The Last Light of Autumn

Wake the soldier from the ice, Blue light burning in his mind. Autumn falls through alien skies, And a ring waits, bright and blind. We ran from Reach with ashes in our lungs, A broken ship, a war not yet won. Then heaven curved across the void, Too perfect to be safe, too silent to avoid. Steel corridors, warning lights, Marines held doors against the night. Cortana whispered through the fire, "Keep moving forward, climb higher." Every name became a signal, Every signal turned to rain. On a world that looked like wonder, We learned wonder could bring pain. When the last light of Autumn falls, And the ring breaks open under us all, I will carry the silence, I will answer the call, One man, one voice, one fading star. If no one hears us across the dark, We were here, we fought, we left a mark. Let the sky come down, let the heavens scar, We are the last light of Autumn. The map was old, the gods were gone, Stone sang cold beneath the sun. We chased the truth through temple doors, But truth was sleeping under the floor. In the swamp where the green fog crawled, The brave went quiet, one by one. The Flood wore faces we used to know, And the ring's holy halo turned hollow. A little machine with a sacred lie Promised mercy through extinction. But Cortana saw the murder inside That ancient, golden mission. When the last light of Autumn falls, And the ring breaks open under us all, I will carry the silence, I will answer the call, One man, one voice, one fading star. If no one hears us across the dark, We were here, we fought, we left a mark. Let the sky come down, let the heavens scar, We are the last light of Autumn. Echo Four-Nineteen, through the smoke, You came back when the whole sky broke. We never saw your final flame, But the static still remembers your name. Keyes was gone, the crew was lost, Every victory came with cost. No parade, no open shore, Just a Warthog screaming through a dying war. Reactor doors open wide, Red lights count the end of time. Covenant fire, Flood at our heels, Metal screams beneath the wheels. Run through the wreckage, run through the ghosts, Run for the ones we needed most. Autumn burns, Halo cries, A thousand stars in our eyes. When the last light of Autumn falls, And the ring breaks open under us all, I will carry the silence, I will answer the call, One man, one voice, one fading star. If no one hears us across the dark, We were here, we fought, we left a mark. Let the sky come down, let the heavens scar, We are the last light of Autumn. Now the ring is dust behind us, And the stars are cold and wide. A soldier drifts with a voice beside him, Not dead, not done, still alive. Autumn fades into the black, But legends burn when ships collapse. From the silence, from the scar, The last light becomes a star.