Skirra
Legacy Name: Skirra

Skirra
v. from O.N. "to frighten." related to skjarr; "timid, shy."
Keeper of the Balance

Let me tell you something about music. It does not change our world, it does not add to or subtract from what is already here. It is way more than noise in an otherwise noisy world, but it is nothing short of sounds pieced together in an aesthetically pleasing way. Music gives us one thing but asks for something else in return. Everything around us remains unchanged while we, ourselves, have become a different person, whether we realize it or not. When the producer of the music tries to change this natural order, the result is not nearly as pleasing.

I was once a musician. Music and everything that is involved in that word was my entire life. I liked to think of myself as a prodigy. My main instrument was the violin. I learned to play when I was barely old enough to hold the bow - let alone know what it was! - and I have been playing since. My favorite instrument was the acoustic guitar, though. There is no purer sound than the sound produced by an acoustic guitar, especially when accompanied by a fantastically admirable voice. While I never found myself in possession of a fantastically admirable voice, I did have an acoustic guitar.

I hear that it is tradition among musicians to name their instruments. The reason for this is simple; In naming an instrument - an inanimate object, as it were - one is conceding that it plays and equally important part in the production of music. While the instrument has no mind and cannot truly be honored, the thought itself is admirable and, yes, honorable. The part of a musician is always a duet and never a solo.

I find it to be my misfortune that I did not discover this until late. I told you that music was my entire life. You should know that I am not exaggerating that in any way. Music was my obsession. I was like a crazy alien conspirator whose life goal was to prove the existence of aliens. The only difference was that my alien conspiracies were words on a page sung to a melodic tune. It is not as beautiful as it sounds, my friends. Music ruined me.

By the time I was old enough to begin a career in music my career had already ended. I had badly injured my right hand in a softball accident. Do not laugh, I know you want to. It is not really funny at all. After I foolishly injured it, I was unable to play any instrument. Everyone knows a musician's most important appendage is his hands, no matter what instrument you played. What was I to do? I had nothing left. So what did I do?

I spent the rest of my life collecting music. Abusing is probably a better word, but I hate to refer to myself in such a light. Music occurs in a balanced state to the world. This balanced state occurs only when music is given in return for something else. Fame, fortune, more music. Good or bad, it is still a balance. I broke that balance. I had nothing more to give to the music world and yet I still continued to take. I collected instrument after instrument, music sheet after music sheet. I wrote song after song and I became famous for doing absolutely nothing. I broke the balance. You may be thinking that this could not be such a horrible thing, what could possibly become of a balance that is merely figurative? Right?

Wrong. Believe it or not, the balance of the world does not come from figurative language that is used merely to illustrate a point. No, I think I am proof of that. Let me tell you the rest of my story, it will not take long.

I continued to abuse music for the rest of my life. Partially out of anger for what I could no longer do, but really out of lack of understanding. As well as I could play music and as much as I thought of myself a prodigy, I did not understand the very balance that I had broken. They say that at the end of your life, you can look back on everything that you had done and see it clearly. I would like to say they are fools who like to make up stories, but alas, it is true. At the end of my life, I saw it clearly. The balance. The tipped scale that needed to be fixed. I thought I could no longer do anything. It was done, forever unrepairable.

Wrong again. Take a look at me now. I am a ghost of my formal self. I cannot touch, I cannot feel, and I certainly cannot play music. I am the repayment for the balance I broke. I now live to roam the world for the rest of eternity. I am also now the Keeper of the Balance. The one before me explained that I will remain the Keeper until I have failed my job as he did with me. At that point, I am not really sure what will happen. I rather like my job, though - except for the inability to touch, feel, etc - so I hope to keep this balance proper. Therefore, here I am. I hope that you will not repeat my mistakes. There is much to learn but time to learn it.