neoselket
Ice Queen
They came out of nowhere.
Popping up all of a sudden, bringing fear and disgust with them. At first only a few were found, each thought to be an anomaly, but then more appeared, and more, and soon they covered the globe. Every country, every island, every continent, even Antarctica. Even people's homes weren't safe. They didn't seem to come from anywhere; They just appeared, wherever they pleased. Even the International Space Station wasn't safe. Daytime, nighttime, dawn, dusk, any time. People lived in fear.
At first, they seemed relatively innocuous. Horrifying, deformed, disgusting, but innocuous. But then the fights started, people desperate to defend themselves using whatever weapon they could get. Knives, axes, even guns and flamethrowers. And slowly, encouragingly, it seemed like we would win.
Then they started fighting back. Horrid creatures, with deformed bodies, unnaturally long limbs, large teeth, faceless heads, claws, tentacles, every body type imaginable, even those that seemed to defy the laws of physics. It was as if they were a divine punishment, demons sent from the depths of Hell itself for the sole purpose of punishing humanity for its sins. Some were even the size of mountains, threatening entire cities.
Many came forward with proposals for how to deal with them. High security bunkers, biological weaponry, traps, even nukes for the bigger ones, which were causing untold levels of destruction. Some people even came to the monsters' defense, saying they were peaceful, and only trying to defend themselves, but with the rising death toll, few were convinced.
As many as we killed, more still came. An unrelenting onslaught of nightmares. We couldn't even build defenses against them, as they would just appear inside them. They could die, but they always came back, seemingly in even greater numbers. We were losing.
And so, people started giving up.
Instead of trying to defend themselves, they sat and cowered, crying, begging for mercy, even just standing there and accepting their fate. The creatures went on a killing spree, massacring hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. Entire cities became ghost towns. Everywhere was a war zone. And with fewer people left alive, surviving alone became even more difficult. It seemed like the human race would be wiped out entirely.
And then they stopped.
Slowly, the death rate began dropping, with people around the world beginning to see a glimmer of hope for the first time in months. But what was happening? Why were they stopping? Was it just getting harder for them to find new prey, as they had already killed so many? Were they becoming aware that their food source was rapidly running out, and must be rationed to prevent extinction?
Oddly, the number of sightings stayed the same, with a consistent percentage of the population reporting encounters with the creatures, but there were far fewer fatalities. It hadn't been this peaceful since the creatures first appeared. What happened?
Unfortunately, I know why. And the reason is even more horrifying then the creatures themselves.
It happened one day when I was at home, risking a trip downstairs to the bathroom, as my growing discomfort overcame my fear. I quietly descended the stairs, hoping that if I was quiet enough, I would go unnoticed.
But It was futile.
In front of me, just beyond the doorway to the kitchen, There stood a horrible entity, with a deformed body I could only imagine in my worst nightmares. It was simultaneously fat and thin, some parts of its body emaciated, others bloated with something I didn't want to guess. Its eyes were vaguely humanoid, with pupils and irises, but too large, and with a disturbing emotion behind them I couldn't identify. It had short hair, the color of which I couldn't make out in the dark, and two arms and legs, mockingly mimicking a human being.
Immediately, fear shot through me. I tried to run, to flee back up the stairs to my room in a desperate bid for survival, hoping against hope it wouldn't get in until morning, but my feet were rooted to the ground. I couldn't move.
And so, as it stood there, my doom, ready at any moment to extinguish my life in a likely horrific way, I did the only thing I could, and plead desperately with it.
"Please," I said. "Please don't kill me."
The creature performed a movement reminiscent of cocking its head, although its body was too deformed to tell. And then, the thing I least expected happened. It spoke.
"Why shouldn't I?"
Its voice was rough, simultaneously an unnaturally echoing singsong sound, and a deep, gruff, grunt. It seemed like it was straining to speak, as if it took great effort.
I stood in silence for a moment, my brain attempting to process what I heard. My mind was sluggish, as if drunk. I subconsciously wondered if that was from my fear or the very presence of the creature itself.
Finally, I found my voice again.
"I want to live."
The creature took a step forward. "So do I."
