Makuta trekked long and far through the dark jungle, braving many dangers atop his horse. He'd been sent out to find the supposed 'Lair of the Sphinx'. The locals of the area seemed to think that the beast actually existed, but Makuta believed no such fairy tales. He simply figured there was some large statue that was scaring people away from the temple and the supposed treasures within. As an archeologist, he owed it to himself to use logic above all else.
  In a way an archaeologist was an adventurer, and it didn't fit for an adventurer to run at the merest story. Besides, apparently there was an hourglass at this sphinx's temple that would fetch a fine fortune when he brought it to the museum back home. So he rode on through the dark forest.
  His dark blue ears occasionally twitched at sounds, his long feline tail switching about behind him nervously. Being a cat as he was, he was always wary. As the saying went, just because you were paranoid, didn't mean they weren't out to get you.
  He'd faced tougher challenges than this. By all reports, the temple was empty. The last report was from quite a while ago though...so you never knew. He had a sword clipped to his belt just in case. It never hurt to be too careful.
  After riding for a few hours he came upon the first hints of the temple, old rocks carved with hieroglyphs and stone steps leading up into the air.
  Since his horse couldn't traverse the broken and jagged steps properly, Makuta tied him to a pillar and set about climbing them.
  The forest had thinned out behind him quite a bit, and now there didn't seem to be much besides desert surrounding him on all sides. It wasn't hugely interesting to look at, but at least that meant there were less angles from which anyone could sneak up on him.
  The stairs led to a large square plane surrounded by columns. Atop which, sat the Sphinx.
  Makuta had to admit, that it did look quite lifelike. The civilization that had carved it must have been one of great skill. He could almost see it breathing as he stepped closer.
  In front of its pedestal was the hourglass he had come for. It was larger than he had pictured...getting it back down the steps was going to be a pain, but he would manage.
  He stepped up to it, regarding it. He could see that there was a lot of truth to the legends about its beauty. It was something to behold, its sand was still falling. He couldn't imagine the last time it had been turned, there must be enough sand in that thing to count for years or more. It would fetch a pretty penny for him in earnings from the museum.
  He turned this way and that, trying to see just where he might be able to pick it up from and finding no avenue. If it truly housed that much sand, then it must have weighed a ton. He was strong, particularly considering his profession, not one known for athleticism, but not counting the sort that carried whips and fedoras. Even taking that into account, moving this would take some major doing.
  Still, you never knew, occasionally these things were made of super light stone, or were hollow behind their facades, so picking it up could be a viable option.
  Makuta wrapped his arms around the base of the massive thing and started to heave.
  "Um...hello?" said a surprisingly teenage sounding voice. "You can't just like....take that. Don't tell me you haven't heard the legends."
  The blue cat stiffened, letting go of the hourglass and very nearly falling backwards in shock as he whirled towards the voice. The Sphinx....it wasn't stone anymore. It was solid.
  The beast was huge, easily a few feet taller than he was as it lay there sprawled lazily atop its pedestal. The Sphinx was apparently hairless, pink looking skin tattooed with various insignias and patterns all around its body. Though it didn't have fur, it's skin didn't seem saggy or wrinkly, in fact, as far as mythical beasts went, it really looked rather young. The expression it wore was a rather bored, yet incredulous one as he was looked up and down.
  "Uh...excuse me?" Makuta said, quite surprised to find himself staring down a mythical beast. "I'm afraid I don't follow, is this some kind of prank?"
  It...no...she, he was quite sure it was she now, particularly as it spoke, rolled her eyes. "Oh don't tell me you're one of THOSE, are you? Don't believe in magic, or mythical creatures. One of those lame science egghead types, right?" She stuck her tongue out. "Oh gag me with a spoon."
  The sphinx lifted her rump into the air, flagging her tail a bit as her forepaws stretched out in front of her in a great yawn. Her maw, easily wider than Makuta's shoulders, stretched open, feline tongue lolling out as she chased the aches from her bones. Makuta was transfixed for a moment by the sight as she slowly straightened, sitting on her haunches with a resigned sigh.
  "Alright, look, here's how it goes." She cleared her throat, her voice suddenly taking on a strange supernatural echo that shook Makuta where he stood. "I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL SPHINX, GUARDIAN OF THE GREAT HOURGLASS, COME YE WHO DARE CHALLENGE MY POST. THOU MUST-" She coughed. "Ack...Okay...wait a minute..." She coughed a few more times before apparently catching her breath. "Okay...can I just, like, continue in my regular voice? That 'Super Guardian Tone' stuff really hurts my throat."
  "Um...yes...I suppose that would be fine..." Makuta said, frowning a bit. His day was not at all going how he had planned.
