I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I don't have any evidence--I don't think there *is* much evidence one way or another--but I don't think the weapon that can be called Godslayer did exist before. After all, there's such things as precognition and prophecy, aren't there? The Serioli that recognized that Spellbreaker was part of a great weapon-to-be may not have known when it would be completed, but he recognized what it was intended for. That is all that is necessary. I also find it difficult to believe that Verra, who has been watching Vlad fairly closely, did not know what Spellbreaker was. Just my $.02. Oh, yes, and about the shreds of Lady Teldra's soul. It says, if you re-read that passage, that Vlad stopped, and gathered all of them carefully in, and wove them in snugly. I don't think there's anything missing. Mia