[Intro] The corridor went quiet Not the quiet of an empty room The quiet of something so large It fills the space before it enters
[Verse 1] I felt him before I saw him The air grew cold in a way that cold has teeth Something old and bound and furious Coming up from underneath
He was here before the Sins were named Here before the Order built their walls THE ONE imprisoned him for reasons I don’t know yet And I was the one who let him out of all
He moved like ruin finding something to become I raised my light and he did not slow down The Radiance Burst broke against his chest like water And I felt the blood before I hit the ground
[Pre-Chorus] Sixty percent is nothing against this Sixty percent is not enough to stand I pressed my hand into the stone and pushed up anyway I am not finished — I am not finished yet
[Chorus] The Ones Below are older than the Order The Ones Below were here before the Sins And I am bleeding on the floor of something’s prison But I am still between Apollyon and her I did not come this far to be the thing that lets him through I did not learn to carry light to drop it here So I dig into whatever I am made of And I pull and pull until the ceiling disappears
[Verse 2] He caught me by the shoulder and I felt it Every power I had stuttered and went dim My light flickered like a candle in a hurricane And I thought — this is where it ends for him
For him — no — for me — no — Something said not yet not yet not yet Something above me pulled a thread I didn’t know I had And everything went white
[Pre-Chorus] Not my light Something older than my light Something that has been watching from the void above A star I have never named but somehow always known
[Chorus] The Ones Below are older than the Order The Ones Below were here before the Sins And I am on my feet and I do not know how But something vast poured into me from somewhere I have never been I did not call it — it came anyway I did not know its name — I still don’t know its name But Apollyon pulled back from whatever I became And something between us sealed the dark again
[Bridge] He is not gone He is held A breath of something from above is all I am running on And the space between defeated and still standing Is where I live right now and I will hold it until dawn
[Final Chorus] The Ones Below will rise in other songs and other wars The Ones Below were never mine to fight alone But tonight I drew from something in the dark above me And tonight Apollyon could not make me fall Something found me at the bottom of my losing Something I did not ask for, did not earn, could not name And whatever star decided I was worth its power Has been waiting for me to finally call its name
[Outro] I am still here I am still bleeding I do not know what found me in the dark But I looked up at the ceiling of this tower And something in the black Was looking back