Chapter 113

SEVEN THOUSAND FIFTY YEARS AGO

I , the Almighty, rode the storms. Imprinted myself on them, made them an avatar of me. A word used by the gods for an aspect of themselves that works with a certain self-determination.

It is not the same for us as for mortals. We can think many thoughts and be many places. Here I created a spren who was—at the same time—myself. Myself if I were free to just … exist. It was not fully independent. It was not fully me. I savored its simple joy.

But soon I felt Kor’s return as a sudden song. She had gone to gather information after what I’d told her of Rayse’s attacks on other Shards.

I found her in our home on Roshar: the verdant explosion near the center of the continent. She called it our nest. Kor landed in her greatest shape, the winged dragon with deep brown skin, lined with silver. I loved it, as I loved all of her forms. In an eyeblink, she’d taken her human shape instead, and she grabbed me by both arms, mingling our divine essences.

Our songs became a harmony.

“Tanavast,” she hissed, “Rayse didn’t kill only Uli Da.”

“Who else ? ”

“Aona.”

The healer ? Of all people, he’d attacked Aona ?

“Both she and Skai are dead, Tanavast,” Kor whispered. “He drew them into conflict with one another, then finished them off when they were weak.”

Aona had always treated me with such kindness. I felt my essence grow thinner, spread out, my soul vibrating with anguish. Then I snapped back.

“He goes too far,” I declared. “He will strike further if allowed. We must move against him. Now .”

I sensed her hesitance as the landscape around us, growing more and more aligned with our moods, vibrated to her emotions. Kor wasn’t a pacifist—I’d seen that personally—but her way was not direct confrontation. She was a dragon, trained as a god before our Ascension. Her way was with careful, subtle nudges.

That would not suffice against Rayse. I opened the future to her, and showed the possibilities. She could see them as well as I could, better even, but sometimes did not wish to.

At my divine manifestation of possibility, she nodded. Our very lives were in danger, but Rayse was wounded. This might be our best chance. And so, together, we swept out of the nest, crossing the landscape in harmony, a storm building behind us.

We found him with the singers.

It had been decades to the mortals. In those years, he ’d turned from his pet humans, finding a better tool in these who felt I’d abandoned them. How ? I had only been gone to help dissidents on Ashyn a short time.

Long enough for the singers to begin to stray from my teachings. To look toward their ancient gods. So inconsistent were these singers ! So untrustworthy !

I hesitated. That wasn’t truly how I felt, but the power within me—the power called Honor—was offended by them turning from their promises. It wanted me to understand that pain, but I rejected such. I knew, from my time as a mortal, how normal this was—and I tried to explain.

But the power could not stand it. And as I’d often been disobeying its will lately, I ceded this to it.

Regardless, the singers seemed to like Rayse, for all that he intimidated them. He came to them in their own shape, and spoke of passion. Always duplicitous, that one—but he appeared to mold to what they wanted, rather than expecting them to make promises as my power insisted.

When Kor and I approached, Rayse swept away from the singers, soaring up to a mountaintop. We followed, and formed avatars in the snow—stepping as if out of our storm. I used my regal, divine human shape. And Kor, ever one for drama, emerged in her draconic shape, with a long, sinuous neck and dark brown wings.

“I wondered when you’d greet me,” Rayse said. “My friends.”

We attacked. There was an instinct granted to our powers, an instinct that told me we could batter him, harry him, rip him to pieces if we—

As soon as we touched him, we saw the future.

Projections of it, pulled by Rayse, displayed for both me and Kor. A burned land, full of broken bodies. Death on all sides. Earthquakes besetting Roshar, a land without tectonics.

I trembled, and could not deny it. It was not just possible; it was the most probable outcome of a clash between us. We could kill him, but he would make the fight exceptionally painful for all on Roshar.

I stumbled back.

“The future,” Rayse said, “is death, my friends.”

“We see what may happen,” Kor said, rearing up on her hind legs. “It is not the future you show us ! ”

“In how many eventualities, Kor,” Rayse said, “does this land survive a full clash between us ? Do you know what happened to the region where I killed Ambition ? Have you seen ? ”

“Yes,” she said softly.

Rayse raised his hands to the sides, eyes like dark holes into infinity. “Then come for me.”

Neither of us dared strike. I looked to the place where Ambition had died—out in space, distant. Their clash had been so destructive, the entire region—including multiple planets—had been annihilated. Other planets lay broken, barely habitable.

A clash of gods could be a terrible, terrible thing. In that moment, I learned something incredible. I knew why Adonalsium, at the end, had not fought us.

“We will need to make an accommodation, won’t we ? ” Rayse said. “To ensure our … continued good relations.”

“We cannot fight directly,” I declared, haunted by those visions. “But we must not do as we did on Ashyn. Common men cannot hold that much strength without misusing it or going too far.”

Those words echoed within me as I said them.

Common men.

I saw Ashyn again, burned.

I was a god. I was God. I …

I had been a common man too.

“Hmmm …” Rayse said, strolling through the snow. “No, we do not want another … situation like Ashyn. But would you have us cut off all contact with the mortals ? They need gods, Tanner. And I’ve never met a dragon who could resist being worshipped.”

“We can interact,” Kor said. “If we have limits.”

“What limits do you propose ? ” Rayse asked.

She held out her hand, and equations appeared above it, manifest in notations we could instantly understand. Only a portion of our powers could be granted to mortals—within distinct controls. There was versatility, I saw, and genius in how it was presented. One could grant great powers to individuals, if they were willing to bend to divine rules as we did. Or instead, lesser power could be given indiscriminately to many.

“Brilliant,” I whispered to her. “With these restrictions, no mortal would ever be powerful enough to destroy the planet.”

Unless …

No. That was ridiculous to consider.

“Hmmm …” Rayse said, studying her proposal. “I do not like the idea of being bound. Perhaps I will just leave. I had thought to convalesce here, but there may be better places to—”

“ No, ” I said, my heart yearning for Aona, dead. There were others who would be defenseless against him. “We three violated the rules. We belong together. We stay, and share this system.”

“Do it, Rayse,” Kor said with her draconic voice, “or I will gather the others and you will be dealt with as Adonalsium was.”

The threat loomed. He seemed to weigh fighting right there, but he knew he would lose. The planet might die, but he would lose.

“Fine,” Rayse said, with a wave of his hand. “I accept these terms.”

When he said it, something happened. The power inside surged forward, and I let it— propelled it—as I had never done before. My own power, the power of Honor, could bind even gods more strongly. My ability blanketed Rayse, then Kor, then myself.

Rayse shouted, gathering his strength. Then my power withdrew, and I smiled. This time I was aligned with it.

“What the hell was that ? ” Rayse asked, stepping back.

“We are Vessels,” Kor said. “For things we barely understand, Rayse. I do not think the Shards will take our agreements lightly.” She glanced at the sky. “Each violation of our word weakens us, opens us to attack.” She looked to the liar and leaned down, her draconic head moving level with his face. “Be glad you happened upon two of us who are reasonable and willing to share.”

Together, she and I swept away, leaving Rayse on the mountaintop. And … I could feel Rayse’s anger vibrating through the planet.

And slowly, to my horror, Roshar began to adopt Rayse. Just as it had Kor and myself.