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Let no man breach the gate to this most blasphemous of halls.

Lest bitterness and chaos be the harvest they wouldst reap

He must n'er become a slave to this Child's beck and call

For she must never waken from her Crimson Sleep..

The monastery stood towering above the ruined city

It shadowed all the new emerging settlements and homes

To look down on the ruins was to sympathize and pity

All the suffering and heartache, all the graves and broken bones

For buried there a testament to the evil of a queen

A misery that spread across a weak and stricken land

The crimson birth that swamped the earth in dark and deadly dreams

And all mankind did bow beneath the power of her hand

And in the monastery garden sat a woman with a book

A manuscript that lay within her frail and trembling arms

She looked around her nervously as guilt rose in her heart

But the sway of curiosity had drawn her out too far

She wavered on the threshold of a dangerous decision

For this dark tome was no for human eyes to ever read

The pages dripped with legions of persuasive words and visions

So the volume had been hidden well, but now it had been freed

For no apparent reason had the woman been drawn in

Perhaps it was a twist of fate, an absence of real thought

She wandered to a room that before she'd never been

And all at once the interest of her senses had been caught

For no apparent reason had the women been drawn in

Where rows of dusty books lay in an ominous display

But one ancient leather binding had the grain of human skin

And seized with curiosity she stole this book away

And now she sat alone in the concealment of the night

She was hungry now to liberate the writings from their cage

The glimmer of a feeble moon provided her with light

As she opened up the cover and began to read the page

Fly, soul, the body's guest,

Upon your impish arrant

Let none be guiled by false confession

Truth shall be your warrant

Fly soul for your body must die

And thy sprit will gorge on new life

But for those who seek eternity

For those who yearn prosperity

From this single act of sanity

Will raise you far above humanity

Oh willing host who doth not know

The full desire of this prisoner

You walk where angels fear to go

Thou shalt soon embrace the reckoner

Thy halo of glory, hope's true gage

May prove to be an evil pilgrimage

Something had happened beyond her control

A moment of madness unfettered a soul

That would relish a freedom denied once before

By a desperate nation with it's back to the wall

Within a split second of reading this text

The spirit was free and had fled from its nest

It was eager to grow from this sudden reprieve

And thus in the woman a life was conceived

From the beginning the world was misled

As a baby was born in a monastery bed

The miracle happening here on this Earth

Was perceived as a glorious new Virgin Birth

Oh willing host who doth not know

The full desire of this prisoner

You walk where angels fear to go

Thou shalt soon embrace the reckoner

From the moment in time that baby was born

The sun did now rise on a new Crimson dawn

And the creature just bided its time undiscovered

So safe in the cradling arms of the mother

(Lead: Dan)

But for those who seek eternity

For those who yearn prosperity

From this single act of sanity

Will raise you far above humanity

Secure from the world, the child remained hidden

A serpent disguised in the Garden of Eden

And all who looked down on this newly born babe

Were ignorant now of the path this would take

The people were blind to the subtle control

That was exercised daily upon every soul

With no room to question this delicate life

All fears would be drowned and all doubts would be stifled

But one single mind did stand out from the crowd

Though quiet at first - with hardly a sound

The Mother Superior harbored suspicion

Brought to her heart by three simple visions

The Visions

The first was a planet engulfed by the sea

No dry land in sight, not a mountain or tree

No rock jutted out from the endless horizon

Or flowers to mark out the changing of seasons

No animals dwelt in the forests or fields

All life was extinct; its fate had been sealed

By the curse of a violent unstoppable flood

Mankind had been drowned in an ocean of blood

The next revelation was vivid and cruel

It depicted two swordsmen engrossed in a duel

The one held a sword that was silver and pure

The other a sword that was red to the core

They fought as the sun rose high in the sky

Their fight would not end until one of them died

No room did they have for an error to make

For the future of life was the trophy at stake

But one of the warriors flouted the rules

And with cunning and guile had the other one fooled

As he held up his hands in a gesture of peace

The silver opponent allowed this retreat

Then the man with the red sword attacked from behind

Left the silver sword fighter defeated and blind

Then carnage ensued that no man could condone

As the bloody red blade sliced through sinew and bone

All day did the swordsman attack without halt

Through the other lay dead from the frenzied assault

Until by the twilight and all that remained

Were the echoes of death and a fresh crimson stain

And so came the third of these unyielding visions

A picture of war and ferocious divisions

An army of saviors marching as one

Aware that the end had already begun

They arrived in a field, which was wide and expansive

They waited in silence both ready and pensive

The grassland was strewn with small crimson petals

Their fragrance was sweet with the stench of the devil

And slowly but surely they fell into sleep

Their consciousness gone as they slumped in defeat

And there they still lie bereft of their willpower

Brought to their knees by the strength of a flower

The three visions, the Mother Superior bore

A bitter forewarning of what was in store

This infant so frail must not grow to be strong

The world was at risk if she waited too long

So veiled by the blackness of night she did creep

And enter where mother and child were both asleep

And onwards she moved to where the crib lay

She leant over the baby and started to pray

She prayed for forgiveness for what she would do

She prayed that the knife in her hand would aim true

But all of a sudden she was now paralyzed

The baby daughter had opened her eyes

(Lead: Mike)

And into those eyes, the woman gazed

The look in her face was both haunted and crazed

She was smothered and swamped in confusion and sadness

The first to be gripped by this foul crimson madness

This brutal psychosis could not be explained

No one single cause was suggested or blamed

But no one could think that a child was involved

And the mystery illness remained unresolved

So all seemed as normal for seven short years

A veil of deception dissolved any fears

But there was one lapse in the child's disguise

And that could be seen in the depths of her eyes

The message could clearly be discovered there

In the glimpse of the universe found in her stare

Her gaze hypnotic, unbearably strong

Suspicions were growing, it wouldn't be long

Oh willing host who doth not know

The full desire of this prisoner

You walk where angels fear to go

Thou shalt soon embrace the reckoner

Now and then a question would be raised

Strong misgivings threatened to be voiced

But these were judgments wiser not to say

To doubt the child could prove to be a rash and deadly choice

By now the Crimson reign had proved too much

The monastery was shadowed under dread

But fear decreed that hostile thoughts be crushed

For the creature had the power to crawl inside your head

The mother in her darkest moment knew

The time had come for action to be taken

A journey must be made to hidden truths

She must return and read again the book she had forsaken