the wielder of the sword can use their own blood to summon dark sorcerers, devils, demons or hell hounds to aid them in the fight.

With this settled, Thoth wrote down the three spells on the new paper that makes people forget. Then Thoth attached it face down to the The Cintamani Stone hilt that Hephaestus carved from the piece he got from Kubera. Then to make sure no one else can use the spells, Thoth attached the loose end of the parchment with a scarab seal, that if broken by anyone (other than Lady Wisdom or her chosen warrior) would be cursed!

Thoth also accompanied Hephaestus back to the workshop to keep an eye on the spells and to also help Hephaestus attach the hilt to the blade without accidently breaking the seal. With this, the sword was almost complete, but something was still missing. Something to help power the The Cintamani Stone and help cast the spells. To figure this out, Hephaestus left the sword in the care of Thoth, as he went back to the Library.

Hephaestus found that there are two ways to power the hilt of the sword and both involve a fruit. Hephaestus learned that he can use either the fruit from the tree of knowledge, which would be easy to obtain. But unfortunately, after the Humans stole and ate some of the fruit, the Immortals has banned anyone from picking the fruit from the tree.

Now the second option isn’t as powerful as the tree of knowledge that is found in Eden on the turtle’s back, but it is the second best choice for anyone seeking wisdom. That being The Nuts of Knowledge, from the sacred hazel bush. The nuts or Scared Hazel, comes from a hidden wood deep in the lands of the Goídel.

The story goes that after the Humans ate from the tree of knowledge, Lady Wisdom and Mother Nature set out to create a new plant that can grant knowledge to those they deemed worthy. After many attempts, there was only just failure. Except, for The Nuts of Knowledge. Although Lady Wisdom and Mother Nature couldn’t make the sacred hazel bush as powerful as the tree of knowledge, it was still pretty powerful. And honestly the two Immortals were fine with that, because it meant that the worthy can gain a lot of knowledge, but also not so much knowledge that the Immortals have to worry about them.

The only question now was: How to make sure the worthy get hold of this fruit? For this Lady Wisdom and Mother Nature approached The Lady of the Lake for help, to which The Lady of the Lake answered: “To find a worthy seeker of knowledge one must set them a trial that tests patience, strength and inventiveness. For this I propose you plant the hazel bush next to a river, so that the nuts may fall into the water. Then I shall supply you with one of my strongest animals, the salmon.”

The Lady of the Lake goes on to explain, that the salmon will eat the hazel nuts and the power of knowledge will go into their flesh. Then the fish will swim into the Boyne River. There, those who seek the power of The Nuts of Knowledge, must then try and catch one of these salmon of knowledge. 

And since salmon is a pretty strong fish, it would be quite a challenge. One must also keep in mind that not all the salmon in the river will be a salmon of knowledge. So, only the patient and most observant will be able to catch one.

Now one might ask, why not just go to the bush and directly eat from it? Well, that was the same thing Fionn, from the last document, asked. To which his master Finegas answered: “The bush is hidden well. The only way to gain the knowledge of the sacred bush’s location is to eat a nut from the bush. In other words, it can only be found through its own knowledge, which can only be gained by eating the nuts.”

Now because the salmon ate the nut first the knowledge of the bush’s location is given to the salmon and is lost when the salmon is killed. Thus protecting the sacred bush’s home. But that is the only thing that gets lost, because the person who eats the salmon still gains the knowledge promised by Lady Wisdom, Mother Nature and The Lady of the Lake. This is how Fionn gained his knowledge and became a good and wise King of Tara, because he caught one of these salmon of knowledge and gained the wisdom to lead his kingdom to prosperity.

Hephaestus approached The Lady of the Lake for help in retrieving one of these hazelnuts. The Lady of the Lake went to the Boyne River and commanded one of her salmon to go and fetch her a Nut of Knowledge. Hours later the fish returned with one.

When Hephaestus received it, he magically linked it to The Cintamani Stone and the Blood Magic papyrus. Then the he attached it to the sword, by making it the pummel.

When the sword was assembled, Hephaestus named it The Sophia (the word for wisdom in the language spoken by the people of Hellada). Father Time escorted Hephaestus to the Library’s new room. There Hephaestus placed the sword and Father Time activated the force field to protect it.

This is also where the ark sent me, well… the outside of the Library anyway, for the last person who was allowed to enter it was Hephaestus. No one else was given permission after that, except for Lady Wisdom’s collectors and the other Immortals.

My instructions were to wait outside for the sword. But at least this time I have Olympia to keep me company while I wait. Some hours later, one of Lady Wisdom’s Library guardians, a Sphinx appeared with the sword.

A Sphinx is a magical creature from Hellada, that like the Baku, are made up of different animal parts. They have the head of a human (this one had the head of a female), the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. There are many other variants of this creature. For instance, in Kemet, the Sphinx there is the same as the one from Hellada, but the Kemet Sphinx doesn’t have wings. Then in Iranshahr, they have the Manticore, which also had the body of a lion, head of a human, but it has the wings of a bat. The Manticore is the more dangerous of the two, because it possesses a row of sharp teeth and a scorpion tail!

But the one thing they all have in common is that they like to ask riddles. And when you get the riddle wrong, the Sphinx/Manticore will kill and eat you. Some say that this was a curse put upon them by Brother Life, because the Sphinx/Manticore has an insatiable bloodlust. But Brother Life didn’t want to just wipe them out, but he couldn’t stop them from killing because their main diet consists of meat. So instead the Sphinx/Manticore was cursed to ask riddles first in an attempt to slow down their killing spree.

It was also this curse that made the Sphinx perfect guardians for the Library, for the library Sphinx were taught very difficult riddles. These riddles were used to test people’s intellect and judge if they were worthy to enter the Library. If they weren’t, then the Sphinx were allowed to eat them. But now the Sphinx are told to just kill anyone who comes too close to the building. Fortunately, this didn’t apply to me, because they were told about my arrival. When the Sphinx flew down with the sword, she took it inside the Ark and placed it next to the others. Then she cast a spell that put a protective force field around it, in case my curiosity takes over and I tried to have a peek at the Blood Magic spells…

After that the Sphinx asked me a riddle, for fun obviously, not to see if I would make a tasty snack!

The riddle goes:

“What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?”

I pondered this, but then I remembered the answer from the story I read about King Oedipus, who answered correctly (but that is all I will mention about Oedipus, for the rest of his story is quite unsettling).

But I won’t write the answer here. Instead I challenge you, the reader, to figure it out. What do you think? Can you answer it?

Anyway, the Sphinx left and I immediately shut the door of the ark. The last time I felt this shook up was when I had to get The Mighty Phoenix’s sword from her son Surtr.

A few days went past. Then I got the letter from The Lady of the Lake telling me to collect the next sword: Item #59, Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer.

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