The day had started out as usual, with visitors and guides meandering around the area where the huge, limestone Sphinx had sat for literal ages. It had been a consistent fixture there since it was built around 2500 BC. Or at least, everyone believed that it had been built of limestone all those millenniums ago… As the morning passed, the sky grew cloudy, with a distinct pinkish haze casting strange light across the pyramids. The crowds began to become uneasy as the strange color spread, and many left when a sudden sandstorm began to come in, as well. There was a thick, almost electric feeling in the air, and it made the few people remaining nervous and on edge. And then it happened. There was a huge flash of light, and suddenly the rocky “skin” of the Sphinx began to crumble and fall away. The sandstorm became stronger, and the noise of it drowned out everything. People were fleeing, terrified at what they saw: A giant creature of some kind was rising up from underneath the broken limestone! As the creature blinked in the harsh sunlight, it looked around - first at itself, as if even it didn’t know what it was, and then at the screaming crowds. But after a moment that seemed like an eternity, it remembered itself. The Sphinx had never been built. It had been merely contained. (I couldn’t decide on which version to use - the original one, or the one where I added a lot of magical effects. So I’m just posting them both here!) Rendered in Daz Studio Iray. Postwork in Pixelmator Pro. No AI used.