The prologue begins with an epigraph written by the Hero of Ages, dated approximately a century before the events of the novel take place and before the Ascension of the Lord Ruler, who controls Scadrial under an authoritarian theocracy. In this epigraph, the Hero of Ages confesses his doubts about being able to save the world as expected by the Terris philosophers, a race of people who live in the mountains.

On the planet Scadrial, characterized by frequent ashfalls from active volcanos and extensive mist every evening, Lord Tresting oversees his plantation workers. These workers are skaa, a class of people disfavored by the Lord Ruler and condemned to lives of servitude and poverty for the actions of their ancestors during the Lord Ruler’s Ascension. Lord Tresting is joined by an obligator, a member of the Lord Ruler’s Steel Ministry.

Kelsier, a half-blood skaa traveling through Lord Tresting’s lands, pretends to be one of his skaa workers. He joins the skaa in their communal home that night. Mist accumulates outside, which the skaa refuse to go out in, too frightened by the myths associated with the mists. Kelsier banters with the leaders of Lord Tresting’s skaa and claims that, although he is not there to incite a full rebellion, he plans to disturb Lord Tresting’s power.