Books » Mistborn Trilogy » A Mistborn in Republic City

Author: Wyrmhero

Rated: T - English - Adventure/General - Reviews: 45 - Published: 07-19-13 - Updated: 02-01-14

id:9508502

I wrote this because I think Mistborn needs more crossovers. It's a series with built-in crossovers via the whole Cosmere, and yet no-one's written a story with a series that makes sense (aside from Star Wars) as of this time. I understand not writing a crossover with other Cosmere novels, since that's Sanderson's job.

Hopefully someone who's better and more determined will be inspired by this fic and write their own, larger Crossover. I can tell you that if this continues, there will be spoilers for the Mistborn Trilogy and Avatar: Legend of Korra: Book of Air, but nothing else at this point. This story is set pre-Final Empire and intersects with the Book of Air, but it is less about Korra and more about how an inhabitant of the Final Empire reacts to the Avatar world. Would there be crossing points between Ashur and Korra? Certainly, but Ashur is not going to become a main character of Korra's story as easily as that.

So why Avatar and Mistborn? Originally it was from a massive crossover RP that I'm no longer a part of. I had a Mistborn character from Alloy of Law, and there was a character from just post-Book of Fire Avatar. Also, the Mistborn TRPG rules work very well with Avatar, in my opinion. It was also interesting how the worlds had similarities between The Final Empire and The Fire Nation. I didn't set it during Aang's period though because it'd just become 'How Avatar would have been if there was a Mistborn', and that doesn't seem particularly interesting. In addition, I find Korra's time period much more interesting, due to the class of Bending and non-Bending, and how the world has changed. So I set it there, because how would a person from The Final Empire react to the world actually changing?

Ashur Shezler stared out at the street that he found himself in. Everything had changed. His father asked him to try a metal out. He was Mistborn, so it would've obviously worked if it were a proper metal. It seemed that it was.

And now he was here, in a street that definitely did not exist in Mantiz, populated with people who did not look like anyone who lived in Mantiz either. Their clothes were a dull brown-ish colour, by and large, and they wore the formal sort of waistcoat that Ashur would have associated with his father when he was meeting business contacts.

The street itself was clean, at least compared to those of Mantiz. The skaa here must be particularly efficient to clear the streets here that quickly. A quick glance up called that statement into question. He could not see a single flake of ash in the air, or even on any of the houses. He couldn't think of anywhere in the Empire that did not have ashmounts. Even the edges of the Empire had some.

Ashur reached into himself and burnt one of the eight metals that he had inside his body at the moment. He chose tin, allowing him to enhance his senses to a ridiculous degree. He winced as the light seemed to be coming through much stronger than normal, thanks to there being less mist and ash in the sky. He wisely chose not to flare it, and listened quickly whilst he looked around.

The fact that there was none of the grey ash that there was back in Mantiz did not mean that the air was perfectly clear. There was a definite taste to the air of carbon, probably from a metallurgist or forge that existed on the edge of the town. There were unfamiliar sounds as well; like a heavy wagon on the cobblestones of the road, but no clip-clopping of horseshoes to go with them.

A group of skaa were talking to one another. He could tell they were skaa from their uneducated tone of voice. Judging from how the group carried themselves, they probably counted themselves as one of the so-called skaa 'thieving crews'. As if skaa would know what was worth stealing.

He burnt pewter and iron just to be safe. They were two more of the four physical metals, along with steel, iron's opposite. Pewter was tin's paired metal, enhanced his strength, his dexterity, his balance and his endurance, making it a necessity in a fight. Iron didn't improve his body, but instead thin blue lines sprouted from his torso, showing him where all nearby sources of metal were. He found it strange that these skaa only had a coin pouch on them. No weapons, not even a poorly concealed knife. Then again, if they were Steelpushers, that might be all the weapon they needed.

He walked up to them, the tassels of his blue-grey Mistcloak trailing behind him in the mild wind. They were designed to do that. A Mistcloak was the ultimate treasure he possessed, for it marked him as one of the handful of individuals in the world who could burn all 10 – 11 now, he corrected himself – Allomantic metals. The other, more unfortunate nobles could only burn one of the physical or mental metals. Owning a Mistcloak displayed to the world that you were of high status, and were not to be trifled with.

Which is why he was surprised when the skaa ignored him.

"Skaa," he said, addressing the trio in what he thought was his best imitation of his father's voice. He'd been practising since he was ten, so after six years he thought he'd become quite good at it. "I demand that you tell me in which city I am in, and which Dominance."

One of the skaa dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "Go away kid."

