Valley of Kings

Relics that fell from the hands of the mages of old Fell hands, the relics of an evil that's no longer known Have scored the soil Faded, blistered, and sunk beneath Thorn of land's side Men of oak, men of iron Thorn of land's side Men of steel, men of stone Spires and spindles sleeping under mountain blanket folds An oaken switch, a candle, a blade, this is where I call my home Spires and spindles sleeping under mountain blanket folds An oaken switch, a candle, a blade, this is where I call my home And now we feel the life Hiding on the mountainside As a passing wind Sings us a fading song Eyes that are bright and fixed upon The glory of what lies beyond Binding hearts against the same Binding travelers by flame Listen, the small and the quiet murmurs of the night are here Made of these things and are gone in just a moment's time A crest, a coin A plume, their blood joined Conclave has now gone from the light The bravery of fools pulls them into the night Conclave has now gone from the light The bravery of fools pulls them into the night The night swallows the daylight, daylight They go to seek what they've not known, not known Didn't you know they would leave and go into the night To set this all right, all right Men of oak, men of iron, men of steel, men of stone Go on to fight You should see their eyes that are bright and fixed upon The glory of what lies beyond Binding hearts against the same Binding travelers by flame Eyes that are bright and fixed upon The glory of what lies beyond Binding hearts against the same Binding travelers by flame Conclave has now gone from the light The bravery of fools pulls them into the night

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Follow forward into the world's heart Feel its beating, its breathing, all of its secrets and scars When the elements consume your every sense and you disappear Fade away The sky seemed so near about our heads The roads so wide, so true beneath our feet Follow me forward into the world's cusp It is from here that with luck You can catch a glimpse of the secret and quiet changes And the turnings of the world And the turnings of the world To truly know the land To see its cracks and corners Take it in Never needing what we think Never thinking when we need, no It's so easy to get the wrong grasp on reality Oh how great, watch the world The beauty set before Oh how great, watch the world The beauty set before (Follow forward) Oh how great, watch the world (Follow me, follow me) (Into the world's heart) The beauty set before (Heart) (Follow forward) Oh how great, watch the world (Follow me, follow me) (Into the world's heart) The beauty set before (Heart)

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Pull me in, I've seen the sights that stirred The old men to greatness The water, it moves with mirth And trembles in distress A voice tells of something that has stood the test of time An enchanting unwinding The meeting mark of new memory And the things that have always stood there Keeper of keys that's resting deep Beneath the mountainside It is from here that if you still your mind You can catch a glimpse Of the fragments fallen from cornerstones Of the world And if you listen closely You'll hear a story that's old as time Keeper of keys that’s resting deep Beneath the mountainside (Mountainside) Watching the well and time will tell If this is your demise A holy man once said to me That the light dies in the depths of the ground And if you stand there and keep your eyes closed You can see the darkness as it comes to life (Comes to life) Keeper of keys that’s resting deep Beneath the mountainside Watching the well and time will tell If this is your demise If this is your demise If this is your demise

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Don't you start to slow down Or the vines will draw you in Don't run away Because that's when their games will begin Don't look, your eyes will betray you Betray you But the stars are shining too bright tonight To remember the forest's treason Or the ruins that pass us by A false light, a shimmer and a shine And then the moment's gone, they all carry on They carry on Don't you start to slow down Or the vines will draw you in Don't run away Because that's when their games will begin Look alive, don't be surprised Look alive and you'll see it coming Look alive, don't be surprised Don't lose yourself to the illusions Look alive, don't be surprised Look alive and you'll see it coming Look alive, look alive A land of waking winds And ancients above the path within When I looked up my feet had taken me Where I've not been Look alive, don't be surprised Look alive and you'll see it coming Look alive Don't lose yourself to the illusions And so the wheel turns And so the question burns Where is the light we all have been seeking? Betray you

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

The colors run together From horrors written on the walls Sleeping with one eye open Living with one eye closed Strangers pass like years Tortured and twisted Seeking what was lost there on that day Swallowed whole by the mouth of The Cave Days mean nothing in this place They come and test the will These nights are screaming sonorous They're rushing, yet still A man that's so far gone Scorched by time, living life always shielding his eyes And now he's all alone Shadows of yesterday, flashes of tomorrow What did we lose that day? Swallowed whole by the cave Where have the days all gone? Where have the days all gone? No candle to the ages, but for the things they built I know only too well the sight of this place Its vile contours, its twisted figurines Have never seen the light of day, rotting alone inside The Cave Scrolls of terrible truths But the winds tell a different story They whisper of false forms And a dead hope not worth seeking I saw a distant world on his shoulders Through the stars in his eyes; their light blinds yet gives sight Never knowing where the days are headed Or where the days have gone A man that's so far gone Scorched by time, living life always shielding his eyes And now he's all alone Shadows of yesterday, flashes of tomorrow What did we lose that day? Swallowed whole by the cave Where have the days all gone? Where have the days all gone?

