Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

by Brandon Sanderson

Ishathon. Kelsier stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets and kicked at the ground of the island. It was some type of dark, smoky stone. “What?” Preservation whispered. Kelsier jumped, then glanced at the line of light. “You … in there, Fuzz?” “I’m everywhere,” Preservation said, his voice soft, frail. He sounded exhausted. “Why have you stopped?” “This is different.” “Yes, it congeals here,” Preservation said. “It has to do with the way men think, and where they are likely to pass. Somewhat to do with that, at least.” “But what is it?” Kelsier said, stepping up onto the island. Preservation said nothing further, and so Kelsier continued toward the center of the island. Whatever had “congealed” here, it was strikingly stonelike. And things grew on it. Kelsier passed scrubby plants sprouting from the otherwise hard ground—not misty, inchoate plants, but real ones full of color. They had broad brown leaves with—curiously—what seemed like mist rising from them. None of the plants reached higher than his knees, but there were still far more than he’d expected to find here.