Now Is The Time To Reach For The Sky ...Gather The Wind Hear The Voice To Fly ...The Will To Go On And F...The Power Of The Man Who Would Be Ki...The Power Of The Man Who Would Be Ki...Into The Fight Of Hopes And Dreams ...The Master Of The Wind Knows Nothing's Wha...The Melting Of The Soul The Wish Of Those Who Scheme ...The Taking Of The Will By Destroyers Of The Dream ...They Live To Spread The Fear Of The Wrong Of Right Of Self ...But We Know We Have The Power To Fight And ...allenged All Across The Land To Be King ...Fight For The Crown, Fight For The Ring ...We're Fighting The World, We Fight For The King ...Time To Face The World Let Brothers ...orge Ahead And Keep The Dream In Sight ...The Heart's A Righteous Wind That Comes To Fill The Sail ...For The Glory Of The King We Fight To St...By The Power Of The Will, The Spirit To Survive T...Fight For The Crown, Fight For The Ring ...We're Fighting The World, We Fight For The King ...All Of The Dreams Held Deep Inside Have A Meaning To The Soul ... Bring A Thought To The Wing Is Waiting To ...For The Crown And The Ring ...The Power Of The Men Who Would Be Ki...Fight For The Crown, Fight For The Ring ...We're Fighting The World, We Fight For The King ...For The Glory Of The King We Fight To St...By The Power Of The Will The Spirit To Survive -...Across The Gates Of Heaven Beyond The Gates Of Hell - FIGHT - ...Fight For The Crown, Fight For The Ring ...We're Fighting The World, We Fight For The King

was a swirling mass of water ...permission from its master ...To visit the lands beyond ...And its master allowed it to fly ...So the wind swept the whirlpool across the sky ...The whirlpool's mother ...She'd sewn out of dental floss ...And it had the idea to fly ...So the wind swept the whirlpool across the sky ...was a swirling mass of water ...permission from its master ...To visit the lands beyond ...And its master allowed it to fly ...So the wind swept the whirlpool across the sky ...And it had the idea to fly ...So the wind swept the whirlpool across the sky

Hidden by the stormy light ...A battle rages for the right ...In the valley of the damned ...Travels fast across the land ...And the sign from the master on high ...oud and across hear the cry ...For the kingdom of fire and ice ...And the power to be alive ...on carry on through the war ...On the wings of death ...By the hands of doom ...By the darkest light ...From the darkest moon ...On the black wind forever ...When the master will call us ...rds will shine over the light ...In the valley of the damned ...On the shadows faces appea...Before the glorious light ...On the wings of life ...By the hands of hope ...By the brightest light ...From the brightest sun ...To the valley of the damned ...On the black wind forever ...When the master will call us ...rds will shine over the light ...On the black wind forever ...When the master will call us ...rds will shine over the light

Get the fire as the flame it burns ...Get the wind as it slowly turns ...Get the earth as it circles...Get the sky sea creation fl...This point of living ...This point of giving ...This chance of living has got to b...Get the fire as the flame it burns ...Get the wind as it slowly turns ...Get the earth... ...Get the sky... ...Far away in the depths of Hawking's mind ...To the animal, primalistic...ason, a simple fact of life (Bring me reas...On the same timeline ...Get a ticket on the master plan ...On the freedom climb ...Get the fire as the flame it burns ...Get the wind as it slowly turns ...Get the earth... ...Get the sky... ...The point of living ...The point of living ...This chance of living ...Far away in the depths of Hawking's mind ...To the animal, the primalistic grind ...ason, a simple fact of life ...Activate the mission tobe on ...The same timeline ...Get a ticket on the master plan ...On the freedom climb ...On the concourse of your fine mind

