Today is the day that everything changes for me.

I look around, the entire landscape has been scarred by multiple battles. I don’t even know if I’d put it like that, a battle isn’t so one sided. This was more of a massacre. It’s a shock that I’m here, actually, but my hiding skills are good enough. The fact that my family helped me out back then, that might also have something to do with it.

Anyway, I’m one of the last humans.

I don’t want to think about how that happened.

The only upside is that I have all of these wonderful books. History, science, and even fiction are all at my fingertips. Apparently, it was in the year 5037 that humanity started to put all of their literature in one giant database. Even with all of the time I have, I haven’t been able to really read even one tenth of everything that is out there. Maybe part of it is because of something that I came across, something that I have been working to try to prove wrong.

‘Time travel is impossible’, that was essentially what one book came to the conclusion of. Maybe it had been my own arrogance that had led me to it, but arrogance is paying off soon. I put a few coordinates into the machine, the wrist-device that I’m now wearing. Before I go, I know that there is something that I have to do. Well, actually, there are a lot of things I have to do. I have to decide everything that I’m doing, where I’m going, and I have to decide some rules.

Ah, rules, the things that I flaunted when I started to make this device.

I look back to the past ten years with pride. Even though I had only been sixteen, I still started on it. Part of me had thought, at the time, that I would have gotten bored of it. Eventually, there would have been some sort of failure that would have destroyed my will to continue on the project. That hadn’t happened. My mom was a constant source of encouragement, even after my dad told me that I should have given up.

Then again, it was his book that had started this.

What are the rules that I have to follow today, though? That’s something that I need to decide before I decide anything else. I look up at the sky, and I try to figure out exactly what could possibly go wrong when it comes to time travel. That’s a field that a few have tried to consider, mostly in a theoretical sense. Some scientists assume that it would be impossible to touch your past self, or future self, that it would cause all of reality to die.

That’s an easy one.

That also meant that I couldn’t go back into my own timeline. That’s something that had been another point of argument between the differing scientists. Some said that it was something that could be done as long as your past self didn’t see your future self. As interesting as it might be to see me from another time, I think it would just be easier to steer clear of me.

Technology and history are other key things.

I have knowledge of events that have happened already in my time, but going back means I have foreknowledge. That’s something that could be dangerous. I have studied enough to know that every single event has a change on the world around it. Even something as small as stepping on a blade of grass could have much larger implications into the future. And that definitely takes out saving humanity from its destruction.

As much as I’d like to do that, I could theoretically cause horrible things to happen by trying to save as many people as possible.

This is all theory, really. I don’t even know if this will work. For all I know, this could end with me losing a hand to an explosion. That had almost happened before. It was only my quick thinking that saved my hand, I shut the thing down before it had exploded. Now, though, I have what I hope is a working prototype. Imagine what sort of things I can do if I perfect this.

Alright, I should write down those rule.

1. Don’t meet myself.

2. Don’t go into the past

3. Find a way to get a message to my parents to join me

Those are all of the things that I can think of.

“Come on, dinner time!” I hear my mom yell, as she does every day about this time. Every day we eat around sunset, and every day we eat the same things. We have some beans, we have some salad, we have some bread with some butter, and we have some milk. All of these things are scavenged remains. Eventually, we’re going to have to start growing things ourselves. Actually, no, they’re going to have to start growing them until I come back and get them from the future.

If this works, anyway.

Actually, this can wait until after dinner. I should at least have one more meal with them before I head off into the unknown. And that’s exactly what I do. The three of us, my parents and me, have a delicious dinner. My dad brings out some cake as dessert, after a meal that had steak in it. This is one of those things that I don’t know how to respond to. It feels weird that we’re going to eat something special on what seems to be an ordinary day.

Maybe I should ask what the occasion is.

“Something special happen today?” Maybe my dad will say that he had found more people. That would make the day amazing. Imagine if there were others. My dad looks over to my mom, who just chuckles and comes over to give me a kiss on the forehead. That doesn’t tell me anything, really, so I sigh. “I’m serious.”

