Leaderboard

I just have to say, I absolutely love that "Straff Venture" created a thread about hopes and dreams. I don't think I could hope or dream for anything more hilarious than that.

I'd like to eventually see a purely Cosmere book. It would be awesome to see magic users fighting along side one another, or maybe even against each other. Get to see the strengths and weaknesses of each system, and maybe get some explanations on how they relate to each other. I don't know what I'd like to see as an ending, putting Adonalsium back together seems likely, but I just don't know how I would want to see it done. Regardless I'm sure BS would make it the best book ever (in my opinion) because of all the awesomeness of the secrets of the Cosmere being revealed.

Possibly unnecessary since Atium spikes can steal any steal-able quality.

In all honesty I'd debated this. And we know the answer. Inquisitors don't see through traditional means. But they can still use Atium. I would guess the mind just processes it another way or even just creates sight for a little bit. The same applies to Iron/Steel's Blue lines(as suggested by Inquisitors.

I agree. I've thought that way for a while now, especially since the Power of Creation that Brandon mentions powering Allomancy sounds pretty similar to the Dor in Elantris. Chaos (among others) believe that the Power of Creation is more of a type of power, saying that the power comes from the Shard itself, but it seems to me that a bajillion allomancers using their power would make Preservation incredibly incredibly weak.

In summary. Nalthis is entirely destroyed when Nightblood comes into contact with endowments shardpool and uses the available power to destroy the world (All of which it sees as evil) Selians slowly migrate out and colonise other worlds. Rosharians finally defeat Odium and reclaim the tranquiline halls only to find out that they were actually just a nearby moon with no atmosphere. Many died. Scadrial slowly begins to take over the cosmere with an army of hemalurgically endowed warriors, only to be stopped by Hoid who tells them a riddle so puzzling that not even a Zinc compounder with worlds of Zinc at their disposal could contemplate the answer. Hoid then reveals that Adonalsium was actually a cookie which he stole as a child and accidentally dropped (thus shattering it) He proceeds to eat the remaining Shards and then becomes a new cookie himself. Why exactly cookies split into near-all-powerful fragments when dropped is never entirely explained. That's my $0.02

I'd like to announce that I sent in my first Writers of the Future submission. For the next three months I'll be a nervous wreck as I await the results for this quarter. Fingers crossed!

So a bunch of us brainstormed up a sort of Bizarro-Avatar world on chat. I took it upon myself to turn those idea into a story. Here's what I've got so far and I'd like some feed back before I continue. “Fire. Air. Water. Earth,” Zuko began the story as he always did. There wasn’t much hope in the war. There hadn’t been for a long time. He needed to keep Azula’s spirits up. Especially with their father out on the frontlines, “Back before Grandpa died, and he became Fire Lord Uncle Iroh used to tell me stories of when the four nations lived together in harmony. That all changed when the Water Empire attacked.” Azula let out an exasperated sigh. “I know this story by heart Zuzu,” she said dryly, “You tell it often enough.” Zuko smiled at the nickname his little sister had given him, a holdover from the days when she’d been unable to pronounce his name. “I know you do Azula, but it’s good to remind ourselves of why our nation is fighting,” the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation said. Azula sighed again. “Continue if you must.” She had that air of royalty about her that Zuko sometimes lacked, the one that made you seem above the whole business. “It was said that only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them, but when the world need the Avatar most, they vanished.” Zuko finished the narration. “The Avatar is just an old folktale; we can’t rely on some spirit to win the war. It will be father who finally brings the Water Empire down to their knees.” Azula was very close to their father, she always had been. He was her hero and therefore in her mind the confidence in her voice was justified. “I hope you’re right Azula, I really do. He’s got just as much reason to want to end this war as anyone else in the Fire Nation,” Zuko’s fists clenched as he thought of their mother who’d been killed in a Water Empire raid years ago. His sister said nothing to console him. She hadn’t been nearly as close to their mother has he had. She’d still been affected of course, she’d still grieved and still come to despise the Water Empire because of it just not as much a Zuko had, “Sometimes I wish I could find the Avatar. Find out why they haven’t been helping us all these years. Agni knows the world needs them. Why did they abandon us?” “You don’t actually believe in the Avatar do you Zuzu,” Azula questioned. Her tone left a sour taste in his mouth. It was sweet, almost angelic but patronizing as well. There was no question about what she thought of belief in the Avatar, “It’s like I said, the Avatar is just some dusty old folktale too help children sleep at night.” “You’re probably right Azula, but