aelun's "Chronicles of Antediluvia", volum...Episode I: The Fall of the Shadow-King ...Episodes II & III: The History of the Great Wars ...Episodes IV-VI: The Rise of the Imperium ...Episode VII: The Quest for the Trinity of Might ... VIII: And Lo, When The Imperium Marches Against Gul-Kothoth, Then Dark Sorceries Shall Enshroud The Citadel Of The Obsidian Crown (recounted on the second Bal-Sagoth album; "Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne Of Ultima Thule) ...Episode IX: The Obsidian Crown Unbound (The Legions of the Imperium Storm the Cloud-Capped Palisades of Gul-Kothoth) ...(here recounted on the sixth Bal-Sagoth album; "The Chthonic Chronicles...Episode X: The Shadow-King Reborn ...Episode XI: The Battle of the Nine Armies (The War of the Crown) ...Episode XII: The Great Rebellions and the Dissolution of the Imperium ...The Obsidian Crown Unbound (The Legions of the Imperium Storm the Cloud-Capped Palisades of Gul-Kothoth) ...Chapter 11: The Siege Begins ...And so the mighty and resplendent armies of the Imperium assembled before the towering cyclopean walls of ancient Gul-Kothoth. It was some time before the billowing dust cloud raised by the massed arrival of the vast imperial host settled, ultimately dissipating as the shadows of dusk descended. With nightfall, the imperial army's countless torches, braziers and cookfires illumined the dark plain before the fortress like a coruscating sea, painting the stygian heavens the colour of flame. And the high summer's night passed swiftly. At length, the dawn approached tentatively, and with the first signs of the newborn sun etching its promise upon the skies, the martial preparations commenced in earnest. A brief and perfunctory exchange between the Imperial Herald and the fortification's Watch Commander held no surprises, and the Emperor's banner was duly driven into the seared earth before Gul-Kothoth with a chilling finality. Vast siege engines and powerful ballistae were hauled inexorably into position, alongside a battery of katapelte and petrobolos. The one hundred thousand strong Imperial Frontier Army, having planted their regimental blazons into the arid soil, waited with a disciplined patience born of never having met defeat in pitched battle or siege, the dreaded Imperial War-Leopards straining noisily against their iron-link leashes to the rear of the cohorts of conscripts and auxillieries. The pitiless Iron Phalanx and their Lord Militant Commander had assumed position at the head of the army's Alpha Wing, polished swords, spears and poll-axes reflecting the glow from the myriad torches and braziers which still burned about the Imperial Host. And behind them were drawn up the legendary Legion of the Ebon Tiger, Pride of the Emperor, the infantry and cavalry famed throughout the Great Northern Continent, personal regiment of the feared general Baalthus Vane. True to their martial reputation, the six thousand strong Legion were inscrutible in their jet black armour, their sable banner billowing in the chill breeze which skittered over the plain. And finally, astride his azure-shaffroned warhorse and surrounded by his elite guard, the silvern-armoured Emperor Koord himself studied the precipitious gates with a disdainful scrutiny. At the Emperor's right hand was the renowned Swordmaster of Kyrman'ku, an eastern bladesman of preternatural skill and the most revered and expensive mercenary in the Imperium. At his left, the infamous Ogre-Mage of the Black Lake brooded silently, swathed in a stygian cloak and fuliginous cowl and exuding an aura of implacable malevolence which unerved even the bravest of the Imperial troops. The Emperor had deemed the services of these two nefarious renegades pivotal to the execution of the Final Campaign, for they alone had knowledge of the mysterious arcane rite known as The Words Which Unfette...ime-worn palisades, the defenders of Gul-Kothoth beheld ...THE EMPEROR KOORD: General Vane, we begin the final stage of this campaign with the rising of the sun. This war which has raged for decades shall finally be decided here, before the hoary walls of ageless Gul-Kothoth. The Imperium's last and most glorious victory is at hand. The procrastinating sybarites of the bureaucracy have been threatened and bribed into compliance over this venture. This more than anything else is why I have deigned to grace this final battle with my Imperial presence, even against the advice of the Grand Vizier and the sage counsel of the Seers. ...hall enjoy watching the Ebon Tiger bloody i...THE EMPEROR KOORD: You should not call in your falcons before the hunt is done, my loyal servitor. Overconfidence is but one of the many foes a general must face upon the field of war. Today, the precepts and maxims of the Imperium shall be tested, and we shall see whether the velvet