Shadow Slave

Nephis stared at Sunny silently, unamused. Sable, however, was stunned.

She glanced at Nephis with a shocked expression, then turned to Sunny.

“My daughter... paying a man to... no, how does it make sense?"

Her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“Now wait a minute! Look at my daughter. She's gorgeous! Impossibly lovely! She wouldn't need to pay anyone — if she as much as gave a wink, there would be a line of men begging for her attention stretching from here to Bastion! You... you must be lying!"

Sunny met her gaze with a deadpan expression.

“I am the most honest man in the world. I never lie."

Sable scoffed. She opened her mouth to say something, but Nephis spoke first:

“It's true. He never lies."

Then, she glanced at Sunny and added evenly:

“However, there is no one better at twisting the truth than him."

Sable frowned, looking between the two of them, and then finally blurted out:

"So are you two together or not?!"

There was a short stretch of silence after that, interrupted only by the howling of the wind.

Sunny smiled slightly.

“We are. We have been together since our days as Sleepers — as allies, companions, rivals, comrades, lovers... partners. The two of us are an item, all but inseparable. You can't have one without the other."

Nephis remained silent, while Sable slowly raised her hands and covered her mouth. Her eyes seemed to glisten.

Sunny sighed.

"It is just that the Fifth Nightmare is too cruel. It has to be, because there is no other path to Apotheosis than attaining the qualifications to achieve it naturally, one excruciating step at a time — one out of a myriad. So, both of us have lost too much of ourselves on the way."

He briefly studied Sable, then glanced back to Nephis.

“I was still lost when you and I met, Sable... I haven't entirely collected myself, yet. But Cassie — Song of the Fallen, your daughter's best friend — has helped me find the way back. She can help Nephis, as well."

Finally, a faint smile appeared on Neph's face.

“Do you want me to look her in the eye? Open my mind to her, allowing her to handle my memories as she pleases? What makes you think I would ever agree to something that unpleasant, reckless, and perilous?"

Sunny glanced at her calmly, then shrugged.

"I think that you will agree... because you are a responsible person."

He smiled.

"Asking you to take responsibility was only half a joke. In fact, I was entirely serious."

Nephis frowned faintly, as if not quite understanding what he meant. In response, Sunny sighed.

“It looks to me like you have burned your heart to ash once more. It's empty, devoid of all human emotions. So, nothing I can say to remind you of the bond we shared will set it ablaze again. There have to be embers, at least, for one's soul to catch fire... but in your soul, not even embers seem to remain."

Indeed, at first, Sunny was entirely lost and unsure how to convince White Abyss. What kind of emotional plea could he make to reverse the eternity of the Unmaking and thousands of years spent in the merciless embrace of her Flaw? For a few moments, he felt like there was no hope.

But then, Nephis had said something that caught his attention.

She said:

“Tell me... if you will.”

That was a habit she had developed because of Shadow Bond — the habit to never give him direct orders, even if they seem innocuous. Sunny did not know whether she had forgotten all about it and those words slipped past her lips out of habit, or whether she remembered the delicate logistics of their mundane lives and chose to honor them even now that her heart turned barren.

But he did know that there was something of Nephis — the original Nephis — left in the luminous depths of White Abyss.

And that pushed him to consider his next actions carefully.

Sunny inhaled deeply, then spoke in a calm tone:

“True, you seem to have burned all emotions out of your heart... but a person is more than just their feelings, no? So what is left of a person if all their feelings and emotional attachments are stripped away?"

Nephis frowned, remaining silent.

Sable kept quiet as well.

He studied them both, then smiled wistfully.

“A lot, actually. Everything that is born out of their intellect and rational view of the world, as opposed to being born from emotions. It differs from person to person, but for most people of our age — and especially for you, Nephis — what remains is... your beliefs. Your principles."

He looked her in the eye and added, his voice firm:

"Your conviction."

Shaking his head, Sunny glanced at the fuming volcano behind them — a towering colossus that seemed ready to bathe the world in an endless ocean of flame at any moment.

