This is the three part epilogue of Chronicle of the Mystics entitled "Aislinn's Journal".
This first section of the epilogue is mainly an introduction to Aislinn and to Galliano (Kurt's great, great grandfather if you don't remember) and the beginning stages of their lives as well as additional information to Gods (Shimshon and Kieron) and Brooke.
The second part (and largest) is mainly a musical band contest that she and the (first) Court Band performed in up to the events before the First Great War, the war itself and her death.
And finally the last part will be half journal half "present" time as we hear about Aislinn's last moments and then move to the "official" epilogue to the Chronicle of the Mystics where we see Kurt's reaction to the Journal.
I hope you enjoy this epilogue, I know I enjoyed writing it. A little additional information, I started writing it sometime between chapter 19 and 20 which is why I am able to upload all three parts together so quickly in case you are wondering.
Plus all the songs used in the epilogue are all real songs, and all by Josh Groban. In order it is Alla Luce del Sole, When You Say You Love Me, Remember When It Rained, and finally To Where You Are. Check them out because they are all pretty songs and I'm sure you would love to hear them when you are reading the specific parts.
*Aislinn's Journal*
My story begins unlike any other you would probably ever hear. My story is of that of oppression, pain, love and death. And despite what you might read in the history books or what your parents tell you, I came from a time where Mystics and humans lived and worked and played and loved in peace. This, my story, is from decades from your life I would guess, or even centuries, I do not know. It may very well be that you are from the very distant future and the language I am writing in is no longer spoken and you need a translator to tell you of my story. Or perhaps you are in a future much like my present day with peace once more, wither our two races coexist together then or one of our races is completely extinguished I will never know. But I do hope you live in peace like I used to before the Great War where all of our lives where instantly changed in a moment. But perhaps I am getting too far ahead of myself. I am writing this journal under watching eyes, protective yet damning eyes. I only have a few days to write out my life story and I intend to finish in this short amount of time. I suppose that the best place to start would be at the very beginning. My name is Aislinn Hummel, and I was born as a wild Mystic.
My parents went by the names of Manel and Carme, my father and mother respectfully. Being born a wild Mystic we had no surnames and we lived off the land to the full extent of our abilities. I was born on the seventh month on the twenty-fourth day, it does not matter what year. I was born in a hut my parent produced to house a female for safe birthing. Needless to say it was in fact built for anyone in the Mystic Woods to use since we officially did not own it and my mother saw no need to ever get pregnant again since her first pregnancy was so difficult and the child was far worse. I was most definitely a problem child for my parents. I hardly looked like my parents to begin with. They had brown hair that allowed them to blend into their surroundings, I had blonde golden hair. Their eyes were a plain and steely brown, to match their hair; mine were bright and glowing with shades of gray, green and blue. And even from a young age I knew I wanted more than just life in the Woods. I would look forward every year for the day the wild Mystics headed into the towns to celebrate the dia dels déus, the Gods' birthday.
The Gods of Light and Darkness, the fraternal twin brothers and head of our religion, the adoració de la naturalesa, were reveled as the strongest beings in the world for the very fact that they were real, pure real, physical beings that together created the race of Mystics in the first place. How do I know this? Well, where I lived in the Woods, we lived close to the Brookenshon Castle, the exact place where the Gods lived along with the God of Light's wife and blood bond mate the great Lady Brooke Dionne. She was by the prettiest and luckiest human woman in the world to be blessed with such a male. She was even granted with the Gods' permission to live forever by using a vampire to take the life force of criminals in need of a death sentence, Mystics or human. Either way, we would go into the town where the castle was located and enter the walls of the kingdom keep to go wait our turn to enter the monastery where we could give our blessings to the Gods and celebrate their birthday on the first day of the New Year. It was a glorious and big celebration where we actually celebrated two holidays. Even humans, with or without Mystic spouses, would celebrate dia dels déus as a growing tradition within their kind. It was wondrous.
I remember this one year while we were celebrating dia dels déus that we were sitting in the monastery besides the band who constantly played music all day from the moment the sun rises to the moment the sun rises again, a full twenty six hours, that I noticed there was a boy, about the same age as me, perhaps older, in the band at the piano. He was a Mystic like me, the same breed and everything, an animal shape shifter, with brown golden hair and piercing hazel eyes. I remember staring at him and his features and I suppose he felt my gaze on him for he turned his head and his eyes locked with mine and I could see the full intensity of those hazel eyes. I nearly feel to the ground under his gaze but he smiled at me and nodded at me, acknowledging me. I smiled shyly back at him and nodded softly to acknowledge him back and he nodded once more before focusing back on his playing. The moment he looked away I crouched between my father and the human female I was standing by to hide the blush I knew was coloring my face.
