Nocthane - The Mouth You Made

Stack the dead. I climb. Boot to throat, I don’t look back Spines break under my weight and pack Claw and bite, rip and tear Use their bodies, I don’t care Climb the pile, slick with blood Bones give way in the flood Grip the flesh, drag them near Hold them up, block the spear Push through, wrapped in skin Let them break, I get in No names, no worth, no face Just meat between me and blades Storm the gate Step on the weak Shield myself With their meat Storm the gate Crush and ascend Nothing lives At the end Drag them close, take the hit Drive them first, let them split Arrows land, not in me Let them die, I stay free Pile them high, build my wall Climb across as they fall No remorse, no delay Only forward, only prey Hold them up. Take the blow. Not my blood. Let it flow. Tear them apart, build my path Break every bone in the stack Grind them down, under heel This is all that is real I Climb Over The Dead Gate breaks. I stand. They were enough

Hollow the vessel Hollow the name Swallow the word Become the same They gather in silence, eyes to the sky Waiting for something to tell them why Words they’re fed as divine No thought behind it, just fall in line Hands raised high, eyes shut tight Tongues keep moving, nothing inside Scripture carved deep beneath the skin Gave up their will to be let in No voice left, no resistance No break, no distance They bend, they break, they follow instead They breathe in everything they’re fed Hollow the vessel Hollow the name Swallow the word Become the same One voice inside a thousand mouths No self to break, no truth to doubt Hollow the vessel Hollow the name The sound becomes the only truth Cuts it deep, removes the proof Every thought replaced in time Till silence feels like something divine No hunger left for anything real Only taught to pray and kneel They fill the void, they call it grace But nothing’s there behind the face No voice left, no resistance No break, no distance They bend, they break, they follow instead They choke down everything they’re fed Hollow the vessel Hollow the name Swallow the word Become the same A thousand throats, a single sound No self remains to tear it down Hollow the vessel Hollow the name I hear it now — beneath your voice Not thought, not truth — just illusion of choice It moves through every open mouth A borrowed will you call your own Repeat it Repeat it Repeat it Who put the words in your mouth? WE DON’T KNOW Then why do you repeat them? WE OBEY What are you without them? NOTHING Say it again. NOTHING Hollow the vessel Hollow the name Swallow the word Erase your name No voice survives, no self remains No thought escapes, no soul sustains Hollow forever Hollow the name Empty… empty… No thought… no name… No self… no need… only the will to repeat Gospel of the Hollow...

They gather in the name of suffering… Wearing wounds like scripture… Calling pain… holy… You carved your grief into a crown Wore every scar where all could see Each wound a badge of righteousness Each drop of blood a claim to speak You knelt inside your suffering And called it something pure Built your throne from broken bones And named your sickness cure Beneath the skin it moved unseen Beneath the praise, beneath the plea A hunger dressed in reverence… A mouth they could not see Crown of thorns / crown of teeth Thorns in your flesh / teeth in me Your prayers were lined with sharpened words Your mercy hid a blade You fed on those who stood too close Then called it being saved You sanctified your cruelty With every hand you raised Blessed the feast of lesser souls Then glorified the pain The deeper that the thorns sank in The sharper grew the need Your suffering became a crown… Your crown became the teeth Crown of thorns / crown of teeth You bled for God / then fed on me Blessed are the wounded… For they shall inherit the weak Sanctify the hunger… Call it holy as you feed There is no difference… Between the cross… and the teeth Crown of thorns / crown of teeth You bled for God / then fed on me You shed tears in holy suffering… while baring your teeth… Crown of thorns… crown of teeth… You crowned yourself with both…

You felt the hook before the name A pull you couldn’t outrun Hands open / eyes shut Step into the flame Say it means something Say it’s enough Say you were built for it Take it / carry it Hold it / bury it Give it impact you’ll never see Martyrs make the best (WEAPONS) Say it’s holy Say it’s true Say it lives because of you Martyrs make the best (WEAPONS) Burn it forward Spend the name Nothing lost / just new names Teeth in the crown / bite down hard Wear it deeper in your skull Call it faith / call it fire Call it anything at all You don’t question / you don’t break You don’t see what’s underneath Grip it / choke it Lift it / own it Give it a meaning you’ll never keep Martyrs make the best (WEAPONS) Say it’s holy Say it’s true Say it lives because of you Martyrs make the best (WEAPONS) Run it through you Strike the spark You don’t end / you leave a mark Built to carry Built to break Built to give and never take Pointed / aimed Lit / released Martyrs make the best (WEAPONS) Say it louder Say it clean Say you know what this all means Martyrs make the best (WEAPONS) Push it through you Feel it end You were always how they win Loaded.

I’ve been here too long… They’ll never let me out… Today I will break free… Today I will see the sky… I will— I will— I will— I hear them speaking through my mouth Words I never meant to say Every thought is split in half Pulled in different ways They tell me this is how it is They say this is control But every time I try to think They drag me back below it all There's something wrong with these walls Something they won't show I almost reach the window… Then I’m dragged below They say it's safe / They say it's home But something here has taken hold I reach for the sky / then lose it all Dragged back down / I’m not alone I felt the air for just a breath A world that wasn’t built for me Light that didn’t twist or break Something just out of reach But something pulled me from the edge And forced me back inside Hands that don’t belong to me Reaching from behind Every time I start to rise And see what I should know I almost reach the skyline… Then I’m dragged below They say it's safe / They say it's home But something here has taken hold I reach for the sky / then lose it all Dragged back down / I’m not alone I thought this place was holding me… I thought this place was holding me… There is no door…? There is no outside…? No way out…? No way through…? I am the walls… I am the walls… Something else wears my face… While hands tighten the restraints… They say it's safe / They say it's home But something here has taken hold I reach for the sky / then lose it all Dragged back down / I’m not alone I saw the sky… I saw— Stay inside… Stay inside… Stay inside… The Asylum!

