Volume 2 Chapter 3 The Music Boxes

Chapter 3 The Music Boxes

I

It was a grandiose dinner with salmon sashimi being the main dish. The flavour of those soft salmon molten in the mouth was irresistible. Besides sashimi, there were also roasted hotdogs, breads and mutton, the fragrance of which filled whole air inside this house.

Since the balance of vegetable and meat were important for omnivores such as humans and elves, Mister Berg also prepared Caesar Salad with salad cream for the adventurers. There were also small cubes of bread decorated in the salad. Anyway, nothing was better than a great dinner after such a exhausting trip.

The house of Mister Berg used to be a shabby place, but now, he had redecorated his house and it had really become a comfortable place to live.

There used to be ruptures on the walls, inside which some insects like spiders and cockroaches were roaming, but now the wall had been repainted white and the ruptured had been fixed.

Mister Berg also built a small hearth, inside which a new flame of fire was trimmed, emanating pleasing warmth.

Illuminated by the torches on the walls, the whole room looked bright and cozy. After all those long journeys, it was really enjoyable to be able to rest in such a beautiful house.

“This is the most delicious salmon that I had ever eaten, Mister Berg!” exclaimed Starsha with a mouthful of salmon in her mouth.

“Thanks, Starsha. Anyway, those salmons were caught in the vast ocean between Normania and Desertia,” revealed Mister Berg.

“Cool … Desertia …” commented Starsha.

“Your father came from Desertia, right?” asked Yanni.

“I don’t want to talk about him, Yanni,” complaint Starsha.

“I’m sorry,” apologized Yanni.

“The past is the past … That man abandoned mom and I … How could he be such irresponsible?” muttered Starsha.

“You’ve never told us about him … I thought you mother gave birth to you on her own without a father,” murmured Aislina.

“Humans cannot give birth to a child without a father, Aislina …” tittered Floria gently,

“What is Desertia be like actually?” queried Aislina.

“That’s a kingdom of endless desert. However, on that land a grandiose civilization was born. Desertian people are good at constructing machines. There is a guild of mechanists called Macchina Gloriosa in Desertia. The music boxes in fashion are made by them. They enable machines to create melodies which are even more beautiful than those created by humans. It is marvellous, isn’t it?” answered Mister Berg.

“What do the musicians think about the machine? Last year, when I came to this village for the first time, I heard a man sing, that village musician. What does he think of this music box?” inquired Starsha.

“I don’t know. It’s said that he has become sick recently,” replied Mister Berg.

Starsha didn’t say anything. She remained in silence and kept eating those dishes. Her hearts were thumping anxiously. Clearly, something had gone wrong.

“By the way, can you kids drink something alcoholic with me?” queried Mister Berg.

“Starsha and I can, but Yanni and Aislina are not of drinking age, since the drinking age of Normania is 19,” replied Floria.

“Yeah, that’s true, but since all of you are criminals, laws mean nothing, right?” Mister Berg smiled.

II

It was nearly midnight now. Both Floria and Starsha had drunk some alcoholic stuff with Mister Berg. While the girls had only drunk a little, Mister Berg had been totally hammered.

He commenced to tell stories of his late wife and where they met each other when they were young. He could remember that they met in a flowery land under the star sky. He could remember those beautiful shining stars glowing along with the moon. He once lived in a beautiful world but now everything had changed.

Yanni carried Mister Berg to his bedroom and the four went to sleep as well. As usual, the siblings shared one room while Starsha and Aislina shared the other.

Before going to bed, Aislina was taking a shower in the bathroom while Starsha was listening to a music box. Flowing out of the music box was consummate melodies, which were ultimately harmonious.

Those melodies were not created by a skilled human musician, instead, it was produced by machines in a distant kingdom.

Starsha had been studying the art of music since she was born. When the Farseer was holding a ceremony, she would sing songs. Unluckily, Starsha didn’t inherit that religious wisdom from her mother, but she was better at music than her. She knew that music was the greatest part of religion.

When drowned in the power of music, people could connect themselves to high beings, by believing which, they gathered the hope and courage to live in such a dark world.

Sounds of the religious music performed by the Farseer flashed through her mind, along with tribal people dancing and laughing with joy. They were the melodies of her childhood.

The music box stopped, but if she wanted to listen to the music again, she just needed to turn the crank. Maybe the era of humans had ended and what came next would be the era of machines.

There were no sounds of water coming out of the bathroom now and Aislina had finished showering. She went out of the bathroom, wearing a towel. There were fragrances of flowers growing in the wilderness giving off by her hair.

Starsha stared at her. Their eyes met.

“Hey, what’s up, Starsha? You don’t seem very happy. Have you drunk too much?” asked Aislina with concern.

