The Lost Pages of Time

It started with an envelope.

Old, yellowed, and sealed with a strange symbol Emilia Hart had never seen before. She was a quiet historian, living alone in Oxford, obsessed with ancient books and forgotten stories. Most days, she stayed buried in dusty archives — but this letter changed everything.

Inside was a message written in elegant, old handwriting:

“𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧. 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.”

It didn’t say who sent it. But along with it came a single page — part of a journal — speaking of a book called the "Codex Obscura", a legendary text believed to be lost when the Library of Alexandria burned. Most believed it was a myth. Emilia believed it was her calling.

She flew to Egypt within days, following the clue in the letter: “Start where the fire ended.”

At the ruins of the Library of Alexandria, now a modern site, Emilia teamed up with Tariq, a young Egyptian archaeologist. Together, they explored the basement of the new library. Behind a broken wall, they discovered a sealed room, untouched for centuries.

Inside, they found burnt fragments of scrolls and a stone tile with the same strange symbol from the letter. One fragment had faint writing only visible under infrared light — it was a map. A map leading to Venice.

---

In Venice, beneath an old church built over Roman ruins, they discovered a hidden chamber inside a crypt. There, wrapped in silk and sealed in a metal box, was a leather-bound book — ancient, cracked, and silent.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐱 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚.

It wasn’t just a history book. Its pages described events that hadn’t happened yet — modern ones. A burning cathedral in Paris. A great flood in Asia. An eclipse predicted with perfect timing.

But the page was marked: 1490.

Emilia was stunned. “This book… it knows the future,” she whispered.

Tariq frowned. “Or someone brought the future to the past.”

---

Soon, things turned dark.

They were followed. Watched. Emilia’s hotel room was searched. Then, another letter arrived:

“𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧.”

Emilia refused. Instead, the Codex revealed one last clue — a drawing of Prague’s Astronomical Clock and a line: “𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬.”

They traveled to Prague, where an old librarian helped them find a hidden room behind the clock tower. Inside was a strange mirror, framed in bronze, glowing faintly.

When Emilia looked into it, she didn’t see herself.

She saw the past — the burning library, people running with scrolls. She saw the future — a girl holding a page of the Codex while machines marched in the streets.

And then, the mirror shattered.

---

On the floor lay one last page.

“𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.”

A man in a gray coat entered the chamber. He wasn’t surprised. He introduced himself simply:

“I’m a Custodian. We protect time.”

He told them the Codex wasn’t prophecy. It was a collection of future knowledge — written by those who had seen ahead, then sent backward in time to be hidden.

“Why hide it?” Emilia asked.

“Because too much truth too soon breaks the world,” he replied. “History needs mystery to survive.”

---

Emilia returned to Oxford. The Codex was hidden again, deep in the walls of the Bodleian Library, in a box only she could find.

She never spoke publicly of what she found. But each night, she copied one page by hand.

Not for fame.

Not for the world.

But for the next person who might find a letter sealed with a strange symbol. The one that begins:

“𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧…”

And waits to be found again.

And somewhere, beneath centuries of silence, the pages still turn — waiting for the next curious hand.

Because time doesn’t forget. It simply waits.

The past is never truly gone — it’s just written in ink that only the right eyes can see.

And in the quiet, between ticking seconds, history whispers: Find me.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 📚 😊