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

What went wrong? Tell me before you're gone What went wrong? Tell me before you're gone Before you're gone Before you're gone I am a lost man stuck in my dreams I'm not together as I may seem And now my heart has turned to stone Surrender my all to the cold grip of time Now I've drifted too long, this life is no longer mine Let go and just fade away Releasing death grips to yesterday What went wrong, went wrong? I've come so far and now you're gone (Now you're gone) Did you believe in me or just the feeling Of holding something close to me? I admit that I'm sinking away All that my shadow touches turns to grey There's no such thing As being safe from yourself Like anchor-tied feet, I'm one with the sea Silent, sinking, left to thinking Oh, did I give up hope? Did I find a part of me that's made its home obscurity? No, I can't let go Of empty thoughts that will betray When will I find my way? We all just wanna fill this hole Find comfort in the broken things We use when we're lost inside of our souls And we feel like nothing at all We all just wanna fill this hole Find comfort in the broken things We use when we're lost inside of our souls And we feel like nothing at all, feel like nothing at all

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

I've turned everyone against me And I've learned it was a grave mistake And how long must we live like this? And how long must this doubt persist? And now we're lost and now we're living And now we've found and how we went missing So lost without a reason Without a sign, it's what we've been given I say I'm lost and you say you're all gone Was this the cost of finding what's beyond? Need it, need it, need it Need it, need it, need it Need it, need it, need it Need it, need it, need it How can we live like this? Where is the life that we missed? And now we need it, need it, need it Need it, need it, need it Can we go on like this?

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Ten years gone by feels frightful Now I fear my best days are behind me Wracked with regret and life's restless pains So you may wonder, when you grew so old And so now you wonder, when you grew so old And now you wander, in uncertain cold But the days aren't lasting long or as long as they used to What should I hold to, a thread? And the nights stretch on forever, an oracle at the center And oh, we fall behind in the sands of time Twenty years gone by feels fleeting Made of the smoke and the bile Of a thousand hopes since past Now I fear my best days are behind me And I lose sleep counting the stars Now I wish upon them all Yet one by one they fall We beg for forgiveness Yet inherit madness We beg for forgiveness Yet inherit madness But the days aren't lasting long or as long as they used to What should I hold to, a thread? And the nights stretch on forever, an oracle at the center And oh, we fall behind in the sands of time But the days aren't lasting long or as long as they used to What should I hold to, a thread? And the nights stretch on forever, an oracle at the center And oh, we fall behind in the sands of time

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

We pried open The Door to Nowhere What we saw in the chamber Stripped the face from my skull And twisted my bones around Small minds, fragile minds Pulling apart pieces of themselves Drums, drums I hear drums in the deep The solemn silence Of a heart counting its beats Blinded brother there is no light left Of the torch you used to hold Lose another day or year down here While the darkness makes you old Every day I try running from each night But they are gaining on me The box that held this pestilence Now lies shattered at my feet Blinded brother there is no light left Of the torch you used to hold Lose another day or year down here While the darkness makes you old The river of life is found across the valley of death Blinded brother there is no light left Of the torch you used to hold Lose another day or year down here While the darkness makes you old Blinded brother Lose another

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

Night fall, sun sighing blue-grey defeat Sacrament fall, break clean and away Word fall and fix and fail and fragment Wring tears from dry eyes And give good men courage to do evil things Firefall and burn, and kill, and destroy Firefall and burn, and kill, and destroy it all Stand back Hold up your coward's head So I may take it from your neck And burn the crown you wear so proud I hope it ruins you I hope that you are made to suffer Not even vultures will touch what's left of you When I'm through Nothing left, torn apart limb from limb Too late, the hour has past to spare spilt blood Too late, the hour has past to spare spilt blood The festering black spot Spreading from your soul The calloused disregard Of flesh and of blood I hope it ruins you I hope that you are made to suffer I hope it kills you I hope it pulls you down into an early grave

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026

I'm living through the the fall, fall, fall, fall Came for life and lost it all, all Now it seems that fortune or fate Took your hand and swept you away Buried as you are with lost years And dead hearts in the Valley of Kings Never quite asleep, never fully awake I swear the sun never sets on this place I'm living through the the fall, fall, fall, fall Came for life and lost it all, all Now it seems that fortune or fate Took your hand and swept you away Watching pillars crack and fall around It lapses with grace, consumed in brilliant flame Beneath the surface, do you hear the sound Of a thousand lives laying under the ground? I see a horizon covered in sunken cities Old enemies now seeming so friendly Perched whispering on my shoulders They are standing around me Father Time will gather his children to the tree A traveler once said to me That the wind dies at the end of the world And if you listen very closely You'll hear a story that's as old as time The Illspring and the Well draw from the same ground Light dies and I will miss this the most I'm living through the the fall, fall, fall, fall Came for life and lost it all, all Now it seems that fortune or fate Took your hand and swept you away Watching pillars crack and fall around It lapses with grace, consumed in brilliant flame Beneath the surface, do you hear the sound Of a thousand lives laying under the ground? But the folly of man is his youth There is no good left that the eye can see It is a vapor in the sunlight Valor sand slips through the hand Many eyes to see so many truths A man bearing down cannot hold what he's found I'm living through the the fall, fall, fall, fall Came for life and lost it all, all Now it seems that fortune or fate Took your hand and swept you away Watching pillars crack and fall around It lapses with grace, consumed in brilliant flame Beneath the surface, do you hear the sound Of a thousand lives laying under the ground?

Submitted by johnmansley — Feb 21, 2026