It’s hard to explain sometimes how Slingers feel when we are not on. In a sense there is a never ‘off’ for us, being a Slinger is not a job. We just are, but what exactly are we? I was asked once to describe it.

Kids. There were kids, in the Keep and I had to tell them. I…ok. I said it was like a shadow. You were there, all the time. You see the world. Feel it be a part of you but you are apart. You feel all. Everything. Keenly. You feel the pain and the thoughts. You understand a lot. Then, when you have to act, when you are on a mission, enforcing the Emperor’s Law, you feel alive. Made flesh. A shadow no more.

Does that make sense?

When we are not working we feel…transparent, like the world is not real, or maybe we are not. Musashi used to say Slingers are born, not made. The training reveals us.

I tried to explain it then, to the kids. It’s a little like feeling that you die each day when you do not perform to the maximum of what you can do. As Slingers we pushed the limits, every time. That’s what made us unique. A sense that there are no limits.