what if the Avatar does exist…” Zuko trailed off at the sight of the withering look Azula was giving him. “Give up on the Avatar Zuko. They’re just a story. If the Fire Nation is going to survive this war with the Water Empire we’ll have to do it with our own power.” The princess insisted. Zuko simply nodded and stood up brushing the beach sand off of his pants and taking a deep breath of the cool night air. “We should head back in Azula. It’s already dark and our fire is going out. Uncle Iroh won’t be happy if we don’t head home soon.” He said. “Can we practice our Firebending first?” she asked. “You know we’re not supposed to Firebend, we were lucky Dad even taught us the basics before he left to fight in the war. Uncle doesn’t want us to learn. This war has already cost us Mon and cousin Lu Ten. They don’t want to put us in danger too.” Zuko said. He’d explained this to his sister about a million times before. “I know that. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. We’re here on Ember Island to have a vacation. I’d like to do something we both enjoy instead of sipping tea with Uncle Iroh all day.” Azula said. “Now Azula, we’re lucky we got this vacation with Uncle. We don’t get to spend much time with him with him being Fire Lord and all. It takes almost all of his time to make sure that the Fire Nation doesn’t end up completely wiped out like the Earth Kingdom was. Be a little more respectful.” Zuko chided gently. “I do respect Uncle. I just want to be out there fighting Waterbenders. You do too I know it. The only way we’ll ever have a shot at doing that is to practice our Firebending.” Zuko sighed sometimes it seemed like his sister knew him a little too well. “Alright Azula, we can practice our Firebending before we head back.” He punctuated his remark by thrusting his fist out at his sister and sending a fireball in her direction. He caught Azula’s smirk as she deflected the attack with her own bending and responded in kind. Zuko deflected her attack just as easily as she had his. Neither was really trying at this point, this was just the warm-up, put intended. Over the next few minutes the pace of the sparing quickened considerably with Azula pushing Zuko back. Despite her being younger than him his sister had always been the better bender. He sent several fireballs in her direction in quick succession. In response Azula slammed her hands to the ground and conjured up a wall of fire to block them. Zuko really wanted to draw his dual dao swords, they would’ve helped even the playing field but that would have been cheating in a pure Firebending spar such as this one and therefore dishonorable. Azula sent a barrage of fireballs his way and he hastily copied her wall of fire and blocked them. As he dropped the shield Azula followed u her previous attack with a wave of fore from a bicycle kick, which he barely managed to deflect However he was unable to counter her quick follow up to that attack as she thrust her palm out and sent a steam of fire at his chest. Zuko went flying backwards into a rather large rock that hadn’t been there when they arrived at the beach. He groaned in pain from the impact. His back was going to be bruised for awhile. His chest twanged a bit as well but that would pass Azula hadn’t put enough into her attack to do any real damage. “Zuko are you alright?” Azula asked as she ran up to check on him. “Yeah, I’m fine sis. I’ll be okay,” he assured her before turning to look at the large bolder he’d crashed into. There was something strange about it, “I wonder where this came from?” “It probably just washed up while we weren’t looking.” Azula said offhandedly. “No, there’s something strange about it…” as if that were a cue of some sort the rock began to glow a blue-white color revealing the outline of a girl inside it, “We have to help her!” Zuko didn’t wait for his sister to reply and blasted the rock with fire to no visible effect. He kept this up for about a minute with the same result. Finally Azula joined in. “Why are you trying to save her, she’s probably dead and could be from the Water Empire for all we know.” She pointed out. “It’s the right thing to do Azula.” Zuko said resolutely. Seeing that fire was having no effect Zuko drew his swords and began to slice at the rock. He managed to make a crack in the rock which leaked the same brilliant light. Suddenly the boulder exploded throwing the siblings unceremoniously backwards and sprawling on to their backs. The girl in the rock floated for a moment outlined in white light, her eyes glowing the same color. Zuko stood transfixed at the sight. Then suddenly the light faded and the girl plummeted to the ground. Both siblings ran to catch her out of reflex but Zuko, being older and fast got there first. Zuko caught the mysterious girl and laid her on the ground. Shortly thereafter she groaned and opened her eyes they abnormally light. “What’s going on here,” the girl demanded. “You tell us,” Azula replied, “How did you get it that boulder? Why aren’t you crushed?” “I’ll be asking the questions around here,” the girl said. Both Zuko and Azula noticed the sand on the beach try to rise up seemingly of its own volition, “Oh great. This ground is sand isn’t it? I hate sand.” “You’re an Earthbender.” Zuko breathed. “You don’t know that Zuko she could be an Airbender working for the Water Empire, did you see that light? It