If he thought the sounds of the castle were delightful, then the sounds of the outside world were like nothing he could have ever imagined. Whereas in the castle there had been merely isolated interruptions of tranquility, outside there was constant sound coming from all directions at all times.
He had been sent out into the wide world to see what he made of it and he had found it both terrifying and fascinating. Out here, conflict reigned supreme. The benevolent smiles of the professors in the castle were replaced with the vicious scowls of the wicked schoolmasters. But these were of little concern to him; the unassuming boy had learned how to keep himself to himself, to lay low beneath the radar of those who knew not how to see.
Far more bizarre were the other children. Running, shouting, screaming, all in a constant stream of seemingly never-ending energy, they seemed to have little time for the quiet reflection so prized by the young boy. With these children it was far more difficult to escape notice. One simply had to partake of their society in order to survive their world, but this was an often violent process. Fighting was standard procedure, here in this savage, ruthless world.
Each one of them wants to be at the top of their society, each one wishes for respect and adulation. Some can only dream of it, and willingly submit to those of stronger will. They proceed to give to others the respect and adulation they wish for themselves. But the others take action to acquire them for themselves. They each assert themselves at the top, and thus conflict arises. One boy decides that his time has come. He steps forward and stakes his claim against the current ruler. Instantly the surrounding children know what is occurring and a hush falls. Push leads to shove and the challenge is made. It is received with great resistance and soon the fight is in full swing.
At this point, the surrounding children, who had been dispersed randomly about the place, have instantly formed themselves into an encircling crowd, the hive mind taking over, the collective crowd mentality snapping them all into order, and the jeering starts. Thus the fight is out of the control of the fighters, the crowd is in control now, spurring on the fight. For the future of the social hierarchy is dependent on the outcome. The crowd intuitively know which way they want the fight to go, and also how they want it to arrive at that conclusion. Their jeering instructs the fighters on towards this outcome.
But then, drawn by the instantly recognisable sounds of the fray, the authorities arrive, swinging their instruments of enforcement. Peace has been breached and examples must be made. But the fight is not over, the agreed conclusion has not been reached. Thus the authority is revealed to be the true enemy, and the crowd turns on them.
The order of the crowd now breaks down as the individuals return to their former state of dispersement and the original culprits are lost within it. But the crowd is now fired up, and what was at first a simple fight between two individuals has become a full-scale riot against the authorities. Chaos now reigns. Objects are thrown, people are running, screaming and shouting, onlookers heckle before being drawn into the mess themselves, the very ground beneath their feet seems to crack asunder as fire and brimstone rain down from the blood-red sky.
He watches this scene before him and wonders…does he see his own future in the chaos? Or will he eternally be the observer, watching from the sidelines. He has never witnessed anything like this before, yet none of it seems to surprise him. Perhaps the voices back at the castle had been preparing him for this very thing his whole life.
For upon reflection he realised that this very thing occurs everywhere, in all things. Everything is a conflict, a fight spurred on by the surrounding world, which demands the fight to be resolved in a certain way. This is why he was sent here, to witness this very thing, to see for himself what the world has in store for him and for all others. For the contrast between life here, and life back in the castle, is merely another conflict, another fight between two opposing forces which the world demands must come to some resolution.
He now knows that, very soon, the conflict of these two aspects of life will come together for him, and he must be ready for it when it does.
Omega Synthesis 