I gave up. I was nothing more than prey to this monster, and it had no intention of letting me live. I would be devoured alive. Worse still, the horrifying realization that these creatures were intelligent destroyed any hope I had of humanity's survival.
We were doomed.
The human race would cease to exist.
This was their world now.
Tears streamed down my face. "Please," I begged. "Just make it quick. At least kill me before you eat me."
Its eyes narrowed, as if squinting. "Why would I eat you?"
"Isn't that what you wanted?" I asked, "To eat me? So you wouldn't starve?"
It pulled its head back and shuffled its feet. "I have no need to eat."
My paralysis faded in my confusion, replaced with curiosity. "Then why were you going to kill me?"
"What makes you think I would kill you?" It asked, with an odd stress in its voice, as if it had been desperate to know the answer to that question for a long time.
"Because that's what you do, isn't it?" I said. "You kill people. You've killed millions. Not a day goes by without you slaughtering us. Why would you stop at me?"
Its shoulders- what it had of them- slumped, and its voice got lower, sounding defeated. "Why did you kill us?"
"To defend ourselves."
"Against what? We showed you no malice. We did not hurt you."
"Yes you did!"
"You struck first. We defended ourselves. You were intent on wiping us out."
I stuttered slightly in bewilderment. "But- but you attacked us! As soon as you appeared, you started killing us."
"No," it replied, taking another step closer. "When we first entered your world, we hurt no one. We attempted to learn of you, to adapt to this new home. You attacked first. You started killing us, without provocation. We were curious, and wished only to understand, but you met us with violence."
"That- that can't be right," I said, doubt creeping in. "As soon as you appeared, people started dying. we..."
"You know, don't you?" It said. "You remember. When we first met your kind, we did nothing. You started the bloodshed. You started this war. No matter how many of us you slaughtered, you never stopped, you only increased your extermination."
"But... We were just trying to defend ourselves. To survive..." Horror crept into my heart as I began to remember. The deaths had only started several weeks after the first sighting. They were here for almost a month before we started killing them... Oh God, what had we done?
"Then why didn't you say anything?" I asked, desperately trying to find something to ease my guilt. "Why didn't you tell us you didn't want to hurt us? And why have you only now slowed your killing?"
"We couldn't speak at first. It has taken me a long time, and help from others, to be able to speak your language." Its voice cracked, lending credence to its words. "Did you not hear our cries of pain? Did you not see us flee from your strikes? Our violence was simply in self-defence. We began to stop once you ceased to fight us, once we saw your fear and despair. Why did you attack us?"
I couldn't answer. I just hung my head, looking at the floor.
"Do you treat all creatures like this? Killing all you see, for fear they are a threat? We have seen you coexisting with many other creatures in this world. Why not us?"
I knew the answer. I didn't want to say it, but I knew.
"Because you scared us."
The creature sat down. "We scared you. By our actions? by our behavior? By our presence itself?"
I squeezed my eyes shut. "Because you look scary."
The creature- the being- nodded its head at me, relaxing. "And so it is. You feared us merely because we are different. I had hoped to be wrong about my guess, but it seems that was too great of a wish."
I slumped to the floor, defeated. "But- but not all of us did that. There were some that didn't hurt you. That defended you, that wanted us to stop." And they were right.
"And did you listen? No. We tried to befriend these people, to make peace, but most of us weren't willing to take the risk of trusting you. And those that did were slain. By others, yes, but they were slain."
There was silence for a time, I had completely forgotten about my reason for leaving my room in the first place. Then, I spoke.
"So what happens now?"
The being considered me for a moment. "What would you have happen?"
"I want the death to stop."
The being smiled, a disturbing image, but comforting with the knowledge that it was not malevolent. "Me too. But can we convince the others of your kind?"
After that, we talked for a while, and I eventually allowed him to live in my home. We began going out together, calling to people to not be scared, trying to stop the fear that had gripped us for so long. And as it turned out, so were many, many people across the globe. The killings slowly crawled to a stop, more of them learned to communicate with us, and finally, the news reported that the creatures were in truth peaceful.
And so, after seven long months of war, fear, and death, the killing stopped. We began to coexist, integrating them into our society, even forming friendships with each other. Finally, we had achieved peace.
It only took losing 30% of our population to do it.
