Sunny staggered.
His sword, which had been ready to strike, froze in his hands.
"What are you doing?"
Nephis looked up to him with a serene expression. She didn't seem least bit scared. On the contrary she looked content, albeit in her usual cold way. Her eyes had dimmed and her flames had died out. Sunny tried not to concentrate on how beautiful Nephis looked... but it was hard. Maybe it was part of her plan.
"Sunny, as I said, I'm sorry for what I did to you. I didn't do it on purpose, but I guess you will not believe me when I say that. So go ahead. I can't afford to die - if I did you and Cassie would be left alone in this cursed place... but other than that you can do what you want. If you want your revenge, now is the time to do it."
"You are saying that I can... what? Cut your arm off or something?"
Nephis shrugged. "Or a leg. Or both. I know I have put you through a lot, so now is your chance to do the same. I promise I won't defend myself."
Sunny was dumbfounded. She wants me to torture herself? That was not what Sunny had been expecting. At all. He looked at Nephis... who again looked peaceful like she wasn't in for a doze of pain. Sunny then looked over his shoulder and saw Cassie, who was still like a statue. She had of course heard every word and Sunny could only guess at what she was thinking.
Sunny was still angry with Nephis — that emotion had not gone anywhere. But somehow, with her defenseless in front of him, his resolve begun to waver. His sword lowered at the same time as his heart rate went up. He thought feverishly. Was this some sort of sick joke played at his expense? Nephis knew him well after all. She might have just staged the whole thing knowing how Sunny would react!
*******
Nephis looked up and saw how Sunny struggled to make a decision. She could almost feel the contradicting emotions emanating from his mind — without a question it would have been a sight to behold had she been her supreme self.
During the walk to the Ashen Barrow she had tried to come up with things to say in order to mend the situation her actions had put them in. She had failed every single time. Everything she could do would be contrasted against the dim reality of her actions. Like it or not, Sunny would not believe — really believe — anything she said.
So she had come up with another plan. In this scenario Sunny would have the power to make a decision, not her. Nephis found it hard to let go of her authority but there was simply no other way. Now Sunny would have to decide just how much he really hated her...
And he was having struggle deciding. Nephis decided to give him a little push.
"What are you waiting for?" she asked. "Don't you think that I'm despicable? Don't you think I'm vile? I might have thought the same if I — "
But she didnt get to finish her phrase. Midnight shard cut the air, whistling, and struck her shoulder. Nephis's layer of black leather did nothing to protect her. The sword sliced straight through her shoulder, upper back and torso. Her vision went white with pain and she had to resist the urge to activate her Aspect. Blood sprayed everywhere along with sickening crunches of breaking bone and the impact drove her to the ground. Her arm was now attached to her torso only by a thin thread of tortured flesh.
Nephis didn't so much as utter a sound. She continued to look at Sunny who pulled his sword from her chest. The blade glistened with blood and viscera as Sunny looked at it, entranced and horrified at the same time. He then looked at Nephis. A deep hatred could still be seen behind his eyes and along with it, a bitterness.
Sunny looked again at the blade. Then at her. His face contorted and he threw the sword away.
"I hate you", he said. "And yes, I think you — Well, I don't know what to think. I — " He shook his head. "I still hate you. Remember it."
And then he walked away.
*******
They talked later on and decided they were in an impasse. Nephis had done her best to make Sunny see that she hadn't wanted to hurt him; albeit she had done that in a highly masochistic way as Cassie put it. Nephis thought her plan over and admitted that yes, it might have been a bit masochistic. But she was nevertheless glad. As Sunny had begrudgingly admitted, he thought it possible that his enslavement had happened by an accident, not because of some convoluted, sadistic plan of hers.
And there were some big revelations that came as a major surprise to Sunny.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" he said. "Cassie, tell me it's just a prank!"
"It's not, I think", Cassie said. "You two really were — "
"We were not!"
Nephis smiled at Sunny's beet red face. She had been waiting for this moment and now that it had arrived it was exactly as funny as she had envisioned.
"What? Is it so hard to believe?" she asked innocently. "Or do you mean you do not find me beautiful?"
Sunny choked. "That's beside the point. Yes, it is hard to believe!"
"And the second part?"
"... No. I don't mean that."
Cassie laughed loudly, a startling sound in the Ashen Barrow. And it made Nephis realize that she, too, had grown too comfortable around the soul devouring tree. She didn't feel any urge to protect the tree yer but she had slowly forgotten that she had wanted to burn it down...
"Now that we have made peace we should concentrate on the next step", Nephis claimed. "Our only way forward is over the Dark Sea. I will build a boat from those demon bones and then we will leave for the castle."
Sunny looked at her as though he was trying really hard to understand what she was saying. Nephis shook her head. "You can think about your True Name. It helps." She saw Sunny's expression tighten and then he shook his head.
