1. Crimson II

[I - The forbidden words]
[II - Incantation]
[III - Passage of time]
[IV - The silent threat]
[V - Archilles heel]
[VI - Covenant of souls]
[VII - Face to face]
[VIII - Disintegration]
[IX - Aftermath]

Let no man breach the gate to this most blasphemous of halls
Lest bitterness and chaos be the harvest they wouldst reap
He must n'er [bad word] a slave to this Child's beck and call
For she must never waken from her Crimson Sleep..
The monastery stood towering above [bad word] city
It shadowed all the new emerging settlements and homes
To look down on [bad word] was to sympathize and pity
All the suffering and heartache, all the graves and broken bones
For buried there a testament to the evil of a queen
misery that spread across a weak and stricken land
The crimson birth that swamped the earth in dark and deadly dreams
And all mankind did bow beneath the power of her hand

And in the monastery garden sat a woman with a book
manuscript that lay within her frail and trembling arms
She looked around her nervously as guilt rose in her heart
But the sway of curiosity had drawn her out too far

She wavered on the threshold of a dangerous decision
For this dark tome was no for human eyes to ever read
The pages dripped with legions of persuasive words and visions
So the volume had been hidden well, but now it had been freed

For no apparent reason had the woman been drawn in
Perhaps it was a twist of fate, an absence of real thought
She wandered to a room that before she'd never been
And all at once the interest of her senses had been caught
For no apparent reason had the women been drawn in
Where rows of dusty books lay in an ominous display

But one ancient leather binding had the grain of human skin
And seized with curiosity she stole this book away

And now she sat alone in the concealment of the night
She was hungry now to liberate the writings from their cage
The glimmer of a feeble moon provided her with light
As she opened up the cover and began to read the page
Fly, soul, the body's guest,
Upon your impish arrant
Let none be guiled by false confession [bad word] shall be your warrant
Fly soul for your body must die

But for those who seek eternity
For those who yearn prosperity
From this single act of sanity
Will raise you far above humanity

Oh willing host who doth not know
The full desire of this prisoner
You walk where angels fear to go
Thou shalt soon embrace the reckoner
Thy halo of glory, hope's [bad word] gage
May prove to be an evil pilgrimage

Something had happened beyond her control
moment of madness unfettered a soul
That would relish a freedom denied once before
By a desperate nation with it's back to the wall
Within a split second of reading this text
The spirit was free and had fled from its nest
It was eager to grow from this sudden reprieve
And thus in the woman a life was conceived
From the beginning the world was misled
As a baby was born in a monastery bed
The miracle happening here on this Earth
Was perceived as a glorious new Virgin Birth

From the moment in time that baby was born
The sun did now rise on a new Crimson dawn
And the creature just bided its time undiscovered
So safe in the cradling arms of the mother

[Lead: Dan]

But for those who seek eternity
For those who yearn prosperity
From this single act of sanity
Will raise you far above humanity

Secure from the world, the child remained hidden
serpent disguised in the Garden of Eden
And all who looked down on this newly born babe
Were ignorant now of the path this would take
The people were blind to the subtle control
That was exercised daily upon every soul
With no room to question this delicate life
All fears would be drowned and all doubts would be stifled

But one single mind did stand out from the crowd