glove of diplomacy or the iron gauntlet of conquest has proved the more effective tool...BAALTHUS VANE: The days of the feudal suzerainties are long gone, my liege. The Imperial Military Council is the only entity fit to govern the dominions. The fall of Vyrgothia shall today render the truth of the Imperial Mandate se...THE EMPEROR KOORD: And yet I am vexed, for as you well know, the sorcerous emmisary I despatched to the Court of the Over-King has warned that the Vyrgothians may have recovered one of the artefacts comprising the fabled Trinity of Might; the legendary Obsidian Crown itself! In the hands of a skilled thaumaturgist, it is said that the Crown may be used as a weapon of unparalleled destru...BAALTHUS VANE: The Shadow-Sword! The Obsidian Crown! The Ebon Sceptre! Feh! The power of the Trinity is but a myth! No antiquated trinket weilded by a religious fanatic will prevail against the Legion, sire. Our steel is proof against such diabolism! Behold! Gul-Tryarch has fallen, Gul-Azlaan has been given to the earth, Gul-Nomedes is naught but smouldering rubble, and soon we shall surge over the shattered remnants of Gul-Kothoth's renowned walls! The Vyrgothian Alliance shall crumble when these gates are breached, and the Over-King himself s...THE EMPEROR KOORD: Indeed. At any rate, I have been blessed with foresight enough to prepare a contingency should the foe fulfil that fearful potential which has been weighing heavy on my mind. But now, the sun rises! Let it begin! Let the final chapter of our legend be written! Give the word! Raze Gul-Kothoth to the ground! ...The Imperial War-Skalds...An age of fire, sword and shi...The thunder of the battlefield, ...The clarions call, bring down the wall! ...May the Empire's glory neve...The Wizards of Vyrgothia: ... bejewelled circlet of night, Crown of the Elder King, ...Unfettered at last the Trinity of Might, the Sceptre, the Sword and the Ring! ...Chapter 12: The Fall of Gul-Kothoth ... was unleashed upon the field of battle. Colossal stones, firebrands and howling iron-tipped missiles rained pitilessly down upon the hero-hewn walls of Gul-Kothoth. Vast and serpentine cracks appeared in the ancient cyclopean edifice, and hundreds of warriors, both attackers and defenders, perished in the fray, either crushed beneath the ceaselessly assailed testudo, hammered to crimson pulp by the merciless storm of unforgiving stone, or burned to blackened husks by the nightmare onslaught of flaming quicklime and saltpetre. Scaling ladders raised and repulsed in turn, storms of razor tipped shafts exchanged by the combatants, isolated skirmishes raging upon the ramparts, men blade to blade and clarions bellowing embattled defiance. For seemingly inumerable hours the sanguineous battle raged, with no quarter asked nor given between the bitter ancestral foes. And the gates held firm. ...At length, the mightiest of the Empire's iron-hooded battering rams, dubbed The Bringer of Woe, was brought to bear upon the besieged fortress, and, with the shadows of dusk lengthening upon the field of war, the centuries old Primary Gate of Gul-Kothoth was finally sundered amidst an earsplitting cacophony of shattering oak and iron louder than any storm-born thunderclap. With the rending of the mighty gate, and vast fragments of the ancient walls yielding, buckling and crashing to the blood-sodden earth, the Imperium's forces breached the defenses of Gul-Kothoth and surged into the Vyrgothian Alliance...nstant that an army of five score and ten, bearing the Obsidian Crown, arrived upon the field of battle. ...Chapter 13: The Wizards Do Battle ...THE SORCERER: By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus! They come! They come, weilding the Circlet of Night! The dire warning issued to me as I stood before Vyrgothia's Master Wizard has been proved no idle boast! The citadel's spells of containment breached... the Black Crown is upon...THE EMPEROR KOORD: It is as I have forseen! Be spry, my sorcerous lackey... join the Iron Phalanx in entertaining these latecomers while I prepare a reception worthy of their audacity! ...THE SORCERER: By your c...At once, the far-feared and martially renowned Iron Phalanx wheeled to face the newcomers, and at the command of a decurion, a volley of armour-piercing shafts screamed skywards to rain down mercilessly upon the foe. And even as this transpired, the Emperor's Prime Sorcerer, emissary of the Imperial Court and master of those arts which speak to man in narcotic dreams from the darkest and most silent places, summoned forth that black potency which lay entwined in stygian tendrils within his mind... an ireful power born of they who writhed upon the shores of Pangaea before man's progenitors ever erected their lofty spires to the restless skies. And yet Vyrgothia's Master Wizard, unrivalled Arch-Mage