Just like Nephis was, and must have been for thousands of years.

“Was it not the reason you chose to seal Kanakht and save the people of the First Kingdom from his tyranny? Why you never burned that kingdom to the ground? You could have forgotten a lot, losing sight of yourself... but the foundation of who you are remains the same."

Sunny was certain of it.

Nephis had always been a person who rarely displayed emotions. However, that did not mean that she had been emotionless — on the contrary, beneath the stoic expression and the even tone, she had been the most emotional and passionate person Sunny knew.

Her hatred alone was so scathing that it scorched the entire world, turning the Sovereigns to ash and reshaping humanity forever.

Her hatred of the Nightmare Spell.

When Nephis was young, that hatred had been absolute — it was all of her, even.

But it did not stay that way.

Just like Sunny had grown and changed, Nephis had grown and changed as well. Eventually, she became more than the sum of her desire to destroy the Nightmare Spell and her hatred. She developed a set of principles and beliefs that guided her like an unbreakable code — otherwise, she would have forgotten her goal and her moral compass every time her feelings were burned away by white flames.

Sunny could even pinpoint the exact moment when pure hatred — pure emotion — ceased being the sole and only core of her essence as an individual.

It was the moment when she chose to stay behind on the Forgotten Shore in order to save him. When she decided that simply achieving her goal was not enough — that she also wanted to achieve it in a way she considered worthy, without compromising her convictions.

That was the true core of her being.

And that core remained, having been inherited by the heartless, inhuman White Abyss.

So, if Sunny could not appeal to her love or attachments, he had to appeal to her conviction.

Being responsible for her actions was one of Neph's core beliefs.

And keeping her promises, too.

Sunny inhaled deeply, then smiled.

"Do you remember, Nephis? Once... a long time ago... I promised that all the gods and all the daemons would not be able to make me leave you. And you promised to never leave me behind, either.”

His smile turned bittersweet.

“You know...you were right, all those years ago. When we spoke after dancing at the ball of Clan Valor. Our fates are intertwined, and our bond has nothing to do with my Aspect. We were fated to be together the moment we met in front of the Academy gates."

Sunny glanced at her and took a step forward.

"But, still... you spoke my True Name, making me your shadow. We kept each other alive on the Forgotten Shore. We guided each other after the Crimson Spire crumbled. We fought side by side in Antarctica and braved the Great River together. We took on the Sovereigns and usurped their thrones. We conquered the world, you and I. We made it our responsibility to protect it.”

She studied him silently, a hint of something — not quite emotion, but possibly a memory — reflecting faintly in her eyes.

Sunny took another step.

“And throughout all of it, quite unceremoniously, you made your way into my heart and made it your own. You changed me and marked me with a most irresistible longing. So, Nephis... Changing Star of the Immortal Flame clan... don't you think that you ought to take responsibility? Keep your promise, and help me keep mine. You wouldn't want to make the most honest person in the world a liar, would you? To make your shadow an orphan."

Taking the last step, he stopped right in front of her and looked up slightly.

A slight smile illuminated his face.

"After all, it is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master."

Raising his hand, he caressed her cheek. Nephis remained silent for a long while, looking into his eyes.

Eventually, when he was almost convinced that she would not give him an answer, she opened her mouth and spoke quietly:

“What about my longing? What was it that I desired?"

Sunny’s smile turned a little wistful.

He lingered for a moment, then sighed.

"To... to conquer every Nightmare. To go through them one after another, destroying anything that stands in your way. To get to the heart of the Nightmare Spell and obliterate every part of it. To tear it to shreds... to decimate and bring it to ruin."

He fell silent for a moment, then spoke again, his voice grim.

“So what are you doing, stopping halfway? This is merely the Fifth Nightmare. There's so much left to do. Surely, the flame of your desire did not wane?"

And as he spoke those words...

He saw two familiar, radiant white flames ignite slowly in her eyes.