《A Duck's Message》 Chapter 1: A Yellow Duckling It was a typical morning for Shac, he drank coffee and ate some bread before taking a shower and getting ready for school. ¡°Man, why is it always cold at this time? Ah... If I could just laze around, that would be much better...¡± he murmured, as he was reluctant to go to school. As Shac was about to go out of the house, his phone vibrated, and he received a notification. Picking up his phone, he was welcomed by an email in the notifications. "An email? Might be some spam message.¡° he immediately thought. Knowing he had been receiving tons of spam messages from various websites where he used his personal email, he thought there''s a chance it''s just another spam message. He decided to check that email, but to his surprise, he was greeted by an unusual message: [ Don''t forget about the Duck. ] "Don''t forget about the Duck... Huh?" Surprised, his eyebrows raised after seeing an unusual message early in the morning. A Duck? What? Who would waste their time typing and sending this message so early in the morning? And no sender, Is that even possible? Noticing that there was no sender included, Shac scratched his head and dismissed it as a troll message. "Shit! I''m about to be late!" He was running late, and he didn¡¯t give it any further thought. He slipped the phone back into his pocket and hurried out of the house. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ As he was running along the sidewalk, he saw a yellow figure approaching and immediately recognized it as a yellow duckling. In his rush to get to his morning class, he quickly passed by it, knowing how slowly it was walking on the side. A duckling, that reminds me¡ªOh! Instead of wasting time thinking about it, he decided it was better not to be late. Running as fast as he could, but running with his backpack made it hard for him to dash any further. "Haaah..." Taking a deep breath to catch his breath, he realized he was still a few minutes away from the school. ¡°Still far... Time for round two!¡° he exclaimed, as if he were in a race, hyping himself up. He sprinted as fast as he could, trying to make up for lost time in the few minutes remaining before the morning class. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á After a few hours of spending his time for the morning and the afternoon class, the school day had just ended for Shac¡¯s class. "Can''t say I''m a fan of this¡­" Shac said with a sad expression, facing downwards, failing to score a passing score in the quiz. "Don''t worry about it," his classmate reassured him, tapping his shoulder. "There''s still the next quiz." "But it''s also my fault this time, I underestimated today¡¯s quiz.¡± Shac admitted. His classmate laughed softly. "You''ve got to hit those topics, or you''ll fail this semester." "You¡¯re right." Feeling disheartened by the situation, Shac walked out of the school premises with a heavy heart. ¡°This is what I get for not taking it seriously...¡± ... ... ... Few minutes of walking have passed, and he still couldn''t forget how he failed the quiz. He let out a sighed. ¡°What am I supposed to do with this result...¡± As he walked along the sidewalk, he spotted a familiar figure on the road. "Oh?" There it was, the same yellow duckling he had seen in the morning. ¡°It¡¯s still here?¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. It¡¯s been 8 hours already, and it''s still walking on the road? Considering how slow it is, maybe it''s normal? Thinking how surprising to see the very same yellow duckling from early in the morning, he didn¡¯t expect to see it once again. ¡°That might be the case.¡± Amused by the sight of the yellow duckling, he momentarily forgot about his earlier quiz score as he walked past it happily, leaving his problems behind. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á It was evening, and Shac had just finished his chores. After completing his nighttime house chores, he immediately went to bed. ¡°Haaah... I can finally rest now.¡± he said as he lay on the bed, then suddenly remembered the duckling he saw earlier. Still... how did the duckling not travel that far and still end up close to the school? Even though it''s walking slowly, it should have covered more ground by now. ¡°A little faster than a snail, I guess." he chuckled to himself. He found it odd how the duckling remained in such a small area, considering how long it had been there. ¡±Perhaps it took a detour?¡° Well if that''s the case, then it didn''t walk straight and probably walked in other directions before it arrived at the front of the school. Because if it was walking straight, it should have arrived at the school more quickly. That seemed to be the only logical explanation he could come up with. As he pondered the question, his thoughts drifted back to the mysterious email he had received earlier that morning. Upon checking it once again, he was welcomed yet again by the same message: [ Don¡¯t forget about the Duck. ] It doesn¡¯t really have a sender, huh... Nevertheless, the email had shown no sender. Still, what¡¯s up with the duck today? Something about the duck having an anniversary or something? He laughed to himself, finding it amusing to imagine a duck celebrating an anniversary. ¡°Time to sleep.¡± He thought to himself as he settled into bed. It didn''t take long for him to drift off into sleep. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á "A-" Wha- "Argh---uuh" He choked on his words as he struggled for air. Gasping, he struggled against the pain of not being able to breathe and the heavy pressure in his chest. Ah... I can¡¯t... A small tear of pain flowed from both of his eyes as he stared fixedly at the ceiling with his mouth hung open, desperately trying to breathe in oxygen. As he desperately tried to breathe in, the air seemed to thicken around him. But his lungs felt as though they were unable to expand, as if his airways had suddenly locked shut. U... ah... ugh... Slowly... slowly... slowly... until finally, as his grip tightened, his breath abandoned him, and darkness closed in. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Shac let out a cough. "W-what... was that about?" Was it a dream? he thought as he looked around the house. "It''s morning already? What''s happening?" Confused about what he just saw, Shac found himself sitting on the floor. ¡°How did I end up in here? I was sleeping and...¡° He remembered that he was not able to breathe during the middle of the night. For some reason I ended up in here... Feels like I just woke up out of nowhere... Trying to breathe, he was able to do it without any problems... "It looks like I''m fine?" I''m glad... I thought I just died... It looks like everything is fine. He let out a sigh of relief. "Still... what am I doing here? Did I just daydream or something?" Feeling disoriented, he found it odd that he seemed to be waking up suddenly in the middle of the day. His phone vibrated, and he checked it. Once again, he was welcomed by the same message: [Don¡¯t forget about the Duck.] It¡¯s the same email as yesterday. It''s the very same email he received yesterday. ¡°Huh? What is this¡­ the same email?¡± Surprised from what he saw, he checked the contents of the email, and it seems to be the same as the email as yesterday. ¡°Heh¡­¡± Scratching his head in confusion, he decided to walk out of the house and head to school. After a few minutes of walking, he thought, What can I say? It felt real. It''s my first time experiencing such a dream. He couldn''t shake the memory of that odd dream where he couldn¡¯t breathe and felt like he was being choked to death. He took a deep breath, slowly until he realized that everything was fine. It looks like I''m fine, but what was that about? But, It sure feels great to be alive. he thought to himself. Knowing he was able to breathe properly, he smiled as he headed to school. He was relieved to find that he could breathe properly without any problems, thinking about how devastating that dream was. Still, did I just die in the dream? he couldn¡¯t help but wonder. I couldn''t think straight that time, the pain felt too real to be a dream. That¡¯s got to be one of the worst dreams I¡¯ve ever experienced. He thought, sighing in relief. I¡¯m just glad to be here, hopefully I won¡¯t have to experience that thing again. As he walked along the side of the road, he immediately noticed a familiar figure up ahead.¡°Oh?¡± His eyebrows raised as he draw closer, he couldn''t believe what he was seeing. ¡°How is it still here, roaming around?¡± There, in plain sight, was the yellow duckling he had encountered yesterday. "You''re still here?" Chapter 2: A Duckling in the School ¡°You¡¯re still here?¡± Once again, Shac saw the very same yellow duckling from yesterday. ¡°How are you still here? It¡¯s been a whole day.¡± Sitting down, he slowly reached for the duckling. ¡°Slowly¡­ got you!¡± He successfully caught the duckling with his right hand. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t try to run.¡± Seeing the duck on his palm, he smiled at how small the little creature was. Gently, he petted the duckling¡¯s little head with his other hand. ¡°Why are you still here?¡± ¡­ The duck didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Ah, I see,¡± he chuckled. ¡°Not that I expected you to.¡± Shac continued talking. ¡°But it¡¯s strange. I saw you near the school yesterday, and now you¡¯re back here. Have you been wandering all night? And where¡¯s your mother? Your siblings? No one?¡± Despite talking to it, the duck still didn¡¯t respond. He noticed how odd it was for a single duckling to be roaming around the sidewalk for a whole day without any company. Normally you would see them following the mother, but this duck has been here without others since yesterday¡­ ¡°What should I do with you?¡± Feeling sorry for the duckling, he looked at it with sad eyes. ¡°Oh crap!¡± He suddenly remembered. ¡°I¡¯m going to be late!¡± Heavily occupied by the presence of the duckling, he had totally forgotten about his morning routine. He glanced at the duckling on his palm. ¡°What about you?¡± The duck didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Forget it. I¡¯ll just bring you along.¡± Without thinking any further, he decided to take the duckling to school. ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes.¡± Imagining as if the duckling responded, he carefully enclosed it with both hands and dashed off, knowing that being late was a matter of life and death. ¡°Don¡¯t worry it won¡¯t take too long.¡± But¡­ I¡¯m about to be late!!! ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Shit¡­ As I expected the class already started. Ah¡­ I hope she doesn¡¯t notice me. Shac, being late, slowly tried sneaking through the back of the room, holding the duckling with both of his hand. But¡­ ¡°I can see you well.¡± Scratching his head, he laughed awkwardly. ¡°Hehehe.¡± ¡°Go take your seat.¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡­ his plan of sneaking didn¡¯t work out. And here I thought I was sneaky enough, I¡¯m pretty sure I made no noise. ¡°You good? What happened?¡± Ivan asked. ¡°Just met a duckling on the road.¡± ¡°A duckling? Really?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± "Shac and Ivan, you do know what the both of you are doing, right?¡± Hearing the sudden call, both of them straightened up in their seats. ¡­ -sigh- The teacher let out a sigh. ¡°Go solve this problem, Shac.¡± What!? Why? I just arrived and I¡¯m already getting punished¡­ ¡°¡­¡± Shac stood up, noticing the teacher was about to get pissed at him for being late. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± the teacher asked. ¡°What is?¡± Shac asked, confused. ¡°Why are your hands enclosed like that?¡± Enclosed?¡­ Ah! ¡°You see, ma¡¯am¡­¡± He scratches his head as he spoke. This might be a good chance. If she will believe me, then¡­ ¡°I saved this duckling from getting run over earlier.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ You saved it?¡± The teacher responded skeptically, clearly suspecting he was lying. ¡°So why did you bring it here?¡± ¡°I was about to be late, so I ran as fast as I could, leading to the current situation.¡± Sorry about this, duckling. I have to lie for a bit. Still, the teacher couldn¡¯t let herself be fooled so easily. ¡°Hm¡­ Let¡¯s leave it at that¡­ Anyways, go do the task first.¡± She¡­ She clearly didn¡¯t believe me¡­ Holding the duck with his left palm, Shac uses his right arm to solve the problem in his front of the board. But he noticed something as he was about to solve it¡­ This looks familiar, didn¡¯t we do this already yesterday? ¡°Didn¡¯t we already solve this yesterday?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not going to find your way out.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. What¡­ ¡°That¡¯s not my intention¡­¡± Shac looked away and instead just focused on answering the equation. This should be easy¡­ If I remember right this is how you solve it¡­ Well, we did solve the same thing as yesterday. Without feeling troubled by the equation in front of his eyes, he managed to solve the equation with ease. ¡°That was fast.¡± the teacher said, amused. I just told you that this was already solved yesterday. Shac then proceeded to go back to his seat. The teacher then continued on her way to teach the equations. Woah¡­ for real? Shac noticed how perfectly the topic from yesterday matched today¡¯s topic. What¡¯s happening? It¡¯s the same topic? Shac looked at Ivan, hoping to ask, but immediately remembered the teacher would notice any small noises. Better not provoke her again he thought. Shac watched as everyone tried to answer the equations on the board, as it turns out, everyone was struggling hard on solving the equation. So¡­ It looks like they never saw this equation at all¡­ But how is that possible? What is actually happening in here? I thought we already had this yesterday¡­ Or am I mistaken??? But how would I be mistaken? It was yesterday! There¡¯s no way I would forget about it. Shac then looked at the creature on the table. ¡°You good?¡± he asked in a low voice, looking at the little creature on his table and patting it slowly. I better hide you or else she will get annoyed again. He hid the duckling under the table. Luckily, you¡¯re the perfect size for this. The yellow duckling perfectly fits at the small drawer under the table. I must say, this duckling is really quiet. I haven¡¯t heard a single noise from it since earlier. Not that I mind¡­ Then suddenly the duck¡­ -quack- ¡°Eh¡ª¡± Everyone immediately looked towards the source of the noise. Shac noticed everyone¡¯s gaze, along with that very person he wouldn¡¯t want to pissed of, his teacher. He immediately looked away as he noticed the same gaze from his teacher as earlier. This is bad¡­ Without even letting them talk, he immediately rises up and walks outside the classroom, holding the duckling in both of his palms. -shut- Shac closes the door, leaving everyone at the room surprised by the sudden noice of the yellow duckling. -sigh- ¡°What a day, don¡¯t you think?¡± looking at the duckling, but as always the duck didn¡¯t respond. Shac found himself sitting on the side of the hallway¡­ ¡°We should until the class ended¡­¡± ¡­ waiting until the class ended. ¡°Still what do you think happened today?¡± looking at the yellow duckling in his palms. It feels like I repeated the day yesterday¡­ Or it could be just my mind playing with me¡­ I don¡¯t even know anymore, it¡¯s too confusing¡­ -quack- ¡¯¡°Oh you think so too? This is the first time you responded to me! But¡­ repeating a day huh. That¡¯s something you can only imagine happening at movies.¡± An odd and realistic dream, being unable to breathe. And meeting the duck at the same place, at the same time. Plus, having the same topic as yesterday, but it seems no one remembered it. Thinking about it, meeting the duckling at the same place and same time is too much to say a coincidence¡­ This could only mean that I¡¯m repeating the same event. Shac spends his remaining time thinking about the unusual events this past few hours. But none seemed to make any sense. ¡­ Minutes have passed, and the class already ended. ¡°Yo!¡± Shac felt a tap on his shoulder. ¡°Oh hey.¡± ¡°You good?¡± Ivan asked. ¡°Yeah of course.¡± ¡°Good to hear that, go get your bag already.¡± ¡°Right, wait can you handle this guy first?¡± Shac handed the yellow duckling to Ivan. Shac walked towards the room to get his bag, unaware that class had already ended. ¡°Thanks for handling him with care.¡± ¡­ ¡°Hey.¡± Shac tapped Ivan as he didn¡¯t notice him. ¡°Oh, what?¡± ¡°Why were you looking so intense?¡± Shac wondered. ¡°Oh, nothing like that. I just find it odd that you brought this little creature here.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think much about it, I just brought it here since I was about to be late.¡± ¡°Is this a male?¡± Ivan asked. ¡°What? I don¡¯t know, of course. Why were you even asking that?¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°Just wondering if it¡¯s a male or female.¡± ¡°Sad to say, I¡¯m not knowledgeable about those things.¡± ¡°We¡¯re same then.¡± ¡°Enough of that, let¡¯s go grab something first,¡± Shac interjected. ¡°Sure, sure.¡± After the class ended, Shac and Ivan proceeded directly to the canteen without any delay. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á At the canteen, both Shac and Ivan just finished eating lunch. ¡°Thanks for the treat!¡± Shac expressed his gratitude. ¡°No problem, you know what to do next time.¡± Ivan replied. ¡°Consider it done.¡± They exchanged waves before parting ways in opposite directions. -crowd noises Shac grabs the ducking and places it above his shoulder. ¡°You good up there?¡± -quack- The duck responded. ¡°I see I see.¡± Shac smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t move too much or else your going to fall.¡± -quack- ¡°Good.¡± Now, what should I do with this duck? I can bring him home probably? But I don¡¯t know what type of food ducks eat. Could be probably some leftovers? Or some duck food? Deep in thought, Shac failed to notice the surge of students approaching from ahead of them. -thud- ¡°Wh¡ª¡± The duck fell from his shoulder. -crunch- ¡°What was that?¡± a student wondered aloud. The student then lifted their foot, revealing the lifeless body of the yellow duckling beneath. What¡­ ¡°Hey!¡± Shac pushed the student away as he approached the motionless body of the yellow duckling on the floor. "Sorry!