Raise the Stakes
(tune: Tom Smith, "Hellraiser")

Welcome -- oh, thank heaven -- we've been waiting for so long
In the hope that you'd come by our little town
It may not be apparent to the unsuspecting eye
But you're the one who'll bring the evil down
So many souls before have held the destiny you bear
The power blazes in your slender frame
And I believe you have the strength
To face the fearsome night and know its name

The things you need to know are in books more obscure than most
But I can show you, if you have the will to see
The demons of the darkness and the saviors of the past
They are your history, which you will learn from me
And living on a hellmouth means a readiness to fight
You'll wield the weapons in the cause of good
The quarterstaff and crossbow and
The simple deadly shaft of sharpened wood.

You didn't want or ask for all this power, so you say
You only want to be the girl you seem
For your two lives should never touch, and when they do, your careful knit
Existence can unravel at the seams
The hiding from your teachers, from your mother, from your friends
Your other life of violence and pain...
Except, of course, the friends who know
And there are times they're all that keeps you sane.

The world is made of other worlds we barely know are there
And beings that we scarcely comprehend
Some are helpers, some are healers, some have made a lifestyle
Out of bringing other lives to painful end
You'll learn to use their weaknesses and even use their strength
You'll learn to track them down to where they lie
And when you've known them for a while
You'll take one with you every time you die

Nothing is as simple as the books and legends say
Someone's wrong seems someone else's right
It only takes a moment to lose track of who you are
To turn into the monsters that you fight
But I should give you warning that this calling is your life
You cannot just abandon it and go
And if you try you may find out
That doing right is harder than you know.



Back to the filking
Back to Toontown