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The second ti him to bleed to death

Yet, that had been an atteet Vin to take the power at the Well of Ascension and use it to heal Elend The thing's intentions had been good, even if it had nearly killed Elend Plus, Vin said that this creature had led her to the bit of metal that had somehow turned Elend into an Alloure barely distinguishable in the patterns of flowing mists

"What?" Elend asked "What do you want of me?"

The mist spirit raised its arm and pointed to the northeast

That's what it did the first tio somewhere I didn't understand what it meant then either

"Look," Elend said, suddenly feeling exhausted "If you want to say so, why not just say it?"

The mist spirit stood quietly in the mists

"At least write it," Elend said "The pointing just isn't working" He knew that the creature--whatever it was--had soed to stab Elend handily enough

He expected the creature to just continue standing there However, to Elend's surprise, it followed the co down in the ash It reached out with a an to scratch in the ash Elend took a step forward, cocking1 his head to see what the thing riting

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

"Wellthat's pleasant," Elend said, feeling an eerie chill

Theno iround

Such odd words to write, Elend thought, when it seee 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 hied So, you had to do other things More blunt things--like pointing"

The creature stood

"So, write erated motions I'll watch the movements of your arm, and foran i its ar its motions He couldn't make any sense of them, let alone for 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 an to wave its arh," Elend said, shivering He glanced around, but could see nothing else in theVin had released was there, then itdifferent A slight increase in wind, a touch of ice in the air, the ining things

He focused his attention back on the mist spirit "You'renot as solid as you were before"

The creature remained still

"Is that a no?" Elend said, frustrated The creature re hiic 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 arht

"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 1bit disconsolate this tiht Of course, he could have guessed that Whatever the ical answer to their problems If it were, it would have saved them by now

What we lack ht I need to learn what I can fro

"Are you related to the ash?" he asked

Nothe ashfalls?" he asked

Nothe ashfalls?"

This ti the mists to come in the day too?"

Nothe mists to coht at this one, then it waved about less vigorously than before