The Hero of Ages m-3

by Brandon Sanderson

  Afterward, Elend walked over to Sazed, who had stood up and dusted himself off. "How did you find me, Your Majesty?"

  "I honestly don't know," Elend said. "Sazed, what is this place?"

  "The Homeland of the kandra people, Your Majesty," Sazed said. "And the hiding place of the Lord Ruler's atium hoard."

  Elend raised an eyebrow, following Sazed's pointed finger. There was a room beyond the doors, and a pit in the floor.

  Great, Elend thought. Now we find it.

  "You don't look too excited, Your Majesty," Sazed noted. "Kings, armies, Mistborn-even Kelsier himself-have been searching for this cache for years."

  "It's worthless," Elend said. "My people are starving, and they can't eat metal. This cavern, however. . it might prove useful. What do you think, Demoux?"

  "If there are any other chambers like that first one, my lord, it could hold a substantial percentage of our people."

  "There are four large caverns," Sazed said. "And four entrances that I know of."

  Elend turned to Demoux. He was already giving orders to his soldiers. We have to get the people down here before the sun rises, Elend thought, remembering the heat. At the very least, before those koloss arrive.

  After that. . well, they would have to see. For now, Elend had only one goal.

  Survival.

  Snapping has always been the dark side of Allomancy. A person's genetic endowment may make them a potential Allomancer, but in order for the power to manifest, the body must be put through extraordinary trauma. Though Elend spoke of how terrible his beating was, during our day, unlocking Allomancy in a person was easier than it had once been, for we had the infusion of Preservation's power into the human bloodlines via the nuggets granted to nobility by the Lord Ruler.

  When Preservation set up the mists, he was afraid of Ruin escaping his prison. In those early days, before the Ascension, the mists began to Snap people as they did during our time-but this action of the mists was one of the only ways to awaken Allomancy in a person, for the genetic attributes were buried too deeply to be brought out by a simple beating. The mists of that day created Mistings only, of course-there were no Mistborn until the Lord Ruler made use of the nuggets.

  The people misinterpreted the mists' intent, as the process of Snapping Allomancers caused some-particularly the young and the old-to die. This hadn't been Preservation's desire, but he'd given up most of his consciousness to form Ruin's prison, and the mists had to be left to work as best they could without specific direction.

  Ruin, subtle as ever, knew that he couldn't stop the mists from doing their work. However, he could do the unexpected and encourage them. And so, he helped make them stronger. That brought death to the plants of the world, and created the threat that became known as the Deepness.

  81

  Vin turned toward ruin, projecting a smile. The cloud of twisting black mist seemed agitated.

  So, you can influence a single minion, Ruin snapped, turning upon itself, rising in the air. Vin followed, streaking up to loom over the entire Central Dominance. Below, she could see Demoux's soldiers rushing to the camp, waking the people, organizing them to flight. Already, some of them were making their way along the tracks in the ash toward the safety of the caverns.

  She could feel the sun, and knew that the planet was far too near it to be safe. Yet, she could do nothing more. Not only would Ruin have stopped her, but she didn't understand her power yet. She felt as the Lord Ruler must have-almighty, yet clumsy. If she tried to move the world, she would only make things worse.

  But, she had accomplished something. Ruin had his koloss pounding toward them at breakneck speed, but they still wouldn't arrive at the Pits for several hours. Plenty of time to get the people to the caverns.

  Ruin must have noticed what she was studying, or perhaps he sensed her smugness. You think you've won? he asked, sounding amused. Why, because you managed to stop a few kandra? They were always the weakest of the minions the Lord Ruler created for me. I have made a habit of ignoring them. Either way, Vin, you cannot really think that you have beaten me.

  Vin waited, watching as the people fled to the relative safety of the caverns. Even as the bulk of them arrived-soldiers separating them into groups, sending them to the different entrances-her good humor began to fade. She had managed to get through to Elend, and while it had seemed like a great victory at the moment, she could now see that it was little more than another stalling tactic.

  Have you counted the koloss in my army, Vin? Ruin asked. I've made them from your people, you know. I've gathered hundreds of thousands.

