All men are selfish, read another. The Hero is a man who can see the needs of all beyond his own desires. “If all men are selfish,” Tindwyl had asked, “then how can the Hero be selfless, as is said in other passages? And, indeed, how can a humble man be expected to conquer the world?”
Sazed shook his head, smiling. At times, her objections had been very well conceived—but at other times, she had just been struggling to offer another opinion, no matter how much of a stretch it required. He ran his fingers across the page again, but paused on the first paragraph.
Tall of stature, it said. That wouldn’t refer to Vin. It hadn’t come from the rubbing, but another book. Tindwyl had included it because the rubbing, the more trustworthy source, said he’d be short. Sazed flipped through the book to the complete transcription of Kwaan’s iron-plate testimony, searching for the passage.
Alendi’s height struck me the first time I saw him, it read. Here was a man who was small of stature, but who seemed to tower over others, a man who demanded respect.
Sazed frowned. Before, he’d argued that there was no contradiction, for one passage could be interpreted as referring to the Hero’s presence or character, rather than just his physical height. Now, however, Sazed paused, really seeing Tindwyl’s objections for the first time.
And something felt wrong to him. He looked back at his book, scanning the contents of the page.
There was a place for me in the lore of the Anticipation, he read. I thought myself the Holy First Witness, the prophet foretold to discover the Hero of Ages. Renouncing Alendi then would have been to renounce my new position, my acceptance, by the others.
Sazed’s frown deepened. He traced the paragraph.
Outside, it was growing dark, and a few trails of mist curled around the shutters, creeping into the room before vanishing.
Holy First Witness, he read again. How did I miss that? It’s the same name the people called me, back at the gates. I didn’t recognize it.
“Sazed.”
Sazed jumped, nearly toppling his book to the floor as he turned. Vin stood behind him, a dark shadow in the poorly lit room.
“Lady Vin! You’re up!”
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long,” she said.
“We tried to wake you,” he said softly. “You were in a coma.”
She paused.
“Perhaps it is for the best, Lady Vin,” Sazed said. “The fighting is done, and you pushed yourself hard these last few months. It is good for you to get some rest, now that this is over.”
She stepped forward, shaking her head, and Sazed could see that she looked haggard, despite her days of rest. “No, Sazed,” she said. “This is not ‘over.’ Not by far.”
“What do you mean?” Sazed asked, growing concerned.
“I can still hear it in my head,” Vin said, raising a hand to her forehead. “It’s here. In the city.”
“The Well of Ascension?” Sazed asked. “But, Lady Vin, I lied about that. Truly and apologetically, I don’t even know if there is such a thing.”
“Do you believe me to be the Hero of Ages?”
Sazed looked away. “A few days ago, on the field outside the city, I felt certain. But…lately…I don’t seem to know what I believe anymore. The prophecies and stories are a jumble of contradictions.”
“This isn’t about prophecies,” Vin said, walking over to his table and looking at his book. “This is about what needs to be done. I can feel it…pulling me.”
She glanced at the closed window, with the mists curling at the edges. Then, she walked over and threw the shutters open, letting in the cold winter air. Vin stood, closing her eyes and letting the mists wash over her. She wore only a simple shirt and trousers.
“I drew upon it once, Sazed,” she said. “Do you know that? Did I tell you? When I fought the Lord Ruler. I drew power from the mists. That’s how I defeated him.”
Sazed shivered, not just from the cold. From the tone in her voice, and the air of her words. “Lady Vin…” he said, but wasn’t sure how to continue. Drew upon the mists? What did she mean?
“The Well is here,” she repeated, looking out the window, mist curling into the room.
“It can’t be, Lady Vin,” Sazed said. “All of the reports agree. The Well of Ascension was found in the Terris Mountains.”
Vin shook her head. “He changed the world, Sazed.”
He paused, frowning. “What?”
“The Lord Ruler,” she whispered. “He created the Ashmounts. The records say he made the vast deserts around the empire, that he broke the land in order to preserve it. Why should we assume that things look like they did when he first climbed to the Well? He created mountains. Why couldn’t he have flattened them?”
Sazed felt a chill.
“It’s what I would do,” Vin said. “If I knew the power would return, if I wanted to preserve it. I’d hide the Well. I’d let the legends remain, talking about mountains to the north. Then, I would build my city around the Well so that I could keep an eye on it.”
She turned, looking at him. “It’s here. The power waits.”
Sazed opened his mouth to object, but could find nothing. He had no faith. Who was he to argue with such things? As he paused, he heard voices below, from outside.
Voices? he thought. At night? In the mists? Curious, he strained to hear what was being said, but they were too far away. He reached into the bag beside his table. Most of his metalminds were empty; he wore only his copperminds, with their stores of ancient knowledge. Inside the sack, he found a small pouch. It contained the ten rings he had prepared for the siege, but had never used. He pulled it open, took out one of the ten, then tucked the bag into his sash.
With this ring—a tinmind—he could tap hearing. The words below became distinct to him.
“The king! The king has returned!”
Vin leaped out the window.
“I don’t fully understand how she does it either, El,” Ham said, walking with his arm in a sling.
