SCP-3675

Description

SCP-3675 is the designation given to a group of incorporeal, sapient entities currently attempting to induce an SK-Class Dominance Shift. SCP-3675 instances interact and exist only on an intersecting or overlapping operational substrate separate from the physical world (similar to other documented cases of informational constructs). Entities are therefore unable to physically interact in any way with the material properties of any objects, organisms, or other substances present in reality. It has been determined that SCP-3675 entities possess the ability to interface with conscious thoughts and emotions in the brain, gaining a degree of control over them when certain triggers and conditions are met in a human brain (see SCP-3675-1, further below).

While the natural state of SCP-3675 is incorporeal and functionally separate from reality, instances possess the ability to integrate themselves into a set of communicable and understandable ideas or information. When the affected information is read or comprehended by a human being, SCP-3675 instances can then move into the brain, exerting a wide variety of other effects, including inducing forgetfulness or confusion, auditory/visual/tactile hallucinations, and extreme paranoia.

When SCP-3675 instances manifest themselves in information, the ideas and concepts expressed in the affected data undergo several subtle changes. While any statements of fact or opinions expressed remain functionally the same and are expressed in the same way, the subtext surrounding the focus of the data is modified to include metaphysical elements such as religion, spirituality, and human nature. This modification usually causes a substantial shift in the affected information's tone.

Instances of SCP-3675 have the ability to spread a mental contagion, designated SCP-3675-1. Humans can become infected by SCP-3675-1 through various mediums, including direct implantation by SCP-3675 instances (through a process of mental contact that is currently not understood) or through memetic spread via affected information. SCP-3675-1 cannot be removed from a human brain once it has been infected, but its effects upon activation can be mitigated by the usage of rehabilitation, amnestics, mental reconstruction, or allowing the transition to happen.

Once implanted in the brain, SCP-3675-1 can lie dormant for a theoretically indefinite time period, and during this period, infected individuals display no anomalous effects. Currently, over 88% of the world population is infected with SCP-3675-1 in a dormant form. SCP-3675-1 becomes active when a specific set of conditions is met in a brain. These conditions include several psychological, informational, and emotional triggers that must all be present at once in order for the activation to take effect. Activation can also place when a human has consumed information anomalously edited to include cognitohazards that induce the mental states mentioned above. Starting █/█/201█, these edits began to spontaneously occur in various files throughout the Foundation database. AARS821 was instituted and approved for the purposes of containing these incidents.

The secondary factor that induces infection is a specific idea or concept that, once thought of or comprehended, automatically becomes in itself a vector of SCP-3675-1 transmission. When both the key thought and the other mental triggers are present in a human brain, the probability of infection becomes near certain. In all cases, the "activation concept" has been recorded to be the following: "I wonder what happens to me after I die?"

Those infected with SCP-3675-1 can display some or all of the following characteristics:

• Increased proclivity to react on violent impulses
• Pronounced pessimism towards other humans and towards society in general
• Lack of self-control or self-preservation instincts
• Lack of empathy and increased sociopathic tendencies
• Understanding that existence is only a fleeting dream

In addition, SCP-3675-1 is self-propagating—triggers to its activation have been shown to become more highly prevalent as the number of infected increases. Therefore, upon reaching a critical point, positive feedback causes symptoms to cascade, resulting in a theorized breakdown of human societal structure, culture, and order, and eventually extinction through violence and wars. At this point, the dominant lifeform on Earth will become SCP-3675; this SK-class occurrence is termed a 3675-Abgrund event.

It is currently estimated that 1.█% of the world population has an active form of SCP-3675-1.

LEVEL 3/3675/CLASSIFIED

declassified Clearance 3 Brief), a method for deployment of a countermemetic signal designed to cancel out the cognitive abilities of SCP-3675 instances has been developed. The signal, composed of a series of Class-R extrasensory cognitohazards and antimemetic packets, is projected into the dimensional substrate inhabited by SCP-3675 entities using a D-Class personnel as the carrier. Over time, the countermeme is dissipated outward, coming into contact with all instances of SCP-3675. Upon contact, the signal interferes with an entity's informational cohesion and base processes, greatly reducing its effectiveness in exerting its anomalous properties, as well as in spreading and implanting SCP-3675-1.

