"No, unfortunately not. And I was really hoping for something, but nah. What about you guys? Did anything else happen over there at the Shrine?" asked Midas while deflecting attention off the Tablet. He could not predict these people's nature, but he understood one thing about Humans.
Bible of the Self, First Testament of Man, Gospel of Transactions, Chapter 1, verse 12 states: "Human Beings are Selfish creatures, whose actions are motivated by Perceived Profit."
Of course the key words here are "Selfish", "Perceived" and "Profit".
The dictionary definition for selfish is a person who is inconsiderate towards others and is chiefly concerned with their own gains and pleasures. One might look up more on the definition and find that selfish people are thought of as lacking care for the well being of others and lacking empathy of others. Well, that definition is wrong. And it is wrong because it is incomplete.
Selfish people do care about others, to the extent that they see others as extensions of themselves and their own self interests. Selfish people will care about your well being as long as you are useful to their goals. But since all people are selfish, then this is true for all people.
An example of this would be a business man handing over coins to a homeless man who was begging on the street. Others would see that and think of how selfless that man is and how pitiful that homeless person is, but Midas would see that and think of how duplicitous and selfish both of those people are being instead.
And this is where the phrase "Perceived" Profit comes in. Everything is about Perception.
The business man is exercising his right to superiority and proverbially stepping on the homeless man, while gathering praise from onlookers and himself too. He is such a good person. 'Look at me. I help the less fortunate. Praise me.' He feels feelings of heightened self worth because of the praise and attention he gets from his actions and therefore, to him, his actions are worth it. This is due to his perception.
The homeless person acts pitiful in front of others to emotionally manipulate them into handing him their hard earned money. He makes sure people can see him, makes sure that others can empathise with his suffering by being as dirty and smelly as possible, thus evoking an emotional response from as many passers by as possible. He has no dignity, as to him, dignity is a privilege that he has lost, and so he can act in any way he wants to get exactly what he wants, even if it's through the use of lies and deceptions. This is also due to his perception.
And of course funnily enough, both of these people think they are making a "Profit". They would never do the things they do if they didn't gain more than they lost.
The business man gained self worth, and all he had to do was drop some change and act compassionate.
The homeless man gained money which would go towards his food or drugs, and all he had to do to get it was act as pitiful as he possibly could.
Two selfish people who have no idea that they are using each other to fulfill their self interests.
This is why Midas made it a point to determine a person's Nature first before anything. As long as he can figure out what drives a person to act, he can know that person's motivations and thus figure out ways to use them to his own whims.
People are so easy to read… They're practically begging to be used.
Midas was a person too. That's why he knew.
If to be human is to be selfish, then Midas may as well be the most selfish person he knows.
Thinking this far, Midas gazed at Julio who was standing next to him, who was vigilantly staring at these newcomers. Midas was hoping that Julio might become useful in the future. He had to grow their relationship in the right direction.
If Julio did not know what was good for him and rather chose to betray Midas… Well that was not that much of a loss either. Midas has been abandoned before, he probably will continue to be abandoned in the future. That was just in his nature.
But what was also in his nature now, was the will to dominate. If anyone looked down on him he would make sure to step on them. Midas would make sure that they know their place.
An ant beneath his feet.
"No, nothing much happened. Some people started forming teams to explore this place. We're just one of these teams."
"Eh… Really? Hey, Julio, why are you so tense? You're gonna scare the ladies." said Midas with a smile while playfully nudging at Julio.
"Eh? Hahaha, sorry. I get scared easily. This is why I don't watch scary movies.", mumbled Julio shyly. What's wrong with this guy? Anyway Midas was surprised that they had already formed teams to explore. If there were teams, then there must be team leaders.
It means that a person or people or a group of people managed to make all those bumbling, panicky people calm down and start working towards surviving together. And it only took them possibly thirty minutes to do it too.
Whoever those people are, they must be impressive.
"Pfft… You guys seem nice. Can we come look at the Stone Tablet?" said the girl, but she had already started walking forwards so even if Midas had said no it would make no difference.
'Assertive.' thought Midas.
"Sure. Help yourselves. We're gonna be here in this forest for as long as possible from now on. We should get along as best as we can." said Midas. And just like that the tension was eased.
"Yeah! I'm Corinne, what's your name?", said the black haired European girl. When Midas listened closer, he could tell that she was probably German or Swiss. It's incredible how the accents still came through even though everything was being auto translated. She came forward and held out her hand to shake Midas' hand. And of course Midas did not refuse the handshake as he announced his own name.
"Midas."
Midas shook her hand firmly while thinking, 'She really is something special.' She was strikingly beautiful. The black hair was straight and flowed down her pale white face like an oily waterfall. She was wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, and her clothes hugged her tightly at just the right places, accentuating her figure and curves.
"Hi! I'm Marie.", said a French woman weakly, as if afraid others would hear her voice. She had slightly tanned skin, with curly brunette shoulder length hair and a great figure. She was 1.6 metres tall and when the wind blew, her yellow sundress would blow with it in a charming manner.
"Hey boys, I'm Anya," said a Russian girl with short dirty blonde hair, pale skin, and gorgeous facial features. She stood at 1.8 metres height and looked fit with an athletically aesthetic body. She wore a blouse and some jeans. She winked at the boys while waving her hand.
"I'm Lina, or I guess Galina is the full name. But please, call me Lina." said a mixed race girl who seemed like she was from the Czech Republic. She stood 1.65 metres tall and wore brown shorts and a long sleeve jersey.
"I'm Sofia!" said another dirty blonde haired girl, except this time it was shoulder length hair. Midas estimated she was probably from Poland. She was barely 1.7 metres tall and had jeans and a blue T-shirt on and her face could bring shame to some models.
