The Hero of Ages

had some corporeality. After all, it had managed to stab Elend handily enough.

He expected the creature to just continue standing there. However, to Elend's surprise, it followed the command, kneeling down in the ash. It reached out with a misty hand, and began to scratch in the ash. Elend took a step forward, cocking his head to see what the thing was writing.

I will kill you, the words said. Death, death, death.

'Well. . that's pleasant,' Elend said, feeling an eerie chill.

The mist spirit seemed to slump. It knelt in the ash, making no impression in the ground.

Such odd words to write, Elend thought, when it seemed to be trying to get me to trust it. . 'It can change your words, can't it?' Elend asked. 'The other force. It can rewrite pieces of text on paper, so why not things scratched in ash?'

The mist spirit looked up.

'That's why you ripped the corners off of Sazed's papers,' Elend said. 'You couldn't write him a note, because the words would just get changed. So, you had to do other things. More blunt things-like pointing.'

The creature stood.

'So, write more slowly,' Elend said. 'Use exaggerated motions. I'll watch the movements of your arm, and form the letters in my mind.'

The mist spirit began immediately, waving its arms about. Elend cocked his head, watching its motions. He couldn't make any sense of them, let alone form letters out of them.

'Wait,' he said, holding up a hand. 'That isn't working. Either it's changing things, or you just don't know your letters.'

Silence.

Wait, Elend thought, glancing at the text on the ground. If the text changed. .

'It's here, isn't it,' he said, feeling a sudden and icy chill. 'It's here with us now.'

The mist spirit remained still.

'Bounce around for a yes,' Elend said.

The mist spirit began to wave its arms as it had before.

'Close enough,' Elend said, shivering. He glanced around, but could see nothing else in the mists. If the thing Vin had released was there, then it made no impression. Yet, Elend thought he could feel something different. A slight increase in wind, a touch of ice in the air, the mists moving about more agitatedly. Perhaps he was just imagining things.

He focused his attention back on the mist spirit. 'You're. . not as solid as you were before.'

The creature remained still.

'Is that a no?' Elend said, frustrated. The creature remained still.

Elend closed his eyes. Forcing himself to focus, thinking back to the logic puzzles of his youth. I need to approach this more directly. Use questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. Why would the mist spirit be harder to see now than before? Elend opened his eyes.

'Are you weaker than you were before?' he asked.

The thing waved its arms.

Yes, Elend thought.

'Is it because the world is ending?' Elend asked.

More waving.

'Are you weaker than the other thing? The thing Vin set free?'

Waving.

'A lot weaker?' Elend asked.

It waved, though it seemed a bit disconsolate this time.

Great, Elend thought. Of course, he could have guessed that. Whatever the mist spirit was, it wasn't a magical answer to their problems. If it were, it would have saved them by now.

What we lack most is information, Elend thought. I need to learn what I can from this thing.

'Are you related to the ash?' he asked.

No motion.

'Are you causing the ashfalls?' he asked.

No motion.

'Is the other thing causing the ashfalls?'

This time, it waved.

Okay. 'Is it causing the mists to come in the day too?'

No motion.

'Are you causing the mists to come in the day?'

It seemed to pause in thought at this one, then it waved about less vigorously than before.

Is that a 'maybe'? Elend wondered. Or a 'partially'?

The creature fell still. It was getting harder and harder to see it in the mists. Elend flared his tin, but that didn't make the creature any more distinct. It seemed to be. . fading.

'Where was it you wanted me to go?' Elend asked, more for himself than expecting an answer. 'You pointed. . east? Did you want me to go back to Luthadel?'

It waved with half-enthusiasm again.

'Do you want me to attack Fadrex City?'

It stood still.

'Do you not want me to attack Fadrex City?'

It waved vigorously.

Interesting, he thought.

'The mists,' Elend said. 'They're connected to all this, aren't they?'

Waving.

'They're killing my men,' Elend said.

It stepped forward, then stood still, somehow looking urgent.

Elend frowned. 'You reacted to that. You mean to say they aren't killing my men?'

It waved.

'That's ridiculous. I've seen the men fall dead.'

It stepped forward, pointing at Elend. He glanced down at his sash. 'The coins?' he asked, looking up.

It pointed again. Elend reached into his sash. All that was there were his metal vials. He pulled one out. 'Metals?'

It waved vigorously. It just continued to wave and wave. Elend looked down at the vial. 'I don't understand.'

The creature fell still. It was getting more and more vague, as if it were evaporating.

'Wait!' Elend said, stepping forward. 'I have another question. One more before you go!'

It stared him in the eyes.

'Can we beat it?' Elend asked softly. 'Can we survive?'

Stillness. Then, the creature waved just briefly. Not a vigorous wave-more of a hesitant one. An uncertain one. It evaporated, maintaining that same wave, the mists becoming indistinct and leaving no sign that the creature had been there.

Elend stood in the darkness. He turned and glanced at his koloss army, who waited like the trunks of dark trees in the distance. Then he turned back, scanning for any further signs of the mist spirit. Finally, he just turned and began to tromp his way back to Fadrex. The koloss followed.

He felt. . stronger. It was silly-the mist spirit hadn't really given him any useful information. It had been almost like a child. The things it had told him were mostly just confirmations of what he'd already suspected.

Yet, as he walked, he moved with more determination. If only because he knew there were things in the world he didn't understand-and that meant, perhaps, there were possibilities he didn't see. Possibilities for survival.