Underlord (Cradle, #6)

by Will Wight

[Phoenixes! Oh, would you look at that! They're rated as the number one pet that you should never, ever bring to an underwater facility!

[Some consider owls to be omens of death,] Dross said. [Especially mice.]

“There are three steps to reaching Underlord. Mastering yourself, mastering the world around you, and then connecting yourself to the world. It’s the third step that’s the most mysterious.”

“It is a personal revelation,” Eithan said. “A true, deep understanding of yourself that causes the soulfire inside you to resonate with the aura around you, activating your advancement.”

The baby squirrel had finally left the nest and grown into a...well, squirrels never turned into anything scary. Call it an ancient sacred squirrel.

Lindon imprinted Eithan’s expression of pure astonishment in his memory forever.

“Humans have to discover what drives their souls to action,” Orthos continued. “It’s the spark that starts their transformation. Sacred beasts do not have to discover who we are. We have to choose.”

But with that power had come extra authority, and with the authority, duty.

“Yerin was badly hurt.” “Advancing will heal her. I cannot imagine a better incentive to reach Underlord quickly.”

'Underlord is the end of the path you walked for others, and the beginning of your own path.'“

“Follow your fear. It's a trick that sometimes helps to figure out your revelation.

I fight so I won't be worthless anymore,

You should not harm Akura Mercy.

I practice the sacred arts, she thought, because I don't want to hurt anymore.

Power is the ability to do as you wish.

“I walk my Path,” she said, “so my mother will be proud of me.”

His robes bulged like a chipmunk's cheeks. The fire treasure he had stuffed in his sock was starting to smolder.

[Well,] Dross said, [they did lose. So it's only appropriate they look like losers.]