Song #66 - Fall of an Empire
Written by David Newton (Wong)
Completed on 24/08/2004
Length: 12min 40sec
wongchungbang@hotmail.com
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The first time this melody appeared it was in a five-minute
instrumental over four channels that I released not long
after starting with Modplug Tracker. At that time, like
all my work, the song didn't have a concrete subject, but
at the time I thought it was one of the best tunes that
I'd ever released.
It's a complex melody that I could only write very basically
at the time. I still liked it, though, and I've made many
false starts at updating it to my current style. I think
that this time it's worked, with the addition of a storyline
that fitted the title perfectly.
The storyline, which will be instantly recognisable to fans
of the series it is based on, may seem like a strange choice
for the subject of a song, but it turned out to lend itself
very well - it's a very dark plot for something which used
to be so innocent.
This song was written in the least ordered way I've
ever done, with the intro, "And she was born...", compound
time section, and "All that was left..." being done first,
in that order. Pieces were added bit by bit until the whole
story (and the song) was connected.
It's also not got the usual form that many of my others
have - there is a recurring theme to it, but there is no
strict structure and very little "chorus" repetition.
---
Guardian, tell me the tale of why you're here
Why do you exist, why can you never leave
Alone in a dark place away from the world
Watching from an island above the clouds
We came to the land and we built up our empire
Mighty nation to stand the test of time
The land adorned with temples and pyramids
Standing over the world, the race of mine
Fighting our wars, we took even more land
Until it seemed that the world was our own
Our power so great we never believed that
Anything could break our walls down
Never prepared for the fall of our empire
Unkmowing, we lived in greed
Taking all the world for ourselves
And the treasures were our only need
Somewhere far below the earth
Lay the force of the emeralds
Of all the treasures in the world
This one we could not take
And she was born the child of the king
The successor to the throne
And unlike them, their way of war, she wished
The world to be at peace
The shrine was guarded by chaos
A peaceful force within
Befriended by the child
One free from greed and sin
Seven chaos are the servers
Enriched by heart and soul
The seven to be unified
The master of them all
The king lamented the loss of his mother
In despair he led the charge
Prepared to kill his only daughter
And the protector force, the temple's guard
But the chaos was born from hatred
And anger fuelled its soul
Absorbed the force to defend the innocent
And in vengeance, killed them all
There's no mercy that you give
And none you'll be shown
On your hatred I will feed
You will suffer for your greed
The extinction of my race
Before my very eyes
Cast my soul to the emerald
The force and I will never die
Seven chaos are the servers
Enriched by heart and soul
The seven to be unified
The master of them all
All that was left of our world
An island in the heavens
And all that remained of our race
Was waiting for the time to awaken
And I was born the son of the empire
Crystal light fell on my face
I saw and I knew that I must defend
This remnant of my race
Our empire was destroyed by our greed
I was shown it in a dream
And I will remain out here alone
So our empire will never fall again
