In the Kingdom by the Sea

In the kingdom by the sea,

In the mountains mantled blue,
On frigid winter's final day
Was born a man with but one task:

To kill the foe in Durza,
In the land of shadows.

Nurtured by the kind and wise


Under oaks as old as time,
He ran with deer and wrestled bears,
And from his elders learned the skills,

To kill the foe in Durza,
In the land of shadows.

Taught to spy the thief in black
When he grabs the weak and strong;
To block his blows and fight the fiend
With rag and rock and plant and bone;

And kill the foe in Durza,
In the land of shadows.

Quick as thought, the years did turn,


'Til the man had come of age,
His body burned with fevered rage,
While youth's impatience seared his veins.

Then he met a maiden fair,
Who was tall and strong and wise,
Her brow adorned with Gёda's Light,
Which shown upon her trailing gown.

In her eyes of midnight blue,
In those enigmatic pools,
Appeared to him a future bright,
Together, where they would not have

To fear the foe in Durza,


In the land of shadows.


---

In the dark before the dawn,

In the room where slept the man,
The foe, he crept and loomed above
His mighty rival now so weak.

From his pillow did the man
Raise his head an gaze upon
The cold and empty face of Death,



The king of everlasting night.

Calm acceptance filled the man's
Aged heart;

For long ago,
he'd lost all fear of Death's embrace,
The last embrace a man will know.

Gentle as a morning breeze,
Bent the foe and from the man
His glowing, pulsing spirit took,
And thence in peace they went to dwell,

Forevermore in Durza,
In the land of shadows.