Ashur wasn't sure whether it was the dismissal because he was a child, or the dismissal by a skaa which annoyed him more. "I am the son of Antillius Shezler, head of the Shezler household and noble of Mantiz, and I demand that you tell me where I am!"

"Never heard of him," the skaa replied, this time striking him away with his hand.

The blow was so unexpected that Ashur didn't react to it. He could've easily blocked it and thrown the skaa on the ground, even with the height difference between them. The mere idea of a skaa striking him, a noble, was just unthinkable. Already his father would have had the man killed for his insolence. Now, his father would have been... creative.

He hit the ground on his Mistcloak, glad for the fact that the streets seemed to be mostly clean. He'd hate to dirty his only clothes this quickly. Now he took a moment to look at them again, he noticed a few things he'd missed before. One of them had gold eyes, something he'd never seen before, and wore clothes with a red shade to them. Dull red, perhaps, but it was more than any impertinent skaa should be wearing. The other two wore green, a more fitting colour, but still more colour than they would be allowed if they lived in Mantiz. They looked quite different to the people of Luthadel as well. Their hair was the same colour as his own – black – but the face, the skin and the muscles were all very different.

The skaa laughed at him – at him! He got up, maintaining a little distance, and dusted his hands off, rage bubbling below the surface. He was not going to shout at them though, that would be beneath him. Instead he did something that would enrage them much more. The blue lines that he saw connected to the coinpurses on their belts, and he grinned a little to himself as he yanked on each of them. It wasn't a physical action, but suddenly the light pouches shot towards him.

Ashur caught the leather bags easily, since they weren't moving particularly fast. He wished at this point that he had proper pockets in his shirt, or the time to tie them to his belt, but instead he merely emptied one of them onto the floor.

The skaa now were watching him with their own curiosity and annoyance. "Look kid, I don't know who you think you are, but no Metalbender is going to make fun of the Triple Threat and get away with it, understood?" the gold-eyed one said.

One of the ones in green nodded in agreement. He moved his hand and Ashur felt a rumbling. A stone wall erupted behind him, and Ashur wheeled around in amazement. How did someone move mere rock like that? "Maybe if you get on your knees, beg and pick it all up, we'll forgive you. Maybe." A sadistic grin grew on the trio's faces.

Ashur was amused. Though they displayed an ability he had not heard of before, he wasn't intimidated by them. He dropped another pouch, and opened the third, taking some coins out. "A trick like that doesn't scare me." He pushed on the coins, and they shot out at the skaa, gathering a small amount of speed before they struck them around the waist.

They did not strike with enough speed or power to be particularly dangerous, although they'd have some spectacular bruises soon. "Little brat," the golden-eyed one said, making a punch at Ashur.

Ashur was amused, since the strike was simply not going to connect, but grabbed the man's arm all the same, pulling him with more strength than he should have had thanks to his pewter-burning, throwing him into the rock wall behind him. The rock cracked under the force, and he was down.

Another surprise to add to the list that had been created today though; the man's hand spat fire. "Lord Ruler," Ashur muttered. His father had to find out about this. No, the Inquisition did! Skaa with the ability to move rock and spout flames? They were a danger to the Empire.

He dropped a coin and threw himself backwards with a steelpush, onto the pillar of earth that one of the 'Triple Threat' had created. Survival was more important, he had to get back to tell an Obligator about this.

There was a growl as the other two men made to grapple his feet, but Ashur dropped another coin and pushed off, this time onto a rooftop. He took off at a speed that surprised his apparent adversaries, bounding off one roof to another with another steelpush. Within seconds he was gone, and all there was to show for the fight was one man unconscious, the road partially damaged, some coins on the floor, and the pouch of coins in his hand.

Ashur stopped after a dozen or so streets. It was impossible to chase a determined Mistborn. At least, usually. It was still daylight here, and the day was not a friend of those who preferred secrecy and shadow. Worse, the fact he wore the Mistcloak made him stand out. But still, his raw speed meant it'd take them ages to find him.

He sat down, and looked around. No sign of an ashmount. The city seemed to be massive, though not as big as Luthadel. The lack of the spires of Kredik Shaw made it seem even larger, as he had an unobstructed view of the city. There weren't any noble keeps either. There were only a few large buldings near the centre.

He couldn't see a single Obligator or Inquisitor. Usually they were relatively easy to pick out of a crowd. Skaa would step aside quickly for the former, and just flee from the latter. Nobles would be following the Obligator, trying to ingratiate themselves, and keep out of the way of the Steel Ministry.

