Stygian II: In Ageless Slumber (As I Dream in the Doleful Embrace of the Howling Black Winds) Lyrics

(Breathe...)

Alone & isolated from the outside world, I slumber through the ages. No dread and sorrow nor pain to feel, but only the eternal utter blackness in the dreamless void. I feel at peace here, but at times when I think I am truly safe, a glimpse of a troubled memory resurfaces and dissipates as soon as it manifested itself. Long have I yearned to learn to ignore the echoes of the waking world for they are not for me to be concerned about anymore. I plunge deeper into the dreamless pits of nothingness, seeking my eternal refuge in the silent embrace of the void.

(Breathe...)

Suddenly, I hear it again through the blackest veils of velvet shrouding my senses. I feel I cannot ignore it anymore because now, it has become more apparent. Whimpering in the dark, I can hear it pulsating and moving. Its droning increases and decreases with ever-changing intensity. But with each iteration, it grows exponentially louder under the distant, cacophonous howling of the autumnal winds outside the castle windows.

(Breathe...)

I want to cover my ears, but shadowy hands are holding me firmly down. I cannot tell if I am simply dreaming or awake, but I cannot move or scream. Perhaps the wraith-like beings from the mists of The Aaegian trail have come back to haunt my sleep again. As long as I do not open my eyes to gaze at them, I should be safe.

(Breathe...)

The only thing I can feel aside from the icy grip of the impenetrable darkness surrounding me is the paralyzing dread crushing my lungs from the inside out. The more I fight it, the louder the fluctuating, pulsating droning of the howling black winds becomes. Through its cacophonous and dazzling intensity, I can now faintly distinguish screams in the distance from outside the castle walls.

(Breathe...)

The voices all seem familiar, but I cannot tell them apart from one another. The screams seem to be growing in intensity and volume alongside the pulsating droning, their frequencies melding with one another to create a chaotic choir of hellish vibrations and discordant harmonics.

(B r e a t h e)

A distant pounding sound echoes throughout the great halls of Atros Kairn. Despite my desire to discover who or what is pounding on the cold Kinexian steel-clad hall doors, I have no choice but to remain motionless and frozen in this terrifying state of somnambulistic paralysis. It must be those who live down the hill, in my great grandfather's village, Fortunex. They must have climbed the hill during the night to seek refuge inside the Kairn Vaults. The pounding only grows louder as the screams turn into shrieks of horror. And that howling sound. By the gods, that horrible howling sound won't stop! It feels like it is all I've been hearing for the past hours, nay, Days! Months! Years! Decades! I seem to have lost complete notion of time.

(B r e a t h e.......)

The cacophonous screams from outside the castle halls are drowned out in the rumbling sounds emanating from beneath the earth. The Juurn is crying and bleeding, its wounds are open. The great southern sea is empty and the ocean floor is now but a vast wasteland. The Northern Sea is vomiting forth tumultuous waves of icy waters unto the vastlands. The droning melds itself with the sound of the waves coming ever closer. The pounding grows ever louder but the villager's pleas are now but breathless, muted cries for help, as if they've spent all of their lives trying to get inside my castle. The emaciated wraiths floating in my bedroom are asking me to open my eyes...

(I CANNOT BREATHE.......)

I can hear the rats inside the cold stone walls of the inner castle vaults flee from the impending danger of the outside world. The pressure on my lungs has now moved to my throat. I remain unable to free myself from these illusory, cold, emaciated hands firmly holding my throat and the absolute terror that has gripped my senses as I wait for the impending waves to crash down upon the walls.

(I AM DROWNING.......)

My ears are bleeding from the terrifying and deafening sound of towering tides crashing down against the keep, washing away all life on the land surrounding it and swallowing the earth whole. Minutes pass, nay, hours! Days! Months! Years! Decades! In it's unending anger and sorrow, the earth ravages itself. Pulsating waves, choking, sinking, drowning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning, droning...

BREATHE.........................................................