“Really? I would have thought you’d remember your own birthday.” Of course my parents would remember my birthday. I should have known it was today, but before right now I didn’t.

My dad just chuckles. “Every year, same thing. I don’t know what to say. Either he’s the most forgetful person, or he’s that humble.” He winks, then comes over to give me a hug. “Ever since your sixteenth birthday, when I gave you those books of mine, you just seem out of it.” Almost as if he realizes that is a bad thing to say, he continues. “In a good way, of course, you’re just so focused on that project of yours. The one you said you’ll show us when you’re done.”

I wonder if he knows what the project is.

“I think I’ll finally be able to show you guys soon. I just have to work out a few more things, test them out, and then you’ll see.” This makes my dad look as though he’s worrying, which is something he does a lot. Back when the other model had almost exploded, I had told him. Even if this doesn’t work, I don’t think I’m going to tell him about anything bad happening. He’s worrying too much as is, I don’t need to add anything more to it.

“Tomorrow, maybe.”

My mom is the first to say something, as she starts to push my dad toward the door. “We won’t take up any more of your time then, Mr. Scientist. We both know you’ve been working really hard on whatever it is you’re doing.” I kind of feel bad not telling either of them. The two of them have been so supportive without knowing anything about what I’m doing. My mom deserves to know, but this is something that is best a surprise. I don’t even know how they’ll react to the idea of travelling in time. I know the initial reaction from my dad will probably be to try to disprove it.

There is one more stop that I want to make before I go through with this experiment. This is something that I do every so often, even though it doesn’t mean anything. Dad doesn’t like it when I go see it, this large glass container. It is roughly the size of a small person, maybe a seven year old child. The reason why he doesn’t want me to see it is because of his own worries. The thing that he doesn’t realize is that I already know the supposedly bad secret.

This was where I started my life. I can’t really say I care too much, though. They’re my parents, they’ve been taking care of me all of my life. I don’t think it really matters where I came from in the strictest biological sense. Maybe someday, later down the road, I will let him know that I have known all for over fifteen years now. Maybe he will realize that it doesn’t matter much to me.

That might make him feel a little better, I can’t be sure.

I walk out into a field, looking up at the stars. They’re beautiful tonight; that much is undeniable. I quickly look down to the device on my wrist, and then I think about one final thing that I probably need to do. If everything goes right, and I am able to go into the future, I don’t know when exactly I’ll come back. After all, I know better than to assume I’m going to get any closer than maybe the month of arrival. I have actually tried to stick with the year, just in case.

Right now is November 23, 5146.

Right now, though, I have a letter to write. After that, I need to get a couple more things and I can try this little experiment.

Dear mom and dad,

I know that this type of thing isn’t what you expect. There aren’t a lot of people out there, nobody from my understanding, so it might seem weird that I just disappear between the time of you leaving me and the next day. I don’t know what to say to dad, except to thank him for motivating me to do something that everybody thinks is impossible.

Only those who think they can change the world actually can, right?

I want to let you know exactly what I did, what I have been working on. I have been working on a device that breaks through time. It sounds dangerous, and that really doesn’t describe what it does. That just sounds really cool, don’t you think? In reality, I am going to use it to try to travel into the future. Eventually, there will be life on this planet again, I can just feel it.

And we should be there with it.

I don’t know when I’m going to be able to come back, but believe me that I will. And when I come back from a safe time, I am going to take you guys with me. We’ll all be able to live our lives happily, on earth, to the end of our days. I know that sort of subject doesn’t come up, and nobody likes to talk about it, but it just sounds really nice to me.

Maybe we’ll have amazing neighbors.

Until next time,

Your loving son.

All I need to do is get two more things. One of them is a blank journal, the other is a set of pens to write with. Even if I can’t see my parents for a long time, they’re going to get to know about the things that I have done while I was away. Maybe I can tell them about the species that I run into before we go. Good notes will make sure that they aren’t caught off guard. There’s absolutely nothing that can go wrong, aside from a giant explosion.

