• I can kill Ghosts faster than new Guardians can be raised.

• "There is a world beyond this one."

• The walls that keep us in are feeble. One more push. Take a hammer out and whack away the keystone.

• I have a sword now. Like the dead Ghosts, I took it from the heart of the enemy and made it to be dim and still and without Light. That makes my sword cut better. I've killed Guardians. I've killed a couple, and they didn't think I could, but what do they think now? Nothing. They're dead, and I have their Ghosts slapping against my thigh. Kiss my ass.

• I want to go back to the City. I don't want to hurt anymore. I want to be with everyone and have them pick me up. I miss the feeling of hands on me. Among the people, I was never a phantom; I was a moment waiting to be met. The masses were my first love, how much potential a crowd holds, how many dreams.

• Time is a thought that goes backward and forward; that's how VI shares it with me. He promises me things that haven't happened yet and says they have. If they're done, why does he make me wait?

• I wanted to be a Guardian as a kid, and now, I would slap myself for wanting that. I'm more. I'm many things more. Cadmium, lead, metallic hydrogen, platinum. I'm elements you've never seen larger than a milligram. I am more than what I was. Agony and grace.

• To be a Dredgen is to endure this and more. Give me more. I'm not done yet.

• Mother, talk to me. I need to know. VI, if you can hear me, if you are there, I beg you—show her to me again.