"What the Mountain Remembers"

Verse 1
Seven days on a road with no name,
Feathers gone gray like a storm before rain,
I walked through an arch where the letters still hold —
Ironstride, carved in the old-world gold.
The hammer was ringing, the forge kept its beat,
But something was moving beneath my feet,
A voice in the stone that I couldn't quite hear,
Calling my name like it's known me for years.
Chorus
Oh, the mountain remembers what the mountain was owed,
Every name in the bloodline, every step on that road,
I came for a story, I found a debt instead —
Now the town's got blood on its hands, and it's mine to be paid.
Verse 2
Mira poured coffee and looked away fast,
Garrick said "don't go" like he'd seen this before,
The plaque on the statue scratched out and erased —
Some names, once spoken, you can't take back anymore.
I went to the quarry, I touched what was sealed,
A pillar of stone with a wound never healed,
The forges all answered, the whole town shook,
For a secret my own blood had written and took.
Chorus
Oh, the mountain remembers what the mountain was owed,
Every name in the bloodline, every step on that road,
I came for a story, I found a debt instead —
Now the town's got blood on its hands, and it's mine to be paid.
Bridge
A child with her palms wrapped in cloth,
Never asked for the price of my choice,
Aldric's house standing empty and cold,
A mark on the hearth where the silence still holds.
I didn't mean it — but meaning's not enough,
When the ground remembers and the reckoning's rough,
Steelstride, Ironstride, one blood, two names,
Some debts don't care who's the one that they claim.
Final Chorus
Oh, the mountain remembers what the mountain was owed,
Every name in the bloodline, every step on that road,
I came through the gate just to see what was there —
Now the whole town is listening, and it isn't fair.