I Won't Ascend

The palace holds its breath tonight Cold marble under broken light His blood is warm upon the stone But I am not his own Cazador, your voice is dust Your chains are ash, your crown is rust You wrote my skin in blades and shame Then called that pain my name I wore your hunger like a mask Smiled through every filthy task A vampire spawn, a pretty lie Too dead to live, too proud to die Now the scars begin to burn And all the dark waits for my word One step, one cut, one final sin And I could let the monster in I won't ascend I won't become you I won't pretend Your throne is freedom I break the rite I choose the end I own my night I won't ascend Seven thousand voices cry Beneath a stolen, starving sky I know the sound behind their teeth It sounds too much like me Power whispers, soft and sweet Kneel the world beneath my feet But every chain I'd make tonight Would drag me from the light I was carved to be your blade A perfect thing that you could trade But I am more than what you planned Your blood is on my empty hands I won't ascend I won't become you I won't pretend Your throne is freedom I break the rite I choose the end I own my night I won't ascend Let the palace fall behind me Let the old fear lose my name I was never born for mercy But I can choose it all the same No more master in the mirror No more hunger dressed as grace If the sun is torn away from me I still decide my face I am not your heir I am not your curse I am not the prayer That makes the slaughter worse I am teeth and grief I am rage and skin But the cage you built Is not the shape I'm in I won't ascend I won't become you I won't pretend Your throne is freedom I break the rite I choose the end I own my night I won't ascend I won't ascend I won't become you I lost the sun But not my freedom No crown, no chain No blood red hymn I live with pain I won't ascend The dark is mine to walk again Not as a lord, not as a slave I leave your palace with my name And nothing left to prove