#fgfic

Days. Week. Years.

Decades. Centuries.

A Thousand years. A thousand centuries.

IT has been here, hiding in the shadows for as long as IT can recall.

Millions of centuries.

The moment life has sprung into existence on this planet so had THEY. Brought here with IT's brethren to observe. To watch. To learn. To know when they would be ready.

For eons THEY watched as giant beasts roamed a beautiful, majestic, amazing planet. Some species thrived while others faded away into nothing but bones in the ground to remember them by.

Every now and then THEY would be asked if they were ready. And each time the reply had been the same.

"They are not ready, they are mere beasts."

And despite the violent nature of some, it was peaceful, tranquil. So peaceful in fact that IT and IT's brethren fell into a slumber.

IT woke, a few thousands of years later, because of something IT had never felt before. Fear. Pain. Agony. Not from itself but from one of its own.

IT is confused by this because this is unknown to their kind. So much pain, fear... IT's mind reaches out to find what may be the cause, feeling the niggling of the others there doing the same. Wanting to help, not knowing how.

But THEY find nothing. Gone. Empty. Silence.

Death.

It is then that IT realizes that during IT's slumber a new species has stood up. From where? IT does not know. The water, the land, the trees, the air?

Vaguely IT recognizes them from a sort IT's seen before. Only the fur is replaced by skin, four paws have become two legs and two arms.

IT watches the dawn of mankind intrigued. Watches how humanity grows, develops, invents, re-invents over centuries.

But as humanity grows, so does IT's worry. And while some of IT's own venture out of the shadows for a closer look, IT remains in the shadows.

Hidden. Sheltered. Quiet. Unknown.

It is the unknown factor which costs all of IT's brethren taking a risk for a closer look their existence. Their lives. Their very being.

It is then that IT learns a new thing. And while IT had seen this with the giant beasts before, it had then been accompanied with another thing.

Instinct. Instinct to feed, stay alive, keep existing.

But this time instinct had nothing to do with it. All there is was pure, unneeded, frightening... violence. Violence and hatred.

And all IT can do is watch horrified from the shadows for IT does not know what to do. Violence is unknown to their kind in this proportion. Where they come from there is peace and harmony. Respect.

By the time more eons have past, most of it's brethren have been found and eliminated. For no reason other than possibly fear. But mostly this other thing IT's never felt before anywhere but in this species.

Hate.

This time IT does not doze off, IT continues to watch as eons slip by. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. The sound of IT's dying brethren forever haunting IT. Their screams for help was they suffered so much pain, agony and fear.

Humanity learns, adjusts and while IT is something IT admires about them, finds intriguing, it is also something IT watches with trepidation.

The few remaining of IT's kind left share IT's hesitance, IT's weariness for this new species.

Like a plague they spread. From where humanity was born in Africa to the other continents. Fanning out like a disease. One of IT's kind tries to stop this by breaking the continents in parts, separating them, hoping the great waters will force these humans to stop from going further.

And for a while it does, even if it had cost the one who had tried to stop them. It was found, somehow, and slaughtered. Violently. Never will IT forget it's cries for help, fear, pain... Even today.

But this new species is as smart as it is violent. IT watches the birth of something which enables them to cross water. It starts small. A raft, a canoe, but over centuries the crafts grow to ships and large boats.

They sail across the oceans. They conquer the oceans. They destroy the new lands and the humans they meet there.

Centuries slide by and this humanity discovers more of the planet. Like a rash it spreads out over it. And while the first of humans, though violent toward each other, still had respect for the place it lived on?

IT soon sees that this respect dwindles, fades and with a lot even vanishes. Small towns become enormous cities. Free animals become slaves, beasts of burden, treated maliciously.

They differentiate among their own kind. Some apparently worth more than others. Some worth no more than if not less than the animals they do not see as their equal.

Yet IT remains in the shadows and watches. Observes. By now the last of IT's kind. All the others found and massacred. For no reason than that this species, this humanity, doesn't like what might be equal if not more than their own.

They want to rule this planet alone, humanity on the top of the web of chains and threads woven over time.

IT watches them reach that goal, but even that is not enough. Countries are formed from tribes. Nations are formed from countries. Wars become more violent.

IT watches as entire species are wiped from the planet never to be heard of seen of again.

Wooden wagons pulled by horses become cars who seem to drive on their own. Air-balloons become planes which sail through the air. One invention after the other.

The one more damaging to their planet than the other.

All the while IT remains where it has been for so many generations now. IT watches war after war. Brother killing brother without regret. Sister betraying sister without blinking an eye. Children picking up weapons to kill children.

Weapons are not a new invention for humanity. IT's seen this before, staring with a stone, a branch, wielded in self-defense. In the end it's a  small bomb strong enough to kill entire continents.

But IT knows that soon they will ask IT again. And while IT's reply before had always been the same, this time it will be different. IT has seen enough, IT has suffered enough from where IT had remained hidden.

"They are still mere beasts.... But they are ready."

Judgement day will arrive soon. They are ready and IT will be their prosecutioner, knowing their history, having watched them since the birth of mankind.

For IT wields the most powerful weapon on this planet, something few know.