Ritual

This is another story-based song about my characters Lyra & Umbra. But from now on, I'll include some context in the next songs. ❄—— Lyra——❄ Lyra is known as a “Winter Wraith,” carrying an aura so cold it lowers temperatures wherever she travels. Her magic grants her one extraordinary gift: the power to resurrect a single creature from death, though it leaves that being perpetually exposed to her numbing chill. She used this power on Umbra, forging a profound bond. Towns cast wary eyes on Lyra, blaming her for sudden drops in temperature or unseasonal snows, prompting her and Umbra to live as wandering outcasts. ❄—— Umbra——❄ Umbra was once a tiny snow fox that died under tragic circumstances. When Lyra resurrected him, her magic altered him, causing him to grow to wolf-like proportions with fur streaked by shifting shadows. More than a mere companion, Umbra can vanish into Lyra’s silhouette, becoming her living shadow before reappearing in a solid form. Their shared essence ensures he can’t be harmed by her lethal chill, while his steadfast presence offers Lyra a rare sense of warmth in a world that suspects her power. ❄—— Prolog——❄ Burdened by constant rejection and guilt over the frost that follows her, Lyra hears rumors of a hermit in the Mountains who can strip away her frost magic entirely. If successful, she would no longer be feared for bringing winter’s grip wherever she remains. ❄—— Lyrics——❄ Ever wonder what it costs to be yourself? I climbed a mountain where silence howled Where even the wind forgot how to be loud She lived in ice, wore age like armor And said she could pull the frost out of my marrow "No more spells, no more stares" "No more towns that burn just ‘cause you're there" But I asked her: What’s the cost of disappearing… When someone else is breathing through your veins? Could I unbind myself from this curse And not bury him in the same hearse? She said: "You don’t get to be half of anything. You’re all or you’re nothing.” Forsake me But don’t rip out his name If I must bleed to keep us the same Then let me carry cold like a flame Let them hate me. Let them fear. But don’t make me kill (kill) what keeps me here (Don’t make me) (Don’t make me) (Kill what keeps me here...) She said, “It’s not pain you’ll lose It’s the pieces that made you choose” The laughs, the blood, the battles, the bond The fox who stayed when the world moved on I saw his eyes Red, but begging blue Like he knew the cold I’d walk back into If I said yes... If I said yes, it’d mean I never knew him at all Peace that costs your heartbeat Ain’t peace - it’s a lie with clean sheets And I I was built from storms, not silence Not absence dressed like guidance Forsake me But not the bond we bled I’ll carry cold if it means we’re not dead I’d rather be broken in magic’s name Than erased and called it healing “She said… there’d be freedom in forgetting...” But freedom without him Isn’t freedom. It’s just... Nothing. What’s the point of living if the part that loved me dies? Forsake me I’ll take the scars The cold, the fear, the frostbit stars But don’t ask me to kill my home Don’t ask me to go alone You ever wonder what it costs to be yourself? It costs everything But losing him... Losing Umbra... That would’ve cost what was still human in me. So I stayed. And I bled. And I froze... But I never let go.