But she remembered...
The Academy, the coral labyrinth of the Forgotten Shore, the Dark City... meeting him again in NQSC, spending time together on the Ivory Island, fighting side by side in the Battle of the Black Skull...
Braving the Nightmare Desert, entering the Tomb of Ariel, and exploring the vast expanse of the Great River.
Once she remembered one thing, the memories poured in like a flood.
And she remembered how, at some point, Sunny had become an inseparable part of her life... of her. So much so that imagining a life without him seemed impossible.
It was not entirely welcome or pleasant, because having a part of yourself that you could not control felt disquieting. But, at the same time, it was sweet and exciting, making Nephis think of what could be.
But before anything could happen...
Sunny left again. This time, he even took her memories of their bond with him.
And without Sunny, Nephis became incomplete. Sunny was the first person Nephis had connected with, so when that connection suddenly disappeared, she became untethered from humanity.
Nephis finally understood what the Madness of Kanakht had meant.
Her mind had indeed been like a castle built on fog. Because one of its cornerstones was missing.
And now, the cornerstone was back.
There was a new set of memories added to the old ones.
Meeting the Lord of Shadows and being challenged to a duel by him. Paying a visit to a handsome enchanter who owned a quaint Memory shop, and feeling flustered by his attention. Sharing a kiss on the eve of war... fighting side by side in Godgrave. Facing the Sovereigns together, and emerging victorious.
These were the big moments. But there were countless smaller, tender moments as well.
Sunny was her partner. His existence brought her warmth and comfort. She cherished him... but he was also mysterious and withdrawn, and their relationship felt incomplete, just like Nephis was.
Now, these two sets of memories were in conflict, and she couldn't quite understand how to feel about it.
Was she supposed to be angry?
Was she supposed to be overcome with joy? Did she want to accuse him... or embrace him?
As Nephis followed Ananke's thread through the maze of broken time, she got lost in the memories.
She just couldn't fathom how to feel.
So, in the end, she decided not to think about how to feel, and listened to her feelings instead.
And what she heard...
Was happiness.
It was a happiness so profound that it made her heart ache.
Her lover was back. He had been by her side all along, but now, he was back.
They could finally be together.
But...
For how long?
Nephis felt like she finally found something precious that she had lost... something she had always longed for, but could never have.
Until now.
It was precious beyond belief, and sweeter than anything she could imagine. It was irreplaceable.
But because of that, she was suddenly afraid of losing it again.
Because Sunny had already abandoned her once.
And so...
Nephis asked him to promise that he would never leave her again.
And when he did, a sense of peace and tranquility finally settled on her scorched heart.
Because she knew that Sunny never lied... that he could not lie.
Which meant that when he said that not even gods and demons would be able to make him leave her again, he was telling the truth.
Hearing his promise, Nephis finally felt complete again.
The missing half of her heart had returned to its rightful place.
The castle of her mind did not stand on fog anymore...
It stood on the foundation of that dire promise.
The promise Sunny made would have sounded like a figure of speech if spoken by anyone else, but for him and Nephis, it was quite real.
Because they were bound to face gods and demons in battle one day... one day soon. Nephis smiled.
But not today.
After all these years spent apart, finding and losing each other...
Today, they could simply be together.