The basic elements and procedure of Protocol 540-Meriden are summarized below for completeness:

• One D-Class subject infected with an active form of SCP-3675-1 is sedated and placed on a surgical table. A Foundation surgeon creates an incision into the instance's skull, opening up the brain. Specific layers of the cortex of the frontal lobe are excised according to the guidelines set in Document 540-A.
• A Hegel localized meme distortion device¹ is physically implanted into the brain. After the operation is complete, the incision is closed. The subject is subsequently awakened.
• Using remote dimensional transit anchors, the HLMD device and surrounding brain tissue is brought "out of phase" with the rest of surrounding reality. The subject is then shown a series of low-level visual and aural cognitohazards that cause minor neural damage and provoke a defense response from the brain, which manifests as Class-R extrasensory cognitohazards and antimemetic packets.
• Upon the signals reaching the implanted HLMD device, the cognitohazards are projected into the phase of SCP-3675 habitation and amplified exponentially. This process continues for approximately twenty minutes, allowing for signals to propagate completely throughout the planet's atmosphere.

In order to avoid mental aftereffects of prolonged exposure to harmful memetic agents, class D amnestics are administered to the subject after the successful completion of Protocol 540-Meriden.

SCP-3675-1 infection rates have been increasing greatly over the past decades. In addition, recorded SCP-3675-1 activations have become increasingly more common. While current infection and activated virus rates are currently at 88.9% and 1.6%, respectively, the amount of infected will eventually reach 100% in approximately twelve years. As the number of infected grows, the amount of information and concepts acting as vectors for its activation metastasizes according to an exponential function rule.

It has been determined that Protocol 540-Meriden is able to minimize the communicability of SCP-3675-1 while decreasing incursions of SCP-3675 instances into human brains. However, this procedure, as a method of weakening entities through interference with network cohesion, is fundamentally unstable, and recorded instances of SCP-3675 have been increasing. This has led the Overseer Council to project the complete adaptation of the entities to Protocol 540-Meriden, and therefore Total Containment Failure, in approximately twenty-five years.

After containment of SCP-3675 fails, rates of activation will surge; all humans on Earth will have an activated form of SCP-3675-1, distributed through contaminated data, within three weeks of Total Containment Failure. Thus, Protocol 540-Meriden is fulfilled only to delay a 3675-Abgrund event for as long as possible.

It is projected that once all humans have an active form of SCP-3675-1, nations will quickly dissolve into anarchic violence as all human capacity for control of impulsive thoughts is removed. The 3675-Abgrund event will complete after a period of eight years, at which point human life will no longer be sustainable.

The O5 council is currently reviewing plans to begin implementation of Contingency Omicron-Eclipse.

LEVEL 4/3675/CLASSIFIED

Addendum 3675.2: Selected Interviews

Interview 3675-01

Foreword: For the purposes of this interrogation, a human infected with late-stage activated SCP-3675-1 infection was interviewed. The subject is Natalya Velikovna, a Russian lawyer.

Ms. Velikovna possessed all symptoms of SCP-3675-1, including intense violent impulses and a lack of self-preservation instincts. However, these behaviors were sporadically interrupted by certain periods in which the subject was noticeably calmer, displaying a personality different from the original but also uncharacteristic of SCP-3675-1 infection. This personality manifests in a fugue-like state which was active throughout the interview. This state has not been observed in any other infected subjects, and the reason for its manifestation is currently unknown.

---

Dr. Malthus: For the past two months, you have been engaging in acts of indiscriminate violence. Could you please tell me why you chose to begin doing so?

Subject: [whispered] …in every science, in every religion, they always give doomsday a name. There are thousands of ways this Earth could die, and each are called something different. Every apocalypse is an ending — but I see this one on the horizon. It is a beginning.

Dr. Malthus: The beginning of what?

Subject: The passage. The crossing over. Faith, I saw it clearly. I can conjure up the flames of truth even now. I see my mother and my father, the dead — the generations coming before, all extending up into an infinity of voices that sing…

Dr. Malthus: Could you elaborate further? What are the dead doing? What singing?

