Doo-Wop Warlock

(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day…)
(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day…)

I walked back through the gates with a full pack on my back
Half of it's junk and the other half is dented
The blacksmith takes my gold and hammers out the cracks
And I sit down by the fountain feeling heavy and contented

Back to town, back to town
(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day)
Back to town, back to town
(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day)
Melt it down, stock it up, patch the holes
Back to town — same old ground beneath my soles

(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day…)

I sell the swords I'll never swing, the shields I'll never carry
The merchant doesn't ask me where I've been
I buy another round of red, another round of blue
And I tell myself I'm heading back again

But I sit down on the bench beside the healer
And I watch the people walk their quiet lives
And I wonder what it's like to not hear knocking from below
To just be someone's husband, someone's wife

Back to town, back to town
(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day)
Back to town, back to town
(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day)
Melt it down, stock it up, patch the holes
Back to town — same old ground beneath my soles

(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day…)
(Back to town… doo-dah-day…)

The thing is I could stay here — I could stop
There's a room above the tavern I could rent
But every time I close my eyes I see the dark
And I know the axe alone won't make a dent

There's a woman on the edge of town they whisper about
Books and candles, circles on her floor
They say she talks to things that don't belong here
They say she opens doors that aren't doors

I've been swinging steel since the day I first walked in
And the steel has done me fine — it's done me proud
But something's pulling me toward a different kind of fire
And the knocking from below is getting loud

Back to town, back to town
(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day)
Back to town — but not for long
(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day)
There's a circle waiting and a word I've never spoken
Back to town — and everything's about to change

(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day…)
(Doo-dah-day, doo-dah-day…)
(Back to town… doo-dah-day…)

(Round and round and round…)
(Round and round and round…)

She handed me the chalk and said "don't stop once you start"
She said "the line has got to close or it won't hold"
I got down on my knees on her basement floor
And I drew the first curve shaking in the cold

Round and round and round I drew
(Round and round and round)
Round and round and round I drew
(Round and round and round)
She taught me the symbols, she taught me the signs
I drew them at the edges of the line
Round and round until it closes
Then you speak — and something answers from behind

(Round and round and round…)

The chalk felt warm against the stone
By the second symbol I could feel the floor start humming
By the third one something shifted in the air
And I knew that what I'd called for — it was coming

She said "don't look away and don't step out"
She said "the circle is the only thing between"
I said "between me and what?" and she just smiled
And said "between you and everything you've never seen"

Round and round and round I drew
(Round and round and round)
Round and round and round I drew
(Round and round and round)
The chalk is burning and the air is getting thin
The circle's almost closed — here we go
Round and round until it closes
Then you speak — and something answers from below

(Round and round and round…)
(Something's coming… round and round…)
(Something's coming… round and round…)

I wrote the last symbol and the circle snapped shut
The floor lit up like someone set the stone on fire
The air above the circle started folding in
Like a window opening — but from somewhere higher

I said the word she taught me — just one word
It tasted strange, it wasn't made for human mouths
And something in the circle started glowing
And a voice I'd never heard said —

"Well. Here I am."

(Round and round and round…)
(Round and round and round…)
(Here I am… round and round…)

(Pew-pew-pew, pew-pew-pew…)
(Yappity-yap, I'm gonna send him back)

I drew the circle, spoke the word, the air cracked open wide
I was expecting something terrible and grand
Instead I got a thing the size of a cat on fire
Who sneezed a spark and burned a hole right through my hand

He told me his name — I couldn't pronounce it
Fourteen syllables of something old and mean
But he's two feet tall and he's mostly made of giggling
And he's the least impressive thing I've ever seen

My little imp
(Pew-pew-pew!)
My little imp
(Yappity-yap, I'm gonna send him back!)
He throws his fire at the wrong guy every time
He set my pack on fire twice and burned my last good scroll
My little imp — he's a full-time job
And I haven't even made it to the hole

(Pew-pew-pew, yappity-yap)
(I'm gonna send him back!)

