Nikki sits in his room at the church, where Mary has taken him in, and shoots the TV when a televangelist comes on.  He then remembers his first job for the Syndicate: he killed a religious leader.  His first hit, for which he lights the first candle.  He gets another call from the Syndicate, another hit.  He longs for Mary, so that she may help him forget that he is a murderer.  He remembers the days before he joined the Syndicate, and sees that he was exactly what the Syndicate looks for.  Time passes and Nikki has killed many people, so that only one candle remains.  Each time he returns from a mission, Mary helps him forget the guilt that his missions bring.  We see, for the first time, that Nikki is having serious doubts about the Syndicate and his ghastly purpose.
    The most meaningful song on the album.  A great time transition in the middle of the song, from one candle being lit to all but one being lit.  An important image is first used here: the candles in Nikki's room.  He lights one for every murder.  There is a preset number of them, implying that the Syndicate has set a number of people for him to kill.  The lines of the chorus and prechorus function to show us that Mary's company is all that keeps Nikki going.  They also reveal his doubts about his missions and the Syndicate.  The mention of the wall^‡ is the first appearance of another important image.  The "phrases on the wall" represent the impending consequences of Nikki's actions, and this image is fully developed as the album progresses.  This also alludes to "the writing on the wall" from the Old Testament of the Bible.  There, the Jews wrote messages on the walls of the city to subvertly advertise their intent to rebel against the Romans.   The chorus shows how Nikki has developed doubts about the Syndicate.  First he says that his mission saved the world, exactly what X wants him to believe.  Then he says that his mission changed the world.  This is an important distinction, because changing the world is not necessarily good, whereas saving it is.
    ^‡The symbol of the wall may also be an allusion to "The Wall" by Pink Floyd.  This too is a concept album, telling the story of a young man who, like Nikki, is disgusted by society.  In this case, though, the man retaliates by building a mental and emotional wall around himself, which leads to mental problems and conviction of a crime.  Nikki's mission with the Syndicate, though different in its method, is similar in its purpose.  Also, Queensrÿche, like many other other bands, drew inspiartaion from the legendary Pink Floyd.