A third way out. A way to internalize the aspects, yet let them still live on? A way to be at peace with the voices, to give them an outlet other than to scream at me, ignored?
“I am an expert,” Jenny said softly, “in them. In you. The sum expertise of a decade of living with them, and with this incredible, insane brain of yours.” She proffered the notepad again. “Let them live again.”
I took it, hesitantly. “It won’t be the same.”
“Make it the same.”
“It won’t be real.”
“Make it real.”
She faded. Leaving the notepad in my hand, filled with notes. Stories, lives. I didn’t feel the sensation of ripping loss. The information was still there in my head. Her knowledge. My knowledge.
I looked at the glowing computer monitor. This won’t work, I thought. This can’t work.
… Can it?
I sat with the notepad under my hand, but I didn’t need it. I just needed to know it was there. So I started typing.
My name is Stephen Leeds, I wrote, and I am perfectly sane. My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad.
I wrote for hours. Word after word after word. Somewhere near dawn, I saw a shadow reflected in the computer screen. When I turned, nobody was there, but when I looked back at the screen it was like I could see him behind me. I almost—but not quite—felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I didn’t look away from the computer, but reached up, and touched the hand with mine. The hand of a man weathered with age.
Well done, Stephen, a familiar voice—not completely real—said in my mind. Well done! Why don’t you write about Ivy and J.C. going to Paris together? She’s always wanted to go. Something will go wrong, of course. A diamond heist perhaps? The Regent Diamond is there, on display at the Louvre. It’s said to be the clearest diamond in all the world.…
I smiled. Sandra was wrong. It wasn’t about containing them. It was about letting them free.
I hurriedly continued typing. My adventures are done. Finally, thankfully.
But my hallucinations … well, they’re always getting into trouble.
by Brandon Sanderson
THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
Oathbringer
THE MISTBORN SAGA THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
THE WAX AND WAYNE SERIES
The Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
The Bands of Mourning
Elantris
Warbreaker
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
ALCATRAZ VS. THE EVIL LIBRARIANS
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
The Scrivener’s Bones
The Knights of Crystallia
The Dark Talent
THE RECKONERS
Steelheart
Firefight
Calamity
Skyward
The Rithmatist
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
About the Author
Brandon Sanderson grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. He is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn® trilogy and its sequels, The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and The Bands of Mourning; the Stormlight Archive novels, The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, and Oathbringer; and other novels, including The Rithmatist and Steelheart. In 2013, he won a Hugo Award for The Emperor’s Soul, a novella set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time® sequence. For behind-the-scenes information on all his books, visit brandonsanderson.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgments
Legion
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Legion: Skin Deep
Part One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Part Two
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Part Three
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Lies of the Beholder
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Also by Brandon Sanderson
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these novellas are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
LEGION: THE MANY LIVES OF STEPHEN LEEDS
Copyright © 2018 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
“Legion” © 2012 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
First published in 2012 by Subterranean Press
“Legion: Skin Deep” © 2014 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
First published in 2014 by Subterranean Press
“Lies of the Beholder” © 2018 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
Brandon Sanderson® is a registered trademark of Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
All rights reserved.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
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Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-29779-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-31686-8 (international, sold outside the U.S., subject to rights availability)
ISBN 978-1-250-20560-5 (signed edition)
ISBN 978-1-250-29780-8 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250297808
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First Edition: September 2018
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