[Verse 1]
The message came before the morning settled
A voice through the frequency of stars
Vega the Harp was sending something broken
A signal fracturing from far
She said: the new ones are going dark
Not slowly
Not in cycles
Not the way a star sets into rest
One by one they stop
And something moves where they were
And the dark that follows
Is a different kind of dark
Than anything I’ve seen
[Pre-Chorus]
I did not wait for the council
I did not sit with the law
I looked at Castor
Who was already standing
And I called Nemesis through the door:
Bring your ledger
We are going now
The Hollow is not building anymore
It is eating
[Chorus]
Speed of dawn
We move before the light knows we are coming
Speed of dawn
Across the planes and into the consuming
Nemesis on my left
And Castor on my right
And somewhere in the dark ahead
Vega was still sending light
Speed of dawn
Three of us against the nothing
Speed of dawn
And every second costs a something
I have felt it breathing
Now I need to see its face
Speed of dawn
Let us reach her
Before it takes her place
[Verse 2]
The next plane felt like held breath
Like a room that something large
Had just moved through and stopped
The new stars were not gone
Not all of them
But some were dark in places
Where I felt them from the top
And Nemesis was counting
Writing numbers as we ran
And Castor kept his eyes ahead
The way only Castor can
And then I heard it
Vega the Harp still singing
The last measures of a song
That sounded like a call
Like someone playing everything they knew
So that someone else would hear it
From across the hall
[Pre-Chorus 2]
And I said: there
And we moved faster
And the Hollow at the edge
Pulled like cold
And Nemesis grabbed my arm and said:
It knows we’re here
And I said:
Good
[Chorus]
Speed of dawn
Three of us against the nothing
Speed of dawn
And every second costs a something
I have felt it breathing
Now I need to see its face
Speed of dawn
Let us reach her
Before it takes her place
[Bridge — they arrive. They see her.]
She was still there.
Vega the Harp.
Still playing.
Still bright.
Still sending the signal.
And she turned toward me
And I saw the relief in her light
And she opened her mouth
To say something
Something I almost heard
And then
The Hollow moved
And Vega
Was not there anymore
And the song stopped
In the middle of the word
She was going to say
And the silence
Where Vega had been
Was a different kind of silence
Than any silence I had held before
And Castor said nothing
And Nemesis closed the ledger
And I stood at the edge of where she was
And I understood
For the first time
What ending the Hollow actually means
It means this
Never again
[Final Chorus — slower, certain, no longer racing]
Speed of dawn
We came as fast as the light allows us
Speed of dawn
And the Hollow still outran us
But I saw her
I heard her
I know what she was going to say
Speed of dawn
Will not be fast enough next time
Speed of dawn
But there will not be a next time
I am The One
And I have seen its face now
And I know what ending it will take
Speed of dawn
Vega
I heard your song
[Outro — SOLARA turns back toward the garden. Castor walks beside her. Nemesis opens the ledger again.]
The debt is now personal.
She was playing
When the Hollow took her.
I remember the song.
I will finish it.