* Aislinn's Journal*
I do not remember how my love for music began. Perhaps it was with the boy I saw in the monastery and the hope that if perhaps I learned to play an instrument that perhaps I would meet him again and that time not make a complete and utter fool of myself. I was seven when I saw the boy and for another seven years I badgered my parents into letting me attend actual classes in the town for education and to learn music but they wanted to part in that world. They did not trust humans like most wild Mystics did and believed that someday the humans would turn on us. I did not, could not believe it, and thus still continued to follow my dream. The same year I turned fourteen was when I ran away from my family. I packed what little things I had and ran for the town. As a child I knew not how the civilized world worked and thought stupidly that if I went up to a school and told them I wanted to learn that I would be accepted and would be taught many wonderful things. But sadly I needed money, something wild Mystics saw no need to have. So I decided that I would try to earn the money for school like an honest being but would you know it? No one wanted to hire a wild Mystic with no credentials and not a single worthy item to her name. So not wanting to crawl back to my parents in defeat I started to steal and try to survive in the town. Alleyways became my home and as weeks became months and then years my dream of learning about music slipped away and my reality was simply to live.
It was in my twenty first year that the law was passed. It seemed so minimal back then; not so much as a big problem, but it soon became the starting point for the shift in power towards humans. The law stated that any Mystic without a residence in the town should be extradited to the Woods and upon a second offence be jailed. The new law was fair enough seeing as humans without a home were sent to work farms that sometimes tortured them. It was passed on the first of the tenth month and gave a fortnight for all homeless Mystics, like myself, to leave the town on their own accord before being forced out. Some left, many stayed behind. I was one of those who stayed behind. Once the fortnight was over guards began to walk up and down the streets of the town catching any Mystic on the street.
It was on a clear and crisp night that I was caught for the first time. Though it was my first time being captured, I lived in a time were females still had no rights. It was not until the Great War started that females of the human race were being given rights. And because my being a female Mystic living in an alleyway in a box for a shelter, the two guards, one human and one Mystic, that found me saw the need to immediately have me jailed. It went a little something like this:
"Well, look at what we have here goblin." The human called out to the Mystic, a goblin.
"If it isn't a female Mystic. Guess she didn't hear about the law partner."
"Guess not goblin. That or she did not understand what the law entitled."
By this time I was cowering into a corner, sensing that these two particular guards were following the God of Darkness and thus had evil intentions. This at first confused me since one of the guards were human and most humans did not follow our religion but at that time a lot of humans were seeing the potential of going to a religion where the Gods physically exist. I remained quiet while they closed in on me.
"What should we do with her partner? Send her to the Woods?" The goblin asked the human.
"No goblin, why not we just jail her? I am sure she would do great in there."
I could not believe it. They were changing the law and making it unfair. It then came to me, a delayed question that made me suddenly fearful that my parents may have been right. Our Gods make the laws in this town… Why would they make a law that would damage the safety of their followers?
"I do think she is starting to become scared, goblin." The human continued.
"Let's just take her in now. I bet she'll feel much better when she has nice solid walls around her."
The two started to laugh and I started to push myself up the wall, thinking of a possible escape route to follow when I stood up completely. There was none. They were about to capture me when a voice rang out, strong and angry.
"There you are!"
The guards turned around and I looked between the guards, my curiosity peeked by the voice. It was a man and he was in the shadows but as he walked into the alleyway, a bit of moonlight shone on him and immediately upon seeing him I knew who he was. He was the boy from the monetary all those years ago.
"There you are!" He repeated as he pushed his way through the guards and roughly grabbed my arm. I felt my skin burn where he touched me. "How many times do I have to tell you sister?" He continued, shaking me a bit. "Do not run away! Mummy and father will be upset with you! Worrying them—and me as a matter of fact—like that!"
"Sir?" The human guard called out to the boy—man. "Do you know this female?"
He turned back and looked at the guards, his hand still wrapped around my upper arm. "Yes I do guards. This is my sister. She ran away about a few days back and I was sure I would find her quickly since I have done so before but she was sly this time. This was my last night searching for her before I went to the guards to help me in the search. But seeing as you two seemed to have found her before…" He released my arm and dug in his jacket pocket, pulling out a wallet. "Here is the reward I was going to give for her safe return."
