For Brandon Sanderson's
writing exercise:
The Will“Its quite a banquet out there, Nina”
“Its quite the occasion, Diogenes. A great victory for my tribe. You’ve changed the Bluefeet’s lives, you know.”
“People’s lives are constantly changing...everything we do changes somebody’s life.”
“Please, Diogenes, don’t be so modest. It was a brilliant strategy, well executed and effective in ways we didn’t think possible. The Bluefeet needn’t worry about the Bronzebacks anymore. You can count that a significant change.”
“I wasn’t without my motives.”
“Ah. Of course not. Well, my men recovered it in the aftermath. Here’s your book.”
“
The Will of Thedosis.”
“Mmhm. Few know of it now, and even less follow it. The Bronzebacks do."
“Did.”
“Did. Did you think that if what you’re looking for is really in those pages, the book wouldn’t have disappeared?”
“I had considered that, yes.”
“And yet...”
“Nina, why do we think magic is magic?”
“Because...it...lets people do the impossible.”
“But does it? The Mages have existed your entire life, my entire life - we’ve existed in the same world as them for years, centuries...and in all that time, everything they have been able to do has been
possible...technically. Because
they could do it.”
“Well yes, but its impossible for you and me.”
“Alright...say there’s an archer.”
“There’s an archer.”
“A world class archer, the envy of every would-be marksman in Ter-Thalla.”
“Mmhm?”
“If he were to strike a target at the center, ten times out of ten, could you match his feat?”
“No...”
“Then how are the Mages any different?”
“Well its not a skill with them, its just...an ability. Its something that just happens.”
“What about a blind man then? Take a man, born without sight, who has developed extraordinary hearing to compensate. Could you hear everything he hears?”
“Probably not...”
“It doesn’t matter that some have it and some don’t. Magic exists, and its existence lets us accept it. Its...commonplace, in a way. What’s so magical about that?”
“What’s your point, Diogenes?”
“We think magic is magical because there was a time
before it. It was bestowed on humanity, and at that point, it was an impossibility.”
“No, I mean what does that have to do with the book?”
“If there was a time before magic, the people of that time would have longed for it. Imagined the impossible and made it their dearest wish. Everybody’s done that at some point.”
“And now we have magic. Well, not
we, but somebody...”
“So there’s got to be something else fantastic and impossible to wish for. That’s what I seek.”
“So you’ve decided to look in a dead book?”
“There’s a reason it fell out of favor.”
“Being?”
“Well I don’t know. But there was a reason. Political, philosophical, maybe it just went out of style. In any case, there’s something in these pages about what I’m looking for. Isn’t that so?”
“Yes, but like I said, its a dead book for a dead faith. You think you’ll find a way to bring your wife back in there?”
“Not...well...”
“What?”
“...The detective. Do you know his purpose?”
“The one out there? With the crowbar?”
“I really don’t understand the fascination with the crowbar...”
“He’s investigating...a series of murders, I think.”
“And the razing of Azugrad city.”
“But that was the Bronzebacks. They set Azugrad ablaze...he thinks that’s related?”
“It
is related.”
“But he doesn’t think so.”
“No. He doesn’t know.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because the Bronzebacks didn’t burn down Azugrad.”
“And the killer did?”
“Yes.”
“And how do you know
that?”
“Because the detective is looking for me.”
“...Stay back.”
“Nina, listen.”
“The Bronzebacks never went near Azugrad, did they?”
“Does that change anything? They still terrorized your people!”
“Do you even know how many people-”
“Twelve. Eleven in Saphiir, one in Azugrad.”
“
One? The city burned all night!”
“I killed one person. It was one too many.”
“What about the other eleven?”
“Eleven too many.”
“I...
Thedosis, this is...”
“Would you let me explain?”
“No! Diogenes, what...no.”
“Nina, listen!”
“The soldiers, the ones the Mages sent from the Capitol, they never had a reason to fight the Bronzebacks, did they? They were looking for
you all along!”