¡¯ Shac immediately apologized as he pushed the student aside. ¡­ The hallway fell silent as the students observed the scene. ¡°I¡¯m sor¡ª¡± the student began to apologize. -thud Huh? Shac took a glance from where the sound came from¡­ The student suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed. Wait what¡­ It didn¡¯t take too long for others to collapse the same way¡­ Multiple sound of students collapsing to the ground can be heard as it didn¡¯t stop. Wha¡ª I can¡¯t¡­ breathe¡­ again¡­ Shac again looks around the area, he noticed several more students losing their consciousness. They¡­ are¡­ Clutching his chest and struggling to breathe, he attempted to inhale deeply but failed. ¡°No¡­ not¡­ again¡­¡± Is¡­ this¡­ it? As Shac struggled to breathe, his vision starts to get blurry. Slowly losing his vision, he found himself on the ground, staring directly at the dead duckling. ¡°A-hm¡­ sor¡­ ry¡­¡± Shac apologized as he struggled to breathe. As his consciousness slowly faded away, the last thing he saw was the lifeless body of the yellow duckling. Chapter 3: A Duckling becomes a Duck At the canteen, both Shac and Ivan just finished eating lunch. ¡°Thanks for the treat!¡± Shac expressed his gratitude. ¡°No problem, you know what to do next time.¡± Ivan replied. ¡°Consider it done.¡± They exchanged waves before parting ways in opposite directions. -crowd noises Shac grabs the ducking and places it above his shoulder. ¡°You good up there?¡± -quack- The duck responded. ¡°I see I see.¡± Shac smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t move too much or else your going to fall.¡± -quack- ¡­ ¡°Haaah¡­ haaah¡­¡± I was¡­ brought back to life again¡­ Shac slowly breathed in and out, then glanced at the duck on his shoulder. -quack Shac gently lifted the duck off his shoulder and held it in both hands. Sorry about earlier, duckling." Shac walked through the hallway, careful not to bump into anyone and potentially avoid the duck¡¯s death. -sighs- It looks like we managed to escape death this time. Shac glanced back at the yellow duckling. ¡°What are you really?¡± But the duckling didn¡¯t respond. There¡¯s something about this duckling¡­ Or was it a coincidence? Calling it a coincidence doesn¡¯t seem to be the right answer. Since yesterday, strange things started to happen when I¡¯ve come across about the duck. Hoping I¡¯m not mistaken, then there¡¯s something about this little creature that needs to be taken of. -sigh- ¡°You¡¯re scarier than I thought.¡± Well, it looks like I need to keep it safe¡­ That¡¯s all I need to do right now. Despite Shac being just successfully brought back to life recently, he still needs to attend his next class. ¡°Haaah¡­¡± I¡¯m just hoping I won¡¯t die again¡­ ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á As his class just ended, Shac¡¯s next class is about to start. Escaping the death of the duckling is one thing, but there¡¯s yet another problem that Shac is about to face. No way¡­ I forgot about the quiz¡­ Noticing how his classmates are being quiet all of a sudden, it looks like they are reviewing for the upcoming quiz. Shit! How could I forget about it! This would be the second time Shac¡¯s going to take the same quiz, the very same quiz he failed last time. How am I supposed to answer this? I almost forgot everything I learned last time. Shac took a glance at everyone in the room, they all looked focused on the upcoming quiz. It looks like I¡¯m the only one who is about to fail this time. Ahhh!!! Shac scratches his head and lays down his head on the table. Shac looked at the duckling with a defeated face. I should hope for the best. Since I might remember something, hopefully¡­ Having no time to prepare, Shac is about to face one of the greatest challenges in his life, with no preparation. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á -quack- -sigh- I can¡¯t believe I failed the same quiz again, just 2 days later. ¡°Hahaha¡­ Looks like you failed this time.¡± Ivan laughed. ¡°Yeah¡­ I know.¡± Shac said, feeling defeated. Ivan patted Shac on the back. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Try again next time.¡± It¡¯s my fault. I didn¡¯t prepare enough. I got a second chance but didn¡¯t use it properly. I¡¯m so dumb¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Ivan reassured. ¡°If you need help, just ask me.¡± ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll ask for help next time.¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°Feel free. Or do you want another treat?¡± ¡°No, no. I¡¯ll be the one treating you next time, right?¡± ¡°I thought you already forgot about it.¡± ¡°Of course not¡­ How could I forget about something a few hours ago.¡± ¡°Hahaha, I¡¯m just messing around¡­ Still don¡¯t forget about reviewing for the next quiz.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Yeah yeah yeah.¡± After a short talk, Shac and Ivan waved goodbye before heading their separate ways. ¡°Now, what do you want to do?¡± Shac asked the duckling in his hand. -quack- ¡°I should treat you tonight. We have a lot to talk about.¡± A lot. A lot. A lot. -quack With the school over for the day, Shac and the duckling walked home together. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°Haaah¡­ Finally done,¡± Shac muttered, finishing his nightly chores around the house. Stretching out on the bed, he sank into deep thought. What a day¡­ Now, what should I do¡­ Everything happened too quickly for me to react. Especially dying, the dream, and the incident at school. It all happened too fast, it was unexpected. But this time, I¡¯m certain it¡¯s a loop, that I¡¯m repeating the same day. To prevent the incident, I must find a way to escape this day without dying. And I know it¡¯s all because of the duckling. The message. The death. It¡¯s all connected to the duck. The email warned me about not forgetting the duck. The dream occurred at midnight, without the duckling in sight. At that time, I didn¡¯t even approach the duck, so I¡¯m not aware of what happened to the duck. But during the incident in the hallway, everyone got killed, they collapsed. Coincidentally, it happened after the duck was killed. It might be a coincidence, but if I were not to ignore the email, it must be mean the duck is somewhat linked to everyone suddenly collapsing. Although I¡¯m not aware of what happened to them, it looks like they also got suffocated and were not able to breathe properly. Meaning¡­ The duck¡¯s death means death for everyone. At this point, Shac knew he had to prevent the duck from dying, or else he would die once again. With that thought, he glanced out the window at the duckling. It was in the backyard, roaming inside a large wooden box, enough for it to move around freely and tall enough to keep it contained. ¡°Well for now, it looks safe.¡± Hopefully this would stop me from dying again. Satisfied that the duckling was secure enough, he returned to bed. I can make it through this time, that¡¯s what I need to believe¡­ That is what he thought before drifting off to sleep. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°Ah¡ª¡± Shac squinted as the sunlight hit his eyes. What about the duckling? He stood up quickly and glanced out the window. The sun was just beginning to rise, and in the box, the duckling was alive and well. ¡°I see.¡± he murmured to himself. We both managed to stay alive. Shac felt relieved, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, knowing he had found a way to escape and stay alive. He walked down to the backyard to check on the duckling. ¡°Good morning, yellow creature.¡± he greeted it. -quack- the duckling responded. Shac grinned, happy that they both had survived the night. ¡°Are you hungry?¡± he asked. -quack- ¡°Let¡¯s go have some breakfast.¡± he said, gently lifting the duckling into his hands. Ah¡­ It feels good to be alive. Shac thought as they headed back inside. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Six days have passed, and both Shac and the duckling managed to stay alive, without any problems. No one died, and everything is sailing smoothly. ¡°Anything has happened lately?¡± Ivan asked. ¡°Nothing, why?¡± ¡°Just checking up on you. So, how¡¯s the duckling?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s old enough now, I never thought ducks grew that fast.¡± ¡°Old enough? It¡¯s only been a week right?¡± ¡°Yeah, can¡¯t say for sure, but it definitely gets bigger faster than I thought.¡± ¡°Hmmm, tell me if something happened.¡± ¡°If something happened? I honestly can¡¯t tell what you are trying to do.¡± Ivan chuckled and said, ¡°I¡¯m quite fond of ducks, so I was curious about how the duckling you¡¯re looking after is doing.¡± ¡°Ah that¡¯s what you mean, sure sure I¡¯ll tell you if something happens.¡± But thinking about how fast it grew, I do find it odd for a duckling to grow that fast in a span of less than a week. Feels like it became a teenager from being a baby in just less than a week. Well¡­ It¡¯s not that I know anything about ducks, so I can¡¯t day for sure. But nothing happened so far, so I guess we¡¯re good for now. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°How are you?¡± he greeted the duck as soon as he arrived home from school. -quack- -quack- -quack- ¡°It seems like you¡¯re already hungry. Just a moment.¡± Shac grabbed a bit of leftover rice from the kitchen and fed it to the duck. Shac smiled at how cute the duck was, taking small bites on the rice bit by bit. ¡°You¡¯re growing up so fast, aren¡¯t you?¡± Shac patted the duck gently. Is this normal? I¡¯m not entirely sure, but I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re fine and well. -quack- ¡°Ah¡­ you¡¯re really adorable.¡± Shac said, gently running his fingers over the duck¡¯s soft feathers. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to lose your yellow feathers so quickly, but I¡¯m glad to see how fast you¡¯ve grown.¡± I didn¡¯t expect them to lose their yellow color so quickly. Shac thought, surprised by the speed of the change. ¡°I¡¯ll check on you later,¡± Shac said as he returned inside the house to rest. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Another day has passed, another day of Shac managing to stay alive. Every morning, Shac would go down to the backyard early in the morning to check on the duck, ensuring it was safe and well. ¡°Good morning.¡± It looks like it¡¯s still sleeping. ¡°Good morning!¡± Shac tried to greet the duck, but it didn¡¯t respond. Huh? ¡°Hey!¡± Shac called out loudly. But there¡¯s still no response from the duck. ¡°Is it¡­ dead?¡± No¡­ It can¡¯t be¡­ Suddenly startled, Shac took a step back¡­ He tries to breathe in and breathe out air, it looks like nothing happened. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ okay?¡± To his surprise, he could breathe properly, it looks like nothing happened. It means¡­ It¡¯s still alive! Shac hurriedly approached the duck again, attempting to awaken it, but it remained motionless. Is it dead? But for some reason, I¡¯m still here? Shac once again attempted to wake it, but it didn¡¯t respond to any of it¡­ It¡¯s dead. The duck is already dead. His legs lost their strength, and he fell to the ground. ¡°What just happened? The duck died, but I wasn¡¯t harmed?¡± -inhale- -exhale- He realized he could breathe normally. But the duck¡­ It died? What¡¯s going on? Did¡­ Did I make a mistake? Thinking that the death of the duck also means my death? Once more, Shac glanced at the duck¡¯s lifeless form and noticed something he hadn¡¯t seen before. What¡¯s that? ¡°It¡¯s¡­ An egg?¡± The lifeless duck had left behind an egg. Chapter 4: A Duck’s Egg ¡°An egg?¡± Behind the lifeless duck there¡¯s a single egg. Shac cautiously reached for the egg. ¡±It¡¯s still warm.¡± The duck lay motionless, its life is already gone. Shac couldn¡¯t believe that despite the situation, there had been no further incidents. It looks like I¡¯m fine, even though the duck already died. Did I make a mistake thinking I will be dying along with the duck? Because it doesn¡¯t make any sense that everyone in the school collapses after the duckling died¡­ Does it mean it¡¯s just a coincidence? I don¡¯t know¡­ But what surprises him most was the discovery of the egg, the only single evidence he knew that the duck was female. I thought it was a male, but this egg proves that it is a female. It¡¯s not that I know beforehand, I just assume it was a male. But¡­ As he held the egg in his hand, Shac understood its significance. This single egg came from a creature capable of lethal force, capable of killing people. How could she have laid an egg in just one week? Shac noticed how odd it was for a duck to lay an egg in just a week, although he was not knowledgeable about ducks, he knew they don¡¯t lay eggs in just a matter of a week. Once more, Shac gazed at the duck, kneeling beside it. -sigh- Who would have imagined you¡¯d suddenly pass away and leave behind an egg. You truly are a mysterious creature. If only you could have explained what exactly is happening, and why you left this single piece of an egg behind. But the lifeless duck remained silent. ¡°Rest peacefully.¡± Shac bid farewell to the duck. Carefully, he placed the egg on a nearby chair with a pillow on it, ensuring it remained intact. He grabbed the duck¡¯s lifeless body inside the wooden box. "Look how quickly things change, who would¡¯ve thought you would grow this fast.¡± Placing back the body to the wooden box, he placed the box to the side. He picked up the nearby shovel and began digging a hole, deep enough for the burial of the duck. I¡¯m not sure how to feel about this. But I¡¯m both saddened by her death, and yet relieved I survived unharmed. Once ready, Shac lifted the duck¡¯s body again and gently lowered it into the prepared grave, gradually covering it with dirt. -stomp- -stomp- -stomp- ¡°Goodbye.¡± ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°Agh! What am I supposed to do with this now?¡± Shac scratched his head, frustrated by the dilemma of what to do with the egg. The egg has been placed in the pillow. ¡°Are you expecting me to watch as your egg slowly rots away?¡± Shac voiced his complaint, knowing the duck couldn¡¯t respond. Without its mother, Shac understood it was only a matter of time before the egg spoils. I managed to survive, but now this¡­ Why did she lay an egg that¡¯s destined to rot? What¡¯s the purpose of all this? What am I supposed to do? No answers came to Shac. What was left is the uncertainty of the future of the egg. ¡°Haaah¡­¡± I wonder how long would it take before it starts to rot¡­ -sigh- One problem after another¡­ But, I must say this is better than me dying of suffocation over and over again. Although I¡¯m not sure what I am supposed to do with the egg¡­ ¡°Aghhh!¡± Without much to do, Shac decided to rest again, hoping to recover the energy he lost this early in the morning. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°An egg!?¡± Ivan shouted, surprised. ¡°Hey! calm down, you don¡¯t need to shout.¡± ¡°My bad.¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°I bet it¡¯s only a matter of time before it dies.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been saying, it¡¯s only been a day and there¡¯s already a crack.¡± ¡°A crack? Maybe you accidentally pressed it too hard?¡± ¡°No no, there¡¯s no way.¡± Shac denied, knowing he placed it carefully without pressing it too hard. ¡°Really? But how come it has a crack? That doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°I know. I placed it carefully on the pillow yesterday without any problems. But, I noticed the middle part of the egg shows a small scratch, or a sign of cracks? I¡¯m not too sure.¡± ¡°That¡¯s odd if you think about it.¡± I know, but it¡¯s the duckling we are talking about! It¡¯s supposed to do the unimaginable thing! Well, it¡¯s not that Ivan knew about it. But in any case, I should expect the unexpected. ¡°I¡¯ll check on later, there might be some changes.¡± ¡°Still, the duck grew in a week and left behind an egg. What¡¯s more is that it¡¯s only a single egg?¡± Ivan questioned. ¡°That¡¯s definitely not normal, I can tell you that.¡± Ivan knew that there¡¯s something wrong about it, as it doesn¡¯t seem normal. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s the only thing that happened?¡± Ivan added, looking at Shac. ¡°Yeah?¡± I mean that¡¯s all, if there is something else, then that would be the time when the duckling dies and I get killed for some reason. But it¡¯s not something he should be worried about. Ivan took a glance at Shac and look away. ¡°Be sure to tell me next time.¡± ¡°About the egg? Sure, I¡¯ll tell you tomorrow if there are changes.¡± ¡°Right, but It¡¯s too late.¡± Too late? ¡°Hm? What do you mean?¡± Shac wondered. ¡°For the egg.¡± Ah¡­ ¡°I guess. I¡¯ve been wondering how long it would take for the egg to rot behind. But¡­ I¡¯m not quite sure what to do with it, the mother already died.¡± Shac scratches his head. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°From the looks of it, you need to throw it away.¡± Ivan suggested. ¡°I¡¯ll probably continue watching for a bit longer.¡± Shac expressed uncertainty about the idea. -sigh- Ivan sighed upon hearing Shac¡¯s reply. ¡°What¡¯s with the sigh?¡± Shac asks, confused by the sudden sigh of Ivan. ¡°You remember the abandoned houses?¡± ¡°Why did you suddenly change the topic?¡± ¡°Just tell me what you remember about it.¡± Abandoned houses¡­ Ah, the houses behind the large mango tree. ¡°The houses behind the large mango tree?¡± ¡°That one, so what do you remember about it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s abandoned, and¡­ That¡¯s all I know.¡± Ivan facepalmed. ¡°I know that it¡¯s abandoned, but don¡¯t you remember any stories about that place?¡± Stories? ¡°Stories? Wait let me think for a bit¡­¡± If I remember right, not a long time ago there were still families residing in that place. Like three years ago maybe? ¡°Something about them abandoning the house? Like three years ago?¡± ¡°Well the truth is they didn¡¯t abandon it, the people vanished.¡± ¡°They vanished?¡± I don¡¯t remember anything like that. ¡°Yeah¡­ Wait, how come you didn¡¯t know anything about this story?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I probably didn¡¯t care about it in the first place.¡± Shac scratches his head. ¡°I bet.¡± ¡°So what exactly are you trying to tell me?¡± ¡°I want you to throw away the egg, right now.¡± ¡°And what does it have to do with the abandoned houses?¡± Shac wondered, why did Ivan mentioned the abandoned houses in the First place. ¡°I can¡¯t go into details right now, but we need to make sure the egg is thrown away far from everyone.¡± ¡°Is it important?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t want something bad to happen, then you need to do it as fast as possible.¡± I see, Ivan knew something about the egg. ¡°Got it, then we should get it as fast as possible.¡± Ivan nodded in response. Shac and Ivan dashed out of the school, trying to reach the egg before something happens. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á -pant- ¡°Haah¡­ It¡¯s still far.¡± Shac said, trying to catch his breath. ¡°Let¡¯s take a break for a minute.¡± Ivan suggested. ¡°Ah thanks¡­ it¡¯s so incredibly hard to breathe.¡± Haaah¡­ finally¡­ ¡°Take it easy, we still have a minute.¡± ¡°Looks like you¡¯re fine.