[Intro — low strings, one held note] The names are done Every last one
[Verse 1] I came here with a list I kept it close to everything I was Seven years of names I memorized like prayers Every dawn I’d count them Every dusk I’d cross one out I told myself when the last one fell I’d finally breathe some air
But the last one’s gone And the world is still on fire And the thing they were protecting Didn’t die with what I burned
[Pre-Chorus 1] The war I started Is not the war I’m standing in The list I finished Doesn’t finish what began I built this order for a vendetta Not a calling Now the calling’s here And I don’t know who I am in it
[Chorus] This is the age of destruction Of everything I thought I came here for This is the age of destruction Of the version of me that kept the score I am not the weapon they pointed at the dark I am not the shield I am not the sword I am Elara And I don’t know what that means anymore But I know what I ride toward
[Verse 2] The ORDER didn’t die with its believers It learned Burn the cathedrals down They’ll build new ones Same hands on the same people Different walls, the same chains They don’t need a god They only need the claim
And everything in those notes Everything the White Woman mapped Points past the list I had
[Pre-Chorus 2] I could walk away I have every right Every debt I owed the dead is paid In blood and light But the notes keep pointing forward And I am not done
[Chorus 2] This is the age of destruction Of everything I thought I came here for This is the age of destruction Of the version of me that kept the score I am not the weapon they pointed at the dark I am not the shield I am not the sword I am Elara And I ride toward what I cannot name yet But I ride
[Bridge — quiet, then the riders stand one by one] I turned to leave.
Maren says the east is hers. Corvus says the breach is covered. Kael says he carries what remains.
I didn’t ask. I didn’t promise anything worth taking. I only said I ride as Elara. Not as War.
They said: then we ride as our names.
[Outro — near-spoken, strings underneath, the oath] Not for the dead. Not for the mission. Not for what we lost or what we burned.
For what’s ahead. For what’s still worth protecting. For the world that none of us have earned.
We ride at dawn.