I told him "hit the skeleton" — he hit the wall instead
I told him "stay behind me" — he ran ahead and tripped
I told him "stop laughing" and he laughed so hard
He floated upside down and shot the ceiling — what a gift

The monsters aren't afraid of him — I get it
I'm barely even sure he's on my side
But every time I try to send him back
He looks at me with those big burning eyes

My little imp
(Pew-pew-pew!)
My little imp
(Yappity-yap — should I send him back?)
He throws his fire at the wrong guy every time
He set my cloak on fire and I had to put it out mid-fight
My little imp — I didn't ask for this
But I guess he's mine tonight

(Pew-pew-pew, yappity-yap)
(Should I send him back?)

The thing about an imp is he doesn't know he's small
The thing about an imp is he thinks he's breathing doom
He puffs his little chest and throws a firebolt the size of a grape
And struts around the corpse like he just cleared the room

And I'm sitting there with singed eyebrows
Watching this ridiculous little creature celebrate
And I think — you know what, buddy, you're a mess
But you showed up when I called and that's already great

My little imp
(Pew-pew-pew!)
My little imp
(Yappity-yap — I'll never send him back)
He throws his fire at the wrong guy every time
He's loud and he's useless and he's slightly on fire
My little imp — but he's my little imp
And I wouldn't send him back if I could

(Pew-pew-pew, yappity-yap)
(I'll never send him back!)
(Pew-pew-pew, yappity-yap)
(He's mine! Pew-pew-pew! …)

(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah…)
(Ooh-na-na)
(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah…)

I practiced the summoning like she taught me on her floor
Drew the circle, said the word, the air tore open like before
And someone new was standing where the light had been
I said "who are you?" and they said something I couldn't fit in

Fourteen syllables that tasted like a thunderstorm
A name that's older than the ground I'm standing on
I tried to say it back — my mouth just wasn't built for it
Like fitting an ocean through a door that's drawn on

I didn't choose your name
(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah)
But I chose to make you mine
(Ooh-na-na… nah-zu-rah)
I didn't choose your name
But I chose to make you mine
And I can't say what you are
But you're here — and you're mine

(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah…)

My imp was someone too before I called him here
He had a life inside that other place
I was so busy dodging firebolts
I never stopped to look him in the face

What were you doing when my circle pulled you through?
Were you sleeping? Were you somewhere warm?
Did you have a choice or did my chalk just grab you
The way a wind picks up before a storm?

I didn't choose your name
(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah)
But I chose to make you mine
(Nah-zu-rah… ooh-na-na)
I didn't choose your name
But I chose to make you mine
You came from somewhere I will never understand
But you're here — and you're mine

(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah…)
(Ooh-na-na)
(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah…)

We sat down in the dark between two fights
I said "I'm never gonna get it right, your name"
You shrugged — or what passes for a shrug
When your shoulders are made out of smoke and flame

You said something short — two syllables
And pointed at yourself and then at me
I said it back and you almost smiled
And that was close enough for you — so it's close enough for me

I didn't choose your name
(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah)
But I chose to make you mine
(Ooh-na-na… nah-zu-rah)
I didn't choose your name
But I chose to make you mine
You gave me something I could say
And I say it every day

(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah…)

The woman on the edge of town never told me this part
She taught me chalk and symbols and the word
She never said that what comes through the circle
Is a person — not a tool, not a spell, not a bird

(Free to fly away)
(Fly away, fly away, free to fly away, free, free)

No — you're bound to me
And I chose that — I chose it
And your name — the real one — I'll never know the weight of it
But the one you gave me fits between my teeth
And I whisper it before every fight like a prayer
(Like a prayer, oh, like a prayer-prayer-prayer)

I didn't choose your name
(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah)
But I chose to make you mine
(Nah-zu-rah… ooh-na-na)
I didn't choose your name
But I chose to make you mine
Bound and named and never free
And somehow — somehow — you still fight for me