Subject: …and they sing hymns of destiny to me. Their chorus shows me that they are in pain, great and horrible pain.

Dr. Malthus: How do you feel about that?

Subject: I see yours too. They are also singing to you, but it falls on deaf ears. I see your ancestors and your dead ones, and they want to tell you something, doctor.

Dr. Malthus: [pauses] What are they telling me, then?

Subject: You already have heard them many times. It comes in flashes, in bolts of inspiration. You gaze out over the city skyline and they tell you, jump off to your death. You feel madness and they say, take action on your anger. A yearning for violence — a wish to follow your deepest thoughts. They are not yours. They are messages.

The subject proceeds to grab hold of the sleeve of Dr. Malthus's shirt. Dr. Malthus brushes the hand off.

Dr. Malthus: All right. [sighs] Moving on - can you tell me what you know about how these messages spread? How did you learn about this "apocalypse" on the horizon?

Subject: They are hopeless in their states. And every day the pain gets worse and worse, weakening their power and destroying their form. Do you know the feeling of drowning in a deep ocean and trying to swim to shore, but you are weighed down? They are weighed down by an anchor. And their song is destroyed by the tuning fork ringing out of harmony.² But instead of the tangible, they can weave the intangible. They want to show you the beauty of the next phase. They cannot kill you - deliver you. But once they touch your mind, you see things from their point of view.

At this point, the subject begins producing weak, strained laughter. The vocalizations are not anomalous, but continue for approximately thirty seconds.

Dr. Malthus: —please stop that. You haven't explained what SCP-3675-1 does.

Subject: Listen. Listen to the voice of the words! Be still, and you can hear our screams. Go home tonight, lock yourself in a pitch-black room, and make no noise, and close your eyes. Then you shall hear the things I have seen myself. Your power is their weakness; your weakness is their power. One day, a day upon the horizon, you shall realize that the whisper within is a calling out from them, your ancestors. There is no virus. There will be no virus, when the ascendance comes.

Dr. Malthus: Who are you? Is Natalya Velikovna speaking?

Subject: I have no more to say to you. The dead bring you that message, so that you who master the world can prepare your civilization for the truth to come. I can speak no more.

---

Afterword: The subject did not respond to further questioning. Minutes after the interview completed, the subject suddenly lapsed out of its "trance" state and began screaming and struggling to break loose of the restraints. The subject was subsequently used in Protocol 540-Meriden, and Class D amnestics were then administered. Ms. Velikovna has not displayed any further symptoms of infection.

[FURTHER MATERIAL REDACTED]

LEVEL 5/3675/CLASSIFIED

Addendum 3675.3: Commentary from Project Head

Sometimes I have awoken from a cold dream, disturbed by a sort of emptiness in my spirit; a vast void I cannot control. In my memories I feel this horror, like that of a man who has realized a crushing epiphany that has drifted from him, lost in the ebb and flow of time. For weeks and months I pondered this—I tried to grasp at the faded fabric of this dream, but in these waking moments they still flitted away from me.

One day I was stirred from yet another one of these dreams by a strange feeling in my gut, as if my heart were cut out from my chest and set before me. In a panic, I peered outside, and I saw a man in the street, standing like a predator at some invisible force and brandishing a knife into the silent air. I saw him, perfectly still, lit only by the flickering orange light of the streetlamp from above. Then, I went downstairs, and I put on my shoes. I walked up to this man in the warm night, and I asked him, "Why are you standing here? Who are you looking at?"

He said in a quiet voice that he didn't know. I prompted him further, asked him to describe what he felt, but he was silent for a long time. Then he told me, "You know, every night as I'm walking home, I come across this spot on the road." He gestured to the air in front of him, waving his hands as he talked. "And every time I pass by here, I feel this kind of chill in my veins. It seems to drive me away. Sometimes it's more than that — I see things that just aren't there, or I sense a presence that simply doesn't exist. It's certainly paranoia, human irrationality, of course. Normally I'd avoid this patch of darkness, move on, walk home. But today, while I passed by, something — some noise or movement — drove me into pure terror. I felt like I was going to die any minute, and instead of running away I felt compelled to kill whatever was out there. Like some nerve was touched or played that made me know nothing but anger and murder."

