The Shadow They Woke

Lyrics

[Intro] They buried the name, but the grave kept score One shove through the gate and I woke once more [Verse 1] Raised under rules written cold in a chamber They called it justice, then fed me the danger Stamped my skin with a number and sentence Built their clean towers on stolen repentance Every closed door had a hand on the latch Every false friend kept a knife in the clasp I learned how a smile can conceal a decree And a crowd can applaud while they tighten the chain on me They pushed me down, said, “Stay in your place” Then blamed my scars when I looked at their face Law in the ledger, boot on the neck They wanted obedience, harvested wreck But beneath the old armor, beneath all the dust A black-winged heartbeat remembered its trust The soil split wide when the dead heard my vow If society made me, then society meets me now [Chorus] I am the shadow they woke in the deep The oath they broke, the debt they must keep Push me again, watch the night take form I rise from betrayal, I walk through the storm No crown, no chain, no law owns my name You forged this warrior inside of the flame When the oppressed come alive, hear the iron drums call I was buried by the system—I return for it all [Verse 2] I do not hunt every soul in the crowd I hunt the design that keeps cruelty proud The judge with a blindfold stitched over one eye The polished committee that teaches us why Why hunger is failure, why silence is peace Why cages are safety, why power’s release Why truth needs permission to stand in the square While tyrants write blessings and breathe poisoned air My blade is a question they cannot erase My shield is the memory they tried to replace For every small voice they dismissed as a threat For every bright future their orders beget I carry the names in the seams of my cloak The workers, the exiles, the children who spoke When the law becomes armor for those at the top The shadow steps forward and refuses to stop [Chorus] I am the shadow they woke in the deep The oath they broke, the debt they must keep Push me again, watch the night take form I rise from betrayal, I walk through the storm No crown, no chain, no law owns my name You forged this warrior inside of the flame When the oppressed come alive, hear the iron drums call I was buried by the system—I return for it all [Bridge] Not a monster by birth, not a curse from the sky I was shaped by the hands that kept asking me why Why I would not kneel, why I would not forget Why a soul under pressure becomes a threat If justice is real, let it open the door If freedom is yours, why are soldiers at war With the poor and the bruised and the ones without rank? I rise for the living, not praise for the dead [Final Chorus] I am the shadow they woke in the deep The oath they broke, the debt they must keep Push me again, watch the night take form I rise from betrayal, I walk through the storm No crown, no chain, no law owns my name You forged this warrior inside of the flame When the oppressed come alive, hear the iron drums call I was buried by the system—I return for it all [Outro] Tell every locked gate I remember the sound Tell every false throne the buried come round I do not need darkness to prove I am strong I became the warning they silenced too long