WARNING! This site is for SCP Personnel with 05 Approval. Access beyond this point for those with standard
Level 4 security is prohibited, and may result in termination of Foundation employment. Unauthorized visitors who survived the memetic
kill agent are detained and interrogated under truth-exacting memetic agents. Dr. Herman Wright was used to high security
protocols. He had been working with the SCP Foundation
for several years, and had dealt with specimens both terrifying and valuable. But something about this site was different. The security was tighter than he had ever
seen - and it all seemed a bit much for what looked like a run of the mill warehouse in
Alexandria, Egypt. The street seemed normal - it was surrounded
by businesses selling food and clothes, and none of the locals seemed to give it a second
glance. But as soon as he was approved for access
and entered the warehouse, it was a very different story. He looked into the cognitohazard testing screen
- designed to cause psychic damage to anyone who hadn’t been inoculated by the Foundation
- and entered the large bunker. Automated guns lined the walls, he could see
the outlines of trap doors below him, and he was pretty sure the whole place was rigged
to blow if a large-scale assault hit. The Foundation was taking no chance with whatever
they had found in Egypt. What could they be keeping locked up below? As Dr. Wright walked through the long tunnel
leading to a staircase, he could see a series of rules marked on the wall. “No open flames allowed within SCP-4001” “No firearms or bladed weapons allowed within
SCP-4001” “All writing utensils brought into SCP-4001
must be approved by a majority of the O5-Council” “Violating these conditions could cause
a CK-class restructuring scenario or an XK-class end of the world scenario” Dr. Wright’s mind raced as he entered the
massive antechamber and descended the staircase, but he wasn’t prepared for what he saw. It was a library - the biggest library he
had ever seen, with bookcases stretched as far as the eye could see. The library was far bigger than the warehouse
looked from outside, and Dr. Wright assumed it must be a disguise built on top of the
much bigger, older facility that had been discovered by the Foundation. It wouldn’t be the first time the Foundation
found something that didn’t conform to the laws of Euclidian geometry - SCP locations
often played by their own rules. As Dr. Wright exited the staircase and walked
up to the first bookcase, he could swear he heard rustling sounds among the shelves. Was something moving? He hadn’t seen anyone walking the aisles
when he descended the staircase, and he was pretty sure he was alone here - wasn’t he? Making things stranger, a quick look at the
bookcase didn’t show any books he was familiar with. None had standard titles. In fact, they all seemed to follow a simple
format - each title a different individual person. All the books looked exactly the same - same
binding, same thickness, same number of pages. Was this some sort of SCP reference library? Suddenly, a hand slapped down on Dr. Wright’s
shoulder and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. He turned around to see a grey-haired man
in an SCP lab coat extending a hand to him. “Dr. Waylon Henricks. Chief scientist in charge of testing at SCP-4001. You must be Dr. Wright.” He didn’t even give Dr. Wright a chance
to respond. Dr. Henricks didn’t seem like the kind of
man to be very interested in what others had to say. “Yes, yes. About time the Foundation sent me a new research
assistant. I suppose you have a lot of questions.” Dr. Wright was supposed to be a researcher,
not an assistant. He didn’t suppose it would do any good to
point that out. When Dr. Wright tried to question what it
was that he’d be researching, Dr Henrick’s told him that it would be easier to show than
explain. With that he motioned Dr. Wright to a nearby
table, where one of the countless identical books on the shelves was waiting. He nodded at the book, prompting the younger
Doctor to turn it over and read the title. He couldn’t believe what he saw… There on the front of the book was his name. Herman Wright. Dr. Wright looked at his colleague in confusion,
and Dr. Henricks motioned for him to take a look. It was written in a language he had never
seen before but was somehow instantly recognizable and understandable. And the book really was about him. Every detail of his life had been written
down in this volume, starting with his birth, containing details that no one but he knew. His whole life story was here. From his childhood to his education to his
eventual recruitment by the SCP foundation. But the book wasn’t completed. The last line that had been written described
