[Original recording originally released in 1997 on the album "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk".]
[This live recording orginally released in 2000 on the live album "Emperial Live Ceremony".]

[Lyrics, music and arrangements: Ihsahn.]
[4:19]

[This next one is from Anthems. 
It's called "Thus Spake the Nightspirit".] 

Close your eyes and gaze into 
this realm that I reveal. 
See where eternities are born. 
Close your eyes, behold the powers 
of the broken seal. 
See the liars bound in thorns. 

Fear 
and you shall fall. 
Weakness suffocates your will. 
Dare, 
yet never fail. 
Wisdom guides the one, 
the strong who can defy 
Death. 

[Guitar solo]

So I speak, though, am I heard...? 
Wasting visions on a world of blinded fools. 

Still I scorn 
the vacant contradiction of life, 
if only to bewilder. 
The final truth shall speak my name. 

Thus spake the nightspirit. 

Nightspirit, spirit, 
spirit, embrace my soul. 
[Repeat]