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing new, I do running every once in a while.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ I didn¡¯t know about that.¡± After recovering his breath for a few seconds, Shac decided to ask Ivan about what¡¯s lingering on his mind for a while. ¡°If you wouldn¡¯t mind me asking, care to tell me now Ivan¡­ Who exactly are you?¡± Surprised by the sudden seriousness, Ivan looked at Shac and smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that, I¡¯m not your enemy.¡± ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just I¡¯ve been on the edge for a while now.¡± Shac smiled awkwardly as he scratched his head. ¡°I totally get it." He gets it? ¡°What do you mean you get it?¡± "From the looks of it, it looks like you¡¯ve been looping for a while now.¡± Huh!? ¡°How!? How did you know about it?¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­ You could say I¡¯ve been cursed by the duck too.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been cursed too? You mean it¡¯s a curse?¡± What¡­ Did I just get curse by a duck? This is a curse? I never thought about that. But that makes sense, this is clearly a curse. This might be the reason why he¡¯s so fixated about the ducks, since he is cursed too. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been calling it, being cursed.¡± Ivan remarked. ¡°I see, that make sense, I¡¯ve been wondering for a while now why you kept on asking about the duck. This might be the reason, it¡¯s because you¡¯re the same as me." Shac commented, nodding, bowing his head slightly in thought. Ivan chuckled, knowing Shac finally realized about it. ¡°I was trying to make sure if the duck is cursed or not, that¡¯s why I¡¯m asking if something unusual happened yet.¡± Ivan glanced at Shac ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve been hiding it for a while now based on your reaction, hm?¡± I can¡¯t deny that. ¡°Well, you can¡¯t just expect me to say: ¡®Ivan, I died multiple times now.¡¯ right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± Ivan laughs. ¡°I might think you¡¯re beyond saving if you suddenly say something like that to me.¡± ¡°Thank you for understanding.¡± Shac lowered his head. ¡°Thank you for understanding me too.¡± Ivan lowered his head in response. ¡°Why are you copying me now?¡± ¡°I am not¡­¡± ¡°Well, I want to ask something, but it¡¯s not the best time right now.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, but let me tell you something first in case you don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Oh, What is it?¡± ¡°You¡¯re about to die.¡± Shac tensed as he heard what Ivan just said. ¡°Are you for real? I thought I had already escaped death.¡± ¡°Unfortunately not. I can¡¯t go into details right now, but if I¡¯m not wrong, you¡¯re not supposed to let the egg rot.¡± ¡°Is that the case?¡± Then it means, I¡¯m bound to die sooner or later, knowing that the mother already died. ¡°Yes, although I¡¯m not quite sure about what¡¯s going to happen. All I can say is that, it is connected to how people vanished.¡± ¡°So, is the story about the abandoned houses true after all?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been told.¡± ¡°Been told? By who?¡± ¡°Someone from the past, a cursed person too.¡± Another cursed person? ¡°What¡­ there are others too?¡± ¡°Obviously, there must be a lot now. But she¡¯s the only other cursed person I¡¯ve met, you¡¯re the second.¡± If both Ivan and that person are cursed, how are they still alive and well now? Did they manage to escape the loop? ¡°How did you manage to survive?¡± ¡°Pure luck, you could say.¡± Ivan smiled. ¡°It looks like you¡¯re not going to help me.¡± ¡°Not today. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to help you, but you¡¯re about to lose this time.¡± -sigh- ¡°Do you have anything to say at least?¡± Ivan rest his arms to Shac¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Reach out to me as soon as you get back. Be sure to tell me everything, and I will do my best to help you.¡± Shac smiled upon hearing such words from Ivan. He could feel that he was finally about to move forward. ¡°Thanks. Do you know anything about what¡¯s going to happen to me?¡± ¡°Not something that I¡¯m aware of." Ivan paused. "I do remember she said that when the egg rots, the cursed person will die by vanishing.¡± ¡°By vanishing? Not by getting suffocated?¡± Shac asked in surprise, realizing that there¡¯s more to it than people suffocating. ¡°No, that only happens when the duckling dies.¡± So it is different when the duck lays an egg? ¡°Ah, that¡¯s wh¡ª¡± -gulp- Something unknown suddenly shoots into Shac¡¯s mouth at an unbelievable speed. What was that? ¡°I felt something get into my mouth incredibly fast¡­¡± ¡±What do you mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ know¡­¡± Shac shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Ah I see¡­ that¡¯s what¡¯s about to happen.¡± ¡°What!? What do you mean?¡± ¡°It looks like you¡¯re about to burst out.¡± Ivan commented. ¡°Burst out? What is¡­ that supposed¡­ to mean¡­?¡± Slowly, Shac¡¯s body started to get larger and larger. Wait what? My body¡­ Shac looked at his hand as it became more and more visible that his hands were getting bigger and bigger. My hands¡­ It¡¯s getting bigger¡­ He looked at Ivan, thinking he could save him, but he knew this was the end for this time. ¡°Run!¡± Shac shouted at Ivan, who was just standing in front of him. But instead of running, Ivan instead approaches Shac. ¡°See you Shac.¡± Ivan grabbed Shac¡¯s hand, shaking it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not the end.¡± No¡­ you should run¡­ Slowly, his body begins to swell and expand, shifting to a more bloated form. As Shac watched his body slowly changing, he smiled painfully, knowing he was about to die. ¡°See you¡­ lat¡ª¡± -snap- -splat Shac¡¯s body exploded violently, his insides tearing apart from the overload of oxygen. Flesh and bones were shredded and scattered, his organs burst and disintegrate under the immense pressure. Blood sprayed in every direction, painting the surroundings in red. God¡­ This is just too brutal¡­ Ivan thought to himself. All that remained of Shac was a red-painted road. Chapter 5: What does Ducks Egg taste like? ¡°WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!¡± Shac shouts, awakening abruptly from his deep sleep, he glances around and checks himself. ¡°Shit, what was that.¡± -sigh- I can¡¯t get too used at dying¡­ Shac has once again been brought back to life. -goosebumps- Shac remembered the sensation of his body exploding. As he felt and examined himself again, he couldn¡¯t believe how his insides had exploded like that. I don¡¯t think I would want another time of expanding abnormally. This curse keeps getting crazier each time, can¡¯t believe it. Wait¡­ ¡°What time is it!?¡± Shac immediately runs outside, eager to find out what time he had looped to this time. As he saw the familiar scene from his past, he sighed. ¡°I¡¯m back here again, darn it¡­¡± The dead body of his pet, which was also his killer, can be seen. Once again, he buried the lifeless body of the duck, and grabbed the single piece of an egg that would later would kill him. ¡°Can¡¯t I just clutch this egg on my hand and break it?¡± But Shac prevent himself from doing that, knowing that it will not solve anything. Unlike in the previous life, this time he knew he could ask for someone¡¯s help, and it¡¯s Ivan. Quickly he reached for his smartphone, and send a quick text to Ivan, hoping to have a time with him to ask him about the duck. It didn¡¯t take too long for Ivan to pick up the message, and he immediately messaged back saying he would go at Shac¡¯s house in a minute. One thing after another, I can¡¯t seem to see how would this thing even end. Is there even an end to this? Ah right¡­ Ivan managed to escape his curse, so it¡¯s not entirely impossible. Feeling a bit lost, he decided to rest for a while and wait for the arrival of Ivan. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡°Yo!¡± Ivan greeted. Shac responded with a salute. ¡°Yo! thanks for coming.¡± Ivan noticing the current state of Shac¡¯s face, he decided to lighten up the mood by laughing it off. ¡°Tell me everything first, I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ For 20 minutes straight, Shac told Ivan about his experiences in the past lives, carefully telling him about the most important parts, not leaving a single thing. As he narrates everything, Ivan noticed few things that he seemed to have no idea about. ¡°That¡¯s all." Shac paused. "So, what should I do now?¡± Shac asked, unsure of his next steps. ¡°First, I¡¯m not quite sure about the egg, the thing that killed you. To be more exact, it¡¯s something I never experienced¡­ You said you didn¡¯t touch the egg or anything after that?¡± ¡°Yeah, I told you in the previous one that there is a crack in the middle part of the egg. As I told you, you immediately said that I should throw the egg away.¡± ¡°As you already know, someone in the past told me about how dangerous the egg would be if left to rot. Although she didn¡¯t specify what would happen, all I know is that the ¡®abandoned houses¡¯ exist because of the eggs. That¡¯s why I suggest we throw the egg away," Ivan paused. "But it looks like it didn¡¯t work.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Ivan didn¡¯t know about the eggs being able to kill the cursed person even though they are far away. ¡°When you were killed, we are still far away from the egg right?¡± Ivan asked, making it clear. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re only halfway done that time, so something about me dying at that time doesn¡¯t make any sense to me.¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± Ivan paused for a few seconds. ¡°As you might know, ducks could kill everyone at sight, that¡¯s what I know. So, a dead duck would mean killing everyone at its sight, that¡¯s how I know it.¡± Shac nodded as response. ¡°But how is that possible?¡± Ivan shrugged his shoulders. ¡°All I know is that the duck is capable of removing one¡¯s oxygen, that¡¯s why we are not able to breathe whenever we are cursed." ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡± Shac nodded, agreeing at Ivan. "Plus, knowing about the eggs being able to kill you out of sight is something I just learned today. We might as well say that it could kill you no matter the distance is.¡± Ivan declared. That probably is the case¡­ because there¡¯s nothing normal about people exploding without any reason. ¡°But you know, this time, I would suggest two options.¡± Ivan suggested. ¡°Two options?¡± ¡°Yes, choose between two options¡­ Do you either want to curse someone else, or eat the egg?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Shac surprised, he didn¡¯t expect such options. ¡°Excatly what you heard, you can choose whether to curse someone else or eat the egg.¡± ¡°Wait, wait, wait. You have to explain what you mean by that!¡± Shac said, confused, asking Ivan to slow down a bit. ¡°So, actually¡­ Your only options are to curse someone else or to eat the egg. Otherwise, you will eventually die tomorrow.¡± Ivan explained. ¡°Eating the egg will curse you.¡± ¡°¡­ So you are making me choose whether to let someone eat it to pass on the curse, or become a curse myself?¡± ¡°Exactly, So¡­ would you like to curse someone else?¡± ¡°No.¡± Shac answered immediately. Ivan chuckled ¡°I bet you wouldn¡¯t want that at all. But¡­¡± Ivan paused for a while and look straight at Shac. ¡°You really don¡¯t want that?¡± ¡°Well, if I would be honest, I don¡¯t want someone else to experience the same thing.¡± ¡°I like your answer.¡± Ivan pleased with the answer, patted Shac¡¯s shoulder multiple times. ¡°So, become a curse yourself then? Otherwise you will be killed.¡± Ivan added. Shac thinks deeply on what he should answer, he knew that both doesn¡¯t seem to be a good answer, but those both are the only options he has. Become a curse huh, I¡¯m not exactly sure what is that supposed to mean. But, sounds definitely better than dying tomorrow. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s do it.¡± Shac answered, still unsure on what to feel, but decided to become a curse. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like there¡¯s anything different in the taste,¡± Shac said as he began eating the cooked egg. ¡°Really!?¡± Ivan exclaimed. ¡°Wait, why did you react like that?¡± -ahem- ¡°Sorry, I just never knew what the taste would be.¡± Shac then offered Ivan a small piece of the egg. ¡°No¡­¡± Ivan hesitated briefly, considering the potential danger of eating it, but¡­ ¡°A little might be fine¡­¡± he conceded to temptation. As he took a small bite of the egg, Ivan exclaimed ¡°It¡­ tastes so bad!¡± He quickly ran to the sink and spat the egg out. ¡°It tastes so bad, I can¡¯t explain it.¡± ¡°Huh!? What are you talking about? It tastes the same as a normal egg.¡± Shac confused, having to taste the egg, knowing it tastes normal. ¡°Yeah, yeah, must be something wrong with your taste,¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°There might be something wrong with your taste buds then.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ After a few minutes, Shac finally finished eating the egg. ¡°So, that¡¯s all I need to do?¡± he asked. Ivan nodded in response. ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. Let me know if you feel anything different.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Shac replied. After ensuring Shac had eaten the egg and avoided tomorrow¡¯s death, Ivan decided to head home. Well, what am I supposed to do now? Chapter 5.5: What do Ducks dream? First dream: ¡ª A duck hatches from an egg. The shell cracks slowly, revealing a tiny yellow beak. Second dream: ¡ª The duck observes happy people, who are laughing and having fun. Third dream: ¡ª The person and the duck stand together, but then the duck collapses. Soon after, the person clutches their throat in distress and collapses as well. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Fourth dream: ¡ª The person holds the duck in their hands, but it flies away, leaving behind two eggs. One in the left hand, and one in the right hand. Fifth dream: ¡ª The person eats the egg that is on the left hand. A strange warmth spreads through their body. Sixth dream: ¡ª The person slowly begins slightly grow larger than its previous body, surrounded by piles of dead duck bodies. The air smells of feathers, and blood. Seventh dream: ¡ª A pile of blood with a yellow duckling on top. The duckling''s eyes are unnaturally bright, but it vanished suddenly, leaving only the blood behind. Chapter 6: A Duckling and a White-Haired Girl As days passed by, Shac noticed few changes in his body, it looks like the egg did something to his body. Slowly he noticed that he doesn¡¯t need to breathe anymore, now he can stop breathing in air, and be able to breathe without any problems. ¡°Well, this sounds too good to be true.¡± Shac noticed how out of this world it is, not needing to breathe, so to experiment it he tested holding his breath. Expecting the usual burn normally in his lungs in a minute, but it never came. Minutes passed, and more minutes passed but he felt no discomfort. ¡°How about an hour? It should be possible¡­ I think?¡± He challenged himself and tried holding his breath for as long as he could. After 34 minutes, he didn¡¯t feel any discomfort, but he got tired of the experiment. Well that didn¡¯t last longer than I thought, never thought not breathing is tiring¡­ Not breathing feels odd he thought. So, to be normal, he resumed breathing like a regular person would do, even though he no longer needed to. He also noticed he doesn¡¯t get hungry at all, even after skipping meals. Normally he would get hungry after 3 hours of not eating something, but then he noticed that even after 6 hours he still can¡¯t feel hunger. Trying as far as to going for a day, as he expected, the same thing happened, he didn¡¯t feel the need to eat something. This is beyond abnormal now, I¡¯m becoming something I shouldn¡¯t have. Well, shouldn¡¯t this mean I can save more money now? Hoping I will survive, yeah probably. Shac chuckled, as he jokes around his situation of not being able to feel hunger. He knew he started to become something that shouldn¡¯t exist at the first place. But he didn¡¯t stop right there. ¡°There should be more than this.¡± Curious about his new abilities, he decided to try swimming. To his surprise, he found he could breathe underwater as easily as on land, watching bubbles float from his mouth as he inhaled and exhaled beneath the surface. Instead of consuming a duck¡¯s egg, this feels more like I¡¯ve become a fish by eating a fish egg. Having confirmed his ability to breathe underwater, Shac resurfaces. ¡°Woo¡­This must be mean, I am able to breathe easily in any environment¡± Shac thought, being able to breathe underwater, he is convinced that it¡¯s possible. But his body started to change in other ways too. Beyond being able to breathe easily in any environment, he discovered he had a fast speed, and he noticed himself getting bigger, as his clothes feel tighter suddenly. Am I getting bigger? Or¡­ probably not¡­ He couldn¡¯t tell if he had indeed gotten bigger, or if it was just his mind playing tricks on him. But it did feel like his clothes had suddenly gotten tighter. His experiment didn¡¯t end there, as to test if he was right about his newfound fast speed, he tried running from home to school. What would usually take 30 minutes to run, he managed to do in just 10 minutes, his legs carrying him at an impossible pace. ¡°Seriously?¡± Shac couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. How was this possible? That¡¯s all he could think. What¡¯s more, he doesn¡¯t feel the need to breathe heavily after the run, he manages to get there without catching his breath at all. This checks out¡­ ¡°I can finally laze around at home longer and not be late.¡± he celebrated, pumping his right fist and saying ¡°Yes!¡± in his mind. Standing in front of the school, thinking about how different he became in a short period of time. He looked down at his hands, wondering what other changes the egg might have brought to his body. I should tell Ivan about these changes¡­ As he was happily thinking about the result, he suddenly felt a pain in his head. He was brought down to his knees. ¡°Aghhh¡­ What?