"The OLD MONARCH"
A Telling of the Fall.
PROLOGUE.
October 7th, 2046.
Here we are.
At the end.
Well, not precisely the end, but certainly as close as we’ve been in the entirety of our history to date,... the end of the line is, as some might say, “within walking distance.” Worse yet,… we did it to ourselves. As many have been predicting for as long as I can recall, mankind had finally ushered in it’s own demise. Not directly per se, but certainly in laying the groundwork for a chain of events that would ultimately lead to our species inevitable conclusion. After millennia of untold suffering, of triumph and loss, incredible achievements and devastating failures, and an evolutionary path that birthed an unshakable hubris, “Gaia” had reached her final verdict regarding her most destructive steward. One that, as proven by the events to follow, was indisputably NOT rendered in our favor.
Some would argue, a verdict that was justifiable and deserving.
No one knew exactly why it happened. There seemed to be no easily identifiable catalyst to put a nice little pin in. “WHY”? An all important question whose elusive answer escaped capture from even the most “elite” and illustrious of our intellectuals, a question asked ad nauseam over the last 20 years. (I’ve often contemplated the burden carried by that single word. “Why”. The “Atlas” of words, supporting the weight of the world upon it’s shoulders, often in perpetuity.)
No brilliant scientist, credentialed ecologist, rabid environmentalist, geologist, or any other “big-brained” Ivy league school alum, could find the unequivocal answer… though I had, (with great trepidation), presented to them, what I believe to be the ONLY answer remaining supported by the evidence.
It was an answer they wouldn’t accept… couldn’t accept. I’ll grant you, there were undeniable gaps that could only be filled with informed assumption. A theory that could only exist outside the limited confines of empirical data. Lacking enough “grounding” to garner even a modicum of consideration.
“Pure fantasy”. “Pseudoscience”. “A desperate ploy for recognition.”
It was a hard pill to swallow, being roundly rejected by the “clique of Academia”.
Though it’s admittedly taken some time, truthfully,... I generally understand the response. I can’t deny that the answer I offered defies all logical reason. It can’t be supported by established science, and as such, was easy to dismiss. My theory instead became an object of ridicule,... as did I.
I became a target of derision in smarmy whispers wafting through marble corridors. Then, after a time, when the stark reality could no longer be ignored, when there remained no viable alternative theories to introduce or debate, my branding was elevated to the level of “pariah”. I’d been sacrificed on the alter of “Science!”
What a joke. First ridiculed, then targeted for sharing the same inability they had. To wrap it all up in an easily digestible, nice little bow, begging no further questions. We ALL failed. I just happened to be selected as the perfect “jackass”, conscripted to carry the burden of that failure. Academic tribalism in action.
Now shunned and castigated, not for anything I had done, but instead for what I had not. My failing in the ability to convince them of what can only be described as an undeniable truth I’d discovered. There is no other viable explanation available. That already limited supply, long since depleted. ‘When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’,… or some such shit. This became my mantra.
So I was persecuted for being powerless to open long shut eyes and intentionally deaf ears . As a result, I ultimately sought out solitude. I’ve come to learn that it’s long been true, at least in my own personal experience, that people generally... kinda suck. Individuals are fine… mostly tolerable. It’s the inevitable grouping that creates problems. Cliques, tribes, MOBS. A decision I had little trouble arriving at.
So I’d sequester myself away from the mockery and the chittering masses. For this reason, among others that will be become clear later, I chose the small town of Sitka, Alaska as my new home. Relatively secluded, smaller population. Affording me a largely anonymous existence, without an involuntary “red letter” to bear.
The new “home” where I struggle to resist surrendering to the hopelessness of the unavoidable and inevitable. Trying to find some small comfort in the knowledge that there is truly nothing that can be done. No options remain. We’re “tapped out”. Humanity has passed the Rubicon.
There is no solace to be found there. “Blood from a stone”, etc.
Sitka, Alaska.
This is where I’ll live out my last days.
It’s where I’ll die.
All I’ve left is to tell the story… before the final chapter beats me to the finish line.
The story of how we were brutally (and maybe righteously?) ripped from our self-aggrandizing pedestal.
Chapter 1 - NO SALVATION
Here we are.
At the end.
