With a lightness in his words the gentleman asks if his guest would like more tea. With his stomach already quenched, the young man's intention was to refuse the offer, but he ends up accepting and filling his bowl with more of that strange tea with a taste that was completely far from anything he had ever experienced. Looking at the ripples that the liquid made inside the bowl, the guest became aerated, he finally managed to calm down. Now that he was able to reason properly he formulates questions in his head to clarify all his doubts, but without a doubt the one that was most intriguing him was the one he decided to do first.
-What are you?
The old man looking at the young man reflects a little and adjusting the words to describe his definitions in a perfectionist way he replies:
-We are what your people called a human being. Hahahahaha.
With the old man's answer, the stranger understood that their physical differences were not related to anything but time.
-What year are we in?
-Unfortunately as you can see there is a terrible storm outside, we lost track of time a long time ago. Do you remember what year you came from?
-I don't know why, but my memories are messed up, I don't even know for sure how old I am. However, I still know the date of my birth, I was born on the twenty-fifth of March 1998, as I look twenty-two years old, I would say I came from the year 2020.
-I see, 2020..., so we're talking about tens of millennia ago.
-How can you be sure of that if your society stopped counting dates a long time ago?
-That's what the books say.
-Books? - asks the young man.
Immediately getting up, the old man walks a little over that soft layer of flooring that covered the hard floor of the house. Arriving at the end of the rug, he lifts it up and folds it in half, the young man is a little curious about that action of the old man, but soon notices something strange on the floor, that was not a floor made of black stone, but a floor made of black painted wood. With his right hand he holds that wood and lifts it, it was a false bottom and inside it he takes out a huge and dusty book. He takes the book to the stranger who immediately blows on the cover to get all the dust off of it. The book in question was a dictionary, which explained why it was so thick.
-Did you own others?
-A few hundred others, all possess unrivaled beauty from the machines' artistic and perfectionist impressions. However, there were some bizarre things that happened over the years.
-What do you mean "bizarre"?
The old man again puts his hand in the hole and pulls out another one of his books, this one, however, was finished and worn. It wasn't just dust, its material was corroded, it seemed to have been made with a sheet that was already worn out and as time went by it corroded even more. Giving it back to his guest, the young man starts to leaf through it and immediately notices something.
-It was handwritten...
-That's right, all books written after the twenty-second century were handwritten.
-Did something happen to the press?
-No, with the world. It is not listed very well, but all the books report that in the middle of the twenty-first century an abnormality began to run through society and catastrophic events occurred simultaneously one after the other. They call this period the decay of society.
The man couldn't think straight, it was too much information for him to process.
-The book you are holding is the most recent one that I have possession of, it was written by a man who said that the events of the "decline of society" occurred tens of thousands of years ago.
With that information, the young man managed to make a connection with his reasoning.
-So it was through him that you answered me how long we are compared to the time I came. We are tens of thousands of years away according to the time of this book, but this book is not from now. That same book, which may have been written tens of thousands of years ago.
The sage with a serious face saw that his guest had understood the real situation and gravity of the situation he was in.
-Correct.
-So everything I've ever known is...
-Submerged at the very bottom of a sea of ice. It became history.
The real prehistoric man was not the people who lived inside that cave but him, that information made the poor young man paralyzed. The sage realizing that he had finally broken an important barrier of his listener, it was time to replace his doubts with hopes.
-In the countless books I own, there is one by a historian. I wouldn't say it's a book, it's more like a map, a place marked with a big "x" and on it is written the phrase "the secrets behind everything and the solutions for it are here". Unfortunately it seems that this historian was murdered, someone didn't want him to reveal these secrets at the time.
-And why are you telling me this?
-Doesn't it seem like a good opportunity to find out everything that happened and why it happened? Are these not the questions you are looking for?
The man looks thoughtful, that seems to be oddly convenient for his desires.
-My ancestors searched for this truth, however over the years they changed their opinion. You know, times change men. With the main objective becoming survival, the population lost interest in the pursuit of knowledge and became those people that you observed. But you are different because you came from a different time.
Extending a new book in front of him the sage puts him in a position of choice, with nothing to lose the man accepts the offer and takes the book. But after reading a little he sees that it was a strange dictionary that translated the words of a language he had never heard of into Portuguese.
-What is that? It doesn't look like the book you were describing.
The gentleman leaving his house raises his finger and answers the man:
-Before looking for something, one must have the main tool of the human species, communication. This book was used by all my Maourian ancestors (name of their people) to learn to speak Portuguese, including me.
-So I'm going to use this book to learn to speak your language?
The young man asks, but when looking at the entrance of the house he no longer sees the figure of the Lord, he had withdrawn leaving him alone in that residence. Staring at the book the young man determines himself and sees a long-term goal to be achieved, he would get there with the answers, but first there were a number of factors to be done before that.
-Maourianos..., so that's the name of the people here.
Outside, the sage walked slowly towards his son who was watching him from afar.
-Where is he? - asks Mazir.
-You won't get out of there for a long time, that I can guarantee you.
-Is he some kind of divine being? You saw his skin, it's totally different from ours.
-A divine being? No. It's more like a demon.
-And why did you let him in? Is he not dangerous? Mazir asked desperately.
-Yes, but if put on the right path it will also be very useful to our people.
-Useful? How exactly could he be of use to us?
-He has something that no other inhabitant here has. He has personal desires. Something completely different from the survival instinct that we all have.
-And what are those wishes?
A brief silence is created between them, stretching their fragile lungs with a strong breath of air, the old man exhales all that air and replies:
-The search for answers.
-Answers? Does he have questions and wants the answers to them? You heard the questions, didn't you have the answers to them?
-Yes, I own them. I know everything he wants to know about events and his motives.
-If you know, why didn't you tell him.
-I have Mazir's answers, but I can't give them to him. I need your heart to ignite, I need it to keep burning with the desire of curiosity. As long as he's in that state I can get him to help us.
-I don't understand. However, I will not question its parent methods. If not giving him what he seeks is to our advantage, then that's all I need to know.
The old man looks ahead and a smile penetrates his mysterious layer, completely changing his scary aura to a more friendly one.
-It seems that in addition to our guest we have another curious little being.
Pointing to a relief above, he demonstrates to Mazir that a person with long hair was spying on them all this time, this person was Mazir's daughter.
-She was supposed to be sleeping.
-Hahahahaha. It's okay, after all, as I said, being curious is something fundamental, it was through it that the people of millions of years ago built their great empires and cities never seen by a human of today's times. Undoubtedly, it is an asset for the construction of human history.
-Hahahahahaha. I understand, thank you dad, may you be well. -saying goodbye to the elder, Mazir runs towards his daughter.
Waving to Mazir, his father takes his leave and looks at him running from afar, when his happy face disappears and dark, piercing eyes fill his face. Those big yellow eyes hid an evil behind all that kind soul and looking at his son's back the old man says.
-And it is also the evil behind all the destruction of history that has been built.