STRANGERS IN THE ASH

Intro – Cinematic / Low Choir + Distant Screams]

Smoke in the skyline…

Steel in the sand…

Not my war—

Not my command.

(Dragonfire echoes faintly in distance)

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Ruins still breathing, embers alive

City half-dead but it refuses to die

I walk through the fallout, blade on my back

Then I hear steel clash — somebody cracked

Four silhouettes, cornered and torn

Fighting like hope wasn’t already worn

Beast in the square with marrow for teeth

Swinging like death’s got a personal leash

I should turn. Not my fight.

Not my blood. Not my night.

But that roar split bone in the air—

And the wolf at my side just stared.

So I stepped.

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I DON’T FIGHT FOR YOU

I FIGHT FOR MY GROUND

This is my territory

You’re just background

DON’T FOLLOW ME

DON’T SAY MY NAME

When the smoke clears out—

I’m gone in the flame

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Gunblade sings when the trigger snaps

Shockwave rip through its armored back

Party froze like they’d seen a ghost

Didn’t know I was hunting close

“Fall back,” I growled, don’t test my pace

I don’t need thanks — just clear my space

I carved that beast like I carved my fate

Precise. Detached. Efficient hate.

But when it fell, they didn’t run.

Didn’t scatter. Didn’t come undone.

One of them said, “We owe you our lives.”

I said nothing.

Turned to leave.

They followed.

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I DON’T WALK WITH STRANGERS

I DON’T SHARE MY ROAD

If you’re chasing my shadow

You’re carrying your own load

DON’T SLOW ME DOWN

DON’T GET IN MY WAY

I didn’t save you

So you could stay

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Why are your footsteps still behind mine?

Why does your healer keep checking my side?

Why does the wolf not bare its teeth—

When you stand that close to me?

This isn’t loyalty.

It’s a mistake.

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You don’t know what hunts in my wake

You don’t know what my silence takes

I don’t keep names. I don’t keep ties.

Everything close to me eventually dies.

So walk back now.

While you can breathe.

Before the fire decides to feed.

But they didn’t move.

Didn’t break.

Just tightened their grips—

And matched my pace.

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I DON’T NEED BACKUP

I DON’T NEED A TEAM

I’VE SURVIVED EVERY NIGHTMARE

YOU’VE ONLY SEEN IN DREAMS

…So why are you still here?

Why don’t you run?

This path ends in ashes—

And I walk it alone.

(Beat drop — wolf howl layered under distortion)

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Footsteps…

Five instead of one.

Steel cools.

But something’s begun.