The birdsong persists

Published on , 638 words, 3 minutes to read

In the days before, there were many roosts for the itinerant birds of the ether. Flocks of birds flittered about between roosts, but never really settled on one in particular for very long. This continued for generations, the birds just understood the roosts being temporary as an immutable fact of their existence.

Then a bird decided to build a new roost. A roost that could house everyone. With a bright and proud announcement, that bird proclaimed thus:

Birds flocked to the new roost and everyone started to sing and tweet to eachother. This filled that small initial roost quickly. Birds were joining faster than the roost could be built, but they stuffed themselves in anyways. Eventually the icon of failure had been purged and the birdsong was able to thrive on that roost.

The roost became a massive hub in that network of itinerant roosts. As the roost grew, the other roosts it replaced started to feel depopulated and withered. Others lost interest and joined in the main roost.

The roost continued to grow at the expense of all the others. It kept growing and consuming more and more flocks. Those flocks started to lose their identity of their previous roosts and started to see themselves as belonging in the big roost.

With so much birdsong, you would think that the roost would be invincible. It was not. It was in dire straits. The constant building and maintenance had a cost that was only realized when things were almost falling apart. Somehow they had managed to avoid the cracks showing on the outside, but things were incredibly dire.

They made a deal with the devil during a point of contention between the flocks. The roost thrived, but at a huge cost. The previously united flock had been divided into groups that wanted to destroy eachother. The roost continued, but the flocks started to grow bitter.

Then came the idealist. The idealist proposed to buy the roost from its former owners and reshape it into his vision. The idealist saw the vision and agreed before seeing the cracks in the roost's core. But it was too late. The idealist was now the owner of the roost. To an even worse result than the deal with the devil.

With the caretakers of the roost fleeing to the winds, the cracks became more and more visible. First they were notable, then they were unignorable, then they were threatening to the flocks. The whole roost was unstable and the birdsong started to change its tune until it was almost entirely against the idealist and his flawed visions.

More flocks fled the roost in fear that it will collapse out from under them. Their happy birdsong left with them, leaving the anger against the idealist to dominate the roost so much that it became a poison.

The flocks did not flee to another single roost though. They had learned that lesson. On the side a flock had been building tools to let flocks create their own roosts. But, at the same time they also made those roosts able to communicate with eachother. This means that the flocks could flee the main roost, but still be able to hear eachother's birdsong. There were thousands of roosts instead of one big one.

As wave after wave of flocks fled the roost, each of the other roosts found themselves with more and more friends. The birds sang in harmony forever on. Still welcoming those fleeing the failing roost to this day.

Facts and circumstances may have changed since publication. Please contact me before jumping to conclusions if something seems wrong or unclear.

Tags: prose