Steven Raaymakers > Quotes

“We must all have a purpose," he said. "I go to find mine.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle for the Fallen

“You will be hated and hunted. You will become a nightmare tale told to scare small children when they refuse to sleep at night, a monster to haunt the by-roads, a living legend of terror for travellers, a scourge on your country, on your people! They shall hate you, Raziel!”
― Steven Raaymakers, The Aria of Steel Trilogy

“The sword pierced the general’s neck before he registered the movement.

“Just a child!” His mind screamed as the blade bit deeper.

“Just a child!” The blade chinked against his spine, a sound he refused to accept, a sound he had heard too often not to recognise.

“Just a child!” His sight faltered, disappeared, all life vanishing in one sharp spurt of pain.

“Just a child!” as Raziel damned his soul to hell.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“It's a dark world where the dead are cursed and the cursed still live.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle for the Fallen

“Are warchildren so frightening? Are we not human, too?”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle for the Fallen

“Where are you taking me?” Raziel asked through a mouthful of food.

“Wherever I desire.”

“And what do you desire, ma’am?” the boy retorted, swallowing.

“That you be silent.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“She was beautiful beyond words, but not only that. Saranna was sharp as a knife. She'd have you guessing what you had said, then have you say it again in completely the opposite way, till you had made such a mess you didn't know what the discussion was about in the first place. Many found this unladylike, but only because they couldn't win against her. All except me. We would spar with words as men did with swords." ~ Velran”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle for the Fallen

“What is this?” she asked with a half-grimace on her face.

“Rabbit.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed that in a million years.”

“Yeah,” he growled. “But I’ve never cooked before.” He took a spoonful, trying to keep the foul-tasting mix down.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“A drunken man stumbled out of a door at the back of an inn and tripped over her. She bolted for the alleyway as the man looked around in a daze. Eventually, the notion entered his mind that perhaps it was due to the alcohol, and he wandered off in a more or less straight line. He broke into a sailor’s song about how difficult it was to stay standing on the deck in a storm, which he felt fit his situation quite poetically.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“The traders fought forever, clawing and stabbing and chewing through intangible concepts with enemies who fought with the same skills and the same mindset, fever against furious fever, their words and plans more vicious than any blade, cutting with a terrible precision and purpose as their cunning spirits warred.”
― Steven Raaymakers, Blade of the Wanderer

“Raziel smiled and leaped forward, a clear childlike laugh filling the air. The soldier wasn’t quick enough, drawing his sword even as Raziel cut his legs out from beneath him.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“Raziel gripped the beast’s razor-sharp beak in one hand, slamming it to the earth and stepping on its throat, returning to the beasts above as he crushed it underneath his boot. Burning black ichor splashed across his face, but the stinging pain only made him fight harder. He roared and slashed out again and again, claws and feathers flicking about his face in a vile whirlwind.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of War

“Humankind was constant in its need to commit ignoble acts upon itself, to visit pain and torture and death unto the many who formed the whole, to turn against its own being like a rabid wolf gnawing its own legs away”
― Steven Raaymakers, Fire in the Hearth

“She strode forward, steeling her tune against the terrible cries which threatened to tear her emotions from her and leave her half-conscious. Her torch was like a spear of light in the terrible shadow of the night. The men rallied about it, turning to fight the nightmares with renewed hope. Alicia stumbled on something. A sword. She bent and picked it up, and not a moment too soon.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of War

“It was a frozen night, the kind of night for banshees to shriek out for the souls of the dead, for ghosts to scream through shattered steel skies with ill intent, and for pitiable humans to cower about their little dwindling fires in rightly humbled terror.”
― Steven Raaymakers, Blade of the Wanderer

“The universe shimmers with a terrible silence. A time of no song comes. I must admit, my soul feels relief at departing before it claims Verpace.”
― Steven Raaymakers, Blade of the Wanderer

“The monster was leaving, without killing, and only a fool would bait it further.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle for the Fallen

“In the centre of the room was what appeared to be a solid stone table with something on top. Looking closer, he saw it was an altar of sorts with a sword on top of it. No dust or dirt covered it, though it had swamped the rest of the room. The air was oddly stale, as if nothing had ever lived there and nothing ever would. The roots of a tree had broken through one of the walls, but they had withered away and twisted into strange shapes.

“At last,” a voice in his mind said.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“Without hesitation, Raziel spun around and sprinted into the forest, multiple bolts zipping past. In the safety of the trees, he took a deep breath, wiped the blood from his eyes, then moved parallel to the road. The soldiers approached the trees, wary. After a moment’s hesitation, they entered the forest.

None ever came out.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“Why did it have to be us?" Raziel said.

"It is always us," Alicia replied after a moment. "Every hardship is borne by us. If it wasn't you and I, it would be someone else, but it would still be us. Humanity, cursed with the burden of suffering, blessed with the very same. That is life, and we will always bear that burden, us humans. It will be heavier at times, more manageable at others, but it always falls to us to bear it.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of War

“Listen to my soul," Raziel thought, "Because you deserve this darkness.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle for the Fallen

“Alicia watched in horror as the blood flew through the air, Raziel whipping like an eel around the soldiers. She could sense his emotions even without seeing his eyes. His hatred and anger were strong. She could feel it like a wind, buffeting at her mind. At the same time, it was like a wild tune, fast-paced, loud, drowning out all else. It was more powerful than the fear of all the soldiers combined, and she sank to the ground as her own emotions woke and intensified into a drunken clamour.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“Shakran,” he said, his voice quiet, tired. “What time do we live in, where children lose their innocence so young?”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“The bad guys always talk a lot, don’t they?”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“Stop it!” he sobbed. “Leave me be!”

The girl laughed, tossing her dark hair and clasping her hands together. “Oh, Raziel,” she whispered. “This has only just begun.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“I have no money, not even the wooden disks they use for trade in Arasha. And my pack held the only items of any worth."
"That is why," Velran said, "You must invest in security."
"Do you realise that I understand less than half of what comes out of your mouth?" Raziel scowled at his companion, poking at the fire with unnecessary vehemence.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle for the Fallen

“She glared at him, and in her eyes he could see her storm, more furious and sorrowful and terrified than he had ever seen her before. It took all of his will to turn away and walk toward the seething city.”
― Steven Raaymakers, The Aria of Steel Trilogy

“Hatred. Focus on that.

Destroy the cause of the pain, and perhaps he could sleep again, could live once more. Until then, he would learn . . . and obey. And really, he didn’t mind not having to think.

Sometimes it hurt too much.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“The men started to attack each other, blades flashing, armour clashing, voices raging. Raziel watched in shocked silence as blood flew darkly against the harsh red of the fire’s light. Screams and wails held the high ground in the battle of sound as friends and comrades attacked each other viciously. Victims screamed, and their attackers screamed just as fearfully. Horror and terror rode through the ranks, invisible beasts striking deep into every man’s heart.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls

“What is a warchild, you ask? Some say they are human, other ‘witnesses’ call them horrendous demons. That they wield great power is undeniable. They master the very thing that makes us who we are: emotion. Love, hatred, terror, anguish, humour, sadness, joy . . . all these and a hundred more, a thousand. Imagine a thing, a creature that could take them from you, leaving you as an empty husk, able to think, but having no will to act. No will to resist.

“That, my emperor, is a warchild.”
― Steven Raaymakers, A Canticle of Two Souls