  "Alright, good. So blah, blah, blah super mega ultra guardian of the whatzihoozer. Thou, that means you by the way, have come to challenge me. That means that, if you want the Hourglass, you have to answer three riddles. If you get all three wrong I, like, eat you."
  Makuta blinked. "Eat me?..."
  The sphinx nodded. 'Yep. You know, usually I don't like that part, but for some reason the pizza guy who used to come out this way stopped coming. Bummer, right? So I'm pretty hungry..." She flashed him a smile that was full of far more teeth than he might have liked. "So...You know...feel free to get those questions wrong if you want."
  The blue cat gulped. "But...what if I decide I don't want the hourglass?"
  The Sphinx frowned. "What? My hourglass not good enough for you?" Her paws glowed and Makuta was pulled forwards, nose to massive nose with the angry guardian. "I'm hungry. So this is how this is gonna go down, comprende, blue cat guy?" She gave a little purr that rumbled through Makuta's belly as she pressed forwards against him. Though she was furless, she was incredibly warm. She seemed to take good care of her skin. It was soft all over. Underneath his fur, Makuta blushed. "Usually, I send you back to where you started if you get a riddle wrong, but you don't have time for that, and I don't have time for that. SO, we're gonna do this rapid fire. I'm going to ask you a riddle. If you get it wrong, you get a little closer to solving my little...hunger problem." Her gut gave a slow gurgle that made Makuta's blood run cold. "If you get them right however, then you get to take the hourglass and do whatever it is you guys keep coming here to do with it, got it?"
  Makuta nodded nervously. Judging by how easily she had pulled him over, there would be no going against this guardian's rules.
  "A-alright..."
  "Good..." The sphinx smiled. "Now...." She hopped off the pedestal, Makuta stepped back to avoid being crushed under her feral feline bulk. She circled him in a wide arc, eyeing him with a slow lick of her lips. "Now....let's start this game."
  Makuta gave a nervous nod. "Alright, what's the first riddle?"
  The Sphinx stopped in front of him, her eyes meeting his as she spoke.
  " I'm teary-eyed, but never cry.
Silver-tongued, but never lie.
Double-winged, but never fly.
Air-cooled, but never dry. What am I?"
  Makuta frowned. He knew many riddles, but he had never heard that one before. He tried to think and work it out. Riddles were seldom if ever straight forwards things. The most obvious answer would never be the right one. There had to be some kind of angle to this that he could find and work out. He saw the Sphinx's eyes wandering over his body, taking in and lingering on the more fat-rich portions of his body. That made him think a little faster as he attempted to work out what the riddle might mean. Teary-eyed but never cry.....That must have meant something else than crying, or something that just looked like it was crying....What if it was a statue?..That would make sense, you could make a statue out of silver, if it was the statue of an angel it would have two wings but never fly...Still, that last bit confounded him. Air cooled but never dry...what could that possibly mean?...Unless that was just a misleading clue...He decided to try his luck.
  "A Silver angel statue in the rain?" He attempted hopefully.
  The sphinx frowned, then smiled. "Wow, that's actually a pretty good answer. But no. It's mercury..." She gave another little purr and began circling him again. This time she was closer, her slow circuit around his body looping around more easily with the lack of distance.
  "W-what? How does that make any sense?"
  The sphinx shrugged. With her feline grace, she made the motion look almost beautiful. It was slightly jarring compared to her modern, slightly bored tone. "Mercury always looks shiny, like a teary eye, it's silver in color, and always wet since it's liquid at room temperature."
  "B-but what about that wing part!?"
  The Sphinx's grin grew a bit wider. "Well duh. The Roman God Mercury has two wings, but he only ever uses them to run, he doesn't fly."
  Makuta blinked. "Wait! That's not fair! Who would know that off the top of their head!"
  "It's not my job to ask that." She completed another circle around his body. "It's my job to ask riddles and your job to know the answer...." She circled him a bit closer still, Makuta grew more nervous.
  "Next riddle."
  "W-wait!" Makuta held up his hands. "Y-you can't ju-"
  "Uh...yeah, I can.." She chuckled. "Now. Like I said, next riddle.
If it's information you seek, come and see me.
If it's pairs of letters you need, I have consecutively three. Who am I?"
  "I'm no-"
  "Oop." The Sphinx paused in front of him again, smirking darkly. "If the next words out of your mouth aren't an answer, I'll consider it wrong."
  Makuta immediately clammed up and tried to think in a riddle-y manner. The answer had to be a person, who had three consecutive letters....Maybe the letters didn't mean actual letters. Maybe it was a play on words...the only other type of letters he knew were....
  "A post man!" he said, feeling rather pleased with himself.
