Difference between revisions of "Waxillium Ladrian"

In his early months in [[Elendel]], Wax earned a reputation for frequently disappearing early from social functions, preferring to steel-push through the mists, in patrol of the city. On one such night, Waxillium paused his patrol and intervened in a shootout. Believing he heard a woman's whimper, which reminded him of Lessie, Wax froze during the gunfight. Coming to the conclusion that he was no longer capable of being a lawman, and with the effectiveness of the city constabulary forcing him to face the irrelevance of vigilante justice in general, Wax hung up his guns for good.{{book ref|mb4|1}}

Correctly deducing the Vanishers' next target, Wax set Wayne and Marasi to work, zeroing in on the protection of Lord [[Augustine Tekiel|Tekiel]]'s next shipment train, which included the new, [[Breaknaught]] cargo car. Infiltrating the car just before the predicted robbery took place, Wax allowed himself to be taken to the Vanishers' lair.{{book ref|mb4|16}} Making use of a large amount of dynamite smuggled alongside him in the Breaknaught, Waxillium fought his way through the Vanishers' hideout, unfortunately losing Vindication in the fray. Successfully springing a trap made specially to capture Hundredlives, Wax was then forced to flee when the outlaw opted to blow himself up with a personal explosive, rather than be captured. Escaping into the mists, Waxillium briefly experienced a conversation with [[Harmony]], which culminated in the realization that Harmony had worked behind the scenes to orchestrate the delivery of Wax's old, lost weapons to the Vanishers' hideout, just in time to help.{{book ref|mb4|18}}

After the surviving Vanishers were taken into custody and interrogated, Waxillium recognized the description of a man working with Miles whom they called "Mister Suit," which led him to believe they were talking about his [supposed] late uncle, [[Edwarn Ladrian]]. Following up on a lead to Suit's current whereabouts, Wax boarded a train at [[Dryport]] and confirmed his suspicions. Confronting his uncle face to face, Waxillium demanded that Edwarn give up the location of the other women the Vanishers had kidnapped. Unthreatened, Edwarn welcomed Wax to attempt to expose his operation, as there was no real proof pointing to the old man's involvement. Wax listened as his uncle chastised him for his purported self-righteousness, just as he did when Wax was a child. When Wax moved to take matters into his own hands, Edwarn called in his men, who threw Wax off the back of the train--but not before Wax swiped his uncle's appointment book.{{book ref|mb4|epilogue}}

Newly rescued, Steris suggested to Wax that their shared ordeal afforded the two of them an opportunity to speed up their marriage contract and announce their engagement much sooner then previously planned. Initially hesitant, Wax agreed that the couple should move forward with Steris' suggestion, endeavoring to push away any potentially romantic thoughts of Marasi and bury his painful memories of Lessie.{{book ref|mb4|20}}

Months later, while steel-pushingSteelpushing through the crowded city streets in hot pursuit of a bank robber known as the [[Marksman]] (an Allomancer connected with the [[Set]] who featured in Edwarn's appointment book), Wax was stunned and deeply disturbed to recognize the face of an onlooker on the sidewalk below —Bloody--Bloody Tan, Lessie's murderer.{{book ref|mb5|2}} Shaken and unable to locate Tan among the crowds, Wax enlisted the help of Wayne and Marasi to continue the chase into the [[Breakouts]]. Eventually catching Marks, Wax was prevented from bringing the man in for questioning when Marks was suddenly killed by an assassin's crossbow.{{book ref|mb5|3}}

Needing time to think, Wax rode alone in his carriage, driven by [[Hoid]]. Casually musing upon whether his [[Pathian]] earring may have once been a Hermalurgic spike, Wax placed it into his ear. Immediately, Harmony spoke to Wax directly, --careful to reassure him that he had not gone insane. Harmony admitted that the earring was a spike, which was the reason they were able to converse. Additionally, Harmony explained that Wax's earlier sightings of Bloody Tan were real and not imagined, though the murderer Wax had been chasing all this time was not a man, but actually a [[Faceless Immortal]] using Tan's bones, named [[Bleeder]].{{book ref|mb5|7}}

