[Verse 1] The gate from thirty-four had opened Into the highest level any of them had stood on And it had taken approximately four minutes For it to go wrong
The Hunter said something That was meant for the Hero That was heard by the King
The Hero said something That was meant to fix it That made it significantly worse
The King said something to his guards That required no translation
[Pre-Chorus] Castor said: run They ran The Swan ran with them And then He stopped
[Chorus] He turned around He walked back He stood before the King of Level thirty-five And he said: Your Majesty I am asking for one thing Give me the floor Let me show you something And if it is not worth your time I will leave with them and never return
Give me the floor
[Verse 2] The King said: you have the floor
And the Swan danced
Not to escape Not to distract Not to survive
He danced because this was what he was What he had always been What The Old The One had tried to make him forget Along with the name
He danced the way Level thirty-four had taught him to dance With Phaethon’s song underneath The sun chariot falling And something catching it
The King watched The guards watched The whole level went quiet
[Pre-Chorus 2] Castor had stopped running He was watching from the gate
He did not know why this moment felt important More important than the running More important than anything He had felt since the corona flash
He stood very still And watched
[Bridge] When the Swan finished The crowd was quiet for one breath
And then a voice from the back said:
I know you I know who you are
I have seen you dance In the old records Before the names were taken
You are Cygnus
And the Swan stood completely still Not weighted — lighter Like something that had been missing Had come back to exactly the place it belonged
His name was Cygnus He had always known that He had forgotten He remembered now
[Final Chorus] He bowed to the King The King bowed back Which did not happen often
The door appeared The way doors appear When a level decides you have earned passage
Cygnus walked through He turned once He bowed again
[Outro] Castor went last
He looked at the place where Cygnus had danced He thought about names And what it cost to lose one And what it felt like to hear it back from a stranger
On the other side: The Hero said: what just happened The Hunter said: I think he got his name back The Hero said: what was it The Hunter said: Cygnus The Hero said: that’s a good name The Hunter said: better than nothing
They both looked at each other Neither of them said anything else
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