Best not to.

“Erm…no thanks,” you inform him. He’s fooled you once already. God only knows what he’ll do this time, and that’s assuming you win! If you lose, he’s bound to make you pay him back a hundredfold for besting him the first time.

The sphinx hides his disappointment well. He merely shrugs uncaringly and rises to his feet. “As you will. Farewell to you, and best of luck in these lands of yore.” With a swish of his leonine tail the great cat turns about and bounds back into the desert.

You watch until he is little more than a speck on the horizon and then is swallowed up by the waves of distorting heat which drift about the desert like a deadly fog. A sigh of relief is all that escapes your lips as you turn back to the land of greenery and who knows what else.

“Well Abby,” you saw uncertainly. “Here goes nothing.” With no more ado you cross the border of sand and into the realm of grasslands.