[Intro]
[War drums, tagelharpa and low guitars strike the three-note motif in unison.]

[Verse 1]
Vígríðr spread a hundred leagues,
A frozen mouth for broken oaths.
The gods came down from burning halls;
The dead came up through shattered walls.
The giants crossed on grinding stone,
Each carrying winter in his bone.
Our shield-wall formed beneath no sun,
Four thousand hearts, but beating one.

[Pre-Chorus]
No trumpet promised our return.
No priest denied the world would burn.
We locked the rims, we set the line,
And watched nine fires combine.

[Chorus]
Ashfall at Vígríðr, black on the blade,
White on the living and gray on the slain.
God against hunger and thunder against scale—
No victor is crowned when all kingdoms fail.
Ashfall at Vígríðr, thick as the snow,
Cover the names that the living still know.

[Verse 2]
The wolf came on with open jaw,
A cave of blood, a mouth of war.
Odin rode beneath its height,
One eye fixed hard upon the night.
He cast the spear; the cracked edge sang,
True to its course, the weapon sprang.
It struck—and still the jaws came down.
The wolf closed over god and crown.

[Pre-Chorus]
The high seat emptied in the field.
The cracked spear vanished with the shield.
No raven marked the place he fell;
The wolf alone became the bell.

[Chorus]
Ashfall at Vígríðr, black on the blade,
White on the living and gray on the slain.
God against hunger and thunder against scale—
No victor is crowned when all kingdoms fail.
Ashfall at Vígríðr, thick as the snow,
Cover the names that the living still know.

[Verse 3]
Then Víðarr crossed the blood-wet ground,
His silent shoe without a sound.
He forced the lower jaw to clay
And tore the father’s killer away.
No triumph lived within his face;
Revenge restored no vanished place.
He stood beside the fallen head,
A son made lonelier by the dead.

[Guitar Solo]
[Melodic lead guitar carries Odin’s fractured motif before colliding with the wolf rhythm.]

[Verse 4]
Thor found the serpent in the foam,
Each knew the other, name and doom.
The hammer fell; the mountains rang.
The serpent struck; black venom sprang.
At last the world-coil split and rolled,
Its scales like islands, dark and cold.
Thor walked nine steps through poisoned rain,
Then dropped beside the thing he’d slain.

[Breakdown]
One step for the hammer.
Two through the red.
Three for the children.
Four for the dead.
Five through the venom.
Six without breath.
Seven, eight, nine—
Then thunder met death.

[Chorus]
Ashfall at Vígríðr, black on the blade,
White on the living and gray on the slain.
Thunder killed poison, then poison prevailed—
No victor is crowned when all kingdoms fail.
Ashfall at Vígríðr, thick as the snow,
Cover the hammer where no storms will blow.

[Verse 5]
Freyr faced Surtr without his sword,
Bright summer armed with broken word.
He struck with antler, branch and hand;
Fire took the harvest from the land.
He fell where wheat had never grown,
Before a king of flame and stone.
Then Surtr raised the burning brand,
And daylight died a second hand.

[Instrumental Break]
[Brass, strings, tagelharpa and guitars layer the themes of wolf, serpent and flame over accelerating war drums.]

[Bridge]
I held the shield with the faded sun.
The painted gold had nearly gone.
A giant’s axe split rim and grain;
I fell, then found my feet again.
Beside me, men without a name
Locked broken boards against the flame.
We did not think the world was saved.
We held because of vows we gave.

[Build-up]
The oath-fire answered under snow.
The root-fire climbed from far below.
The untouched horn fell from its stand.
Black seawater crossed the land.
The pale gates emptied every dead.
The wolves wore daylight on their heads.
Nine fires bent toward one bright sword—
And Surtr spoke no final word.

[Final Chorus]
Ashfall at Vígríðr, black on the blade,
White on the living and gray on the slain.
Father and monster, thunder and scale,
Summer and fire—all broken, all pale.
Ashfall at Vígríðr, bury the plain;
No victor is crowned in the fire and rain.
Ashfall at Vígríðr, cover each name,
God, wolf and warrior made equal in flame.
No horn of triumph, no banner unfurled—
Only ash falling over the end of the world.

[Choir]
Even gods leave echoes.
Even nameless hands remain.
Even broken shields remember
Who stood upon the plain.

[Outro]
Surtr’s sword crossed heaven’s seam.
The seas rose white with boiling steam.
The World Tree bent, its branches curled.
Fire walked outward through the world.
The shield with the sun fell from my hand.
Ash filled my mouth.
I could not stand.
One coal still glowed beneath the snow—
Then flame took all that flame could know.