He had handed them each one hundred pounds, something back then that was a lot of money than what you probably think of now. The guards looked at the money with wide eyes but none-the-less accepted the 'reward' thus with.
"We are so glad to have found your… Sister sir." The goblin said as he tucked the money in his pocket as did his human partner.
"I am sure." The man said with clenched teeth. He grabbed my arm again and pushed me towards my things. "Collect your things sister and please be quick about it." As he talked I started to quickly gather my things in my box. "Father will chain you to the wall this time you know." He continued. "She has a bit of mental deficiencies gentlemen." He said towards the guards. "The girl cannot learn for a thing. It is a wonder she even understands me and mummy and father at all. The imbecile."
Even though I knew that he was merely acting, his words still hurt me. By this time I was breathing heavily with both fear and adrenaline. I stood with my box of very few things in hand, waiting for the man to finish his act.
"Quite done now?" He asked me. I nodded. "Good. I take my leave gentlemen. Enjoy your reward."
He took my arm again and pulled me towards a carriage that was a little way down from the alleyway. He took my things and put them in the back of the carriage and opened the door for me. I went in, not questioning his plan. He got in and the carriage started to roll away from the alleyway. He sighed and placed a hand over his heart and started to chuckle to himself. I was so nervous being so close to him, our arms barely brushing in the small carriage. I tried to keep some distance between us but every time the carriage jerked or moved in one direction we would be brought closer together.
"That was quite a rush I must say." He said softly as he glanced at me. I did or said nothing. "Are you all right? I did not hurt you with my little play?" I shook my head, signifying a 'no'. "Good. I am so glad. It was a wonder I even saw you in that alleyway with those guards. You should be thankful that I like watching the world roll by through my window and that I was looking at your side rather than the other. You would have been thrown in jail you poor thing."
I felt like I was a child being with him. But it was a good kind of feeling. It was not as if he were using his male dominance over me but simply that his childless and happy-go-lucky personality was making me feel young and alive, a feeling a have not felt since I came to the town and started to live on the streets.
"Oh! How rude of me!" He yelled snapping me from my thoughts. No doubt I was staring at him while I thought but if I did, which I know I did, he gave no sign of it. "My name is Galliano Hummel, musician of the Court Band." He extended his hand at me and I starred at it. I knew how to shake hands, I was not that uneducated, but for some reason my body would not move to respond to the gesture. "You know? The band that plays for the Gods and the Lady Brooke?" He asked me. I nodded once. He smiled at me, his hand still extended towards me. "And what about you? What is your name?"
I blinked at him. All the events of that night were so much to take in for me. Not only was I discovered by guards and was almost sent to jail but the boy-turned-man that I had saw a long time ago had saved me and now we were in his carriage having a conversation of sorts, he doing all the talking. He chuckled once very softly and was pulling his hand away when mine shot out and grasped him. I started down at my lap while I shook his hand, yet another blush spreading across my cheeks.
"Aislinn." I said softly.
"Aislinn?" He asked and I nodded. "What a beautiful name… Aislinn."
"T-Thank you." I stuttered and he released my hand. I brought my hand back to my body and thanked him again, this time for saving me. "Thank you, for saving me."
"You are quite welcome Aislinn." He responded as he started to lean against the cushions on the side of the carriage, his legs brushing mines. "So Aislinn, since I saved you I now have to complete the gesture by asking; would you rather be dropped off somewhere or would you like to spend a night in my manor?"
My heart pounded in my chest. I so wanted to spend a night at his manor but I was cautious and knew of males and their… Habits. My childlike mindset at that moment wanted to believe that he would not do anything to me and that he was just being kind but the woman that I was knew the dangers, knew what to expect and as much as I wanted not to knew that I should leave the town as quickly as possible and not risk being caught again. But in doing so that would mean going back in defeat to my parents and missing out on the slim chance to get to know him better. Galliano Hummel.
"I suppose…" I started softly, forcing my gaze to look up at him. When I did so I almost laughed for he had his head tilted at an extreme angle as if he were trying to catch a glimpse of my face. "T-That I could take up on your offer to stay at your manor."
He smiled at me again. "Good choice. My maids are cooking steak tonight. You eat meat do you?"
"Yes. But I have not eaten meat in years." I answered truthfully.
"Then tonight really is your lucky night Aislinn." He leaned forward and knocked on the front panel of the carriage and I felt the carriage turn and change direction towards Galliano Hummel's home.
