///*****/// [Intro | Preserve Original Intro | Cathedral Reverb | Cello Drone | Close Whisper] BadGuy. Apollyon. King of nightmares. That’s a lot of names for someone still asking if he’s allowed to exist. [Existing Distorted Cowbell Entrance | No Structural Change] You are. Now get up. [Verse 1 | Low Half-Time Rap | One Line per Two Bars | Calm and Unafraid] I heard the skull laugh through the cathedral walls Heard you call yourself the sickness when the last connection falls Built a throne from scar tissue made a kingdom from goodbye Then mistook surviving everything for proof you had to die You say poison You say curse You say nothing could be worse But a monster with no purpose is just pain rehearsing hurt I won’t paint a halo where the horns already fit I won’t call you secretly good just to make me comfortable with it Bad guy? Fine. Keep the title if it’s true But grief has held the pen too long Let’s see what you can do [Pre-Drop | Preserve Drum Thinning | Slow Teasing Whisper] No cure. No cleansing. No pretty little ending. Good. Those are usually boring. [Hook | Existing First Drop | Firm Half-Time Delivery | Cello Answers Cowbell] Keep the teeth Keep the name Keep the part they couldn’t tame You don’t owe them clean or kind Just don’t let the wound decide Wear the crown Take the night You don’t have to turn out right If the nightmare kept you breathing Give it something to believe in [Post-Hook | Existing Vocal Space | Chopped Female Vocal] Keep—keep— Keep the teeth Rise—rise— Back to your feet No saint No cure No leash Keep the teeth [Verse 2 | Deliberate Half-Time Trap Cadence | No Double-Time | Glitch Accents] They heard “cancer” backed away Left you ruling your decay I hear hunger without direction tearing through what couldn’t stay You learned weapons You learned walls You learned silence outlasts all But staying still is not a kingdom and numbness isn’t standing tall Let the cello hold the mourning Let the 808s accuse Let the glitch confess the fractures you were too composed to lose Keep the anger Give it grammar Make it answer when you call You can be the smiling skull without becoming just the fall Choose the bite Choose the cost Choose what isn’t yours to lose Being feared is not the same as getting anything you choose [Pre-Drop | Preserve Existing Tension | Close Intimate Delivery] I’m not frightened by your ruin. I’m wondering why you keep kneeling in it. [Hook | Existing Second Drop | Firm Half-Time Delivery] Keep the teeth Keep the name Keep the part they couldn’t tame You don’t owe them clean or kind Just don’t let the wound decide Wear the crown Take the night You don’t have to turn out right If the nightmare kept you breathing Give it something to believe in [Break | Preserve Existing Breakdown | Cello Slides | Heartbeat Sub | Glitch Mutation] No more— asking empty rooms No more— letting ghosts choose No more— calling stillness strength No more— What comes next? [Bridge | Preserve Filtered Breakdown | Music Nearly Bare | Direct Spoken Delivery] I’m not here to save you. You’d hate that. And I’d get bored. I’m not asking you to become harmless. I’m not asking you to become nice. I’m not asking you to forgive the hands that taught you how to bite. Keep the teeth. I’m not asking you to lose your teeth. I’m asking what you want to do next. Not what grief wants. Not what the crown expects. Not what would make them comfortable. You. What do you want? [Preserve Silence] There you are. [Final Build | Existing Build | Cowbell Returns Under Cello Ostinato | Measured Escalation] From every wound a door From every death one more But this time choose the shape This time name the fate No cure No plea No borrowed destiny If you consume If you become Become deliberately [Final Hook | Existing Final Return | Controlled Escalation | Layered Female Vocal] Keep the teeth Keep the name Keep the part they couldn’t tame You don’t owe them clean or kind Just don’t let the wound decide Wear the crown Take the night You don’t have to turn out right If the nightmare kept you breathing Give it something to believe in Keep the scars Keep the sound But get your knees up off the ground You survived the world that made you Now decide what it allows No salvation No disguise I can see the void behind your eyes It looked back I didn’t blink Now tell me— What comes next? [Preserve Existing Music Cut] [Outro | Preserve Original Outro | Cello Drone | Close Whisper] You kept waiting for me to leave. I would have— if you’d stopped being interesting. [Quiet Laugh] Rise, Nyx. I want to see what you choose. [Single Cowbell Hit | Abrupt Eerie Silence | No Fade]