was probably some sort of signal.” “She’s not dressed like an Airbender and she’s missing the tattoos.” Zuko countered. “Of course she doesn’t look like an Airbender Zuzu; the Water Empire isn’t going to advertise its agents.” “Do you two ever shut up?” the girl shouted. Zuko noted that this girl could project an impressive presence for someone her age, she had to be a couple years young than Azula and yet it felt like she was in command here, the siblings’ royal blood aside. “I’m sorry,” The Fire Nation prince said, “I’m Zuko and my paranoid sister is Azula. What’s your name?” “Toph. Toph Beifong,” Toph said, “For your information I am an Earthbender and I really want to get off of this beach. It’s hard to see with all this sand around.” “See? But you’re blind Toph.” Azula noted. Zuko gasped he hadn’t made the connection between her pale eyes and the disability. “Aw how cute, she noticed,” Toph sneered causing Azula to scowl at her, a pointless gesture considering the Earthbender couldn’t see it, “I use my Earth bending to sense vibrations in the ground and in a way that lets me see. Sand though is loose and it muffles the vibrations, making it harder for me to see. Not to mention it’s near impossible to Earthbend sand.” “We’ll take you to see our uncle. He’ll be very interested in you. We haven’t had an Earthbender around here in a long time.” Zuko said. “Who’s your uncle?” Toph asked. “He’s the Fire Lord.” Azula replied with pride in her voice. Toph groaned. “Royals, that’s just what I needed." Sokka, Prince of the Water Empire turned from his game of Pai Sho when the pillar of light appeared. It was easy to see in the darkness. Darkness, even after three years of banishment he wasn’t used to that. It would be light nearly all the time this time of year back home at the South Pole. Although it seemed his exile would soon be over. “That light came from an extremely powerful source. Do you know what this means,” he asked with just a twinge of excitement in his voice, “The Avatar Master Piandao, we’ve found him at last!” The old sword master took a sip of his tea before speaking. “Perhaps we have Prince Sokka, but I urge you think before charging in. That light will take us straight into Fire Nation waters. The Fire Navy will not take kindly to our ship. That light came from the direction Ember Island, a resort for the rich and powerful of the Fire Nation. It will be heavily guarded. The Avatar may be on that island but it may not be wise to attack. The Fire Nation’s defenses are formidable, that’s how they’ve managed to stay in this war so long. I know that better than anyone on this ship.” Sokka pondered the words of his master and could see the wisdom in them. Master Piandao had been a soldier in the Fire Army revered for his swordsmanship and sword making skills before being taken prisoner by the Water Empire. The Empire had made great use of his weapon crafting skills and he had been made Sokka’s teacher in the art of a sword. The Prince of the Water Empire wasn’t a bender so he’d had to find other ways to fight. Sokka’s hand ran over the eye patch on the left side of his face. Master Piandao was a great man, especially considering that he was Fire Nation, the enemy. Sokka didn’t consider the man as such, he’d been like a surrogate father to him but Master Piandao would never quite understand Sokka’s pain. “I don’t have a choice, the sooner I capture the Avatar the sooner I can return home to my mother and sister. I embarrassed my family and must atone for it.” Sokka said. “Are you sure that’s what you want Price Sokka? Yes, you will be reunited with your family and that is a good thing but… other things will not have changed. Are you sure you can go back to that?” Master Piandao asked. Sokka squeezed his eye shut pushing away the memories of why he was in this situation. “I will live with it, because I must.” He said. “Alright then how do you plan to get past the Fire Navy?” his mentor inquired. “There are many skilled Waterbenders on this ship, even if they are exiles looking for a way home like me. We can literally control the seas. It’s the Avatar that concerns me. Why would the Fire Nation have hid them this whole time? The Avatar would make a powerful weapon in the war and depending on whether or not we missed an Earthbender somewhere along the way has had eighty to a hundred years to master the four elements.” “That’s another reason to reconsider this course of action Prince Sokka. The Avatar is the master of all four elements. Your Waterbenders will be tied up fighting Fire Nation soldiers. You are a non-bender to go up against the Avatar would be something most would consider suicide.” Sokka smiled and turned back toward his master. “That is why it’s brilliant Master no one would expect a non-bender like me to challenge the Avatar. You have taught me the way of the sword and I have learned it well and I am a master of the boomerang. I am as prepared as I can possibly be for this battle. Everything hinges on this, I will not fail.” Sokka swore to himself. “I am going to rest,” Master Piandao said as he stood up, “You should as well. You need to prepare yourself mentally for the coming conflict. We won’t reach Ember Island until well into the morning; I will drill you on your weapons before we get to the island.” Sokka merely nodded, his mind already completely focused on the coming battle.

