Who May be Watching?

[Intro] [Glassy high notes over a low rotating bass figure] There you are. Buried beneath stone, wrapped in dust, cold as the night before stars were named. A little black world held in both hands. A door with no hinge. A question with no mouth. [Verse 1: The First Touch] I knew what you were before I dared to look. A seeing-stone, lost to kings, lost to war, lost to every hand too weak to hold it. Still, I set my palms upon the dark. At first, only mountains. Clouds over distant fire. A red light moving where no sun should rise. Then something moved behind the glass. Not shape. Not shadow. Will. [Low Whisper] Who may be watching? [Verse 1 Continues] I pulled away, but not in fear. No. I am Saruman. I have studied the devices of the Enemy, measured his engines, counted his servants, named every weakness of lesser minds. So I looked again. And this time, he looked back. [Chorus] Who may be watching when the stone goes black? Who bends the vision? Who answers back? I sought out knowledge, I opened the gate, and something in the darkness already knew my name. Who may be watching? Who waits beyond the flame? [Instrumental Descent] [7/8 bass spiral, dissonant strings, distant choir] [Verse 2: The Losing Battle] He showed me towers falling one by one. White banners burning. The West laid open, its captains dead, its little kingdoms ground beneath an iron age. He showed me armies without number. Roads choked black from Mordor to the sea. And behind them all, the Eye. Never blinking. Never turning. Never wrong. [Verse 2 Continues] I argued. I named the strength of Gondor, the courage of the North, the hidden heirs, the wandering fools, the small hands carrying hope where hope had no right to live. He answered with fire. I spoke of wisdom. He answered with legions. I spoke of power. He showed me what power was. [Pre-Chorus] Night after night, I returned to the stone. Not summoned. Not yet. I came because reason demands the winning side. [Chorus] Who may be watching when the stone goes black? Who bends the vision? Who answers back? I sought out knowledge, I opened the gate, and something in the darkness began to shape my fate. Who may be watching? Who waits beyond the flame? [Midsection: The Bargain] [Crushing half-time riff] Gandalf called it servitude. He said: [Mocking Gandalf Voice, distant] “Sauron does not share power.” [Saruman, coldly amused] What does the Grey know of power? Power is not given. It is taken. Power is not shared. It is divided between those strong enough to hold it. Let the Dark Lord believe I bend the knee. Let him believe I serve. When the West is broken, when the Ring is found, when every crown lies shattered, there will be two masters. [Harsh Whisper] Or one. [Verse 3: The Conversion] So I opened every furnace. I cut the trees. I split the earth. I taught iron to march. I gave the pits a heartbeat, gave the dark a thousand hands, gave hunger armor, gave obedience teeth. Orthanc became an engine. Isengard became a mouth. And every hammer answered the rhythm I had heard inside the stone. [Verse 3 Continues] No more doubt. No more counsel. No more patience for the weak. The world belongs to those who shape it. The old order is ash. The new age will not ask permission. It will arrive in smoke, in steel, in ranks without end. [Final Chorus] Who may be watching? Let the whole world see. I looked into the darkness and the darkness answered me. I sought out knowledge, I mastered my fate, I opened every furnace, I unbarred every gate. Who may be watching? Who waits beyond the flame? [Music Stops] [Single glassy note] [Deep Voice from Mordor, vast and inhuman] Build me an army... [Final Impact] [Low choir and descending polyrhythmic collapse] [Outro, Saruman Whisper] Yes. An army worthy of Mordor...