The impossible has been accomplished: the Final Empire has fallen and the Lord Ruler is dead. Now Vin and the surviving members of Kelsier's crew face a challenge none of them were prepared for: governing. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, is fragile and exposed. Three rival armies converge on its walls - one of them composed of ferocious koloss - and there is no sign of the Lord Ruler's legendary atium cache that could tip the balance. Meanwhile, the mists have begun behaving strangely, staying longer and killing without explanation, and Vin senses a mysterious presence watching from within them. Venerated by a budding new religion and haunted by powers she doesn't fully understand, Vin must hold a besieged city together while chasing an ancient legend - the Well of Ascension - that may offer the only hope of salvation, if it even exists.