To the west in the cliffs above the prosperous city lays the ruins of a ancient temple from centuries past. Its marbled pillars weathered by the elements and inner corridors forgotten, it serves as an isolated refuge for any curious traveler that happens to stumble upon it. As the sun sets in the west, two men discuss the complexities of society amidst the ruins. One from a life of riches, and another from the abyss of poverty, they hold a tenuous animosity towards each other but tolerate it for the sake of conversation.

“Madeus, gaze upon the wretches in their filth-stained rags and their simple-minded behavior. How one, such as yourself could say that they are remotely human baffles me to say the least. They are a nuisance, which should be exterminated for the sake of our city.”

“Wouldn’t it be fair to admit that their state of despair stems from you, or rather, the aristocracy? How can the oppressed thrive under the thumb of the oppressor? Abadean, despite all of the riches you possess, you are no less rich in your knowledge of the world than that of a child.”

“Petty excuses to mask the reality of the world.” Scoffed Abadean, before going on with his prejudiced tirade.

“There are only three classes within this world which are the rich, the middle-man, and the poor. Those of us with the most money have the power to take what we want, and when we want it. We deserve no less than the complete dominance of any given nation. The middle-man, are but lucky fools from the lowest echelons that have crawled out from their holes and make meager income which somehow gives them the right to call themselves as otherwise.”

“Finally, you have the utter scum of the earth, the poor.” Abadean continued, with a smirk.

“They know nothing better than the enjoyment of themselves, hardly above animals they live day to day with little more than a care in the world around them, gorging themselves on food, reproducing with similar creatures of below average intellect, and working until they die from exhaustion. Rodents, of our race, they are.”

“Your ignorance is unfathomable.” Madeus simply remarked, with little more than a glance over his shoulder.

“Your division of humanity into classes is flawed. Furthermore, you’ve isolated and categorized every human who are more different in variety than a snowflake into boxes of which you believe there is no escape. However, I deem it proper to state that you are perhaps the poorest of them all. With your closed minded thinking, and scathing rants of the black and white world that you perceive it to be.”

Glaring now, and with a face more red than scarlet, Abadean prepared to unleash a fury of verbal insults towards his counterpart but was stopped by a swift gesture of the hand by Madeus asking him to wait.

“Allow me to make one more remark before you scorn me from the deepest abyss of your heart.” Madeus said before continuing his verbal assault upon one of the richest, powerful men in the city.

“They are blinded, and in the darkness. In this sense, they are ignorant not of their own desires but because of circumstance. As you are entrenched within your own beliefs of the world that are infallible by your logic, they are confined to metaphorical chains within their own lives. How can you tell a dog to sit, if he has never been trained to do as such? The poorest of the nation, the most unfortunate, have never experienced the truth of what is beyond their simple world as you prefer to put it.” Madeus concluded.

“Hmph…” With his composure restored, Abadean stared over the eroded columns of the temple and the dazzling lights of the city coming to life as the sun was beginning its final journey below the horizon.

“Our origins are vastly different, almost as the distance between this mountain and the moon. I accept that man has the potential to be something greater, as you are evidence of.” Abadean remarked at his counterpart.

Silent, Madeus glimpsed downward at the scars that adorned his hands and of how he had been a street urchin once, and a brilliant merchant in the present.

“I cannot accept that things will change. History says that the strongest, the richest, the most powerful will take what they want, and the weakest, the poorest, will suffer in agony. We all have a role to play in this life, and not all can aspire to great things. The sheep are destined to be nothing more than a food source so that the wolves and the shepherds continue their eternal dance for supremacy.” Abadean concluded in blunt humility, but the truth of his inner thoughts made Madeus shake his head in sorrow.

“Old friend, you’ve changed greatly but I do not blame you for that. Our circumstances, our experiences and our lifestyles influence who we are, and who we become. In the extravagance of the palace, you continue to walk your path paved by the aristocrats and their sweet, sweet, talk as they plot their next assassination to satisfy the insatiable desire of power that rules over them – that is their curse.”

Wrapping his cloak tightly around his figure, Madeus strolled down the inner courtyard. Despite the amount of years he had spent in this obscure place of old, he never grew bored with the idea that individuals had united together under a common purpose to build this temple. Casting a final look at Abadean, he made his final remarks before leaving.

“Despite our differences, it is of the utmost importance that these discussions never cease. Our viewpoints are the foundations of a great wood pile that has the potential to be a brilliant inferno, which only needs a single spark. If there is no discussion, then the plague of apathy will descend upon the nation, and in the silence, who will be there to stand up and demand change?”

Stepping outward from the darkened columns of the temple, Abadean cast a grave look at the back of his rival. Contemplating the words of someone that in truth, was perhaps his best friend and greatest enemy made him feel a slight tinge of guilt at his conflicted emotions. Gazing outward into the night sky, he could only wonder about the rhetorical question that was perhaps, unanswerable.