  The Sphinx laughed. "Oh wow, that's some out of the box thinking you've got."
  "So...was I right?"
  She began circling once more, closer still this time, almost touching him now, her far larger body surrounding him on all sides as she kept spinning, round and round like a cat closing in on its prey. "No."
  "What?! But that answer makes sense! A postman would deliver three letters, and letters contain information!"
  "I didn't say it was a bad answer, it's just not the RIGHT one..." She chuckled. "It's really a rather easy riddle. The answer is a Bookkeeper." Her chuckle turned into a laugh. "Duh! B-oo-kk-ee-p-e-r. Three consecutive pairs of letters."
  Makuta felt like kicking himself. He was really starting to hate letters. Though as he noticed that he could feel the hot breath of the sphinx along his body, warm and humid against his neck as she leaned in close. She didn't pause in front of him this time. She was at his side, right in his ear, the slight brush of her lips and teeth warm against his skin as she spoke.
  "Last riddle..." She whispered. "Better get this one right, or Uh-Oh! It's feeding time..." She licked her lips and Makuta could feel the roughness of her tongue along his ear.
  "A-alright...w-what is it?"
  "What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?" As she finished the riddle, he could feel a warm huff of air through her nose. She was sniffing him, enjoying his scent.
  His wits almost left him completely realizing the position he was in. A powerful guardian, long enough to very nearly wrap her feline body around his own, purring in his ear with the threat of making him lunch if he didn't answer right. A million thoughts and more occurred to him as he tried to think of an answer.
  Makuta knew better than to think she meant a literal builder. But what could the answer be? It was probably metaphorical, what could metaphorically be stronger than a mason, who could build better than a shipwright or a carpenter..." He thought of one answer, and chose it.
  "A-A God?"
  There was a pause atop that temple. Makuta could feel the air drifting through the desert around them, far cooler compared to the heat coming of the massive feline around him, her breath still hot against his cheek.
  "Good answer." Her lips brushed his cheek. "But, sorry, totally wrong."
  Makuta stiffened. He wanted to run, but she was all around him, her size and bulk blocking him. "Duh...a gravedigger. Once he builds you a house...it lasts forever..." She gave a slightly morbid little laugh. "Though, I know other houses that'll last forever. As an immortal, I'm pretty sure my stomach will...why don't you...move in and test it out hmm?
  Before Makuta could reply, a paw the size of a serving tray pressed against his stomach and he found himself shoved to the ground.
  "W-wait!" He struggled, but her weight was far too much to resist as he squirmed. "I-"
  "Nope..." She purred, her great nostrils giving a warm huff over his body. "Those are the rules, I win, and you lose." Her purr rose in volume as she looked over him. "So, like, enjoy the trip.” Before Makuta could protest further her tongue lolled from her mouth, wet and hot, and it slowly lathered over his chest, slightly rough with feline texture as it scraped warmly along his front, lifting his chin and marring his clothes with her saliva as she pinned him there. The feline archeologist tried to lean away from that obscenely warm touch, but , pinned under her paw, he had no avenue by which to escape.
  He groaned as her tongue drifted over his features, pinning his fur down with that ever invasive saliva as she murmured warmly at his taste.
  As it flopped free of his form with a wet slurp it gave a feline curl, dexterously circling in on itself before it slipped back between her smirking lips. "You're gonna be good, I can tell..." She said with a little shudder. "Though, like, those clothes are totally gross. They're gonna have to go."
  Makuta watched as she gracefully rose a paw, her expression taking on a sharp edge as her claws unsheathed.
  "Hope you aren't fond of that shirt. It's totally tacky anyway."
  The cat flinched as her claws raked down across his front, expecting a flash of pain to sear across his flesh. But there was none. Instead there was simply the sound of ripping fabric as his clothes fell away in four neat little strips, his belt buckle sailing away into a nearby pillar as he was suddenly rendered nude with more surprisingly exact cuts than he thought possible by a living creature.
  The Sphinx noticed his surprised expression and gave a shrug, her other paw pinning him to the ground a little tighter. "What can I say? I took tailoring about five hundred years back. Comes in handy more than I thought it would." Her smirk returned as she leaned in close, pressing her nose against his, those infinite yellow eyes filling his vision for a moment as their slitted black irises spoke volumes of her hunger. "But back on track, it's time for lunch."
  Makuta opened his mouth to try and dissuade her from her living meal, but before he could get a word out her mouth yawned open and he was struck speechless by the cavern of her maw. He could see the subtle ridging of her pallet above a wide searching tongue as it lathered out, pressing against the bottom of his chin, an intimate warmth flooding down across his neck as a hot breath washed over his features.
