The Ancient Garden Keepers

Before the city Before the garden Before the gods themselves learned to count the stars — there was Aether The force between all things The breath between all worlds The power that cracked the first gear of the Engine And someone tried to hold it anyway [Owl Spirits — distant, counting, barely audible:] One thousand years… Two thousand years… Ten thousand and still… it sleeps… it sleeps… [Petal Spirits — slow and reverent, rising from silence:] We were here before the first bloom opened We were here before the gears were cast We planted every flower as a lullaby To make the ancient darkness hold its fast We are the keepers of the garden's secret We are the roots that run below the stone The Celestial Engine was never built for power It was built so nothing dark would wake alone [Auriel — whispering, almost to herself:] What are you telling me? What sleeps beneath my city? What have we been walking on All this time? [Petal Spirits — answering her directly:] Child of copper Child of gears and wonder Listen now to what the roots have kept The Aether is the blood between all realities The force that holds the cosmos from the edge No god commands it No throne contains it It moves between the stars without permission And something ancient tried to swallow all of it And had to be imprisoned before its death [Chorus — full choir swell, overwhelming and reverent:] Aether is the force beneath this city Older than the city that was built above it Every flower in this garden was a bolt and lock Every petal holds the dark behind its bars We are the keepers We are the ancient ones We planted paradise above a sleeping war And now the count is ending And the dreamer stirs below And the garden must decide What it was always for [Owl Spirits — louder now, urgent:] The count grows short… The count grows short… Ten thousand years of silence ending… now… [Petal Spirits — urgent, fear breaking through:] The Bloom Eater is not a beast of malice It is hunger older than the light It consumed three realities before the binding And would have swallowed all of infinite night The engine holds it But the engine needs a keeper One who speaks the language of the gears One who carries both the fire and the flower One who loves enough to hold it Through the years [Auriel — realization breaking, voice rising] You mean me You have always meant me Every engine I have ever fixed Every flower I have tended in the dark Was the fall she chose Before she had a name for it I am not the engineer of this city I am the keeper of everything This city was built above [Chorus — all voices, massive and terrifying and glorious:] Aether is the force beneath this city Older than the city that was built above it Every flower in this garden was a bolt and lock Every petal holds the dark behind its bars We are the keepers We are the ancient ones We planted paradise above a sleeping war And now the count is ending And the dreamer stirs below And the garden must decide What it was always for [Bridge — Petal Spirits and Owls together:] Solaryn knows He has always known He came not just to conquer But to seal the engine before it breaks [Owl Spirits:] The count… The count… Is already… zero… [Petal Spirits:] The garden holds But not past this gear's turning Without a keeper bound to root and flame Without the one the engine chose at casting The Aether tears And the garden forgets what it was built to hold [All:] Copper wings and Dragon scales One hand on the garden gate The garden holds Or it gives way It always comes to this [Final Chorus — devastating, full orchestral, all voices:] Aether is the force beneath this city Older than the hands that first drew the garden's edge Every flower in this garden was a bolt and lock Every gear a turning that she never chose to dodge We are the keepers And we are almost spent We held this too long for any root to hold alone But you were always coming Copper wings against a scale To hold this ancient garden One more turning of the gear [Outro — Owl Spirits alone, fading to a single heartbeat:] The count… is yours… now… Keep it Keep it Keep…