"Right. Let's build the boat."
They worked the whole day, Nephis with seasoned effectiveness and Sunny with his usual ingenuity. Still the boat was not ready for the night and they decided to spend the night on the lowest branch of the soul devourer. Sunny had told Nephis and Cassie about his fight with the carapace demon and Nephis had deduced that things were indeed becoming unpredictable. She could no longer rely on her foreknowledge in everything and when it came to the Dark Sea, no amount of carefulness was too much.
The next day dawned and they continued to work on the boat. Cassie just sat against the tree trunk, looking at the sky and thinking. She looked like a lost child in a fairy tale — how far that image was from the truth...
Sometimes Nephis had to tell Sunny to snap out of the tree's influence. It was hard because she now had to avoid using imperative when talking to Sunny. She quickly realized just how used to she was to commanding other people around her. Now she could not do that — she could merely request or point out something. Nephis also had to use her Aspect for prolonged periods of time to clear her head. They had not gotten any sleep last night and the constant pain didn't seem to go away even when resting.
But despite the difficulties, at the end of the day they had a vessel ready to bear them over the black waters. They pushed and pulled it to the western edge of the Ashen Barrow and Nephis told Sunny and Cass to wait for her.
"Where are you going?" Sunny asked, his voice a bit sluggish from the lack of sleep and the constant assault on his mind. Nephis merely shrugged. "I have some unfinished business here. I'll come back in a minute."
She dragged her feet up the hill and kneeled again, bracing herself against the cool surface of the tree's base. Then she let her Aspect flare to life, hopefully for the last time today.
The seething warmth traveled from her soul core to her fingertips and from there to the tree. Slowly the bark under her hands caught fire. Smoke rose in the air and and the branches of the tree rattled, disturbed. The smell that the soul devourer gave off when burning was sickeningly sweet and it made her want to vomit. Although that might have just been her Aspect. She felt that she was less resistant to the pain as a sleeper and that was probably true, her mind was after all close to that of a mundane person... which was a paradox as she knew and remembered things no mundane person could or should.
Unfortunately Nephis couldn't linger and watch as the tree died. She had to make haste or else they would fall prey to the sea creatures - the monsters would undoubtedly be attracted to the beacon that had become of the tree and that should give the trio of sleepers a better chance to escape unnoticed.
Nephis sprinted to the shore and and they set sail. Cassie summoned her windstaff and the gust carried their small boat away. Nephis could not take her eyes of the flaming tree that faded to the night behind them. She dearly hoped the monster would die by her hand this time.
Slowly but surely the Ashen Barrow sank to the darkness and they were left wandering the sea of shadows. Nephis could see nothing around them, she could barely make out her own hand or Sunny if he was particularly close. Unfortunately he made it a point to sit as far away from Nephis as he possibly could. He clearly held a grudge against her still, and Nephis couldn't fault him.
The boat ride brought with it a tidal wave of memories, mainly of their last time on these very waters. Then it had been Sunny who had saved them from the soul devourer... and that had also been the first time he had heard about the Sovereigns. Neither of them could have predicted that Sunny would end up one day killing one of them and being heavily involved in another one's demise as well.
Nephis also recalled a much more pleasant memory from a day spent with Master Sunless — their beach date. The memory made her smile faintly. She also thought about the journey over the River of Time in her Third Nightmare... with Ananke.
Had Sunny been there as well? Most definitely. At least he had been with Nephis on the back the giant turtle — Nephis knew it because she could not remember how she had defeated the black serpent that had circled the island.
A voice broke Nephis out from her reverie. It belonged, suprisingly, to Sunny.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes."
"It's about your Flaw", Sunny said. "I was wondering... what exactly does it do? I mean, it tells that you have to suffer to use your power, but what does it entail?"
Nephis shrugged. "It means exactly what you would expect. I have to endure pain every time I use my Aspect. At first it was hard, but I have gotten used to it."
"I see... " Sunny's voice fell into silence. Nephis expected him to say something — her Sunny would have — but instead he chose to let the issue be. Nephis thought a bit. Sunny seemed relaxed and more open than previously, so she decided to bring about a topic that was very critical to both of them.
"Sunny... you said, back then, that I was probably the one to enslave you in your last life, too. I am not completely sure that you're right, but it's a possibility."
She heard Sunny shift on the other side of the boat as though uncomfortable.
"So what? Do you want apologize further? Maybe I can cut off your second arm now?"
"Would you do it if I let you?" Nephis asked.
Again Sunny fell silent for a long time. "No."
Nephis was relieved. "Well, then. As I said, I'm not sure if it was me who enslaved you last time. But whoever it was, I'm pretty certain that you managed to break free."