[Intro]
[Nine rapid unison phrases pass between tagelharpa and seven-string guitar before the full drums strike.]

[Verse 1]
The ninth night cracked along its seam;
The root rose through the final dream.
The runes climbed red from depth to hand,
Each edge a law, each line command.
My shoulder tore against the cord;
The spear-head ground beneath the lord.
I had one breath, one reach, one choice—
To die unnamed or take their voice.

[Pre-Chorus]
The tree bent low; the abyss grew wide.
The dead drew back on either side.
The marks came near enough to choose—
I closed my fist and felt them bruise.

[Chorus]
I seized the runes before I fell,
Nine red teeth from the deepest well.
They bit my palm and split my tongue;
I sang the words no mouth had sung.
The branch released what pain had won—
I fell from death.

[Refrain]
I seized the runes.

[Verse 2]
The first mark entered like a brand;
The second locked around my hand.
The third ran upward through the vein;
The fourth gave grammar to the pain.
The fifth recalled forgotten names;
The sixth divided cure from claims.
The seventh bound the breath to bone;
The eighth made every secret known.

[Chorus]
I seized the runes before I fell,
Nine red teeth from the deepest well.
They bit my palm and split my tongue;
I sang the words no mouth had sung.
The branch released what pain had won—
I fell from death.

[Refrain]
I seized the runes.

[Instrumental]
[Tagelharpa and guitar perform nine angular unison phrases as the drums alternate 9/8 with crushing 4/4.]

[Verse 3]
The ninth mark waited near my eye,
A narrow door without a sky.
It showed the wolf, the ship, the field;
It showed what knowledge cannot shield.
I saw my body on the rope;
I saw the price survive the hope.
Then blood and symbol, breath and sound
Collapsed into a single wound.

[Bridge]
[Runes]
Name what you seek.
[Male Vocal: Odin]
The hidden law.
[Runes]
Name what you offer.
[Male Vocal: Odin]
All you saw.
[Runes]
Name what remains when names are gone.
[Male Vocal: Odin]
The will to take and carry on.

[Breakdown]
Wisdom never comes without a wound.
[Choir]
Without a wound.
No word is raised without a sound.
[Choir]
Without a sound.
No power enters empty hands.
[Choir]
It scars the hand.
No god returns who understands.

[Buildup]
I kicked against the hanging tree.
The cord tore bark and flesh from me.
Gungnir slipped free; the wound ran wide.
The nine red signs burned through my side.

[Buildup II]
I gave one cry—not grief, not fear—
The cry that made the runes appear.

[Final Chorus]
I seized the runes and then I fell,
Past branch and blood, past root and well.
They bit my palm and split my tongue;
I sang the words no mouth had sung.
The earth received what pain had won—
I rose from death.

[Refrain]
I seized the runes.
I bind the wound.
I wake the dead.
I turn the spear.

[Refrain II]
I seal the thread.

[Final Refrain II]
The king is gone; the work’s begun—

[Final Refrain]
I paid in flesh.
I seized the runes.

[Climax]
[Choir]
Who climbed the tree?
[Male Vocal: Odin]
A king who bled.
[Choir]
Who leaves the tree?
[Male Vocal: Odin]
A voice for the dead.

[Outro]
[The complete three-note motif resolves for the first time, then ends on an unfamiliar fourth note.]

I stand.
The rope lies still.
The runes keep speaking
After my will.
