Age of Death (The Legends of the First Empire, #5)

by Michael J. Sullivan

We are the leaders of our tribes. We are the ones entrusted with the responsibility of protecting our civilization, and sometimes that burden requires more than just sitting in a lavish building and doing only what is safe.”

The purpose was to depict the Rhunes as ferocious but inferior. This combination would generate fear in the Fhrey population, but not despair. Motivation was the goal, desperation the enemy. Lothian needed his people’s support, not their anger. The fane was their absolute ruler, Ferrol’s embodiment on Elan, but terror tore down even the most sacred of symbols.

“I still don’t understand,” Brin said. “What causes the weight?” “Guilt, regret, fear.” She ticked these off on her fingers. “If you spend a life doing rather than not doing, you’ll make mistakes along the way. Those errors don’t die with the body. Just like love, they’re rooted in the spirit, and so they go with you.”

Perhaps it is only a façade, but the faces we choose to show others say much about who we are because we picked them. What sort of person selects that exterior?