Brandon SANDERSON: The Well of Ascension

I have a young nephew, one Rashek. He hates all of Khlennium with the passion of envious youth. He hates Alendi even more acutely – though the two have never met – for Rashek feels betrayed that one of our oppressors should have been chosen as the Hero of Ages.

Alendi will need guides through the Terris Mountains. I have charged Rashek with making certain that he and his trusted friends are chosen as those guides. Rashek is to try and lead Alendi in the wrong direction, to dissuade him, discourage him, or otherwise foil his quest. Alendi doesn’t know that he has been deceived, that we’ve all been deceived, and he will not listen to me now.

If Rashek fails to lead the trek astray, then I have instructed the lad to kill Alendi. It is a distant hope. Alendi has survived assassins, wars, and catastrophes. And yet, I hope that in the frozen mountains of Terris, he may finally be exposed. I hope for a miracle.

Alendi must not reach the Well of Ascension, for he must not be allowed to release the thing that is imprisoned there.

Sazed sat back. It was the final blow, the last strike that killed whatever was left of his faith.

He knew at that moment that he would never believe again.

Vin found Elend standing on the city wall, looking over the city of Luthadel. He wore a white uniform, one of the ones that Tindwyl had made for him. He looked… harder than he had just a few weeks before.

“You’re awake,” she said, moving up beside him.

He nodded. He didn’t look at her, but continued to watch the city, with its bustling people. He’d spent quite a bit of time delirious and in bed, despite the healing power of his newfound Allomancy. Even with pewter, the surgeons had been uncertain if he’d survive.

He had. And, like a true Allomancer, he was up and about the first day he was lucid.

“What happened?” he asked.

She shook her head, leaning against the stones of the battlement. She could still hear that terrible, booming voice. I am FREE…

“I’m an Allomancer,” Elend said.

She nodded.

“Mistborn, apparently,” he continued.

“I think… we know where they came from, now,” Vin said. “The first Allomancers.”

“What happened to the power? Ham didn’t have a straight answer for me, and all anyone else knows are rumors.”

“I set something free,” she whispered. “Something that shouldn’t have been released; something that led me to the Well. I should never have gone looking for it, Elend.”

Elend stood in silence, still regarding the city.

She turned, burying her head in his chest. “It was terrible,” she said. “I could feel that. And I set it free.”

Finally, Elend wrapped his arms around her. “You did the best you could, Vin,” he said. “In fact, you did the right thing. How could you have known that everything you’d been told, trained, and prepared to do was wrong?”

Vin shook her head. “I am worse than the Lord Ruler. In the end, maybe he realized he was being tricked, and knew he had to take the power rather than release it.”

“If he’d been a good man, Vin,” Elend said, “he wouldn’t have done the things he did to this land.”

“I may have done far worse,” Vin said. “This thing I released… the mists killing people, and coming during the day… Elend, what are we going to do?”

He looked at her for a moment, then turned back toward the city and its people. “We’re going to do what Kelsier taught us, Vin. We’re going to survive.”

1. Metals Quick-Reference Chart

2. Names and Terms

3. Summary of Book One

You can also find extensive annotations of every chapter in the book along with deleted scenes, a very active blog, and expanded world information at www.brandonsanderson.com.

ALENDI: A man who conquered the world a thousand years ago, before the Lord Ruler’s Ascension. Vin found his journal in the Lord Ruler’s palace, and thought – at first – that he had become the Lord Ruler. It was later discovered that his servant, Rashek, killed him and took his place. Alendi was a friend and protege of Kwaan, a Terris scholar who thought that Alendi might be the Hero of Ages.

ALLOMANCY: A mystical hereditary power involving the burning of metals inside the body to gain special abilities.

ALLOMANTIC METALS: There are eight basic Allomantic metals. These come in pairs, comprising a base metal and its alloy. They can also be divided into two groups of four as internal metals (tin, pewter, copper, bronze) and external metals (iron, steel, zinc, brass). It was long assumed that there were only two other Allomantic metals: gold and atium. However, the discovery of alloys for gold and atium has expanded the number of metals to twelve. There have been rumors of other metals, one of which has been discovered. (See also: Aluminum.)

ALLOMANTIC PULSE: The signal given off by an Allomancer who is burning metals. Only someone who is burning bronze can “hear” an Allomantic pulse.

ALLRIANNE: Lord Ashweather Cett’s only daughter.

ALUMINUM: A metal Vin was forced to burn in the Lord Ruler’s palace. Once known only to the Steel Inquisitors, this metal, when burned, depletes all of an Allomancer’s other metal reserves. Its alloy, if it has one, is unknown.

AMARANTA: One of Straff Venture’s mistresses. An herbalist.

ANCHOR (ALLOMANTIC): A term used to refer to a piece of metal that an Allomancer Pushes on or Pulls on when burning iron or steel.

ASCENSION (OF THE LORD RULER): The Ascension is the term used to describe what happened to Rashek when he took the power at the Well of Ascension and became the Lord Ruler.

ASHFALLS: Ash falls frequently from the sky in the Final Empire because of the Ashmounts.

ASHMOUNTS: Seven large ash volcanoes that appeared in the Final Empire during the Ascension.

ASHWEATHER: Lord Cett’s first name.

ATIUM: A strange metal formerly produced in the Pits of Hathsin. It collected inside of small geodes that formed in crystalline pockets in caves beneath the ground.

BIRCHBANE: A common poison.

BOXING: The slang name for an imperial gold coin. The name comes from the picture on its back of Kredik Shaw, the Lord Ruler’s palace – or, the “box” in which he lives.

BREEZE: A Soother on Kelsier’s crew, now one of Elend’s foremost counselors.

BRONZEPULSE: Another term for an Allomantic pulse.

BURN (ALLOMANCY): An Allomancer utilizing or expending the metals in their stomachs. First, they must swallow a metal, then Allomantically metabolize it inside of them to access its power.

BURNLANDS: The deserts at the edges of the Final Empire.

CAMON: Vin’s old crewleader. A harsh man who often beat her, Camon was cast out by Kelsier. The Inquisitors eventually killed him.

CANTON: A suboffice within the Steel Ministry.

CETT: Lord Ashweather Cett is the most prominent king who has managed to gain power in the Western Dominance. His home city is Fadrex.

CHANNEREL: The river that runs through Luthadel.

CLADENT: Clubs’s real name.

CLIP (COINAGE): The nickname for an imperial copper coin in the Final Empire. Commonly used by Mistborn and Coinshots for jumping and attacking.

CLUBS: A Smoker on Kelsier’s crew, now general of Elend’s armies. He once was a skaa carpenter.

COINSHOT: A Misting who can burn steel.

COLLAPSE, THE: The death of the Lord Ruler and the fall of the Final Empire.

COPPERCLOUD: The invisible, obsuring field set up by someone burning copper. If an Allomancer burns metals while within a coppercloud, their Allomantic pulses are hidden from those burning bronze. The term “Coppercloud” is also, sometimes, used to refer to a Smoker (a Misting who can burn copper).