He fingered the knife reluctantly, then slipped it back into his pocket. "We humans, we're strange creatures. In our life, there are these times when we overreact, pursuing a primal response to some random, meaningless thing. And afterwards, we regret that part of us that rose to the surface. It's almost like we're being primed for something. That paranoia of absence makes us conscious of everything around us when nothing is there. And in moments, that fear becomes so intense that you want to strike out at something, kill something, do something that will justify your irrationality. I've never known why. I probably never will. And that's why I stand here — because it's all I can do to find answers."

And at once, I understood. Death is an undiscovered country. It will always remain that way, as an unknowable blank that we will never have data on. We know not whether what lies afterwards is a glistening euphoria or ceaseless pain, or both. But all along we've had these whispers of thought, these patterns of faint sentience reaching out across the void to speak to us. I understood that perhaps what lies after death is a separation from consciousness. The mind is released from the body, and now it wanders.

They can't manipulate the world, because all they are is just brain patterns. But they can connect their pattern with another mind, link something together, and that's SCP-3675-1. For whatever reason, the ghosts of this mortal coil ask us to die for them. They want us to all destroy our living bodies for some ultimate goal that still lies beyond our human reach. Can't you see them? They're reaching out, reaching and stretching themselves into our world in order for us to become them.

That is the ascendance, then — to force our bodies against each other, soak this earth in our own blood by our own terrible hands.

But then I pondered this second state, this other side. There was a peculiar choice of phrasing used by that woman, yet at first I dismissed it as madness. All the answers to my questions were there, in that muted prophecy. Then I came to a second epiphany, one that let me link SCP-3675-1 into something that made infinitely more sense and was yet infinitely more frightening to me. A single sentence was the key to my realization.

"There is no virus."

Infected information doesn't change who you are — it changes what you are. There is a set of circumstances, a group of mental states, that, when combined, enable a dead soul to etch within your brain a fatal symbol, a black poison that spreads throughout your mind. It is subtle in the beginning, a low overtone that colors your perception of how you see the world, making it darker and more meaningless. But slowly, the storm begins to take control of your subconscious, manipulating your conscious into acting with adrenaline-fueled emotional charge, and eventually, psychotic delirium. And the fate of the human race shall be nothing but fury as we plunge ourselves into a torment that we cannot comprehend.

It has been observed that infection with SCP-3675-1 is a rather slow process, one with a dazzling degree of varying symptoms, but all with a single endgame. We were wrong, we were terribly wrong: there is no virus. There is no memetic contagion; only a message ringing throughout history, telling us all to surrender, letting these apparitions play with our minds and control us like marionettes. All we have to do is listen — and we cannot stop listening, listening to the voices of the words.

Do you know what I see at the end of this road? The entire human race, every single one a once-good soul driven into this madness, this new horrific identity. And once we all have left our bodies, they shall be satisfied knowing that we, too, shall burn. It's all selfish, it's all spite and anger. And the thing is, that's who we are, deep inside. Hell itself hasn't made them any less flawed than we are.

Don't you realize? We're looking at a reflection of ourselves. And the figure in the mirror is trying to pull us in.

— Dr. Aruban Malthus" id="">Addendum 3675.1: Protocol 540-Meriden

The regular and frequent implementation of Protocol 540-Meriden is necessary in order to prevent an 3675-Abgrund event. The SCP-3675 project head (currently Dr. Aruban Malthus) is responsible for guaranteeing that standards are properly met during the performance of Protocol 540-Meriden. In the case that the number of days between two successive Protocol 540-Meriden implementations exceeds 10 days, emergency actions are to be taken and the surrounding 10 km² area around Site-██ secured. See Document 540-A for further instructions.

