Kalil looked up at the largest building he had ever seen. It was the size of Manhattan Island and more than thirty stories tall. Above the entrance, the name of the building was written in multiple languages, including his. It was called “Alexandria”.
The floor of the lobby, or the lobby in that part of the building, had a large fresco depicting people from many different time periods writing. On the left was a restaurant or coffee shop, on the right was a gift shop, opposite of the entrance, next to what appeared to be elevator doors and a passage going further into the building was a desk with a receptionist, the receptionists skin was slightly orange, her hair was lilac in color, her eyes green, and she had a square jaw. Kalil had seen features like hers, though more exaggerated.
The receptionist greeted Kalil, “Welcome to the Alexandrian Library.” She said to hum.
He understood her, so the translator he had gotten before traveling to then still worked. “‘Alexandrian Library’? Like the Great library?”
“Yes sir. Few people know of something so far in the past.”
“Well I’m from the past.” He said in a low voice. “So, there is a section of physics, specifically dealing with time?” Before she could respond he added “and languages, like-”
“I think I can help this young man.” someone behind Kalil said, in Kalils language.
Kalil looked behind him, seeing an old man that resembled his grandfather. He was bald with gray hair on the side and back of his head, his skin was dark olive, his eyes brown, his face was wrinkled with a pointed chin, much like Kalils chin, and he walked with a cane. The old man gestures to what looked to be elevators, “I’ve been expecting you, if you come with me I can take you to what you need to be.”
Kalil looked at the receptionist, “Um- thank you.”
The two men walked to the elevator. “She’s a lovely young lady, If I were a younger man-” He didn’t finish the sentence, just smiled.
“You said you were executing me, how did you know I was coming?”
The elevator door opened, they stepped in. “Special room one twenty eight” the old man told the elevator. The elevator moved left. “This is the largest library in Earth’s history.” The old man began, ignoring Kalils question, “it contains every book ever written on earth, and every book that will be written. Well, not all, but most. We think.”
The old man’s voice sounded familiar, almost like Kalil’s father, but similar to his grandfathers on his mothers side.
The elevator began moving back.
“It was quite a build,” The old man continued, “Even with the machines in this age. It was a struggle to get the land. People wanted to restore this land to nature. There is a big ‘back to nature’ movement. But there is after every apocalypse. Eventually the promise of tourist money won out.”
The elevator moved up then stopped. The door opened to a small room with one book. Kalil walked out of the elevator, looking at the book. He examined it, he had seen it before. It looked older now, some pages were clearly missing, and it appeared to have been in a fire at one point. “Where was this found?” He asked the old librarian.
“In an old mansion, buried in the second apocalypse. It was fortunate, many lost works were found including the works of Shakespear, the American Declaration of Independence, some lost works by Steven King, and news records dating from the 20th century to the 23rd. It was an amazing find, especially given its age.”
Kalil looked at the book. The first time he saw it he was too afraid to read too far into it, afraid to read his own future. Now in the time that he was, wanted to know if he ever got home. He turned to the last page of the book.
Time is a fickle bitch, sometimes she’s on your side and sometimes dumps you in a hellscape, all while ticking your life away. I have found travel through time and space to be far more difficult than I thought it would be. It has been difficult, sometimes impossible to go where or when I wanted to be. I have been traveling for over fifty years, I have seen the future and the past but seldom where or when I wanted to be. I have seen the largest dinosaurs, I have met the Utopiansites of New Utopia, the city built after the thirteenth apocalypse, more than seven thousand years after I was born, where you are now. I was rejuvenated by the doctors of the third Soviar Republic, taking thirty years off my life and giving me more. I saw the sky falling in the second apocalypse. I met Neanderthals who were kind and affable to me. I met the post humans of the distant future. I visited the New Roman Empire, the canals of New Orleans, the radiation wastelands of the thirtieth century.
Now I just want to rest, I want to go to a time where I can settle down and have a quiet life. I look half my age but my mind has aged. I’m tired, I struggle to remember life before I left my time. But I know I still have work to do.
Your journey will sometimes be hard, sometimes be easy, but it will always be an adventure. Time will be your friend, your enemy, your ally, your betrayer, and your savior.
You will not be alone in this, there are others like you. You were chosen for a reason, and while that reason isn’t clear to me I am certain I will find it soon.
Kalil put the diary down, feeling a profound sense of loss and loneliness. He looked at the old man, his familiar features now made sense. “You are me aren’t you.”
“If I were, would I tell you?”
Kalil studied the old librarian’s features. “I don’t know.” he looked at the diary, remembering when he first got it, found in a chamber in the Great Pyramid, with a note that had Kalils name and address on it. With it was the instructions and materials needed to travel through time. It could not be carbon dated, the paper was made of an unknown compound of silicon. “I’m never going home?” Kalil said.
“I’m sorry young man, but no, you are not going home again.”
Kalil looked at the librarian, he could see sympathy in the old man’s face.
“You were chosen for this, it is an adventure and a gift.”
“Chosen by who?”
“Time itself.”
They stood in silence, the revelation sinking into Kalil. “Come young man, you’ll have plenty of time with your diary.” The librarian said. They walked to the elevator. “I have so many questions.” Kalil said.
“You will find those answers, I can not tell you them.”
As the car took them back to the lobby, the old librarian handed Kalil what looked like a rectangular coin. “It’s money, you’re going to be here for a while.” Kalil looked at the old man, the old man smiled, it was Kailil’s mother’s smile.
Getting off the elevator, the librarian gestured at the receptionist Kalil met when he entered. “She’s single.” he said to Kalil, “The people in this time are very open.”
Kalil walked to the receptionist. She looked at him, “You know, you look familiar.”
Kalil looked back at the old man, back at the receptionist.
“Are you attached?” she asked Kalil.
“I’m sorry?”
“To anyone?”
“I guess I’m not.”
“I’m going to be off soon, how about we go get something to eat?”
The mention of food reminded Kalil how long it had been since he had eaten, he then felt the emptiness of his stomach. “That sounds nice.”
Someone entered the library, a man with dark gray skin and brown hair.
Kalil looked around. “I guess I’ll wait in the gift shop.”
“I’ll see you there in a little bit.” She said.
As Kalil looked at the items in the gift shop, he saw a book that looked exactly like his future diary, but new and undamaged. He picked it up, the pages were blank.
C.L. Who Writes 
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