Hello Everyone!
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been composing songs for the Neverseek books—little ballads designed to shed light on some of the history and enhance the immersive experience for readers, allowing them to delve deeper into the world of Neverseek and its diverse cultures. Books 1 through 4 of Neverseek comprise the Gideon Arc, and one of its most celebrated heroes and figures of legend is King Gideon.
Before King Gideon, the interior of the Great Lush was a fragmented landscape of Feudal Kingdoms and warring Nomadic Tribes. Towns and Castles dotted The Great Lush, and warfare was a constant reality. This song is a ballad dedicated to the King who brought unity to the two Kingdoms.
The Ballad of King Gideon
Lyrics by Joshua with Autotune, instrumental from FruityLoops and Gemini Neverseek API.
(A traditional Gideonite epic ballad, often sung on the Day of the Bulwark)
The Swarm came down like winter’s bite, A chittering, endless, hungry night. Our fathers’ shields were splintered wood, Against the tide of chitin, scale, and blood. The fields were burned, the streams ran black, The monster wore the mountain on its back.
No king was he by blood or birth, Just a poor son of common earth. A boy who walked the muddy street, With hungry gut and calloused feet. Then Gideon walked, no crown he wore, A priest who’d seen the rot and gore.
He journeyed to the mountain’s heart, To play a brave and desperate part. He spoke with Dwarves in halls of stone, And faced the darkness all alone. They gave him gifts of awesome might, The storm’s own fury, day and night.
He came back down, no longer meek, With lightning flashing on his cheek. The sky itself became his steed, To serve the people in their need. He rode the wind, a soaring king, And made the very storm-clouds sing!
(Chorus) Oh, Gideon, Gideon, Storm-King born, Who met the darkness with the dawn! With wind as shield and lightning-spear, He broke the Swarm and banished fear!
The Hiv’erek shrieked, a hateful sound, As lightning struck the trembling ground. He called the thunder from the height, And turned their darkness into light. He broke their lines upon the plain, And washed the land with cleansing rain.
He raised the walls, so tall and grand, The finest fortress in the land. He built the Citadel so high, To watch the lake and guard the sky. He gave us laws and gave us peace, A golden age that would not cease.
(Chorus) Oh, Gideon, Gideon, Storm-King born, Who met the darkness with the dawn! With wind as shield and lightning-spear, He broke the Swarm and banished fear!
He ruled for years, his legend grew, But shadows crept in, old and new. The Storm-King feared the coming breeze, And heard a whisper in the trees. He saw a threat in every face, And built his walls to guard the space.
He ruled for years, a king of might, Who held the storm and owned the light. He built an empire, strong and true, For me, my friend, and now for you. But stone will crumble, steel will rust, And even kings must turn to dust.
The lightning sleeps within the stone, The wind no longer hears his moan. For though he conquered beast and night, And ruled the sky with all his might, The one great foe he could not beat, Was death, that brings both sour and sweet.