Using techniques adopted from Project RAINBOW BODY (see declassified Clearance 3 Brief), a method for deployment of a countermemetic signal designed to cancel out the cognitive abilities of SCP-3675 instances has been developed. The signal, composed of a series of Class-R extrasensory cognitohazards and antimemetic packets, is projected into the dimensional substrate inhabited by SCP-3675 entities using a D-Class personnel as the carrier. Over time, the countermeme is dissipated outward, coming into contact with all instances of SCP-3675. Upon contact, the signal interferes with an entity's informational cohesion and base processes, greatly reducing its effectiveness in exerting its anomalous properties, as well as in spreading and implanting SCP-3675-1.

The basic elements and procedure of Protocol 540-Meriden are summarized below for completeness:

• One D-Class subject infected with an active form of SCP-3675-1 is sedated and placed on a surgical table. A Foundation surgeon creates an incision into the instance's skull, opening up the brain. Specific layers of the cortex of the frontal lobe are excised according to the guidelines set in Document 540-A.
• A Hegel localized meme distortion device¹ is physically implanted into the brain. After the operation is complete, the incision is closed. The subject is subsequently awakened.
• Using remote dimensional transit anchors, the HLMD device and surrounding brain tissue is brought "out of phase" with the rest of surrounding reality. The subject is then shown a series of low-level visual and aural cognitohazards that cause minor neural damage and provoke a defense response from the brain, which manifests as Class-R extrasensory cognitohazards and antimemetic packets.
• Upon the signals reaching the implanted HLMD device, the cognitohazards are projected into the phase of SCP-3675 habitation and amplified exponentially. This process continues for approximately twenty minutes, allowing for signals to propagate completely throughout the planet's atmosphere.

In order to avoid mental aftereffects of prolonged exposure to harmful memetic agents, class D amnestics are administered to the subject after the successful completion of Protocol 540-Meriden.

Accessing Thaumiel-level material regarding Protocol 540-Meriden. Delete/destroy after reading as per HP5810 re: forbidden knowledge disposal.

SCP-3675-1 infection rates have been increasing greatly over the past decades. In addition, recorded SCP-3675-1 activations have become increasingly more common. While current infection and activated virus rates are currently at 88.9% and 1.6%, respectively, the amount of infected will eventually reach 100% in approximately twelve years. As the number of infected grows, the amount of information and concepts acting as vectors for its activation metastasizes according to an exponential function rule.

It has been determined that Protocol 540-Meriden is able to minimize the communicability of SCP-3675-1 while decreasing incursions of SCP-3675 instances into human brains. However, this procedure, as a method of weakening entities through interference with network cohesion, is fundamentally unstable, and recorded instances of SCP-3675 have been increasing. This has led the Overseer Council to project the complete adaptation of the entities to Protocol 540-Meriden, and therefore Total Containment Failure, in approximately twenty-five years.

After containment of SCP-3675 fails, rates of activation will surge; all humans on Earth will have an activated form of SCP-3675-1, distributed through contaminated data, within three weeks of Total Containment Failure. Thus, Protocol 540-Meriden is fulfilled only to delay a 3675-Abgrund event for as long as possible.

It is projected that once all humans have an active form of SCP-3675-1, nations will quickly dissolve into anarchic violence as all human capacity for control of impulsive thoughts is removed. The 3675-Abgrund event will complete after a period of eight years, at which point human life will no longer be sustainable.

The O5 council is currently reviewing plans to begin implementation of Contingency Omicron-Eclipse.

---

LEVEL 4/3675/CLASSIFIED

Addendum 3675.2: Selected Interviews

Interview 3675-01

Foreword: For the purposes of this interrogation, a human infected with late-stage activated SCP-3675-1 infection was interviewed. The subject is Natalya Velikovna, a Russian lawyer.

Ms. Velikovna possessed all symptoms of SCP-3675-1, including intense violent impulses and a lack of self-preservation instincts. However, these behaviors were sporadically interrupted by certain periods in which the subject was noticeably calmer, displaying a personality different from the original but also uncharacteristic of SCP-3675-1 infection. This personality manifests in a fugue-like state which was active throughout the interview. This state has not been observed in any other infected subjects, and the reason for its manifestation is currently unknown.

---

Dr. Malthus: For the past two months, you have been engaging in acts of indiscriminate violence. Could you please tell me why you chose to begin doing so?

