The Awakened Salad

@Emi

Emi! You’re back!! *waves cheerfully*

*loses*

This was all too much for Salad to comprehend, so they invented a new element: 17thShardium.

*Mistborn flashbacks ensue*

That sounds like a fun idea! What orders were you thinking of using?

“I... I don’t know,” the girl replied. She looked down at her own dirty hands. Did she have healing powers? She looked back to Velles, wincing at the blood, at the way his flesh was torn open in violent slashes. Her legs began to shake. Hurt as he was, he could still be a danger. But she had Emi here. If Velles attacked them, Emi could just teleport them away again... hopefully. She looked down at her white shift. Surely she could stand to lose some of it. She bent down and ripped a piece of fabric off. It was harder than it had looked, and her piece came away jagged and uneven. As she did so, one of the white flowers she’d picked earlier fell out of her pocket. Strangely, it seemed undamaged. The petals remained perfectly smooth, and the stalk was unbent, with that same delicate curvature. She briefly considered offering the flower to Velles, but... how would that help, anyway? He’d most likely become confused. She took a few small steps towards the man, and offered him her makeshift bandage.

Indeed

The nightmare birds lay sprawled on the ground, red blood and black ooze mottling their horrid forms. The girl shuffled closer to Emi. The strange man with the stone-but-not-stone-arms fixed his bloodied gaze on her, and she flinched. She put a hand to her mouth as her stomach heaved, but nothing came out. She hadn’t eaten in... It didn’t matter now. “I’m Velles,” the man said. “Who are you guys?” The girl stared back at him inquisitively. She took in his ragged appearance, and the myriad of angry cuts and bruises and gashes with bright red red blood, flowing fast fast down and down, rivers of blood too wide and deep, and it was like when... When... Far away, a man screaming. Blood on her hands. “You monsters, what have you done?” The girl blinked, surprised to find tears in her eyes. She was still in the abandoned city, with Emi next to her and the other man... Velles. She wiped them away, hoping no one noticed, before remembering his question. She replied honestly. “I don’t know.”

The Old Bookstore Countless books crammed the shelves of the old bookstore, watching restlessly from their perches; A jumbled maze of ink and paper. They each held worlds inside of them, deep as oceans, vast as canyons. But years passed. They shuffled their feet, and the dust grew ever thicker on their shoulders.

I relate to your username problem all too well. Welcome to the Shard!

You didn’t have to, but thank you so much! Now here comes the hard part of deciding which one to use...

And I just won

Oh storms I love them both! Using the olives as eyes on Cookie Salad Monster is really creative! I love the floating carrot eyebrows too. And Radish Wizard is a salad wizard and that’s just plain awesome. Would you mind if I used one of these as a profile picture?

I’m probably not the best person to answer this question, but I can recommend this post if you haven’t already read it: It has information on the cosmere in general and is a great place to start if you want to learn what’s happening behind the scenes. As far as I could tell, it’s spoiler free. As for the “snapshots”, I can’t think of any guides like you’ve described. If you have any specific questions or want to know how a specific book/series ties into the overall cosmere you could post a thread in the respective subforum. (Although I would recommend staying away from the Mistborn subforum until after you’ve read Era 2) I personally think that you should wait until you’ve caught up to read an in-depth guide (but that’s partially from my own experience. I accidentally spoiled myself on a few key plot points when trying to learn more about the cosmere, having only read the first Mistborn trilogy and the first two Stormlight books). There are plot summaries available online if you can’t remember everything that happened in a particular book. I hope you enjoy the rest of the books!

You can just call me Salad *wins* inside RadiantDramaQueen’s stomach. Would you prefer to be called by a nickname? RadiantDramaQueen feels so formal.

How have I not seen these until now? Thanks for directing me here! For some reason I’m quite attached to the mushroom girl. Would it be possible for you to draw an awakened salad?

*wins*

I love this so much you have no idea . He’s adorable and is mine now and I’m naming him Jerry. Did you draw/paint this yourself? I love the swooshy arms, and the mischievous face, the little tuft of hair/whatever cacti have on top of them, and the nyoom lines that show he’s running very technical language, I know

*grabs checkout microphone* Attention all staff, we have an excited Ene in aisle three.

@Truthless of Shinovar

I wish for a cactus

Luna’s right, Brandon doesn’t check these forums very much. Additionally, you could try emailing him through the contact page on his website. You may not get a reply, considering how busy Brandon would be with the Rhythm of War release, but it’s worth a try. We also have a writing group here on the Shard where members can submit work and offer critique, but you’d need to look into it further to see their rules and guidelines. If you don’t want to join a writing group, the Creator’s Corner threads are a good place to start. Anyone can post a thread asking for writing advice, and although we’re not professional authors, people are more than happy to help and share their thoughts. There are also so many writing resources online. You could try looking at writing blogs and author’s websites (they sometimes have a section with writing advice). Welcome to the Shard!