In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, there is a species known as the Tralfamadorians, who can see in four dimensions. Past, future, present; all of life is experienced without order, any point accessible at once. This known as perceiving time non-linearly.
The being known to a very small selection of humanity as SCP-682 arrives to earth at some point in the twentieth century. Its arrival is marked by a slaughter, the creature wantonly murdering until it is contained by the organization known as the Foundation.
The concept of experiencing time non-linearly is difficult for linear beings such as humans to comprehend. It is outside their context, but as humans will be much of this works audience, I will try at an analogy.
When SCP-682 is asked why it killed humans, it clarifies its position. Amongst the rubble from the latest breach, the log is recovered. Truly, 682 finds humans disgusting.
Imagine a you are the hour hand on a clock. You can only perceive the time you are pointing at. You remember the times you had pointed at before, but you don’t experience any hour but the one in front of you.
The reason for 682’s disgust is a mystery to the foundation, but one that can be ignored. The containment and eventual termination of the monster is of much higher priority. Time passes, and eventually even the disturbance that 682 feels for humanity is but a passing mention within the file detailing the horrors the beast had wrought.
If a linear being is an hour hand on a clock, the time experienced by nonlinear observers is as if the clock was filled with water. They experience every hour at once, and though to an hour hand passing through it may seem that the water travels with them, to the water the hour hand is always there.
SCP-682 continually attempts to escape and destroy. The foundation continually attempts to kill the beast. Occasionally these events coincide. But nothing ever comes of this. The world continues to turn. The legendary SCP-682 begins to hold a mythical status to some researchers, in a way. The power held by the mysterious invader is immense, its capabilities seemingly infinite, and its immortality true. Such things spark ideas in the hearts and minds of mortals. Its only human.
The nonlinear experience of time in Slaughterhouse-Five is not restricted to the Tralfamadorians. The protagonist of the novel, Billy Pilgrim, also begins experiencing time in a non-linear manner. Though he has less control over how he experiences time,