  Vin focused, enumerating instantly. He was telling the truth.

  This is the force I could have thrown at you at any time, Ruin said. Most of them kept to the Outer Dominances, but I've been bringing them in, marching them toward Luthadel. How many times must I tell you, Vin? You can't win. You could never win. I've just been playing with you.

  Vin pulled back, ignoring his lies. He hadn't been playing with them-he'd been trying to discover the secrets that Preservation had left, the secret that the Lord Ruler had kept. Still, the numbers Ruin had finally managed to marshal were awe-inspiring. There were far more koloss than there were people climbing into the caverns. With a force like that, Ruin could assault even a well-fortified position. And, by Vin's count, Elend had fewer than a thousand men with any battle training.

  On top of that, there was the sun and its destructive heat, the death of the world's crops, the tainting of water and land with several feet of ash. . Even the lava flows, which she had stopped, were beginning again, her plugging of the ashmounts having provided only a temporary solution. A bad one, even. Now that the mountains couldn't erupt, great cracks were appearing in the land, and the magma, the earth's burning blood, was boiling out that way.

  We're just so far behind! Vin thought. Ruin had centuries to plan this. Even when we thought we were being clever, we fell for his plots. What good is it to sequester my people beneath the ground if they're just going to starve?

  She turned toward Ruin, who sat billowing and shifting upon himself, watching his koloss army. She felt a hatred that seemed incompatible with the power she held. The hatred made her sick, but she didn't let go of it.

  This thing before her. . it would destroy everything she knew, everything she loved. It couldn't understand love. It built only so that it could destroy. At that moment, she reversed her earlier decision. She'd never again call Ruin a "him." Humanizing the creature gave it too much respect.

  Seething, watching, she didn't know what else to do. So, she attacked.

  She wasn't even certain how she did it. She threw herself at Ruin, forcing her power up against its power. There was friction between them, a clash of energy, and it tormented her divine body. Ruin cried out, and-mixing with Ruin-she knew its mind.

  Ruin was surprised. It didn't expect Preservation to be able to attack. Vin's move smacked too much of destruction. Ruin didn't know how to respond, but it threw its power back against her in a protective reflex. Their selves crashed, threatening to dissolve. Finally, Vin pulled back, lacerated, rebuffed.

  Their power was too well matched. Opposite, yet similar. Like Allomancy.

  Opposition, Ruin whispered. Balance. You'll learn to hate it, I suspect, though Preservation never could.

  "So, this is the body of a god?" Elend asked, rolling the bead of atium around in his palm. He held it up next to the one that Yomen had given him.

  "Indeed, Your Majesty," Sazed said. The Terrisman looked eager. Didn't he understand how dangerous their situation was? Demoux's scouts-the ones that had returned-reported that the koloss were only minutes away. Elend had ordered his troops posted at the doorways to the Homeland, but his hope-that the koloss wouldn't know where to find his people-was a slim one, considering what Sazed had told him about Ruin.

  "Ruin can't help but come for it," Sazed explained. They stood in the metal-lined cavern called the Trustwarren, the place where the kandra had spent th
e last thousand years gathering and guarding the atium. "This atium is part of him. It's what he's been searching for all this time."

  "Which means we'll have a couple hundred thousand koloss trying to climb down our throats, Sazed," Elend said, handing back the bead of atium. "I say we give it to him."

  Sazed paled. "Give it to him? Your Majesty, my apologies, but that would mean the end of the world. Instantly. I am certain of it."

  Great, Elend thought.

  "It will be all right, Elend," Sazed said.

  Elend frowned up at the Terrisman, who stood peacefully in his robes.

  "Vin will come," Sazed explained. "She is the Hero of Ages-she will arrive to save this people. Don't you see how perfect this all is? It's arranged, planned. That you would come here, find me, at this exact moment. . That you'd be able to lead the people to safety in these caverns. . Well, it all fits together. She'll come."