his entry into the secured confines of SCP-4001 that very day. Dr. Henricks had a mad glint in his eye. “Are you starting to understand? One for each of us. Every person who has ever lived, roughly a
hundred and twenty billion people since the dawn of man, their lives all written down
in these books. Every time someone is born, their book appears
in this library, and their story gets written as it happens. The Foundation has been monitoring this site
since the 1800s, but it’s been operating much longer than that - since the dawn of
recorded history.” Dr. Henricks passed Dr. Wright another book. It was simply titled “The Hunter” and
it chronicled the life of a prehistoric man who spent his days searching for wild game. He lived twenty-three violent, monotonous
years before his story ended abruptly when a Sabre-Toothed Tiger decided it was interested
in the same mammoth he was hunting. This must have been one of the oldest books
in the library. A book for every person on Earth. Dr. Wright could only imagine what the scale
of this massive library must be. Dr. Henricks explained that mapping the library
was a huge challenge before producing a map from his pocket and laying it out on the desk. “You’re at base camp. This is where new births generate on the shelves,
along with books pertaining to the first humans. If you want to track down specific books,
you’ll need to know where you’re going. We’ve established base camps around the
library, to mark significant eras in human history with notable books. At each camp, you’ll find generators, supplies,
and beacons to light your way. If you’re going back far enough, you could
be traveling for days or even weeks.” Dr. Wright was fascinated by this bizarre
location, containing the sum total of human experience within its massively expanding
walls. But there was one thing he couldn’t figure
out. Just why was this seemingly harmless location
featuring constantly changing books the most securely guarded SCP he had ever encountered. Dr. Henricks knew he was referring to the
extensive rules he must have seen as he entered. The elder doctor reached into his pocket and
said “let’s just say that around here… the pen is mightier than the sword.” He pressed the pen into Dr. Wright’s hand
and flipped open the back page of his book. It was blank, the rest of his story waiting
to be written. “What’s something you’ve always wanted
in your life, Dr. Wright? Think literally. Why not put it in your book, or remove something
you always wanted gone?” Slowly, Dr. Wright thought back to his teenage
years and recalled an injury that he suffered in a mugging that damaged his leg and left
him with a limp, he nervously used the pen to scribble out the words and sentences describing
the event. After a few seconds he felt a headache and
suffered from a slight nosebleed, after that the limp and pain from the injury was gone,
and he could no longer recall the event. “You see, Wright? That’s the secret of SCP-4001!” Dr. Henricks said with a mad gleam in his
eye. “This library doesn’t just let us read
the history of humanity - it lets us write it! That’s why you’re here - to test the limit
of this power and see what this library can do for the Foundation.” Dr. Henricks soon provided Dr. Wright with
footage of some of the many tests conducted in the library, and what Dr. Wright saw amazed
him. The books could rewrite the laws of nature
with alarming speed, as some unfortunate D-class personnel found out. D-0546, a surly-looking prisoner in his 30s,
was brought into a room with a full head of hair. The D-class personnel was instructed to scribble
“Lost all hair” into his book, and he soon started scratching his head as he rapidly
started shedding hair. After less than two minutes, the man was completely
bald. D-0567, a young woman who had been brutally
injured when attacked by an escaped SCP, was bedridden and would never walk again, according
to all the Foundation doctors. As the D-class personnel used a pen to scribble
over the line in her book describing her injury, Dr. Wright watched as she suffered a minor
nosebleed - and then sat up, getting out of bed as if she had never been injured, and
no longer remembered being attacked. Dr. Claire Williams, a Foundation researcher
sick with cancer, wrote into the book about curing her symptoms, and then addressed the
camera explaining that this was her third time altering her own book. Her Lymphoma symptoms had returned after seven
months and two years respectively, but it seemed that as long as she continued to make
changes to her book, then she could keep the cancer at bay indefinitely. But not all the tests ended with positive
