This is a story about how easy it is to stray from the right path.
It's a tale of love, death, and maybe some more love.
But this story -
This story is true.

This tale begins like many others in the world
It starts along the lines of boy meets girl
But here's a question to ask ourselves:
Why is it love on which we dwell?
In stories and poems, songs and rhyme
Love’s nothing special, it happens all the time

When Fate allows, and the stars align
When lips caress, and hearts entwine
Sure, the words are pretty, but love's nothing new
But this love -
This love was True.

Love can be messy, or tragic, or vain
It can all end in recriminations and pain
Too many distractions, or too many lies
But love - True Love -
True Love never dies.

So, the boy: Well, he was a knave
An adventuring type, and what he craved
Was the glory of battle, and chivalrous acts
Dreams of carving a legend with a sword or an axe
And although he was only an apprentice to a knight
He could handle himself well enough in a fight
And so he found himself adventuring one day
Followed the tracks of a beast to the mouth of a cave
As he peered inside, he could smell the beast's breath
Hot and rancid, full of hatred and death
Eyes like fire, and teeth like swords
A stone for a heart, daggers for claws

One two! One two! And through! And through!
His vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

But the beast's head was not the only thing that was brought back by that knave
He'd heard a quiet sobbing in the shadows of the cave
A damsel in distress! Someone he could save!
He rescued her from the beast's maws, so vicious and depraved.
And what a girl she was - a majestic wood elf queen!
She was The most beautiful thing that he had ever seen
Trembling, they each held the other so tight
It was love - True Love - at first sight

When Fate allows, and the stars align
When lips caress, and hearts entwine
The trees whisper, and the forest sighs
Because love - True Love
True Love never dies.

Forged in battle, sealed with a kiss
They married, and lived in absolute bliss
They wanted for nothing, they lived as one soul
Alone, they were nothing. Together, they were whole.
It was paradise, more than words can say
And I wish I could tell you that was how things stayed
But there's a cruel irony to tales told this way
The marriage lasted twelve months and a day

See, the boy's adventuring days ended when he won the maiden’s hand
But other adventurers roamed through the land
And into their forest rode an arrogant knight
A paladin, in fact, all shiny and bright
With a mighty sword and a mighty steed
He saw the girl, and he decreed
“She is the most beautiful I have yet seen!
I shall win her in combat! I shall make her my queen!
You! Boy! I challenge you to a duel!
If you think you can win then you're a damned fool!"

Well, the boy had no choice but to reach for his sword
And protect the honour of the woman he adored
But the paladin laughed, and the paladin roared
And the boy was left lying, broken and gored
A darkness descended as he lay in the mud
His wounds were serious, he was losing blood
"But I can't die", he said "This is not how I go
because I know something this knight doesn't know"

When Fate allows, and the stars align
When lips caress, and hearts entwine
The trees whisper, and the forest sighs
Because love - True Love
True Love never dies.

The boy sprang to his feet, with a new lease of life
It was surely his destiny to save his wife!
But as it turns out, the boy was wrong
He'd been cheated by destiny, lied to by songs
His wife had climbed up onto that horse
Had her arms around the paladin. Why not? Of course!
Her love was not true. Her love was a lie!
Some new shiny hero had caught her eye
And they rode off into the sunset; she didn't look back
And the boy's heart became broken, and black.

They say time heals all wounds, but that's not true of a heart
So viciously broken, and sundered apart
It's the worst pain of all, his spirit destroyed
He tried all he could think of to fill that void
He gathered wealth, and he gathered fame
But they just made him lazy, and spiteful, and vain
He turned to his faith, but it grew dark as he practised
He followed the fire, but just found ashes and blackness
He stole, and he murdered, despoiled and devoured
He made deals with demons, drunk on ale and power
But nothing could fill that void in his breast
In despair, he plucked his heart out of his chest.

There was nothing to live for, nothing to try
But even without a heart, this boy did not die
Because he'd tasted True Love, and although it was gone
The scars remained, and the scars live on
The trees grew twisted, the forest cries
But love - True Love
True Love never dies.

The boy became a monster, all hatred and lust
His food turned to ashes, his drink became dust
He married again, but love played no part
How could he love again with no heart?
He became the kind of beast that he used to fight as a knave
A husk of pure corruption, vicious and depraved
He stalked through the forest, the trees all burned and black
Until one day -
One day his One True Love came back.

She hadn't chosen the paladin all those years before
She'd seen her husband butchered, broken on the floor
She couldn't bear to see her Love run through before her eyes
So she'd let herself be kidnapped, so her husband might survive.
She endured years of captivity, acts I will not commit to words
All the time wondering why her True Love had not returned
In the end she’d killed the knight, with a needle in his eye
And escaped into the world, but a part of her had died
Her heart grew hard, and she grew cold, as the leaves fell from the trees
She became a pirate captain, feared across the seas.

She searched for years for her True Love, and found him at long last
But both were tainted by the mistake he'd made all those years past
He'd thought her love was not true, he'd thought she could be bought
And the years that grew between them were filled with the chaos that he'd wrought

And now they have to find a way to undo what has been done
To reverse two lives filled with mistakes, so they can become one
It all seems insurmountable - where can they even start
To find a way to rebuild two shattered hearts?

So hate me if you like, for what I have become
Your hate means nothing to me, because I have the love of one
Hate me for not singing that funny song you like
So long as the audience is laughing, who cares how the clown feels - right?

I know what True Love feels like, and what it feels like when it's gone
I know that everything I ever chose to do was wrong
I know what it feels like to have it in my grasp again
And I know that I'll probably ruin it all again

But when Fate allows, and the stars align
When lips caress, and hearts entwine
The trees whisper, and the forest sighs
Because love - True Love
True Love never dies.