Annette gawked wordlessly at the severed head that didn’t bleed. She tried to form sentences, or even one-word replies, but nothing came.

“Hello? I know you can talk. Are you ignoring me? Let me…” The head shifted, then paused. “Right, no hands. And no core to work with, since I’m in more than a little trouble right now. Drown me, this is not a good place to be in right now.”

The last of the crystal fell away in chunks, both splattering and clattering to the ground around the pieces of ‘Inopsy’. Annette briefly considered running. Then she seriously considered it. But something told her that this was important, and she pushed the thoughts of a scared young woman to the side and tried to tap into the mind of the obsessive specter she had lived as for so many decades.

“Swear you won’t harm me or mine.” She ordered with a severity that made her wince. “I won’t say or help anything until you do.”

“You can hear me! Yes! I promise I won’t hurt you or yours for a while!” Inopsy said eagerly. “My body’s scattered around this wasteland in crystals like this, and Keratily took my core with her wherever she went. Too bad for her I’ve still got my heart, so no matter what she does, I’ll keep living.”

Annette kept the confusion out of her voice, and forced her motions to be as sharp and calculated as a well placed blade. She stepped up to the head and grabbed it in one hand, then twisted it so Inopsy couldn’t look away from her.

“What the fuck are you?”

Inopsy tried to tilt himself to the side. “Well, I’d say I’m a drowned monster, for one. And a crazy person for… two. But what I’m not is dead, and what I need is your help. I’ve got more wealth and treasures than I know what to do with, and you’re welcome to any of it once I have access back.”

“Not… that. Well, that too, but that’s not what I meant. Why don’t you bleed red?” Annette asked. “What did your core do to you to make you look like a plant-human?”

“Human?” Inopsy gasped excitedly. “HUMAN! That’s what that guy was! Oh, now this makes a lot more sense. Actually, it doesn’t help at all, but it’s good to know how Juniper managed to survive that snap-hazard. Do you know Sebastian Cormier Persephonia?”

Annette rolled her eyes, even as her adrenaline flared. This head knew Sebastian. “Just because I’m a human, doesn’t mean I know all the other humans.”

“Yeah, but you seem a little like him. Don’t know why, but you do.” Inopsy paused. “I just tried to shrug, in case you were wondering why I paused. And you didn’t say you don’t know him. You’re out of the human safe area, which means you’re coming this way for a reason. Only reason out this way I can come up with is either Sebastian, or you’re answering the call of some Embodiment.”

The whistling wind filled the silence that followed Inopsy’s final statement. Annette stared at the strange creature with reluctance and uncertainty that it couldn’t see, and warred with herself at what to do. If she trusted it, there was a good chance it would lead her to Sebastian. Or at the very least, give her an idea of where to find him. But that could very easily put the others in danger. She didn’t give one single shit about Garrett, but there were so many innocent people traveling with the caravan that she couldn’t put in harm’s way.

She shook her head and laughed bitterly. How much longer would she have a calm enough head to make these kinds of decisions? Three years seemed like such a long time, but it was nowhere near long enough. Right now, though, she needed to get a foothold in this strange land. If that meant making an alliance with a severed head, then that was what she’d have to do.

“Are you a Staura?”

“Why yes, I am. You are well informed, somehow.” Inopsy confirmed with a nod that almost made Annette drop him. “...But not so well informed that you know what a Staura is, if I had to guess?”

Annette muttered acknowledgement.

“I thought so. The system is very helpful, but since it can’t scan other people, you’d need to find some text or statue to get information on my species.” Inopsy said knowingly, as if he’d had to do the same for another species. “We are a sentient, bipedal species that is descended from flora instead of fauna. There’s a whole lot more history and nuance there, but it’s not important enough to waste time on. Not while my body’s out there getting drained by Keratily.”

Keratily. Another thing Annette knew nothing about. “Is that another Staura?”