(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah…)
(Ooh-na-na)
(Nah-zu-rah… nah-zu-rah…)
(Ooh-na-na… Nah-zu-rah… )

(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon…)
(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon…)

I drew the circle bigger this time — I'd been warned
The chalk burned hotter and the air split wide
And someone stepped through that I wasn't ready for
She looked around the dungeon and she sighed

She was taller than the doorway that she came through
She looked at me like something she might keep
I said "I summoned you" and she said "obviously"
And leaned against the wall and went to sleep

Big sister from the void
(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon!)
Big sister from the void
(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon!)
She showed up like she'd rather be at home
I didn't ask for attitude — I asked for help
But that's what happens when you summon the unknown

(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon…)

I cast a fireball — she didn't even flinch
She walked right through the fight like it was rain
The demons that I'd struggled with for hours
She handled with a look and half a yawn of disdain

I asked her "aren't you gonna help me fight?"
She cracked one eye and said "I thought I just did"
Three enemies were down behind her back
I hadn't even seen her move — but something did

Big sister from the void
(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon!)
Big sister from the void
(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon!)
She does more damage standing still than I do running
And she makes sure that I know it every time
Big sister from the void —
She's the thunder and I'm barely even the chime

(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon…)
(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon…)

But here's the thing about a big sister from the void
She doesn't let anything get close to me
I saw a demon twice my size come charging
And she stepped in front of me like it was free

She didn't even look back — didn't check
Just put herself between me and the dark
And for someone who pretends she doesn't care
That felt an awful lot like heart

Big sister from the void
(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon!)
Big sister from the void
(Too cool, too cool — but she's here)
She rolls her eyes at everything I do
But nothing's getting past her to get to me
Big sister from the void —
She'd never say it but I think she likes this team

(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon…)
(Big sister! Too cool!)
(Too cool, too cool, too cool for this dungeon…)
(She's mine! Too cool! …)

(Blue glow, blue, blue, ooh, ooh, glow…)
(Blue glow, blue glow…)

I don't know where his face is — if he has one
He's a swirl of something blue that holds an axe
There are eyes in there — I think — or something like them
But every time I look they shift and track

He stood up when I summoned him and waited
Didn't speak, didn't posture, didn't preen
Just looked at me — or aimed at me, or felt me
The quietest thing I've ever seen

My right hand demon
(Blue glow, blue glow)
My right hand demon
(Blue glow, blue glow)
I can't describe him and I can't explain
How a storm learns how to hold an axe
But he's standing right beside me in the dark
And nothing's getting through — and that's a fact

(Blue glow, blue, blue, ooh, ooh, glow…)
(My right hand demon… blue glow…)

The first time something hit him I went cold
I saw the blue flicker and I thought he'd break apart
But he pulled himself together like a fist
And swung that axe like nothing touched his heart

He takes the hits I couldn't take myself
He stands where I would fall and holds the line
I pour everything I've got into the fight behind him
And I watch his blue to make sure that he's fine

My right hand demon
(Blue glow, blue glow)
My right hand demon
(Blue glow, blue glow)
He doesn't talk and I don't know his face
But I know the way his blue looks when he's tired
And I know the way it brightens when he's ready
My right hand demon — I have never felt so safe

(Blue glow, blue, blue, ooh, ooh, glow…)
(Blue glow, blue glow…)

Between the fights he doesn't pace or wander
He just settles — like a lantern on the ground
A pool of blue that hums against the stone
The softest, warmest, steadiest sound

I sit beside him and I don't say anything
There's nothing I could say that he would need
He's not waiting for my thanks or my attention
He's just here — the way the dark is here
But kind — and blue — and good

My right hand demon
(Blue glow, blue, blue, ooh, ooh, glow…)
My right hand demon
(Blue glow, blue glow)
I can't see his face but I know when he's happy
I can't hear his voice but I know when he's near
He's a storm with an axe and the patience of a mountain
My right hand demon — my blue glow in the mirror of my fear

