Iron Fortress - Iron Fortress

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The tolling bell ending the day
The night attacks, we keep it at bay
The fear that lingers from our races dawn
The nighttime comes, marching steadily on

We hide in our temples, our towers of glass
I race to the future, I cling to the past
It hides behind mirrors, this fear of the night
No help from my instincts, to flee or to fight

We reach for the future, we fear from the night
We hide in religion, and try to gather the light

I shut out the fear, I close tight my eyes
I deny the shadow demons, convinced they are lies
Mortality touches my heart and my soul
Ions it seems since I heard the bells toll

I shun the black distances within my mind
But prefer them to those, those I might find
This ruinous terror as each night begun
And ends in the promise of the rising sun

We reach for the future, we fear from the night
We hide in religion, and try to gather the light
The fear marks beginnings, as it marks the end
A drought drenching rain, carried on the wind

"Toiling and striving till evening shade
Always return to this bed fear has made
This legacy passed on from all those before
Can we shut out the fear and open the door?"

Your whispers have floated through ages
To guide my life's steps to this place
Generations ago it was sacred
And filled with the gods of my race

Walking the paths that my fathers
Carved into this sacred ground
I carry the hopes of my people
Now scattered though strong and still proud

Our warriors graves sit abandoned
Do their spirits still dance in the night
Do our gods still exist, still have power

Can your visions lead us to the light
Can you hear the whispers, in the wind

Calling to my soul, calling time and again
The end of my travels has brought me

To stand on this mountain alone
Defiant yet still seeking wisdom
In visions our fathers had known

For so long we lived as the vanquished
Our lives in another man's hands
Our tribes losing structure and reason
On barren and desolate land

Our warriors graves sit abandoned
Do their spirits still dance in the night
Do our gods still exist still have power
Can your visions lead us to the light

Can you hear the whispers, in the wind calling to my soul,
Calling time and again
Can you hear me screaming at the wind calling to my gods,
Calling time and again

Your guidance has brought us through the ages
Till our enemies caused us to fall
Are we no more then history's pages
Do the gods even now hear our call

They're aimless and sullen the people
Was trust in your wisdom so wrong
The visions of our fathers
Still stir in our hearts, keep us strong

Our warriors graves sit abandoned
Do their spirits still dance in the night
Do our gods still exist still have power
Can your visions lead us to the light

Can you hear the whispers, in the wind calling to my soul,
Calling time and again
Can you hear me screaming, at the wind calling to the gods,
Calling time and again

With the speed of the storm, in the dark of the night
We come without warning and leave with the light
All that we live for, and all that we know
Is just one more voyage into battle we go

The fury that rages inside of my heart
Can take you to heaven or tear you apart
We are the island and we stand alone
And we contradict all that you've ever known

As we go sailing in
Into the eye of the storm

Wolves upon the ocean in search of bigger prey
We always stand victorious when dawn begins the day
In armor and in leather, our battle-ax in hand
We sail across the ocean invading foreign lands

We sail on uncertain, destiny is in the wind
The battles in the air, its the message we send
We are the fury and we bring the pain
When the battle is over, only we will remain

As we go sailing in
Into the eye of the storm

Life seemed so pure, I thought I could endure
Without believing the evil forces of death

Words left unheeded, advice thought from a fool
I realize now, my ignorance and innocence has led me to believe
In a not a word of what I've heard,

Save me from the forces of death
Save me from the forces of death

Now, I cannot run or change what has been done
Disbelief the crime I must pay for eternally

Soon darkness will fall, I fear the spirits call
I realize how my ignorance and innocence has led me to believe
In not a word of what I've heard,

Save me from the forces of death
Save me from the forces of death

(acoustic break)

Voices are calling me, from out of the night
I look to see, but there's no one in sight

Voices are calling from out of the night "calling me, calling me"
I look to behold but there's no one in sight " beckoning, beckoning"
Evil spirits coming after me, should have listened I did not believe

The legends were valid and true, " I told you, I told you'
You told me but I didn't listen to you "why didn't you, why didn't you'
Evil sprits falling from the sky, it's near the end I know it's time to die

(Instrumental)

(Instrumental)

Food for the worms, is it all we've become
At the end of the journey and all that we've done
All that we've built, by the end of our days
All our creations, begin to decay

When it's my time to die
When it's my time to die

All of our works, these shrines from our minds
All those who loved us, we leave them behind
We fear our own death, is it truly the end
Or just a beginning on which we are sent

When it's my time to die
When it's my time to die

Are there works to be done, in some other space
To proclaim that I am, and this is my place
Or are we forgotten, does time pass us by
Is there anything left, when its my time to die

When it's my time to die
When it's my time to die

(Instrumental)

Before today, before they died
They said good-bye their mothers cried
Their lovers kissed and turned away
Knowing who would die today

I tread across the blood soaked ground
The soldiers corpses scattered 'round
I he empty eyes and silent screams
Quite prayers and empty dreams

And I seek death, and death eludes me

The wars I've fought and the battles I've won
To stand where I stand upon this hill
The many I've killed and the evil I've done
And all of the blood that I have spilled

And I seek death, and death eludes me

They screamed my name and charged ahead
Now ravens feast upon the dead
For my beliefs, they died for me
I promised them a victory

The bitter lessons to be learned
As I look down on cities burned
The pride that kills and friends betrayed
I'm damned to live another day

How can I stop what goes inside of my brain
The lightning, the thunder, the sleet and the rain
It rages through the valleys inside of my head
With screams of despair that come up from the dead

Images assault me and dance in my eyes
They burn like a star that all too quickly dies
Illusions approach me as if from afar
Though they don't exist, I know who they are
They come from a power amp right in my room
With a flick of a switch I bring on their doom

Like a king I can rule like I set on a thrown
The ghosts that I conjure for my eyes alone
Though I live by myself and I'll never be rich
All this in my power by the flick of a switch

Images assault me and dance in my eyes
They burn like a star that all too quickly dies
Illusions approach me as if from afar
Though they don't exist, I know who they are
I crank up the volume, right up to ten
And summon my demons to life once again

Electric illusion chasing the nightmare
Increasing volume steadily I dare
My empty eyes are staring in confusion
Lost in the nightmare, electric illusion
"The only solution to all my confusion
The only safe road to be found
To stop all this random remorseless intrusion
Is to just turn the volume knob down"

I gaze at the flame, I'm drawn to the past
To a life a thousand years gone
Brutal and basic, alive to the last
Fires kept burning till dawn

Live for the hunt and hunt just to live
Courage, an ax, and a spear
And simple survival took all they could give
Their gods merely names for their fears

Drawn to the past, drawn to the past

They fought and they lived
They died at their time
And the next generations went on

And now here we stand
And technologies shine
Is our fire kept burning till dawn?

Drawn to the past, drawn to the past