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To Higher Climes Where Few Might Stand

from Of Erthe and Axen: Act I (2017) by Xanthochroid

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about

Thanos sits alone in a sort of greenhouse surrounded by plants, the pale morning light barely illuminates the room. Vera enters...

Vera: Thanos! You never came to bed… have you slept at all?

Thanos: I think I’ve finally done it! Look, Vera! (holding up a plant) It was dead last night and I revived it!

Vera: Thanos… I…

Thanos: Dear, it’s just a plant, don’t be frightened!

Vera: Thanos, LOOK! (points behind him)

Thanos turns around to see figures emerging through the fog, they look threatening, carrying weapons and supplies walking toward Thanos’ house. “Wait here…” he says to Vera as he steps outside the greenhouse and stands helplessly as the horde approaches… Thanos thinks:

Beyond the feeble reaches
Of conscious memory
A voice long forgotten
Echoes through the chamber of my thoughts

I cannot recall
The speaker or what was spoken
Just a whisper now
Still, it’s crying, screaming, wanting to be known

The leader of the horde comes to a halt and stares face to face at Thanos.

“… hello brother…”

Thanos: … Sindr? How could it be??

Sindr: It’s been many years, Thanos. Surely the seasons have changed me, but indeed it is I.

Thanos: Seven years to be precise… I was still a child. Father and I, we tried to…

Sindr: Ha! Speak not of that old man, you know he has forsaken me. Let us speak instead of well-spent youth and brighter days. Brother, my men are weary… we have not properly rested since we left Erthe, I’ve come here in hopes of setting up camp, with your kind permission of course.

Thanos: Never would I deny such kindness to my own brother! How I have secretly yearned for your return only the gods can tell. Come, brother, come! You shall have the finest Axon breakfast and a proper bed, let us rekindle the flame of our youth!

As dawn greets dew-wet grass
A brother returns at last
Seven years in patience passed
Long since have I laid my dreams to ash

Oh rekindled Flame
Dare not speak His name
Oh unfettered son
What gifts you were given
Why, then, did you run?

As night drapes silted shores
No laughter is heard anymore
Tales of terror and of war
Hang heavy in the dampened midnight air

Oh, recall the dream
Hunger's rising scream
Rays of glinting light
Glancing off dew-wet blades this night

Sindr tells Thanos of his travels and all the strange and dazzling splendors of Erthe; of his accomplishments, and his longing to return home and see his family.

I was there
Where once our fathers rode
Beyond this mortal coil
Toward that precipice of stone
Which stands unchanged, uncaring, and old

Thanos is enchanted by his brother’s tales, and ecstatic to see him after so many years; he welcomes him with open arms, but Vera is not so welcoming. She is suspicious of Sindr’s motives, and when the two lock eyes across the table, she recalls their uneasy past.

Sindr had long been fascinated by the power of the forested swamp that the Fendwellers call home, and would often wander into their territory alone to observe their peculiar and secretive way of life. He saw them do things he thought were impossible; magical energies seemed to emanate from their bodies, water flowed at their command, and they moved through the wood like the wind. Knowing they were not fond of visitors, Sindr hid himself behind shrubs and rocks and watched from afar, studying their strange ways.

Countless wonders I have seen
Endless skies of emerald green
Minds can never idle be
When magic stirs beyond the trees

It was not long before Vera saw Sindr on one of his little missions and followed him home. She watched him mimicking the motions of her people; he was trying to harness the same energy the Fendwellers use in the forest. Sindr’s awkward attempts made Vera laugh suddenly, alerting Sindr to her presence as he searched the treeline for the source of the sound.

Sindr: Who’s there? Who are you!

Vera (still obscured behind the trees): You’ll never be able to do it like that… especially not all the way out here.

Sindr: Do what? Who am I talking to, come out!

Vera (walking slowly toward Sindr): You can’t do what we do

Sindr: Oh? And why not?

Vera: (haha) You’re just an Erthwile farm boy from Axen… only Relics know the old ways

Sindr (taunting): And I suppose you’re a Relic then? And all your people?

Vera (defensive): I’m not a Relic! But my people still practice the old ways, not like you people… you’ve forgotten…

Sindr (playful): Well perhaps you could teach me…

You know things of which I speak
Secrets buried deep beneath
Still eclipsed in jaded truth
By the nameless wonders of my youth

*back to present*

Despite the awkward reunion between Sindr and Vera, the day carries on with bombast and celebration.

Oh, recall the dream
(In dreams we cannot die)
Hunger’s rising scream
(It calls us to its side)
Rays of glinting light
Glancing off dew-wet blades this night

No one has slept, and they start to drift off one by one as night falls. The two brothers stay up into the night and recollect their past, and Sindr convinces Thanos to come with him to an old familiar place in the forest.

Come with me to better days
To higher climes where few might stand
And never shall we tread again
On silted shores, on blackened sand

lyrics

Beyond the feeble reaches
Of conscious memory
A voice long forgotten
Echoes through the chamber of my thoughts

I cannot recall
The speaker or what was spoken
Just a whisper now
Still, it’s crying, screaming, wanting to be known

As dawn greets dew-wet grass
A brother returns at last
Seven years in patience passed
Long since have I laid my dreams to ash

Oh rekindled Flame
Dare not speak His name
Oh unfettered son
What gifts you were given
Why, then, did you run?

As night drapes silted shores
No laughter is heard anymore
Tales of terror and of war
Hang heavy in the dampened midnight air

Oh, recall the dream
Hunger's rising scream
Rays of glinting light
Glancing off dew-wet blades this night

I was there
Where once our fathers rode
Beyond this mortal coil
Toward that precipice of stone
Which stands unchanged, uncaring, and old

Countless wonders I have seen
Endless skies of emerald green
Minds can never idle be
When magic stirs beyond the trees

You know things of which I speak
Secrets buried deep beneath
Still eclipsed in jaded truth
By the nameless wonders of my youth

Oh, recall the dream
(In dreams we cannot die)
Hunger’s rising scream
(It calls us to its side)
Rays of glinting light
Glancing off dew-wet blades this night

Come with me to better days
To higher climes where few might stand
And never shall we tread again
On silted shores, on blackened sand

credits

from Of Erthe and Axen: Act I (2017), released September 12, 2017
Composed by Sam Meador and Matthew Carl Earl

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about

Xanthochroid Lake Forest, California

Woven throughout the intricate and vast soundscapes of Xanthochroid's music are tales of another world, strange names and foreign lands are characters and places in the world of Etymos. The story of two brothers; Thanos and Sindr (better known as Ereptor) forms the cornerstone upon which Xanthochroid builds their cinematic metal universe. ... more

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