This world was dead from the start When the ancients first found this planet It was nothing but a wasteland A roiling sea Chaos and entropy Uninhabited Uninhabitable No sign of life A million miles away from home No light to guide Transplanting the seeds of hope They moved the mountains into place Terraformed the surface to their will They sculpted oceans out of desert space Flawless design in each detail A formless void A toxic tempest A new beginning Within their hands They carved the rivers out of dust Transplanted forests where they stand Broke up the fallow planet's crust Injected life into the land No way to see it then No way to predict Hidden beneath the skin The host could not detect There is a curse upon the water And now it lives within us all It is a blight that will devour It will devour us it will devour us all Lost forever Lost inside our own flesh

The strongest and bravest that dwelt among us The wisest most clever Twelve were selected Chosen for the journey Conditioned to survive To move between dimensions Driven past the pain Tested in the fire Molded to the aim Singular in purpose Precision process No room for error In the face of endless Existential terror A fraction survived to complete the journey The others lost forever Resilient we watched their civilization grow For decades we saw them make the planet their own Then without a warning we lost connection Silence Only silence Complete and total blackout Centuries of failed attempts to reconnect with the colony The governments of the world inept Abort the effort entirely Abort

We have not forgotten We are a part of the resistance The underground insurgent remnant We bear this burden through the ages Beneath the surface the war still rages on They were the chosen ones We have not forgotten We are the only ones Who refuse to let go Separation Countless dimensions in between Communication Severed ties with ancient mystery No explanation Only the silence of the unforgiving void Dissociation We can't let this memory be destroyed This is the work of a hundred generations To recover what was abandoned To unlock the secret of the ancients And traverse dimensional space again Rebuild Restore Reclaim the truth and take the leap again

A thousand years a thousand failures in the making Myriad leaks have nearly killed the operation Traitor Judas Impossible task impossible odds we're undertaking With black market supplies and information No one has dared to face the journey we are making Since it was outlawed no one even has even tried The hour is now the voyage is critical To shatter the boundary of the impossible Only we can bring them home Close your eyes and follow the light Let reality bend itself around you By conviction and not by sight Answer the call from deep within you Zealot Mad man Many arose and volunteered to go the distance All failed to withstand the tests required to jump Only one reluctant soul displayed resistance To transdimensional-nano-particle radiation Open the door Step inside All you've got to do now is survive

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Upon arrival of the waking hour The only sound the ringing in my ears In the dark devoid of power Through the black an alien planet draws near Powerless awaiting descent Incapable of physical motion Suspended in the eternal present Upon the waves of an infinite black abyss I am sifted through the cracks Within the fabric of reality My consciousness reacts To a new awakening From beautiful chaos to deafening silence And tortured sound of labored breathing Descending faster and faster to the surface Then all at once time and space stop moving Blinding light Shatters the darkness Through the night A voice emerges I am the ancient of ancients The beginning and end The world below you has been corrupted Not from without but from within It was for this purpose you were chosen Only you can end the curse now Sacrifice your body for the broken Your essence must be poured out Like a bullet from a gun Space and time Come rushing back into focus Tearing through the heavens With fervent heat Then finally crashing down into the ocean

Regaining strength and motor function Rising and falling with the dark black waves Removing life support kicking the doorway open The outside world comes rushing in I can't remember the last time I took a breath on my own I'm letting go of the lifeline I've never felt so alone This world is hollow Filled with selfish hollow creatures Conceived in sorrow Captive to their fragile features Set adrift in a sea of shadows The sound of screaming in the distance On the horizon an object fast approaching A wooden vessel filled with ghastly figures This world is hollow

So this is how it ends Before it even starts Apprehended by monstrous forms Skin like feathers caked in mud Nebulous speech outstretched arms Protruding veins dripping blood Sail across the blackened sea To the village of the living things Hollow eyes transfixed on me The silence deafening Standing in the ruins A world forsaken The empty faces of hollow creatures Longing to awaken Longing to awaken Death comes for everyone It's in the water it's in the air When every step is a loaded gun Every breath is a prayer Their bodies crumble at the slightest contact Few have managed to survive Endless endeavor just to stay intact Completely hollow inside I cannot comprehend What my eyes have seen Are these the children of men That I was sent to redeem

Welcome to the world of dead men A thousand years had passed After the water turned black The curse spread quickly through the masses Internal attack The angel of death kept us alive We crumbled in his hands Beneath his watchful eye There was no way to escape Prognosis terminal Inevitable ruin our fate Til the arrival He descended like fire from the heavens Like a bolt of lightning from the sky We crossed an ocean of death to reclaim him Bringer of hope Giver of life The water of life he carried with him We dashed it to the ground Careless and desperate A parade of corpses Moving closer to extinction Inexorable extirpation Is there another way Bring us back there To the source

Though your failures bind you This death will not define you Rise, renew Extract the water from the body Drink, consume Absorb the life within the blood Move regain New life to animate the flesh Go and reclaim the planet They took his life in a jealous rage He exposed their inadequacies And shined a light upon their failures Unblemished flesh a painful reminder Retrieved the capsule from the ocean's grasp Co-opted systems to complete their task The laid the corpse inside the metal frame Connected tubes and wires to the lifeless veins Not a single drop reclaimed was wasted And when the sacrament was finished The capsule closed and began to rise Pierced the clouds and completely vanished Veiled in obscurity Hope was gone The soul displaced Clothed in his purity A new day dawns The past erased It was a strange and dreadful strife The day that life and death contended The victory remained with life The reign of death was ended The ancient writing plainly says Death is swallowed up in death Now its sting is lost forever Now its sting is lost forever