__
The music thundered.
It wasn't just music.
It sounded more like... the signal of a war beginning.
The pound of the bass.
The trembling ground.
The clash of metal.
__
"What a pain..."
I walked at a brisk pace.
"...to think they'd move the schedule up."
My hand gripped a plastic bag of iced coffee.
I bit the corner.
And took a sip.
Bitter.
Cold.
I kept walking.
People sprinted past me.
Carrying barricades.
Hauling cables.
Dragging poles.
Shouts rang out over one another.
"Hurry up!!"
"Lift that!!"
"Don't go that way!!"
__
Ahead of me—
The main stage.
A replica of the Parthenon.
White.
Massive.
Towering pillars.
Still half-finished.
But it was already enough to... look magnificent.
I paused for a moment.
Staring at it.
The artists would eventually emerge from the gaps between those pillars.
Entering.
Exiting.
Vanishing.
In the center—
A long stoa.
Extending out into the crowd.
A straight path.
Where they would walk.