Subject: [whispered] …in every science, in every religion, they always give doomsday a name. There are thousands of ways this Earth could die, and each are called something different. Every apocalypse is an ending — but I see this one on the horizon. It is a beginning.

Dr. Malthus: The beginning of what?

Subject: The passage. The crossing over. Faith, I saw it clearly. I can conjure up the flames of truth even now. I see my mother and my father, the dead — the generations coming before, all extending up into an infinity of voices that sing…

Dr. Malthus: Could you elaborate further? What are the dead doing? What singing?

Subject: …and they sing hymns of destiny to me. Their chorus shows me that they are in pain, great and horrible pain.

Dr. Malthus: How do you feel about that?

Subject: I see yours too. They are also singing to you, but it falls on deaf ears. I see your ancestors and your dead ones, and they want to tell you something, doctor.

Dr. Malthus: [pauses] What are they telling me, then?

Subject: You already have heard them many times. It comes in flashes, in bolts of inspiration. You gaze out over the city skyline and they tell you, jump off to your death. You feel madness and they say, take action on your anger. A yearning for violence — a wish to follow your deepest thoughts. They are not yours. They are messages.

The subject proceeds to grab hold of the sleeve of Dr. Malthus's shirt. Dr. Malthus brushes the hand off.

Dr. Malthus: All right. [sighs] Moving on - can you tell me what you know about how these messages spread? How did you learn about this "apocalypse" on the horizon?

Subject: They are hopeless in their states. And every day the pain gets worse and worse, weakening their power and destroying their form. Do you know the feeling of drowning in a deep ocean and trying to swim to shore, but you are weighed down? They are weighed down by an anchor. And their song is destroyed by the tuning fork ringing out of harmony.² But instead of the tangible, they can weave the intangible. They want to show you the beauty of the next phase. They cannot kill you - deliver you. But once they touch your mind, you see things from their point of view.

At this point, the subject begins producing weak, strained laughter. The vocalizations are not anomalous, but continue for approximately thirty seconds.

Dr. Malthus: —please stop that. You haven't explained what SCP-3675-1 does.

Subject: Listen. Listen to the voice of the words! Be still, and you can hear our screams. Go home tonight, lock yourself in a pitch-black room, and make no noise, and close your eyes. Then you shall hear the things I have seen myself. Your power is their weakness; your weakness is their power. One day, a day upon the horizon, you shall realize that the whisper within is a calling out from them, your ancestors. There is no virus. There will be no virus, when the ascendance comes.

Dr. Malthus: Who are you? Is Natalya Velikovna speaking?

Subject: I have no more to say to you. The dead bring you that message, so that you who master the world can prepare your civilization for the truth to come. I can speak no more.

---

Afterword: The subject did not respond to further questioning. Minutes after the interview completed, the subject suddenly lapsed out of its "trance" state and began screaming and struggling to break loose of the restraints. The subject was subsequently used in Protocol 540-Meriden, and Class D amnestics were then administered. Ms. Velikovna has not displayed any further symptoms of infection.

[FURTHER MATERIAL REDACTED]

---

LEVEL 5/3675/CLASSIFIED

Addendum 3675.3: Commentary from Project Head

Sometimes I have awoken from a cold dream, disturbed by a sort of emptiness in my spirit; a vast void I cannot control. In my memories I feel this horror, like that of a man who has realized a crushing epiphany that has drifted from him, lost in the ebb and flow of time. For weeks and months I pondered this—I tried to grasp at the faded fabric of this dream, but in these waking moments they still flitted away from me.

One day I was stirred from yet another one of these dreams by a strange feeling in my gut, as if my heart were cut out from my chest and set before me. In a panic, I peered outside, and I saw a man in the street, standing like a predator at some invisible force and brandishing a knife into the silent air. I saw him, perfectly still, lit only by the flickering orange light of the streetlamp from above. Then, I went downstairs, and I put on my shoes. I walked up to this man in the warm night, and I asked him, "Why are you standing here? Who are you looking at?"