And 60% of theirs.
Popping up all of a sudden, bringing fear and disgust with them. At first only a few were found, each thought to be an anomaly, but then more appeared, and more, and soon they covered the globe. Every country, every island, every continent, even Antarctica. Even people's homes weren't safe. They didn't seem to come from anywhere; They just appeared, wherever they pleased. Even the International Space Station wasn't safe. Daytime, nighttime, dawn, dusk, any time. People lived in fear.
At first, they seemed relatively innocuous. Horrifying, deformed, disgusting, but innocuous. But then the fights started, people desperate to defend themselves using whatever weapon they could get. Knives, axes, even guns and flamethrowers. And slowly, encouragingly, it seemed like we would win.
Then they started fighting back. Horrid creatures, with deformed bodies, unnaturally long limbs, large teeth, faceless heads, claws, tentacles, every body type imaginable, even those that seemed to defy the laws of physics. It was as if they were a divine punishment, demons sent from the depths of Hell itself for the sole purpose of punishing humanity for its sins. Some were even the size of mountains, threatening entire cities.
Many came forward with proposals for how to deal with them. High security bunkers, biological weaponry, traps, even nukes for the bigger ones, which were causing untold levels of destruction. Some people even came to the monsters' defense, saying they were peaceful, and only trying to defend themselves, but with the rising death toll, few were convinced.
As many as we killed, more still came. An unrelenting onslaught of nightmares. We couldn't even build defenses against them, as they would just appear inside them. They could die, but they always came back, seemingly in even greater numbers. We were losing.
And so, people started giving up.
Instead of trying to defend themselves, they sat and cowered, crying, begging for mercy, even just standing there and accepting their fate. The creatures went on a killing spree, massacring hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. Entire cities became ghost towns. Everywhere was a war zone. And with fewer people left alive, surviving alone became even more difficult. It seemed like the human race would be wiped out entirely.
And then they stopped.
Slowly, the death rate began dropping, with people around the world beginning to see a glimmer of hope for the first time in months. But what was happening? Why were they stopping? Was it just getting harder for them to find new prey, as they had already killed so many? Were they becoming aware that their food source was rapidly running out, and must be rationed to prevent extinction?
Oddly, the number of sightings stayed the same, with a consistent percentage of the population reporting encounters with the creatures, but there were far fewer fatalities. It hadn't been this peaceful since the creatures first appeared. What happened?
Unfortunately, I know why. And the reason is even more horrifying then the creatures themselves.
It happened one day when I was at home, risking a trip downstairs to the bathroom, as my growing discomfort overcame my fear. I quietly descended the stairs, hoping that if I was quiet enough, I would go unnoticed.
But It was futile.
In front of me, just beyond the doorway to the kitchen, There stood a horrible entity, with a deformed body I could only imagine in my worst nightmares. It was simultaneously fat and thin, some parts of its body emaciated, others bloated with something I didn't want to guess. Its eyes were vaguely humanoid, with pupils and irises, but too large, and with a disturbing emotion behind them I couldn't identify. It had short hair, the color of which I couldn't make out in the dark, and two arms and legs, mockingly mimicking a human being.
Immediately, fear shot through me. I tried to run, to flee back up the stairs to my room in a desperate bid for survival, hoping against hope it wouldn't get in until morning, but my feet were rooted to the ground. I couldn't move.
And so, as it stood there, my doom, ready at any moment to extinguish my life in a likely horrific way, I did the only thing I could, and plead desperately with it.
"Please," I said. "Please don't kill me."
The creature performed a movement reminiscent of cocking its head, although its body was too deformed to tell. And then, the thing I least expected happened. It spoke.
"Why shouldn't I?"
Its voice was rough, simultaneously an unnaturally echoing singsong sound, and a deep, gruff, grunt. It seemed like it was straining to speak, as if it took great effort.
I stood in silence for a moment, my brain attempting to process what I heard. My mind was sluggish, as if drunk. I subconsciously wondered if that was from my fear or the very presence of the creature itself.
Finally, I found my voice again.
"I want to live."
The creature took a step forward. "So do I."