  Interesting time for him to get his faith back, Elend thought. He rolled Yomen's bead between his fingers, thinking. Outside the room, he could hear whispers. People-Terris stewards, skaa leaders, even a few soldiers-stood listening. Elend could hear the anxiety in their voices. They had heard of the approaching army. As Elend watched, Demoux carefully pushed his way through them and entered the room.

  "Soldiers posted, my lord," the general said.

  "How many do we have?" Elend asked.

  Demoux looked grim. "The two hundred and eighty I brought with me," he said. "Plus about five hundred from the city. Another hundred ordinary citizens that we armed with those kandra hammers, or spare weapons from our soldiers. And, we have four different entrances to this cavern complex we need to guard."

  Elend closed his eyes.

  "She'll come," Sazed said.

  "My lord," Demoux said, pulling Elend aside. "This is bad."

  "I know," Elend said, exhaling softly. "Did you give the men metals?"

  "What we could find," Demoux said quietly. "The people didn't think to bring powdered metal with them when they fled Luthadel. We've found a couple of noblemen who were Allomancers, but they were only Copperclouds or Seekers."

  Elend nodded. He'd bribed or pressed the useful nobleman Allomancers into his army already.

  "We gave those metals to my soldiers," Demoux said. "But none of them could burn them. Even if we had Allomancers, we cannot hold this location, my lord! Not with so few soldiers, not against that many koloss. We'll delay them at first, because of the narrow entrances. But. . well. ."

  "I realize that, Demoux," Elend said with frustration. "But do you have any other options?"

  Demoux was silent. "I was hoping you'd have some, my lord."

  "None here," Elend said.

  Demoux grew grim. "Then we die."

  "What about faith, Demoux?" Elend asked.

  "I believe in the Survivor, my lord. But. . well, this looks pretty bad. I've felt like a man waiting his turn before the headsman ever since we spotted those koloss. Maybe the Survivor doesn't want us to succeed here. Sometimes, people just have to die."

  Elend turned away, frustrated, clenching and unclenching his fist around the bead of atium. It was the same problem, the same trouble he always had. He'd failed back during the siege of Luthadel-it had taken Vin to protect the city. He'd failed in Fadrex City-only the koloss getting distracted had rescued him there.

  A ruler's most basic duty was to protect his people. In this one area, Elend continually felt impotent. Useless.

  Why can't I do it? Elend thought with frustration. I spend a year searching out storage caverns to provide food, only to end up trapped with my people starving. I search all that time looking for the atium-hoping to use it to buy safety for my people-and then I find it too late to spend it on anything.

  Too late. .

  He paused, glancing back toward the metal plate in the floor.

  Years searching for. . atium.

  None of the metals Demoux had given his soldiers had worked. Elend had been working under the assumption that Demoux's group would be like the other mistfallen back in Urteau-that they'd be composed of all kinds of Mistings. Yet, there had been something different about Demoux's group. They had fallen sick for far longer than the others.

  Elend pushed forward, rushing past Sazed, grabbing a handful of beads. A vast wealth, unlike anything any man had ever possessed. Valuable for its rarity. Valuable for its economic power. Valuable for its Allomancy.

  "Demoux," he snapped, rising and tossing the bead to him. "Eat this."

  Demoux frowned. "My lord?"

  "Eat it," Elend said.

  Demoux did as asked. He stood for a moment.

  Two hundred and eighty men, Elend thought. Sent away from my army because of all the ones who fell sick, they were the most sick. Sixteen days.

  Two hundred and eighty men. One-sixteenth of those who fell sick. One out of sixteen Allomantic metals.

  Yomen had proven that there was such a thing as an atium Misting. If Elend hadn't been so distracted, he would have made the connection earlier. If one out of sixteen who fell sick remained that way the longest, would that not imply that they'd gained the most powerful of the sixteen abilities?

  Demoux looked up, eyes widening.

  And Elend smiled.

  Vin hovered outside the cavern, watching with dread as the koloss approached. They were already in a blood frenzy-Ruin had that much control over them. There were thousands upon thousands of them. The slaughter was about to begin.