and adept of that lost Eastern order who journey beyond the boundaries of time and space upon those nebulous wings born of the sacred Azure Lotus, rose to meet this power which lapped at the periphery of his mind like a mid...pon that arid field of war, the sentinels of light and shadow spoke to eachother in tongues dormant since the Third Moon fell burning from the heavens, and not sweet were the words they uttered....Until at last, with the armies poised to clash, and with dusk painting the sky a deep crimson exceeded in its vibrancy only by that bloody rubicund hue which stained the battlefield below it, the Emperor's mage fell, and the aeons-old might of the Obsidian Crown was finally brought to bear against they who had breached the walls of ancient Gul-Kothoth...The Imperial War-Skalds...Sundered, the gate of the ancient fortress, ... Now breached stand the walls. ... lo, there and army of five score and ten,...Behold! The Obsidian Crown. ...Embattled, the wizards, their weap...Untramelled, the circlet, the Prime-Sorcerer slai...The Crown's peerless power, the Emperor's bane, ...Like the prow of a blood-hungry vessel of war rending the waves of a midnight sea, a luminescent blade of shrieking cerulean light lanced from the legendary black circlet locked tight within the gnarled hand of the Master Wizard, and clove mercilessly into the glorious ranks of the Imperium. And all who were touched by this ruinous arc of coruscating radiance knew no more... Men and beasts reduced to blackened husks, charred shells of smouldering ash, lifeless effigies which toppled to the seared earth to be dissipated by the whispering breath of the wind. Again and again the ravaging radiance smote the ranks of the Empire, leaving a noisome charnel-pit of nightmare in its crackling wake. The forces of the Imperium were plunged into a howling vortex of disarray, and, faced with the unthinkable prospect of defeat, the unprecedented first routing of the Emperor's glorious army began to become a grim reality. Yet for all the unparalleled carnage which had erupted about them, there was one regiment of Imperial troops for whom the taste of fear was bland compared to the sharp tang of rage which sat bitt...LTHUS VANE: By all the gods of war! Stand fast, hounds of the Imperium! 'Tis true... steel is no use against this ignoble magical trickery! But if our souls are bound for the Pit this day, we'll damn well take a few of these bastards with us! Onward, my Legion! Alpha formation, banners high! Glory to the Emperor! Into the foe! Show them the Tiger's claws! ...THE LEGION: Never quarter, never mercy, never retreat! Praise the Emperor! ...THE EMPEROR KOORD: My sorcerous thrall has fallen, but he has bought us time enough to riposte! And General Vane's mettle may yet turn the tide of war back in our favour. Now, let the final act be played out! I call thee forth, Ogre-Mage of the Black Lake! I call thee forth, Swordmaster of Kyrman'ku! It is time! Now, I charge thee, for the glory of the Imperium... Speak the Words Which Unfette...And so, it began... the two pivotal players in the Emperor's plan, the two key figures in the Imperium's contingency, stepped forth to fill their most vital of roles in that grand theatre of carnage which now ran unchecked on the field of battle. ...The Ogre-Mage and the Swordmaster began to utter fearsome words in a tongue which was ancient ere the gleaming stars shifted upon the fathomless countenance of the distant heavens, words which in truth were not words, but rather a resonant key which would aspire to unlock a dire power which had reposed shackled since the fall of the legendary Shadow King himself, whose ebon circlet's power they even now sought to thwart. The incantation they gave voice to in the midst of that sanguineous turmoil which engulfed them was not so much heard by those within earshot as perceived, sensed as a vague disturbance in the fabric of reality, as fuliginous ripples on the surface of a hitherto still and placid pool, growing ever larger and more far reaching; an unnerving and unnamable sense of change which insinuated itself into the mind of the listener and suggested with a cold and disturbing quasi-certainty that something of preternaturally ineffable magnitude was transpiring, as surely as a festering and gangrenous corpse would split to spill its noisome gore. And as that maddeningly implacable incantation reached its resounding climax, a momentary silence enshrouded the battlefield, swathing the vista of chaos in an aura of noiselessness more pure and untainted than the tranquility of the boundless and stygi...urable instant that the dark and peerless power unfettered by those grim pseudo-words finally, ultimately, made itself known before the sundered gates of ancient Gul-Kothoth...nued in: Episode X: The Shadow-King Reborn

