TV 022 – The Ashward Marches | The Torn Void

(Verse 1) Across the Ashward Marches, false beacons plead through ash, Where decoy colonies flicker and the hidden night-worlds flash. The Hunters ride fortress routes with relics cold and bright, While thrall patrols drift silently beneath the starving light. (Verse 2) The Hegemony sows distress where mercy learns to bleed, And marks each human answer as a debt that it can feed. The Legions answer anyway, though every signal lies, For vows are written deepest where the helpless call still cries. (Chorus) In the Ashward Marches, survival walks with pain, Where blood courts hunt the living and the Hunters burn the chain. Human worlds are caught between the fang and sacred flame, And every soul they rescue may return without its name. (Verse 3) Crusade raids strike the stations where the feeding engines sleep, And fortress priests count names for those the dark was meant to keep. Escaped thralls cross the corridors with fear in every breath, While medicae search their shadows for the taste of hidden death. (Verse 4) Merchant Factors sell their grain beneath a neutral seal, Pilgrim Houses take the lost no realm will dare to heal. Some born beneath the Hegemony fear the open door, For freedom sounds like exile when the leash has fed before. (Chorus) In the Ashward Marches, survival walks with pain, Where blood courts hunt the living and the Hunters burn the chain. Human worlds are caught between the fang and sacred flame, And every soul they rescue may return without its name. (Bridge) Core Gate broke the records and the Fracture warped the way, So names arrive too early and the dead delay the day. The vampires hunt by papers where the missing files agree, While Hunters harden mercy into quarantine decree. (Outro) So still the Ashward Marches burn where human borders strain, Between the court of hunger and the vow that answers pain. They save the worlds by fire where no gentler roads remain, Then ask what kind of victory leaves ash inside the chain.