Nyxia Quotes

You can’t expect to always feel like yourself. Just don’t lose who you are. Are you a bad person? Of course not. Does that mean you’ll always do the right thing? Of course not. No one’s perfect.

I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to be better than the other guy.

Bright fires can still burn out, though.

Life’s thrown shots at me from every direction. Through all of it, I learned that distance is its own kind of armor.

It’s just one day, I remind myself. My fight is one of decades and generations. One bad day won’t stop me from rising up. I won’t quit, not today, not ever.

You're broken," she answers quietly. "The same kind of broken as me.

It’s hard to tell the difference between rich and wrong.

Be worthy. Not in their eyes, but in yours. Break the rules you need to, but never forget who you are and where you come from. When they knock you down, and they will, don’t you quit on me.

Pops has always told me ignorance is the most dangerous thing in the world. Fools, he used to say, will ignore whispers until they become shouts. And by the time a whisper is a shout, it's usually too late to make a difference.

What do you pray for?" "Rest." "Who do you pray to?" "I don't know.

Whenever I messed up - and man, I messed up all the time - he wouldn't even talk about the bad thing. He'd just tell me to be good. Like, hey, next time, be good.

Every day I find myself living more and more in the gray. Nothing is easy. Nothing is black-and-white.

We're not all good," I reply. "And they're not all bad." He lifts his eyebrow. "I suppose that is the simplest truth of all.

They say pain is weakness leaving the body. If that’s true, each of us is becoming strong enough to carry worlds on our shoulders.

Death knocks at our door, and the sound forces all three of them to act on an unspoken promise. It is a contract each of them keeps in the quiet of their own hearts. All three would trade their lives for any of ours.

There’s not much left for me on Earth. I wanted to go as far away as possible. Where better than a new planet?” Her eyes squeeze shut for a second. “But they don’t tell you the pain comes with you. They don’t tell you that hurt travels at light-speed too.

You will be glad that you are not like them. You'll be glad that you showed mercy to those who did not deserve it. Watching you gives me hope. If we are to send representatives down to a new world, they should not be people without mercy. Babel chose you because you're poor. They thought you would be easy to manipulate. Twice you've proven them wrong. Twice you've set the sword aside when they've asked you to swing it. When you look back, it won't be mercy that you regret.

You get in there and fight, Emmett. Be worthy. Not in their eyes, but in yours. Break the rules you need to, but never forget who you are and where you come from. When they knock you down, and they will, don’t you quit on me.

And just like that, I’m leaving Earth behind.

I'm used to a world that sells me a lie and pretends it's the truth.

I am more than what you will make of me.

Joy slips through our fingers because we're grasping and reaching for everything else. We're past being broken.

Food can give a man back his dignity. So can treating him with honor and respect. In the days to come, this will be our measure. Do we treat others with the dignity they deserve, regardless of where they come from?

They’ll regret how sharp we are now that we’re aimed at them.

You're my queen down here," she admits. "But sleep is still my god.

History remembers the darkest moments.

Survivors. That's what we are now. And survivors have scars.

I really don’t know,” I say. “It’s hard to tell the difference between rich and wrong.

Mi abuelita always says you get one of two worlds. You either get the world you hope for or the world you fear.

She's beautiful the way a mountain is tall. I almost tell her before stopping. You don't need to tell a mountain it's tall. It already knows that.

Come rain or fire, come plague or famine - we survive.

Fools, he used to say, will ignore whispers until they become shouts. And by the time a whisper is a shout, it’s usually too late to make a difference.

Is that how things work in your world? You only have to fight if you choose to fight? In our world, the fight comes to you whether you ask for it or not.

Guilt like this doesn’t leave. You can set it aside, but it’s always there, waiting.

You lose yourself to anger and that’s it. It’s a lonely road, and a long one. But if you find a way to control your feelings, if you can take that anger and make sure you’re the boss of it, then you won’t be so bad

Pride roars through me like a river. It rushes over my oldest wounds and washes away the most haunting memories. It sweeps over all the scars that pushed me to leave my family and launch into space. Pride brighter than the sun.

