[Intro: distant cathedral drone, slow footsteps, metal groaning somewhere far above] Count them. Carefully. Ten names in the histories. Ten sigils on the walls. [Pause] So why do I remember eleven? [Verse 1: low clean vocal, sparse guitar] There used to be more voices here I know because I knew their sound Arguments beneath the arches Laughter shaking sacred ground Now the hall has learned their echoes Where their answers used to be And every time I ask what happened Someone stops looking at me There’s no blood across the marble No broken weapon left behind Just dust where gods once sat together And holes inside my mind [Pre-Chorus: low choir rising] They tell me centuries distort us Memory bends beneath its weight Funny The stone still bears the pressure Of a throne they say was never made [Chorus: huge, haunting melodic metalcore] THERE ARE EMPTY THRONES Where living gods once sat Some belong to names we buried Some to names we still have left Ten are written in the temple Ten are carved into the stone But I remember one more shadow SITTING WHERE THERE IS NO THRONE There are empty thrones And nobody wants to explain [Verse 2: heavier rhythm] Vaelune speaks in half-remembered answers Morvane locks the lower door Serathiel suddenly finds silence Where judgment lived before Orun counts beneath his breathing Then stops whenever I come near Kaelor says, “The dead are dead.” Like death is what I fear Solvar stares into the fire Like something might stare back Nythra smiles when I ask questions That worries me the most [Pre-Chorus 2] Ten names remain in scripture Ten symbols still survive I remember eleven voices Standing here alive [Chorus] THERE ARE EMPTY THRONES Where living gods once sat Some belong to names we buried Some to names we still have left Ten are written in the temple Ten are carved into the stone But I remember one more shadow SITTING WHERE THERE IS NO THRONE There are empty thrones And nobody wants to explain [Interlude: clean guitar, whispers circling the stereo field] [Whispers] There were only ten There were only ten There were only ten [Fenrir, low] No. There weren’t. [Verse 3: intimate, increasingly disturbed] I found the mark beneath the marble Hidden under centuries of gold A shape I knew before I touched it Though I couldn’t say from where My hand reached down The whole hall changed For half a breath There were eleven Every seat was occupied Every face turned toward me One of them had no face at all [Music cuts] Then there were ten again [Instrumental swell: dissonant strings, pounding toms] I saw a cup raised at a feast A hand beside Vaelune Something whispering to Solvar While Kaelor laughed too soon I saw Morvane lower his eyes I saw Serathiel afraid And I remembered a name [Sudden silence] Then something tore it out of me [Breakdown: massive half-time] [Harsh vocal] WHO TOOK THE ELEVENTH? WHO CUT THE THREAD? WHO TAUGHT IMMORTAL MINDS TO FORGET THE DEAD? [Gang vocals] TEN NAMES REMAIN [Harsh vocal] THAT ISN’T PROOF YOU CAN BURN THE SCRIPTURE BUT YOU CAN’T BURN THE TRUTH [Gang vocals] WHERE IS THE THRONE? [Harsh vocal] WHERE IS THE GRAVE? GODS DO NOT VANISH WITHOUT LEAVING SOMETHING BEHIND [Half-beat silence] Unless we made sure they did. [Bridge: almost entirely ambient] [Low clean vocal] That thought changed everything. Because Morvane keeps graves. All of them. Kings. Monsters. Gods. So if there is no grave... [Pause] Maybe death Wasn’t enough. [Very distant female voice] Fenrir. Stop. [Fenrir] Why? [Female voice] Because you’re remembering. [Final Chorus: enormous, mournful, ominous] THERE ARE EMPTY THRONES And now I know they aren’t the same Some were lost to war and ages Some still carry missing names Ten gods remain in memory Though even they are fading slow But once There were eleven AND SOMEBODY NEEDED ONE TO GO There are empty thrones There are scars beneath the floor There are pages cut from history There is something behind the door And everyone keeps telling me There were only ten [Music falls away] But I was there. [Low, deliberate] I counted eleven. [Outro: footsteps approaching stone, distant heartbeat-like drum] One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. [Long silence] Eleven. [Whisper, not Fenrir] You should have stopped at ten.
