The Sunlit Man
by Brandon Sanderson
Contents
433
Overview
Stranded beneath the approaching sunrise, Zellion confronts the Cinder King, who plans to kill him and claim his weapon and the fleeing city. Zellion reverses the theft, draining the tyrant’s hoarded heat and Investiture. Powerless, the Cinder King burns at sunrise, while Zellion reaches full capacity and Skips away to continue his journey.
Summary
As Union flees and sunrise nears, the Cinder King confronts Zellion, demanding he summon his armor and threatening to kill him to claim the offworld Shardblade and drop the shield protecting the city. Zellion, exhausted and freezing as the Cinder King drains his heat, recognizes the tyrant’s plan to appear immortal when the city returns.
Remembering his promise to Auxiliary, Zellion seizes the initiative. He grasps the Cinder King and invokes his Torment, reversing the flow to pull heat and Investiture from the man who has long fed on others. The Cinder King’s glow fades, his cinderheart dims, and Zellion’s reserves surge past full Skipping capacity.
Deprived of stolen power, the Cinder King faces the onrushing light. Zellion condemns tyranny’s weakness as the sunrise ignites the ex-king, reducing him to ash. With energy to spare, Zellion triggers his Torment to Skip away from Canticle and back into the wider cosmere.
The confrontation ends the Cinder King’s reign, preserves Union’s escape, and sends Zellion onward, empowered by the very strength the tyrant had hoarded.
Who Appears
- Zellion (Nomad)Protagonist; reverses the Cinder King’s drain, absorbs his Investiture, and Skips off-world after the tyrant burns at sunrise.
- The Cinder KingTyrant intent on killing Zellion to claim his weapon and immunity; is drained of power and incinerated by the sunrise.