PoV Kelsier
Kelsier breathed in the chill night air and looked upon the mist shrouded city of Luthadel from the city's walls.
A longing he had consciously ignored these past three years eased, Kelsier loved this city just as much as he hated it. This is where he met Mare, this is where he made friends. This city saw his greatest triumphs and his longest fall.
As inevitable as sunrise, his eyes fell upon Kredik Shaw, its many peaked spires and sheer towers that rise high into the air, all of varying thickness, some large enough to contain large rooms and stairwells, and others are simply nothing more than thin rods of iron. There are no outer defensive walls surrounding the 'palace'. His hatred spiked and the simmering coals of fury in his chest burst alight.
That ugly spiked monstrosity of a 'palace' is where the Lord Ruler lived.
I can beat him, I can kill him!, a part of Kelsier raged.
Kelsier quickly suppressed that part, with his personal mantra of, there is always another secret.
Lord Ruler is the tyrant that ruled Scadrial for last thousand years. Lord Ruler is the monster that oppressed millions and is personally responsible for the deaths of just as many Skaa.
Lord Ruler might not have killed all those Skaa with his own hands or magic, he might not have even ordered their deaths, but every Skaa dead under an overseers brutal whip in plantations, Kelsier laid at Lord Rulers feet, for every Skaa girl raped and then killed by the noblemen in the last thousand years, Kelsier held Lord Ruler responsible, every Skaa beaten to death for a noblewoman's raised ire, is a debt Lord Ruler owed, every Skaa dead at forty, aged beyond their years by the back breaking work and malnutrition Kelsier counted as a murder done in Lord Ruler's name.
For every dead Skaa in the last thousand years, the Lord Ruler is responsible, for creating this world, for imposing this monstrous system that demanded the blood, sweat and tears of Skaa to function.
Kelsier has seen better systems of governance, Lord Ruler had options, other, better means to control the Skaa and the Nobles, Lord Ruler could have built a society that did not need Skaa suffering, such a system would have been more Prosperous and more Just and required lot less effort to maintain.
But the Skaa suffering is the point of this system, a thing that Kelsier always suspected, a thing Mare and his brother Marsh had always insisted as truth but he had been too selfish then to truly listen or care, but recently he confirmed for himself. That confirmation only made Kelsier hate Lord Ruler more.
Lord Ruler called himself god of this world, a 'Sliver of Infinity'.
I will kill that bastard, I will kill Lord Ruler, but the Lord Ruler has a secret, and once I find that secret I will destroy him, I already have a thread to pull. Ah Lord Ruler, you should not have called yourself a Sliver, because I know what that means. Tugging that single thread I will unravel all you secrets, Kelsier once again promised himself. And added another vow to that years old promise, he would destroy Kredik Shaw, he would do it, even if he had to do it with his bare hands, even if it took years, brick by brick, he would do it.
Kelsier pushed aside his vengeful thoughts, he is going to meet friends soon, after so long.
Dockson, Ham, Breeze, Sazed and even Marsh. And I need to find the girl, she is important.
He is going to need their help for what he plans on doing. And they will give it, he knows his friends after all, some will grumble, some will be enthusiastic, but all will help.
They are Mare approved, after all, Kelsier thought with fondness, grief tried to envelop him, to drown him in sadness and bitterness, but he pushed that aside, and let himself feel the love he still held for his dead wife. For a long time he had doubted her, suspected her of betrayal, a seed planted by few words uttered by Lord Ruler with seeming indifference, said so casually, Kelsier could not stop himself from taking them as true. Kelsier had tried so hard to squash the doubt, but like a persistent weed, it sprouted again and again. But no more, he now knew things, secrets and truths, that recontextualized everything he thought he knew.
She gave her life for mine, it is time I put her gift to greater use, a better use.
As ash began to fall and the sun started to rise in all its blood-red glory, Kelsier took one last look at his city, looked at the slowly dissipating mists, luminescent with reflected light, took in the ash streaked homes, and sneered at the ugly brown plants.
Then he adjusted the straps of his rucksack on his left shoulder, bent down, grabbed the handle of a long heavy rectangular box made completely of a silvery metal and lifted it up, made sure his grip on it is secure.
Kelsier checked his internal reserves, he had plenty of metals left, all sixteen of them.
Kelsier Burned Steel, faint blue lines sprung all around him, connecting his chest to every piece of metal nearby.
As the red rays of dawn's light started to creep into the city, Kelsier dropped a coin from the walls down on to the street and followed the coin soon after, after falling for a few feet, he Pushed off the dropped coin at an angle, Kelsier flew in an arc towards a shadowed alleyway, as he neared the ground at a rapid pace, he dropped another coin, Burned Steel to lightly Push against the coin, simultaneously Burned Iron to lightly pull on a metal window frame he just passed. And with fine control gained from hundreds of hours of practice he slowly throttled the Burn on both metals and extinguished them as he landed softly.
Half a minute of unclasping and folding later, his Mistcloak is in his rucksack, Kelsier has his nobleman's vest and coat on. And he stepped on to a main street and into dawn's light.
The last days of the Final Empire have begun.