Braxton Bird

“Though we are the creators of our wealth, we quickly become slaves to it”
― C.J. Adrien, The Lords of the Wind

“heads in shame.” “Why? I don’t understand. Dragons were monsters.” “Dragons are truth,” snapped Maralina. “Dragons are magic. Without them, the world would have been overrun with darkness of every kind. They should have been protected rather than exterminated.” “Why? If they hunted men and—” “Hush. Remember the parable of the wolf and the shepherd. Remember the history of the fall of Hakkia. You believe with all your heart that the truth is that dragons are evil, Kagen Vale. You were told this by teachers and Gardeners and others. But they told you what they were told, and what the generations before told them. All those repetitions make you believe this is a known and immutable truth, but is it? How would you—or could you—know otherwise?”
― Jonathan Maberry, Kagen the Damned

“can hope for it,” said the woman who had once been the chief investigator for the Office of Miracles, a scholarly and secretive branch of the Faith of the Garden. “We’ve lost so much, but hope endures. Hope is free, and we can take as much of it as we need.” “Hope is a dream,” said Helleda, dismissing the comment. “Everything begins as a dream,” said the old woman. “We need something more substantial than wishful thinking.” “We do, but actions are born of dreams. Any action we take, if not born of hope, is merely reflex. Personally, I have no intention of living what’s left of my life merely trying to survive. There is no value in that. No grace. I would rather take inspiration from hope—not vain hope, but based on what might be possible—even if at this moment all we can see is rubble in the path of the Hakkian eclipse.”
― Jonathan Maberry, Son of the Poison Rose: A Kagen the Damned Novel

“There is no pride in conquest or bloodshed, only in kindness, only in decency. You enslave six hundred thousand. I saved two from the bull, and now I will save a third from you. That makes me worth more than all your wars could ever make you.”
― Daniel Arenson, Flame of Requiem: The Complete Trilogy