72
Wax struggled in the dark waters.
Then something erupted to his right. A flash of light, blinding and dazzling. Followed by a shock wave in the air, and another in the water. For both, he thought he glimpsed — briefly, through the omnipresent light — the sight of a figure dulling the wave directly in front of him. A calm Terrisman standing tall on the surface of the water, with one hand stretched forward.
Then, darkness again. Wax blinked, his eyes blinded by the blast. Debris rained around him. Splashing into the choppy waves.
In moments, Wax was struggling to stay afloat. He’d hit the water hard, and thought he’d broken at least one leg. Wayne, trying to save his life? That frustrating, infuriating …
… that wonderful man.
“Farewell, my friend,” Wax whispered, choking on his emotion. “You incredible rusting man. Thank you.”
As the waters grew more choppy, Wax had to struggle harder. He forced through pain, grief, and fatigue to keep himself — barely — afloat. He burned his steel, then … something else. Something deep within, which kept him warm.
Despite that, he was lost in darkness, and even the mists kept their distance. With his leg not working, with his coat dragging him down, with the exhaustion of a nation’s hopes weighing on him, he felt himself begin to slip. Begin to lose his fight with the waters. Begin to …
What was that?
A tiny light, drifting closer. Small, yet unyielding in the mists. It resolved into … a lantern? On a small boat? How …
The boat motored right up to him, and then a man in a coachman’s outfit with white gloves stood up on the deck and reached out to Wax.
“Carriage,” Hoid said, “for you. Sir.”
73
The shock wave hit Steris like a thunderclap. She gasped in surprise, her ears ringing from the sound of the detonation. Rusts.
She and the governor had been carried via Allomancer far into the center of the city — close to their original evacuation command post — following their efforts at the docks. But that obviously hadn’t been far enough to escape completely. Around her, windows rattled. Any closer to the docks and they would have shattered. And the buildings nearest the explosion …
Fortunately, the only ill effects she felt — standing atop a building this far from the blast — was that shock wave. And so, after her initial panic, she watched that brilliant light in the distance slowly fade.
A moment ago, that explosion had been like a momentary sun on the horizon, magnificent and ominous all at once, blazing through the mists. Now, in seconds, all that remained were the afterimage and the faint ringing in her ears.
The governor peeked up over the rooftop’s stone railing, where he’d ducked at the initial explosion. Then he stood up straight. “He’s done it, hasn’t he? Preservation! He’s done it! He detonated the bomb early! The city is saved!”
Steris nodded, exhaling a long breath. Wax had been exactly where she’d hoped he would be. Now that she’d seen that light — then survived the detonation — a new worry struck her.
You’d better not have been on that ship when the explosion happened, Waxillium Ladrian, she thought. You … just … just have gotten off, all right?
“Will the tsunami come?” the governor said.
“Yes,” Steris said. “Imminently.”
“We … uh…” The governor straightened his cravat. “We actually helped, didn’t we?”
“Yes,” she said. “The dockside buildings are going to be a disaster zone in the weeks to come — we’ll need to rebuild. But I think we evacuated most people from the dangerous section.”
Water was pulling back rapidly from the docks as she watched. Receding in advance of a tsunami. Hopefully it would not be a big one. The studies she’d read were inconclusive about how water would react to explosions.
“Thank the Survivor,” the governor said. “I’m … glad you let us retreat. I worried you’d insist on staying by the docks.”
“There is no need to go down with the city,” Steris said, “if the city isn’t going down.”
He nodded eagerly. He was actually quite an agreeable man. Which made sense. He’d been chosen by people who wanted to steer him. People who’d never expected him to put his hands on the helm and take control.
She blinked, her eyes bearing the afterimage of that explosion.
Just … be safe … Steris thought toward that distant, now faded, point of light. Please.
74
Wayne floated.
Floated someplace high. Damn. Was that the planet itself beneath him? It was a sphere, as everyone said. He’d always hoped maybe it would be, like, doughnut shaped or something. To throw the smart folks for a loop.
Felt kinda strange to be all the way up here, in the darkness. He leaned forward and felt a disorientation, like he should be falling. He was woozy, unsteady.
Huh. Who’d have thought being dead would be so much like being drunk? He could write a whole damn book of scripture about that, he could.
A figure hovered next to him. Vast. His robes like the infinite colors of creation, his essence seeming to expand into the darkness of space itself. But at his core, he had the appearance of a bald, kindly Terrisman.
“Hey, God,” Wayne said. “How’s … um … creation? Time and space? Reality? You know, things?”
“Good,” Harmony replied. “Because of you.”
“Now wait,” Wayne said. “I ain’t gonna be a ghost, am I?”
“No. You were Invested when you died, so you will persist a short time, but will soon join the Beyond.”
“Good, good.”
“You don’t find that idea concerning?”
“Hell no,” Wayne said. “I already done gone and died. That was the part that I worried would hurt.” He gaped down at the planet below. “It’s so big.”
“Yes, Wayne,” Harmony said. “I realize that a person might become intimidated, seeing all this. Recognizing the vastness of what they’ve lived upon. It is a lot to take in, I think. It can make a person feel small, insignificant, and—”
Wayne grinned. “And I saved the whole damn thing!”
Harmony paused. “Well, I suppose you did. With some help from Marasi and Waxillium.” Harmony gestured toward a red haze, swirling away from the planet as if in a funnel, vanishing into the distance.
Wayne felt something from it. An angry sort of respect. Begrudging. Her avatar had been defeated, and so Autonomy withdrew her touch from the planet.
“Is that it, then?” Wayne asked.
“For now,” Harmony said. “She was overextending to try to bring us down quickly, I think. Telsin and the Set’s failure is an enormous setback, and Marasi was quick to collapse the portal to this planet. My vision returns, and I will try to take care I am not blindsided again.”
“You sound afraid?” Wayne said, cocking his head.
“Nervous,” Harmony said, his expression distant. “I can see pieces moving in the cosmere. Aligning. Pointed at us. We are not free of their influence. But we have … time, now. Time to prepare. Thanks to you, Wayne.”
“Me,” Wayne said. “I saved the whole damn world. I … I’m probably the best constable who ever rusting lived!”
“I … suppose…” Harmony said, “that Vin, Elend, and the others weren’t constables…”