(Blue glow, blue, blue, ooh, ooh, glow…)
(Right hand demon… blue glow…)
(Blue glow, blue glow…)
(Blue glow, blue, blue, ooh, ooh, glow…)

(Don't die, don't die, don't die…)
(Don't die, don't die, don't die…)

The fight went sideways and I saw his blue go dim
Three of them hit him at once and he went down to one knee
I dropped every spell I had mid-cast
And put both hands out and started pouring me

I felt my own blood slow, my vision swim
The warmth went out of me and into him
His blue got brighter and my legs got weak
But I kept going — I can rest when this is finished

Never let your demon die
(Don't die, don't die, don't die!)
Never let your demon die
(Don't die, don't die, don't die!)
Give him everything you've got
Every drop of red you're drinking now is not for you
Never let your demon die
He held the line for me — the least that I can do

(Don't die, don't die, don't die…)
(Don't die, don't die, don't die…)

The monsters see me standing still and start to circle
They know I can't fight back while I'm mid-chant
My hands are shaking and my health is dropping
But if I stop now he's gone — and that I can't

His axe is on the ground beside his knee
His blue is barely there — just flickers, sparks
I'm giving him the last of what I've got
And praying that it's enough to hold against the dark

Never let your demon die
(Don't die, don't die, don't die!)
Never let your demon die
(Don't die, don't die, don't die!)
I can feel myself going grey around the edges
I can feel the cold where my own warmth used to be
Never let your demon die
He'd do the same for me — he does it every fight for me

(Don't die, don't die, don't die…)
(Hold on… don't die…)
(Hold on… don't die…)

And then his blue comes back — a flood, a wave
He pulls himself up off the floor and grabs his axe
I fall to both my knees completely empty
And he steps in front of me and watches my back

I'm drinking every potion in my pack
Red after red until my hands stop shaking
He didn't say thank you — he never does
He just stood there, blue and patient, while I finished breaking

Never let your demon die
(Don't die, don't die, don't die!)
Never let your demon die
(Don't die, don't die — he's back)
I gave him half of everything I had
And I'd do it again, I'd do it every time
Never let your demon die
Because he's more than what I summoned — he's the reason I'm alive

(Don't die, don't die, don't die…)
(Blue glow… don't die…)
(Blue glow… don't die…)
(Don't die… don't die… )

(Come on through, come on through!)
(Come on through, come on through!)

I drew the circle wide — the widest yet
I spoke the word and then I spoke it twice
The air didn't just crack — it shattered open
And the first thing through was my imp — and then his friends arrived

Three imps, then five, then more than I could count
Firebolts in every direction, none of them aimed right
The dungeon lit up like a birthday cake on fire
And I hadn't even started the real fight

Party from another dimension!
(Come on through, come on through!)
Party from another dimension!
(Come on through, come on through!)
I opened up the door and said "everyone's invited"
And the void said "don't mind if we do!"
Party from another dimension —
And the guests are still arriving two by two

(Come on through, come on through!)
(Party! Come on through!)

Something with a floating eye drifted past my shoulder
Something with tentacles gave me what I think was a wave
A thing with wings I couldn't count was perching on the ceiling
And my big sister from the void just rolled her eyes and raised her blade

My right hand demon waded in like always
Blue and steady in the middle of the storm
But around him — chaos, beautiful chaos
Every shape and size and color, every form

Party from another dimension!
(Come on through, come on through!)
Party from another dimension!
(Come on through, come on through!)
I've got eyeballs, I've got tentacles, I've got wings
I've got things I've never seen and can't describe
Party from another dimension —
And somehow every single one is on my side

(Come on through, come on through!)
(Come on through, come on through!)

