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

[alicornucopia]

Alendi, eyeless and kept breathing and not shriveling to death solely on the sufferance of another's sorcery, is carried out of the room, tossed casually down an empty fairy "stairwell" and allowed to hit bottom in a way that only breaks his hip and both legs and not his skull, and then picked up again and carried some more.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

He can't even cry out.

[alicornucopia]

Nope! Everyone here is sure that the fairy hauling him would be suddenly moved to compassion if he did yelp, of course.

The dungeons are (as far as the blinded prisoner can tell by listening and feeling) earthen pits, with grates overhead. He is dropped into one. Ow. The grate is shut with a clang. There are footsteps, retreating; more approach and fade, as though there are patrolling guards above his pit.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi tries to count his injuries. The running total so far is "lots."

He lies where he lands, and stays there until further notice.

[alicornucopia]

It turns out his orders prevent him from trying to fall asleep. But he can do it otherwise. While languishing in immobile silent blinded agony in a pit and contemplating his life choices.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Mainly it's the Queen's choices that he's contemplating. He disapproves.

[alicornucopia]

He is left undisturbed, oxygenated but not breathing, alive but not vigorous, injured and unhealed.

Thorn's deadline approaches.






And then, in his ear:

Yellow's voice whispers, "I rescind Queenscourt orders."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

He gasps. For the first time in somewhere between minutes and weeks. His injuries heal, and the pain becomes a memory.

This can't possibly be Yellow's initiative.

"Mmph?"

Chain. Of course.

[imeanforever]

"Hang on," says Promise's voice, low and careful. "Keep quiet."

And one of the links on the chain breaks. The entire thing is a continuous mass; he could wriggle out of it now.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

He doesn't, because keeping quiet is a really good idea, but he whispers a summary across the gate.

"They came up with something I couldn't break. Magic stone of some kind.

But I got off a dart first, and if that can get past whatever defenses we don't know about then it did."

[imeanforever]

"So you might have got her? You got close enough? You don't have your name - did she feed you, did she order you?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Three people fed me. She might have been one of them—I certainly would have, in her position—but she didn't order me, so I can't say for sure whether I got her."

[imeanforever]

"You might have got her - what do you need to make another run?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"If I didn't get her, then another run would probably just be doomed. The dart would be coming from a vassal.

If it were definitely a good idea to try anyway, I'd need my metalminds. Those got captured, but I can make more. Can you make a gate big enough for me to come through?"

[imeanforever]

"The harmonics in the pit are terrible and we're running out of time. And the dungeon has guards; you'll be noticed if you go out of the pit unless you can incapacitate them as-is or with something I can pass through this little one."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I'll need samples of all the relevant metals, I can give you a list if you don't remember. Talk to the Inquisitors; I'll need every spike that can physically fit in my body, both for physical upgrades and for using someone else's metalminds.

And it is definitely worth telling them about Compounding for this."

[imeanforever]

"Give me the list; I don't think I forgot any but just in - shh," she says, as footsteps approach.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi goes completely limp again, and closes his eyes. The footsteps leave. Apparently they weren't here for him. This is almost insulting; he attacked the Queen! He really should rate an immediate interrogation. Not that he's complaining.

"Iron, steel, at least five pieces of tin, pewter, zinc, brass, bronze, chromium, atium. Cadmium and copper too, I suppose. I've already got gold.

Also the spikes that give Feruchemical zinc, steel, iron, and pewter so that those metals can come already charged. Make sure to tell the people the spikes come from about burning metalminds if they haven't figured it out already."

[imeanforever]

"Who in particular am I telling exactly what, and what do I do if someone doesn't want to hand over what I ask for?" Promise asks; there is a scratching sound as she writes.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Literally anyone at the Canton of Inquisition. Most of the higher-ranking ones have the right spikes; any one of them will do. Sorry to say I rely on copper for people's names, so I can't tell you exactly who.

Every Inquisitor will recognize you from the announcement. Other people might not, but you'd look extremely distinctive to their lack of eyes. And you don't have to keep the reason for asking secret. If anyone doesn't believe you, show them this gate."

[imeanforever]

"Showing them the gate would involve being familiar enough with them to let them walk through the wall to the room that only you can open," she points out. "We don't have time for that unless I burn a lot of my storage on it, and I'm running awfully low from earlier. Do I have any other avenues to convince them?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"If you say the linchpin spike in their back is necessary to keep them alive, they'll know you're from me.
Be careful with writing that one down, though, or saying it around non-Inquisitors. It's secret for obvious reasons."

[imeanforever]

"Okay. Anything else?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"If there are any of those metals nearby right now, I could use extra time to fill them.
If you're still in the room with the portal to Thorn's court, there are sets of ordinary metals opposite the rare ores."

[imeanforever]

Promise feeds through everything she can find in little bits, listening carefully for footsteps.