<strong>-- Explorator Thraxius --</strong>(http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=103946.msg4515299#msg4515299)<br/><hr/><br/>Thraxius' remaining eye flicked down to focus on Anthium, deigning to give<em>it</em>his full attention.  Any perceived attack against his righteous conviction did not seem to phase him in the slightest, but the mention of flesh was another matter entirely.<br/><br/><em>"I have seen the horrors of skin and bone, sinew and gristle, bile and blood with my own eyes, Genetor."</em>he said, his voice tremulous with bitter regret--and perhaps a touch of long-forgotten fear.<em>"I have seen scabrous plants as large as the hills stalk through the undergrowth, bristling with neurotoxin-coated, wolf-toothed vines that could strip a man's flesh as easily as their sanity.  I have seen fleshy blossoms latch onto men's mouths and pump them so full of acid that their lungs burst long before their bodies were eaten away to nothing.  I have seen monstrosities with countless bladed wings riding the night winds and plucking up scores of my own kin, and vanishing again without so much as a sound.  I have felt the tremors as a veritable <strong>sea</strong> of bone-sucking maggots squirmed from pores in the earth to devour entire settlements before so much as a warning could be cried out.  I have spent days running ragged from things that defy conventional description, things that would make even <strong>your</strong> hideous face look picturesque by comparison."</em><br/><br/>He paced to one side, continuing without pause.<em>"I have seen viruses, contaminants, bacterium, plagues, and illnesses take hold of good, strong men and women and reduce them to pitiful, withered shells.  I have seen allies and foes alike devoured from the inside, their bodies betraying their souls.  I have seen friends driven to the very brink of madness, and seen them sacrifice their lives in good faith even as the organic taint ravages their befouled innards."</em><br/><br/>Thraxius spat a clump of fierce white sparks.<em>"Do not preach to <strong>me</strong> of spiritual development, Genetor.  I consider your kind a necessary evil, so that we might better understand and circumvent the many horrors of this universe.  But finding you necessary does not mean I must find you <strong>tolerable</strong>.  Let us leave it at that."</em>