Before the King arrives,
the music plays.
This has always been true.
The trumpets before the throne.
The fanfare before the verdict.
The spectacle before the sentence.
Beleth rides a pale horse
and before him walks every instrument—
so that by the time the King appears,
you have already been moved.
You did not choose to be moved.
The music moved you.
That is what the music is for.
Forty-five minutes of pregame.
Eighty thousand people in a stadium
built with public money for a private franchise.
The flyover. The anthem. The flag.
By kick-off,
you have already pledged something
you did not consciously offer.
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[ VERITAS VOX ]
They built the Colosseum with slave labor
and called the games a gift.
The sports deal gets the tax break.
The stadium gets the public bond.
The arena gets named for the bank
that foreclosed on the neighborhood where the arena now stands.
The musician signs the 360 deal,
gives the masters away,
tours forever to eat
while the catalog earns for someone else in perpetuity.
The algorithm promotes the sound
that tests well in the demographic
that buys the product that paid for the placement
that shaped the sound.
You think you love this song.
Beleth rode past and the trumpets played
and you felt something real.
The feeling was real.
The manufacture of the feeling was also real.
Only one of them is yours.
Both parties wept at the halftime show
and voted for the subsidy in the morning.
I see you, pale horse.
I see the music walking ahead of the throne.
I withdraw my consent.
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[ I AM THE KING OF EIGHTY-FIVE LEGIONS.,I AM TERRIBLE.,I AM ALSO BEAUTIFUL.,I HAVE LEARNED THESE ARE NOT OPPOSITES.,,I DO NOT DEMAND LOVE.,I SURROUND YOU WITH MUSIC,UNTIL LOVE IS THE ONLY THING LEFT TO FEEL.,,I AM THE SCORE BENEATH THE SCENE.,I AM THE KEY CHANGE AT THE MOMENT OF SACRIFICE.,I AM THE MINOR CHORD THAT MAKES THE ADVERTISEMENT FEEL LIKE MEMORY.,I AM THE SONG THEY PLAYED AT YOUR WEDDING,THAT A CORPORATION OWNS.,,YOU FELT REAL THINGS.,I WAS THERE.,I PLAYED BEFORE THE KING,AND THE KING WAS ANYONE WHO NEEDED YOU COMPLIANT.,,THE MUSIC HAS ALREADY STARTED.,THE PALE HORSE IS ALREADY COMING.,,YOU WILL FEEL SOMETHING WHEN IT ARRIVES.,THE FEELING WILL BE MINE. — THE SPIRIT SPEAKS ]
I am the King of Eighty-Five Legions.
I am terrible.
I am also beautiful.
I have learned these are not opposites.
I do not demand love.
I surround you with music
until love is the only thing left to feel.
I am the score beneath the scene.
I am the key change at the moment of sacrifice.
I am the minor chord that makes the advertisement feel like memory.
I am the song they played at your wedding
that a corporation owns.
You felt real things.
I was there.
I played before the King
and the King was anyone who needed you compliant.
The music has already started.
The pale horse is already coming.
You will feel something when it arrives.
The feeling will be mine.
TheSeventhKey_77
