[Intro]
[Three descending tagelharpa notes answer a single iron bell.]

[Verse 1]
At dawn the birches held their breath,
No black wing crossed the fjord.
The frost lay white as burial cloth,
The pines forgot their word.
Two empty branches faced the east,
Where Huginn once had cried.
The cattle watched the colorless shore,
The dogs lay down and whined.

[Pre-Chorus]
No feather fell, no warning rang,
No beak against the stone.
The sky drew one blood-colored line,
And left the north alone.

[Chorus]
When the ravens fell silent, the north lost its name,
The bells answered iron, the roots answered flame.
No warning was spoken, no wing split the air;
When the ravens fell silent, the gods were not there.
Red over winter, the heavens climbed higher,
While snow kept the secret of roots lit with fire.

[Verse 2]
The river moved beneath its skin,
Though ice was three hands deep.
A shepherd found nine hoofprints burned
Where no warm beast could sleep.
The World Tree groaned below the hill,
A sound too low for ears.
The oldest woman crossed herself
In ways forgotten years.

[Pre-Chorus]
She named the thread, she named the wolf,
She named the final horn.
Then every child looked toward the sky
And wished it were not dawn.

[Chorus]
When the ravens fell silent, the north lost its name,
The bells answered iron, the roots answered flame.
No warning was spoken, no wing split the air;
When the ravens fell silent, the gods were not there.
Red over winter, the heavens climbed higher,
While snow kept the secret of roots lit with fire.

[Instrumental Break]
[Low guitars repeat the descending motif while frame drums imitate the beat of failing wings.]

[Bridge]
I climbed to the stone where the oath-rings lay,
And waited for wings through the dying day.
One feather was frozen beneath my heel,
Its shaft split clean by a thread of steel.
I lifted it north, but the north gave none;
Behind the red veil stood a wounded sun.

[Build-up]
One branch stood empty.
Then empty stood two.
The roots began glowing.
The prophecy grew.

[Final Chorus]
When the ravens fell silent, the north lost its name,
The bells answered iron, the roots answered flame.
The warning had passed us before we could hear;
The gods kept their silence, and fate had drawn near.
Red over winter, the last light climbed higher,
And snow could no longer conceal the root-fire.
When the ravens fell silent, we finally knew:
The old world was ending beneath heaven’s hue.

[Outro]
No raven returned when the red evening fell.
Only wind moved the rope of the watchtower bell.
One note crossed the valley, then sank into stone.
The Nine Realms had heard it.
The north stood alone.
