The War That Came Before

Before the War, I'd never heard of "Metalistic Views"
Before the War, I'd never considered the power it held,
Nor did I feel the level of importance it maintained,
Before the War, I'd never thought I'd have to kill someone,

But that was before I became a Man,
That was before the world I knew came to an end,

The War that came, or the War that began,
I never understood that part, I never gave it much thought,
I know it was there, everyone knew,
It was always, there,
But it was still very much, not there,

The War that Came, or the War that Began,
It was there, in the world, how could it not?
But back then, it wasn't a war,
Not then, but then as now,

The War, The War,
The War, The War,

The sounds of explosions in the night,
The sights of corpses half melted into black smoking tar,
The smell of burnt sulfur hung in the air like laundry to dry
The crunch of flesh and bone against mechas the size of skyscrapers,
The War that Came, The War that Began,
The War that was always there,
And yet not there,

The cannons opening fire,
The blood and gore smearing my helmet,
The fear of dying over and over again,
The unmistakable feeling of disillusion,

This is the War I was born into,
This is the War I was baptized in,
This is the War I was lost to,

This is the War that Came Before,
12,000 years of fighting,
4000 planets won, lost, or destroyed,
9 trillion lives taken, lost, or forgotten,
Worlds burnt to a crisp, or left to rot in silence

This is the War that Came Before,
This is the War that Began,
This is War that became me,
This is Me, within Me