He realised then that he wasn't hiding his Allomantic pulses to any other Allomancers. He burnt copper, which created a shroud around him. He was quite skilled in copper, which meant the radius of the shield was only just past his own body. Copperclouding, as it was called, prevented those burning bronze from detecting any of the unique Allomantic pulses that each metal gave off when burnt.

Ashur could relax a bit more now. With pewter keeping his body in top-shape, and tin alerting him to anyone sneaking up, and copper hiding his Allomantic presence, he was pretty well hidden. His cloak also camouflaged him slightly against the roof if he drew it around himself, which was the reason he chose this specific one to stop on.

He burnt bronze himself, since copperclouding didn't stop him from detecting other people's burning. He frowned to himself when he couldn't pick up anyone else burning metal at that point in time. That didn't mean there were no Allomancers around, but the idea that there was no-one burning metal around him was a little disconcerting. Allomancers were rare, but you usually heard something, a dull background noise which indicated the general presence of Allomancers.

There wasn't even the background noise. It seemed that wherever he was, it was far enough away from Allomancers that they didn't register at all. It was utterly bizarre for him to have found a city without them. There didn't even seem to be any nobles, or if there were, the skaa dressed as well as them on the whole.

It was at this point that Ashur turned to what he had seen earlier, the conjuring of earth and flame. They had also called him a 'Metalbender'. Perhaps they were unused to the other metals that Allomancers had access to, and only knew the pushing and pulling metals. That was understandable, since they were the only ones that had obvious effects, but the name didn't make sense even then. Iron and steel affected metal in just one way: pulling and pushing metals (respectively) in a direct line from your centre of mass, depending on the relative masses of you and the metal in question. Bending metals was all but impossible without a specific set-up or very malleable metal.

Perhaps he had managed to used that metal to transfer himself out of the Final Empire. Maybe they had other... systems, whatever they would be called. That definitely made them a threat. He had to – somehow – get out of this place and back home. The problem was that he had never even heard of civilisation outside of the Final Empire, let alone a city on this scale.

He'd definitely need to spend more time here, not just to find out how to get home, but also to find more information out about these systems. His father was a metallurgist who spent his life trying to discover new metals for his family to use. He'd discovered whatever it was that sent him here, and he was feeling very confident about an alloy of atium. Hopefully this talent for discovering ran in his own blood, and he would have as much success.

He didn't feel particularly bad about being so far from home, not yet anyway. He was fond of his family, but he was a noble. Nobles didn't spend too much time together, as a rule. Besides, Ashur was the heir to the Shezler family, and a Mistborn at that. He couldn't become depressed at something so pathetic as misplacing himself.

In essence, he decided on three goals for his stay here: Firstly, to find as much out about this 'Bending' as he could, secondly to learn where this place was on earth, and how much a threat they were to the Final Empire, and thirdly, if he could, he had to find another nugget of whatever metal it was that had taken him here.

He wasn't feeling too good about his third objective. In all likelihood, he'd use his newfound geographical knowledge to plot a course home. He added another goal as he thought about it; he wasn't a noble here, and had no money, and very few metals left. He'd need to find a place to stay, and a way to make money.

Theft was probably the easiest manner with which to get it, since at night he would be practically unstoppable. It wasn't a noble thing to do, however, and he'd like to avoid it if he could. Work would be hard to find, considering his age and build. He was also unlikely to find a family to take him in; he had no contacts here, and he'd merely end up being used by whatever noble took him in. He had no illusions about a skaa taking him in.

On the other hand, perhaps there was a fourth option. The skaa that he had attacked and been attacked by earlier had mentioned something named the 'Triple Threat'. They did indeed seem to be thieves themselves. Perhaps he could thief from them in turn. It would be suitably ironic, and in a way, for a noble cause. It was an idea he could get behind, and he'd probably find out more about Bending as well.

In the meantime though, he was hungry. He felt a few of the strange coins they used here in Republic City, as he had overheard it been called. The name meant nothing to him. Presumably 'Republic' was a word they had created here. They were awkward to use compared to the boxings from home, which were designed to be used by Steelpushers. He'd have to get used to that as well.

He took a few steps towards the edge of the rooftop and looked out for a vendor. He'd have to spend some of his precious coins on food, but at least he had a plan.

If nothing else, Ashur liked it when he had plans.

Incidentally, Antillius Shelzer is a canon Mistborn character, very important to kicking the plot of the first book off. He's found in The Eleventh Metal, and is the person who creates the ingot of Malatium that Kelsier has throughout The Final Empire.