Irredeemable Lyrics

I awakened beneath the ground
remembering nothing
in a chamber of arcane machinery
from a forgotten time
Pale yellow light from some unseen source assaulted my eyes
Then an elder emerged from the shadows beyond

"This is where you reside now, child,"
his voice echoed diffuse throughout the vastness,
"This is where I preserve the forgotten wonders
from the time before the world was engulfed in fire.
You will be my apprentice until the time
comes that I pass from this world."

Erudition came slowly to me,
the child of an ignorant tribe
with no written language

Yet with time I came to know
and comprehend the texts that the elder
collected for safekeeping here in the vault

Chronicles of the days
before the Deluge of Flames
of the days when my kind
still held dominion over this world

When the tribes swelled in numbers
to the thousands of thousands, united only in mutual distrust
of the men by which they were led
irredeemable men guided by ego and greed and fallacy

And the weapons they made
spears envenomed with poison that came from below
poison the learned could turn into fire

With the promise of death
they kept one another at bay
breeding contempt in the shadow of fragile prosperity

Many could see the portents of a gathering storm
as the tyrants arose in the foremost of tribes
When prosperity crumbled and the throngs could not be mollified
they cast forth their spears and set ablaze the skies

And in an instant there was fire
and in an instant there was doom
and in an instant the towers they raised to the sky
would all crumble to dust

And the wonders they built through the ages fell into silence
for those few who remained would not reclaim the lightning that brought them to life

Then the books closed, lessons completed
So he spoke,
"Yours is to return the light to this world
when the fallen discover the wisdom they never quite found, you must open the vault."

And he bade me venture out among them,
concealing my face and intent.
To know of the tribes and seek out who leads them
for theirs shall the purview become when the splendor returns.

Not long thereafter he passed from this world
and left me in solitude
a mortal empowered as godlike
granted command over all I surveyed.

And as I was bidden, I would journey forth
among the scattered tribes
and I would witness their pitiful state
consumed by ignorance, avarice and hate
imperious lords compelling their subjects
with iron fists and poison tongues
as in antiquity, hopelessly lost
ever unworthy, still irredeemable

I watch the moon cycle
and feel myself age
three-score winters have passed since I first woke underground

My flesh grows weary
yet they remain the same
thrall to the vice that compels from on high

War without end
a bounty of grief
birthright to every child brought into this world

Beyond salvation
still I hold the key to their fate
grandeur I bring forth embodied in death

Is this act righteous
or have I succumbed
to madness as all gods eventually must?

From beneath the mountains
I summon the spears
the moment of their absolution is finally here.