Toph felt more comfortable now that she was inside. Now that she was off the beach she could feel the vibrations properly again. She could see again, well see as much as her sight was actually seeing at any rate. At least she was somewhat at home in finery, true it was Fire Nation finery and not Earth Kingdom finery but she was of noble birth and this felt a little like home. It was odd how much she appreciated it now, she’d always wanted to be away from home but now being so far away from home it was a comfort. Toph was being escorted by two Fire Nation guards to meet with Fire Lord. What the Fire Lord wanted to discuss she didn’t know, but she wasn’t stupid enough to deny one of the most powerful men on Earth. Toph felt that girl, what was her name? Azula, yes that was it, following them. Toph figured she wanted to eavesdrop on her meeting with the Fire Lord. The Earthbender said nothing of the tail, wanting to see how far the sneaky little Firebender could actually get. The guards led her into a room where a man was waiting. She smelled jasmine tea. The man waved the guards away and they weren’t looking Azula slipped behind a tapestry on the wall. The man in the room, who she assumed must be Fire Lord Iroh. “Please sit, Toph, was it,” The Earthbender did sit, “I apologize for not seeing you last night, but it was rather late you understand and I need my rest to run the Fire Nation.” “It’s not a problem.” Toph said. She’d been raised in a wealthy home, even if she was hidden from the world for the most part. She knew how to be polite to those of higher station, even if she didn’t like to do it. “My niece and nephew tell me that they found you in a boulder on the beach. That must have been quite a ride,” The Fire Lord said with a chuckle as he poured the tea, “Would you like some sugar in your tea Toph?” Toph was beginning to wonder if Fire Lord Iroh was all there in the head. He seemed to take her mysterious on the beach rather lightly. Most people would not be inclined to do so, especially those running a country. “Two lumps please,” Toph cast her unseeing eyes of at the tapestry hiding Azula, “You know your niece is hiding over there right?” Iroh chuckled again. “Is she now? Azula likes to spy on private meetings. I’ve known for quite some time that she does this; I’ve just never called her out on it. Come Azula, sit and have tea with us.” Toph could feel Azula’s eyes on her. The Fire Princess was not a happy girl right now. The Earthbender didn’t care. Azula sat down and made her own cup of tea before speaking, “So Uncle why did you want to see the Earthbender anyway? I know she’s a curiosity with the Earth Kingdom having been destroyed in the war but don’t you have more important matters to attend to?” There was a smirk in the girl’s voice. Toph figured that Azula was trying to throw her off-balance. “Azula!” Iroh snapped, “You are being very rude. I’m sure that is a very delicate subject for our guest. It should be approached with care, not tossed out casually like a hello!” Now Toph was truly confused; she had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. The scariest part was that she could sense no deception from them. “War? What war? I don’t know of any war? What do you mean the Earth Kingdom destroyed?” Iroh sighed. “I was afraid of this,” he said, “Toph how long do you think you were trapped in that boulder?” “I don’t know, maybe a month or two to drift all the way to Fire Nation territory.” She guessed. “Actually I think it’s more like a hundred years,” the Fire Lord told her, “That’s how long the war has been going on. You don’t know about it because you were in that boulder the entire time. Tell me Toph have you noticed anything that you would consider strange about this island?” Toph thought for a moment. “It’s colder, than it should be,” she said, “The Fire Nation is on the equator. It should be much warmer than this, even in winter.” “You are correct,” Iroh said, “One hundred years ago, an extremely rare alignment of cosmic events occurred. At a single point in time the Earth reached the point where it was both closest to the Moon and farthest from the Sun, it also happened to be a full moon. The Water Empire used this combination of cosmic events to cool the planet starting an ice age. Crops failed because of the climate change