The Clicking Keys
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My fingers were God's greatest gift to me. They danced along the ivory keys, which opened countless doors into infinite worlds. When I set them upon a piece, I and I alone held the great sprawling multiverse in my grip, as space and time themselves danced an intimate waltz. With my very fingers, I scored life, death, and whatever lie beyond.

Still, I merely cracked open those infinite doors, and as I perfected my craft, a longing grew within me. I wished to pry one of them open completely and see whatever majesty lay behind. With every piece I played, I poured my utmost passion into its performance but found that none held the ability to carry out my wish. It became that my mind could focus on no other thought, and I decided that I must compose such a piece myself. It was, after all, my hands that were to merge our two worlds. And so, I set about crafting the key to a lock no man could see.

Countless nights I spent over the ivories, letting my soul guide my fingers along a path to enlightenment, writing down the phrases I believed would open the doors, only to find that when I played them again, their melodies had become foreign to me, their harmonies sour. It became clear to me that I must complete the piece within one sitting, else never complete it at all.

I made my room into a proper place of worship, fit with candles, roses, and incense. The top of my piano was as an altar, with which to invoke the world-shifting power of the creator himself. Meticulously, I lit the candles and the incense, and gently smelled the roses, before sitting down at my piano. Despite the soothing setting, I found myself trembling. What caused this I cannot say, but soon my entire body was overcome with shivers. It felt as though some vile, invisible thing had entered my room, reached into my body, and clutched my heart, chilling me to my very core.

Try as I might, I couldn't overcome the unease churning inside me until the silence was broken by the sound of a storm beginning. I listened as the raindrops gently pitter-pattered against my roof, building in intensity, eventually beating at the walls of my home. I smiled feverishly. Only minutes ago, the night sky had been clear, and the presence of this sudden storm seemed a miracle, a sign from some otherworldly force that the time was right.

Soothed by the storm, I let my hand down upon the Ivory keys once more, tapping gentle melodies and letting them reverberate within my mind. As my other hand joined in, I weaved phrase after phrase of tension and relief, building a pathway through the cosmos. With my fingers, I created wings of harmony and flew higher beyond this mortal plane, swirling gracefully through the ether, and eventually finding myself at the place of many doorways. I glided through this place, quickly deciding on a door to open.

Not daring to halt for even a moment, I tapped into the muscles of my brain and put forth all their strength in an attempt to pry open the door. No shimmering melody, no dazzling harmony I played opened the door enough to enter. I tried key after key and still, it only cracked. I could feel my energy fading and my fingers trembling until deep within my heart, a warmth came to be, and I recalled a familiar tune that danced along my fingers so long ago. With the last of my energy, I let the melody flow throughout my veins and fly from my fingertips.

The door swung open, and with no delay, I played my final movement. With thunder as my percussion and a world-shattering crescendo, I entered the next world. With a brief and nostalgic melody, the door closed behind me.

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