[Verse 1 — SOLARA feels it, they travel south]
Something pulled her south before she had a word for it
The way a compass spins before it finds its north
The Hunter said “a feeling isn’t coordinates”
The Queen said nothing but she came along of course
The Hero asked if this would take very long
He had a thing at the fourth bell, possibly
They landed in the south in time to see
A man who shouldn’t be
Standing there.
[Pre-Chorus 1]
He was reading from a scroll
His back was to them all
He said “I know you’re there, I heard you land”
Then he turned around and froze
[Chorus — bright, wide-eyed, full wonder]
Stargazer
Eyes wide open like the sky forgot to close
Stargazer
Standing in a fold that only dead men know
Stargazer
Neither one of them said anything at first
Stargazer
She came to check the pull
And found the pull had a name
And the name was supposed to be gone
[Verse 2 — Aldric explaining himself, badly]
He said “I died — I’m fairly certain about that”
“There was a very definitive ending involved”
“And then I was just — here — with all my notes”
“So I’ve been charting. Someone has to be involved.”
He showed them seven scrolls already done
Forty constellations cross-referenced by fold
The Hero squinted — “Is that level eighty-two?”
Aldric said “Eighty-FOUR, actually, I’m thorough”
[Pre-Chorus 2]
The Hunter leaned to the Queen and said
“Did we just find a dead man doing homework?”
The Queen said “Yes.”
“And we’re taking him with us, aren’t we.”
”…Yes.”
[Chorus 2]
Stargazer
Eyes wide open like the sky forgot to close
Stargazer
Standing in a fold that only dead men know
Stargazer
No one sent him here, no one left a note
Stargazer
Someone brought him back and didn’t leave a reason
And that is the part that matters
And that is the part we don’t know yet
[Bridge — quieter, something shifts]
SOLARA stood beside him
And asked the only question that was worth asking —
“Who sent you back?”
He looked at her like she’d spoken in a tongue
He’d never learned
“I don’t know.”
“But whoever it was — they gave me a quill.”
“And I intend to use it.”
[Final Chorus — now five of them, moving]
Stargazer
Eyes wide open like the sky forgot to close
Stargazer
Walking beside them now, scroll under one arm
Stargazer
The Hunter has his belt on straight for once
Stargazer
The Hero found the thing he had at the fourth bell
And left it without a second thought
Stargazer
The Queen approved — she does not approve easily
Stargazer
And SOLARA felt the pull shift north
Toward whatever’s waiting past the seventy-eighth
With a dead man holding the map
[Outro — walking, Aldric narrating already]
“I’ll have the full universe mapped by the end of the week.”
“That’s not possible.”
“I died and came back. My standards for impossible have changed considerably.”
(The Hunter and The Hero exchange a look)
(The Queen is already walking)────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────