“And those
soldiers, once again, saved your tribe from-”
“You just lured them in and tricked them into dying for our cause?”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“And they don’t know.”
“Our deal
was simple. I helped you defeat those brutes and I got the book.”
“Because you wanted to bring your wife back.”
“Yes, but what I’m trying to explain to you is that it wasn’t ever just my wife!”
“What?”
“Look, after I lost her I couldn’t stay...I couldn’t keep fighting in that awful war. So I left, to sort everything out in my mind...and after two years of searching, the only thing I thought would ease this wrenching feeling in me was...well, revenge.”
“So you started killing people.”
“The ones I knew were responsible for the war. Davin, for the weaponry that made it possible for the people to fight back against the Mages...the generals and commanders, on both sides...”
“And that made you feel
better? So that
justifies everything?
“No! Well...it did, but only for a little while. And every time, I’d feel this relief. Just...utter relief. Sometimes only for moments, but in that moment it was worth it.”
“Worth it.”
“It didn’t last.”
“Oh no?”
“No, it was always replaced with this ugly mixture of guilt and...crushing anxiety.”
“
Anxiety?”
“Well that’s the only word I can think of to describe it.”
“No, it makes sense. I’d be anxious too if I’d just
killed that many people!”
“Nina, try to stop passing judgment for just a
minute and try to understand what I’m trying to say.”
“What are you trying to say?”
*“That this book is my way out! Out of the cycle...because the guilt keeps building and building, and the only way it goes away is when I...”
“Oh my god...you...”
“But then you told me about this book! About what it could, maybe, do...for years people believed that this man, or God, what you will...
Thedosis. People believed he brought down his magic from the outside and gave it to us.”
“Wait, just...”
“Listen. He made the impossible possible.”
“This isn’t a guarantee! I don’t know what’s in that book, Gene.”
“Could you not call me that?”
“What?”
“She called me that...”
“So there’s no letting go for you is there?”
“I told you, its not just her. You told me this Thedosis brought us magic. And that he supposedly wrote this
Will to help us lead our lives.”
“Supposedly.”
“Its better than nothing. Every time I slit one of their throats, this guilt kept building. Its always right here.”
“And what if you can’t bring them all back then? What if there’s some limitation, or its all fake to begin with?”
“Then that’s the reality I’ll be saddled with. That’s what I’ll have to accept, and I’ll either find another way to settle my soul or go insane. Until then, any possibility gives me something to focus on. To ward away the guilt.”
“And what of the soldiers you manipulated? You did that after I told you about the Will. You can’t take back their deaths, even if you could bring them back. Not completely.”
“I couldn’t. But at least they wouldn’t have to suffer for my wrongdoing. I’d still be guilty, yes...but I can’t even ask forgiveness from a corpse.”
“No, I can’t believe...Look, if I had never even mentioned the myths behind this book would you feel any obligation to find a way to absolve yourself? No, you’d continue on this path, killing people until there was nobody left to justify murdering! What would ease your anxiety then?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’d just go on killing anyone? Reason or no?”
“Maybe. Probably.”
“Then why shouldn’t I walk right back out there and tell them all what you’ve just told me?”
“Because then there would never be a chance to bring any of them back! This book would be lost again, I’m sure of it.”
“You’re doing this for
you.”
“Yes. Everything we do is selfish.”
“Do you honestly think you deserve a chance at redemption?”
“Only because
everybody is supposed to deserve one.”
“So you deserve to ‘settle your soul’ with this impossible quest, or, failing that, delusion?”
“Everything we do is selfish...but everything we do
also changes somebody’s life. Sometimes what we might need most can be what someone else needs even more.”
“And if you fail?”
“Then the hope is gone. That doesn’t mean I’d forget why I tried.”
“You’re trying to save your soul.”
“Yes.”
“And if that’s impossible?”
“It
is impossible. But who’s known for making the impossible possible?”
“Thedosis...”
“Thedosis.”
“...Open the book.”
