Midvale, earth. An unknown number of years ago.
The scent of dirt and rain flowed through the air, dust rose up as though it were a living entity all of its own. Stalks of brilliant green grass stood out amidst the wreckage of his now crashed aircraft, the image of a golden ankh just visible on the side of it. In the distance the tall slender figure spotted a farmhouse, idyllic and charming in a way that only a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere could be.
Slow and unhurried, dark pitiless eyes gazed upon the farmhouse, a wary and questioning look in his eyes. His skin was eerily pale and marked him out as being not from around here. Wherever here exactly was.
A plain black bodysuit enshrined his form, a sort of odd looking uniform that was made of a strange material without name. A series of noises, voices talking caught his attention, causing his form to tense up, to stiffen, a voice in his mind warning him that he didn’t know where he was, much less when he was.
The look in his eyes could only be described as lost, angry, confused, older than this world. Such rich brown eyes looked outwards, a colour that would be sweet were it not for the lost look in his eyes, an entity at present without a home to call his own.
Slender fingers reached down, taking stock of the plant life beneath his fingers, this was it, his first day in a world he didn’t recognise. A world whose cultural norms, whose methodology was so far from his own, in a word he was an alien. At least this is how humanity would come to refer to him.
“Hey…. there tall, pale and lost….. What are you doing?” a squeaky feminine sounding voice spoke into the quiet, her voice almost sounded soothing, a balm to his mind, a mind attempting to cope with the sudden crash of his aircraft, the aircraft that had served as his resting place for so very long.
???: “What am I doing? I am unsure in the present. Who are you? Where am I? Why do you sound so squeaky? Is this normal for humans?”
A slight smile tipped her lips as she felt a sense of connection with this entity who spoke so calmly, so quietly despite their confused state of mind. She could see that for the moment violence was not on his mind, at least she hoped this was true.
“My name is Kara, this is Midvale, earth to be specific. How did you get here?” Kara whispered, her voice growing much softer, gentler as she waited for a reply to her question. A frown tipped her features as she caught the word human. A hint of fear crawled up her spine, her heart starting to race now.
???: “My name? You wish to enquire as to my identity? The only possible hint of an identity I have, is that I saw the last name Nygma somewhere. Though I cannot tell you what it means, if indeed it means anything at all”
The strange pale entity would almost sound sad about this lack of information, a strange sense of maternal empathy washed over Kara as she whispered “I’m sorry you can’t recall your name, in the meantime… how about you come inside and step outside of the cold, wouldn’t do to have you catch a cold. Welcome to earth, dear stranger, I hope in time you’ll figure out who you are…. Where you call home, one thing is for sure. You are not from midvale, which means you are an Enigma, perhaps I’ll call you Enigma until you remember what your name is.”
???: “Enigma…. That’s the kindest thing anyone has ever called me.” The strange looking male whispered, his voice faint and light as he shook his head slightly, pondering how this Kara had shown him only kindness thus far.
Present day.
Home. A word of deep emotional meaning, a word that generally evoked memories of family, of love, of safety and protection. It was precisely that lack that drove the entity known as The Sphinx to act so violently, his darkest drives directed by the intent to prevent more loss even if in doing so he would appear to be a villain.
His nature was rife with a lethal protective determination, hidden only by his impassive demeanour, a mask to conceal the wounded soul within. Such was the fate of a being who had lived for so long, experiencing trauma that could not accurately be defined in this modern age.
Such a mask could only remain in place for so long, eventually that mask would shatter, leaving behind a mind rent in two, a mind which now carried a older, much more icily logical entity. Thus broke the mind of Drake Nygma, a window cracking open, a window in which walked the entity that would one day be known as The Sphinx.
Midvale, earth, five years later.
“It’s been five years, since we met. Since I offered you sanctuary. Have you recalled anything more about who you are? About where you came from?” Kara mused, a gentle soothing tone travelling throughout her light and airy voice.
Nygma: “There was a dark night’s sky, lit up with a bright collection of stars. I remember travelling through a star cluster known as the web of stars, the illumination the first light I could ever remember seeing since I began my sojourn out into the world. That light was a gift, a reminder that I was not alone in the dark forever.”
“The web of stars? You saw it?. You mentioned a sojourn? From where did you leave? Why did you leave?”
Nygma: “I saw it. It was beautiful. I mentioned a sojourn yes I did. I get flashes of memory every now and then, a body strapped down to a table, sharp elongated needles, men wearing masks, men wearing dark suits, whispers of secret projects, hidden military installations. So much pain I felt that day….. All because I was viewed as an oddity, a creature to be experimented on.”
Kara’s eyes widened perceptibly, a tear trailing down her cheek, the horror present in his words was heartbreaking. Her gentle heart was hurting, her empathic core revolted by the idea that someone had thought it right to torture another living being.
“So much suffering, so much pain you’ve experienced. How did you survive? How are you still sane? I’m so sorry. Military installations? Men in black suits? Such things are only managed by soldiers and the president.” Kara spoke her voice filing with horror all over again, she wanted to gag at the very thought the president and his armed forces had been running who knows how many off the books projects.
Nygma: “Sane? I’m not sure I still qualify as sane. I survived due to sheer stubbornness. That and I dreamt of a day where I would enact revenge in exacting and specific nature. Nothing else would be acceptable. Rest assured I’ll hunt them all down, everyone who hurt us, everyone who made us suffer. I will learn who I am… and then I shall repay the gracious gift my torturers so kindly gave me.”
Present day.
Drake aimed a calculating smile, his mind swimming with visions of a crimson orb, a orb that sang of power. Power he wanted for himself. Soon he would take that power by any means available. The orb at present seemed to be held under lock and key…. Imprisoned by a creature of the night.
Drake felt his head twitch, a voice echoing inside his skull. “You and I are bound, two souls inside one body. Let me in, trust me and we shall create brutal works of art, you want power, you want revenge. Let us help you take it. My name is The Sphinx. And you are my host, in turn for you hosting our soul, our knowledge, our protection is yours, by extension your empath Miss Trypp. Our plan shall be a work of art, everything that’s unfolded thus far has been step one of a much larger, far more sophisticated plan.”
Drake Nygma: “Deal. I accept your offer of protection. I am looking forward to extracting such well earned, specific punishment. Those who harmed us have no idea of the retribution coming their way.”
The Sphinx: “Agreed. I think this will be the start of a beautiful and prosperous alliance between us both”