[ CW ] Keep me up at night without using any characters .

They say sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. That upon observing the accomplishments of foreign beings, we might go mad, our trust in science itself unraveled by the false revelation of the existence of the supernatural. We could not understand; we would not comprehend. The natural means by which such a thing could happen would be far beyond our grasp, to the very extent that this concept would evade us. We imagine the future of our own progress, conjuring such fantastic ideas that we think we could expect anything. Surely, whatever can be done in this universe, whatever can be built or designed by whatever hands and whatever minds, would not be so grand as to unhinge our very psyches, to so shame our imaginations that not even our wildest dreams could capture it. That upon observing, we would fall to our knees and our eyes would weep, that we would heave and hyperventilate, that we would lose our strength and gasp for air while this thing exists before us, that we would raise our hands up to it in unhindered awe, without shame, without regret, forsaking all we know to know this thing. It would drive us back to ages we left, back into the mud, back into the fog of the mind where we believe in the impossible again, because, to our foremost knowledge, the impossible exists, and it is this time without question. This is the future we did not see coming, the consequence of our exploration in the universe that we did not expect. We look for the signs that we are unalone, but are not prepared for what we'll find, and we never will be. The destiny of mankind is not in the stars, but back here on Earth, squatting in the dark, afraid to reach back out into the light because of what we find. And the cycle will continue.