  Her throat was already clenching wetly, the sound filling his ears as his cheeks began to feel strangely hot. Though he was scared out of his mind, there was something oddly alluring about the view that he couldn't deny, and as he stared down into the darkness of her gullet, he knew that no mere words would change the goddess's mind.
  Though he was scared out of his mind, there was something oddly alluring about the view that he couldn't deny, and as he stared down into the darkness of her gullet, he knew that no mere words would change the goddess's mind.
  The wet spongy surface of her tongue pressed against the underside of his chin, almost like a pillow, matting his neck fur with saliva as her jaw yawned impossibly wide to arc over his features. The sounds of her mouth filled his ears all the more as her wide, vaguely rough tongue began to lap along the front of his throat, curling and teasing along his form gently. He struggled, but he was pinned utterly as she progressed over her meal.
  His face was thoroughly tested as her lips closed around the back of his scalp, slowly undulating down to close around his neck, suckling him like a sweet in the dark hot cavern of her maw. Her pleasured purrs rumbled around his body as every inch of his face was licked and lathered by that tongue, the sphinx apparently reveling in his flavor.
  There was a great wet sounding 'Glick' from the back of her throat, and she advanced in a small lunge, the sudden speed forcing his shoulders into her cheeks, which clamped wetly around his struggling body. Her paws let up pressure to let more of him free to vanish into her mouth as she enjoyed her lunch.
  Makuta's nose brushed along the back of her throat, the wet clenching passage closing around it moments before anther low noise entered his ears and the whole of his muzzle was clenched inside that ring of muscle. Opening his mouth became impossible as, with slow undulating swallows, that ring worked its way up over the crest of his head and the vague lump of his head began to distend the sphinx's pale throat.
  Makuta could hear the sounds of her stomach now, low gurgles and groans of that eager space, waiting for it's new charge as he wiggled within the grip of the sphinx's great throat.
  Her paws let up entirely as the goddess gave a wet gulp, taking Makuta into her throat up to his shoulders. Her head arched back, letting gravity do some of the work, the lower half of Makuta's torso and legs kicking weakly as that wide flat tongue began to explore his bare belly. The ticklish, intimate sensation sent him squirming and wiggling even more as that touch moved closer and closer to his groin.
  Makuta felt hot as another swallow undulated in a slow wave across his body, his form sinking deeper into that immortal body around him. Her tongue reached a new milestone, lapping gently over the head of his member.
  Were it not for the tight confines of her throat, he would have moaned and writhed. As it was now, he could barely squirm as that textured tongue delighted itself in this new taste, dancing around his most intimate parts with reckless abandon, at times curling totally around the sensitive flesh. Saliva allowed it to slide in endlessly pleasurable slips and curls around the cat's manhood.
  Every slow wave of pressure along that throat tugged him deeper, dragging his cock along her tongue until he couldn't stand it any longer.
  Outside her maw as her tongue began to lick along his inner thighs, and curl around his balls, his legs stiffened, toes curling as his body shook with orgasm, the godly cat getting her cream as spurt after spurt of Makuta's seed lathered over her tongue.
  The sphinx gave a purr of approval at this development, her tongue making sure to lap up every drop before another swallow sent Makuta's tastiest bit sliding into her throat, further teased by the gentle movements of her throat as the gurgles of her stomach grew louder.
  The largest parts of him consumed, his legs didn't take much longer. They kicked and thrashed, more in response to the stimulation than any real attempt to escape now as they sunk within the every needy tunnel of her throat.
  The Sphinx's neck was distended around Makuta's form quite a bit, the vague outline of the cat's squirming body visible as his head broke through that ring of muscle into her belly, able to moan freely as his body was further teased by her continuous swallows.
  More of him slid into the warm embrace of her belly as his calves were licked and tasted now. She savored him, watching his feet over the end of her feline muzzle as she smiled around them. Her tongue curled over the bottoms of his feet, tasting his pads for a moment, before, with a gentle motion, she used it to push those into her mouth as well, her lips closing, sealing all of Makuta inside her body, giving a low, deeper purr as watched the lump in her throat sink, wiggling into her belly.
  Makuta felt his stomach and legs slowly enter the tight, gurgling cavern of her stomach, he was curled slightly within to fit, the wet gurgles surrounding him totally now.
  Through her belly, he felt her flop over onto the ground, the pudge of past meals cushioning his fall as she sprawled across the temple floor, her belly displayed almost flauntilly across the ancient tiles as she watched it occasionally wiggle and move. Her prey felt the weight of one great paw stroked across her pale belly with a sigh of contentment.
  "Well...like..." She said as she closed her eyes, slowly stroking her newest addition. "I guess this job has some perks~"
 
 
End.