NOTE: This is set in the very distant future (millions of years later), and from the point of view of an “alien” looking back on what he sees as the legacy of the people of Earth. This in no way reflects my own beliefs.

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So, this is the way the world ends. We all saw it coming. The human disease spreads, plague-like, from one planet to the next, one species to the next. It is a disease with no cure, no rhyme or reason, and its victims are too many to count. We were next on their list, so they came to us, and a battle stretching over hundreds of years took place: the battle to save our race.

In the end, we lost—it was inevitable. There were no survivors. The humans moved on to the next target.

But, they didn’t kill us with guns or knives. They killed us by taking away our souls and turning us into them. Things with no real appreciation for what they have—only the instinct to take what others have away from them. To be better than everyone and everything around them, no matter the cost in lives. Yes, they can believe they have it all—but what do they really have? Think about it. What good is money in the next life? What good are all the toys and gadgets, all the slaves and resources?

That’s why my investment is in the power of the mind. No, it’s not something you can buy. It’s not something that can be taken by force. But it is very, very real. The only way to get it… is by working for it over the course of an entire lifetime, always with the firm belief that you will get there, and a willingness to learn from your mistakes and never stop giving 100%, no matter what happens.

It’s so very simple, you see, but it’s not easy, and it’s certainly not instant. That’s why the humans quickly lost interest in it, I suppose.

Once, a long time ago, humans were spiritual creatures. Ancient civilisations on their homeplanet Earth reveal that they were once highly advanced in this respect—enough to move and carve blocks of stone by mere power of thought. This art was lost when those civilisations died. Nothing of it remained, and by the era they called the 21st century, few suspected such a thing could ever have existed.

Without spiritual purpose, humanity became lost. So they made a fake culture of false idols, ignorance and hypocrisy. They became arrogant; began to believe that they knew everything there was to know; that their race was superior to all others. As time passed, their people forgot their roots… the lie became the reality. The humans had their plastic excuses, their neon gods, and their false idols – they no longer needed the real thing. Most no longer knew the difference.

Humans forgot to pursue a genuine purpose, because they all had their own personal goals; their own part in the degenerative system of their culture. Some of them would spend hours doing nothing, mentally lost, staring into space… broken though they didn’t know it. Watching figures moving on a screen, allowing their own, real lives to fade into the background, into nothingness.

The lie became the reality.

Innocence, dedication, genuine respect for those with whom they shared their own species – all of that was a forgotten concept. Frustration and purposelessness took over. Hatred within humanity became commonplace. Later, because there were too many humans, life lost all value. By that time, violence seemed to be the only real thing they believed in… war after war, all for money, or for false ideals that they no longer knew the true meaning of. But mostly just so they could build bigger killing machines and start the game over again. They tried and tried to convince themselves that this destruction had a deeper purpose. In the end… they succeeded.

Earth became Hell. The lie became the reality.

They were, ultimately, the first victims of their own plague. It was a tradition that would come to infect almost every corner of their galaxy, and—in the future—god knows how many planets outside it.

It’s tragic, I suppose, that this had to happen – but it does. Every once in a while, a whole species goes bad. The humans keep doing what they do because now, after so long, they know nothing else. Sometimes you meet one or two worth saving. Most of them are just ignorant. The worst part is, they don’t comprehend the depth of their problems, and that’s why they have no compunctions about forcing them on others. I cannot bring myself to hate the humans. I hope, one day, they see themselves for what they really are.