“What took you so long? And what is that?” Garrote asked, eyeing the head strapped to Trenton’s waist. After waiting long into the night, Leo dozing off rather quickly, Trenton finally appeared some 12 hours after he left. And to top it off, he was sporting a fashionable new severed head around his waist. It seemed that even sight seeing wasn’t safe when Trenton was nearby.

Garrote watched as Trenton gently took Kiva from his back, laying her down atop Blithe. Go figure, she was sleeping. Garrote was surprised she even had the energy to go in the first place. Using her magic continuously through the night was no small task, especially considering how bad of a state Garrote was in last night. Still ignoring his questions, Trenton picked up the reins, forcing them to a dead sprint across the cliffs. They had a lot of time to make up for Trenton’s absence.

“Hello!” the head said, his tone chipper.

“Oh gods, it talks,” Garrote said, almost more exasperated than surprised.

“It was a long climb. In any case, we need to be moving. Someone killed a giant some miles north of here. The noise is sure to attract more monsters,” Trenton responded, finally getting around to Garrote’s earlier question.

Garrote thought back to the massive explosion he’d heard a couple hours ago. It took everything he had to keep them from just leaving, the danger outweighing the costs. He had worried that Trenton had been caught up in it, but it turned out that his call of trusting in Trenton was the right one, “Yeah, I know. My first thought hearing tha explosion was something along the lines of, ‘Oh wow. Trenton somehow managed to find an enemy out in the middle of the desert. Why am I not surprised.’”

“You asked to join me.”

“And it cost me an arm and a…well no that’s it actually. It cost me an arm,” Garrote said beaming at Trenton, who returned his smile with a pained expression. He was probably exhausted from all of the climbing. That he was still up and kicking was remarkable as well. In fact, none of them had the right to be conscious after what they’d just gone through last night. It was layers of perseverance all around.

“I was actually just thinking about that nasty little wound you got there. What happened?” The head asked, his harness bouncing around madly with the strength of the wind.

“My own magic, if you’d believe it. I’m a graviturgy mage.”

“And you sacrificed your arm to kill someone?”

“Yup.”

“Very noble of you.”

“I pulled off a similar maneuver back near Aria. Leo and I had to fight off a couple dozen cliff crawlers on our own. I ended up using my arm to get us out of the middle of the swarm. Course, it was healed by tomorrow, but still. Birds of a feather and what not,” Trenton pitched in, his eyes never leaving the air in front of them.

“Yeah, we’re practically twins,” Garrote said, making fun of Trenton’s comparison.

“So are you going to introduce me? Or are you just gonna leave the elephant be?” the head said.

“You’re free to introduce yourself. I need to focus on making sure we don’t run into a wall,” Trenton said, unclipping the head from his waist and handing it to Garrote.

“So, could you explain where exactly the head came from?” Garrote asked, inspecting the face for anything unusual.

“I was locked away in a box on top of the spire some…uh…long time ago. I’m actually not sure how long it’s been,” Raligoth said.

“And you’re alive how?”

“I can’t be killed!”

“Right, I should have guessed. Y’know, Trenton, you two actually have a lot in common. More than me and you, anyway.”

“Don’t get any funny ideas,” Trenton said, not bothering to look behind him.

“It wouldn’t work even if I tried. You heal too fast,” Garrote chuckled.

“Thanks, that really helps put my concerns to bed.”

“You're welcome. Now, explain yourself,” Garrote said, turning his focus back to the head.

“Well, I don’t really have an explanation for you. People hated me a long time ago. They wanted me to suffer. They locked me in a steel box in the middle of the desert. Then your friend found me, and now I’m here. That’s the long and short of it,” the head said, clearly avoiding the question.

“That’s not really helpful. Who hated you?”

“I didn’t realize a background check would come with the ride.”

“Would you believe me if I told you I’ve never seen a talking head before, and I was curious?”

“No, I wouldn’t. That sounds absurd. You sound absurd right now. Who hasn’t had a talking head in their life at one point?”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“He’s right. I think you might be the odd one out here, Garrote,” Trenton said, veering them suddenly to the right, Garrote grabbing Leo to keep him from sliding off, blocking Kiva and Millie with his hip.

“Yeah? You see a lot of talking heads?” Garrote asked.

“I just need to squint and you two are pretty much indistinguishable,” Trenton said, nodding his head towards Garrote and the head.

“You gonna take that lying down?” The head piped up.

“Oh quiet you…you…your name. I can’t believe I forgot to ask. Do you have a name?” Garrote asked, suddenly realizing he’d just been calling him the head this whole time.

“Not a real one, but you can call me Raligoth. I liked the way it sounded.”

“Like the-”

“Yes, like the god,” Trenton interrupted. “We already went through this. He doesn’t know about the gods, but he came up on his own. And he-” Trenton stopped suddenly.

Garrote was confused at first, but after a couple seconds, it started to hit him. Literally, it started to hit him. Lone particles of sand were bombarding his face, the wind having picked up quite a bit since they started running. It was dark, but off in the distance, Garrote could just barely see something approaching, a massive undulating dark wall. But this time, it wasn’t a swarm of vultures.

“A sandstorm! We need to take cover!” Garrote shouted over the wind.

Trenton’s head swiveled form side to side, taking in the scenery around them. They had cliffs to every side, but it wouldn’t stop the sandy assault completely, “It’s not complete! I’ll have to make us cover!” Trenton shouted back, everyone else rising from their stupor.

“What’s going on?” Millie asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Just a bit of bad weather. Hold on tight,” Garrote said into Millie’s ear, holding onto her and the head with his one remaining arm.