Elend walked through the city streets, people trailing behind him, speaking in excited tones. The crowd was growing larger and larger as people heard that Elend had returned. Spook eyed them uncertainly, but seemed to be enjoying the attention.
“I was out cold for the last part of the battle,” Ham was saying. “Only pewter kept me alive—koloss slaughtered my team, breached the walls of the keep I was defending. I got out, and found Sazed, but my mind was growing muddled by then. I remember falling unconscious outside Keep Hasting. When I woke up, Vin had already taken the city back. I…”
They paused. Vin stood in front of them in the city street. Quiet, dark. In the mists, she almost looked like the spirit Elend had seen earlier.
“Vin?” he asked in the eerie air.
“Elend,” she said, rushing forward, into his arms, and the air of mystery was gone. She shivered as she held him. “I’m sorry. I think I did something bad.”
“Oh?” he asked. “What is that?”
“I made you emperor.”
Elend smiled. “I noticed, and I accept.”
“After all you did to make certain the people had a choice?”
Elend shook his head. “I’m beginning to think my opinions were simplistic. Honorable, but…incomplete. We’ll deal with this. I’m just glad to find that my city is still standing.”
Vin smiled. She looked tired.
“Vin?” he asked. “Are you still pewter-dragging?”
“No,” she said. “This is something else.” She glanced to the side, face thoughtful, as if deciding something.
“Come,” she said.
Sazed watched out the window, a second tinmind enhancing his sight. It was indeed Elend below. Sazed smiled, one of the weights on his soul removed. He turned, intending to go and meet the king.
And then he saw something blowing on the floor in front of him. A scrap of paper. He knelt down, picking it up, noticing his own handwriting on it. Its edges were jagged from having been ripped.
He frowned, walking over to his table, opening the book to the page with Kwaan’s narrative. A piece was missing. The same piece as before, the one that had been ripped free that time with Tindwyl. He’d almost forgotten the strange occurrence with the pages all missing the same sentence.
He’d rewritten this page, from his metalmind, after they’d found the torn sheets. Now the same bit had been torn free, the last sentence. Just to make certain, he put it up next to his book. It fit perfectly. Alendi must not reach the Well of Ascension, it read, for he must not be allowed to take the power for himself. It was the exact wording Sazed had in his memory, the exact wording of the rubbing.
Why would Kwaan have worried about this? he thought, sitting down. He says he knew Alendi better than anyone else. In fact, he called Alendi an honorable man on several occasions.
Why would Kwaan be so worried about Alendi taking the power for himself?
Vin walked through the mists. Elend, Ham, and Spook trailed behind her, the crowd dispersed by Elend’s order—though some soldiers did stay close to protect Elend.
Vin continued on, feeling the pulsings, the thumpings, the power that shook her very soul. Why couldn’t the others feel it?
“Vin?” Elend asked. “Where are we going?”
“Kredik Shaw,” she said softly.
“But…why?”
She just shook her head. She knew the truth, now. The Well was in the city. With how strong the pulsings were growing, she might have assumed that their direction would be harder to discern. But that wasn’t the way it was at all. Now that they were loud and full, she found it easier.
Elend glanced back at the others, and she could sense his concern. Up ahead, Kredik Shaw loomed in the night. Spires, like massive spikes, jutted from the ground in an off-balance pattern, reaching accusingly toward the stars above.
“Vin,” Elend said. “The mists are acting…strangely.”
“I know,” she said. “They’re guiding me.”
“No, actually,” Elend said. “They kind of look like they’re pulling away from you.”
Vin shook her head. This felt right. How could she explain? Together, they entered the remnants of the Lord Ruler’s palace.
The Well was here all along, Vin thought, amused. She could feel the pulses vibrating through the building. Why hadn’t she noticed it before?
The pulses were still too weak, then, she realized. The Well wasn’t full yet. Now it is. And it called to her.
She followed the same path as before. The path she’d followed with Kelsier, breaking into Kredik Shaw on a doomful night when she had nearly died. The path she’d followed on her own, the night she had come to kill the Lord Ruler. The tight stone corridors opened into the room shaped like an upside-down bowl. Elend’s lantern glistened against the fine stonework and murals, mostly in black and gray. The stone shack stood in the center of the room, abandoned, enclosed.
“I think we’re finally going to find your atium, Elend,” Vin said, smiling.
“What?” Elend said, his voice echoing in the chamber. “Vin, we searched here. We tried everything.”
“Not enough, apparently,” Vin said, eyeing the small building-within-a-building, but not moving toward it.
This is where I’d put it, she thought. It makes sense. The Lord Ruler would have wanted to keep the Well close so that when the power returned, he’d be able to take it.
But I killed him before that could happen.
The booming came from below. They’d torn up sections of the floor, but had stopped when they’d hit solid rock. There had to be a way down. She walked over, searching through the building-within-a-building, but found nothing. She left, passing her confused friends, frustrated.
Then she tried burning her metals. As always, the blue lines shot up around her, pointing to sources of metal. Elend was wearing several, as was Spook, though Ham was clean. Some of the stonework bore metal inlays, and lines pointed to those.