¡± Then he heard the sound of a duck quacking multiple times. -quack- -quack- - quack The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. As he looked around for the source of the sound, he noticed something unusual¡­ Everyone was gone¡­ The students had vanished all of a sudden. But the sound continued. -quack This doesn¡¯t look good. Where¡¯s everyone¡­ Wondering what just happened, he stood up. He slowly walk towards the school building, he glanced left and right, but not even a single soul could be found. -quack- -sigh- The sound of the duck couldn¡¯t be a good sign. This must be mean there¡¯s another duckling in here, but, it doesn¡¯t make sense for everyone to just vanished suddenly like that. -quack- As the quacking didn¡¯t stop, he decided to follow where is the source of the sounds comes from. He first looked for their room in the second floor of the school building. -sigh- It looks like Ivan is not here. -quack He continued to follow the sound, then he arrived at the fourth floor, where the sound is starting to get clearer. From this room? Shac slowly looked through the window and tried to locate where the sound was coming from in the room. What he saw were two figures: a white-haired girl sitting in a chair, and a guy holding a duck in its neck. What? I thought the students vanished? The guy then showed the duck to the girl. ¡°You¡¯ll find yourself in this position.¡± the guy taunted. Hearing what the guy just said, the girl laughed. ¡°Why are you like this¡­¡± the girl sighed, slowly approaching the guy and holding his chin. ¡°You know what? I don¡¯t mind killing you multiple times.¡± What are they doing? The girl suddenly seized the guy¡¯s head. She then slammed his skull against the ground with crushing force. -crack- -thud- The sound echoed through the room. What the¡ª!? The guy couldn¡¯t react, as his face hit the floor hard, creating a crack on the floor. He tried to fight back¡­ No matter how he struggled, she remained unmoved, she wouldn¡¯t budge. With her left hand, she grabbed the duckling from the guy¡¯s hand. ¡°You really are a pain in the ass.¡± She then put the duckling on top of her head. ¡°Huh?¡± Suddenly, she felt a presence watching and looked at the window. Luckily, Shac successfully crouched immediately. Oh shit! Shac felt his heart about to burst. ¡°What was that about?¡± he thought to himself. I should get out of here fast! Shac slowly hid and walked to the side, then started to run away. This is not normal¡­ There are more people who knew about the ducklings? And what is with her strength? She slammed that guy¡¯s skull strong enough to create a crack on the floor! He tried scratching his eyes with his arms, but it didn¡¯t seem to do the trick¡­ he was still at the place. Shit! Where the hell is everyone? As he ran away, he looked from side to side but couldn¡¯t see a single person. Shac tried to run to the school gate, running until he managed to reach the exit. As he was about to get out, he was greeted by the white-haired girl, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. ¡°Yo!¡± the girl said. What the? ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m¡­ not an enemy¡­¡± Shac voiced out. The girl chuckled, seeing how nervous Shac is. ¡°Where¡¯s my ¡®Yo!¡¯ at?¡± Shac confused and didn¡¯t know what to do, he decided to greet the girl back. ¡°Yo¡­¡± ¡°Good,¡± the girl said, smiling. ¡°Sorry about earlier, it¡¯s just I¡¯ve been fighting the same face for a while now, so it¡¯s starting to get boring.¡± ¡°I see.¡± He nodded, that was the only response Shac could imagine. The girl started to clench both of her fists and took a fighting stance. Huh!? ¡°So, would you like to fight for a minute?¡± The white-haired suggested, as she positioned herself perfectly, ready for a fight at any second. Don¡¯t tell me she want to fight me too? Startled at what he was seeing, Shac immediately took a defensive stance and stepped back slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you want, but I don¡¯t feel like there¡¯s a reason for us to fight.¡± There¡¯s no way I can beat you! ¡°Oh yeah I forgot.¡± The girl scratches her head. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re not familiar yet.¡± She then releases the fighting stance, shifting from aggressive to calm. ¡°So instead¡­¡± Suddenly, she raises her right hand, forming a finger gun. A finger gun? Wait¡­ no no no no!!! As she raises her finger, she aims directly at Shac¡¯s heart. Time seems to slow as Shac registers the threat from the white-haired girl, he tries to dodge¡­ But he¡¯s too late¡­ A fast and compact -whoosh- travelled as a burst of invisible force of air erupts from her fingertip. ¡°Wha-¡± His voice is too low to be heard. -splat- Hearing the sound that it made, he looked at his chest, a small perfectly round hole has appeared. No blood flows, just a dark, empty void where his heart should be. Not my heart¡­ For a moment, Shac stands frozen, his mind struggling to comprehend what¡¯s happened, it didn¡¯t take too long before he collapses. His body hits the ground with a dull -thud-, eyes wide, staring at the figure of a girl who¡¯s sitting and looking directly at his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll see you later.¡± Later? What did she meant by th¡ª Chapter 7: A Yellow Duckling Again ¡­ ¡°AHHHHHH!!!!!!!¡± -thud- ¡°Ah¡­ my butt¡­ Where am I?¡± Shac looked around and found himself in yet another familiar place, the very spot where everything had begun. He glanced down at his chest. ¡°Looks like¡­ I was brought back here again.¡± No hole in my chest, my heart is still here¡­ I¡¯m glad¡­ Feeling relieved to be alive, he lay down on the floor, feeling confused and unsure of what to do next. Once more, he had been saved by the unknown force that allowed him to loop and be revived, but the mystery of the duck is still left unsolved. Looking at what his left hand had been clutching all this while, he found his phone, displaying a familiar email: [ Don¡¯t forget about the Duck. ] I see, so I am back from the start¡­ Damn it¡­ ¡°Aghhhhhhh! What am I supposed to do now!?¡± Shac scratches his head violently. ¡°Fuck all of this!¡± Feeling disheartened, Shac shed a tear. He had thought he was close to breaking the curse, only to find himself back at square one, rendering all his efforts from the past loops to nothing. Damn, I feel even worse now. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ After lying down for a while, lost in thought, he finally gathered the strength to rise and sit on the sofa. Well, that should be enough of being a crybaby, but DARN IT! this shit¡¯s so hard I¡¯m about to lose my mind thinking that I¡¯m about to die again sooner or later. Still, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that I am back from the start again. But on the bright side, this also means I will have more time before I die again, it should be enough to plan for something. But¡­ all the plans have failed so far¡­ Saving the duck will prevent me from getting suffocated, this includes feeding it, so both is a must. If I miss even one, my death is set in stone. Feeding it will lead to its death, as she will lay an egg after dying. And for some reason, a week is enough for the duckling to grew, and lay an egg. Can¡¯t believe it was possible, who would have thought of that!? I know, it¡¯s a cursed duck, nothing is normal about it, I know that. Now, let¡¯s say the duck dies and lays an egg, then it¡¯s either the egg rots and I will die, or I will eat the egg and live as a curse. Both have been the case so far in my previous loops, but as expected, of course I died in both cases. One thing is that, there¡¯s something different from the previous loop. Shac once again placed his hand on his chest to ensure his heart was still there. A finger gun huh¡­ I wonder if she¡¯s a cursed person too? It makes more sense that way, especially knowing eating the egg grants you supernatural abilities. Suddenly Shac remembered how he died. Yeah, a supernatural ability, like exploding your guts out of nowhere¡­ Totally a unique ability¡­ Yeah, It looks like there¡¯s more to this, more than I expected. I mean, who would have expected she can do that? A finger gun that is able to blast through my heart in a second!? If only I was strong enough¡­ No, being strong is not enough, she is abnormal in the first place, humans can¡¯t do that. Oh right, I forget I became a monster too. Shac shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no use in thinking about it.¡± Glancing at his phone, he added, ¡°I¡¯m already late anyway. I should take my time, skip the first class, and walk.¡± ¡°Time to meet my yellow friend once again.¡± It¡¯s that time again, the first meet with the yellow duckling. Shac walked out of the house once again, and is about to encounter the yellow duckling on the road. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡°There you are.¡± As Shac saw the yellow duckling once again, he approaches it and grab it in his hand. ¡°Good morning.¡± Shac greeted it. -quack- ¡°Woah¡­ Didn¡¯t expect that you will respond.¡± Shac smiled. ¡°It¡¯s been a while duckling.¡± Although I know you are the reason for everything, although I know that you cursed me¡­ I¡¯m still happy to see you alive and well. ¡°I miss this form of yours, duckling.¡± Shac smiles, thinking it¡¯s been a while since he saw this form of the duckling. ¡°Well, I gotta go now.¡± He placed the duckling back on the road. ¡°I¡¯ll see you later at school.¡± With that, Shac continued on his way, walking to school, skipping his class, and leaving the yellow duckling behind. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Late for his first class, Shac settled himself in the canteen, waiting for Ivan to arrive. There should be at least something that Ivan knows about the white-haired girl. I mean, hopefully that¡¯s the case, right? Right? Right? ¡°What¡¯s with those scary faces you¡¯re making now?¡± Ivan interrupted. ¡°What?¡± Shac exclaimed in surprise. ¡°Oh, I thought it was someone else, but it¡¯s just you.¡± ¡°Who else is going to talk to you?¡± Ivan teased. ¡°What!? That¡¯s uncalled for!¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m just stating the obvious.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to hear something like that from you.¡± ¡°I know, I know. So, why were you late this time?¡± ¡°Cursed ducks.¡± Shac replied. Ivan¡¯s eyes widened in surprise at what he heard, then he suddenly grew serious. ¡°I see. Since when?¡± ¡°About two weeks now.¡± ¡°Two weeks, that¡¯s longer than I thought.¡± Ivan paused for a while. ¡°Judging by how you approached me, it seems you already know that I¡¯m cursed too?¡± ¡°Yep, this is the third time that I met you.¡± ¡°Third time¡­? That doesn¡¯t sound good.¡± ¡°Right, I might as well say I¡¯m here again to ask for your help.¡± Ivan gave a thumbs up. ¡°But, if it¡¯s the third time, then I failed to help you two times?¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re Ivan, of course.¡± ¡°What is that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°Look at your face.¡± Shac chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s more of an you¡¯re too vague, and never explains everything.¡± ¡°Ah that.¡± Ivan paused. ¡°I can¡¯t deny that one.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not your fault, but if I were to say something to you¡­¡± Shac looked straight into Ivan¡¯s eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to mess around this time.¡± he added, his tone is cold and serious. Ivan scratched his head and averted his gaze away after hearing that. The two sat in silence for a few seconds before Shac broke the silence. ¡°But you know, it¡¯s not that you abandoned me, you¡¯re helping me all this time. I mean it¡¯s not your fault I¡¯m cursed, I¡¯m just¡ª¡± ¡°Stop stop stop¡± Ivan interrupted. ¡°You don¡¯t need to explain that much, because you¡¯re right, there¡¯s a high possibility that I¡¯m messing around. So¡­ this time I will gladly help you, more seriously. I will bet my lunch for a week.¡± ¡°The bet will be void if I were to die a week later.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right.¡± Ivan laughs. ¡°Then, shall we start this one?¡± ¡°Sure sure. First, what do you want to know?¡± ¡°Everything you can think of, it would be helpful a lot.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Got it. Wait a minute, do we have enough time?¡± Shac glanced at his phone¡¯s time. ¡°20 more minutes¡­ Looks safe, then I shall start telling you about the first loop.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ For 20 minutes straight, Shac told Ivan about everything that happened in the past two weeks. -chimes- ¡°Oh shit! We lost track of time!¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t grabbed anything yet.¡± Ivan reminded, feeling hungry from nonstop listening to Shac. ¡°Ah right, I¡¯ll go grab some bread. You go ahead, I¡¯ll catch up.¡± ¡°Your treat?¡± Ivan asked. ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Shac responded in an annoyed tone. ¡°Just get moving.¡± As the bell chimed, signaling the end of lunch break, Shac hurriedly bought two pieces of bread. ¡°Thanks.¡± Breathless as he ran down the hallway, he reached the classroom just in time, the teacher hadn¡¯t arrived yet. -huff- ¡°Haaah¡­ Made it¡­¡± ¡°So what did you get?¡± Ivan immediately asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, some cola-flavored bread?¡± Shac replied, trying to mess with Ivan. ¡°What? Cola-flavored bread!? It exists?¡± Ivan asked, surprised. ¡°Obviously not.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I¡¯m just messing with you.¡± ¡°Yeah, whatever¡­¡± For some reason this guy is obsessed with cola. ¡°We¡¯ll talk about it later, thanks for the bread.¡± Shac nodded in response, as he took a bite at the bread he just bought. This bread tastes more delicious than usual, probably because I¡¯m hungry. They finished their bread just as the teacher arrived, just in time for the class to start. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°Phewww, I managed to score in the middle,¡± Shac sighed in relief, having passed the quiz after failing it twice before. ¡°You got lucky, huh? Seems like all that looping has paid off for your learning,¡± Ivan mocked, implying something. ¡°That¡¯s like saying I would have failed this quiz if not for the loops.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°Well, looks like you¡¯re wrong this time.¡± ¡°And it seems like you¡¯re enjoying the loop.¡± Ivan teased. ¡°I am not.¡± ¡°Ah, my bad.¡± Ivan smiled. For the third time, Shac finished the quiz. But this time, instead of failing, he managed to get a passing score, making this loop different from the others. Ah¡­ it feels good to pass the quiz¡­ Even though I¡¯ve been stuck in this loop for a while now. Ivan glanced at Shac, grinning. ¡°Stop looking at me like that,¡± Shac said, shooing Ivan away. ¡°Putting that aside,¡± Ivan interjected, cutting the banter. ¡°There¡¯s a lot I want to ask about the loops, especially the previous one.¡± ¡°I have so many questions as well. So, you¡¯re not familiar with the white-haired girl?¡± ¡°Yeah, like I mentioned, I only knew of two cursed individuals. One is you, and the other is a girl I encountered in the past, though she had black hair, not white.¡± ¡°So, we¡¯re both clueless then¡­¡± -sigh- ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°But what?¡± ¡°Based on what you saw, the girl saved the duckling from the guy, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess that¡¯s one way to put it. Since she grabs the duckling away from the guy that¡¯s about to kill it, it¡¯s possible that she is indeed saving it.¡± Shac remarked. "Also, for some reason, they are both fighting.¡± Shac added, puzzled by the conflict. ¡°She saves the duckling, that¡¯s something new huh.¡± Ivan replied. ¡°Normally you would kill the ducklings, considering they are dangerous, but saving them that¡¯s a bit different.¡± Ivan added, wondering why the white-haired girl did that. ¡°She did kill me, so there¡¯s a high possibility that she¡¯s an enemy.¡± ¡°That! Why did she even kill you in the first place?¡± Shac shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Who knows? I can¡¯t even imagine how powerful that girl is.¡± ¡°Hahahaha, that sounds crazy.¡± Ivan chuckled awkwardly, thinking about how scary the white-haired girl is. ¡°Not only that, it seems you were transported to a place where everyone had vanished. Sounds like a parallel world, huh.¡± Ivan added. A parallel world¡­ ¡°Considering that looping exists in this world, it¡¯s reasonable to assume parallel worlds exist too, right?¡± ¡°You could say that. But for everyone to disappear, leaving only the white-haired girl and the guy you saw there¡­ That doesn¡¯t seem normal. There¡¯s something going on there that neither of us knows about.¡± Ivan observed, thinking how odd and unnatural those things are. ¡°Ah¡­ I feel like the curse runs deeper than we initially thought¡­¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°I can¡¯t even imagine how crazy your story is, since I¡¯ve never experienced anything like that, not that I would want to.¡± It was all so confusing that it drives you crazy as you try to understand what was happening, especially knowing you were about to die but unable to do anything about it¡­ A never ending nightmare. As they walked and chatted, they passed through the school gate and spotted the familiar creature they had been waiting for. ¡°Here you are.¡± Shac said. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen a yellow duckling,¡± Ivan observed. Seeing the duckling in the front of the school gate, Shac immediately approached the duckling and took hold of it. ¡°What a cute duckling, don¡¯t you think so?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t deny that one, I mean there¡¯s no denying that it¡¯s indeed cute.¡± ¡°If only you¡¯re normal, right duckling?¡± Shac said to the duck. If only, then I wouldn¡¯t have to suffer this nightmare. They continued walking, holding onto the duckling, sharing their thoughts about the curse. ¡°Actually Ivan, there¡¯s something I want to ask about you.¡± Ivan raised an eyebrow. ¡°About me? What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about how you managed to escape the curse.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± He paused, ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you anything about it in the past?¡± ¡°Not yet. I never heard anything like that.¡± ¡°Ah, I see. You could say I was lucky. The curse was passed to someone else in exchange for mine, which allowed me to escape.¡± ¡°Is it really possible to pass the curse? How?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not comfortable talking about it, sorry,¡± Ivan responded in a low voice, reluctant to elaborate. ¡°Got it, sorry about that¡­¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. It¡¯s just¡­ not a good memory.¡± If he managed to escape the curse by passing it to someone else¡­ It means it¡¯s possible after all? But what does it mean to pass the curse to someone else? Shac glances at Ivan. But since he is uncomfortable about it, there¡¯s no way of knowing how it was possible. Ivan smiled and laughed as he tapped Shac on the shoulder. ¡°Sorry for being gloomy.¡± ¡°Oh? Why are you happy all of a sudden?¡± ¡°Nothing, hahaha. I just find these situations kind of interesting, don¡¯t you think?¡± Shac gave Ivan a puzzled look. ¡°You know, sometimes I think there¡¯s something wrong with you.