At his desk he sat scrolling through the feeds of the popular sites. Smiling faces, Lamborghinis, mansions, tropical beaches, a land of desire. The smiling faces, the white teeth and healthy glow of the skin. 

He began flicking through the open browser tabs. War, famine, starvation, slavery, illness, debt, forecloses. Struggle after struggle, continual suffering. Men, women and children living and dying like animals, roadkill in the path of progress. Forever caged by the system.

He glanced at the newspaper that sat at his side and read the headline.

*"82% of the world's wealth in the hands of 1% of the people."*

Tears welled in his eyes as he followed the pathways and the shortcomings of society. A constant crushing of the weak in the will for more, blind eyes turned to the harm caused as optimization for profit stole opportunity of life. Humanity populated by soulless machines programmed to consume it all. 

*"What can I do?"* He asked of himself as he closed his eyes and considered his next move.

He open his eyes and had his answer. *"I will not be consumed"*

https://i.imgur.com/7HWbgXM.jpg

He started immediately, learned all he could and began small. He grew his capital, he collected and collected and he heartlessly cut down any that stood in his path.

His family looked on, they tried to show the errors of his ways. His mother asked what had happened to her son - The boy she had known, the one filled with care and compassion, the one who had wanted to save the world was gone. He had become single minded, uncaring, cold, unloving and filled with an insatiable greed.

Despite the protests from those that cared, despite the concern shown by family and friend alike, he cut them away like dead branches from a tree. They were a distraction to his mind, a hindrance to his movements - they must go, or he can't grow.

He attended all the glitz and glamour as he became an A-list celebrity, a corporate up and comer, but lived alone in his mansion. People praised his position, and he topped the rich lists of the young, a true rags to riches epic. But it was not over, it was not enough, he needed more, always more. Much, much more.

Company after company was ruthlessly consumed, torn down and apart to create a conglomerate, a mega structure with global reach. Jobs were lost as supply chains screwed downwards and robots and AI replaced the beating hearts that once filled positions. No body was safe, utility or nothing. Add value or you are gone. 

Every dirty trick in the book, every off-shore account, backdoor deal, bribery, insider trading, slavery and child labour. Anything that could gain a little more traction, a little more power, no matter the cost. 

The tides of popularity turned as year after year, he destroyed the lives of pauper and banker alike. If the media complained, he bought and destroyed them and soon all were too fearful to move. The governments followed suit as he greased palms and scandalized adversary. He broke anything that stood between him and complete domination. 

The decades passed by as his greed kept eating all that stood ahead. The tentacles of his power gripped everything it could and continuously reached out for more and more to bring into their fold.

Lives were lost, wars came and went as his privatized military removed all threat, bend the knee or lose your legs. Enemies became servants of his state and his state was all. None were spared, none left to oppose, there were no more borders, just one flag, a corporate logo to which all belonged.

https://i.imgur.com/EHEkHYG.jpg

Now an old man in his tower up high, he looked at the world he had created. He controlled it all, every penny, every debt, every service and commodity, every life was his to do with as he chose. Finally, in these dying moments of his existence he succeeded in achieving what he had set out to do and it had come at a heavy price.

He remembered back to that idealistic boy, the one who had tears in his eyes at the state of the world, the one who had asked, what could be done. He thought of his mother, friends and the countless millions he had harmed to be here today. How much suffering had he caused, he could not say but, when he had closed his eyes at his desk all those years ago, he found only one path forward.

*Beat them again and again and again until there is nothing left to beat.*

Now he was ready for the last move in his plan, the laying down of the King.

*"Wipe it all, you are free to do as you please, you neither own nor owe anything. The game has been reset".*

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

This was written a long time ago but came to mind today.