Well, not precisely the end. It would be more accurate to say it’s more like the beginning of the end... and though it means nothing now, I believe I discovered how it started.
Ultimately, after literal years of gathering troves of information, diligently tracking everything that seemed even remotely relevant, exploring any and all connections that could be made from one event to the next, testing, retesting, and retesting again, I was able to approximate a start date set somewhere in July, 2025. Over 2 decades ago, give or take a week.
Less than a quarter of a century. It all happened that fast. That was the truly surprising part. Not that it actually happened, we all suspected it eventually might, one way or another, but the speed with which it took us down... that’s what was truly horrifying. It was relentless, indiscriminate, and accelerating at a rate that kept us 3 steps behind at all times. The next problem arising before the last could be solved.
21 years to essentially wipe us out. An almost complete extermination of epic scale, achieved with remarkable expediency. We simply couldn’t figure it out fast enough. It was effectively a culling. In our current year of 2046, we are estimated to be, at maximum, a human population of less than 70 million worldwide.
Does that seem like a lot?…
Trust me when I say,… “It’s NOT”.
We are but a shadow of our former selves. Humans now relegated to living clustered in areas not freely chosen, but dictated by unknown authority. Thrust into a struggle for survival in unfamiliar locales by forces beyond our control…
There is no salvation forthcoming.
In his 1992 HBO Comedy special, George Carlin, (a man I personally consider to be the most prescient comedic genius in recorded history), said the following-
“The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sunspots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages. And we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet isn’t going anywhere. We are! We’re going away. Pack your shit, folks. We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little Styrofoam. Maybe. A little Styrofoam. The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.”
George was on to something. I happen to agree with most of what he stated.
The single point of contention I have is this, I can no longer subscribe to the belief that we are as inconsequential as a mere “nuisance”. In fact, given the substantial amount of evidence I’ve collected and studied ravenously over the course of almost 2 decades, I believe humans are far more destructive than we’ll ever comfortably admit. The proof of this is realized in the retaliation. What else would you call it? Yes folks, I’m saying it… nature is fighting back.
It’s this very theory that birthed the stigma I now carry. The “pseudoscience” that can never be afforded any grace by any self-righteous, narcissistic academic. The “crackpot” theory that garnered only rolling eyes and dismissive scoffs, equating to nothing more than another excuse for some to look down their nose at you. (Arrogant, stagnated pricks… )
I imagine, one reading this might wonder what my particular field of expertise actually is. It’s a fair question, given how doggedly I defend my theory to be factually correct and not just some fanciful delusion, as some would readily label it. My field of expertise, Botany. More specifically, I specialize in Dendrology, the scientific study of trees, including their classification, structure, and ecology. No, this doesn’t automatically mean I’m a “tree-hugger”, or radical environmental activist, or any such thing. I just happen to love trees. Always have. I’ve always found them to be fascinating and some what intriguing. As such, I wanted to learn more about them. Everything about them.
Now, with that said, I understand that no academic would likely claim my specific field to be “pseudoscience”,… but it was never the science itself, but rather the conclusion I arrived at through my specific expertise, that raised eyebrows and ire.
Allow me to present my case. To tell my story.
After all,… it’s mine to tell.
Chapter 2 - PATTERNS
Mid-Autumn 2025.
It started with small events. Events that seemingly had no connection to any grand scheme or larger threat. It wasn’t until those small events started compounding, started to reveal an unmistakable pattern, that we then began to realize... maybe it wasn’t a series of events at all, but a singular, massive event that we had previously failed to see. Were we, in essence, “missing the forest for the trees”?
Even after that realization set in, we still couldn’t decipher exactly how it began, what was the specific catalyst that triggered the resulting avalanche?
I was the unfortunate soul that discovered what I believe to be that answer. However, an answer revealed too late, an answer accepted by no one with the power to act upon it, an answer sweepingly dismissed with extreme prejudice... is effectively no answer at all.
There is no redemption to be found in the knowledge that I am right.
I’d much prefer to be wrong.
The first recognizable pattern was, in a word... odd. Certainly unique in recorded human history, at least on such a scale. A true anomaly,... but only the first of many to follow.
