Aria......

I stared at the parchment until the black ink seemed to blur and twist like it was mocking me. My pulse hammered in my ears, drowning out the shuffle of feet and the soft murmurs of the crowd watching us from the gallery above and below, everyone was looking excited while my chest was in knots.

The words were simple enough, and yet they clawed at me.

“I am taken from a mine, locked in a wooden case, never released, and yet almost every soul uses me. What am I?”

It was ...