SHIELDWALL OF FROST AND BONE

[Intro — distant wind, vinyl crackle, low heartbeat 808] [Single ritual drum. Ghost-radio voices buried beneath the snow.] Low spoken chant: Shield... to shield... Bone... to bone... [Deep bass enters. Slow Nordic hip-hop cadence.] Verse I Snow keeps the names we swore to hold Steel remembers what breath forgets Before the fire, before the throne We stood where the cold draws its line No banners raised No songs for praise Just iron breath And shields aligned If fate must break upon a wall— Let it break Upon mine Pre-Chorus No gods above No mercy asked Only the vow That holds us fast [Female ritual voices rise behind the lead.] Chorus SHIELD TO SHIELD BONE TO BONE We do not stand— WE BECOME THE STONE If night should fall And worlds divide We hold the line We hold the line [808 drops beneath pounding war drums. Distorted guitar answers the vocal melody.] Verse II They call us storm They call us end Like winter ever needed friends But winter keeps What rot would steal And frozen earth remembers still The sisters walk the ancient path Not to conquer Not to flee Where the shield maiden plants her feet Is where the world must be Pre-Chorus II No crown we seek No debt we claim Only the oath Only the name Chorus SHIELD TO SHIELD FROST AND BREATH We are the silence Before the death If fire comes With borrowed light We hold the line We hold the line [Music fractures into corrupted radio static.] Viking-Hop Break [Sparse 808. Frame drum. Deep measured delivery.] One step— snow shakes. Two steps— ice wakes. Old blood. Cold ground. Hear that drum beneath us now. No throne. No gold. No story bought or glory sold. You want the road? Come take it. You want the line? Come break it. [Silence.] ...Try. Bridge [Slow ritual chanting. Huge drums underneath distant bowed strings.] Hear the drums beneath the snow Hear the old words wake below Not for glory Not for gain For the vow That still remains [Soulful female harmony enters unexpectedly, warm against the frozen atmosphere.] And if the cold Takes every name... The oath remains. Final Chorus SHIELD TO SHIELD BLOOD RUNS COLD We were sworn Before we were told If dawn should rise On broken ground We'll still be here When it comes around SHIELD TO SHIELD BONE TO BONE No crown No grave No throne If all the world Should fall behind— WE HOLD THE LINE WE HOLD THE LINE Outro [Everything disappears except wind, crackling signal and one distant drum.] No retreat... No cry... Only frost... And the oath... And the sky. [Ghost-radio whisper] Hold.