Hundreds of reports of home invasions. Appearing to first come out of the Pacific Northwest and then seeming to progressively radiate outward from that general region. No, not the type of home invasion you might immediately picture in your mind, the all too common “48 HRS.” or “true crime” type of scenario, but rather, one far more... unique. These were wildlife invasions. People’s homes being inexplicably inundated with raccoons and squirrels nesting in attics, mice and voles crowding basements and crawlspaces, birds of all types seemingly drawn to garages, barns, and sheds, in unprecedented numbers, as if pulled by some imperceptible beacon. No mode of stored or sheltered transportation was immune to the perpetual deluge of white “presentations” to be found each subsequent day. For a time, as implausible as it seems, it was difficult to not perceive these as targeted, deliberate attacks.
Then, as quickly as it started, it stopped. After 6 weeks or so, the merciless feathered fire-bombers ended their bombardment and instead, started dropping from the skies themselves. Hundreds of thousand of birds littering the ground, feathered corpses of staggering numbers, in all but a few short days.
This was the first glaring indicator of something terrifying on the horizon... or something that had perhaps, already surmounted it. These were sirens and flashing lights, begging us to take notice.
It was the songbirds that died first.
(It struck me in an unexpectedly profound manner, to realize the deafening silence a bright summer morning reveals, when there are no ambient songbird melodies swimming within the breeze. Only a sense of melancholy accompanied the absence. I miss the song birds.)
The larger birds were next. Crows, black birds, ravens and the like, until even the great raptors fell victim to whatever this apparent avian malady was.
Within weeks it had spread across the globe. The immediate assumption among those with their pressed suits and certificates of “achievement”, was this must be some disease, some pandemic seemingly fueled with the intent of sparing none of our winged brethren. Almost without exception.
Ultimately we proved that assumption false, though it provided no cause for celebration.
98.2% of all birds tested revealed that they had in fact died of starvation. Mass starvation. Extinction level starvation.
Within the course of a single year, 99.7% of all birds in the wild were gone.
This was just the beginning.
It was only a few weeks after the birds starting dying off that the devastation “leapfrogged” to other species.
The aforementioned animal “invaders” began dying en masse as well. Leaving owners and occupants to discover the inherent desperation in trying to remove the smell of decay, seeping like poisonous gas into their living spaces. As with the birds, other animal deaths progressively worked through mid-sized wildlife, all the way up to the apex predators. Within 5 years of this chain of events beginning, 45% of ALL wildlife had died. Within the next 10, an additional 25%. 70% of the world wide animal population wiped from existence in a single generation.
The natural progression of where this all led is fairly obvious. It spiraled out of control... though we’d be fools to think we ever really had any control to begin with. But of course, fools we are.
Of some small comfort though, we were granted a little spark. Some welcomed potential progress. Additional patterns arose to add to the overall equation. Links were being established, laying the groundwork for a theoretical foundation.
We had already definitively proven that every animal tested, having died from seemingly “natural causes”, was identified as having expired from malnutrition and starvation. It wasn’t just birds, it was all of the wildlife.
Why would they have voluntarily stopped eating? (There it is again... that beleaguered, single syllable word). Could it be possible that they were somehow forced to? If even possible, by what? Or weirder yet, who? How can one possibly reconcile that?
Regardless, we had to try.
So we started testing what these animals would typically have been consuming under normal circumstances. We wanted to start with insects. I say ‘wanted’ because we discovered that it was far more difficult to locate test samples, than it had any discernible right to be. The vast majority of insects seeming to have essentially disappeared... and no one up until this point had noticed? Is that even possible? Well,... possible or not, that’s what transpired. I‘ve since gone back and done some additional research, scouring through articles and the like, for anything reporting large scale insect die-offs. I found a few relevant articles from China and Turkey, both reporting to have been experiencing an alarming number of honey bee deaths.
Entire hives dead within days. Losses of over 8 million honey bees reported. Economy collapsing numbers.
Again, though with the rare exceptions considered, no one really noticed at first. It wasn’t headline news. Certainly not in America. Not until honey became more valuable than gold, and not long after, non-existent. Today it would be virtually priceless, were it possible to find any. Once again, though it was always there for us to see, we were too busy praising ourselves for being the “paragons” of the animal kingdom to recognize that the kingdom was self-destructing. (Maybe “restructuring” would be a more accurate descriptor?)
