Words belonging to a legacy that now, she knew, she had no choice but to face. “Because we’ll be Cike. And the first rule of the Cike is that we cull.

None of that mattered anymore. They weren't stupid little girls anymore. They weren't students anymore. War had transformed them both into wholly unimaginable creatures, and their relationship had transformed with them.

They would take back the south with sheer numbers. The Mugenese and the Republic were strong, but the south was many. And if southerners were dirt like all the legends said, then they would crush their enemies with the overwhelming force of the earth until they could only dream of breathing. They would bury them with their bodies. They would drown them in their blood.

Immigrants, we get the job done. (Acknowlegments)

He brushed his lips against her forehead as he drove the knife deeper into her back.

The national quest to modernize and mobilize entails a faith in one's ability to control world order, and when that happens, you lose your connection with the gods. When man begins to think that he is responsible for writing the script of the world, he forgets the forces that dream up our reality.

We don't die so much as we return to the void. We dissolve. We lose our ego. We change from being just one thing to becoming everything. Most of us, at least.

Amateurs obsessed over strategy, and professionals obsessed over logistics.

Amateurs obsess over strategy...Professionals obsess over logistics.

Theirs was a bond forged from necessity, hurt, and a shared, intimate understanding of hell.