While attending Lady [[ZoBell]]'s party with Steris, Wax met the Faceless Immortal, [[MeLaan]], a Faceless Immortal sent to help in the hunt for Bleeder by Harmony himself. In between chats with various nobility of the city, Wax began to hear a new voice in his head, --mocking him and the people of Elendel. Wax soon realized he was hearing the voice of Bleeder, who had somehow learned to use the same Hermalurgic connection to him that Harmony had.{{book ref|mb5|9}} Using their connection to discover Bleeder's location at the party, Wax attempted to apprehend her, giving chase out a window and through the Mists[[Mist]]s of the city outside.{{book ref|mb5|10}}

His pursuit of Bleeder waylaid by a dozen armed men, Wax was convinced that she must be aligned with the Set. Wax listened closely as Bleeder spoke in his mind of her plans to kill the governor and free the city from Harmony's influence, but first she claimed she would need to murder Wax's father. Guessing that she must have been threatening Lord Harms' life, Wax raced across the city, spiriting the old man and Steris to separate, secret locations. Finally believing he had moved one step ahead of Bleeder, Wax reported to Governor Innate to warn him of the dire threat to his life, only to discover that during his absence Bleeder had brutally killed [[Father Bin]], the [[Survivorist]] priest who was to perform his marriage ceremony to Steris.{{book ref|mb5|12}}

Tracking Bleeder's path, Wax located the carriage she had used to escape the scene of the killing. Inside, Wax found traces of [[Perchwither]], a substance only found in the [[Kandra Homeland|Homeland of the Faceless Immortals]].{{book ref|mb5|15}} Puzzled, Wax followed her trail back to the Governor's mansion. Once close enough to her location, Bleeder's voice immediately returned to his mind, keen to convince Wax that Harmony did not care and was only using him. Sowing doubt, Bleeder asked Wax to attempt to explain why Harmony had failed to step in and save Lessie's life. Distracted, Wax was unable to prevent Bleeder from using her stolen steelrunnerSteelrunner abilities to attack Innate's chambers. By the time Wax arrived, Bleeder had already disappeared, though thankfully leaving the governor alive. Looking closer, Wax found another message from Bleeder, this time written in the blood of her latest kill.{{book ref|mb5|16}}

Seeking more information on Bleeder, Wax entered the museum in the [[Field of Rebirth]]. Locating the secret path through the historical [[Atiumatium]] mines, Wax entered the cavern leading to the Homeland, and encountered [[TenSoon]], legendary wolfhound of the [[Ascendant Warrior]]. TenSoon told Wax much of Bleeder's history and showed him a torn up and desecrated copy of the [[Words of Founding]], --the product of one of her last acts before leaving the Homeland and evidence of her descent into madness.{{book ref|mb5|20}} Wax and TenSoon found themselves chased from the Homeland by the sudden appearance of [[Hemalurgic chimera]]s--deformed humans under Bleeder's control--but not before Wax came to realize the full scope of her plan. She didn't want to simply kill the governor; she wanted to incite a city-wide riot.{{book ref|mb5|21}} Wax immediately returned to Innate's mansion, intent on saving his life once and for all. After entering the governor's study, Wax noticed a carefully placed gumball, which he recognized to be a sign of trouble, left for him by Wayne. Immediately realizing the truth--that Bleeder had been secretly impersonating the governor the entire time--Wax pulled out his gun. Bleeder opened fire first, killing Innate's guards as she escaped out the window.{{book ref|mb5|22}}

Steel-pushingSteelpushing through the night after Bleeder, Wax easily found her, changing bodies again just before she moved to escape. Finally confronting her on the [[Eastbridge]], Wax saw that Bleeder had pointed her gun at him, but she did not fire. With tears in her eyes, she pleaded with Wax to forsake Harmony and be free. Wax ignored the pain he felt, seeing that Bleeder was now wearing the face of his dead wife, Lessie. He did his best not to listen to how well Bleeder could mimic Lessie's voice and mannerisms. Wax levelled Vindication and shot her in the head with the bullet from the gun's special chamber. The bullet had been made to his request by Ranette, molded from his Pathian earring. It was designed to give Bleeder a second spike, allowing Harmony to reassert Hemalurgic control over the mad kandra.{{book ref|mb5|25}}