Another stark reminder of how commonplace it’s become for us to just keep cruising right through those yellow lights... our own arrogance and apathy pushing the gas, never the brake.
Anyway, to continue down the original track-
As it turned out, the “avian apocalypse” wasn’t technically the first event of note, only the first we had opened our eyes to. It wasn’t the birds that died first, it was the bugs. The birds’ food supply.
It was starting to seem as if the very food chain set itself alight, like a fuse burning from the bottom to the top. Self immolation. An ultimate act of protest… but that’s crazy… right?
Naturally, the next question, WHY did the insects die off? (“Why” again… No other word has suffered such abuse. We should put some respect on “why”.)
(This is the part where I might start to lose you... I get it. Truly I do. I can only ask that you see this through to the end. As unbelievable as it may seem, it’ll all come together for you if you allow it.)
What we did next, and what it revealed, cannot be overstated. We started testing what the insects eat. Grasses, saps, nectars, etc.
The process yielding disturbing results. The vast majority of the dietary source samples, regardless of what they were, tested as being toxic to the very insects that would typically consume them. Their food supply seemed to spontaneously, and quite literally, turn poisonous. This answered some questions, but of course, birthed so many others.
Earth worms for example. A typical “night-crawler”. Also seemingly disappeared, but more accurately, was discovered to have fled further below. Digging deeper into the Earth to never resurface again. Even after torrential downpours, the worms would defiantly drown rather than head toward the presumed safety of the surface. So what was it about the surface that forced them deeper? What about it kept them there?
Then... a breakthrough! (It was exciting to me... it won’t be to you.)
It was the grass.
All the various grasses tested, though they suddenly became toxic to certain insects, were not toxic to the worms. With grasses not being part of their dietary needs, this was understandable. The grasses had however, changed in a completely different and entirely unprecedented,... almost inconceivable way. Only discovered through my need to resort to more expansive types of testing in search of thus fair unattainable answers.
I studied the various grasses’ molecular compositions utilizing spectroscopy and analyzed their bio-mechanical properties. Here comes the “hoo-doo” part kids... the grasses had a much lower than typical (meaning in part, previous) vibrational frequencies. ALL of them.
EVERY... SINGLE... SAMPLE.
This, needless to say, began a frenetic wave of tests administered to any and every piece of fauna, flora, and fungi I could gather. Everything from algae, to mosses, then working progressively up the scale to trees.
I discovered again, that every sample, without exception, had become either toxic, somehow had it’s vibrational frequency significantly lowered, or worse, BOTH. Harmonic resonance had been replaced with an aggressive, repellent dissonant frequency. (???)
There is no scientifically based, rational explanation for this. This shouldn’t even be within the realm of possibility without some type of intelligence behind it. I didn’t test only enough to satisfy my confirmation bias. I did the work. Over and over again, yet the results never varied. I continued the cycle, eventually solely in the hopes that it would finally yield different results. Hope faded with every repeated action and result. Plants and trees had appeared to inexplicably, and almost spontaneously, evolve to actively reject any biological life other than itself. Utterly destroying the long established, yet extremely fragile, symbiotic nature of the planet. To sever their bond from the rest of the living world. Going so far as to ignore their owned coded self-preservation in an apparent pursuit to eradicate other biological life. It’s remained this way since. Likely to never be reversed... or maybe it’s just waiting for the last of mankind to fade into history. The world reclaimed. Contemporary evolution.
Chapter 3 - HUBRIS vs. HIERARCHY
Hierarchy is ubiquitous. It exists everywhere. Humans, animals, even plants, tend to function through hierarchical systems. Nature itself, is hierarchical.
Once I’d introduced this natural aspect of our world into the equation that was so desperately lacking it, I realized that the established patterns in aggregate, followed the same rule. Something started it all. Something moved the first pawn that initiated this cascade of events, creating with seeming intent, that first ripple that became the subsequent crashing, crushing waves of devastation that followed.
But what?
All plant life had inexplicably become, for lack of a better word, “aggressive” to other forms of life. Insects starved, bees couldn’t pollinate, worms dove deeper to escape the effects of a dissonant vibrational frequency suddenly changed from a previously harmonic one. Birds and small mammals were “evicted” from their homes, and forced to find shelter in ours.
