It's been a longer time coming than I said it would - but here's the first epic of the album! Though the time of the actual song is closer to eight minutes, with the lengthy piano introduction also included.

People have asked me how I come up with ideas for songs, and I can't really describe where they come from - it's just when I find something that deserves saying. A lot of the seeds of these ideas come unintentionally from conversations with friends I've made here - this one is undeniably because of  ravenworks, and for the fascination of seeing the differences and similarities in our strange desires as we express them here.

This is one of those odd songs where I actually like the lyrics more than the tune - somehow, I absolutely couldn't think of a melody for the verse, and it took a lot of deleted attempts on both the first and second variants of it before I reached the unusual minor-major switching verse that exists now. The chorus, however, is one of my favourites ever :)

Lyrics

I've never seen the world in ways they told me to
I hear their words, but everyone seems slightly out of tune
They tell me there are things that they keep hidden from their lives
A place where no one dares to look for fear of what they'd find

But I see brightest colours in the void that no one else can see
Content to spend their time lost in the dark
How can they live like this, ignoring all the miracles of life
How can they live like this, not knowing who they are

There are elements inside us
And all our lives they guide us
Who can say what goes to form our fragile human minds
With every one of them connected
In ways that we can't find
The elements that fuse to form our lives

And those that seemed so far apart can be so near
To find the breaking point when fascination becomes fear
Place them all together, feel the fragments that combine
They're branching out forever, form a map of all their minds

How can they live like this, not knowing where the answers really lie
How can they live like this, not knowing who they are

There are elements inside us
And all our lives they guide us
Who can say what goes to form our fragile human minds
With every one of them connected
In ways that we can't find
The elements that fuse to form our lives

Each one of them a shining star
Lost in a sea of shame and fear of what they are
Define them, and the threads will come undone
Keep pushing on to find their facets one by one

Regression, possession
Submission, trepidation
Corruption, consumption
Fusion, obliteration

Machinist, marauder
Crossing forbidden borders
Empowerment, entrapment
Perfection so abhorrent

Seduction, confirmation
To find your fascination
These fires inside us
They fuel our mad desires
Elements that fuse to form our lives

You could fly higher
If you don't believe you'll ever fall
Escape the walls of your sanctuary
That you built so strong and tall

Hear the sound, the barriers breaking down
And only then you'll see the endless dark
How can you live like this, ignoring all the miracles of life
How can you live like this, not knowing who you are

There are elements inside us
All our lives, they stay in silence
But always there to guide us
Who can say what goes to form our fragile human minds
With every one of them connected
In ways that we can't find
The elements that fuse to form our lives

So many elements inside us
That separate and bind us
Every atom goes to form our wondrous human minds
With every one of us connected
In ways we have to find
The elements that come together
Guiding our own minds forever
Elements that fuse to form our lives