[Intro]
[Two bone clicks cut through a rapid downpicked riff.]
First for the woond that I swore I could mend,
Second for freedom from master and friend.
One hand on heaven, one hand on the knave—
Roll once for glory, twice for the grave.

[Verse 1]
Veyr left their camp while the watch-fire sank,
Crossed thorn-root gullies to a dry riverbank.
His patron rose there in a coat made of names,
Each stolen inscription alive in the flames.
[Choir]
“Throw me a doorway; I’ll give back the years.
I’ll place Dorrin’s laughter again in her ears.”
[Narrator]
Veyr cut the sack and the red corners shone:
[Veyr]
“No more debt after this. My blood is my own.”

[Pre-Chorus]
The patron held up one immaculate claw:
[Choir]
“Luck is a contract that outranks the law.”
[Narrator]
Veyr cast the dice where the dead reeds waved;
The first showed two—and the riverbed caved.

[Chorus]
Twice for the grave, once for the chain,
Once to buy mercy with somebody’s pain.
Twice for the grave, let the crimson bones spin—
The second throw never erases the sin.
You bargain for freedom, then double the claim;
The grave keeps the contract and signs with your name.

[Verse 2]
From every tomb where an old name had fled,
Letters rose screaming and armored the dead.
The patron grew taller on alphabet bones,
Crowned with the titles erased from the stones.
Brunna reached Veyr with her axe raised high;
Lark’s warning chord split the counterfeit sky.
[Tomas]
The nameless mage shouted, “Throw nothing again!”
[Narrator]
But Veyr saw ten stolen years in the rain.

[Pre-Chorus]
He seized both dice while his patron laughed:
[Choir]
“Your friends came too late; the doorway is cast.”
[Narrator]
Veyr rolled a second through blue-burning mud—
Two sixes struck hard, then dissolved into blood.

[Chorus]
Twice for the grave, once for the chain,
Once to buy mercy with somebody’s pain.
Twice for the grave, let the crimson bones spin—
The second throw never erases the sin.
You bargain for freedom, then double the claim;
The grave keeps the contract and signs with your name.

[Break]
[Half-time drums and shouted voices answer Veyr’s confession.]
[All]
“What did it take?”
[Veyr]
“My unspent days.”
[All]
“How many remain?”
[Veyr]
“Till the last fire fades.”
[All]
“What did it break?”
[Veyr]
“My master’s claim.”
[All]
“What will survive?”
[Veyr]
“Not Veyr. Not the name.”

[Instrumental]
[Hurdy-gurdy snarls the patron’s theme while twin guitars cut it apart in descending fragments.]

[Bridge]
The patron tore open from collar to heel,
A hallway of mouths beneath borrowed seals.
Veyr drove his branded hand into the seam;
Blue fire devoured every title and dream.
The devil collapsed to a letterless stain—
But Veyr’s pulse began counting the battles remaining.

[Final Chorus]
Twice for the grave, once for the chain,
Once to stop hiding the shape of my shame.
Twice for the grave—I have shortened my road;
No distant tomorrow will shoulder this load.
I bought no forgiveness, restored not a name,
But shattered the master who authored the game.
Roll once for glory; let wiser hands save—
I rolled for tomorrow and gave it the grave.

[Outro]
Brunna raised her axe, then lowered the blade.
Lark found no jest for the bargain Veyr made.
At dawn, one black lock in the tiefling’s hair
Turned white for each heartbeat he no longer would share.