The Narrow Way

[Intro] [Low toms pulse like distant drums; clean guitar harmonics echo through vast stone; bass enters in an uneven descending pattern] [Spoken grimly] This foe is beyond any of you... [Verse 1] Fly while the eastern gate remains, Leave me the bridge, the dark, the flame, No sword among you turns this tide, No mortal strength can stand beside The thing that wakes beneath the stone, A terror from an elder age, I felt its power against the door, Now fire and shadow fill the stage. [Pre-Chorus] Run for the stair, Run for the light, I hold the passage, I bar the night. One narrow span, One broken hall, One will must stand Or nine will fall. [Music surges] [Shouted] You shall not pass! [Chorus] I wield the flame that serves the Fire, A servant standing in the pyre, Cold blade shining, staff held high, Shadow below and flame nearby. Go back now to depths unnamed, Flame of Udûn, crowned in flame, The Secret Fire answers me, Your road ends here in Khazad-dûm. [Instrumental Passage] [Complex shifting meters; low guitar pattern answers rising orchestral brass; drums accelerate while the central riff remains slow and immovable] [Verse 2] It gathers height upon the stone, Fire withdrawn, the darkness grown, Its silent weight consumes the hall, A living night against the wall. No word returned, no bargain made, Only the whip, the burning blade, The chasm waits beneath our feet, The bridge decides where powers meet. My strength is spent, but still I know What must be guarded, where they go, The Ring must pass beyond this place, Though I descend and lose the race. [Pre-Chorus] Across the bridge, Beyond my sight, Carry the burden Into the light. Do not return, Do not delay, I chose my ground, I hold the way. [Chorus] I wield the flame that serves the Fire, A servant standing in the pyre, Cold blade shining, staff held high, Shadow below and flame nearby. Go back now to depths unnamed, Flame of Udûn, crowned in flame, The Secret Fire answers me, Your road ends here in Khazad-dûm. [Jagged low-string riff in alternating measures; cymbal chokes mark each strike; choir enters on sustained dissonant intervals] [Harsh Spoken Vocals] Your darkness cannot master mine. Your ancient terror stops at this line. The bridge is narrow. The gulf is deep. You will not take The ones I keep. [Bridge] [Tempo drops into crushing half-time; bass and drums strike in unison] The sword rises, The white light answers, Fire breaks apart in the air. The shadow surges, The stone is trembling, I plant my feet and meet it there. One span between us, One final warning, No path behind me left to yield. I raise the sword, The bridge beneath it, All my remaining strength revealed. [Harsh, full-force scream] YOU SHALL NOT PASS! The stone breaks under, The span is falling, My staff snaps and leaves my hand. The darkness plunges, Its fire diminishing, Falling where no light can stand. [Final Movement] [Music suddenly becomes quiet; isolated heartbeat kick beneath strained strings] It falls. The chasm takes it. For one breath, The passage holds. [Sudden whip crack; full band returns in violent dissonance] But from the gulf The thongs rise curling, Coil like serpents around my knees, The edge comes close, The stone escapes me, My hands find nothing they can seize. [Outro] [All instruments collapse into rushing air, falling percussion, and one fading guitar note] [Music collapses into rushing air] [Harsh, breathless spoken voice] Fly, you fools.