Six months later, spurred on by a slowly growing bond with Steris and determined not to remain in the same well of despair that had tried to claim him when he lost Lessie the first time, Wax had returned to the pursuit of his constabulary duties with Wayne.{{book ref|mb6|1}} When the day of his wedding with Steris arrived, Wax found himself pursued once again by a member of Harmony's Kandrakandra; this one claiming to have a matter of great importance to discuss. Rebuffing him, Wax continued on to the Survivorist church where he walked down the aisle with Steris, whose genuine tears moved him in a way he did not expect. Realizing he was still not ready to let go of Lessie's memory, Wax was blessedly spared the need for any further heartbreak when a water tower outside suddenly tipped onto the roof of the church, bathing all those in attendance and postponing the ceremony once again, much to Wax's relief.{{book ref|mb6|2}}

Wax unholstered Vindication and downed a new vial of metals as he returned to Ladrian mansion, later that day; the telltale clues of intrusion in his own home had quickly brought him to high alert. Discovering that this newest threat turned out to be nothing more than the same Kandrakandra as before, now seated in Wax's own study, had done little to encourage him to lower his pistol. The kandra, [[VenDell]], of the sixth generation, had successfully ensnared Marasi and Wayne in his appeal for assistance, but Wax believed that VenDell had done so simply as another way to entangle him into the affair, while ignoring his earlier refusal. Pouncing on Wax's curiosity, VenDell produced an [[evanoscope]], which he used to engage him in a presentation on the nature of [[Investiture]] and [[Identity]], as well as the myth of the [[Bands of Mourning]]. Wax's patience wearing thin, VenDell explained that these evanotype images had been taken by another kandra, [[ReLuur]], who was obsessed with the Bands and convinced they were Identity-less [[metalmind]]s which held the potential to grant anyone Metalborn powers to rival those of the [[Lord Ruler]]. Dismissing the idea outright, Wax was shocked to see another evanotype impressed with an image of his sister, [[Telsin]], who was being dragged somewhere against her will. VenDell informed him that ReLuur had been accosted by the same thugs in [[New Seran]], where one of his spikes had been stolen. Convinced of the danger and worried for his sister, Wax agreed to help.{{book ref|mb6|3}}

Feeling the train car suddenly slowing, Wax sprang into action. Guessing rightly that robbers had disconnected their car, he leaped to the tracks below and then tapped his metalmind to greatly increase his weight, which allowed him to Steelpush the train car back down the tracks fast enough to reconnect. Wax pushed himself back onto the train, which was already being boarded by a large group of gunmen on horseback.{{book ref|mb6|7}} Leaving Steris in Marasi's care, Wax fought his way through the train, eventually squaring off against, a huge Metalborn brute, whose large bulk turned out to be a great target for Ranette's latest gift to Wax's arsenal, --an Allomantically-triggered hook device which proved particularly well suited to throwing people from a train.{{book ref|mb6|8}}

Eventually arriving in New Seran, Wax and Steris agreed that the best way to begin their investigation was to attend a ball at the home of Lady [[Kelesina Shores]], where they would be sure to scrape as much information as possible from the city's upper crust. As they approached the mansion, Wax gave a bank note to a well spoken [[Hoid|beggar]]{{book ref|mb6|11}}, who insisted he take in exchange a strange coin, made of two different metals, branded with the face of a man spiked through one eye, and covered in symbols that Wax could not read. Separating, the two mingled among the elite and gathered what rumors they could, including some regarding a hushed building project that may have involved Allomancers, north east of the city. Gruff around the edges as ever, and surrounded by as practiced liars and thieves as he had ever faced before, Wax knew he still had a lot to learn about politics. Still, he gained more information than he expected, even detecting that there was more going on with Lady Kelesina than she let on. Interrupted just as he was about to extend an invitation to Lady [[Felise Demoux]], Wax instead shared a dance with [[Khriss]], who was excited to question Wax extensively about his particular pairing of Feruchemical and Allomantic abilities. Pushing for more information than seemed proper, and displaying an uncomfortably high level of knowledge of his powers, Khriss increased Wax's already heavy suspicions, as he returned to asking other guests of the party questions of his own.{{book ref|mb6|12}}

Staying ahead of the local authorities and following up on their only lead from the party, Wax rode a stagecoach toward the construction site into the north eastnortheast. Along the way, he helped Marasi field test the cube device she had taken from the train robbers, which they took to calling an [[ettmetalprimer cube|Allomantic grenade]] as it seemed to somehow extend the area of effect of its user's Allomancy. At the construction site, Wax, Wayne, MeLaan, and Marasi successfully infiltrated the perimeterperimete, discovering that a large, nondescript building was actually a facade, covering up Edwarn's real effort in New Seran, --the apparent construction of what appeared to be a huge, wooden warship.{{book ref|mb6|17}}