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s not exactly a compliment,¡± Shac retorted. ¡°But¡­¡± Shac hesitated, something still bothering him. ¡°About the email, something about it doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± ¡°The email?¡± Ivan wondered. ¡°Did I forget to tell you about the email?¡± ¡°The email? I don¡¯t remember hearing about that in your story.¡± ¡°Really!? Damn, I must have forgotten to mention it¡­ Here, take a look.¡± Shac showed him the email on his phone. ¡°Huh?¡± Ivan exclaimed in surprise as he read the email. ¡°I don¡¯t remember sending this.¡± Shac, confused by Ivan¡¯s reaction, asked, ¡°What do you mean you sent it? There¡¯s no sender listed.¡± He looked at the email again and was surprised by what he saw. The email was indeed sent by Ivan: [ Don¡¯t forget about the Duck. ] Shac knew there was originally no sender listed. How could it suddenly show Ivan as the sender? There¡¯s no way this is happening¡­ How? ¡°Do you remember sending this email to me?¡± he asked, confused to why Ivan is listed as sender in the email. ¡°I don¡¯t remember sending this email.¡± Ivan denied. ¡°So, what is this about?¡± Mhm¡­ ¡°Wait let us stop walking for a minute.¡± Surprised from the sudden changes, Shac decided to pause for a while and think about what¡¯s exactly is happening. This email supposed to be sent at the morning at this day, and I¡¯ve been looping for a while now, I know and I am sure that there is no supposed to be a sender in here. But now for some reason, Ivan¡¯s name is listed as a sender. It¡­ doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­ -sigh- ¡°Sorry about that.¡± Shac apologized for the sudden pause. ¡°I forgot to tell you about this email, it was sent to me this morning. It¡¯s the starting point of the loop.¡± ¡°Really!?¡­But, I don¡¯t remember sending this to you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the problem, because in the first place, this email doesn¡¯t have a sender¡­¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t have a sender? Is that even possible?¡± Ivan wondered. ¡°I don¡¯t even know, all I know is that this email is the first thing that tells me about the ¡®duck¡¯ and I even regarded it as a troll message since it doesn¡¯t have any sender details. I mean who would even take it seriously? Look at the message.¡± ¡°¡¯[ Don¡¯t forget about the Duck. ]¡¯, that¡¯s what it says.¡± Ivan read from the email. ¡°It seems to be a warning about the duck¡­ I¡¯ve heard in the past that ignoring the duck could lead to death.¡± ¡°Ignoring the duck huh¡­¡± ¡°Right, that¡¯s why it¡¯s necessary to feed it, otherwise you will be killed¡­ But to be honest, this email, I don¡¯t remember sending this to you.¡± It doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­ If he¡¯s not the one who send this¡­ then who? ¡°What is even happening?¡± Shac sighed, looking at the yellow duckling in his palm. ¡°Can you explain what¡¯s going on?¡± But the duck remained silent. ¡°This¡­¡± Ivan smiled. ¡°This is rather intriguing, don¡¯t you think?¡± He looked at Shac, clearly amused by the mystery of the email. -sigh- ¡°You and your smile again¡­¡± ¡°While it sounds interesting, this also presents another problem,¡± Ivan replied. ¡°It suggests that I did something I¡¯m not aware of¡­ Could this be one of the effects of the parallel world?¡± The effects of the parallel world? ¡°The parallel world? You mean¡­¡± Shac paused for a few seconds. ¡±¡­there¡¯s a parallel version of you who sent this message?¡± ¡°Probably, because I genuinely don¡¯t remember sending this email, that could be the reason.¡± That could be the case, if he really doesn¡¯t remember it, then it must be something else. ¡°That makes sense. There¡¯s one thing I don¡¯t understand this whole time, that this email doesn¡¯t have sender listed to it. But after I had you read the email, the sender listed turned out to be you¡­ Did it react to you somehow?¡± ¡°Maybe? Wait, let me check something real quick¡­¡± Ivan opened his phone and searched through his emails, specifically his sent folder, and discovered¡­ ¡°It¡¯s here, I¡¯m definitely the one who sends the message,¡± Ivan added. ¡°Really? Let me see it.¡± They both examined the email again: same sender, same date, same content¡­ ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not messing with me?¡± Shac asked suspiciously. ¡°I told you earlier, I¡¯m not playing around this time.¡± ¡°Right¡­ So I guess this is another mystery. Even though we now know the sender, the question remains: how was this email sent to me when you weren¡¯t aware of its existence until you read it from my phone?¡± If Ivan was telling the truth, then there was something about Ivan sending this email. If this Ivan wasn¡¯t the current one, then perhaps there was another ¡®Ivan¡¯, someone who sent this email. ¡°Another ¡®Ivan¡¯¡­ Do you think it¡¯s possible?¡± Shac asked. ¡°If parallel worlds exist, then it¡¯s possible. The real mystery is how he managed to send the email to you.¡± ¡°Guess that¡¯s a problem for another day¡­¡± ¡°I guess you¡¯re right,¡± Ivan chuckled. ¡°Let¡¯s discuss it tomorrow.¡± Feeling overwhelmed by the flood of information and revelations, they decided to continue walking, pondering the mysteries swirling around them. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ As Shac and Ivan continued walking, both feeling exhausted from the day¡¯s revelations, Shac¡¯s phone suddenly buzzed. ¡°Hm???¡± Shac muttered, surprised by the notification. He quickly checked his phone, hoping for more answers. An email? Could it be another one? The screen flickered, showing the familiar message: [ Don¡¯t forget about the duck. ] But this time, something was different. Below the message was a string of what it seems an incomplete text: [ Sh¡Á ¡Ás ly¡Áng to ¡Ás, ev¡Ár¡Á¡Áne got k¡Áll¡Ád. ] With each moment, different characters are revealed and concealed, making it challenging to decipher the full text at a glance. What about the sender? Shac wondered about the sender. He checked, and to his surprise, it was sent by ¡®Ivan¡¯. He had been walking alongside Ivan, it couldn¡¯t have been him who sent this message. This proves the existence of another ¡®Ivan¡¯. As Shac stared at the message, it seemed to be trying to convey something¡­ She is¡­ lying? Who¡¯s she? Shac¡¯s brow furrowed. Was the message corrupting? Or was this a clue? He glanced at Ivan, walking beside him, exhausted from earlier. Does Ivan really know more than he was letting on? As they neared Ivan¡¯s house, Shac noticed something odd. A white feather stuck out from Ivan¡¯s backpack. ¡°Ivan.¡± Shac said, his voice tight. ¡°Where did that feather come from?¡± Ivan turned. ¡°What feather?¡± But before Shac could respond, the world began to fade. Everything starting to get dark, Shac heard Ivan¡¯s voice, distorted and distant: ¡°Shit¡­ She found out¡­¡± These were the last words to escape Ivan¡¯s lips before his body began to liquefy. His flesh slowly melted into a liquid, transforming him into a gooey, red substance. Shit! What¡¯s happening? Shac shook his head, as if trying to clear his mind. In an instant, everything went back to normal. ¡°Haaah¡­ haaah¡­¡± Shac breathes heavily. ¡°You okay?¡± Ivan asked, concerned. ¡°Yeah, yeah, sorry. Just found myself in a weird spot there.¡± -sigh- As he focused back his attention to the phone, the email that was sent already got hidden: [ ¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á, ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á. ] What was that about? A new message, but now it¡¯s hidden. And who is this ¡®she¡¯ that he¡¯s talking about? Ivan lightly tapped Shac¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it tomorrow, don¡¯t forget to feed the duck.¡± ¡°Got it, see you tomorrow.¡± With their conversation concluded, Ivan and Shac bid each other farewell. They turned and began walking in opposite directions, each heading towards their respective homes. Chapter 8: A Duckling in the Grass [ Two years before Shac meets the Yellow Duckling. ] ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°Uh¡­ Did I forget about something?¡± Ivan scratches his head, struggling to recall what seems an important thing. Currently, he is standing outside, taking a walk. But something seems to be bothering him, that¡¯s why he made a sudden stop. Mhm¡­ can¡¯t remember it, must be something unimportant. He can¡¯t remember it. Troubled, he continued his way, disregarding the thing that he can¡¯t recall. As he is walking, he finds himself looking at the vast area of grasses on the side of the road. If I were a goat, this place would be heaven. Suddenly, he made a stop, he saw something that caught his eye. ¡°Is that¡­¡± He raised his eyebrows, focusing on what seems to be a small creature in the grasses. Curious by the sight, he made his way to the grasses to approach the small creature, it didn¡¯t take too long before he reached it. And grabbing it is easier, as it didn¡¯t try to run. ¡°Well well¡­ what are you doing here alone?¡± The small yellow duckling is on his palm, sitting. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like you have anyone nearby here, that shouldn¡¯t be the case.¡± He tried looking around once again, but couldn¡¯t see another single duck. ¡°There¡¯s no one nearby¡­¡± How did he even manage to roam around here alone? Having a class this morning, he places back the duckling to the grass. ¡°Take care.¡± He said, as he bid farewell. -quack- As he is about to go back to the road, the quack of the duckling made him look back. ¡°Oh¡­¡± Seeing the yellow duckling again, he smiled. ¡°Bye.¡± Ivan once again bid a farewell to the yellow duckling. Now, bidding farewell to each other, they each walk to their respective destination. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á That night, Ivan went to bed feeling content. The encounter with the duckling had brightened his day in an unexpected way. But, as the clock struck midnight, everything changed. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡°Ah!?¡± Ivan¡¯s eyes snapped open, a silent scream trapped in his throat. His lungs felt like they were burning, desperate for air, but couldn¡¯t get it no matter how he tried. Sweat drenched his body, even when trying to clutch his chest violently, he couldn¡¯t get any air in. He was not able to breathe. I can¡¯t¡­ breathe¡­ Panic surged through his body, and his heart pounds violently. Slowly, the darkness of the room seemed to close in, suffocating him further. ¡°U¡­gh¡­¡± His fingers clawed at his throat, leaving red marks as he desperately fought for oxygen. SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT.SHIT His vision began to blur, and darkness creeps behind the edges of his eyes. The quiet night was interrupted by his frantic breaths and the rustling of sheets as he thrashed around. This is it, he thought, terror gripping his very soul. I¡¯m¡­ dying. Ivan¡¯s body began to convulse, his eyes rolling back as the lack of oxygen took its toll. He tried to call out, to scream for help, but no sound escaped his lips. The world started to fade, slowly, as his consciousness slowly slips away. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°Haaah¡­¡± Gasping, he sat up in bed. ¡°What was that!?¡± Ivan couldn¡¯t understand what just happened, but it didn¡¯t stop him from trying to breathe in for air. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ fine?¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The next day passed in a state of confusion and uneasiness, as he had just woken up from being suffocated due to the lack of air. Breathe in, breathe out, multiple times, it looks like everything is fine¡­ He is still alive. Was that a dream? he wondered, unable to distinguish dream from reality. Yet one thing was certain, the incredible pain he felt that night. But¡­ When midnight came again, the same terrifying experience repeated. And again the next night. And the next. Again By the fifth night, Ivan was frantic. He tried staying awake, but exhaustion always claimed him, and midnight always brought suffocation. Again.Again On the tenth night, he left his home, hoping a change of location would break the cycle. It didn¡¯t. It didn¡¯t. It didn¡¯t. It didn¡¯t. Again.Again.Again After nearly two weeks of nightly deaths, Ivan¡¯s mind was deteriorating. Each night was a carbon copy of the last, always ending in that moment of breathless terror. But what can he do? He doesn¡¯t know, there¡¯s no way he would know. How many times has he died now? He¡¯d lost count. Each death, each suffocating moment, was etched into his mind like a scar. The panic, the helplessness, the terrifying sensation of life slipping away¡­ it all came rushing back as he once again woke up. Ivan stumbled out of bed, his legs shaky. He pressed his forehead against the cool window, trying to slow down his thoughts. He sighed. ¡°When will this end?¡± But no one decided to gather their thoughts to answer his question. Outside, the sun began to rise, unaware of Ivan¡¯s pain. Another day, and another pain. In the bathroom mirror, a stranger stared back at him. ¡°This is¡­ how I look now?¡± Red eyes, and a face etched with terror and exhaustion. Was this really him? How much more could he take? He felt sadness upon seeing this different version of himself. It¡¯s been a while, I should take a walk. Seeing his miserable state, it made sense for him to take a walk. Otherwise, he would just be rotting inside the house, doing nothing. ¡°Ahhhh¡­¡± Ivan walked, head tilted back, unsure of what to do. He wandered aimlessly, without a plan, simply wanting to take a breather. The vast grasses stretched out before him, calm and indifferent to his suffering. And there, just as he knew it would be, was the duck. But something was different. The tiny yellow duckling he¡¯d first seen was growing, changing day by day, even as Ivan relived the same 24 hours over and over. Now it¡¯s white¡­ Such a mystery¡­ How was this possible? He didn¡¯t know, but for some reason, the duck seemed to keep growing day by day. The duck¡¯s growth became a fixation for Ivan, a mystery that both confused and intrigued him amidst his repeating nightmare. Although the duck seemed to be the only thing constantly changing, how could it help him escape his death? That¡¯s what he wondered as he continued walking aimlessly under the morning sun. As night fell, familiar dread wrapped around Ivan¡¯s gut. Scared, terrified, nervous¡­ Death was coming. Again. He thought about all his futile attempts to escape, trying not to sleep, changing locations, but the result was always the same. Always suffocation. Always terror. Always death. The cycle continued, Ivan dying countless times, watching helplessly as the duck grew from a yellow duckling to a white adult. Again.Again.Again.Again.Again.Again.Again ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Then, one day, everything changed. Fuck! Why am I here again? Once again, Ivan walked aimlessly, as if someone had been telling him all this time to walk, walk, and walk in the same direction. The same morning, the same road, and¡­ the same vast area of grass, where the duck could always be seen wandering. What am I doing here? he asked himself, unsure of what he was supposed to be doing. Losing the ability to think straight, he found himself doing nothing but walking in a straight line. But his body was fine. He didn¡¯t need to eat, and he didn¡¯t feel weak either. So, what was the problem? I don¡¯t know¡­ His mind was eager to escape this body, but it was still trapped, unable to do anything. But, as always, it was as if someone was pulling the strings behind his back. Once again, he found himself staring at the duck in the grass. What!? There was something different about it; he noticed something about the duck that he wasn¡¯t accustomed to. He ran toward the duck. ¡°What happened?¡± he asked himself as he approached the motionless duck lying on the grass. To his surprise, what he found was a dead white duck. Wait, what? Why is it dead? Looking around, there was nothing that could have attacked the duck. He checked the body, no wounds, no blood. But then he noticed something out of place. ¡°An egg? Huh¡­¡± He was puzzled. ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be the case¡­¡± This was the first time he found an egg behind the duck, and combined with the duck lying motionless in the grass, it was even more perplexing. ¡°I guess¡­¡± He rested, looking up at the sky. ¡°Today is different, huh?¡± Seeing the strange things happening to the duck, he never expected to find it lifeless or to discover an egg, it¡¯s the least thing he expected to happen. Although he was looping through the same day, only the duck had been constantly changing, growing day by day. But it shouldn¡¯t be old enough to die, it¡¯s only been about two weeks¡­ There¡¯s no way it died for no reason. With trembling hands, Ivan picked up the egg. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll take you to a new home.¡± He decided to return to the house, carefully holding the duck¡¯s egg. This made him realize that today was something different, and brought a smile to his face, making him forget about his death for a while. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he didn¡¯t die that night. He woke up not remembering dying or anything¡­ ¡°Did I¡­¡± He immediately ran towards the kitchen. But when he arrived, something was missing, the egg was gone. It¡¯s gone!? ¡°Did you eat the egg, Evie?¡± Ivan asked nervously, his stomach twisting with anxiety. ¡°Yeah.¡± his sister responded casually. ¡°Why did you eat it?¡± Ivan¡¯s voice cracked with disbelief. His sister shrugged, oblivious to the egg¡¯s significance. ¡°I was hungry.¡± Hearing what Evie said, Ivan stood there, stunned. His mind raced, trying to process the situation. The weight of the past weeks crashed down on him, the hope that had briefly ignited now extinguished. Chapter 9: A Forgotten Duckling Hearing what Evie said, Ivan stood there, stunned. His mind raced, trying to process the situation. His sister ate the egg, the only thing that separates the difference between the past weeks from yesterday. And now, it¡¯s gone. Ivan remained silent, and decided to grab the milk in the fridge instead. Pouring the drink in the glass, Evie noticed her mistake, seeing her brother¡¯s sad expression. ¡°I will buy you two eggs later. My bad.¡± Evie apologized, her voice filled with regret. It was my mistake. I should have remembered that I placed the egg on top of the fridge yesterday. He realized it wasn¡¯t his sister¡¯s fault to begin with. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I was just surprised. Are you sure you¡¯ll buy the two eggs?¡± he responded, trying his best not to dwell on it any longer. She nodded her head two times, responding to her brother. ¡°I will cook you up a good scrambled egg later.¡± ¡°Is this a free meal or not?¡± ¡°I bet you don¡¯t want to know.