1. RISE AND FALL

Lord Soth,
Once an honoured knight
Of the order of Solamnia...
He built a stronghold, tall and proud,
In the shape of his order's sign.
Long time ago, he was disgraced from the gods,
For failing his duties to restore order in the realm.
He found the love of an elven maid,
Let his minions kill his wife.
The gods threw a fiery mountain
On the city of Istar,
To punish the arrogance of the high priest.
To The Cataclysm, to the end of the world.

"Noctem, redde tuae, dux bone, patriae!"

Dawning in the lands of the damned.
A new morning went by
In the darkened halls of the fallen one;
As many others did.
Condemned to await the end of all days,
Guided by the cries of banshees.
Dead and forgotten mortals,
A life without light,
A life without the warmth of blood.

Rise and fall - an empire to lose
Fall and rise - a cataclysm to come
Rise and fall - the sea changed blood red
Fall and rise - for a new order


2. BEARER OF THE FLAME

Behold the bearer of light,
The flame of wisdom.
Leader, not servant of a throne.
Far beneath the sun,
Far beneath the conscious he dwells.
Trusting in nothing, leading the blind.
Behold the bearer of darkness,
The bringer of light,
With a crown of sins,
Enlightened eyes.
Leader, not servant of a throne.
Only where darkness reigns
You need a flame as a guide.
Behold the bearer of light,
The flame of wisdom.
Leader, not servant of a throne.
Far beneath the sun
Far beneath the conscious surface he dwells.
Trusting in nothing, leading the blind.
Behold the bearer of darkness,
The bringer of flames.
Leader, not servant of a throne.
With a crown of sins,
Enlightened eyes.
Bearer of light in a world of blinded ones.


3. NIOBE

Sexque datis leto diversaque passis
Ultima resabat: quam corpore mater,
Tota veste tegens,
"Unam minimamque pelinque!
De multis minimam posco"
Clamavit,
"Et unam!"
Dumque rogat, pro qua rogat, occidit.
Orba resedit exanimes inter natos natasque
Virumque deriguitaque malis.
Nullos movet aura capillos,
In vultu color est sine sanguine
Lumina maestis
Stant immota genis nihil
Est in immota genis nihil
Est in imagine vivum.
Ipsa quoque interius cum duro lingua palato
Congelat et venae desistunt reddere motus,
Nec pes ire potest intra quoque
Viscera saxum est.
Flet tarnen et validi circumdata turbine venti
In patriam rapta est ibi fixa
Eacumine montis liquitur
Et lacrimas etiam nune marmora manant.


4. TAKHISIS DANCE

(Instrumental)


5. WINTER

I call forth the cold
The coming signs of winter
Black hands raised to the sky
Silhouettes of trees with no more leaves
Growing on their long lean twigs
Soul mirrors showing me
A shadowed face
Waters – frozen and rugged, unmoved
Cloth, white, is falling
Snow from the sky
Hiding the face of the earth
Thousand daggers piercing my skin
Winds from the north, alone in the skies
I call forth the cold
The coming signs of winter
Ravens seem to be the only
Life beside me – suddenly
They cover my sight to the horizon
Blood becomes ice
Flesh becomes rock
I call forth the cold
The coming signs of winter


6. AVE ATQUE VALE

Multas per gentes et multa per acquora vectus
Advenio miseras, frater, ad inferias
Ut te postremo donarem munere mortis
Donarem munere mortis

Et nequiquam alloquerer cinerem
Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum
Heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi
Frater adempte mihi

Nune tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
Tradida sunt tristis munera as inferias
Accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu
Multum manantia fletu

Atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale
Ave atque vale...


7. QUEEN OF THE WOODS

Dianae sumus in fide
Puellae et pueri integri
Dianam pueri integri
Puellaeque canamus

O Latonia, Maximi
Magma progenies livos
Quam mater prope Deliam
Deposivit olivam

Montium domina ut fores
Silvarumque virentium
Saltuumque redonditorum
Amniumque sonantum

Tu Lucina dolentibus
Iuno dieta puerperis
Tu potens Trivia et notho es
Dieta lumine Luna

Tu cursu, dea, menstruo
Metiens iter annuum
Rustica agricolae bonis
Teeta frugibus exples

Sis quocumque tibi placet
Sancta nomine Romulique
Antique ut solita es, bona
Sospites ope gentem

Dianae sumus in fide
Puellae et pueri integri
Dianam pueri integri
Puellaeque canamus


8. ANCESTORS OF STONE

I listened for ages
To the whispering of aeons
No one really ever answered
Just riddles
For the living ones
I was sitting aside
The statues of old
Listening to voices
And languages unknown
Beholding the pride
Of timelessness
Under ancient trees
Many carved their names
And thoughts here
Washed away by uncounted
Rainfalls and storms
Melancholic mood
Is filling this place
This place in my very mind
Listening to the statues of stone
Beholding the ancestors of old
I shall strive no more
In the present world
I lay back and fall in dreams
About times long ago
Listening to my ancestors of stone
My way to infinity


9. THE HALLS OF DARGAARD

(Instrumental)