[Verse 1]
Six captains in one room
This had never happened before
For good reason
Solara: listening
Void: already calculating
Chaos: already standing like he’d been chosen
Madela: cleaning a corner
Asala: present — that was all
Fable: narrating the room to the room
“Someone needs to lead the assault,” said Cassie
“Yes,” said everyone
“Who,” said Cassie
Chaos stepped forward
[Pre-Chorus]
And the speeches began
[Chorus]
Captain commander — who takes the point
Captain commander — who leads to 289
Who walks first through Level 280
Who calls the formation
Who the darkness looks at when we arrive
Captain commander
[CHAOS — The Speech]
“I have been to more wrong places than anyone in this room
and survived all of them”
Fable: “He speaks with the certainty of someone
who has never been right
and has somehow always been fine”
“I can hear you,” said Chaos
“I know,” said Fable — “I was narrating”
“I KNOW”
He finished the speech
It was long
It was confident
It was wrong on at least three points
But delivered very well
[VOID — The Bigger Speech]
Void stood
The room changed temperature
“I have walked levels that do not have names
fought beings that are not remembered
because the memory of them was too heavy to carry
I did not survive them — I ended them”
Long pause
“That is why it should be me”
Fable: “And the shadows behind him
shifted slightly to applaud
which was impressive
and also deeply unsettling”
Void looked at Fable
Fable: “I am the narrator. I go where the story goes.”
[Madela interlude]
Madela cleaned the far corner
Then the window sill
Then a chair nobody had sat in
Then the floor around Rumble — which took longer
She did not look up once
This was somehow the most intimidating thing in the room
[Chorus]
[The impasse]
Asala had not spoken
“Asala,” said Cassie
“I am thinking,” said Asala
“What are you thinking”
“I am still thinking”
Solara said: “We decide later”
Chaos: “Or—”
“Later”
“What about an—”
“Chaos”
“An eating contest would resolve—”
“NO”
Unanimous
Even Fable agreed — and narrated her own agreement
They began to leave
The meeting had ended in nothing
This was expected
[Bridge — Helena]
Then the room changed again
Different from Void — colder, final
Helena
She did not sit
She did not need to
“The question is answered”
Nobody had asked her
“Solara leads the assault”
Chaos: “But—”
“So I can keep an eye on her”
Silence
Void looked at Solara
Solara looked at Helena
Helena looked at nothing in particular
That was somehow worse
Fable began to narrate
“The narrator,” said Helena
Fable stopped
[Final Chorus]
Captain commander — it’s decided
Captain commander — it’s Solara
Not because they voted
Not because she asked
Because Helena is watching
And wants her where she can be seen
Captain commander — no choice
[Outro]
They looked at Solara
Solara looked at the door Helena had come through
The door was already gone
“Well,” said Chaos
“I would have won the eating contest”
“Nobody doubted that,” said Castor
“Thank you”
“It was not a compliment”
Solara: “We march in one week”
One week
Madela cleaned the window again
It was already clean
She cleaned it anyway