¡± She replied. ¡°I guess,¡± Ivan stood up, finishing the last sip of the milk drink. ¡°I will head to my room, call me if you¡¯re ready to cook for me.¡± He looked at Evie. ¡°For free?¡± ¡°For free.¡± She immediately responded. ¡°That¡¯s what I wanted to hear.¡± He smiled, as he headed back to his room. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ -yawn- ¡°What time is it?¡± Ivan woke up again, his eyes struggling to focus as he reached for his phone beside the bed. The phone displayed: [ 11:07 AM ] Almost twelve, that was a long sleep. He slept for about 3 hours. The sunlight already touched his skin, and the room felt hotter as it approached noon, indicating that he had slept too much. ¡°So hot¡­¡± Ivan muttered, feeling drops of sweat forming not only on his face but also on his back and chest. Without wasting any time, he stood up and headed to the living room. Compared to his room, the living room was much cooler. With a stand fan turned on, he sat on the couch, his body spread out and his head tilted back, displaying a satisfied and relaxed expression. ¡°Ahhh¡­ This is it.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s a relaxed expression.¡± Evie remarked, seeing her brother lying down in what appeared to a be lazy position. ¡°Well, there¡¯s not much to do.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± She replied. ¡°Let¡¯s eat together, you don¡¯t want to miss the eggs.¡± ¡°Right, let¡¯s eat.¡± Ivan said as he stood up and headed towards the kitchen, where he saw a large plate of scrambled eggs waiting for them. ¡°Looks good,¡± he commented with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s a given, we¡¯re talking about me,¡± Evie teased. ¡°Then a taste test is a must,¡± Ivan replied, grabbing utensils and setting the table. They both took a seat at the kitchen table. As they ate the scrambled eggs, a comfortable silence settled between them. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ With nothing else to do, Ivan finds himself wandering around the village. Fortunately, the sun is hiding behind the clouds, so it¡¯s not too hot outside at the moment. Unlike the past few weeks, when he felt an uncontrollable urge to go outside and walk in the morning, but today his mind is clear. There¡¯s no compulsion driving him out. ¡°Looks like I managed to get a pass on the next day,¡± he muttered, only now realizing he hadn¡¯t suffocated or died the previous night. He had escaped the cruel, ever-repeating day of April 18th. [ April 19th, 2022 3:21 PM ] His phone confirmed it: it was indeed April 19th. He had successfully made it through. It had taken him 14 days to finally escape. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°It seems like there is an end to suffering,¡± he muttered, looking at the vast field of grass where no duck could be seen anymore. She¡¯s gone, and somehow I managed to escape death for once. The sight of the duck was absent now. Luckily, it¡¯s Saturday, giving Ivan ample time to roam around. Missing yesterday¡¯s class didn¡¯t matter. What mattered most was that he had finally escaped death. Ivan knew there was something strange about the duck itself. During the endlessly looping day, nothing changed except for the duck, which grew day by day. But now, it is gone. Despite its disappearance, he was relieved. Finally, a day had come when he could believe that tomorrow would arrive. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡°You sure you¡¯re not going to eat dinner?¡± Ivan asked Evie. ¡°I¡¯m sure, I don¡¯t feel hungry at all,¡± Evie replied. ¡°It¡¯s been three nights already. How come you don¡¯t want to eat dinner?¡± Ivan asked, concerned about his sister¡¯s lack of appetite. ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly. It¡¯s something I don¡¯t understand myself. But don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll eat breakfast tomorrow.¡± -sigh- ¡°You better be,¡± he responded. For three nights now, Evie had skipped dinner. She didn¡¯t understand it herself, but the feeling of hunger seemed to have vanished. Ivan headed back to the kitchen, where their mother was waiting. ¡°Is she still not hungry?¡± Lila asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. She¡¯s been saying that for nights now. I don¡¯t know what happened to her.¡± ¡°We should make her eat something, even just a little,¡± Lila suggested, worried about Evie. ¡°Not now, but I¡¯ll try tomorrow.¡± Ivan replied. ¡°Okay, for now, let¡¯s eat dinner.¡± Lila said. They both started eating dinner, leaving behind Evie, who had once again skipped her meal. Ivan couldn¡¯t help but glance occasionally at the empty seat, his concern for his sister worries him. ¡°Do you think this is just a phase?¡± Lila asked, her voice feels with worry as she took a bite of her food. ¡°I hope so.¡± Ivan replied, trying to reassure both himself and his mother. ¡°But I¡¯ll keep an eye on her and make sure she eats something tomorrow.¡± They continued their meal in thoughtful silence, each lost in their own thoughts about Evie and what could be causing her sudden loss of appetite. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Six days had passed since Evie last ate dinner. ¡°Brother, don¡¯t you notice something different about me?¡± Evie asked as she approached Ivan. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ivan replied, confused. ¡°It¡¯s about my body. I feel like I¡¯ve changed.¡± ¡°Your body?¡± Ivan looked at her, trying to see if anything was different than usual.. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± ¡°Really? I feel like I¡¯ve gotten bigger these past few days.¡± Ivan examined her more closely and realized she had indeed grown physically. ¡°You¡¯re kind of right. Did you gain weight or something?¡± ¡°Probably. I feel like I¡¯ve put on some weight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s odd. You¡¯ve been skipping dinner for six nights now,¡± Ivan commented, puzzled by his sister¡¯s unexpected weight gain. ¡°Yeah, it is strange.¡± Evie agreed. ¡°These past few days of eating fewer meals, and yet, I¡¯m gaining weight all of a sudden.¡± Ivan frowned, his concern deepening. ¡°Maybe we should talk to Mom about this. There might be something else going on.¡± Evie nodded. ¡°Yeah, maybe it¡¯s a side effect of something. I haven¡¯t been feeling hungry, but I haven¡¯t felt sick either.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not take any chances.¡± Ivan said. ¡°We should see a doctor if this continues.¡± As they walked towards the kitchen to find their mother, Ivan couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something unusual was happening to his sister. He hoped it was nothing serious, but the mysterious changes in Evie¡¯s body left him uneasy. They found Lila in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner. ¡°Mom, we need to talk.¡± Ivan said, his voice was serious. Lila looked up, concern immediately crossing her face. ¡°What is it, Ivan? Is something wrong?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about Evie. She¡¯s been skipping dinner for six nights now, but she¡¯s somehow gaining weight.¡± Ivan explained. Lila turned to Evie, her worry deepening. ¡°Evie, is this true? Have you noticed anything unusual?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t felt hungry at all, but I haven¡¯t been sick either,¡± Evie explained. ¡°I just feel¡­ different than usual.¡± -sigh- Lila sighed. ¡°This isn¡¯t something we should ignore. I think it¡¯s best if we see a doctor tomorrow, just to be sure everything is okay.¡± Ivan nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, I think that¡¯s a good idea.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Lila said, her voice firm but gentle. ¡°We¡¯ll go first thing in the morning.¡± As they finished cleaning up, they hoped that whatever was happening to Evie could be explained and treated. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á The next morning, Ivan suddenly woke up by his mother¡¯s piercing screams. Rushing to his sister¡¯s room, he was met with a horrific sight¡­ The bed was drenched in blood, and the sight of a familiar small creature is visible: A Yellow Duckling sat on the bloody bed. His mother, Lila, stood frozen in shock before collapsing to the floor. Ivan quickly scooped her up and carried her to her room, where he waited anxiously for her to regain consciousness. It took a while, but eventually, her eyes opened up, filled with confusion and terror. Ivan¡¯s mind raced as he tried to process what he had seen. Something terrible had happened to Evie, and the presence of the duckling made the situation even more confusing. Without wasting another second, he sprinted back to his sister¡¯s room to investigate further. When he arrived, the duckling was gone. The only evidence of the strange occurrence was the blood-stained bed. Ivan¡¯s heart pounded in his chest as he realized that something horrible happened. Did she become a duckling? Ivan thought to himself. It was an absurd idea, something that defied all logic, yet it was the only explanation that came to mind in the middle of his panic and confusion. Desperate for answers, Ivan searched the room for any clue as to what might have happened. The room felt empty without Evie¡¯s presence, and the blood made it worse. He knew he needed to find out the truth, no matter how impossible it seemed. He returned to his mother¡¯s side, her face pale and scared. ¡°Mom, we need to figure out what happened to Evie,¡± he said, trying to keep his voice steady. Lila nodded weakly, her eyes filled with tears. ¡°Evie? Who¡¯s that?¡± What? ¡°Huh!?¡± Ivan exclaimed, startled at what he heard. Lila looked at him, her expression filled with confusion. ¡°Who¡¯s Evie?¡± she asked. Chapter 10: An Enemy of Ducklings How could she forget about her daughter? It''s been three days, and Ivan still has no leads on his sister. Asking around hasn''t helped, it seems like everyone has forgotten about Evie. It''s as if she never existed at all. His first plan is to find a yellow duckling, the last thing he saw before his sister disappeared. But after three days, there''s still no sign of her, he has no clue where she is. "Is that..." Ivan saw what looks like a girl trying to get close to a yellow duckling. The girl was crouched low, her eyes fixed on the small creature standing near the grasses. "Stop looking at me like that." the girl said suddenly, noticing Ivan''s stare. Ivan stepped closer, concerned. "What do you think you''re doing?" The girl couldn''t answer properly, knowing she looked like she was about to do something on the duckling. Her eyes darting between Ivan and the small duck. She couldn''t deny that she was about to hit it. Ivan could see that this girl knew something about the duck and was about to hit the duckling. That might be Evie. Seeing that, he wanted to stop her, thinking that the duckling might be his sister. "Just about to hit a monster." she laughed awkwardly, unable to escape the situation, her laugh sounded forced. Ivan''s eyes widened. He took a deep breath and said, "That''s no monster. Let me handle that one, it''s probably someone I knew." "Oh, I see." She backed down as soon as she heard that, her shoulders relaxing slightly. "You knew something about these ducks?" Ivan gently picked up the duckling, holding it in his hands. He looked at it closely, wondering if it was his sister or not. Its eyes looking up at him. "A bit. Your name? I''m Ivan." he said, turning back to the girl. She hesitated for a moment before answering. "Zoyi''s the name." "Nice to meet you, Zoyi." Ivan nodded, still holding the duckling carefully. "So, I guess you know something about these creatures?" "Yeah, I''ve been dealing with them for a while now." Zoyi responded, looking uncomfortable. "What do you know about them?" He patted the duckling in his hand. "Not that much, but I know that they are somewhat connected to why I''ve been looping. You know what I''m talking about right?" Zoyi nodded. "You''re not wrong, you might as well think of them as a cursed creature." "A cursed creature..." He paused for a while, he never thought of the ducks as cursed creature. "Care to explain why you labeled them as cursed creatures?" "First, what do you think I''m about to do earlier?" She asked. "Hit it." He responded immediately, knowing that it''s clear that she was about to hit the duckling. "You''re right. I''ve been doing this for a while now, killing them, that is." She answered, looking at the duckling in Ivan''s hands. "These creatures can multiply themselves, by laying an egg or two. I guess you understand what I''m trying to say?" Ivan nodded slowly. "That''s why it''s necessary to kill them, to stop them from multiplying." "Exactly that, that''s the basic." "But two eggs? I don''t think I''ve seen another egg." Ivan asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Yes, there''s another egg. I guess you haven''t seen it yet?" Zoyi raised an eyebrow. Ivan shook his head. "Yeah, I never saw another egg. Is that true, that there''s supposed to be two eggs?" he asked, his voice filled with concern. "Yes, there are two, the left egg and the right egg." "The left and the right egg? Did you name it or something?" He asked, confused why it is named like that. "Tell that to the one who created it, she has a bad naming sense." "There''s someone who created it?" Ivan asked, his eyebrow raised. Zoyi look dead straight to Ivan. "You wouldn''t think that this type of ducks are normal right?" Ivan laughed awkwardly, he is surprised to know that there is someone behind this phenomenon. That he is constantly dying each night, and that his sister became a duck and is forgotten by everyone, except him. "You can probably guess that one of the eggs transforms you into a duck, and that''s the left egg." She added. "What about the right egg?" He asked, clueless about the existence of the right egg, and how it is different from the left egg." "The right egg, well, I can''t really explain it, but it would end the curse." "End the curse? Like killing you?" Ivan''s grip on the duckling tightened slightly. "But that''s not different from dying every night, is there something different about it?" "I wouldn''t say that it''s limited to killing, but they are totally different." Zoyi chuckled, there was no humor in her eyes, she is hesitant to answer. "The ducklings are super dangerous. Weirdly enough, they can kill everyone nearby when they''re killed." Ivan''s eyes widened in shock. "You mean if the ducks are killed? Why would they be killed?" Zoyi shrugged, her face serious. "Well, things are unpredictable. Any creature could die at any time," she said. "I guess, I wouldn''t deny that one." Ivan agreed, but something was still bothering him. "What do you mean by killing everyone nearby?" Zoyi pointed at the duckling in Ivan''s hands. "Those creatures, the cursed one, is able to kill everyone nearby. But it doesn''t happen without any reason, it only happens when it dies, dragging everyone nearby them to death." "That''s... kind of unbelievable." Surprised, he couldn''t believe what he just heard. "How exactly does it manage to do it?" Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "By making them unable to breathe." Ivan eyes open widely. "Then, do you also know why I can''t breathe every midnight?" "It''s because you''re ignoring the duckling," Zoyi said. "What do you mean by that?" Ivan asked, curious about what she mean. Zoyi sighed, preparing to explain something complicated. "Basically, you need to feed them if you see them. If not, you''ll die and die and die multiple times." "Wait, wait, wait... What do you mean by feed them? Also how is it connected to me dying multiple times?" "To be exact, when they curse someone, the duck will die of starvation for a day. That''s why you need to feed them." She answered, indicating how important it is to feed the duck. "That doesn''t make any sense at all." He replied, knowing how the duck constantly grows each day. "What do you mean?" She asked, thinking she said something wrong. "If I''m not wrong, only the duck is able to grow each loop. That''s what I''ve noticed, not that I am sure about." "Oddly enough, you''re not wrong about that. These creatures work mysteriously. If you follow one before midnight, you''ll see it die before your eyes. But somehow, they keep growing, as if nothing happened." Zoyi explained, aware of how otherworldly the cursed ducks are. "Simply means... that I got cursed and the reason why I''m getting killed is because I didn''t feed it?" Ivan couldn''t believe what he just heard. His mind raced as he processed the information. So all he needed to do was feed them? "You''re saying you also went through that?" he asked, his voice filled with a mix of surprise and relief. "You bet. I just found out when I brought the duck into our home, so it was pure luck." Zoyi nodded. Ivan immediately thought how easy it would''ve been to just feed the duck and avoid dying. "So, what are you going to do with that duck?" Zoyi said with a cold look, her eyes fixed on the duckling. Ivan held the duckling closer to his chest. "It''s probably someone I knew. Let me handle this one." Zoyi''s expression softened slightly. "You sure you can handle that? You know how dangerous that thing is?" "I know, I''ve been through it myself." Ivan responded. Zoyi nodded slowly. "I forgot to tell you, don''t die." Ivan couldn''t help but chuckle. "I''ve been dying multiple times, what''s new?" "Well, it''s always good to be more careful." Zoyi''s voice was serious. Ivan nodded as he said goodbye to Zoyi. "Well, we should go home for now." He said, while looking at the yellow duckling in his hands. He then brought the duck to his house and looked at it. He placed it gently on the table, watching as it waddled around. Ivan wondered if this was really his sister, but he couldn''t tell. He sighed, feeling a mix of hope and uncertainty. "I wish I knew for sure if it''s you, sis." he muttered, gently stroking the duckling''s head. As night fell, Ivan decided to sleep for the night and keep investigating tomorrow. He made sure to feed the duckling before going to bed, remembering Zoyi''s warning. "Hopefully this is enough." He sighed, a bit afraid of tomorrow. