[Weaver 1]
Tkáyo looks down at the skeleton through the glass enclosure, and begins to feel a strange connection to the unknown individual encased within: Evidenced by the jade dagger that had been plunged deep into their chest, this person seemed to have been classed as some form of “outsider”, something that Tkáyo can only sympathise with all too well, in particular his noticeable disability...

[Verse 1]
Picture this as I set the scene for you;
Watch the wheel of time reverse:
An incident that had killed this young man's youth,
With no prospect of rebirth...
There's a cruise ship beneath a midnight sky
As it sails in the Ringlight;
On board, the child goes to sleep and shuts his eyes
With the sound of the river and a kiss goodnight

It was never meant to go this way
Everything had changed that fateful day
Now the memory'll never fade away...

[Chorus]
--Tkáyo:
The screams and the fire: all I hear when I close my eyes
(A twist into tragedy, a bloodied cacophony)
Made battered and broken
From chaotic commotion — Left there to die
This innocent dreamer will never be the same
(The fear overwhelming me, immeasurable agony)
With this hand made of steel,
This scar will never heal — My cross to bear

[Weaver 2]
While no official report was filed, eyewitness accounts tell of a small fire that had started in the liner's engine room. And with her fuel foolishly located nearby, it only accelerated the ship's unfortunate demise...

[Verse 2]
With a crash like the world had broke in two
All awoke to attention
A vicious blaze had obscured the outside view
With a rise in temperature
Panic hits as the water starts to rise
But it fails to extinguish
Evacuation is vital to survive
Lest we be tragedy or statistic

Like a record player stuck on repeat
Every night I keep replaying the scenes:
Is there someone who'll exorcise these demons?

{rpt Chorus}

[Weaver 3]
With his arm crushed underneath the vessel's smouldering wreckage upon the riverbank, the young Tkáyo faintly hears the sound of sirens get ever increasingly louder. But while he remains hopeful that he and all others will be rescued, the shock of the night's events are too great for him as he slips into unconsciousness...

[Bridge]
--Tkáyo:
Eyes open, I lie on a table
I'm blinded, yet see a light overhead...
Did I survive this?
It feels like there's something that's missing
Like I had got what I was wishing for
But didn't read the fine print

I see the metal in place of skin
But all I feel is the phantom limb

The chains and springs that are strapped to me
Attachments forever a part of me now
Hitting hard like a blunderbuss:
A life that I'm forced to readjust

Left to be less than what I've been

[Chorus (variant)]
--Tkáyo:
The screams and the fire: all I hear when I close my eyes
They said I'll feel better;
They'll put me back together to resume my life
This innocent dreamer will never be the same
With this hand made of steel,
This scar will never heal — My cross to bear