SABIENE – IT WASN'T LONG ENOUGH [Intro – soft piano • cello • distant female humming] [Female lead: clear, warm, intimate] For once there was no prophecy. No battlefield, no flame. Just morning through an open door and someone calling Sabiene's name. [Verse 1 – piano • acoustic guitar • soft strings] I found you where no war remained. You never feared my blood. You saw no daughter of Asteran. You only saw the woman that you loved. Two families gave their blessing. My father took your hand. “Keep her smiling.” You laughed and said: “As long as I still can.” Years became a home together. Children raced along the halls. And sometimes I forgot our family ever knew how kingdoms fall. [Chorus – strings rise • soft female choir] My love... Stay here with me. We have tomorrow. We have everything we need. My love... Grow old with me. If this is all the gods will ever give... Then let this life be long enough to live. [Verse 2 – darker piano • mournful cello] Then winter found you differently. A cough. A fever. Pain. I placed my hands upon your chest and called the light again. Nothing. Healers crossed Brastalia. My father came himself. Fire obeyed him. Holy light obeyed him. But neither could command your failing breath. [Music thinning] You touched my face. [Husband – weak voice] You gave me a lifetime. [Sabiene] It wasn't long enough. [Heartbeat slows] No... Please... Stay. [Silence] [Verse 3 – solo piano • distant bell] They buried you beneath the stone. Everyone went home. I didn't. That night I entered the crypt alone. I healed a dying flower once. I watched it breathe again. So if death listened once to me... it will listen again. [Low drone • heartbeat] Come back. Come back to me. [Sudden breath] Your eyes opened. I laughed. I cried. I held you. “I knew you wouldn't leave me.” But you said nothing. [Chorus – darker • ghostly female choir] My love... Stay here with me. I broke the silence. I broke eternity. My love... Look at me. Death tried to take what belonged beside me. It wasn't long enough... So I brought you back to me. [Verse 4 – low strings • tense pulse] I told them you were living. They came... and no one smiled. Our children called you “Father.” You never turned your eyes. My father watched you breathing. Then looked at me. [Asteran] Sabiene... Where is his soul? [Sabiene] He's alive. [Asteran] No. He's moving. [Sabiene] STOP! [Asteran] Let him rest. [Music erupts] [Sabiene – furious] You want me to lose him twice! [Bridge – dark drums • magic impacts • choir] Light against shadow. Daughter against father. The walls shook beneath our grief. I threw everything I had at him. He would not strike to kill. At last I fell. My father knelt beside me. [Asteran] Sabiene... Let me help you. [Sabiene] You taught me love was stronger than fear. [Asteran] It is. [Sabiene] Then why must it surrender to death? [Silence] He had no answer. Neither did I. So I took your hand... and disappeared. [Instrumental – cello • distant choir • wind] [Final Verse – centuries later • ethereal piano] Years became decades. Decades became centuries. And somewhere beyond Brastalia, travelers began to speak. Deep within a distant forest a woman's song could still be heard. Beautiful enough to make men leave the road. But those who followed felt the air grow cold. Leaves withered. Birdsong vanished. And there beneath the ancient trees... a beautiful woman sat beside a man. Her face untouched by time. His eyes untouched by life. She held his hand. Tears crossed her smile. [Sabiene – tender whisper] Do you remember this one? You always loved this song. [Final Chorus – sorrowful female choir • cello] Sabiene... You conquered death, but lost the man you tried to save. Sabiene... You kept his body from the grave. A hundred years. A thousand more. You sing the songs he knew before. Sabiene... He never left your side... but neither did he stay. [Outro – piano • forest wind • almost whispered] [Sabiene] You gave me a lifetime... It wasn't long enough. [Long silence] [Distant male voice] Sabiene... [She stops singing] My love? [Silence] [Sabiene – trembling] ...My love? [No answer] [Soft female humming returns] She takes his hand. And begins the song again. [Only distant singing remains]
