I am so invested in the book that I don’t even realize that my parents came through the front door, argued for a bit and then went to bed. When I do look at the clock, I see that the time is 10:32. Another day passes in the cycle of life. A day where there were infinite possibilities every second and yet monotony were the chosen ones. I get ready to go to sleep, my body drooping and starting to fail from all the work I did today.

I close my eyes and let the darkness engulf me. I wait for the mysterious voice to lecture me again. I wait for a discourse that I will ultimately never understand and forget. After an unknown amount of time floating in the dark, I hear the voice start to talk.

“Humanity, such a curious, vain and divided species. You live in such a small world, yet some of you are arrogant enough to think that you know everything. Trust me, that is something you never want to achieve. It is more of a curse than a gift.”

“Is it not curious that the people who breach the darkness are sadder than those who sit on their asses and go through life in stride? Those who discover something that does not belong in the understanding of the people are quickly ridiculed and banished from society. Galileo Galilei, now known in your world as one of the smartest people of his age, was executed because he merely proposed that your Earth was round to that Catholic Church.”

“You may think that that religion was evil for doing that, but they were on to something. There were higher-ups in the church that knew what would happen if humanity went too far into the darkness. Those higher-ups were trying to protect your species, what do you think the crusades were for? No, they weren’t to liberate Jerusalem, fully taking the ‘Promised Land’ was the first step! The plan was to eradicate all other religions and enact a worldwide theocracy! As you know though, the crusades were ultimately a disaster.”

What is this voice rambling on about? It makes no sense at all, worldwide theocracy and the banning of technological advancement? Spouting nonsense like this just devalues its’ credibility!

“Sadly, that will probably be the only time humanity will be able to stop its’ self-destruction. Your people will continue learning more and more, until it comes to the point where either a person will go mad or retreat into another dark age. It matters little what light you bring, in the end the darkness will be like a black hole.”

“You can already see precautionary measures being taken by those who know. Take the Amish for example, the secret descendants of the higher-ups who led the crusades! They learned the truth before it would kill them! Those are people who will most likely eternally be one step ahead.”

“Of course, there are other religions who took steps to prevent humanity’s eventual collapse. Take Islam for example, they don’t let girls learn. The enlightened few learned millennia ago that a woman would lead to humanity’s downfall. Some Islamists, whom you would call extreme, deny women the right to learn after becoming a certain age. The enlightened Islamists do this to try and protect humanity yet are forsaken by the majority.”

“All of the four religions try to protect humanity from themselves! Buddhism tries to do it peacefully in contrast. Their enlightened Buddha learned that hatred and violence would lead to the end of times, so he made Buddhism a religion of peace! To protect Buddhists though, he allowed for self-defense as he knew the fight would in for the long run.”

“Lastly, there is Hinduism, the believers of reincarnation and karma. The enlightened ones who created a religion out of a way of life knew that the destroyer would be ruthless and evil. That is why they spread the belief of karma so far and wide. According to them, if you did good then you would gain karma and at the end of your life, your karma scale would decide what you’d be reincarnated as. Karma is merely used to keep people nice so that the destroyer would never come to be.”

“Heed my warnings and go into the light!”