Echoes of Battle

The pale blue fire of glittering spires ablaze The sojourner’s beacon, a wondrous shimmering place Through ages forgotten, in many a traveler’s dream Through winding cobblestone pathways Where dwell demons, mages, and thieves In temples and taverns where secrets are whispered Arcane knowledge hides in their halls Shadows gather in midnight processions As wraiths and ghosts sing laments in the walls Written in blood and sealed in death Bound by the ages, the tome of regret Fates will be sealed and swords will be met With the cold embrace of steel and flesh Eldritch beasts converge on the streets Of this ancient city, so beautiful and wild Veils of night, the tolling of bells Funeral march to the sound of the knell The pale blue fire of glittering spires ablaze The sojourner’s beacon, a wondrous shimmering place Far beyond moon and sun Long is the path to the end Azure flames light the way

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Apr 26, 2025

There is a deep pathos here A monumental sorrow Blood has stained this ground The very land itself a barrow The echoes of battle ring cold through the ages The moon shines on old dunes, awakening ancient hatreds Swords held high to the desert sky at such great a cost Standards fly above funeral pyres Victory and loss We are strong, but when the day is done we are left bereaved Marching on to the battle drum Triumph and defeat Behold the storming flood of iron Destruction wrought there upon the field A host of warriors fall, never to return Their epitaph a song of steel Empires built upon the bones of those who stood beside us The sun has set eternally into the dark And we have seen the fields of war steal the lives of sons and brothers The iron heart of glory beats a hollow dirge The gods of battle rise and fall but the thirst for blood lives on The wolves of winter rise and howl for honour’s debt The sands forever greedily consume the blood of friends and fathers The gates of Hood will open wide with dreams of death There is a deep pathos here A monumental sorrow Blood has stained this ground The very land itself a barrow

Submitted by NecroLord — Apr 26, 2025

Across the plains come drifts of sand From graves of water and tombs of man The hollow weight of history Desiccated and blowing free In the wake, all is dust The bones of beasts and the bones of kings Become dust in the wake of the hymn Mighty kingdoms rise, but they all will fall No more than a breath on the wind Spectres and gods adrift in the wild, mournful wind Vast cycles unfold across the span of æons Colossal keeps consumed and left as burial mounds And even stars will fade into empyrean shrouds In ashen vaults, on parchment scrolls The echoed verses state soft the toll In the wake, all is dust Vast desolation Silent grave of æons Revenants watch from cold cosmic towers Glimmering eyes of jade bear final witness Temples crumble as the great wheel turns Ground to dust Monuments and megaliths unnamed Fall the same Earth and sky enrobed in deathless void Endless night Worm of autumn claims its final throne The bones of beasts and the bones of kings Become dust in the wake of the hymn Mighty kingdoms rise, but they all will fall No more than a breath on the wind

Submitted by Sexy Gargoyle — Apr 26, 2025

The burning fires fill the sky as a golden light enfilades the night Shattered mountains crumble away, their smouldering heaps upon the plains Ashes of gods, a cinereous rain A torrent of death covers the slain Blood has stained the silent stone where armies have fallen before the throne The burning fires fill the sky as a golden light enfilades the night Shattered mountains crumble away, their smouldering heaps upon the plains The mortal cries of perishing thralls Ancient towers topple and fall Beleaguered spirit, dying pride Dawn of sorrow, lamenter’s shrine Such a slaughter, this battle of gods What a deluge, these rivers of blood The call of T'iam beckons me I have awoken to the rage Lost in thought, lost in space, lost in time Lost within this storm we drive Unleashing chaos inside The endless night sky dims my eyes The burning fires now subside as a golden dawn dethrones the night The aftermath of battle’s toll, mighty silence they behold Landscapes bathed in colours pale, dressed in blood and broken maille Splintered spears, shattered swords, unmarked graves The cost of war Son of shadows betrays the night, father walks away from light Mother darkness leaves us to die Kharkanas sounds its final hour, resplendent halls are empty and pallid Brothers forced another way A breach was sealed but a host was torn, raised this wall only to fall Bones ground into sands of the shore A voice reborn and a voice was shorn, the vice of centuries of life Must we make this sacrifice? Empty halls sing a hollow fall Dust-strewn cobblestones lead them home Ships now dreaming in their quiet ports Raise your glass to the ones returning Icy barrows and forgotten swords Snow-capped mountains hold forgotten words Deeds heroic and deeds unknown Carved upon the empty throne

Submitted by SerpentEve — Apr 26, 2025

From the dust, assembling form Lashing out with flint and bone Matted furs, rotting hides Withered skin, black pits for eyes In ancient days we stopped the ice We crushed the Jhag at gruesome price Now we must heed the first sword’s call His wrath is kindled, a doom must fall Severed from death We march, we march Bound to the throne We march, we march Cursed by Tellann We march, we march Warriors of bone We march We cry to the blood-red sun in a voice born of stone and dust A ritual to bind our race In vast undeath, our severed fates The sorcery of shamans old To ever hunt the lords of cold We drift within the sands of wrath The wielders of the fire’s path An ancient magic Elderbound, bloodbound, earthbound Severed from death We march, we march Bound to the throne We march, we march Cursed by Tellann We march, we march Warriors of bone We march We cry to the blood-red sun in a voice born of stone and dust Spell of sorrow Spell of might Breath of fire Endless ice We cry to the blood-red sun in a voice born of stone and dust

Submitted by Pestilence — Apr 26, 2025

Still we ride, fight, and die Wayward path far beyond the pale We are lost, marching on Heavy hearts longing for those lands we once called home Emerald hills, sparking seas Fade to distant memory Horizons blaze in foreign land Ochre seas of scorching sand The fires of Y’Ghatan burn in the night The shadows of a fallen god Chains against light For weeks on end we journey on Weary and worn, the glory is gone All that’s left are tired souls Aching limbs and dreams of home The fires of Y’Ghatan burn in the night The shadows of a fallen god Chains against light Marching on as one as the ghosts of brothers sing Deep in the night where their faces haunt our dreams Halfway through the veil we are summoned to Hood’s gate Lands rimed in frost, they will damn us to our fate Push on through the din of the slaughter Flight through this perilous land To where our blades spring forth Soldiers of Empire Malazan We fight for the seat of the highborn Our fates were never our own Weathered skin is battered and broken Bloodstained dawn in a land unknown Stars reign in the sky of the desert Lost in the blistering sands A host now long forgotten Soldiers of Empire Malazan Far away from the hearths of our fathers We’re never returning home Weathered swords are a warrior’s burden Battles fought but our deeds will go untold Still we ride, fight, and die Wayward path far beyond the pale We are lost, marching on Heavy hearts longing for those lands we once called home Dawn has brought its cleansing light So we behold a mournful sight The fading sounds of clashing steel Bodies strewn across the field The fires of Y’Ghatan burn in the night The shadows of a fallen god Chains against light Buried seeds, scattered bones Blazing hearts by steel sent home Mortal screams, names unknown Shattered dreams by steel sent home Strap on your shields and raise your banners Hear the call of raging battle Beneath a hail of burning arrows Push ever forward, never surrender Siege weapons tolling out like thunder Ripping the city walls asunder Columns of flame reach ever skyward Horizons filled with burning pyres

Submitted by VladTheImpaler666 — Apr 26, 2025