“Oh, yeah.” Inopsy chuckled. “One of the worst, too. Once she finishes licking her wounds, she’ll be headed right back to Rainbow Basin. We’ve got to get there before, or at least really shortly after, she does.”

“Rainbow Basin.” Annette repeated. “That’s where you need to go?”

“Yeah. Not much else on this stretch of land, unless you want to turn around and head over to Walkalong. Though it’s pretty much a ghost town at this point.” Inopsy said. “Now I hate to rush you, but could you pick up all my body parts? I don’t know how quick you are, but I’d bet it’ll take at least three days to get to all the prison crystals then back again.”

Annette hesitated, then nodded and wrapped Inopsy in ribbons of softly glowing light. She let go of his head and bent down to do the same to all of his other chunks, pulled them into a sack of light, and hefted it over her shoulder. His head hovered a few feet away from her at all times, connected by the strands of light instilled with the power of her core function.

“Those are handy.” He noted as Annette finished up. “And you’re really good at using them. Much better than a few months of expertise would suggest.”

“Maybe I’m just a prodigy.” Annette said flatly. She let all the unnecessary ribbons fall to save her the battery drain, then gestured off into the distance. “Point me in the right direction.”

Inopsy rocked forward, then turned himself somehow to face unerringly in one direction like a compass’ needle. After a few moments he snapped to another location pointed slightly downward, then a third which was at least seventy degrees upward. More and more locations came as his head snapped in all directions, and after a few minutes of intense silence, Inopsy hummed in thought and snapped to one last direction.

“I’ve made a path that requires the least amount of backtracking and will put us as close as possible to Rainbow Basin at the end.” He said. “Your group is aiming for that place too, right?”

“Unless the plan changed in the ten minutes since Coleen left, yeah. Rainbow Basin’s the end goal.” Annette said as she set off in the direction of Inopsy’s gaze. “So how do you know Sebastian?”

Inopsy blew out a long breath of amusement. “Well, it’s a pretty long story if you want all the specifics. I can tell you, but I’d like to hear a little about you first. How do you know Sebastian?”

“You’ll be pretty disappointed.” Annette chuckled. “The leader of our group’s looking for him, and I’m just along for the ride. Couldn’t stand being in the starting settlements with all the hatred and fear going around.”

“Hatred and fear. Looks like we have that in common.” Inopsy laughed bitterly. “Oh, I should probably warn you; Rainbow Basin’s about to become a warzone with Sebastian’s group on one side and some real horrible people on the other. I’ll be a welcome reinforcement, but your group…”

Annette nodded as Inopsy trailed off. “We’d just be dead weight, or maybe even worse, right?”

“So you do get it. Good. Means I can work with you.” Inopsy said. “Hey, if you can speed things up, I can try to get your group some training. Nothing as good as instantly pushing you to godhood, but hey, maybe you could actually end up being the reinforcements I couldn’t convince to come.”

Annette raised an eyebrow at Inopsy’s bitter tone. There was a story there, and he’d offered to tell it. “I’ll take you up on the storytelling. And who knows, maybe you’ll convince me to trust you enough that I don’t have to lie to you.”

“Like you’re lying to all of your friends?” Inopsy asked casually.

“Yup.” Annette confirmed easily. “You seem like a pretty mentally stable guy, and I could use someone to vent to.”

Inopsy’s laugh was bright and sarcastic. “You think I’m mentally stable? Poor girl; you don’t know the half of it. But hey, I’ll keep your secrets to the grave. And that’s a long, long way off for me, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

“We’ll see about that.” Annette said with a smile. “Start talking, plant man. The walk will be pretty boring otherwise.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Inopsy cleared his throat, and when he next spoke, his voice was somehow shakier and more confident at the same time. “It all started a long time ago when I met someone named Persephonia.”

//RETURNING PERSPECTIVE TO [SEBASTIAN CORMIER PERSEPHONIA].

//INITIATING…