[Intro]
[Instrumental Intro: The heartbeat drum, river-like 6/8 guitars and three-note tagelharpa motif enter separately, then lock together.]

[Verse 1]
We set MID-gard within the ring,
Where ash and elm could root and sing.
Above, we raised the gods’ domain;
Below, the mist retained its chain.
VAH-nah-hyme took seed and rain,
YUR-tun-hyme kept the giant strain.
ALF-hyme opened, clear and high;
SVART-alf-hyme went under sky.

[Pre-Chorus]
Hel received the road beneath.
MOOS-pel kept its burning teeth.
Nine were named, yet none alone—
Their roads converged through root and stone.

[Chorus]
Nine worlds beneath the tree,
Nine woonds bound in one decree.
Root into darkness, branch into flame,
One living crown with a murdered name.

[Verse 2]
IG-drah-sil rose through bone and sea,
No gardener shaped its mystery.
One root drank deep where NIV-'l lay,
One sought giants far away.
One reached the well no eye could own,
Where hidden wisdom lined the stone.
Its trunk passed every guarded wall,
And heard the pulse beneath them all.

[Chorus]
Nine worlds beneath the tree,
Nine woonds bound in one decree.
Root into darkness, branch into flame,
One living crown with a murdered name.

[Verse 3]
We caught the sparks that MOOS-pel threw
And fixed them in the vault of blue.
Some burned steady, small and far;
Some learned wandering as a star.
Then SOHL took fire upon her wheel,
MAW-nee raised a silver seal.
Their horses strained against the trace,
As wolves first scented out the chase.

[Bridge]
[Male Vocal: VAY] Every realm has marked its border.
[Male Vocal: VEE-lee] Every mind may learn its order.
[Male Vocal: OH-din] Every order bears a flaw.
[Choir] Every root outlives the law.
[Male Vocal: OH-din] Then let no throne mistake its span—
[Male Vocal: OH-din] The tree is older than the plan.

[Instrumental]
[Instrumental Direction: Each recurring album motif appears in sequence: EE-meer’s heartbeat, the rivers’ 6/8 current, the three brothers’ staggered strikes and the completed breath melody.]

[Breakdown]
NIV-'l below.
MOOS-pel afar.
MID-gard beneath
The first fixed star.

[Breakdown - Response]
AHSS-gard above.
YUR-tun-hyme wide.
Every new border
Has death on one side.

[Build-up]
SOHL gripped the reins.
The fire-wheel turned.
The eastern edge of heaven burned.
AHS-kur raised his face.
EM-blah stood near.
The first true morning entered the sphere.

[Final Chorus]
Nine worlds beneath the tree,
Nine lives bound in one decree.
Root into darkness, branch into flame,
One living crown with a murdered name.

[Coda]
REESE, MITH-gar-thur—receive the sun;
The age of the formless void is done.
Yet root and river, bone and sea
Remember what the dawn cost me.

[Choir]
IG-drah-sill REESE.
MITH-gar-thur REESE.
SOHL REESE.
MIN-nee LEE-veer.

[Outro]
The wheel crossed heaven, red and slow.
Gold touched mountain, field and snow.
For one brief breath all blood seemed gone—
The nine worlds watched the first true dawn.