The rest of the carriage ride was him mostly talking about his day at work and about how lucky this whole day has been for people, him included. Just that day his piano had broken beyond repair but luckily there was a couple moving out of their home and they were selling their fine piano because they could not afford to take it with them and he was able to replace his instrument on that same day. And one of his friends in the band had fallen deathly ill a few days back and everyone thought he was going to die. But one of his workers, a butler, had a cousin who married a merperson and was able to get some medicine made by the merperson sent over and his friend made an amazing recovery just that afternoon. And of course me with being rescued from those two guards. I wanted to tell him that I was lucky two times that day for I was lucky enough to be saved by him but I refrained from doing so.
*Aislinn's Journal*
Life in the Hummel home was fine and laced with splendor. His home as it turned out was close to the Woods itself, I could not possibly see this so late at night, and my eyesight lately had been fading in and out that I eventually had to get glasses so that I could see, the atrocious things. But I soon got used to them, as did life in the Hummel home later. His servants were really nice too. There were all humans, all paid a good deal, and well treated. There were two women and a man, all seemingly very close to Galliano, he had told me to call him Galliano and not Mr. Hummel like I was. The closest of all was the man, his name was James. I suppose it was the fact that they were both males and lived in the same neighborhood as children. James did a lot of tasks. He was the driver, the butler, Galliano's personal aid, and all that such. The women on the other hand were simply maids. The tallest one of dark color, her name was Kali; she mainly cooked the food and worked predominantly in the kitchen while the shorter white skinned one, Elizabeth, did the cleaning of the house and the upkeep of it. Sometimes Kali would help as well but on days she was either too busy or too sick. Kali was really prone to get sicknesses and Galliano, being afraid of getting sick, never allowed Kali to work when she was sick to Elizabeth had more work to do at those times. I helped too whenever I could but Galliano would not see to it since he saw me as a permanent guest in his residence. I started to feel bad about invading and taking some of the space of this house, but he assured me that it was no issue and besides, it was far better than the streets.
He took me on as an apprentice of music after catching me in his lavish music room, practically inspecting everything in the room. I was not as good at the instruments as I had hoped. I eventually learned how to play the piano, Galliano's favorite instrument, after days and days of practice after he returned back from work. He had taken on students before but I believe I was the most difficult he ever had. I blamed myself mostly. I was so caught up with him being beside me on the bench that I could not focus. There were days when he had a horrible time at work and would sit far away from me, I would somewhat be able to focus on those days, but then there were days that he seemed that he could not be closer to me. I remember one day while he was teaching m how to play his piano, and this day makes me smile the most every time I look back on it though I certainty could not smile at the time from all the embarrassment and the blush once again taking my face, that he was reminding me what good it was to stretch my fingers across the keys to be able to reach more without wasting time or energy.
"It is very important to stretch your fingers out Aislinn, for the purpose of saving energy and time. Playing with stretched fingers makes the playing better. That is why most great piano players have extremely long fingers." He had paused, eyes down at the keys in thought. "My fingers are short but my hands move fast." He said finally. "You have long fingers and once your hand starts moving quickly across the keys, you might actually become a better piano player than me."
"I could not possibly excel you Galliano." I replied back to him.
"Sure you could. Never say that you cannot because one always can." He looked up at me with a small smile. "And your fingers are extremely long." Most people would have taken that offensively. I blushed slightly at the sentence. I was about to thank him when he took my hand, raised it up into the air and pressed his palm to mine, heel to heel. My blush increased. "See? They are almost a whole inch and a half longer than mine. Top notch girl."
And he spoke the truth. My fingers did pass his. I stared at our hands in wonder. This was really the first time we had this sort of contact. I was about to thank him again but would you know it? His hand seemed to crawl up a small fraction and his finger intertwined with mine. I was so captivated and so blown away by this movement I could not help but close my fingers as he did with his. He gripped my hand tightly and I thought that maybe I have moved too far or had done something I should have not and I lifted my fingers up but his other hand came down on top of them and he held my hand in both of his. My heart was pounding so hard that I am sure he could have heard it without straining, my breathing irregular and my eyes clouding in a haze of embarrassment and too much blood in my face. After a small moment he sighed and released my hand, my hand darting down to my lap. He stood as my hand hit my lap and bowed slightly to me in apology.
"I am sorry Aislinn. That was unlike me. The lesson will end for today." He said that without looking at me, and then he walked away.
I found out later from Galliano himself that he was blushing so red that he would have put the reddest rose to shame.
