Beast (Bonus Track) Video (MV)

"The only moral imperative is to not kill a living thing," you say
As you set out to hunt the oldest creature known to man
You've practiced many months with your sword and bow and arrow
Now you cross the border to the beast's holy land

You've heard countless tales of tragedy from the people in your town of how
The beast comes in the night and tears families apart
It ravages with no remorse and carries off its prey westward
And the ones it leaves behind seem to lose their hearts

On occasion while you hunt, a wandering outlaw runs you down
They pray to the evil beast as you carve them up
It only serves to steel your heart that this quest is critical
The longer the beast lives, the more fools it corrupts

You track a set of enormous prints over water, sand, and somehow stone
Until at last they lead you up to a hole in a cliff
You turn your clever nose up towards the cave and inhale sharply
And from the foulness, you know it's where the beast lives

So then you pray to all your gods, praising them for your success
And you ask for help while measuring your breath
Then you unsheathe your sword and venture forth into the blackest bowels
You cruel and noble messenger of death

It's quiet and the tunnel travels straighter than you would have guessed
No forks or turns to lead you to your doom
The light recedes behind you so you light a torch to guide you
It reveals no signs of life, and the silence resumes

Then just when that unnatural hush converges on your sanity
Your righteous ears identify a noise
Those familiar fricatives and formants, peppered with distinctive plosives
It's shocking but it's clearly a human voice

It occurs to you with dawning horror that the beast prefers to eat meals fresh
Now a strengthened purpose fills your heart and your head
You quicken your pace and the voice grows clearer but there's something in it that fuels your fear
Never has a laugh inspired such dread

Your torch is the only light as you stand before this jester
Your sword held out in case of lunacy
Then you flinch when you see that his eyes are gouged and his arms end in stumps
You nearly retch at this wanton cruelty

But the man just grins and welcomes you to the city of the Seraph
Needless to say this takes you by surprise
The man speaks into this shocked silence, offers to lead you to his Highness
As if he offers a prize

The lunatic, this wretched soul, turns and walks away
Though he has no way of knowing where he is
But somehow he manages to stay upright and on the path
And you follow him into the abyss

At last the tunnel ends in a wide and lofty cavern
Filled with disfigured humans just like your guide
And in the center stands a creature faintly glowing in the darkness
As vile a monstrosity as you'd surmised

But when it speaks the voice is easy like your daughter's singing sounds so sweetly
Somehow rolling off his ugly lips
"Son of summer, soothe your seething, still your heart so quickly beating
Fear no more," The beast says with leadership

Your vocal cords unwind and you formulate your words
"Good sir... no! foul beast, prepare to die,"
The creature breathes out heavily and gestures to the room
"Would you condemn this entire guiltless tribe?"

"Without their hands they cannot eat, without their sight they cannot leave
What do you propose, that they go home with you?
Or perhaps you mean to leave them here, without my vivid smell to steer them
So tell me son of summer, what shall they do?"

You answer with a firm reply more certain than you feel
"Their lives are weighed against your future prey
If I allow you to persist your reign of terror unrestricted,
That blood is more than these souls you mutilate"

The beast just shakes his putrid face and answers, "No that's not the case,
I never kill a soul that doesn't want to die"
The audacity begs a quick retort, "I wasn't gonna make this hurt,
But now I'll torture you for that cruel lie"

But as you raise your mighty sword a tender stump lays upon your shoulder
And a gentle voice whispers in your ear
"Stay your righteous anger, I beseech you noble killer
The Seraph speaks truth and we're all volunteers"
We're all volunteers
We're all volunteers
We're all volunteers
We're all volunteers

With a cry you realize you can't do anything but stand by
And let the Beast continue this horrid game
So in the night when I hear a cry from some poor newly orphaned child
I'll know that you are partly to blame