Splitting from Marasi and MeLaan, who went in search of ReLuur's stolen spike, Wax and Wayne entered the warship, determined to locate Edwarn himself. Using a spyglass borrowed from MeLaan, Wax immediately changed their plan when he located the chamber where Telsin was being held. Easily bypassing the workmen and engineers blocking his path, Wax quietly entered the room dead set on saving his sister. Finally reunited, Wax was surprised when Telsin immediately took brutal retribution on one of her captors. The years had really changed her, just as, he supposed, they had changed him.{{book ref|mb6|18}} Fighting their way out, accompanied by a generous helping of speed bubble assistance from Wayne, Wax joined in a grand escape after [[Allik]], a masked man that Marasi had rescued, revealed the existence of a second, smaller ship which could detach from the main vessel and lift into the sky.{{book ref|mb6|20}}

| You were always the quiet one. The thoughtful one. How did you get here? I …... Your face, Waxillium. You're old.

Halted by a door which was inscribed with writing that none of them could decipher, Wax returned to the entrance of the temple, where Steris, Marasi, and Wayne held Edwarn at gunpoint; his expedition had arrived at the temple just before Wax's return. Edwarn claimed to know the secret to opening the temple's final door and threatened Wax that he had an overwhelming force of Allomancers and goons surrounding the temple who would not hesitate to kill every member of Wax's pitiful group, unless he was allowed to join them in collecting the Bands.{{book ref|mb6|25}} When the temple's last chamber proved to be missing the Bands, Wax suddenly found himself in an armed standoff with Telsin, who he had rightly suspected to be a mole for the Set. Both siblings fired at once. ; Wax's bullet went wild and missed, but Telsin's shot hit Wax just below the neck. A number of bullets later, Wax fell into a pit, below the Bands' supposed resting chamber.{{book ref|mb6|26}} Trailing blood and weakening by the moment, Wax was soon tracked down by Edwarn, now fully revealed as an Allomancer, by way of Hemalurgic spikespikes. Edwarn cruelly triggered another of the temple's traps, which collapsed the roof and crushed Wax's already wounded body under a punishing avalanche of rubble. In a daze, Wax was forced to watch helplessly as his uncle approached, unholstering his pistol and intent on finishing him off. When Wayne arrived to attempt his rescue and broke down at the sight of him, Wax used his remaining breath to tell his friend to go on living and keep fighting. No longer able to hold on, Waxillium Ladrian died.{{book ref|mb6|27}}

Immediately, Wax found himself in the presence of Harmony. Face to face with the god he had shunned for so long, Wax did not shirk away; instead, Wax layedlaid into Harmony for his inaction that had led to so many people suffering. He chastised him for using Wax all these years, with what appeared to be so little regard. He demanded an explanation for what happened to Lessie. Together, the two of them philosophized on the nature of cause and effect. Harmony patiently explained that his workings were larger in scope than Wax could currently understand. He expanded Wax's worldview, --literally showing him a representation of the planet and allowing him a small glimpse of the greater conflict in which he was currently embroiled. Allowing Wax to choose, Harmony offered him a chance toat return"another toadventure," lifewhich Wax accepted. Wax opened his eyes and dutyscreamed, whichthrowing the rubble from his body with the pure strength of steel itself. His body instantaneously healed, Wax acceptedfocused his view on Marasi who had placed something like an oversized spearhead in his hand: the real Bands of Mourning, an unkeyed metalmind of nearly limitless power.{{book ref|mb6|28}}

Wax finally returned to Elendel, where he gave over the spearhead into the hands of the mandra. No longer willing to put it off, and ready to move on with his life, Wax convinced Steris to marry him in a quiet ceremony, highlighted by their newly blossomed love for each other.{{book ref|mb6|31}} On their honeymoon, Wax was suddenly awakened by the sound of an explosion in the distance. Wandering their suite, Wax found himself absently handling the dual metal coin that the beggar had given him, before the party in New Seran. Looking closely at the coin for what seemed like the first time, Wax hesitantly tested tapping it like a metalmind, which sprang to life a copper-stored memory, seemingly belonging to the mysterious [[Sovereign]].{{book ref|mb6|epilogue}}