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Elend skidded down so the center of what looked like an i at the fallen blocks and spires
"Lord Ruler" he swore quietly, unable to help hi happened at the Well of Ascension? Had it exploded?
Elend turned, looking across his city It appeared to be eest overnood third of it burned, and Kredik Shaw itself flattened as if it had been pounded by the fist of a god
Elend dropped a coin and shot away, heading along his original path toward the northeastern section of the city He'd co to find Vin, but had been forced to take a slight detour to the south in order to get around a particularly large swath of lava burning the plains around Mount Tyrian That sight, along with the sight of Luthadel in ruin, left him very disturbed
Where was Vin?
He ju He kicked up ash with each leap Things were happening The ash was slowly trickling away--in fact, it had ood, but he reo when the sun had suddenly blazed with an a intensity Those few moments had burned him so that his face still hurt
Then, the sun haddropped It had fallen below the horizon in less than a second, the ground lurching beneath Elend's feet Part of hi httime, even if his body--and one of the city clocks he had visited--indicated that it should have been afternoon
He landed on a building, then juainst a broken door handle He shivered as he ht--the stars blazing uncomfortably above--and there was no mist Vin had told him that the mists would protect hione?
He made his way to Keep Venture, his palace He found the building to be a burned-out husk He landed in the courtyard, staring up at his ho to uards in the brown colors of his livery lay deco on the cobblestones All was still
What in the hell happened here? he thought with frustration He poked through the building, but found no clues All had been burned He left via a brokenon the top floor, then paused at so he saw in the rear courtyard
He dropped to the ground And there, beneath a patio canopy that had kept off entle the sword thrust through its stoers still held the weapon Penrod, he thought, recognizing the face Dead, presu lay scrawled in charcoal on the patio floor Elend wiped away the drifted ash, s the letters in the process Fortunately, he could still read the has taken control of meof this city I am lucid only part of the time Better to kill myself than to cause more destruction Look toward the Terris Dominance for your people
Elend turned toward the north Terris? That seee If the people of the city had fled, then ould they have left the Central Dominance, the place where the mists were the weakest?
He eyed the scribbles
Ruina voice seee text Words like Penrod's couldn't be trusted Elend bid a silent farewell to the corpse, wishing he had the time to bury the old statesman, then dropped a coin to Push hione somewhere If Ruin had found a way to kill them, then Elend would have found more corpses He suspected that if he took the ti in the city Likely, the disappearance of the ht--had driven thee cavern beneath Kredik Shaw Elend hoped that not e that had been done to the palace If there were people there, they would be sealed in
Westthe wind seees text so that it's very siht SoPenrod probably did write o to find my people Ruin made it sound like they went to the Terris Doinally wrote that they went to the Terris people?
It one there--it was a place where there was already an established group of refugees, a group with herds, crops, and food
Elend turned west, leaving the city, cloak flapping with each Allomantic bound
Suddenly, Ruin's frustration made even more sense to Vin She felt she held the power of all creation Yet, it took everything she had to get even a feords to Elend
She wasn't even certain if he'd heard her or not She knew him so well, however, that she felt aconnection Despite Ruin's efforts to block her, she felt as if soh to some part of Elend Perhaps in the same way Ruin was able to communicate with his Inquisitors and followers?
Still, her near-i
Balance, Ruin spat Balance imprisoned me Preservation's sacrifice--that was to siphon off the part of er, to lock it away, to leave ain For a time