Flute of Magic Power

        Upon reaching the top of the hill, you can get a good view of a forest in the far distant east. Within the forest lies a humble castle that was surrounded by nothing but trees. You may simply perceive it as a historical site, but in fact, it is a country with more citizens than you can ever imagine. However, instead of living in the castle, the citizens live in the underground dungeon.

        Who lives in the castle you ask? The queen of this country, of course. She occupied the whole castle, savored the sun and fresh air for herself while her citizens stayed in the gloomy dungeon. All she had accounted for was a flute that she never parted with.
        Every time the citizens hear the flute, all their anger goes away. They all hailed to the queen and kept working for her …
        All except Tamino.

        At the beginning, Tamino was no different from the others. Upon hearing the flute, he carried bricks, planted mushrooms, built houses, and mined. It was until the day the mine collapsed, causing Tamino’s eardrums to rupture. Since then, Tamino could no longer hear the flute, but instead, heard his own voice for the first time—the long-repressed anger along with the resentment from losing his hearing, drove him to leave the dungeon and seek revenge…

        The queen played the flute again and as usual, the citizens began working hard but the flute barely worked on Tamino anymore.
        He took a dagger and sneaked into the tunnel leading to the castle, knowing that the queen is playing the flute at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to all the heavy workload, he continuously climbed the stairs until he saw a figure in the distance—a woman, dressed in noble clothing, playing the flute. The moment she saw Tamino, the queen immediately expressed a mixed emotion of horror and surprise, but she didn't stop playing the flute and instead tried harder at it. However, the flute did not work on Tamino anymore.

        At that moment, Tamino took out his dagger. As he cried: “Go to hell!”, Tamino striked the dagger towards the queen. The frightened queen immediately dodged the attack, but still held the flute firmly in her hands while staring at the entrance of the tunnel. Tamino suddenly realized that the queen was calling the other citizens in dungeon for help! Tamino decided to take the initiative to attack the queen first before the helpers arrived. While the “helpers” were walking up the stairs, he frantically wielded the dagger at the queen’s hands. Protecting her flute, the queen did not notice the dagger until her fingers were severely cut. The flute fell out of her hands and was caught by Tamino. The moment he grabbed the flute, a strange voice hissed in his ear…
        “I want to see the woman dance. Play the flute!”

        Upon seeing Tamino about to play the flute, the queen covered her ears right away, but the music was too strong and the queen couldn't help but open her arms and dance happily…

        “That’s my idea of a good time! How boring was our lives, full of endless work and food delivering!”

        Tamino now realized, that without a doubt, the voice came from the flute. He thought it had always been the queen who controlled the citizens with magic power, but he never thought the magic was originated from the flute!

        “Hey, what else do you want her to do? Just tell me.”

        Seeing the queen dancing happily with a smile across her face, Tamino was so furious that he pointed at the tunnel that led to the dungeon with his right hand, gesturing downwards…

        “Haha, I know. Now I’m gonna play a scherzo! It should be well suited!”

        In a minute, Tamino changed the tune. An up-beat song immediately echoed in the air. The queen stopped dancing and started to jump cheerfully towards the tunnel. At the entrance of the tunnel, the queen suddenly jumped down the stairs. Not before long, her lifeless body tumbled down the long winding stairs like a stone while blood gushed from her head.

        Suddenly, noisy screams came from the tunnel, with crowds flooding into the castle—they were the citizens from the dungeon. Summoned by the flute, they dashed into the tunnel with axes and hoes. Halfway into the tunnel, the music stopped and the next thing they saw was the queen's corpse rolling down the stairs.

        “Passionate! Time for a classical march...”
        Before the flute's voice died out, Tamino began to play, but the crowd rushed forward, frantically fighting for the flute!
        “This is the flute! With this flute…!”
        “Enough of all this suffering! No one gets this evil flute! ”
        “The flute is talking to me! It called me master!”

        Within the chaos, there were the sound of clashing axes and hoes, cries of pain, and the sound of people collapsing to the ground...However, Tamino couldn't hear anything and could barely see anymore. There was nothing left in his hands, except for wounds and blood…

        In the distant east, there is a forest, in which a humble castle rested, surrounded by nothing but trees. It was once a country, but now a historical site. Rumor has it that the manipulative magic flute was buried there, and remained unfound till today...