THE FOOL & ERIS [Intro – Spoken] Before the first law was carved in stone, there walked a man without a name and a goddess with far too many. He could not see the road. She could not resist changing it. [Verse 1 – The Fool] He had no name worth keeping, only questions in his coat, a blindfold tied across his eyes, a half-remembered note. They told him, “Walk the proper road, keep silent, keep in line.” But every sign that pointed home felt like somebody else’s lie. Through ruined towns and empty fields, beneath the freezing rain, he heard about a laughing ghost who taught the dead their names. A whisper followed through the dark: “The road begins where roads all end.” So the Fool kept walking onward, searching for his unseen friend. [Pre-Chorus] I do not know where I am going. I only know I cannot stay. Every truth they handed to me crumbled when I looked away. [Chorus – Duet] FOOL: If the world is just a joke, who is telling it, and why? ERIS: Who crowned frightened men in gold? Who taught the gods to lie? BOTH: We are not heroes, we are not villains, just two problems dressed as pilgrims. Let the old world call us wrong. We’ll break the cage and call it song. Chaos meets curiosity. Let the temple bells collide. When the Fool walks beside Eris, certainty will not survive. [Verse 2 – Eris] She had a hundred names at midnight. None of them were true. Discord in the marketplace, a storm in dancing shoes. Black feathers in her tangled hair, a golden apple raised, she smiled like every sacred thing was only sacred while obeyed. She whispered truth to children, told secrets to the dead, and painted every doorway red where kings had bowed their heads. A king adored his favourite lie: that power made him wise. He built a throne from mirrors so he’d never meet his eyes. He hired priests to praise him, hired soldiers to agree, and hung above the city gates: “OBEY, AND YOU ARE FREE.” Then Eris raised one eyebrow and softly asked him, “Why?” The court forgot its breathing. The king forgot his lie. [Pre-Chorus – Eris] Every empire fears a question. Every tyrant fears a laugh. Every perfect marble monument has fractures through its back. [Chorus] If the world is just a joke, who is telling it, and why? Who crowned frightened men in gold? Who taught the gods to lie? We are not heroes, we are not villains, just two problems dressed as pilgrims. Let the old world call us wrong. We’ll break the cage and call it song. Chaos meets curiosity. Let forbidden doors be tried. When the Fool walks beside Eris, certainty will not survive. [Verse 3 – Graymere] The Fool followed her laughter down the pathways left behind, to a town called Graymere, where laughter was a crime. The streets were dressed in bunting. The people dressed in grey. A wooden sign above the gate read: “SMILE LESS. OBEY.” No music filled the taverns. No children climbed the trees. They had outlawed contradiction and licensed every dream. They chained Eris in the courthouse for speaking out in riddles. She argued with the judges and sang between their syllables. The Fool stood at the prison bars. She grinned beneath her veil. ERIS: Have you come to be my hero? FOOL: No. Heroes always fail. ERIS: Then have you brought a weapon? FOOL: Nothing made of steel. He turned toward the silent town and asked what none dared feel: [Breakdown – Spoken] If the world is the joke… who is telling it? And why? CROWD: Why? Why? Why? ERIS: There you are. [Verse 4] A baker questioned hunger. A soldier questioned war. A child asked why the king required a lock on every door. A widow questioned heaven. A thief questioned the law. A priest looked at his holy book and questioned what he saw. The chains did not break open. The walls did not explode. The people simply stopped believing they deserved the load. The guards removed their helmets. The jailer dropped the key. Graymere woke from certainty and remembered how to breathe. [Bridge – Duet] FOOL: I thought freedom was an answer. ERIS: Freedom is the right to ask. FOOL: I thought truth would end the journey. ERIS: Truth just tears away the mask. FOOL: What if we become the tyrants? ERIS: Then question me. FOOL: And you? ERIS: I’ll question you. BOTH: No throne shall stand between us. No lie shall pass as truth. [Final Chorus] If the world is just a story, we’ll write between the lines. If the heavens demand obedience, we’ll teach the stars to rhyme. We are not heroes, we are not villains, just two beautiful contradictions. Not salvation, not a throne, just a road that makes its own. Raise the apple. Sound the laughter. Let the sleeping gods arise. Chaos meets curiosity, and certainty will not survive. [Outro – Spoken] Whenever a kingdom grows too certain, whenever someone says, “That is simply how things are,” a golden apple rolls across the floor. And somewhere in the darkness, Eris asks: “Why?”