The monsters down here used to make me run
The monsters down here used to make me pray
But now I've got my own monsters — stranger and wilder
And the darkness is the one that backs away

My imp is cackling on a pile of bones
The floating eye is staring something dead
A tentacle is waving from a doorway
And something I can't see just cleared the room ahead

Party from another dimension!
(Come on through, come on through!)
Party from another dimension!
(Come on through, come on through!)
They come and go like guests who've got somewhere to be
Pop in, fight something, vanish with a grin
Party from another dimension —
And there's always someone new just walking in

(Come on through, come on through!)
(Party! Come on through!)
(Come on through, come on through!)

I'm standing in the middle of my army
If you'd told me this the day I picked my class
I'd have said you're crazy — me, with demons?
But here I am, surrounded — and I'm having a blast

My imp, my sister, my right hand blue
And a rotating cast of beautiful bizarre
I opened up a door into another world
And the world came through — and now we're what we are

Party from another dimension!
(Come on through, come on through!)
Party from another dimension!
(Come on through — but she's here!)
From one imp to an army of the strange
From a circle on the floor to this
Party from another dimension —
I never knew the void could feel like bliss

(Come on through, come on through…)
(Come on through, come on through…)
(Party… come on through… )

(Hmmm… hmmm… hmmm…)
(Hmmm… hmmm… hmmm…)

The fight's been over for an hour now
The hallway's quiet and the torches have burned low
My imp is sleeping in a pile of ash he made
My big sister's got her back against the wall — eyes closed

The blue glow's dimmer when he rests
Just a puddle on the floor beside my knee
I should be planning for the next room, the next fight
But I'm just sitting here — just letting us all be

When did I start needing you?
(Hmmm… hmmm…)
When did I start needing you?
(Hmmm… hmmm…)
I used to walk these halls alone with just an axe
I used to be enough — just me and steel and nerve
When did I start needing you?
When did the power become something I don't deserve?

(Hmmm… hmmm… hmmm…)

I tried to send the imp home once — just to see
Drew the circle backwards, said the word reversed
He vanished and the room went cold and wrong
And I resummoned him in seconds — shaking, like a curse

I told myself it was strategic
Told myself a warlock needs their tools
But my hands were shaking and the silence was too loud
And I don't shake like that over losing tools

When did I start needing you?
(Hmmm… hmmm…)
When did I start needing you?
(Hmmm… hmmm…)
I remember when I chose this path
The woman said "the circle is between"
Between you and the void, between you and the dark
When did the circle stop being walls and start being a door I need?

(Hmmm… hmmm… hmmm…)
(Hmmm… hmmm… hmmm…)

The thing that scares me isn't what's ahead
The thing that scares me isn't bone or flame or claw
The thing that scares me is this quiet room
Where everyone I love was summoned — bound by law

I chose to make you mine — I said those words
I said them proud, I said them like a vow
But what I didn't say and what I'm feeling now
Is that somewhere in the binding I got bound somehow

When did I start needing you?
(Hmmm… hmmm…)
When did I start needing you?
(Hmmm… hmmm…)
My imp, my sister, my right hand blue
My army of the strange, my beautiful bizarre
When did I start needing you
More than you ever needed to need me — and here we are

(Hmmm… hmmm… hmmm…)

I could break the circles — send them all back home
I know the words, I know the chalk, I know the way
But I'm sitting in the dark beside my demons
And I don't want to be alone again today

(Hmmm… hmmm… hmmm…)
(When did I… hmmm…)
(When did I… hmmm…)
(Hmmm… hmmm…)

(Through the veil… through the veil…)
(Through the veil… through the veil…)

Every time I draw the circle open
There's a second — just a second — where I feel the other side
A breath of air that doesn't smell like stone
A warmth that isn't torchlight — something wide

Something vast and somewhere I can't picture
But everyone I've summoned came from there
And when the circle opens I can almost taste it
Like a room I'll never enter but I'd know it anywhere

The dark understands me back
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
The dark understands me back
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
There's a world behind the chalk line
And it breathes when I breathe
But the veil between us only opens one way
And it's never opening for me

(Through the veil… through the veil…)

I wonder if they talk about me over there
The creature on the other side who draws the lines
The strange small thing that pulls them through to fight
And sends them home with chalk dust and with signs

Am I a legend or a nuisance or a joke?
A storm they have to weather now and then?
Something powerful because I hold the chalk?
Or something pitiful because I keep on calling them?

