Edda

It's cold underneath
the bridge that spans here inbetween
the mortal world and the citadel
I know it seems
these stories paint an imperfect scene
It would be flawed any other way

The poems were written, events recorded
then unpermitted and disregarded
Excursions within the Earth and Heavens
Bifröst, this bridge, extends between them
Mortality and regeneration
Destructive scenes and the birth of new nations
From Ymir's bones the land was made
and in this sea, his blood still remains

These stories are old
but still they survive
as does the despair
and the hope they provide
Remember this day
remember this moment
This bridge spans between
exile and atonement

Such pessimism and divine wisdom
the comedy that occurs inbetween
From inspired construction to total destruction
This lament is our remedy
Some heroes we detest, their stories of conquest
the trickster twists them into the chaos
But Loki knows, as the story grows
It takes on a life of it's own

We're standing across the abyss
it's glazed in black ice
but steam penetrates
through cracks in the stone
By honor, my mission is this...
your death would suffice
an absence of hate
when steel meets your bone

They gather around
sky swirls with a sense of calm
The sun is going down
The shadows awaken

I've been testing the outskirts of Niflheim
since before I was old
It makes the badlands seem tame
it makes the sunlight feel cold
I've seen Gods battle here, despite the odds
against demons from below
I've seen men cower in fear
to submit because they know

Now in the center of Niflheim
where ice shafts pierce and rocks are stained
with the rust of hard fought blood and iron
It chills to the bone while you're burnt by the fire

So now I pay tribute
to the ones who came before
when you step to the edge of the abyss
it can leave you wanting more

The mission is this
in concert we roll
Infinite abyss
It can't take it's toll
if we refuse to be defeated

Now in the center of Niflheim…

A sound that precedes the silence
Commotion before the calm
An endlessly stretched horizon
compressed until it equals one

From Ymir's flesh, the world was made
and from his blood, the sea
Crafted of bone, mountains and stone
and from his mind... Eternity!

Ever after, just as before
So it goes on forever
Use this key to unlock the door
Just divide always by never

The chaos before creation
A witness before the dawn
A breath of illumination
The fire that lit the Sun

An author of untold stories
The builder of time destroyed
A world turning convoluted
Careening out into the void

Hard to focus where you're going
when you've broken what you came from
Multiply always by never
It's such a futile equation

Beneath the roots of the world tree
lies the home of the discarded
It burns here, should you breathe too deeply
This place will finish what you started

A soot red rooster from the halls of hell
roams beneath three roots
of the world tree Yggdrasil
It's an underworld few plan to see
It's a war torn land
at the end of the journey
Oh... What have I done?

Helheim
It's a purgatory for the mind
The final world, the last of nine
A destiny the lost will find
There's no rest here, for the rest of time

A cold wind howls, and the hounds as well
It's a netherworld where the lost souls dwell
Lying deep beneath where the dark herbs grow
The wars rage on, as above, so below

Now I'm told it's no disgrace
to end up here, a final resting place
It's not the heaven where the heroes go
but the only afterlife that I'm allowed to know

This is no time to fall
It's a chance to believe
Captive within these walls
there's a chance to redeem
Surely we paid the toll
many times over already

I refuse to submit to this destiny

Odin rides across the sky

The fog clears away
I can see not much remains
Soon we fall into
unguided disarray
Maybe we always knew
that it could end this way
This battle may be lost
but the war is still underway

Odin, behind you!
I see the wolf, Fenrir
He's already swallowed the Sun
The underworld has won
With one eye you have seen
more than I could ever dream

I can still see Odin ride
his eight leg steed
across the sky
He's surrounded by
the Valkyries
Bone to bone
Blood to blood
and limb to limb
Odin lived
like the legacy he created

The battle draws to an end
Odin's death has been avenged
but that brings little peace
and still the mood is grim
The ending feels flawed
How could this be the fate of our god
Yet Odin still lives on
in the prose and in our songs

The walls shine... in my mind
where only gods can dwell
A compound lies behind
one root of Yggdrassil
I often imagine what happens
deep within those walls
I long for Valhalla
but first I must prove to belong

Sit yourself down
or pick yourself up
You can feel the ground
shaking to the footsteps
Hammer must fall
Will you be crushed?
Only after all
can we know the outcome
The walls are breached
Giants pour in
The foe is strong
and this could be the end
There are worlds between us
yet it's seamless
Now we fight for Asgard

Asgard, the celestial stronghold
we bask in your glory
The gods realm
Your honor keeps forging
what we aspire to be
If we stay undivided
There's nothing that we can't achieve
I yearn for Valhalla and I'll fight for that dream

Now the smoke clears
lightning dissipates
and rivers of blood..
they evaporate
Odin is struck down
Thor and Loki too
Asgard starts to drown
into a sunken tomb
But after all is lost
there can be built again
an even better world
to meet a better end
There are worlds between us
yet it's seamless
Asgard will rise again

Credits