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á When he woke up the next morning, sunlight was streaming through his window, hitting his face. Ivan jumped out of bed and rushed to check on the duckling. "No..." To his shock, the duck was gone. Panic set in as he searched every corner of his small house. "Where did it go?" he muttered to himself, his heart racing. He took a few minutes more, checking the house properly, but he is not lucky enough to find her sister inside the house. He quickly got dressed and headed out into town, his eyes scans every nook and cranny for the little yellow bird. As he walked down the dusty street, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of deja vu. Hadn''t he been here before, searching for his sister? "Where are you Evie!?" He shouted, hoping her sister would respond to his calling. "Again, I should have stay beside her..." But, just as he was about to give up hope, he saw Zoyi walking by, her familiar face was a welcome sight. "Zoyi!" he called out, jogging up to her. "The duck is missing. I can''t find it anywhere." Zoyi''s eyes widened with concern. "That''s not good. We need to find it fast." "But where?" He asked, confused on where to start. "Let''s start somewhere nearby first."They started searching together, checking behind of outside the houses.. As they walked, Ivan filled Zoyi in on what had happened. "I fed it last night, just like you said." he explained. "But when I woke up this morning, it was gone." Zoyi nodded, her brow furrowed in thought. "It must have wandered off. We need to be careful, Ivan. If there are more of them..." Her words stopped as they turned a corner and came across the houses behind the giant mango tree. The sight that greeted them made them both stop in their tracks. A lot of ducklings were roaming around the houses, three of them to be exact. Walking around, seemingly innocent, but Ivan and Zoyi knew better. "This is bad." Zoyi whispered. "This could put our village in danger." Ivan couldn''t understand how three ducklings could do that. Even though he knew the eggs were the reason, he couldn''t get how that would lead to the end of the village. He watched the ducklings, trying to wrap his head around the situation. "It''s too dangerous to kill them here, it could kill people around." Zoyi said, her eyes glances around nervously. She grabbed Ivan''s arm, pulling him away from the scene. "We need to get them away from the village." Ivan nodded, still feeling confused but trusting Zoyi''s judgment. "How are we going to do that?" Zoyi thought for a moment, then said, "We''ll have to lure them. Got any bread?" "Bread? I''ll look for some in the house, wait for me here." Ivan quickly ran to his house and grabbed some bread. When he returned, Zoyi had already started leaving a trail of crumbs leading away from the village. "Smart." Ivan said, impressed by her quick thinking. They watched as the ducklings began to follow the trail, their tiny beaks pecking at the ground. Slowly but surely, they led the creatures away from the area. "It should be safe now." She said, grabbing the two ducklings in her hands. "Go grab the other one." Where Ivan grabs the remaining one. "Shouldn''t we have grabbed them earlier instead of luring them with bread?" Ivan asked. "We can''t be too sure about these ducks," Zoyi replied. "They are fragile. One wrong move, and we could kill everyone in the area." "I see, better be safe." ... ... ... After walking for a while, they brought the ducklings to the river away from the village. At the river, Zoyi picked up a stone, her face set with determination. Ivan watched, his heart pounding, as she approached the ducklings. With swift movements, Zoyi killed the three ducklings by hitting them with the stone. The sound made Ivan flinch, but he forced himself to watch. It took her few seconds to kill them. "That was it?" Ivan said, his voice filled with disbelief. "Yeah, they shouldn''t be able to curse anyone else now." Zoyi''s responded, satisfied from the outcome. "That was fast." "You be---" -splat- Before Zoyi could finish her sentence, blood exploded. Zoyi''s body burst and her blood sprayed everywhere, painting the riverbank red. "Wha---" Surprised by what he saw, Ivan stepped back. His shoes were stained with blood, and the grass nearby was soaked with it as well. But he knew right away that what he was seeing was familiar. There was a yellow duckling on top of the blood where Zoyi had been standing just moments ago. Zoyi had become a duck. And this also meant that his sister had become a duck. The realization hit Ivan like a punch to the gut. He stared at the duckling that used to be Zoyi. Without thinking, Ivan immediately grabbed a rock and hit the Zoyi duck with all his strength, but surprisingly, it didn''t do anything to the duck. It felt like he hit a rock with a rock. He hit it many times until he couldn''t anymore, his arms aching from the effort. Panting heavily, he dropped the rock and fell to his knees. "Why won''t you die?" he shouted at the unharmed duckling. He then realized something: How? How did Zoyi manage to kill them so easily? Then he suddenly thought, that since Zoyi became a duck, it must mean she ate the egg herself, the same way it happened to his sister. She must''ve eaten the left egg, knowing she became a duck herself. The Zoyi duck started wandering around, seemingly unaffected by Ivan''s attempts to harm it. Ivan just watched as it walked out of sight, disappearing into the bushes along the riverbank. As the duckling vanished from view, Ivan felt a wave of despair. He was back where he started, alone and confused, with even more questions than before. He sat by the river, staring at the bloodstained ground where Zoyi had stood. "What am I supposed to do now?" he muttered to himself, scratching his head in frustration. As the sun began to set, Ivan slowly got to his feet. He knew he couldn''t stay here forever. He had to go back to the house, to figure out what to do next. With heavy steps, he began the long walk back, leaving behind the scene of Zoyi''s transformation. The weight of everything he had learned and witnessed pressed down on him. As he walked, Ivan''s mind raced with questions. How many more people in the village were affected by this curse? Was there any way to reverse it? And most importantly, how could he save his sister? Chapter 11: An Unkillable Duckling [ Back to Shac''s present, continuation of Chapter 7. ] ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Once again a new day had come. Even though he was looping, he knew something was different about today. A new email had arrived, something he hadn''t received in the past loops, but there was something about it that Shac couldn''t quite tell. [ ¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á, ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á. ] The screen displayed the message, an email sent by Ivan, censored by ¡Á. He couldn''t tell how important it was, but for now, he knew that Ivan was telling him that there was a person who was lying, who seemed to be a girl. "She is lying to us, everyone got killed," Shac muttered. He remembered the message clearly, but he didn''t understand even a bit of what Ivan wanted to convey. "Everyone got killed... who''s everyone?" He wondered, having no clue what it was about. Walking, Shac thought deeply about the message. Although Ivan was clearly telling him that there was someone who was lying, he knew nothing. There wasn''t a single person who fit the description of someone who could be lying. "A girl..." He thought deeply, considering people who seemed to be connected to the ducklings, most specifically, a girl. Then he suddenly remembered: there was someone who fit the description, a girl, and someone who was connected to the curse. "The white-haired girl, and the one who Ivan met in the past," he thought. Both of them were people he was not familiar with, but both of them were probably among the people Ivan had mentioned in the message. While thinking deeply, he bumped into a student, not noticing his surroundings. Immediately, he said sorry, as he was reminded of how he had been too focused on himself and not on his surroundings. He sighed as he approached his room for the morning. There, he immediately noticed Ivan. As they greeted each other, Ivan noticed Shac''s troubled face. "You good?" Ivan asked, wondering what could be bothering Shac this early in the morning. "Yeah, just thinking of something," he replied. "I guess something about yesterday," Ivan commented. Shac nodded as he tried to sit. "Do you have time later?" "Sure, there''s still a lot to discuss after all." As they both greeted each other, the homeroom teacher arrived, cutting short their conversation. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á "Ah... finally..." Shac stretches out his whole body as the class just got finished. "Let''s go grab something." He said, trying to get Ivan''s attention out of the notebook. "Forget about that, I''m hungry." "Wait... give me three more minutes, I need to write up this one." Ivan replied as he continued writing the lesson written on the board. "Shouldn''t you be writing this one?" Shac grinned as he heard Ivan, grabbing his notebook out of his backpack, he showed his writing in front of Ivan''s face. "Look who''s fast?" "Impressive speed." Ivan commented, but he noticed something about it. "But the writing, not that impressive." He smiled as he mocked Shac''s writing. "Here I thought our writing was a bit similar." Shac commented, looking closely at Ivan''s notebook. "Yeah, it looks similar." He glances back and forth to his notebook and Ivan''s notebook. Ivan grabbed the notebook and compared both his writing and Shac''s writing. "Damn, you''re kind of right." He chuckled, seeing how his writing doesn''t even look better than Shac. " Let me finish this one real quick." Speed writing the rest of the writings in the board, it took him a mere minute to finish everything. He then looked at his notebook and what''s written on it. "This is horrible." Shac laughed as he take a look at Ivan''s writing. "Now I wouldn''t even dare to say that my writing is worse than yours." Ivan sighed as he heard that, he couldn''t deny that all this time his writing is a lot worse that he thought. "I''m getting hungry with all this writing, let''s go grab something." "That''s what I''ve been waiting for." Shac replied. As they gathered their belongings and left the classroom, Shac broke the silence. "Did you check your mail yesterday?" he asked, recalling the censored message he received. "We did check it together right?" Ivan asked, his eyebrows raised in confusion. "No no no, not that one." Shac corrected. "I''m talking about he one after we talked." "No, why?" "You actually send me another email yesterday." Shac revealed as they walked towards the entrance of the canteen. "It''s a bit different than usual." Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "A different email?" Ivan questioned. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket, and looked through his email once again. There he saw what it seems to be the email that Shac was talking about. Seeing the peculiar email, he smiled, thinking that yet another problem had arisen from out of nowhere. "I see I see, this is unexpected." He added, as he smile through the screen of his phone. "Don''t forget we need to grab something first," Shac said, noticing Ivan''s smile, which always appeared when something unexpected happened. "Don''t worry too much, we''re not going to lose our lunch this time," Ivan reassured him. "I''ll show you something, too. Find us some seats first." he added as he joined the line to grab lunch. It didn''t take too long for Shac to find an empty seat. He waste no time and immediately took a seat on it, waiting for Ivan to finished up grabbing a lunch. After a few minutes, Ivan arrived at the table, holding two plates of rice with a hard-boiled egg on top of each. "What..." Shac couldn''t believe what he saw. "This is the lunch?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed as Ivan presented the meal. Seeing Shac''s reaction, Ivan couldn''t help but laugh at his face. "For now this is going to be our lunch." He said, looking straight at Shac''s face. "This is not enough for my stomach." Shac replied, looking at today''s lunch. "But for you to do this, what''s the deal?" Ivan smiled and asked, "Here''s a question..." He grabbed the eggs from both his plate and Shac''s plate. Holding the two eggs up to Shac, he continued, "Between these two eggs, which one would you choose?" Puzzled by the question, Shac responded, "Huh?" He sensed there was something Ivan was trying to convey or an answer he was hoping to hear. "Let''s say for example, the duck lays two eggs at the same time. Which one would you eat?" Ivan asked. "Would that even matter?" Shac asked. "Then the one on your left hand, since it came from my lunch." "It would definitely matter a lot," Ivan responded, placing the egg from his right hand onto the table. "The one you pick, someone named it the ''left egg''. Eating this ''left egg'', for some reason, turns you into a duck, passing the curse to you. Sound familiar?" He continued. Shac nodded, quickly understanding Ivan''s point. "You mean the duck''s egg, right? The one that almost turned me into a duck," he replied, recalling his previous loop where he encountered the egg and ate it. "But why call it a ''left egg''? Who came up with that name?" he wondered aloud. "Who knows?" Ivan shrugged, then returned the egg back to Shac''s plate. He grabbed the other egg, holding it up. "Now this one, someone named this the ''right egg''. What do you think this egg supposed to do?" He asked. Thinking how the first egg passes curse, then the right egg must be something that do the opposite thing. "It must be something that has an opposite effect compare to the ''left egg''." Shac responded, uncertain about his reply. You''re probably right about that," Ivan said, tapping the egg lightly on the table, revealing a crack. He proceeded to open it up. "What are you waiting for?" he asked, looking at Shac, who was patiently watching. Shac decided to follow suit and opened his egg. They both began their lunch, each with only a hard-boiled egg. While they ate their lunch, Ivan broke the silence by mentioning a name. "Zoyi. She''s the one who told me about it, the other cursed person I''ve met in the past." "So it was Zoyi... Did she tell you about the eggs?" Shac asked, intrigued by this person named Zoyi. "Yes, she mentioned them. Like you, I''m clueless about what the ''right egg'' is supposed to be. She only said it''s supposed to ''end the curse,'' but didn''t explain further. So, I have no idea," Ivan explained. "But," Shac noticed, there''s something different about a duck laying two eggs at the same time. "Isn''t there supposed to be only one egg? Why are there two?" "You''re right, that''s what I thought too. I''ve never actually come across that egg. The only reason I know about it is because Zoyi talked about it," Ivan replied, wondering the purpose of the mysterious ''right egg''. "She seems to be avoiding telling me about the ''right egg'', and besides I never actually had a chance again to ask her about it." He added. "You should have asked her about it. Did you try asking her again?" "She''s dead already." Shac''s eyes widened slightly in surprise, not expecting that news. "Is this something about her being a curse?" He asked, thinking it might be the case, considering that they are talking about the curses. Ivan nodded in response. "There''s something about people being a curse that surprised me a lot. The first thing is that, people became a duckling, I happened to experience seeing someone became a duckling. As you might guess, Zoyi became one, and the worst thing, it happened before me." Ivan explained, his low voice contains sadness and regret. "The second one, it''s something that surprised me the most after you told me everything about your loop." He continued, a hint of smile can be seen on his face. "What do you mean?" Shac asked, thinking what could his loop meant about the second one. "What about it?" "A duckling will die of starvation if not fed." Ivan recalled Zoyi''s words. "Our experiences confirmed it. Once cursed, a duck must be fed, or it will starve to death, killing us." Shac nodded as he listened to Ivan. "That''s right, this includes them dying from any causes, as long as they are killed, the cursed person will also be killed. Both the duckling and the cursed person are tied together." "That Zoyi, she was able to kill ducklings." Ivan revealed. "What do you think about it?" Shac''s eyes widened in disbelief. It''s something that he thought wouldn''t be possible. "How? How is that even possible?" He struggled to comprehend what he had just heard. "Are you sure about that?" "I was there, she killed them at ease by hitting a rock. But, as you might guess, I am alive and well." He paused, reflecting on his memory. "It seems like killing a duckling didn''t seem to kill her, and even me who was watching behind the scene." He continued. "It seems different from yours, where people get killed when a duckling dies. But for some reason, when she killed them, nothing happened." "You''re right, it seems to be a different case than mine. But the thing about the duckling getting starved seems to be the same case as mine. The only difference is that when the duck got killed, mine got killed accidentally, whereas yours, Zoyi killed them voluntarily." Shac responded, worried about the difference between his experience and Ivan''s experience. "That''s not the only thing bothering me," Ivan replied. "When she transformed into a duck, a thought flashed through my mind, ''I need to kill her.'' What do you think I did next?" "I don''t know," Shac responded, his confusion growing. "I tried to hit her with a rock," Ivan continued, his voice troubled. "But instead of feeling like I was hitting a duckling, it was like hitting a stone. No matter how many times I tried, it felt nothing like hitting something, but it felt like hitting stone against stone." Shac struggled to comprehend Ivan''s experience. He couldn''t believe Ivan couldn''t harm the duck at all. Ivan reflected. "After hitting her multiple times, I realized something. I couldn''t kill that duckling, I couldn''t kill Zoyi, she is unkillable." A chill ran down Shac''s spine as he processed the information. The thought of an unkillable duckling was beyond anything he could have imagined. Ivan''s troubled expression confirmed it for him, that there might indeed be such a thing as an unkillable duckling. Chapter 12: A Sacrificial Duck Shac paused mid-bite as he heard about the ''Unkillable Duckling''. It''s the first time he heard something like that, it''s something he wouldn''t even think existed. He looked at Ivan''s troubled face. "Are you serious?" he asked, making sure Ivan''s not kidding around this time. "Yeah," Ivan said in a low voice. "I don''t know it myself. She was able to kill ducklings with ease, without any problems... But I wasn''t able to do that when she became a duckling herself." He said, troubled by the fact that he didn''t manage to do something about Zoyi. He then continued, "I never saw her again after that..." Shac knew that there''s something off about that situation. "But, if I''m going to base something on my situation, the ducklings are fragile. They don''t seem to be something that should be unkillable in the first place." he replied, knowing that all this time, the ducks have been fragile to begin with. There''s not a single time he remembered them being unkillable.. Shac took another bite of his lunch. "This lunch''s so dry," He said in an annoyed voice. "And whose fault is this?" Ivan laughed, then took a bite of the same lunch. "Not gonna lie, this lunch is so dry." He commented, as he took another bite of the lunch, consisting of only rice and a single hard-boiled egg. "Shouldn''t we have a cola or something?" Shac looked at Ivan with a straight face and sighed. "I guess I''ll go grab some cola." he said, evening out the cost of their lunches. As he proceeded to grab some cola, Ivan smiled at his back. After a few seconds, Shac returned with two colas and placed them on the table. "Now, there shouldn''t be much of a problem digesting this," he said, looking at Ivan''s smiling face. "I forgot about it." Ivan replied sarcastically, smiling mockingly at Shac. "Thanks for the drink," he said, as he took a sip of the cola. They then proceeded to eat their lunch. Now they can finally eat without having a problem of eating something dry. A few minutes had passed, and they finally finished eating their lunch. Shac looked at his phone, he checked their remaining time for the lunch break. "There''s still 10 minutes left." He said. "So there''s still a bit of time." Ivan replied. "I''m curious about the email that was sent to you yesterday." Ivan mentioned, recalling the message he saw earlier. "It''s supposedly something from ''me'', but I have no memory sending it, same as the first message. This might prove that there might be a parallel version of myself, although we don''t have any concrete evidence about it." he added. He picked up his phone to open up his email again, there he was welcomed by the message he supposedly sent. Then he noticed something odd about it. "How would you even read this?" he asked, as he showed his screen to Shac. "It''s unreadable, it''s full of ¡Á." