Contradiction/Quotes

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Appearances

Quotes

Quotes

Volume 8

• (To Orell)
  • “Wait. Wait. Orell, guide them forwards. I almost have it…”
  • “DAMN.”
  • “Fetch me the beetles. And the eggs. I’ll eat them.”
• (To Geneva)
  • “Rather, I make an effort to act as an individual. To play games. To tax myself and rest. The other Minds tend towards collectivism. To survive, we must create different opinions and points of view. Each one of us is made up of Selphids we choose to accept into ourselves. Yet that is our great weakness.”
  • “When we are together, we think as one. So you meet a gestalt of all. Here, you meet separate nuances of us. Just as a single Selphid is a personality. I am the Second Mind. Inventor. Far thinker. The Selphids who embody my personality and will are not like the Third Mind. We are in opposition, they and I.”
  • “The Third Mind communicates its findings. Another world. Implications of worlds, plural. How were you transported? The First Mind is investigating a gateway. The anomalous events of the Summer Solstice. Wistram. It is all concerning, but I am concerned with you, Geneva Scala. This is wrong. The Sixth Mind understands. Selphids are hated because we are the ‘bodysnatchers of Baleros’. Because we made empire and slaves of people in ways even Roshal could not. Now, look what happens. A full circle.”
  • “Ah. Aaaah. What a revealing lie. We cannot lie, because we think. But we reveal ourselves.”
  • “We are not leaders of the Selphids. To clarify: this Gathering Citadel is one of the ruling bodies. The Minds certainly occupy a leadership role. But we have not been stewards of Selphids in every era. Or even universally today. Selphids, individuals, have historically commanded us and we act as advisors/guides/aides. I consider that possibly superior to this. The Third Mind believes Minds are superior to ordinary Selphids. Revealing.”
  • “Because I choose to accept Selphids into myself that have a certain perspective. I am represented by Selphids of every kind. From [Warrior] to [Mage] to [Potter]; only a few Minds are specialized, such as the Fourth Mind. Yet I did not screen by class. I deliberately incepted into my being two thirds Selphids with a particular quality. Will you guess?”
  • “Flaw. We are not superior beings to Selphids. We are superior in our own ways, just as they are in their own. An amalgamation of thoughts has vulnerability. Chief of all—to complacency. Uniformity. Decay.”
  • “Geneva Scala. You make one assumption wrongly. Like Idis. You think we are invincible in our role, in thought. Thought? I have studied our own nature. Thought is as weak as flesh, only with different faults. I can aid you. All I need is to teach you. Do you wish to learn? The consequences will infuriate the Third Mind. But it will stymie the Third Mind. There are ways to fight, even among Minds.”
• (To Idis)
  • “What is creativity? How would I judge that, Selphid to Selphid? As to authority—no. The answer is simple. I chose travellers. Selphids that left the shores of Baleros. They are in me. The ones who lived all their lives abroad, from Chandrar, Rhir, Izril, Terandria. Who understand how we are seen abroad. Who think differently.”
  • “Your guilt is moral, Idis. You have it now. Where was it when you received orders from Calectus to take Geneva Scala?”
  • “Why do you see Calectus’ words as absolute? Because he is an [Honor Guard]? That is a class. Because his orders came from the Minds? That is absolutist thinking. You observe we are divided. Ergo, we are not perfect. Therefore, we will not always give you orders without flaws. So yes. Be guilty.”

Volume 9

• (To Geneva)
  • (The hand that swings the sword is still larger to blame.)
• (To Idis)
  • (Courage always has a cost. Or it would not be courage. You have watched far, far too long. Ressk made his choice. I have made mine. What of you?)
• (To the Minds)
  • (What use is a mind if it cannot change? If it cannot learn and grow? You two, Sympathy, Egress—why do you support the Third and First Mind blindly?)
  • (We are all damned, then.)
• (To itself)
  • (This Mind is no longer Contradiction. We are Redemption, as much as any of us will ever earn. Time to end this.)
  • (Now. Now we will end this unsavory tale once and for all.)
• (Declaration)
  • (I am formerly the Second Mind of Baleros. Hear me, Minds of Baleros. Hear me, Emperor of Drath, King of Rhir, Demons, Ruler of Khelt, and Mages of Wistram. You, who pledged to watch us—we have breached the Minacien Wall. Great sins have been committed here, and A’ctelios Salash’s madness runs rampant through this Gathering Citadel. No more. Nevermore. Wake us from this dark dream.)