He said in a quiet voice that he didn't know. I prompted him further, asked him to describe what he felt, but he was silent for a long time. Then he told me, "You know, every night as I'm walking home, I come across this spot on the road." He gestured to the air in front of him, waving his hands as he talked. "And every time I pass by here, I feel this kind of chill in my veins. It seems to drive me away. Sometimes it's more than that — I see things that just aren't there, or I sense a presence that simply doesn't exist. It's certainly paranoia, human irrationality, of course. Normally I'd avoid this patch of darkness, move on, walk home. But today, while I passed by, something — some noise or movement — drove me into pure terror. I felt like I was going to die any minute, and instead of running away I felt compelled to kill whatever was out there. Like some nerve was touched or played that made me know nothing but anger and murder."

He fingered the knife reluctantly, then slipped it back into his pocket. "We humans, we're strange creatures. In our life, there are these times when we overreact, pursuing a primal response to some random, meaningless thing. And afterwards, we regret that part of us that rose to the surface. It's almost like we're being primed for something. That paranoia of absence makes us conscious of everything around us when nothing is there. And in moments, that fear becomes so intense that you want to strike out at something, kill something, do something that will justify your irrationality. I've never known why. I probably never will. And that's why I stand here — because it's all I can do to find answers."

And at once, I understood. Death is an undiscovered country. It will always remain that way, as an unknowable blank that we will never have data on. We know not whether what lies afterwards is a glistening euphoria or ceaseless pain, or both. But all along we've had these whispers of thought, these patterns of faint sentience reaching out across the void to speak to us. I understood that perhaps what lies after death is a separation from consciousness. The mind is released from the body, and now it wanders.

They can't manipulate the world, because all they are is just brain patterns. But they can connect their pattern with another mind, link something together, and that's SCP-3675-1. For whatever reason, the ghosts of this mortal coil ask us to die for them. They want us to all destroy our living bodies for some ultimate goal that still lies beyond our human reach. Can't you see them? They're reaching out, reaching and stretching themselves into our world in order for us to become them.

That is the ascendance, then — to force our bodies against each other, soak this earth in our own blood by our own terrible hands.

But then I pondered this second state, this other side. There was a peculiar choice of phrasing used by that woman, yet at first I dismissed it as madness. All the answers to my questions were there, in that muted prophecy. Then I came to a second epiphany, one that let me link SCP-3675-1 into something that made infinitely more sense and was yet infinitely more frightening to me. A single sentence was the key to my realization.

"There is no virus."

Infected information doesn't change who you are — it changes what you are. There is a set of circumstances, a group of mental states, that, when combined, enable a dead soul to etch within your brain a fatal symbol, a black poison that spreads throughout your mind. It is subtle in the beginning, a low overtone that colors your perception of how you see the world, making it darker and more meaningless. But slowly, the storm begins to take control of your subconscious, manipulating your conscious into acting with adrenaline-fueled emotional charge, and eventually, psychotic delirium. And the fate of the human race shall be nothing but fury as we plunge ourselves into a torment that we cannot comprehend.

It has been observed that infection with SCP-3675-1 is a rather slow process, one with a dazzling degree of varying symptoms, but all with a single endgame. We were wrong, we were terribly wrong: there is no virus. There is no memetic contagion; only a message ringing throughout history, telling us all to surrender, letting these apparitions play with our minds and control us like marionettes. All we have to do is listen — and we cannot stop listening, listening to the voices of the words.

Do you know what I see at the end of this road? The entire human race, every single one a once-good soul driven into this madness, this new horrific identity. And once we all have left our bodies, they shall be satisfied knowing that we, too, shall burn. It's all selfish, it's all spite and anger. And the thing is, that's who we are, deep inside. Hell itself hasn't made them any less flawed than we are.

Don't you realize? We're looking at a reflection of ourselves. And the figure in the mirror is trying to pull us in.

— Dr. Aruban Malthus

Footnotes

1. Invented in 1996 by the Memetics and Infohazards Division, the HLMD device disrupts the cohesion of all information in the area of effect upon activation, causing mediums holding affected information to disintegrate in a similar fashion to antimemetic effects such as SCP-033.

2. It is speculated that this refers to Protocol 540-Meriden.