That definitely would be a bad end to an otherwise good day.

I look over the calculations one more time, I want to make sure that these are right. I think I have taken into account all of those pesky problems that my dad put in the book. I haven’t asked him about why he had written the book, why he studied the idea of time travel. Maybe when I come back, that’s another thing I will ask him about.

How far into the future should I go, anyway? I still hadn’t decided that much. I know how old the earth is, and I know how long it initially took for life to grow. Maybe it won’t take hundreds of millions of years this time, maybe something will happen that will speed it up. I decide that the best amount of time is twenty million years. That is still plenty of time for something to happen. Maybe we will be able to help shape the next inheritors of the earth.

That would be fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

With the idea in mind, and every decision already made, I grab the pens from right beside me. With them in my pocket, the empty blue journal in my hands, I push a few more buttons. I have to make sure that I have everything set up, or I might go anywhere. That is, of course, based on the assumption that I go anywhere at all. I assume that I will end up standing right here, just twenty million years into the future.

Assumptions are fragile things, but I push the button to initialize the attempt anyway.

Instantly, I regret that decision. The device starts to make a weird buzzing sound. If this thing blows up, I will have a hard time explaining it to my dad. Not only that, but that would ruin everything. I don’t think I’ll try again, I’d only have one more hand to lose. And I really need at least one hand. I won’t be of any use to my parents if I don’t have a hand.

They’re both going to need help around the house, after all.

And how much fun can you have with no hands anyway? That would make the rest of my life dull. Maybe, if that happens, I can get dad to come up with something. No, no, I need to be positive. I need to think that I can do this. Positive thinking brings positive results. I close my eyes, start to think happy thoughts, as I start to feel as though I am being pulled through something.

This isn’t pleasant at all.

The feeling stops, but I can’t help but worry about opening my eyes. It’s almost like a birthday present, to myself, and I really hope I like it. The only sign that I might is that I hear the sound of footsteps. That means that there are others. There might even be a new human race. Oh, there are a lot of them, too. I should probably open my eyes, greet the new species. Maybe they aren’t humans, maybe they’re aliens.

Or would I be the alien?

No time for that, I quickly open my eyes and look around. The first thing I notice is that there are a lot of spears being pointed at me. That makes sense, I am a complete stranger in their land. If they’re using spears, they probably have no idea where I came from.

Then I realize that those don’t look like hands. Oh, and the spears are being held by what look to be horses. It gets even better when I realize that a lot of them are slightly smaller than me. Whatever happened, I am definitely not awake.

This is obviously a dream.

“Well hello there, little guys. I come in peace. Now let’s get this dream over with so I can figure out where I really am.”

They look at each other for a few moments, and one of them steps out.

“I am Captain Armor. Please identify yourself. And tell me how you got here…”

He had a serious look on his face. He might not be carrying a spear like the other dream horses, but obviously he is the one in charge. Maybe when I wake up, I can start analyzing my dream to figure out that name. This psychology book I once read tells me that the name means something.

Maybe it means I have read too many fantasy books.

Back to the focus of my dream and how it is reacting to me.

Fine, my dream wants to play with me. I can play back. “My name is Captain Feathersword. Jack Feathersword to be more precise.” And how did I get here? Oh, that might be the best part of all, but I have to think of a funny thing. I doubt any of them want to know the truth of it anyway. Even if they do want to know the truth, I know better than to tell them. Then again, this is a dream and they already know.

Actually, sarcastic answers are probably best for my brain. It is my brain after all, I just have to make it funny. Wait, sarcasm, that’s it. “And I came here by means of the magic of sarcasm.”

Apparently the idea of me magically transporting myself in here with sarcasm didn’t sit well with one of my dream manifestations. Soon enough I felt something smack against the back of my head, and I fell to the floor unconscious. At least this dream didn’t last too long, there are a lot of things that I need to do when I wake up in the future.

This is obviously not it. I know with one hundred percent certainty that the future is not ran by talking horses. The sheer thought that it is, that’s enough to drive anyone to insanity.