These women waved their hands from afar and Midas waved at them too. Julio said his name weakly from the side after getting attacked by Corinne's handshake and Midas couldn't help but think how funny it would be for this handsome guy to be shy in front of women.
Well Midas also used to be shy in front of most people. But that was a long time ago.
Midas let the girls do their thing while he watched from the back as the girls fondled the statue and felt it up expectantly. Midas knew it was probably the same thing that happened to him at first, and he was right on the money as later on they let go with dejected expressions.
'Birds of a feather' thought Midas while noticing that all of these women were exceptionally beautiful. Interesting, how people ordered themselves in groups. It's always with people of perceived similar worth.
Businessmen hang out with other businessmen.
Criminals hang out with other criminals
Beautiful women hang out with other beautiful women.
"There's no food or water here" complained Lina who was looking around with a saddened expression.
"It's just this Stone Tablet," said Sofia.
"Who knows, it might be useful." said Maria to which they all nodded.
"Yeah, you're right. We should go back and tell them what we found." said Corinne after which she seemed like she remembered something and said "Are you guys coming too?" to Midas.
"Hmm… Nah I don't think so. We'll probably set something up over here and just sleep here maybe."
"Why? Do you think this thing is important?" queried Corinne with a smile on her face.
Midas merely smiled calmly and asked her "You don't?"
"..." Corinne merely gazed at Midas almost like she was trying to find out something from him.
"Eh, Midas, can you understand these symbols?" asked Anya coquettishly to which Midas laughed and said with a smile on his face.
"No way. Do they even mean anything?"
"Yeah, some of the people were saying that it's a language. They said that the First Holy Book has information on how to understand it." said Maria
Midas had a surprised expression on his face and said, "Really? That is interesting… Well, more reasons for me to stay here I guess."
"Okay, I guess we'll get going." said Corinne while walking away. The rest of the girls followed her and waved back their goodbyes.
"Okay, I'll see you guys later."
"Bye guys!"
"Bye!!"
"Till Next time"
As the girls walked into the forest Julio waved back too, with an embarrassed and flustered expression on his face. What is wrong with this guy? Midas shook his head invisibly but then suddenly Julio spoke softly as if he was afraid of being heard.
"Midas…"
"What?" whispered Midas back questioningly.
"I think I'm in love."
"What??"
"I'm serious, my friend."
"Oh my god… Who is the lucky girl?" asked Midas with a hint of humour.
"That little girl, Maria. Phew… That one is something else, my friend. She just makes me want to protect her, you know. That sexy little body of hers… I could just pick her up and do bad things to her."
"What the fuck?! Pfft Hahaha.."
"Hey, don't laugh, Midas. I'm serious."
"I know you're serious, that's why I'm laughing hahaha"
"Hey where are you going?" said Julio in annoyance, seeing that Midas was walking away towards the forest.
"We need to cut down a tree and make some fire. I'm trying to find some tool to do it with."
"Eh, well there's no need to fear, Julio is here. I'm very strong, you know."
"Eh… Oh how could I forget. Hmm.. maybe if you showed Maria how strong you are she would end up liking you?" said Midas with a pensive tone and expression.
Julio paused for a moment before becoming even more energetic than he was earlier.
"You are right. Girls like men who can protect them. I have to show her next time."
'So easy.'
"Mhm, I believe in you Julio. You're handsome, and charming, you'll definitely get her to love you back" said Midas while nodding. Meanwhile Julio started punching into trees and breaking them. How strong is he exactly?
After three punches, he took down three trees. Terrifying.
'Seems dry enough' thought Midas while looking at the insides of the trees. These artificially grown trees were slightly worrying, but now that he knew he could use them he was assured. In the case that they were not trees… Well then Midas would just have to let Julio bear the pain of punching them. Julio was so helpful, Midas really would like to keep him.
Midas asked him to break off some branches so he could get to work. He took some of the straighter branches and shaped them into sticks. He then took a longer and thicker branch and placed it on the floor while he got on top of it. He used the smaller and thinner stick in his hand to move up and down the branch vigorously, forming smoke in the process.
Midas asked Julio to pile up smaller branches and bark pieces into a small hill while he was busy creating embers and after that was done, Midas collected all his embers and poured them into the small hill made of tree material. Then he got on his knees and blew on it as hard as he could, then took a deep breath afterwards. He did that again and again, watching for the colour change in the embers.
*Whoosh*
Flames came alive in the small hill. Midas continued blowing fresh air into it while Julio put in larger and larger branches from the sides, building up the hill.
The darkness of night had just come into being, but right now that fire created a light and a heat that kept them warm and their hearts settled. Midas sat down next to the fire and looked up at the stars. Beautiful. This World was beautiful. This Universe was beautiful.
Midas thought about humanity's earliest ancestors. To them fire was more than fire. It was the Sun at their fingertips. It resembled Power, Hopes, Dreams, Survival.
Midas smiled.
There's always something to learn if you're willing to listen.
Speaking of which, it had been a while since Midas had stopped listening. Midas asked Julio to keep adding branches while he meditated to which Julio replied with confusion.
"Eh, you meditate? Isn't that kind of stuff for weirdos and freaks?"
"That's right, I'm a weirdo and a freak. Wake me up after a few hours, okay? We'll take turns watching over the fire."
"Ai… Do your thing, brother."
And like that, Midas calmed his breathing and entered a thoughtless, blissful state. He was like a fire, breathing in and out for the longest time. He was trying to get rid of his headache, or atleast forget about it. At first it seemed as if nothing would happen.
And then woosh… Inexplicably, a flood of memories enter his mind. Previously, he was already sure that he could recall everything, but now it felt like he could rewatch every second as if it was happening again and again. Like a perfect memory recall ability. Everything that ever happened in his 60 million year long life was recorded.
And to Midas' surprise, there was so much more.