She was glad she’d missed the river of corpses that must have filled the city streets during the initial phase of clean-up – wagon after wagon groaning beneath the weight of crushed bodies, white flesh seared by fire and slashed by sword, rat-gnawed and raven-pecked – men, women, and children.
In my village no one is a stranger – and this is what civilization has turned it’s back on. One day, Munug, I will make a world of villages, adn the age of cities will be over. And slavery will be dead, and there shall be no chains – tell your god. Tonight, I am his knight.′ – Karsa Orlong.
And out there, in that unending cavalcade of danger, I intend to enjoy myself.
Soldiers have no imagination, meaning they’re capable of vast surprises.
Victory tastes sweetest in the absence of haunting memories, Bult. Savor it.
The body will totter past the dead husk of its soul, sometimes for days, sometimes for years.
Bless you, that you not be taken. Bless you, that you begin in your time and that you end in its fullness. Bless you, in the name of the Redeemer, in my name, against the cruel harvesters of the soul, the takers of life. Bless you, that your life and each life shall be as it is written, for peace is born of completion. – Itkovian.
He openly opposes no one, and he finds power a thing to be avoided at all costs.
Importance lies solely in the deeds done, the goals achieved. Time is preparation, nothing more. One prepares for as long as is required.
Never be too easy with the knowledge you possess. Words are like coin – it pays to hoard.” “Until you die on a bed of gold,” Paran said.
Sometimes a mage would just up and hug him, then walk away. Once, a wizard he was talking to just started crying. That had frightened Beak.
We go to partake of death. And it is in these moments, before the blades are unsheated, before blood wets the ground and screams fill the air, that the futility descends upon us all. Without our armor, we would all weep.
All that is worshipped is but a reflection of the worshipper. A single god, no matter how benign, is tortured into a multitude of masks, each shaped by the secret desires, hungers, fears and joys of the individual mortal, who but plays a game of obsequious approbation.
As the middle son, I of course represent the perfect balance. Wit, physical prowess and a multitude of talents to match my natural grace. When combined with my extraordinary ability to waste it all, you see, standing before you, the exquisite culmination.
Liars will lie, and continue to do so, even beyond being caught out. They will lie, and in time, such liars will convince themselves, will in all self-righteousness divest the liars of culpability. Until comes a time when one final lie is voiced, the one that can only be answered by rage, by cold murder, and on that day, blood.
I can make you blind and senseless to them, but it’ll be in your nature to fret about that strange emptiness. As if you’re always on the edge of realization, but never able to reach it. It could drive you to distraction, Acquitor. Besides, the body remembers. You’ll react to things you see, smell, taste, and you won’t know why. It’ll gnaw away at you. Your whole personality will change.
Solitude could be an unwelcome place, but even the unwelcome could become habit.
It’s all right, Beak, to die alongside your comrades. It’s all right. Do you understand me?’ ‘Yes sir, I do. It is all right, because they’re my friends.’ ‘That’s right, Beak.’ And that’s why no-one needs to worry, Captain.
Old men and the dead stood at the same wall, and while the dead faced it, old men held their backs to it. Beyond that wall was oblivion. They spoke from the end times, and both knew a need to lead the young onto identical paths, if only to give meaning to all they had known and all they had done.
To know and to understand that we must all die, Trull Sengar, is not to worship death. To know and to understand is itself magic, for it made us stand tall.