A stranger in a strange land

I watch him die and remind myself that kings aren't innocent in war. When you put on the crown and order troops to kill, you invite the judgement of an enemy's sword.

The last thing we need is for someone to survive the apocalypse only to get taken out in a game of pickup football.

I find myself laughing more and more as I walk, though, picturing a whole generation of Imago who think Katsu is the author of the Harry Potter series.

Pride in knowing they will never forget my name. And pride in knowing—even at the end—that I am the one who finished first.

I take courage from both of them. Morning the warrior, Bilal the healer.

Destruction in the right kind of therapy.

The people we love are somewhere else, crossing some other ocean. We'll have no idea how safe they are until we meet them in the middle.

Greenlaw has the Imago dressed in their finest, standing in proper formation. I note their matching necklaces. The same Imago artist who created the mural came up with them. It’s a thin plate of nyxia dangling from an even thinner chain. Every few seconds, the emblem etched on the material changes. She explained that they’ll cycle through for months, flashing the name of every Imago left behind on Magnia. It’s an astonishing tribute.

take their time removing our bindings. Morning orders her crew to undo their nyxian transformations before we can get a look at the night goggles they used. Longwei and the others look up at us, confused about what happened. All we can do is shrug back as Defoe and Requin appear on the platforms above. They lead everyone through a side hatch. We walk by one too many scoreboards on the way back, one too many reminders of how we’ve failed.

You know, I was thinking, they mentioned the pods have room for two.” I throw her a playacted look of nervousness, biting my fingernails with exaggeration. “I was—I mean, if you’re not busy or whatever—I was wondering if maybe you’d launch into space with me.

Longwei is dead. Craft is dead.

I have not prayed for him up here in space, but I have threatened whichever gods are listening. Keep him safe, or I will come for you too.

Going on a Bear Hunt,” Morning answers. “You never read that book?” Anton shakes his head. “We had more knives than books.” Morning rolls her eyes. “Great. We’ll let the one with the knives go first.

A sharp knife is a boy’s best friend.

But now that we have stolen their ships and removed their tyrannical leaders and have started our journey home like proper space pirates, I thought it was more than past time to count up our bounty.

Alex and Anton start planning our future family reunion, and the discussion about the location gets as heated as an Olympics committee. Katsu insists that we already agreed to a sexy party in the middle of the ocean. Noor insists that she’s not attending any party that Katsu calls sexy.

I am the quietest thing aboard the ship.

He smiles again. “I have a gift that shouldn’t go to waste. Once it was said I made the best tea in Palestine. Now there is a rumor that it’s the best tea in the galaxy.

The baby will be born in space. When someone pointed that out to Isadora, she lifted a single eyebrow and said, “Good. She’ll always have a fun fact to share on the first day of school.

We descend like conquerors.

I’m still watching when a figure strides through the smoke. “About time you assholes showed up.

I was thinking about how satisfied he must have been at the end.” I frown. “Satisfied?” “Think about it. He finished first.

own teammates to come. The moment’s gone, slipped through my fingers. I stand there for a while, trying to catch Morning’s eye,

Be safe. Do not die. I love you.

It’s not worth losing my cookies to act tough.

Wait,” I say. “We can’t just go storming over to the station. There are alarms, breach points, access codes. We have to have a plan.” Erone turns that twisted smile back to me. “Plan?” he asks. “My plan is simple. I will kill every single one of them.

Mr. Defoe.

A certain hatred snaps to life at the sight of David Requin on the screen. He smiles like he didn’t try to make us murderers.

Does Morning want to talk, or does she want to talk?

And when we show up and tell Babel, ‘Oh by the way, the entire planet’s about to explode,’ don’t you think they’ll accept us back into their good graces?

Part III

The final attempt to escape accelerates the heart rate. When the slight is properly skewered, its heart bursts. The energy explodes into the bird and you’re left with roasted perfection.