results, as Dr. Wright moved on to another selection of tapes labeled “Mortality tests”. A D-class personnel who was given a fatal
dose of drugs and then had their death erased from their book 45 minutes later miraculously
returned to life, but showed significant cognitive deficits after. Another D-class, an older woman killed in
a containment breach, had her death erased from the book - but came back deeply disturbed. She survived fifteen days in containment,
repeating “Send me back, let me go” over and over again before committing suicide. A D-class personnel killed twenty-eight days
prior was brought back by writing “Returned back to life” in their book - but died again
just thirteen minutes later from a cerebral hemorrhage. But it was the next tape that was the most
disturbing. It documented a new book that was written
by the Foundation, depicting the life of a fictional man down to the slightest detail. It was carefully placed in the correct position
in the archives, resembling all the other books - and Dr. Wright watched the tape in
amazement as a man resembling the fictional character created for the book spontaneously
generated in SCP-4001. Almost immediately, the man started vomiting
blood and he died less than two minutes later. The book carefully described all the things
he died from, and stated that this was exactly as it was supposed to be. The fake book then disappeared into the archives,
never to be seen again. The archive knew when it was being used to
play with life and death - and it didn’t want any part of it. The next tape wasn’t a test at all. It was a video interview, showing a Greek-speaking
scientist speaking with an ancient-looking old-man, found living in the archives shortly
after its discovery by the foundation. The man, who described himself as the Watcher
of Alexandria Eternal, believed he was keeping the archives safe from the Roman empire and
other invaders. He was unaware that thousands of years had
passed since his watch began. He had been using the books to write himself
another day of life and to cure his ills ever since he began guarding the library. At the conclusion of the interview, he asked
to leave and this request was granted by the Foundation. The ancient man died of old age shortly after
setting foot out of the library. While the library can’t technically cure
death, it does seem to have nearly limitless ability to prolong life - as long as someone
is willing to stay close by and never forgets to write themselves another day. Where did this incredible power come from? An O5 authorized investigation into the origins
of SCP-4001 revealed that under the archives carpet, is a concrete floor covered by a layer
of ash. The ash was carbon dated to between 70 and
80,000 years old, and further analysis revealed the ash to likely be the remains of burnt
wood and paper, despite there being no known records within the archive itself about a
major fire having occurred there. Dr. Wright didn’t have much time to dwell
on the library’s great power of life because he was suddenly shaken from his thoughts by
the sound of alarms. Was the library being breached? No, it was Foundation officials, led by a
man he recognized as Dr. Lincoln Abrams - the very man who assigned him to this project. And he did not look happy. He explained that he knew what Dr. Waylon
Henricks had been up to, writing in books, changing the lives of subordinates in an attempt
to play God. He knew about everything, of course, because
he had read Dr. Henricks’ own book. He knew all of the doctor’s secrets. He knew everything. “No! I’m so close, Dr. Abrams - I know I can
crack the archive’s rules. There’s a way to conquer death here - I
can feel it!” Dr. Abrams was done listening, and with a
wave of his hand Foundation security took Dr. Henricks into custody for a debriefing
and likely demotion. Dr. Abrams then turned his attention to the
new, young researcher. “Dr. Wright. Eventful first day, I gather. I’ll appoint a new lead scientist shortly,
but until then - don’t disrupt anything. Remember - the archive is writing our stories
as we speak. It’s not very happy with Dr. Henricks. Make sure your story turns out better.” And with that, Dr. Abrams and his security
team departed, leaving Dr. Herman Wright alone with the endless archives of Alexandria Eternal,
wondering what would be written in his own tome, as the sound of new books popping into
existence filled the air with ominous rustling. For more on strange locations that defy the
laws of nature, check out “SCP-3008 - Trapped in Ikea” or check out this video instead. But why stop there? Subscribe to SCP Explained by pressing the
button here now! There’s new episodes covering the best of
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