Neven was a barker at the spark market on the rim of a crater. When the sun broke apart, sparks rained down over every land, and a market grew up at every crater: sparks were traded, sold and resold to the Workbench masters. Neven's voice carried three rows over: “Sparks! Warm, alive, with handwriting!” Light remembers the lamp it came from, every spark has its own handwriting, and Neven could talk about any of them so that people paid three times the price

The best spark he never sold. For twenty years he carried it on his right shoulder in a sewn-on pocket, as a sample for buyers. Its light went into his shoulder, the shoulder swelled into a lump, and one morning the lump opened its eyes. In a single winter a second head grew. It spoke in a voice of its own, thin and ringing like the filament of a lamp, and spoke nothing but curses: at buyers, at neighbors, at the weather and at Neven himself. It took his booming voice for itself, and ever since Neven has spoken quietly

He was chased off the market, because people believe the exposure is catching. Then a bonesetter came and had already taken out his saw to cut the head off, and for the first time the two of them said the same thing, in chorus: “No.” Soon it turned out the head had a gift: light senses light, and it could smell the Haze a verst away, sooner than the dogs. That is how Neven came to the Lanternkeeper Selma, who was half blind, and for seven years he led her along the roads. The whole way the head cursed Selma, the roads and the Lantern, and whenever the Haze came near it screamed so loudly that Selma had time to cover the Lantern with her coat

The exposure eats the Isotopes from the inside, and the head shone straight into Neven's shoulder. He took to his bed halfway between two villages and asked Selma to take only the head into the Lantern, so that at least it would live. The Lantern took them both: their light turned out to be one and the same. In the depot of the Lull a small lamp burns for every hero the Lantern remembers, and for Neven they lit two, and the archivists still argue over whether that was right

Neven himself is quiet, polite and tired, and keeps apologizing for the head. The head is spiteful, loud and quick to laugh, curses everyone and gives everyone nicknames, and only Neven hears its whisper, so he translates it into polite: “She says she is pleased to meet you.” Next to Zarna the head falls silent, because the light under her hood is brighter than its own, so Neven sticks close to Zarna in the squad: only there can he hear his own thoughts

Abilities by rank

Trait

Two Voices

The head has a mind of its own and curses someone other than the one Neven is hitting. As soon as the battle starts and then every 4 s it whispers, and the most dangerous enemy on the board, the one with the highest attack, gets a 12% Curse for 5 s. A new whisper comes before the old one wears off, so that enemy stays cursed as long as it lives. The head has a mouth of its own: it whispers even when Neven is stunned or silenced. If a whisper and a scream land on the same enemy, the curses stack

Awakening at level 100: the head whispers to two at once, and the two most dangerous enemies carry the Curse

Ability 1 · mana 80, starts with 20

Scream

The second head stretches out on its neck toward Neven's target and shrieks, and a mask of the scream made of light flies into the target. The target gets a Curse for 5 s and radiation sickness: magic damage dealt over 4 s

Rank	From level	Curse, %	Magic damage over 4 s
I	1	12	160
II	20	14	290
III	40	16	470
IV	60	18	695
V	80	20	970

Stars make him stronger on top of the ranks: attributes ×1.4 at ★2 and ×1.9 at ★3, the damage of radiation sickness ×1.25 and ×1.6

Look

tall, thin and lopsided: his right shoulder, the one the second head grows from, is hunched up and thicker than the left, and Neven leans his own head away from it as if from a loud noise

his own head is balding, with a thin pale face, sunken cheeks, dark circles under the eyes and ordinary, living eyes

the second head is smaller than his own, smooth, with no hair or brows, burned white and glowing from inside like the frosted bulb of a lamp; it sits in a stiff lead collar and is always tilted toward his ear

white blotches of exposure with yellow rims spread from the root of the second head over his shoulder and arm, sharp like burns on film

a lead breastplate on leather straps and a barker's narrow lead tray, with faceted sparks in its cells, white with yellow rims

a long faded wine red frock coat with copper buttons and frayed lapels, dark trousers, leg wraps and worn out shoes

How to play

Put him in the second row facing the enemy you need to kill first. The head finds the most dangerous enemy on its own and keeps it cursed the whole battle, while the scream goes to Neven's nearest target. If the most dangerous enemy is also the nearest, the two voices meet, and the whole squad hits that enemy noticeably harder, so Neven is at his best against elites, guardians and bosses. With Varga and Brakhin he makes one combo: Varga marks the prey, Brakhin eats away its armor, the head curses it, and the squad takes a thick target apart fast

Against crowds Zarna helps him out. Cleanse that removes the Curse, Break that shuts the head up and waves of identical weak mobs, where the most dangerous one is hardly more dangerous than the rest, all work well against him. He is fragile, only 424 health: assassins who dive into the back line take him out before his first scream

Lines

Hired

The head: “What a bunch of mugs.” Neven: “She says she is pleased to meet you”

Battle starts

The head: “That one!” Neven: “Let's start with the nearest.” The head: “That one!”

Whisper

The head, under its breath: “And this one's the worst”

Scream

The head: “May you glow!”

Victory

Neven: “There, we agreed.” The head: “We did not”

Death

Neven: “We came together.” The head: “And together we go”

Abilities by rank

Two Voices

Scream

Stats at level 1

Look

How to play

Lines