“No, it’s not the alcohol. I am thinking about the music. Those music box. I thought that music was magic, but now I find out that the music that I always believe is just a lie. It can be mass-produced by machines. Music is in fact just cold calculation,” sighed Starsha.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Starsha,” Aislina reassured her.

“Aislina, you’re the wisest girl I have never met and have you felt something wrong in those music boxes. There’s perfect music inside those devices but can you sense anything strange about them?” queried Starsha.

“I don’t know. I am not a wise elf, Starsha. I cannot even figure out what will happen between Yanni and me,” breathed Aislina.

“Yanni is a silly boy. I mean, He is great sometimes too, but he is overall silly. He said that he can’t date you because human’s life is short and he wants you to find a suitable mate, an elf like you who can live as long as you to accompany you through your whole life … But … Who cares what will happen after 100 years, right? After 100 years, I will be in tombs,” stuttered Starsha drunkenly.

“But I won’t,” whispered Aislina.

“You won’t … You won’t … However, there’s greater possibility that, uh, you know, umm, something dangerous happens and all of us die together. It is the greatest ending, right? Greatest ending, four friends forever, dying together …” drawled Starsha.

“So we’ll have our own worries,” murmured Aislina.

“Who cares. No one lives without worries. Damn music boxes …” exclaimed Starsha. The music box drop in her hands dropped to the ground and shattered, its debris flying everywhere. It was uncertain whether Starsha had done it carelessly or deliberately.

III

Floria's was a weak drinker. Though she didn’t drink much, she had been pretty tipsy right now.

"It's so good to be an adult ... Drinking makes me ... Uh ..." murmured Floria.

"Relax, Floria. You shall not drink such much the next time," complaint Yanni.

"Yeah, I know. I just ... I have had enough of it ... Everything sucks ... Sucks. The smell of alcohol has wrecked me. I need to ... I need to take a shower ... Do you want to take the shower with me?" invited Yanni.

"What? no! It's uh ..." Yanni flushed.

"You're no fun, Yanni ... Anyhow, I'll take the shower alone ..." Floria went to the restroom and filled her bathtub with water.

After the shower, she put on her clothes and went out of the restroom.

“I am going to ... I am going to tell you a secret, a secret which you will ... Siblings shall share secrets with each other …" announced Floria drunkenly.

"Well, what secret are you going to tell me?" asked Yanni with curiosity.

"I … I have fallen in love with someone ... I can tell you because … You're my brother and you're the only one whom I really trust ... I don't mean that I don't trust Aislina ... I trust her too but you're more important to me than anyone ... You're the most important person in my life,” stammered Floria.

"That's so mushy, Floria," complaint Yanni, flushing.

"I mean it ... Yanni, I ... I can't be without you ... Uh, you're right, that's mushy. Anyway, guess who my crush is ..." commanded Floria.

"Um ... Peter Kane?" guessed Yanni.

"No, he is handsome but he is not my type ... He is too aggressive and ... He sucks! Yeah, he sucks!" stuttered Floria.

"It's hard to guess ... Can you give me a clue?” questioned Yanni.

"A clue? Well ... She and I are ..." murmured Floria.

"She? Your crush is a she …" exclaimed Yanni, astonishedly.

"Yeah, she ... It’s not friendship … It’s love … It’s toxic … It’s forbidden. It’s a sin … It’s an incest … Two girls cannot …” whispered Floria. Alcohol was corroding her brain. She couldn’t hold on being awake anymore. Lying on her bed, she fell asleep …

Floria had fallen asleep now.

Yanni looked at her in a daze.

The siblings lost their parent when they were very young, and since that, Floria had become a weirdo. She became irascible and no one dared to befriend with her, except Starsha …

Gradually, they had become the best friends.

“So, sis … you have fallen in love with Starsha, that’s … surprising …” murmured Yanni, looking gently at his sister who was deep in sleep right now.

IV

The pale moon was shining high on the sky. The smell of decay and death was dominating the air. Dark wind coming from the nether world was blowing through this lifeless Starshine Village.

Excessively flawless music was coming out from the music box which were made in a distant kingdom. Perfection was an ultimate goal pursued by humans since the dawn of civilization. Now, with the help of the machines, humans finally reached to the perfection.

Crows were hovering in the sky. They were as black as the darkest night. They were twitting and singing murky songs. No one knew what were they singing about, but they still kept singing.

There were carrions flying too, searching for the food, and soon, they found one.

In the village plaza, someone had died. He hanged himself with a rope. There were bloody wounds all over the body. Obviously, before hanging himself, the suicide had used some short knives to cut himself and turned himself into a fountain of scarlet blood.

Finally, someone saw him and let out a deafening scream, the music box in his hand dropped to the ground.

Though everyone in the village heard the scream, nearly no one came out to check what had happened except those living in the house of Mister Berg.