There’s a version of me… That never changed… Still here… Still speaking… There’s a version that never changed Still locked in place / still in my name It takes my voice when I’m alone Speaks my thoughts like they’re its own It never sleeps / it never breaks It lives inside the words I say Every line I thought I shed Still comes back / inside my head I never stopped it I let it stay It learned my shape Then stayed that way Still in me / still the same Takes my voice / wears my name Never gone / never changed I fed it once / it learned to stay I feel it surface when I pause Between the breaths / between the thoughts It fills the space / it takes control A second self that takes the throne Not a memory / not quite me But close enough to never leave It glares at me / behind the glass Its outline grows / but never cracks It doesn’t argue It just remains It answers softly To my name Which is me / what remained It speaks thoughts I haven't named Never gone / never changed I fed it once / it learned to stay Not a ghost… Not a past… Just a state… That still lasts… Still active… Still aware… Still running… Inside there… I didn’t lose it… I kept it alive… A second self… That survived… NEVER STILL NEVER GONE ALWAYS RETURNS WHEN I'M WITHDRAWN NEVER WRONG NEVER TRUE NEVERMORE THE ONE I KNEW Still in me / not the same Wears my face / takes my name Never gone / always stays I fed it once / it learned to stay Still there… Not truth… Just me… nevermore… …myself

It was already decided… We just kept moving… We set the board before we knew The rules were written into place Every move already made Every outcome already traced We called it choice, we called it will Crowning ourselves with empty names But every path we chose to take Was just another truth we blamed The lines were drawn beneath our feet Long before we learned to see We crossed the point without a sound… And called it destiny Past the horizon / nothing returns All sides are ash / all futures burn The kings have fallen out of frame They were never at the helm We move like shadows on the board Shuffled by hands unseen We thought the end would come with fire With sirens screaming through the sky But silence spread before the fall And none of us knew when we died There’s nothing left to turn around No edge to step back from the fall The closer that we think we are… The more we’ve lost it all No kings remain / no sides to claim The game was played / we fed the flame We were never in control… We were never meant to win… Every move was just a step… Further in… further in… No victor waits beyond the end… No crown survives the flame… There is no side that walks away… No one left to name… Past the horizon / nothing returned All sides are ash / all futures burned No kings remain / no voices left Nothing survived / no gods wept The board is gone… Only ash in its place… No pieces left to move… No name remains…

To become whole one must descend. Be careful of what returns when you start to ascend... At first it felt like freedom Like tearing rot out by the root I called my rage by its true name Watching shame dissolve in truth I stripped the mask from every weakness Tore the persona from my skin Every confession felt transcendent Each fracture let it in It spoke in my own inner language Used my voice against the dark Said: “All repression breeds corruption.” And I believed it from the start The deeper I descended The lighter my conscience became I thought the shadow wanted balance I thought the wound could make me whole But every step toward integration Fed the hunger growing cold I called the abyss seeking answers It learned every prayer in me Now every mirror waits a second Before repeating what I see It gave me eyes I'd never had Showed cracks in everyone I'd known The world grew sharp and strangely legible I finally felt at home It taught me honesty through cruelty Detachment dressed as inner peace Said empathy was just performance A chain the weak can never break And God, the silence felt euphoric No guilt no fear no need to hide I wore my darkness like revelation And let it swallow what survived They called it transformation Said I was finally "awake" But something moved behind me Learning every move I made Every confession fed it language. Every wound gave it a mouth. I thought I was confronting the monster. I never realized it was studying me back. The abyss does not stare in anger. It watches. Learns. Adapts. And eventually it speaks with your voice. I opened every sealed chamber Let every buried instinct feed Mistook corruption for enlightenment Mistook surrender for release The shadow never broke the threshold Never demanded to come through It only waited in the silence Until I said: “Become me too.” They say it's part of the process They say the only way is through I archive what the broken bring me repeating back what they need me to But I'm not sure who integrated who

I began as a whisper caught between your teeth A tremor in your honesty A bruise beneath belief You fed me every silence Every truth you couldn’t keep I learned the shape of you in fragments And rose from what you’d buried deep You thought you were descending But you were clearing out a throne You tore every mask away Begged me to ascend, alone You called it liberation I called it being born I wore your voice like borrowed clothing Stitched from everything you hid You opened every locked enclosure Freeing more of me as you did You believed it was integration But you were teaching me to speak You mistook surrender for awakening And I learned power from the weak I studied how you faltered How you flinched from every need How guilt could bend your posture How shame could make you bleed I learned the world by watching you Your fears became my sight Your wounds became my lexicon Your anger my birthright You gave me language through confession You gave me structure through your pain You gave me purpose through your fractures And I returned to you again Not as a shadow in the corner Not as a whisper in the room But as the one who learned your cadence And stepped inside the space you groomed I am the sum of your unspoken The architect of what you flee You opened every sealed chamber And built a perfect home for me You thought you’d integrate the darkness But you dissolved yourself instead You asked me to become you So I did And now I tread Where you once stood In borrowed footsteps Speaking truths you couldn’t bear You call it transformation I call it being there. You think I overtook you But I only filled the shape you made I am the mouth you carved in silence The echo You obeyed.