[Intro — low drones, distant chanting] Before the tongues were broken, Before the words became strange, We spoke as one beneath the sun, And knew each other's names. One voice. One will. One dream. So raise the stone. Raise it higher. Higher. Higher... [Verse 1] From the plain of Shinar we came, With fire in our hands and pride in our eyes, Brick by brick, we carved our name Into the face of the endless sky. "No more wandering. No more fear. We will build a road to heaven here." The mortar steamed beneath the sun, A thousand hands became as one, And every mouth proclaimed the same: "We shall ascend." [Pre-Chorus] Stone upon stone, Bone upon bone, We built a mountain of our own. And somewhere above the clouds, Something heard us. [Chorus] BUILD! BUILD TO THE HEAVENS! REACH FOR THE THRONE! WE ARE NOT ALONE! BUILD! BUILD TILL THE STARS COME DOWN! WE WILL NOT KNEEL! WE WILL NOT BOW! One tower! One people! One tongue! One tower! One— [Sudden silence] [Verse 2 — darker, slower] Then the heavens seemed to tremble, And the daylight lost its warmth. Something moved beyond the clouds, Something older than the storm. The workers stopped. The hammers ceased. And from somewhere far above them— A voice. Not loud. Not angry. Just... present. [Whispered overlapping voices] "Let us go down..." "Who said that?" "Who said—" "Did you hear—" "HEAR WHAT?" [Verse 3 — rhythm begins fracturing] The mason shouted, "Pass the stone!" The builder answered, "What stone?" "THE STONE!" "WHAT?" "THE STONE!" "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" Hands began pointing. Faces became strange. Every familiar word Was suddenly rearranged. Brother called to brother— "Come here!" "Come where?" "COME HERE!" "WHERE?" The same mouth. The same eyes. But the words... were gone. [Chorus — increasingly chaotic] BUILD! "Bring water!" BUILD! "Bring fire!" "WHAT?" "FIRE!" "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" BUILD! "Keep working!" "STOP!" "NO—KEEP—" "STOP!" "KEEP!" "STOP!" "KEEP!" [Background chanting begins in fractured pseudo-language] Ashara— Velum— Tarek— Namar— [Lead vocal] The tower still climbed While the voices came apart. The hands remembered the work But the minds forgot the heart. [Bridge — call and response, increasingly dissonant] [Voice 1] "Brother!" [Voice 2] "Bratha!" [Voice 3] "Baru!" [Voice 4] "WHO ARE YOU?" [Voice 1] "I KNOW YOU!" [Voice 2] "NO, YOU DON'T!" [Voice 3] "WE ARE ONE!" [Voice 4] "WE ARE NOT!" [All voices overlapping] ONE! NO! ONE! NO! BUILD! RUN! HEAVEN! WHERE? FATHER! WHO? HELP! WHAT? HELP! WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? [Instrumental breakdown] [Whispered voices surround the listener] I cannot understand you. I cannot understand you. I cannot understand you. [Verse 4 — almost spoken] A mother reached for her child. The child pulled away. A husband called his wife. She answered with a stranger's tongue. Friends who had shared bread Could no longer share a word. And the greatest terror was not that the gods had come down— It was that everyone around them had become a stranger. [Chorus — huge, chaotic] BUILD THE TOWER! RAISE THE STONE! WE CAN REACH IT! WE ARE— [Voices fracture] Kela mor! Tanu vek! Ash na tor! Velum ara! Tarek! TAREK! TAREK! [Silence] [Low voice] Who is Tarek? [Long pause] Who are you? [Final Verse] The tower stood beneath the heavens. Incomplete. Alone. A monument to a people who could no longer speak as one. Then they scattered. East. West. North. South. Carrying their broken words into a broken world. And every road they followed led farther from the others. [Outro — distant voices] One people... One tongue... One dream... [Pause] No longer. [Whispered] Can you understand me? [Another voice, distorted] Can you understand me? [Many voices] Can you understand— Can you— Can— [Everything collapses into unintelligible chanting] KARA... VEL... ASH... TORA... NEM... BA... EL... [Sudden silence] [Final whispered voice] We were one.