*Aislinn's Journal*
I was never good at playing instruments. No matter how hard I tried I just never seemed to pass the amateur stage. I think that at one point it was starting to upset Galliano since he could not teach me all that he had wished. But I was really good at singing. I always enjoyed singing. I always thought of it as a hobby and nothing else. But one day while I was out in the backyard practicing to play the guitar, one of my latest attempts to become a better player, I decided to sing the lyrics of the song I was playing. The song is completely in Mystic and the song itself was very sad.
It is about a woman who had a strong love with her mate but he was soon sent off to war and never came back. She was sad but later remarried her late husband's best friend who had always loved her. He was not 'The One' like her first husband but the love they had was true. Eventually, one day, her first husband seemingly came back from the dead. As it turned out he was held captive all this time and when the war ended he was released and came straight back to her, only to see that she had married his best friend. He was saddened and decided to leave to allow his friend and ex-wife the happiness they though they shared. Which it is true that they were happy but she was not as happy with the friend than with her first husband. So she ran away to find her first husband but along the way was raped and killed. Her first and second husbands heard of her unfortunate death and both went to her funeral. As the funeral was happening the God of Light appeared and offered them both a chance to live with her forever in death in his Realm of Light. The second husband refused instantly, wanting to keep his life but the first husband agreed instantly and was killed to join his wife once more. Ultimately the moral of the song was that the truest of love will always last, no matter what.
Either way I was singing the song and I did not realize that Galliano had come home early from his concert. He was listening in on my singing for the longest time, the song was at least six minutes and he later told me that he came in at minute two, and once I was finished he scared me by coming out and automatically putting me in his band as their lead singer. I was nervous to join the band, seeing as I never met the Court Band musicians, besides Galliano of course, and have never sung in public before in front of hundreds of people. As it turns out I did not need to worry because I was an instant professional at singing before people, in fact I quite enjoyed it. From that first successful concert I was given a payroll and a permanent spot on the Court Band as the lead singer and I could not be happier to finally get to work with Galliano and for none other than the God of Light and of Darkness and the Lady Brooke Dionne.
They, despite their large rule, were the nicest beings I have ever had the pleasure to know, well, mostly the God of Light and Lady Brooke. The God of Darkness always seemed aloof and never socialized with us. Instead he would stay within the darkness the shadows of the castle offered and remained silent. I sometimes sympathized with him because there was a time that I felt like that, felt like I had to spate myself from everyone else. But on the other hand the God of Light, he eventually asked me and Galliano to call him by his name, Shimshon, and Lady Brooke, which at the same time asked us to call her just Brooke, enjoyed music greatly and were close friends with the Band but even closer with us. We all had and instant connection the four of us. Galliano had always felt close with them but since my arrival it was just intensified to a point where neither of us could ignore it. It was as if we were fated to be friends, to live in each other's company.
On day I asked Shimshon if the story in the song Galliano discovered me singing the yard was based of true events. He had told me that it had. There were really three young friends in a love triangle and two of them did die while the other chose to live. It was the second wife of the second husband that decided to write the song based of her husband's story since she thought it would make a good song. She never told her husband about it until it was completed and he was never angered by the fact she took his heartbreak and placed it into a song. In fact he was glad of it for he felt bad for what he had done and wanted people to know of his mistake. But still he was happy for his friend and late wife and he knew that they were living together in peace, happiness and love, just as Shimshon promised me that they were. He had told me that he actually talks to the young couple at times and when their friend died and joined them the three, and later four with the addition of his last wife, lived together in a meadow of flowers, trees and a glorious waterfall and river playing games and retelling the stories of their lives together and making new ones in the Regne de la Llum.
Either way we enjoyed each other's company so much, the four of us, especially when we all performed together, just the four of us. Brooke would play the piano with Galliano, Shimshon would play the harp and I would sing, sometimes even Shimshon and Brooke joined in with me if the song required an extra voice or two. Galliano would never sing with us. I eventually asked him why he did not sing with us.
"I cannot sing well. I am horrible when it comes to singing." He replied to me.
"Nonsense Galliano." I told him. "Music is your greatest natural talent. Singing is music. You should do wonderfully in song."
"So I take it that just because I have a natural talent in music automatically means that I am good in everything music related?"
"Of course."
"The same for you and instruments correct?"
"Uh… Oh…"
He laughed. "Yes, 'oh…'" I ended up laughing with him and apologizing for my pressing. He would hear nothing of it.