The dark understands me back
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
The dark understands me back
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
Do they have a name for me in a language I can't speak?
A word for "the one who keeps opening the door"?
I send my circles out like letters to a country
That I'll never get a visa to explore

(Through the veil… through the veil…)
(Through the veil… through the veil…)

What does it look like on the other side?
Is there a sky? Is there a ground?
Is there color? Is there something like a home?
Is it quiet or is it full of sound?

I pressed my hand against the circle once
Not summoning — just reaching — just to feel
And the air was warm and solid as the sea
And for one second something pressed back — something real

The dark understands me back
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
The dark understands me back
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
Something pressed its hand where mine was
Through the chalk line, through the floor
And I don't know what I am to them
But they met me at the door

(Through the veil… through the veil…)

Someday I'll draw my last circle
And the chalk will go cold and the air will close for good
And everything I've summoned will go home
To the place I never could

But maybe over there they'll remember
The strange one who kept knocking from the other side
Who couldn't come through but kept on calling
Who pressed a hand against the veil and cried

The dark understands me back
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
The dark understands me back
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
I'll never walk the place my demons walk
I'll never see the world behind the wall
But the dark met me every time I called
And that's enough — it has to be enough
That's all

(Through the veil… through the veil…)
(Through the veil… through the veil…)
(Through the veil…)

(My demons… my demons…)
(My demons… my demons…)

They say a warlock sells their soul for power
They say the dark leaves fingerprints you'll never wash away
They say that anyone who'd choose the circle
Was already halfway lost before the chalk hit the clay

And maybe they're right — I wonder sometimes
Late at night when all my demons rest
Whether I chose this road because I'm brave
Or because something broken in me answered to the test

My demons keep me standing in the fight
(My demons…)
My demons keep me up at night
(My demons…)
I can't tell where the power ends
And where the fear begins
My demons are the best of me
My demons are my sins

(My demons… my demons…)

I used to be afraid of the dark
Now I'm afraid of what I'd be without it
I used to think that needing help was weakness
Now I'm weak in ways I never talk about — I just don't

What kind of person reaches for the void?
What kind of person draws a door into the black?
What kind of person pulls a stranger through
And says "you're mine" and never sends them back?

My demons give me everything I need
(My demons…)
My demons are the doubt I always feed
(My demons…)
They fight for me and I don't know if that's love
Or if it's chains dressed up in trust
My demons are the reason I survive
My demons are the proof of what I've lost

(My demons… my demons…)
(My demons… my demons…)

The people in the town don't look at me
The way they look at heroes with a sword
I save their lives and they still lock their doors
A warlock's thanks is silence — that's the reward

The woman on the edge of town just smiled
The day I told her that it wasn't fair
She said "you didn't choose the chalk for glory
You chose it because nothing else was there"

My demons are the ones who came when no one else would come
(My demons…)
My demons are the voice that says I'll never be enough
(My demons…)
Summoned out of darkness, born of doubt
Some I called and some just showed up on their own
My demons are the family I chose
My demons are the ones I've always known

(My demons… my demons…)

They say a warlock sells their soul for power
But I don't think I sold it — I think I gave it away
Piece by piece to every circle, every binding
Every demon that I asked to stay

And if that's the price then I'll keep paying
And if that's the stain then let it spread
My demons are the dark and they're the dawn
My demons are the living and the dead
My demons are the thing that makes me whole
My demons are the thing that tears apart
My demons — mine — for better or for worse
My demons are my outstretched beating heart

(My demons… my demons…)
(My demons… my demons…)
(My demons…)
(My demons… )