Baptism in Blood

Steel meets flesh for the first time
His hands shake but the blade won't lie
Twenty winters, never known this fear
Now crimson paints his conscience clear

The drums of war drown out his screams
Reality tears apart his dreams
A boy who held a wooden sword
Now holds a life he can't restore

Eyes that plead, then fade to grey
The innocence he lost today
Thunder roars through blood-soaked ground
In chaos, he is finally found

Fight through the fire!
Break through the storm!
Feel the weight of every soul you mourn!
Rage against reason!
Drown in the red!
This is the price, dance with the dead!

Moonlight bleeds through armored skies
Illuminates the sacrifice
The frenzy takes what conscience gave
Transforming shepherd into slave

Silver shadows dance with death
He takes another's final breath
But something darker pulls him deep
Where humanity and madness meet

No turning back from what he's done
The battle's lost, though he has won
Each breath tastes like iron and ash
Each heartbeat marks another slash

Fight through the fire!
Break through the storm!
Feel the weight of every soul you mourn!
Rage against reason!
Drown in the red!
This is the price—dance with the dead!

Now the Moon bears witness to his shame
He can't remember the first fallen's name
Just a face that haunts his waking dreams
Nothing's ever what it seems

The rush fades into hollow dread
Counting ghosts among the dead
Was it glory? Was it survival's call?
Or did he lose his soul through it all?

What have I become in the darkness?
A monument to blood and heartless
The rush, the rage, the primal call
Makes him feel invincible
And so small

Fight through the fire!
Burn through the pain!
Nothing will ever be the same again!
Lost in the madness!
Born in the blade!
This is the soldier that violence made!

When silence falls and banners cease
He finds no honor, finds no peace
Just trembling hands and hollow eyes
And one more truth that war denies
Beneath the Moon, he kneels alone
A killer's heart, turned into stone