and the Water Empire not only blockaded Earth Kingdom ports and made several attacks over the century until the Earthbenders and the Earth Kingdom itself was wiped out.” Toph’s jaw dropped as once again she could sense no deception from Fire Lord Iroh. “Why? Why would they do that?” she demanded. Iroh gave a sad sigh. “If I had to guess, you.” he said. Toph’s jaw fell further. She knew where this was going, or at least she had an idea. “Me?” she asked trying to deny the feeling in her gut. “Of course, you are the Avatar are you not? We haven’t seen an Earthbender in a hundred years but the Avatar Spirit was never reincarnated into a Fire Nation child. It seemed like a fairly good guess." The Fire Lord explained. “The Avatar,” Azula burst out, “You actually believe that she is the Avatar Uncle? It’s just an old story!” “You are wrong Azula. My father Fire Lord Azulon was told stories from his father Fire Lord Sozin who had personally met the previous Avatar Kuruk of the Northern Water Tribe in person.” Iroh once again did not seem pleased with his niece. “Yes, I am the Avatar.” Toph confirmed some of the confidence leaking from her voice. The room went silent, not even Azula could find anything to say. The tea had grown cold as the conversation had gone on. It had been completely forgotten due to the weight of the subject of conversation. A Fire Nation soldier entered the room gasping for air, his armor all askew. He tried to speak but stumbled over his words. “Calm down soldier,” Iroh said, “What is it?” “Fire Lord Iroh, a Water Empire ship is attacking the island! You and Princess Azula must come with me for safety.” The soldier said. “That light that shown when Zuko and I released you from the boulder must have attracted them.” Azula’s tone was accusatory. Toph glared at the princess. “Fire Lord Iroh, Princess Azula, we must get you to safety. Prince Zuko is already in a safe place, we must join him immediately.” The guard pressed. “Toph, will you come with us?” The Avatar shook her head. “No, it’s me they want and me they’ll get.” She said. Iroh and Azula were shuffled off down a back hallway while Toph headed outside. Sokka watched his Waterbenders fight the Fire Nation soldiers. Both the Benders and non-Benders of the Fire Nation were skilled warriors; Sokka could see and appreciate that as a warrior himself. However they were at a disadvantage against the Waterbenders of his force who kept the tide turned in his favor, not just because of the natural opposition of water to fire but because Ember Island was, well, an island. The Fire Nation soldiers had their backs to the sea, a weapon of their enemy. Victory seemed assured. “Where’s the Avatar, I know they’re here,” Sokka asked the defeated Fire Nation soldiers. He hadn’t joined the battle, opting to save his energy for fighting the Avatar; he knew he would need it, “You know a Bender of prodigious talent, master of all four elements, probably about a hundred years old.” For a moment no one said a thing, not even denial from the Fire Nation solders. The exiled prince of the Water Empire was about to make another demand of the defeated Fire Nation soldiers when the ground under his men heaved, tossing them aside. Sokka turned in the only direction it could’ve come from, toward the beach houses and found a girl who could be no older than twelve standing there. “You want the Avatar,” she said, “Well I’m right here, come and get me.” “You,” Sokka asked incredulously, “but you’re just a kid.” He rested his hand on the hilt of his black bladed sword anyway, just in case. “And you’re a teenager, what’s your point? You just saw me Earthbend, isn’t that enough for you?” The girl using her Earthbending to shoot a rock at Sokka’s head to counter he drew his sword and sliced the projectile in half. The Prince of the Water Empire charged the Avatar, barely dodging between chunks of ground that upturned themselves at the girl's command and slicing projectiles sent his way. “Your Earthbending skills are impressive Avatar,” he complimented, “but I must wonder why you haven’t used any other elements against me.” Sokka was genuinely curious about this and he hoped that the question might throw the Avatar off balance, but much to his chagrin she never missed a beat in her attack. “I could ask why you haven’t used any