[Intro][The pouch's thirteen remaining golden pieces are emptied onto flat stone; acoustic guitar begins the opener's rhythm at twice its former strength.] [Verse 1: Narrator and ensemble, alternating voices] [Narrator, low male baritone] At noon we returned to the ash tree's crown; Humans and gods laid the pieces down. The blackened root sent father's voice back. [Odin Root Voice, deep distorted male bass] Set me the king. Put the tower beside. The world needs a pattern the wise can control. [Líf, warm female alto] You may keep memory—not our soul. [Pre-Chorus: Male ensemble, restrained] Mag-nee laid Myohl-neer flat on the stone. Balder and Hoh-thur faced the root alone. [Chorus: Full ensemble, forceful unison] Break the Game, Keep the Gold, Keep the lesson, refuse what was sold. Flatten the king; let the pawn unfold. No life is a piece for a player to hold. Break the game, but keep the gold. [Verse 2: Odin Root Voice and character ensemble] [Odin Root Voice, deep distorted male bass] Without my order, the wolves surround. Mercy is mist that the noon burns away. [Narrator, low male baritone] Vah-lee felt vengeance awaken and sting; Moh-thee looked down at the miniature king. [Höðr, dark male baritone] I know what becomes of the piece and the bow. [Daughter of the Sun, clear female mezzo-soprano] No ancient circle decides where I go. [Narrator] [Pre-Chorus: Líf and Daughter of the Sun, female duet] [Líf, warm female alto] Gold may remember the shape it once wore. [Daughter of the Sun] Memory need not become law any more. [Chorus: Full ensemble, forceful unison] Break the Game, Keep the Gold, Keep the lesson, refuse what was sold. Flatten the king; let the pawn unfold. No life is a piece for a player to hold. Break the game, but keep the gold. [Instrumental Break][Twin guitars and tagelharpa exchange the rising motif while Mjölnir strikes the stone between phrases.] [Verse 3: Narrator, low male baritone] Thirteen pieces lay bright on the stone; The blind man's shape remained unknown. The throne spread flat with one measured blow; The horse became leaf-thin, ready to glow. Ranks on a board lost the right to command; Gold leaves caught light in each open hand. [Bridge: Víðarr, quiet male bass] We keep what is useful; we name what was wrong. You will be memory, not ruler or song. You do not own us through stories retold. [Breakdown: Full ensemble, rhythmic spoken voices] No king. No pawn. No square to defend. No chosen beginning. No prewritten end. [Climax][All vocal perspectives enter as the new eagle lands above Yggdrasil.] [Full ensemble, layered harmony] Gold leaves rang in the Daughter's light; Odin stayed memory, stripped of his right. [Final Chorus: Full ensemble, maximum power] Break the Game, Keep the Gold, Keep every lesson the honest can hold. Flatten the king, let the pawn unfold; No child is a piece to be numbered or sold. Keep what can teach us; release what must go— Break the game, but keep the gold. [Outro: Full ensemble, soft unison] Myohl-neer lay quiet. The tree remained whole. A game had been broken— Not memory, not soul.