Mirror Without Mercy

Red lights humming like a heartbeat

Cold steel under my skin

Strapped to a table in a stolen future

Where hope never learned to win

She stands where I should be standing

Wears my face like a crown

Says the world only listens to power

When compassion is beaten down

She leans in close, says "I'm what you could be"

I say nothing

But I see

You're my shadow without a soul

A victory that learned to rot

You chose the world that bends the knee

I chose the one that does not

You call it strength, I call it fear

Wrapped in red and bone-deep hate

If this is what survives on your Earth

Then I'm proud of my scars

I'm proud of my breaks

She says love is a weakness

That mercy gets you killed

That gods are meant to rule in silence

And truth is meant to yield

She asks me why I still believe

In people who never learn

I ask her what it cost her

To let the whole world burn

She laughs like it's already done

Like I'm already gone

You're my shadow without a soul

A future carved from ash

You traded hearts for certainty

And called the damage "strength"

You wear my face but not my weight

You never learned to fall

If I die here, let history say

I didn't win

But I didn't kneel at all

I see the girl she buried

I hear her scream inside

Every empire needs a lie

To keep the mirror quiet

So look at me

Look carefully

This is what you erased

You're not my destiny

You're the warning sign

What happens when survival

Kills the soul inside

I won't rule through terror

I won't reign through fear

If hope is a liability

Then chain me here