  Vin cried out as they drew closer, throwing herself against Ruin again, trying to drive her power to destroy the thing. As before, she was rebuffed. She felt herself screaming, trembling as she thought about the impending deaths below. It would be like the tsunami deaths on the coast, only worse.

  For these were people she knew. People she loved.

  She turned back toward the entrance. She didn't want to watch, but she wouldn't be able to do anything else. Her self was everywhere. Even if she pulled her nexus away, she knew that she'd still feel the deaths-that they would make her tremble and weep.

  From within the cavern, echoing, she sensed a familiar voice. "Today, men, I ask of you your lives." Vin hovered down, listening, though she couldn't see into the cavern because of the metals in the rock. She could hear, however. If she'd had eyes, she would have been crying, she knew.

  "I ask of you your lives," Elend said, voice echoing, "and your courage. I ask of you your faith, and your honor-your strength, and your compassion. For today, I lead you to die. I will not ask you to welcome this event. I will not insult you by calling it well, or just, or even glorious. But I will say this.

  "Each moment you fight is a gift to those in this cavern. Each second we fight is a second longer that thousands of people can draw breath. Each stroke of the sword, each koloss felled, each breath earned is a victory! It is a person protected for a moment longer, a life extended, an enemy frustrated!"

  There was a brief pause.

  "In the end, they will kill us," Elend said, voice loud, ringing in the cavern. "But first, they shall fear us!"

  The men yelled at this, and Vin's enhanced mind could pick out around two hundred and fifty distinct voices. She heard them split, rushing toward the different cavern entrances. A moment later, someone appeared from the front entrance near her.

  A figure in white slowly stepped out into the ash, brilliant white cape fluttering. He held a sword in one hand.

  Elend! she tried to cry at him. No! Go back! Charging them is madness! You'll be killed!

  Elend stood tall, watching the waves of koloss as they approached, trampling down the black ash, an endless sea of death with blue skin and red eyes. Many carried swords, the others just bore rocks and lengths of wood. Elend was a tiny white speck before them, a single dot on an endless canvas of blue.

  He raised his sword high and charged.

  ELEND!

  Suddenly, Elend burst with a brilliant energy, so bright that Vin gasped. He met the first koloss head-on, ducking beneath the s
winging sword and decapitating the creature in one stroke. Then, instead of jumping away, he spun to the side, swinging. Another koloss fell. Three swords flashed around him, but all missed by just a breath. Elend ducked to the side, taking a koloss in the stomach, then whipped his sword around-his head barely passing beneath another swing-and took off a koloss arm.

  He still didn't Push himself away. Vin froze, watching as he took down one koloss, then beheaded another in a single, fluid stroke. Elend moved with a grace she had never seen from him-she had always been the better warrior, yet at this moment, he put her to shame. He wove between koloss blades as if he were taking part in a prerehearsed stage fight, body after body falling before his gliding blade.

  A group of soldiers in Elend's colors burst from the cavern entrance, charging. Like a wave of light, their forms exploded with power. They, too, moved into the koloss ranks, striking with incredible precision. Not a single one of them fell as Vin watched. They fought with miraculous skill and fortune, each koloss blade falling just a little too late. Blue corpses began to pile up around the glowing force of men.

  Somehow, Elend had found an entire army who could burn atium.

  Elend was a god.

  He'd never burned atium before, and his first experience with the metal filled him with wonder. The koloss around him all emitted atium shadows-images that moved before they did, showing Elend exactly what they would do. He could see into the future, if only a few seconds. In a battle, that was just what one needed.

  He could feel the atium enhancing his mind, making him capable of reading and using all of the new information. He didn't even have to pause and think. His arms moved of their own volition, swinging his sword with awesome precision.

  He spun amid a cloud of phantom images, striking at flesh, feeling almost as if he were in the mists again. No koloss could stand against him. He felt energized-he felt amazing. For a time, he was invincible. He'd swallowed so many atium beads he felt as if he'd throw up. For its entire history, atium had been a thing that men had needed to save and hoard. Burning it had seemed such a shame that it had been used only sparingly, only in instances of great need.