32 unread messages. Jasper put down the phone, frustrated. How would he get through the next few days? Looking for answers, or distraction, Jasper picked up the phone and started watching videos. One video caught Jasper’s eye. A remarkable individual, talking about something religious or spiritual. Jasper couldn’t quite make it out, but he was interested and found something impressive, maybe admirable, about the person.
So, Jasper continued watching and got more and more sucked in. The man in the video was a mongolian warlord. Sleek, strong, admirable with a gaze that looked like it had been a thousand years in the making. On his shoulder sat a golden eagle, sleepily cleaning its feathers with its beak. Jasper had absolutely no idea what the man was saying, but judging by the reactions of the people in the audience, he could tell it was of great importance.
After a while, the mongolian man stood up, and the crowd followed him. They all broke into a roar and promptly saddled their horses before setting off for the steppe. There was something almost comical about the size of the large central-asian men with the tiny horses between their legs. The video ended with the men galopping off. Jasper put the phone away and stared contemplatively at the wall. What was he doing with his life? Why wasn’t he hanging out with his friends in nature like this? Why didn’t he have an eagle? He pondered for a bit and realised he would never experience riding in the golden horde with his brothers. Instead, he would watch videos on his phone and listen to podcasts meticulously detailing the hordes progression. How Jasper longed to be in the horde. To smell the horses. To watch the eagle gracefully track down a succulent rabbit and plunge its talons into its back. None of this was meant for Jasper. Jasper was built to consume. To accumulate data that organisations could use to help him consume even more. Consume consume consume.
What a life, thought Jasper. He pondered which fusion kitchen he should order dinner from, whilst absentmindedly looking at photos of the Mongolian steppe. He finally settled on ordering mongolian bbq, which promptly arrived. He ate in silence before doomscrolling himself to sleep. In his dreams, he saw the warlord again. This time, he was dressed as an uber eats driver, straddled on a moped rather than a horse.
As he handed him the food he talked of the plight of the immigrant worker. Of sending money back home to the steppe where it was useless because they traded themselves to anything they would need. He bragged about his Netflix subscription and his smartwatch. Before, him and his 18 brothers shared the starry undisturbed skies of the Gobi desert. Now they share a 2-bedroom flat in Hackney.
Jasper awoke, covered in sweat and promptly deleted Instagram before falling back into a long, dreamless sleep. He never thought of the Mongolian again.
This story was submitted as part of the King’s Study Phase of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Added October 2026.
“The man in the video was a mongolian warlord” (S206) © 2026 by The Gen Z Role Models Project is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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