Elias opened his eyes. The walls of his practice room had dissolved. He was standing on a floating platform of pure, polished resin. Surrounding him was an endless, bottomless void of swirling sheet music. Tonalities and polyrhythms drifted past him like cosmic dust.
He raised his bow to the strings of his violin. He was attempting Paganini’s 24th Caprice for the thousandth time that night. Ling Ling Deep Ling
"I am the standard," the entity replied. "You have only practiced twenty-four hours today. You are a disappointment to your ancestors." Elias opened his eyes