A Sellsword's Wrath (The Seven Virtues #2)

by Jacob Peppers

“There is one thing you do not understand, Kevlane,” the Virtue said, finally, “for all your wisdom, for all your learning, you have never understood it.” “Oh?” He said, his eyes narrowing, “and what’s that?” “Without sadness,” The Virtue said, “there is no joy. Without pain and suffering, there can be no relief, no true pleasure. It is not their end that defines humans, Kevlane. It never has been. It is their journey. Beauty is found among the dross, is created among the dross. And not just beauty but power. When a starving mother gives up what little food she has to nurture and feed her child, that is beauty, Kevlane. True beauty, is not found in appearance but in purpose. There is beauty in sadness, as there must be. Beauty in pain and, yes, even in death, for death is not the story, nor is it even the ending of the story. Death is only the proof that the story was. The journey, the life, the pain, the heartache and heart break, these are the story. A man is not defined by the substance or the manner of his death but by the chronicles of his life. Even anger has its beauty for just anger is the blaze of a flame in the darkness, the flowering of petals in the desert. Life is beauty, Kevlane. You did not understand this then, and you do not understand it now. To want something you cannot have, to need it, is not suffering; it is to be human. You do not see it, even now. But you will. You will be made to.”