Mistborn #02 The Well of Ascension

shared a bit of Kelsier's view regarding the Lord Ruler—that he was more man than deity. But, if he'd truly created a completely new species, then there had to have been some divinity in him.
    The power of the Well of Ascension , she thought. He took it for himself—but it didn't last. It must have run out, and quickly. Otherwise, why would he have needed armies to conquer ?
    An initial burst of power, the ability to create, to change—perhaps to save. He'd pushed back the mists, and in the process he'd somehow made the ash begin to fall and the sky turn red. He'd created the kandra to serve him—and probably the koloss, too. He might even have created Allomancers themselves.
    And after that, he had returned to being a normal man. Mostly. The Lord Ruler had still held an inordinate amount of power for an Allomancer, and had managed to keep control of his creations—and he had somehow kept the mists from killing.
    Until Vin had slain him. Then the koloss had begun to rampage, and the mists had returned. The kandra hadn't been beneath his control at that time, so they remained as they were. But, he built into them a method of control, should he need it. A way to make the kandra serve him. . ..
    Vin closed her eyes, and quested out lightly with her Allomantic senses. OreSeur had said that kandra couldn't be affected by Allomancy—but she knew something else about the Lord Ruler, something that had distinguished him from other Allomancers. His inordinate power had allowed him to do things he shouldn't have been able to.
    Things like pierce copperclouds, and affect metals inside of a person's body. Maybe that was how he controlled the kandra, the thing that OreSeur was speaking of. The reason they feared Mistborn.
    Not because Mistborn could kill them, but because Mistborn could do something else. Enslave them, somehow. Tentatively, testing what he'd said earlier, Vin reached out with a Soothing and touched OreSeur's emotions. Nothing happened.
    I can do some of the same things as the Lord Ruler , she thought. I can pierce copperclouds. Perhaps, if I just Push harder . . .
    She focused, and Pushed on his emotions with a powerful Soothing. Again, nothing happened. Just as he'd told her. She sat for a moment. And then, impulsively, she burned duralumin and tried one final, massive Push.
    OreSeur immediately let out a howl so bestial and unexpected that Vin jumped to her feet in shock, flaring pewter.
    OreSeur fell to the bed, shaking.
    "OreSeur!" she said, dropping to her knees, grabbing his head. "I'm sorry!"
    "Said too much. . ." he muttered, still shaking. "I knew I'd said too much."
    "I didn't mean to hurt you," Vin said.
    The shaking subsided, and OreSeur fell still for a moment, breathing quietly. Finally, he pulled his head out of her arms. "What you meant is immaterial, Mistress," he said flatly. "The mistake was mine. Please, never do that again."
    "I promise," she said. "I'm sorry."
    He shook his head, crawling off the bed. "You shouldn't even have been able to do it. There are strange things about you, Mistress—you are like the Allomancers of old, before the passage of generations dulled their powers."
    "I'm sorry," Vin said again, feeling helpless. He saved my life, nearly broke his Contract, and I do this to him . . ..
    OreSeur shrugged. "It is done. I need to rest. I suggest that you do the same."

After that, I began to see other problems .

41
    "'I WRITE THIS RECORD NOW,'" Sazed read out loud, "'pounding it into a metal slab, because I am afraid. Afraid for myself, yes—I admit to being human. If Alendi does return from the Well of Ascension, I am certain that my death will be one of his first objectives. He is not an evil man, but he is a ruthless one. That is, I think, a product of what he has been through.'"
    "That fits what we know of Alendi from the logbook," Tindwyl said. "Assuming that Alendi is that book's author."
    Sazed glanced at his pile of notes, running over the basics in his mind. Kwaan had been an ancient Terris scholar. He had discovered Alendi, a man he began to think—through his studies—might be the Hero of Ages, a figure from Terris prophecy. Alendi had listened to him, and had become a political leader. He had conquered much of the world, then traveled north to the Well of Ascension. By then, however, Kwaan had apparently changed his mind about Alendi—and had tried to stop him from getting to the Well.
    It fit together. Even though the logbook author never mentioned his