Bittersweet

Chocolate. Of all the things which would seal our doom, of course it was that damned, delicious, amazing chocolate.

It took us a long time to make first contact, by which time we had developed the warp drive, the grav gen, the perfect cup of coffee (to which the former two are often attributed). All of which are the standards of a strong and vibrant spaceborne race. When we met the Av'leh we were overjoyed that we were not alone, that there were others we could share the galaxy with. Through them, we were introduced to a number of other races with whom we traded, fought, and worked with for decades. With whom we discovered that humanity had the lowest psionic potential by a magnitude, much to the disappointment of many.

Until that fateful day. The day our culinary exchange programs with the Av'leh nearly completed our cross examinations and medical tests, and turned to what we thought back then to be a simple, innocent, perfectly normal sweet.

Chocolate.

The chemical profile checked out, the initial tests passed with flying colors as all before, and then it entered mass sampling. The good news was that our fellow carbon based life forms loved this new delicacy. So much in fact, that the trade deals were so profitable that some of the results may have been fudged a little. So what if frequent consumers occasionally displayed some extra aggressive energy, or began to speak in tongues? Nobody got harmed, and the latter was hilarious at parties. Until the parties became cult gatherings. Until the cult gatherings became burials of particularly chocophilic individuals in pools of the stuff. Until they rose from the hardened chocolate, chanting in tongues from beyond, and controlled the people of their worlds to distribute and produce as much cocoa as possible, and that none may remain outside their grasp.

It was then we discovered the truth of this once so innocent delicatessen. Were we not so blind to the ways behind the veil, we would have seen the malevolent love of bittersweet festering in every bean pod. Were it not for our cultivation of it, and the way we spread it to other worlds, it would surely have consumed us in the Av'leh's stead. But as the only race immune to its dark and delicious power, we could not be permitted to live. Our job done, chocolate turned on us. We were close to a cure, but alas we were overwhelmed by the freshly roasted Great Chocolatey Empire.

I sit here in this bunker among the last of humanity on earth, and plead. Dont give in to the dark... it's not too Choco-late yet.