Waterbending against me,” The Avatar said. She raised a defense wall of tightly packed earth and stone as he got in striking distance, which Sokka cleaved through with his sword, “or how that sword can cut through my defenses so easily.” Sokka smiled at this. “I’m not a Bender Avatar. That’s why I trained in the way of the sword. As for the sword itself, there’s none other like it in the world. It was forged from a meteorite that fell from space, under the watchful eye of the world’s greatest sword master Piandao by yours truly.” He explained. “How nice for you.” the Avatar said sardonically. With that she slammed her feet into the ground and sent Sokka flying with a wave of earth. “You got me talking as a distraction. Now I really am impressed,” the Water prince commented as he stood back up, “May I ask your name Earthbender?” “Toph Beifong,” Toph said, “and who are you that’ you’re so important you can lead a Water Empire raid on the Fire Nation without being a Bender?” “My name is Sokka. I am the Crown Prince of the Water Empire,” he explained, “or at least, I was, I disgraced myself and now to get back into the good graces of my family I must capture, the Avatar, you Toph, and bring them back to the South Pole. It’s nothing personal against you, you understand, just something I have to do.” Toph rolled her eyes at that. “I’m so glad it’s not personal.” Toph’s tone was as dry as a desert, from the few minutes that Sokka had known her it seemed that was one of few of, if not the only tone she had. Maybe she was only like that in battle but he doubted it, “That makes me much more likely to go with you despite the fact that your people tried to freeze the Earth and probably want me dead. Oh wait, no it doesn’t. It just makes me want to bust some people’s heads in. It’s my job as the Avatar after all and between you and me Sokka, I like busting heads.” Sokka’s hand reached up and touched his eye patch almost of its own volition. “I don’t care about any of that, I don’t have the luxury of being able to care about it,” the Water Prince could feel the Avatar slowly Bending earth up his legs, this chat was just another distraction, well two could play at that game. Sokka reached for his boomerang and threw it, intentionally missing Toph, It would get her on the return sing; the whole point was to take her by surprise. “Your aim stinks,” the Avatar taunted. Sokka smirked, she’d fallen for it. He noticed the Water Empire soldiers getting back up, all according to his admittedly impromptu plan, “Anyway I don’t care about your backstory Sokka. It’s not my problem; no matter you much you want to make it my problem.” “You know I never expected you to be blind and you being a girl is a surprise as well.” He just had to keep her talking a little while longer. None of his soldier exiled soldiers made a move to aid him. Good, he hadn’t signaled them to, they knew he was an amazing strategist and would wait for his order to do anything. “Yeah and I didn’t think the Crown Prince of the Water Empire could be so whiny. You’ve spent most of this battle trying to convince me to feel sorry for you, it’s pathetic,” Toph spat on the ground to show how pathetic it was, “I really don’t care what you think of me.” The rock encasement was getting close to his arms now, normally this would’ve concerned Sokka but he smirked when he saw the boomerang on its way back. The weapon smacked Toph squarely in the back of head. “What the hell was that?” she growled shaking her head in disorientation. Sokka gave a muted nod to his men who rushed the stunned Avatar. “Lift her off the ground and don’t let any part of her body touch the ground until she’s locked in a cell on the ship, and then set a course for the South Pole,” The soldiers nodded and carried a squirming Toph off into Sokka’s ship past the defeated Fire Nation soldiers. As Sokka walked back to the ship after freeing himself from the rock with his sword he picked up his boomerang and spoke to it, “I love you boomerang.”

WARNING 2: More Mistborn spoilers Brandon says in the HoA annotations that the energy from burning atium goes back to the Pits of Hathsin, because the energy is not used up, just utilized. Allomancy should work the same way, so Preservation's energy is not used up. It just returns to its source. The Dor is probably the same.