and Master - Lord please- ...ven us shelter from the storm and the rain- ...ept us shelter from the storm and the rain- ...and Master - Lord please

Master told me one day ...but in search for the clue ...Keep my head to the sky ...for the clouds to tell me w...Master kept me as I repent...Keep your head to the sky ...Keep your head to the sky ...Gave me the will to be free ...Keep your head to the sky ...Keep your head to the sky

Master told me one day ...but in search for the clue ...Keep my head to the sky ...for the clouds to tell me w...Master kept me as I repent...Keep your head to the sky ...Keep your head to the sky ...Gave me the will to be free ...Keep your head to the sky ...Keep your head to the sky

Master told me one day ...but in search for the clue ...Keep my head to the sky ...for the clouds to tell me w...Master kept me as I repent...Keep your head to the sky ...Keep your head to the sky ...Gave me the will to be free ...Keep your head to the sky ...Keep your head to the sky

Master told me one day ...but in search for the clue ...Keep my head to the sky ...for the clouds to tell me w...Master kept me as I repent...Keep your head to the sky ...Keep your head to the sky ...Gave me the will to be free ...Keep your head to the sky ...Keep your head to the sky

s there a ghetto in the sky? Is there a ghetto in the sky? ...s there a ghetto in the sky? Is there a ghetto in the sky? ...ch other, for grams of rock ...Subconcious all of my wrongdoing that'...ryday, til death be the outcome ...I got a foot in the grave and uhh, one in the pen ...Homies wishin of a better life but it's blowin in the wind ...cause I was born in the project ...uld make it through the days and live through the nights ...s there a ghetto in the sky? Is there a ghetto in the sky? ...s there a ghetto in the sky? Is there a ghetto in the sky? ...hey nailed Jesus to the cross, put my peopl...n't know a nigga in the project, that own a...I been in and out of jail on probation a...Now who's the real animal - dem o...And do the - police, really pr...no crack houses, in the suburbs? ...s there a ghetto in the sky? Is there a ghetto in the sky? ...s there a ghetto in the sky? Is there a ghetto in the sky? ...s there a ghetto in the sky? Is there a ghetto in the sky? ...s there a ghetto in the sky? Is there a ghetto in the sky?

nderstand There's a master plan And although I know I don't believe in destiny Maybe it found me Now my world is filled with so many things But nothing compares to the touch of your skin There's a...I can see the sun And I can feel the rain I can hear the wind call your name I can feel your love But there's one thing I can't do I can't ever get enough of you ...Now I know that in the past I've been much too keen But your eyes are the kindest that I've ever seen I guess there are some things you just know There's a voice inside telling me to hold on And never let you go There's a tune that plays It's a sacred sound It's a symphony I hear whenever you're around Now my world is filled With a whisper of love and a promise of tomorrow I can see the sun And I can feel the rain I can hear the wind call your name I can feel your love But there's one thing I can't do I can't ever get enough of you ...e love I lose track of time I can't count all the colors I see in your eyes And while your heart beats in mine, it's true I can't ever get enough of you ...nothing compares to the touch of your skin There's a...I can see the sun And I can feel the rain I can hear the wind call your name I can feel your love But there's one thing I can't do I can't ever get enough of you ...I can see the sun And I can feel the rain I can hear the wind call your name I can feel your love But there's one thing I can't do I can't ever get enough of you