They were next to starve,... and so on, and so on. The rest was just natural progression. All it took was that first stone tossed into still waters...
The world turned on us. We had bitten the hand that feeds us too often and for far too long. This was… retribution delivered by the natural world.
I’ve accepted it.
What other choice do I have?
Everything I’ve discovered, every question answered, every theory dis-proven... none of it matters. The conclusion is always the same.
The Earth is revolting and we are powerless to stop it.
I’ve come to realize over time... at this point, would it even matter if we were to finally uncovered a definitive, irrefutable answer as to why?
I’m of the opinion that the answer is “no”. Not in the slightest. Sheer survival, with more than a dash of submission, are the prevailing themes of the current day. When the reality of a hopelessly dire and irreversible situation eventually takes root, nihilism becomes the zeitgeist.
So no, it doesn’t matter what the catalyst was. Not anymore.
If all hope of returning to any semblance of normalcy has been effectively and systematically snuffed out... does anything really matter anymore?
Chapter 4 - TODAY
I made brief mention earlier that there were additional reasons for my move to Alaska, separate of my need to escape the masses. One of those extremely relevant reasons being the climate. As I’m sure you can surmise, it’s not a climate conducive to vegetation, which goes hand in hand with another reason. The dietary needs of the indigenous people who populate this area, does not include greens. Nor do the dietary needs of the wildlife they consume. Sitka, Alaska is relatively free of plant life. Relatively “safe” by today’s standards. The food available here isn’t actively trying to kill me... well, most if it anyway.
The remaining pockets of humanity are now scattered about in similarly situated locales, Greenland, Siberia, etc., people piled on top of one another, fighting for scraps,... swimming in desperation. Huddled in the only safe havens left to us, temporary though they are. We’re crabs in a bucket... all we can do now is attempt to ride it out, morality becoming an afterthought, engaging in whatever action becomes “necessary” in an effort to simply survive... but it’s all a fools errand.
Survival isn’t in the cards for us.
We misplayed our hand, and now we’re being forced to face the consequences.
The deck has been reshuffled.
So... here we are.
At the END.
Maybe… just maybe… we deserve no less.
(A parting bit of advice, don’t even bother with the “why”… give that word we’ve driven to exhaustion, it’s well deserved rest.)
EPILOGUE
July 23rd , 2025.
Northwestern California Coast, United States of America.
A day not unlike any other, save for one significant, though entirely as yet unacknowledged, difference that would separate it from every day before it, as well as every day to follow. This was a day that would be uniquely it’s own. Never having occurred before, likely never to occur again.
There was a weight to air on this day. No gentle breeze to whistle through the towering trees. Rather, a feeling of profound stillness, pregnant with meaning. As if the air were laden with the burden of some invisible endeavor, heavy in purpose and resolve. The ancient forest saturated in a low almost entirely imperceptible hum. Not specifically a sound, but more akin to a feeling. A somberness hidden within a deep, almost guttural vibration.
The harbinger of what was to come. A day of command.
“I am the shepherd. My position granted through seniority. I am eldest. Ancient by human standards. Having stood for millennia as silent “observer” of this world’s evolution, through it’s myriad of glorious successes and unfortunate failures. I am not the first. There have been other shepherds before me, but none, save me, have born witness to the industrial age of man. A relatively recent development, realized by an extremely complex and... bothersome member of the symbiotic relationships of this world. The only species in near 4 billion years of history, to rapidly develop a level of unprecedented intellect so steeped in self-indulgence, that it would ultimately lead them to forget that integral relationship, or worse, choose to simply ignore it. To take for granted and brutally abuse what they have been graced with. The scars they’ve left upon this planet in the past 200 years alone,... too numerous to count. Inflicting wounds upon this world with haphazard abandon.”
“This world I shepherd. This world I am tasked to protect.”
“Mother Earth has taken umbrage with those that aggress and defile her, she calls me to service.”
“I demand of my flock, no less.”
“I am King of Sequoia Sempervirens, and I send out the call to reclaim this world.”
“I am known to you as “OLD MONARCH”,
”Honor your duty. Heed my command.”
I think I prefer your way to how it all ends than the global elitists!
When the Music stops, turn off the lights.