Aislina and Starsha arrived at the scene at first. Both of them had seen corpses, but this corpse of a suicide was exaggeratedly horrible, and upon seeing the corpses, both of them covered their mouths with their hands. Obviously, the suicide wanted to make his corpse look dreadful.

There was a strange symbol drawn under the corpse, which looked like a lyre. Though Aislina was good at magic and symbology, she failed to recognize the symbol. However, Starsha knew what that symbol was.

It was the symbol of the muses, the Normanian demigoddesses of music and art. They were not real demigods like Sylvana and the Blight. On the contrary, being a abstract concept, they only existed in people’s imagination.

Starsha observed the face of the suicide seriously and it dawned on her that the suicide was the village musician. Last year, she had listened to his musical performance. Why did he suicide?

Suddenly, she found that there was a note in the pocket of the suicide. There were texts written on that note with pure blood. Without a shadow of doubt, this village musician had gone mad before he killed himself.

The note read:

I don’t want to live in this world anymore.

Since the beginning of the history of humans, we have been trying to make a better world. We have defeated countless tyrants and finally we can live in a world where every human can survive with dignity and liberty.

Of all the things humans can create, the art is the most beautiful thing. We haven’t conquered all the evil in this world yet and there is darkness lurking in the world.

However, art can help us to escape from the shadowiness lurking in our heart and give us a spiritual home, where we can rest our wounded soul. For me, a bard, both music and stories were great arts. Without the rights to create and appreciate them, humans would live in murkiness and emptiness forever.

Arts are always mysterious. I believe that when I am creating those ethereal music, I am being blessed by the great Muses living in the paradise, who grants me the vocation to dispel the hollowness lurking inside people’s heart. Music is as powerful as magic.

The magic of wizards can protect people materially, and music, the magic of bards and musicians can protect people spiritually.

But those music boxes … They come to the village and I know that everything I have pursued is a lie. There is no magic inside music. It is not an art or a beautiful mystery. Melodies are just some algorithms which can be created by machines. I’d rather die.

I am not a suicide. I am a martyr … May the muses forgive me, though they don’t exist at all …

V

Freezing wind was blowing against the forest of tombs and monuments in the grey cemetery. There were countless tombs in this cemetery and most of the names carved on the tombs had been already forgotten by the time, but they were all once alive, having family, love, and stories.

Now, they were buried underground, being soulless corpses. No one was lamenting for them anymore because time would make the world forget everything.

There were crows flying above the cemeteries, their feathers as black as the coals underground. They were singing, mourning for the death of those passed souls.

Mister Berg built a tomb for the village musician. He buried him, closed his eyes and started to pray for him. This village musician had been trying to bring hope and joy to this village for his whole life and he didn’t end up in vain.

“Rest In Peace”

Mister Berg carved those words on the tomb of the village musician.

Though it was in the wee hours right now, no one felt sleepy. Though they couldn’t understand why the village musician had killed himself, they could never imagine how drastic his mental struggle had been before he chose to kill himself. All those struggles turned into this bloody scene of his death.

His blood had dyed the ground of the village plaza scarlet and that plaza would be a place without music and happiness ever after.

“Starsha, Starsha, hey! You’re zoning out,” called Floria.

“Yeah Floria. I’m still thinking about those music boxes and his death. I need to find an answer,” replied Starsha.

“An answer? What kind of answer?” asked Floria.

“In my whole life, I am walking on the path of music and art. I think that I am blessed by the muses. However, now I’ve discovered that music is in fact algorithms, those cold digital stuff. It can be calculated and it is not sacred. I need to find an answer, of what music really is and what the meaning of my life is,” answered Starsha.

“But how will you find those answers?” pursued Floria.

“Those music boxes are produced in Desertia. I need to go to Desertia and I guess I will find the answers there,” responded Starsha.

“Desertia is a kingdom in another continent. You need to sail across the sea to go there,” Yanni pointed out.

“Yeah, I know. For me, this journey for answers is more important than the journey for the Sanctum of Life, so I think I shall go on the journey on my own,” drawled Starsha.

“No, we’ll go with you, Starsha. We’re friend and we do things together. After all, we have no clues concerning the Sanctum of Life right now,” Floria smiled.

“So, another epic adventure will start, right? I think I shall write a storybook of your adventures,” whispered Mister Berg.

“That’s a good idea, Mister Berg. Anyway, let’s go back to the Camp of Wildshadow first. You must want to talk with your mother right now, right? I want to talk with dad too …” advised Floria.

“Exactly. I am missing her. Let’s have a good sleep tonight and let us set out tomorrow,” proposed Starsha.

The clouds dissipated and the silver moon came out, its light washing the whole land, rendering the world brightly white. The sparse stars were glowing weakly and a new journey would begin soon.

Now, they should take a good rest first.