Higher Beings - A Short Story

Higher Beings

    It all happened so fast. They came out of nowhere. We're not even sure how they got here. We call them the Higher Beings. We were just doing our normal everyday things when they appeared.

    The Higher Beings, well, we're not really sure what they are. All we know is that they can do incredible things. Things we can't even begin to comprehend. It's not exactly magic, but that is the closest word we could think of to describe their actions.

    At first, we lived separately and in peace. They were elsewhere doing whatever magical things they do with their time, and we kept doing what we always did.

    Then the deaths started occurring. Not just us killing each other – that has always been happening. The Higher Beings started to kill us. We sent in some spies to see what would become of the dead. When they came back, they had to rest for a while before they could speak. Whatever they saw traumatized them. Eventually, two of the spies was able to recall the story for long enough to tell us.

    "The Higher Beings took the dead and put them over one of their magic devices. Then, they started to turn brown. It was probably better that they were gone already because whatever the Higher Beings did to them looked incredibly painful," they told us. "Then, they ate them."

    The story of what had happened spread quickly. None of us had even seen the things described when they were told, and yet we were still disgusted. What was greater than our disgust was our fear. We hid whenever the Higher Beings came around, but the adapted. They studied us and our behaviors and created traps that more and more of us fell for. Most of the traps were filled with things we desperately needed to survive since the Higher Beings stole them from us. Each time, as the Higher Beings walked away with their kill, we heard them laughing and mimicking us, calling us stupid creatures. Was it really stupid to try to get the supplies your family needed to survive, even if it meant your death?

    The Higher Beings were just so powerful, there was nothing we could do to fight them. As much as none of us wanted to, we had to send in more spies. I volunteered along with two other people. We left that day. When we reached the place where the Higher Beings lived, they had already begun to feast. We tried not to watch. Soon, one of my fellow spies tapped me on the shoulder and I looked to see both of them looking at me. One of them pointed to his chest, then down to the Higher Beings below. I followed his finger and found myself looking at a Higher Being's chest, now covered with the hide of one of our dead.

    Years and years went by like this. The Higher Beings also started to take down our homes to make room for their ever-growing population. The ones who once lived in those areas and hadn't died as they were taken down were now forced into captivity. While there, they were forced to breed more of us until they got too old. At that point, they were eaten. Their children were doomed to the same life.

    This was the case for most us, but the rest had managed to escape the grasp of the Higher Beings. I was one of those until the day came when I too was captured. They held me in a big white room with some others. As I awaited whatever terrible fate lay before me, I overheard some of the Higher Beings around me. I had learned some of their language from spying on them so often. "Tests...see if...works for us." That was all I could translate.

    The Higher Beings pulled only me out and lead me to another room where just one Higher Being awaited. After the door closed behind me, it shoved something in my mouth and watched me die.