Trenton tugged on the reins, pulling them right up against a wall, the sand coming in faster by the second. Trenton leapt off of Blithe, summoning his hammer to his hand midair and slamming it into the ground, the stone shifting to obey Trenton’s demand. A large slanted sheet of rock shot out from the earth, colliding with the wall to their side, giving them overhead cover. Then, just as the massive black wall was about to collide with them, Trenton hit the ground again, closing the sides of their little box.

The din of the sandstorm slamming into Trenton’s little stone hut was annoying but manageable. At the very least they were safe. Garrote fiddled with his deep pocket on his waist, setting Millie down and pulling out a small orb of light, the luminance doing little to brighten their dark surroundings. Around him, Leo and Kiva sat up, the both of them slowly stumbling off of Blithe’s back, who himself just sat down panting.

“Everyone alright?” Trenton called out.

“What was that?” Leo said, slipping off of Blithe and finding a place against the wall to sit down.

“Sandstorm. We were almost caught up in it,” Garrote responded, saving Trenton the breath.

“It’ll probably last the next couple of hours or so. We should probably just sleep here,” Kiva remarked while stifling a yawn, everyone huddling around Leo on the ground, Kiva oddly close to Trenton.

“Well I’m not feeling tired anymore,” Millie said, curling up into a ball on Trenton’s other side.

“How about we retry our introductions now? We never did get back to it,” Garrote said, scanning the group for any sign of approval. “I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while now,” Garrote lifted up his shirt, showing off the crystal card embedded in his chest. “My fun fact is that my fate is supposedly tied to this card in my chest, something that I was actually born with. It even saved my life yesterday. That shadow guy tried to shoot through my chest, but the card stopped it,” Millie leaned over, poking at it with her index finger.

“So that’s what that was. I was going to ask you about it after the fight, but the arm kind of kept me distracted. So you were born with a tarot card in your chest?” Kiva asked Garrote.

Garrote nodded, “Yeah, it’s a family thing. We’ve each got our card.”

“Wouldn't that mean you have like 20 siblings?” Leo asked, presumably running over the number of major arcana cards in his head.

Garrote shook his head, “Not quite. Not every card is covered. Plus some of my older ancestors and parents also have their own. It’s not just brothers and sisters. Of course, I don’t know all of my family members personally. They’re spread all across the continent at this point, lucky me,” Garrote shrugged. “Guess it means I won’t have to deal with them any time soon, something I’m actually rather excited about. Alright, that’s my turn. You next, Leo,” Garrote finished, prodding Leo in the side.

“Oh, right…I wasn’t really intending to talk about it, but I guess I can’t really skirt around it after last night. According to Walibeld, my magical potential has only been surpassed by a handful of fighters throughout the entire history of the world,” Leo said, his eyes downtrodden.

“What does that mean?” Millie asked, bringing her face uncomfortably close to Leo’s.

“It means I have an unusual amount of magic in my body for someone of my age,” Leo said, pushing Millie away, “it’s typically not possible for a pyromancer to burn themself, but,” Leo pulled back the sleeve on his right arm, revealing sections of discolored flesh stretching up to his shoulder, “I can, if that gives you any idea of how much there really is. I didn’t want to strain you any further, Kiva, so I’ve been seeing to it with some items I have on hand. It should heal in another week or two.”

Kiva didn’t panic, instead looking over at the wound with scrutinizing eyes, “Yeah, you should be alright. They’re pretty nasty burns, but they look to be healing alright.”

“Does it hurt?” Trenton asked, his brow furrowed with concern.

“Of course, but I’ll manage. It’s hardly the worst we’ve dealt with. Anyway, that’s the end of my turn. Trenton?” Leo said, looking over at Trenton.

“Right, right,” Trenton said, looking down at the ground with an intense gaze. He was stalling for time.

“You didn’t think about it at all, did you?” Garrote asked.

Trenton chuckled, a look of mirth returning to his face, “Yeah, not really. I’ve been too busy making sure everyone was alright. I hadn’t given it much thought. But I think I’ve got one. It’s actually something I didn’t want to mention either, much like Leo’s. My fun fact is that my presence doesn’t have a definable signature. It’s kind of like a congealed blob of presence if I had to put it into words.”

All at once, not bothering to ask for permission, everyone reached through the air with their own presence, diving into Trenton’s body to find his. It wasn’t something that any of them had thought to do before, almost akin to an invasion of privacy. But sure enough, as Garrote wrapped himself around Trenton’s imposing presence, he couldn’t quite get a read on it. It was ambiguous, ever flowing, ever changing–unlike anything Garrote had ever even heard of before.

“What is it?” Garrote asked, withdrawing his presence back into his own body.

Trenton shrugged, “That’s what Walibeld and I’ve been trying to figure out for the last decade. It’s unique, but we don’t really know why. For the most part it functions identical to any other presence. It just feels weird.”

“Well that’s certainly a fun fact,” Kiva remarked. “Those were all fun facts, actually. Congratulations! I’m so proud,” Kiva said, clapping for them all. “I think that makes up for your last attempts three fold. So we’ll call it even.”

“How gracious of you,” Garrote said, giving her a mock bow. “It’s not like I had a backup prepared in case you didn’t like it. You’ll get your fact and you’ll like it, no ifs ands or buts.”

“Oh yeah. We’re not actually done yet. Someone hasn’t shared a fun fact yet,” Trenton suddenly said, looking down into Garrote’s lap. Raligoth had been sitting there the whole time, presumably pretending to play dead to get out of sharing a fun fact. Raligoth didn’t respond to Trenton’s accusation, but he was now visibly sweating.