No Other Way

We are not what you think we are. We are not stories, nor immortals, nor monsters. We treat silver as any other metal. We don’t live forever and don’t concern ourselves with your religion or its artifacts. If it wasn’t for your dominance of the planet we wouldn’t think about you at all.

We were there when ape’s first stood upright. Smiling with excited anticipation. We were among the things in the shadows when you mastered fire. As you discovered tools we continued our voyeurism laughing at your monuments.

Early on, you killed like any other animal, for resources or food. We all had started the same way. We evolved. You did not. We looked enough like you that we could blend into your societies. So, we watched with scowls from the periphery. We saw our brethren turned to pools of blood. Your fear of “magic” always ends in death. Your arrogance leads you to believe you created what you destroyed. Your hunger was bottomless; your thirst unquenchable. On a quest to be gods you spread throughout the world. You became locusts to life, covering the planet in a pale haze.

We planned how to deal with you for generations. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that a simple virus burnt through you like wildfire. A moment that could have brought you together only highlighted your narcissistic bigotry. When we read about “Gay Cancer”, we knew you would reject the sick, making it easier for a virus to spread.

There are millions of viruses in your body that never make you sick. Many passed down through your DNA. These viruses have gone ignored by your media. Your scientists are only now starting to catalog them. You only concern yourselves with immediate threats.

In distant labs, our scientists developed a virus. One that would only infect Humans. Piece by piece they found a way to control the mutation and released it to you. It was fun to birth the anti-vaccination movement. We bragged to each other as we sewed distrust of science in your communities. Mostly we kept you bickering about meaningless tripe. Your internet made it easier than we expected.

Like us, our virus is patient. Very slow to replicate, creating no detectable symptoms. It is systemic, spreading throughout the body. Easily transmitted to others through almost any contact. As of the writing of this, it has spread undetected to almost 80% of your population. You likely already have it. When we decide, the virus will kick its reproduction into overdrive. Devouring your body one cell at a time. Death will come quickly. The nerve damage will make it as painless possible.

Within a year your vast network will have failed you. Living in small isolated pockets, it will be too late to repopulate, as our virus continues to spread. A generation and a half later there will not be a human left on this planet. The only reminder of you will be your cities and monuments until time reclaims them.

We are informing you of this so that when you die you will understand how and why. As I type this my tears blur the computer screen. Killing for pleasure is your domain. Hatred is a human emotion. We are sorry for the pain, sorry for the death and sorry we could not find a better way. We tried for centuries and it only leads to you hunting us. There is no other way.