Passing Words: The World As It Should Have Been

"I thought ... well, I thought - when you said "library" - that it might contain books," the soul said, gazing up and out at what presented as endless rows. "That is not uncommon," the angel replied, "but this library holds all that might have been and, sometimes, was supposed to be. All of these worlds held hope and promise and challenges of their own, and all of them waited to make a start, but their time never came to pass." The soul drew near to a few worlds that glowed and pulsed and spun in their own little cubbies - all earth and sky, water and fire. "But why have so many been shelved?" the soul asked, bewildered and sad. "I show you the library not to cause you dismay, but to remind you that you have lived through the versions of many worlds not in accord with the deepest longing of your heart and yet you have triumphed in your own way. You have thought and acted and loved as best you could, in worlds that were not really yours - not the ones you would have chosen." "I've felt that way for a long time," the soul said (shedding a tear, unable to help itself). The angel retrieved the tear and placed it tenderly on a world four cubbies in - grey and dull, the tear made a splash of green where the angel placed it. "And yet you did not give up," it said. "Which is the point of living - to see its potential and struggle in its favor against sometimes impossible odds."