PART III – THE LAST WAR / THE CHOICE

[PART III – THE LAST WAR / THE CHOICE] (Heavy guitars. Slow, crushing drums. Distant screams. The battlefield wakes.) [Intro] The dead were never the end... They were only the beginning. We buried the world that was. We built kingdoms from the bones. We swore we'd never become the monsters... But every empire built in ash Eventually learns how to burn. [Verse 1] We walked through cities where the ghosts still whispered names, Past the rusted out machines and the remnants of the flames. We carved our homes from concrete, we forged our shields from steel, We taught ourselves that mercy was a luxury to feel. The infected came in numbers, like a tide against the shore, But we learned to stand together, we learned what we were fighting for. Every brother lost, every sister left behind, Was a scar across the soul of a broken human mind. But when the silence settled and the screams began to fade, The monsters that we feared weren't coming from the grave. They wore the faces of survivors, they spoke with human tongues, They carried flags and banners, they carried loaded guns. [Pre-Chorus] We survived the end of everything... But we couldn't survive ourselves. [Chorus] WE ARE THE ASHES! WE ARE THE FLAME! WE ARE THE ONES WHO REMEMBER THEIR NAMES! The dead tried to take us, The living tried to break us, But we refuse to die in vain! If this is the last war, If this is the final stand, We'll fight for tomorrow With blood on our hands! The world may be shattered, The heavens may fall... But we are the survivors. We are the last of us all! [Verse 2] The clans built their kingdoms on the backs of the weak, Promised them protection while they silenced those who'd speak. They traded in fear, they traded in lies, They stole the last hope from desperate eyes. A thousand different banners waving underneath the sun, Every leader claiming they were the chosen one. But every throne was built from another person's pain, Every crown was forged from someone's chain. We weren't saved from the apocalypse, We were simply given time... To discover what was hiding Inside the human mind. [Breakdown] NO MORE KINGS! NO MORE CHAINS! NO MORE BROKEN PROMISES WRITTEN IN PAIN! You took our homes! You took our dead! You built your empire on the blood we shed! The zombies came with empty eyes... But you were worse because you chose your lies! (Guitars drop. Silence.) [Final Chorus] WE ARE THE ASHES! WE ARE THE STORM! THE LAST REMNANTS OF A WORLD REBORN! We lost our fathers, We lost our sons, We lost the battle before it begun. But from the ruins, From the dust and the flame, A new generation will rise again. Not born of hatred, Not born of fear, But from every sacrifice that brought us here. The dead couldn't kill us. The war couldn't break us. And the monsters wearing our faces... Could never erase us. [Outro — Spoken over slow guitars] The world ended once... Then it tried to end us again. The first apocalypse came for our bodies. The second came for our souls. And when the smoke finally cleared... The question was never: "Could humanity survive?" The question was... "Was humanity worth saving?" [Final scream] WE. ARE. STILL. HERE. E.P.I.C.!