A forest that was not there yesterday

[unprophesied_of_ages]

The Lord Ruler is in his palace, when he sees a sight he hasn't seen in centuries. Trees, sunlight...is he hallucinating? The fact that there's a forest in his living room isn't the surprising part. The fact that there's a forest on his planet is. As soon as he walks through the door to where his living room isn't, it's definitely not a hallucination.

His stores of Allomantic metals abruptly disappear. They're still physically there, but the power is completely gone. He immediately turns to go back, only to see more forest.

At least his Feruchemy still works—he can tell because he's still alive—but that won't last him forever. He only has so much stored youth, and without both sets of abilities he can't replenish it. He hasn't been in so much danger since the beheading that one time. Returning to Scadrial is the highest and currently only priority. If spontaneous forests are a thing, he needs to find someone who can explain them and more importantly how to get back.

The next few hours are spent walking in an essentially randomly chosen direction, with the sun to his right. He's quite certain that suns are supposed to be moving across the sky, but that's not a pressing emergency. He already knew he wasn't on his own planet when he saw proper trees and plants instead of ash-covered monstrosities. Whenever he calls out, nobody responds. If it's an empty spontaneous forest, he's probably doomed.

After some time, he hears his stomach growl. He hasn't seen much that looks edible, but possibly that's just because he's not used to real plants. Berries. Berries used to exist. Those berries look tasty, and if they're poisonous it's not like he needs to worry about it. As always, he has a truly ridiculous amount of stored health in his gold jewelry. Tapping gold just in case, he eats a handful.

Comments

[imeanforever]

"But if it goes under the skin it's fine?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Correct. Then it's impossible to affect without Hemalurgy, hence the exception for Inquisitors and me."

[imeanforever]

"Right, where can I put it that won't get in the way of any spikes I might need to add later?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Depends on what spikes you might want. Making it an earring is probably safe; I doubt you'll need that space open.
If there's too much metal for an earring, you can break it in two and empty the larger piece while filling the smaller. The upper limit on how much a bit of metal can hold is really high."

[imeanforever]

Promise removes the anklets, peers at them, reshapes them into complicated winding earcuffs that loop over the backs of her ears and have piercing components, and puts them on. "Will this do?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi checks that they're each one piece. "Yes, definitely. It shouldn't come up, but preparedness doesn't hurt.

I have all the materials I'd need for my part, that I know of. More quantity of those two new metals would be convenient but I'd be surprised if it actually mattered. So since we're pretty much prepared magically, should we decide on what to put in the public announcement?"

[imeanforever]

"You know more about what the considerations are there than I do."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I'm definitely going to have to warn people about the orders. Which is inconveniently also the part that threatens you. At least my recent decree that all new children are to have their names kept secret will make more sense now.

Do you mind if I claim to have enslaved you as an explanation for why you're working against the invaders, or would you rather be credited as our glorious savior?"

[imeanforever]

"I don't... I don't require credit but I may require acknowledgment of my own initiative. If people think I'm wandering around in a haze of variously obsolete commands, unresponsive to new information, this may not end well."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"The reason I ask is because Thorn thinks you're only acting because of orders. In the case where his people come here, that particular misconception might or might not matter."

[imeanforever]

"What exactly does Thorn think about our working relationship?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"That we're mutually vassals and I surprised you with a 'take no new action' order.
No, wait, he also knows that I handed you control of my Empire when I left. Never mind."

[imeanforever]

"So Thorn expects that either I get along well enough with you or that you're crafty enough with orders to do that, and I think he's got enough information to know that you aren't quite that crafty with orders. He wasn't crafty enough to get adequate control over me. Acknowledging that my initiative is valid won't cause extra problems there."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"He might conceivably think that I thought I could control you that way, but we can probably assume he doesn't. Glorious savior it is, then.

I feel like the most interesting things—the emigration to Fairyland, that I can help people forget things—should definitely not be published. Even sorcery, there's no credible reason why we should want people to know about it even though we do."

[imeanforever]

"And we should hang on to things we know and Thorn's people don't, like the fact that sorcery works in the mortal world after all, as long as possible."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Oh, definitely.
Speaking of which, are you a match for Thorn's sorcerers now that you have the earrings?"

[imeanforever]

"I... will be able to surprise them relative to what they'd expect of my competence otherwise. I think I could beat Rainfall unless Rainfall surprised me or figured out that the earrings were helping. I might need more practice using them to know if I could beat Blossom."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"To a first approximation, they will let you think fast enough to stop time relative to your opponent. If you also need physical movement for sorcery, I can get you another spike to match."

[imeanforever]

"I might need to move my eyes, turn my head, to see more of the space."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Oh. Right. I use them together so much, I tend to think of that as part of the mental one. Suppose I probably should, then."

[imeanforever]

She nods. "I'm not sure where to put a third chunk of metal that won't get in my way..."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"You could put it where your bronze earring is. Since you already have two spikes made of bronze, and those are touching your skin, you could store the alertness in one of those instead.

The next spike goes through your heart. Do you think you might want to rethink it?"

[imeanforever]

"I didn't know the spikes could be dual-purposed like that but I suppose it makes sense; I'll do that. It can't kill me. What other side effects might I need to consider?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"More spikes can make you more susceptible to Allomancy that affects emotions. The first few barely matter, but if you're racking them up like this I imagine you'll want to be warned."

[imeanforever]

"...I can layer my spell a few more times. Does it make me more susceptible to anything else?"