The Hero of Ages

speech.'

Elend nodded.

'My lord. .' Demoux said, 'did you mean what you said about the Survivor?'

'Of course I did.'

'I'm sorry, my lord,' Demoux said. 'I didn't mean to question your faith, it's just that. . well, you don't have to keep up the charade of belief, if you don't want to.'

'I gave my word, Demoux,' Elend said, frowning and glancing at the scarred general. 'I do what I say.'

'I believe you, my lord,' Demoux said. 'You are an honorable man.'

'But?'

Demoux paused. 'But. . if you don't really believe in the Survivor, I don't think he would want you speaking in his name.'

Elend opened his mouth to reprimand Demoux for his lack of respect, but stopped himself. The man spoke with honesty, from his heart. That wasn't the kind of thing to punish.

Besides, he might have had a point. 'I don't know what I believe, Demoux,' Elend said, looking back at the field of soldiers. 'Certainly not in the Lord Ruler. Sazed's religions have been dead for centuries, and even he has stopped talking about them. It seems to me that leaves the Church of the Survivor as the only real option.'

'With all due respect, my lord,' Demoux said. 'That's not a very strong profession of faith.'

'I'm having trouble with faith lately, Demoux,' Elend said, looking up, watching flakes of ash drift through the air. 'My last god was killed by the woman I eventually married-a woman you claim as a religious figure, but who spurns your devotion.'

Demoux nodded quietly.

'I don't reject your god, Demoux,' Elend said. 'I meant what I said-I think having faith in Kelsier is better than the alternatives. And, considering what's going to be coming at us in the next few months, I'd rather believe that something-anything-is out there helping us.'

They were quiet for a few moments.

'I know that the Lady Heir objects to our worship of the Survivor, my lord,' Demoux finally said. 'She knew him, as did I. What she doesn't understand is that the Survivor has become so much more than just the man Kelsier.'

Elend frowned. 'That sounds like you calculatedly made him a god, Demoux-that you believe in him as a symbol only.'

Demoux shook his head. 'I'm saying that Kelsier was a man, but a man who gained something-a mantle, a portion of something eternal and immortal. When he died, he wasn't just Kelsier, the crewleader. Don't you think it odd that he was never Mistborn before he went to the Pits?'

'That's the way Allomancy works, Demoux,' Elend said. 'You don't gain your powers until you Snap-until you face something traumatic, something that nearly kills you.'

'And you don't think that Kelsier experienced those kinds of events before the Pits?' Demoux asked. 'My lord, he was a thief who robbed from obligators and noblemen. He lived a very dangerous life. You think he could have avoided beatings, near-deaths, and emotional anguish?'

Elend paused.

'He gained his powers at the Pits,' Demoux said quietly, 'because something else came upon him. People who knew him speak of how he was a changed man when he came back. He had purpose-he was driven to accomplish something the rest of the world thought impossible.'

Demoux shook his head. 'No, my lord. Kelsier the man died in those Pits, and Kelsier the Survivor was born. He was granted great power, and great wisdom, by a force that is above us all. That is why he accomplished what he did. That is why we worship him. He still had the follies of a man, but he had the hopes of a divinity.'

Elend turned away. The rational, scholarly side of him understood exactly what was happening. Kelsier was gradually being deified, his life made more and more mystical by those who followed him. Kelsier had to be invested with heavenly power, for the Church couldn't continue to revere a mere man.

And yet, another part of Elend was glad for the rationalization, if only because it made the story that much more believable. After all, Demoux was right. How did a man living on the streets last so long before Snapping?

Someone screamed.

Elend looked up, scanning the ranks. Men began to shuffle as the mists appeared, sprouting in the air like growing plants. He couldn't see the soldier who had fallen. Soon, the point was moot, for others began to scream.

The sun began to be obscured, blazing red as it approached the horizon. Elend's horse shuffled nervously. The captains ordered the men to remain steady, but Elend could still see motion. In the group before him, pockets appeared in the ranks as men randomly collapsed to the ground, like marionettes whose strings had been cut. They shook on the ground, other soldiers backing away in horror, mist moving all around.

They need me, Elend thought, grabbing his reigns, Pulling on the emotions of those around him. 'Demoux, let's ride.'

He turned his horse. Demoux did not follow.

Elend spun. 'Demoux? What-'

He choked off immediately. Demoux sat in the mists, shaking horribly. Even as Elend watched, the balding soldier slipped from his saddle, collapsing to the ankle-deep ash below.

'Demoux!' Elend yelled, hopping down, feeling like a fool. He'd never thought to wonder if Demoux was susceptible-he'd just assumed that he, like Vin and the others, was already immune. Elend knelt beside Demoux, his legs in the ash, listening to soldiers scream and captains yell for order. His friend shook and twisted, gasping in pain.

And the ash continued to fall.

Rashek didn't solve all the world's problems. In fact, with each thing he did fix, he created new issues. However, he was clever enough that each subsequent problem was smaller than the ones before it. So, instead of plants that died from the distorted sun and ashy ground, we got plants that didn't provide quite enough nutrition.

He did save the world. True, the near-destruction was his fault in the first place-but he did an admirable job, all things considered. At least he didn't release Ruin to the world as we did.

18

Sazed slapped his horse on the rump, sending it galloping away. The beast's hooves kicked up chunks of packed ash as it ran. Its coat had once been a keen white; now it was a rough gray. Its ribs were beginning to show-it was malnourished to the point that it was no longer reasonable to expect it to carry a rider, and they could no longer afford to spare food for it.

'Now, that's a sad sight,' Breeze noted, standing beside Sazed on the ash-covered road. Their guard of two hundred soldiers waited quietly, watching the beast run. Sazed couldn't help feeling that the release of their final horse was a symbol.

'You think it will be able to survive?' Breeze asked.

'I suspect that it will still be able to poke beneath the ash and find nourishment for a time,' Sazed said. 'It will be difficult, however.'

Breeze grunted. 'Living's difficult work for all of us, these days. Well, I wish the creature the best of luck. Are you going to join Allrianne and me in the carriage?'

Sazed glanced over his shoulder, toward the vehicle, which had been lightened, then rigged to be pulled by soldiers. They had removed the doors and hung curtains instead, and had removed sections of the back as well. With the decreased weight and two hundred men to take turns, the vehicle wouldn't be too much of a burden. Still, Sazed knew he would feel guilty being pulled by others. His old servant's instincts were too strong.