Head of the Class, Magna Cum La...Beats bring the beast out me, flagr...Keep making the people listen what ... sweat, leaking out of the pen ...g to take a piss in the wind ...l standing close to the edge, so don't stre...Now who the type built to last?...It's no question, the Master! ........Cut the check ...Yeah, Illadel! Home of the original gun clappe...Out on the wrong corner your s...You got the fool wanting the rules, enter at ris...ll keep a gat under the matress ...houettes waiting in the wings ready to D ...ticking you without the gats ...I'll still be on the grind when it all c...ush I get, in front of the band ...On stage wit the planet in the palm of my hand ...To the force, crush whoever might of thought I was playi...lame some, sentence the shit, the cold twist to slang...You see the master piece, but to me it...en Records, I'm off the handle ...Cut the check, and yo it be...We finna have the whole industry at a...See me put the system on lock like

And in our line of work, we need all the help we can get ...Tony Wind is the name, he works for ...ve head bullets, in the clip ...yo yo-yo, here come the cop man ...Shit we gotta go to the store for more baki...uckin, yo this made of glass nig! ... Get the fuck off it man. ...ust chill man, pass the Cristal man. ... ain't smoking none of that weed in here m... Somebody go to the store man ...(Yo!) Let's cut the pie five ways ...I be the first to set off sh...Scriptures hit the body like sawed off...Burn like the deserts of Mogabi, for real ...w frontier, this be the Wu yeah ...Thirty-six chambers of fear, huh, you lost...our crown and leave the ground ...It's the two holster, shit s...or alive, bounty on the poster ...Wild in the West, a student of my culture ...And life is the test, hold up ...And the last one is death, back to the essence ...Now peep Tical, the son of the Shaolin ...The last times and days...Verse Two: Raekwon the Chef, a.k.a. Lou Di...givin me much shit, the dutch shit ...Back at the lab a, crack's bagg...ct up, what blow up the workers if they haf...kin his dick, up in the whip long ...I be pioneerin the style in the cloud with silver l...The heart the rib cage the chest and solar ple... get blown to a sea of fire and brimstone ...The overfiend like noah...The grand exquisite imp...The Ryzarector come to ...l, universal giant, the black general ...to Davy Crockett on the bicentennial ...icrochips two shots of penicillin ...like a genie inside the bottle ...Verse Four: Master Killer ...orth upon holy down of the track ...It's the sound that surround...ded to bite down on the mic ...So the pain of the track won't deny the fact ...That I'm the Master, for what lu...That hurts the individual who trie...ms are fractured by the killa tactics ...Enter the entity, my vicinity...d and sixty degrees of humidity ...Represent the school of hard knocks and glo...Feel the force of impact from the iron side of ...The gat as I attack the track ...From the blind side of the pack, Starks pass the chrome ...So step back, to the lab at, high veloci...The man rockin head ban...The laser beam vocalist...Robbed the Brinks and I labell...Tell me how the fuck black niggaz g

bitch I'm thinking of a master plan ...ging in my mind for the bitches I broke ...Put the paper in the panties when you ge...ey orders, Visas or Master Cards ...Now what the fuck part of the game taught y'all t...got them bitches on the corner selling cock...And the game that we go don...hug ass niggaz with the syrup (with the syrup) ...And in the club man you know w...Nigga that ain't the way a bitch suppose...I close the deal from the front door ... you just might hit the blunt hoe ... fuck around and be the tosser ...And most of y'all niggas ain't ...Popping pills, work the wood wheel ... AK-47 and a tek in the car ...got them bitches on the corner selling cock...And the game that I got don...hug ass niggaz with the syrup (with the syrup) ...And in the club man you know w...ggaz getting hit in the front (in the front) ...k bitch you can hit the blunt (hit the blunt) ...when we chopping on the blades (chopping on the blades) ...Sipping on a pint of syrup ...Chopping up the chronic weed ...Picking all the fucking seeds ...Optimos a fifth of crown ...Fast talking on the town ...Some of us are under cover ...Ready for the brain wash ...t me blow your mind the real business in the wind ...The main thing fucking ...What the business what the deal man these hoes...Make me walk up in the strip and kind of get like buck ...itch you got to pay the piper even if you s...I need the spectacles, testicl...I need the coke keys, door key