Serena

“Katia had a special ability she didn’t like to use very often.

Rush, it was called. It turned her body into a battering ram. When activated, she blasted forward, shattering everything in her path. She could only use it once a day, and when she did use it, it knocked all the wind out of her, even if she didn’t actually hit anything. As a result, I knew she abhorred the skill, despite Mordecai’s insistence that she use it as often as possible.

Also, the skill wasn’t predictable. Sometimes when she used Rush, her body flew forward five feet. Sometimes it flew forward twenty, and there didn’t seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason to the discrepancy.

In addition, the angle in which she rushed forward wasn’t always perfectly straight. Mostly her body dashed straight forward in the direction she was facing, but sometimes, every once in a while, she flew slightly off-center.

And that’s what happened this time. Katia screamed something incomprehensible, and she activated Rush. She was aiming at her former friend Eva. She missed her by inches.

Instead, she inadvertently became the first crawler on this season of Dungeon Crawler World to kill one of the top 10 and claim a bounty.”
― Matt Dinniman, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

“He felt himself lose consciousness. And then... he did... THUMP!
And as his mind faded, that which lay beneath came forward.
THUMP!
A cold, unfeeling thing that held no thoughts, no considerations. Only instincts.
THUMP!
When thoughts disappeared, there was no hesitation. No tactics, no strategy, no considerations- only action.
THUMP!
Jake was unconscious; this could not be disputed. But his body was very much awake. A part of that which was "Jake" dwelled deep within. And that part had now taken over as he stopped his fall and attacked the King of the Forest. He didn't need to think about it; he just knew that the King was an enemy.
And enemies had to be killed.”
― Zogarth, The Primal Hunter

“What is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying.”
― Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays

“Yesterday I knew I had no future, and that it was impossible for me to accept my life as it is now. And yet today, that same messy life seems full of hope. Potential.
The impossible, I suppose, happens via living.
Will my life be miraculously free from pain, despair, grief, heartbreak, hardship, loneliness, depression? No.
But do I want to live?
Yes. Yes.
A thousand times, yes.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library