He Who Fights with Monsters (He Who Fights with Monsters, #1)

by Shirtaloon

“We do what we can with what we have,” Rufus said. “Complaining about what we don’t have doesn’t help.”

“Sometimes all your choices are bad, I guess.”

“Life is hard, outworlder,” Rufus said without sympathy. “And you, my friend, are soft. If you want to get by in this world, you’ll need to toughen up.”

I don’t know what kind of person you were before, but this is a chance to leave that person behind. To become whoever you choose to be. That’s a rare chance. Just remember that every choice has its consequences. Even if you choose to do nothing.”

Nine days out of ten, being an adventurer is the best thing you could possibly be. But on that tenth day, that’s the one when you earn all the others. When you make the hard choices, when you walk through fire so no one else has to.”

You can be one of those safe and happy people if you want. Never making the hard choices; never doing the things that need to be done. But think about what happened to you today. You stood up in a horrifying situation and you took control. The safe and happy people don’t get to do that. When fate comes for them, they need people like me to stand in its way. That’s fine; it’s what I’m here for. But if you want to control your own fate instead of people like me doing it for you, then you have to become one of us.”

“Essence abilities aren’t inherently good or bad. Like a sword, they can be used to oppress or protect. The accountability isn’t with the tool, but the one wielding it. The only people who advocate that essences guide our actions, instead of the other way around, are religious zealots and people looking to abdicate the responsibility for their actions.”

“I can be the person I choose to be, without all the baggage of my old life.” “And if you find your way back to that life?” Farrah asked. “Then I’ll return better than I left,” Jason said.

“If you stay quiet when you wished you’d said something,” Jason said, “that regret builds up. Starts eating you from the inside, and there’s no potion for that.” “Sure there is,” Jory said. “It’s called liquor. Another alchemist friend of mine has a distillery not too far from here.” “That’s not a cure,” Jason said. “That’s setting yourself on fire to ward off the cold.”

He said you never learn who you are when everything goes right. It’s in your darkest hour that you understand what it is to be an adventurer.”

When all your training and powers fail you, you have to find something inside yourself you never knew was there. Then you can do things you never thought possible. It’s the difference between a good adventurer and a great one.”

“Doesn’t really matter where you run to, as long as you run.”