I gave up. I was nothing more than prey to this monster, and it had no intention of letting me live. I would be devoured alive. Worse still, the horrifying realization that these creatures were intelligent destroyed any hope I had of humanity's survival.
We were doomed.
The human race would cease to exist.
This was their world now.
Tears streamed down my face. "Please," I begged. "Just make it quick. At least kill me before you eat me."
Its eyes narrowed, as if squinting. "Why would I eat you?"
"Isn't that what you wanted?" I asked, "To eat me? So you wouldn't starve?"
It pulled its head back and shuffled its feet. "I have no need to eat."
My paralysis faded in my confusion, replaced with curiosity. "Then why were you going to kill me?"
"What makes you think I would kill you?" It asked, with an odd stress in its voice, as if it had been desperate to know the answer to that question for a long time.
"Because that's what you do, isn't it?" I said. "You kill people. You've killed millions. Not a day goes by without you slaughtering us. Why would you stop at me?"
Its shoulders- what it had of them- slumped, and its voice got lower, sounding defeated. "Why did you kill us?"
"To defend ourselves."
"Against what? We showed you no malice. We did not hurt you."
"Yes you did!"
"You struck first. We defended ourselves. You were intent on wiping us out."
I stuttered slightly in bewilderment. "But- but you attacked us! As soon as you appeared, you started killing us."
"No," it replied, taking another step closer. "When we first entered your world, we hurt no one. We attempted to learn of you, to adapt to this new home. You attacked first. You started killing us, without provocation. We were curious, and wished only to understand, but you met us with violence."
"That- that can't be right," I said, doubt creeping in. "As soon as you appeared, people started dying. we..."
"You know, don't you?" It said. "You remember. When we first met your kind, we did nothing. You started the bloodshed. You started this war. No matter how many of us you slaughtered, you never stopped, you only increased your extermination."
"But... We were just trying to defend ourselves. To survive..." Horror crept into my heart as I began to remember. The deaths had only started several weeks after the first sighting. They were here for almost a month before we started killing them... Oh God, what had we done?
"Then why didn't you say anything?" I asked, desperately trying to find something to ease my guilt. "Why didn't you tell us you didn't want to hurt us? And why have you only now slowed your killing?"
"We couldn't speak at first. It has taken me a long time, and help from others, to be able to speak your language." Its voice cracked, lending credence to its words. "Did you not hear our cries of pain? Did you not see us flee from your strikes? Our violence was simply in self-defence. We began to stop once you ceased to fight us, once we saw your fear and despair. Why did you attack us?"
I couldn't answer. I just hung my head, looking at the floor.
"Do you treat all creatures like this? Killing all you see, for fear they are a threat? We have seen you coexisting with many other creatures in this world. Why not us?"
I knew the answer. I didn't want to say it, but I knew.
"Because you scared us."
The creature sat down. "We scared you. By our actions? by our behavior? By our presence itself?"
I squeezed my eyes shut. "Because you look scary."
The creature- the being- nodded its head at me, relaxing. "And so it is. You feared us merely because we are different. I had hoped to be wrong about my guess, but it seems that was too great of a wish."
I slumped to the floor, defeated. "But- but not all of us did that. There were some that didn't hurt you. That defended you, that wanted us to stop." And they were right.
"And did you listen? No. We tried to befriend these people, to make peace, but most of us weren't willing to take the risk of trusting you. And those that did were slain. By others, yes, but they were slain."
There was silence for a time, I had completely forgotten about my reason for leaving my room in the first place. Then, I spoke.
"So what happens now?"
The being considered me for a moment. "What would you have happen?"
"I want the death to stop."
The being smiled, a disturbing image, but comforting with the knowledge that it was not malevolent. "Me too. But can we convince the others of your kind?"
After that, we talked for a while, and I eventually allowed him to live in my home. We began going out together, calling to people to not be scared, trying to stop the fear that had gripped us for so long. And as it turned out, so were many, many people across the globe. The killings slowly crawled to a stop, more of them learned to communicate with us, and finally, the news reported that the creatures were in truth peaceful.
And so, after seven long months of war, fear, and death, the killing stopped. We began to coexist, integrating them into our society, even forming friendships with each other. Finally, we had achieved peace.
It only took losing 30% of our population to do it.
And 60% of theirs.