Everything was as expected. There was nothing…
Vin frowned, stepping to the side. One of the inlays bore a particularly thick line. Too thick, in fact. She frowned, inspecting the line as it—like the others—pointed from her chest directly at the stone wall. This one seemed to be pointing beyond the wall.
What?
She Pulled on it. Nothing happened. So, she Pulled harder, grunting as she was yanked toward the wall. She released the line, glancing about. There were inlays on the floor. Deep ones. Curious, she anchored herself by Pulling on these, then Pulled on the wall again. She thought she felt something budge.
She burned duralumin and Pulled as hard as she could. The explosion of power nearly ripped her apart, but her anchor held, and duralumin-fueled pewter kept her alive. And a section of the wall slid open, stone grinding against stone in the quiet room. Vin gasped, letting go as her metals ran out.
“Lord Ruler!” Spook said. Ham was quicker, however, moving with the speed of pewter and peeking into the opening. Elend stayed at her side, grabbing her arm as she nearly fell.
“I’m fine,” Vin said, downing a vial and restoring her metals. The power of the Well thumped around her. It almost seemed to shake the room.
“There are stairs in here,” Ham said, poking his head back out.
Vin steadied herself and nodded to Elend, and the two of them followed Ham and Spook through the false section of the wall.
But, I must continue with the sparsest of detail, Kwaan’s account read.
Space is limited. The other Worldbringers must have thought themselves humble when they came to me, admitting that they had been wrong about Alendi. Even then, I was beginning to doubt my original declaration. But, I was prideful.
In the end, my pride may have doomed us all. I had never received much attention from my brethren; they thought that my work and my interests were unsuitable to a Worldbringer. They couldn’t see how my studies, which focused on nature instead of religion, benefited the people of the fourteen lands.
As the one who found Alendi, however, I became someone important. Foremost among the Worldbringers. There was a place for me in the lore of the Anticipation—I thought myself the Holy First Witness, the prophet foretold to discover the Hero of Ages. Renouncing Alendi then would have been to renounce my new position, my acceptance, by the others.
And so I did not. But I do so now.
Let it be known that I, Kwaan, Worldbringer of Terris, am a fraud. Alendi was never the Hero of Ages. At best, I have amplified his virtues, creating a hero where there was none. At worst, I fear that I have corrupted all we believe.
Sazed sat at his table, reading from his book.
Something is not right here, he thought. He traced back a few lines, looking at the words “Holy First Witness” again. Why did that line keep bothering him?
He sat back, sighing. Even if the prophecies did speak about the future, they wouldn’t be things to follow or use as guideposts. Tindwyl was right on that count. His own study had proven them to be unreliable and shadowed.
So what was the problem?
It just doesn’t make sense.
But, then again, sometimes religion didn’t make literal sense. Was that the reason, or was that his own bias? His growing frustration with the teachings he had memorized and taught, but which had betrayed him in the end?
It came down to the scrap of paper on his desk. The torn one. Alendi must not be allowed to reach the Well of Ascension….
Someone was standing next to his desk.
Sazed gasped, stumbling back, nearly tripping over his chair. It wasn’t actually a person. It was a shadow—formed, it seemed, from streams of mist. They were very faint, still trailing through the window that Vin had opened, but they made a person. Its head seemed turned toward the table, toward the book. Or…perhaps the scrap of paper.
Sazed felt like running, like scrambling away in fear, but his scholar’s mind dredged something up to fight his terror. Alendi, he thought. The one everyone thought was the Hero of Ages. He said he saw a
thing made of mist following him.
Vin claimed to have seen it as well.
“What…do you want?” he asked, trying to remain calm.
The spirit didn’t move.
Could it be…her? he wondered with shock. Many religions claimed that the dead continued to walk the world, just beyond the view of mortals. But this thing was too short to be Tindwyl. Sazed was sure that he would have recognized her, even in such an amorphous form.
Sazed tried to gauge where it was looking. He reached out a hesitant hand, picking up the scrap of paper.
The spirit raised an arm, pointing toward the center of the city. Sazed frowned.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
The spirit pointed more insistently.
“Write down for me what you want me to do.”
It just pointed.
Sazed stood for a long moment in the room with only one candle, then glanced at the open book. The wind flipped its pages, showing his handwriting, then Tindwyl’s, then his again.
Alendi must not be allowed to reach the Well of Ascension. He must not be allowed to take the power for himself.
Perhaps…perhaps Kwaan knew something that nobody else had. Could the power corrupt even the best of people? Could that be why he turned against Alendi, trying to stop him?
The mist spirit pointed again.
If the spirit tore free that sentence, perhaps it was trying to tell me something. But…Vin wouldn’t take the power for herself. She wouldn’t destroy, as the Lord Ruler did, would she?
And if she didn’t have a choice?
Outside, someone screamed. The yell was of pure terror, and it was soon joined by others. A horrible, echoing set of sounds in a dark night.
There wasn’t time to think. Sazed grabbed the candle, spilling wax on the table in his haste, and left the room.
The winding set of stone stairs led downward for quite some time. Vin walked down them, Elend at her side, the thumping sounding loudly in her ears. At the bottom, the stairwell opened into…
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