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "I actually managed to read a bit of the message. Weirdly enough, the message already has the ¡Á on it, it''s already censored. The thing is, before it happened, it changes randomly. Censoring the characters randomly." Shac elaborated, telling about the mysterious email that for some reason is being censored randomly. "But as I said, I managed to read the whole message, luckily." he added. Ivan couldn''t wrap his head around it. "What exactly do you mean by being censored randomly?" "Think of it as the message''s characters randomly changes with ¡Á, making it difficult to read the message for a while." he responded. "But as you already know, the message is already filled with ¡Á, making it impossible to dicipher the initial message." "Ah... that''s what you meant." Ivan nodded. "So what''s the message about?" "Well... it says, [ She is lying, everyone got killed. ]" "Huh?" Ivan responded, puzzled by the message. He scratched his head, thinking about what the message is supposed to be, but he couldn''t think of anything. "You did say ''she'', so it means you''re talking about a girl," Shac said, thinking that it should lessen the people they need to remember. "If we are talking about a girl, then the only person I can think of is Zoyi... But she became a duckling already, it shouldn''t be possible, right?" Ivan replied, knowing that Zoyi already became a duckling, thinking this shouldn''t be about her. "That''s not the only problem, the message itself. A lot about it remains mysterious, the fact that the message is sent to you by ''me'', and the fact that it doesn''t have a time on it." he added, further questioning the existence of the message. "A lot of it doesn''t make any sense." Both of them sighed, thinking how problematic the situation is. But Ivan couldn''t help but let out a chuckle. "But, there''s something I thought of just now..." he said, looking at Shac''s troubled face. "What is it?" Shac responded, curious, wondering what it could be. "A way to kill the ducklings," Ivan noted, a serious expression can be seen on his face. "A way to kill the ducklings? What do you mean by that?" Shac asked. "Exactly what it means, a way to kill them, and possibly without dying." Ivan responded. "There''s one thing that we missed to point out that seems to be an important clue, and that is, that Zoyi is a cursed person. The fact that she became a duckling in front of my eyes proves it." Shac nodded in response. "Yeah, what about it? Something about her being a cursed person lets her kill the cursed ducklings without any problems?" "That''s probably the case. Thinking that she managed to kill the three of them without having any consequences like getting suffocated, it''s probably because she''s a cursed person herself." Ivan stated. "That''s it if I''m going to take note of your experience. Based on you, people should die of suffocation immediately after a duckling dies. You already knew about this yourself, and myself, we both die by not being able to breathe." "You''re... quite right about that, both of you should''ve been affected by the duckling being killed. But for some reason, you didn''t ''die,'' but Zoyi became a duckling herself." Shac responded. "And this leads me to the idea that a cursed person will be able to kill ducklings without any consequences." Ivan declared, combining all the information from both his experience and Shac''s experience. "What do you think?" Shac couldn''t help but let out a smile upon hearing Ivan. "That''s great. If that''s the case, we should do something different this time." he suggested. "Oh? What is it this time?" Ivan replied, unsure of what Shac''s planning to do. Shac grinned, his expression deepening Ivan''s confusion. Suddenly, with a spark of excitement in his eyes, he declared, "How about I become a duck again and exterminate some cursed ducks we find along the way?" Chapter 13: A Ducks Cold Egg Shac finished the class for the day, and without any delay he went straight home. His plan, the one that he thought of earlier this afternoon, he can¡¯t help but think about it. After all, the thought of exterminating the ducklings is something he wouldn¡¯t even think of doing in his life. He knew that this is not a normal life, those ducks aren¡¯t normal, they are curses, and they are the exact reason why he is suffering right now. ¡°quack!¡± The duckling greeted as Shac arrived home. But, although I said that, it is still somewhat hard for me to kill them. He approached the duckling in the box, and patted its head softly. ¡°It¡¯s for the best right?¡± He laughed awkwardly. ¡°Who knows if I can really do it.¡± His mind tells him to do it, but his heart is still wavering, because if he did start killing ducklings, he won¡¯t be able to go back anymore. It shouldn¡¯t be that hard right? But, why am I still hesitating? These ducklings cursed not only me, but also Ivan, and many more! He sighed deeply, confused. As he was tired from thinking too much, he stood up and started walking inside the home to take a breather. ¡°Phewww¡­ Now what to do¡­¡± He sat down on a sofa. There are six more days before she lays an egg. Counting the first one last night, there are six more nights before the egg. And considering the danger of the duckling, I shouldn¡¯t do anything before it lays an egg. Or else, I will surely die. But¡­ I truly hope that this is for the best¡­ With his plan to feed the duckling for a week before it laid an egg, Shac began the first stage of the curse, feeding the duckling. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Yawn. Shac stretched as he woke up for the day. With a determined look on his face, he immediately got out of bed. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door, stepping outside into the backyard early in the morning. ¡°This is it.¡± He muttered as he looked at the box in the backyard. He approached it slowly, the sight of the duck becoming clearer with each step. A wave of sadness washed over him as the familiar image of his dead pet came into view once again. It wasn¡¯t pleasant, wasn¡¯t fun, and definitely wasn¡¯t something he ever wanted to see again. He grabbed the body of the duck, not expecting what he would find. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw not one, but two eggs beneath the duck¡¯s body. ¡°So¡­ Is this the one you left for me this time?¡± He whispered to the lifeless form of the duck, but this time, the duck didn¡¯t respond. For the third time in his life, he dug a small hole just big enough to bury the duck. He grabbed the same shovel he had used in the past, preparing to repeat the same burial ritual. Gently, he placed the lifeless body of the duck into the hole and slowly covered it with the remaining dirt. As he finished burying the duck, he turned back to the box and looked at the two eggs remaining inside. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem to be different from each other.¡± He muttered as he approached the box closer to look at it. ¡°It looks identical.¡± He reached out for both eggs at the same time, holding one in each hand. ¡°Oh, I guess I was wrong.¡± He said, noticing the difference between the two eggs. It felt like a difference in temperature. He glanced at the two eggs in his hands, trying to look for the difference on the outside, but there¡¯s nothing different about the outside appearance. The egg in his left hand was at a normal temperature, while the one in his right hand seemed much colder. ¡°I never thought I would be seeing the two eggs within my eyes¡­¡± He whispered as he remembered what Ivan told him that there are two eggs. Without wasting any more time he immediately walked inside the house and placed the egg on the pillow. ¡°Now.¡± He paused and took a deep breath. ¡°It¡¯s time for school.¡± ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Morning classes had just ended, and as usual, both Ivan and Shac headed straight to the canteen to grab lunch. ¡°So¡­¡± Ivan paused and took a bite of the chicken. ¡°What happened to the egg?¡± Before answering him, Shac also took a bite of the chicken. ¡°Something unexpected happened.¡± Ivan eyebrows raised. ¡°What exactly?¡± Shac looked at him with a serious expression and didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Huh¡­¡± Ivan looked at him, disgusted. ¡°What are you trying to play at right now?¡± He laughed, then continued, ¡°So what is it, really?¡± ¡°Well, for some reason, she laid two eggs.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Ivan''s eyes widened in surprise. ¡°I see.¡± He ate the rest of the chicken as fast as he could after hearing that. ¡°You should¡¯ve told me earlier.¡± ¡°I mean, this is the best time to talk about it.¡± ¡°Right. So¡­ did you eat the egg already?¡± Shac shook his head slowly. ¡°Not yet, but later tonight for sure. But first, let¡¯s talk about what I should do.¡± ¡°That goes without saying, you should eat the second egg.¡± ¡°The second egg, huh¡­ So, the right one?¡± ¡°Yes. But I¡¯m not too sure. Is it easy to distinguish the two eggs?¡± Ivan asked, curious about the difference. ¡°Not by appearance. They look identical, perfectly the same. But¡­¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say the same about their temperature. The first egg feels normal, but the second is much colder. They differ in temperature, so I¡¯m sure the right egg is the cold one.¡± Shac explained. Because I don¡¯t remember the first egg being a cold one, it has a normal temperature. So having two eggs, one with a normal temperature, and the other one with a colder temperature, I can only think that the other one is the ¡®right egg¡¯. ¡°Oh¡­ That was unexpected, I was sure that the second egg would have a different appearance.¡± Ivan chuckled then continued with a serious expression, ¡°As I said last week, I¡¯m not too sure of the effects of the ¡®right egg¡¯ so I¡¯m not exactly that sure of this situation.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Shac nodded slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t have a choice, do I?¡± Ivan scratched his head upon hearing that. But Shac was right, he didn¡¯t have any choice, it¡¯s either he will die tomorrow, or eat at least one of the eggs. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± Ivan laughed awkwardly. ¡°She said that eating the ¡®right egg¡¯ will end the curse, but we¡¯re not too sure about that. Not a clue, we don¡¯t know what she meant by ¡®ending the curse¡¯.¡± Zoyi, the one who told Ivan about the existence of the two eggs, said that the other egg was supposed to end the curse. That¡¯s what bothers me, because neither Ivan nor I know anything about the second egg. It¡¯s totally unexplored, and there¡¯s too much risk from trying it. Then suddenly Shac laughed. Risk? Everything has a risk. Doing something different isn¡¯t much better, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll end up having its own risks, because that¡¯s how this curse works. It¡¯s not here to satisfy me, it¡¯s here to make me suffer. Shac, deeply lost in thought, didn¡¯t notice that Ivan was looking at him, confused as to why he laughed out of nowhere. ¡°You good? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve gone crazy.¡± Ivan asked. ¡°That¡¯s an odd question. I¡¯ve always been crazy.¡± Shac replied with a faint smile. ¡°Uh¡­¡± Ivan shrugged. ¡°I guess?¡± I should do it. It¡¯s the only way to move forward after all this. As Shac came to terms with his decision, he was finally set on to eat the egg. ¡°I¡¯ve decided to eat the second egg tonight.¡± Shac revealed, determined. Ivan grinned upon hearing Shac and said, ¡°Glad to hear that. I guess we¡¯ll see what happens tomorrow?¡± ¡°Of course. Unless something unexpected happens. After all, we¡¯re totally clueless about this egg.¡± Ivan nodded slowly, and suddenly got lost in thought. ¡°What do you think will happen to the other egg?¡± ¡°What do you mean? The first egg? What about it?¡± ¡°Did you forget that it rots away after a day?¡± Shac stared at him, his eyes widened in shock. He scratched his head as the realization hit him. ¡°Oh, shit¡­ How could I forget about that?¡± Stretching his arms out on the table, he let out a deep sigh. ¡°Ahhh¡­ This is stressing me out.¡± He continued. ¡°Well, you still have a whole half-day before you die. You told me you died after classes, so you should be fine until tomorrow afternoon.¡± Ivan reassured. ¡°Are we sure that¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen tomorrow?¡± Shac asked. ¡°Of course not. We don¡¯t know for sure, as it could have a different effect than what we expect. Since it¡¯s supposed to ¡®end the curse¡¯, I can only hope it has a positive effect.¡± Shac laughed. ¡°I guess being optimistic is the better choice today.¡± He let out a deep sigh and continued, ¡°I can¡¯t wait to cook the egg. How do you think it¡¯ll taste?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe like a normal egg? Aren¡¯t you the one who already tried eating one?¡± ¡°It tasted normal, nothing different.¡± ¡°Then the second egg should probably taste the same. But if it¡¯s different, let me know. I¡¯m curious.¡± Ivan replied. ¡°Just hope I¡¯m still alive to tell you how it tastes.¡± ¡°And where¡¯s that optimism you were talking about earlier, huh?¡± ¡°Ah, right.¡± They both laughed at the situation. Once they finished their lunch, they headed straight to their next class for the afternoon. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á As the sun began to set, Shac arrived home and headed straight for the two eggs, not wasting a moment. He stared at them, it felt like a dream. It was hard to believe that the cursed duck had laid two different eggs. Reaching out, he picked up each one, immediately noticing the difference, the first egg felt normal, while the second was unnaturally cold. ¡°This second egg¡­ it feels like it was drenched in cold water.¡± He muttered to himself. It didn¡¯t make any sense for the egg to be this cold. Then again, nothing about the curse made sense. It was only natural for something tied to it to defy logic entirely, there¡¯s nothing natural about it. Shac stared at the egg in his right hand. ¡°I wonder what would happen if I boiled you... Would you still be cold? Or turn hot?¡± Well, only one way to find out. Without hesitation, he headed straight to the kitchen and set a pot of water to boil. He carefully placed the egg into the bubbling water and waited. After nine minutes of boiling, he removed the egg and placed it into a bowl of water to cool it down slightly. As he grabbed it, he immediately noticed something about it. He couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°It¡¯s still cold? What in the world?¡± Despite boiling for a full nine minutes, the egg still felt like it had been iced. Shac didn¡¯t waste any time and cracked it open. To his surprise, the egg inside was fully cooked. ¡°But it¡¯s still cold¡­ How does that even make sense?¡± As he peeled away the shell, he saw that the yolk was completely set, the egg was hard-boiled. ¡°I guess the only thing left to do is test the taste.¡± Shac took a bite. ¡°Heh¡­ Nothing different.¡± He sighed in disappointment, it tasted just like a regular boiled egg. So, this was just a refrigerated boiled egg. He finished the rest without a second thought. After finishing his meal, Shac cleaned up the kitchen and brushed his teeth before heading to his bedroom. Though it was still early in the night, he climbed into bed and lay there, staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. I¡¯m hoping for the best this time. Just make me suffer less, please. It didn¡¯t take long for him to fall asleep after a few minutes of lying down. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Uh¡­ Where am I? Where is this? Huh? Is this heaven? No way¡­ But everything¡¯s so white here¡­ Ah, I see. This must be a dream. But all I can see is white, there¡¯s nothing in here. ¡°There¡¯s something in here.¡± Huh? Is that¡­ a duck? ¡°I see¡­ you¡¯ve eaten the other egg this time.¡± How can this duck talk? Or is it speaking directly to my mind? ¡°No, I can really talk. See?¡± Wait, what? You can read my mind? ¡°Of course. We are one, I am you, and you are me.¡± I don¡¯t understand¡­ ¡°This is not the first time we¡¯ve met. You¡¯ve taken care of me, remember?¡± Chapter 14: A Duck named ×××× The surroundings brightened as Shac woke up from his deep sleep. Yawn. He stretched as he got up from his bed, confused from what just dreamt of. The white place, nothing can be seen other than the talking duck. ¡°What was that even about?¡± He muttered, puzzled by the sight of the duck in his dream where for some reason, is able to talk to him. ¡°But¡­¡± He paused, and looked at his body, ¡°I wonder what¡¯s about to happen to me now?¡± Since this was the second egg, the egg that was supposed to ¡®end the curse¡¯, then there must be something different about this. Ah right, the talking duck in my dreams, that¡¯s definitely something I didn¡¯t expect to have. Goosebumps. A shiver ran down his spine. ¡°Crap, why is it so chilly today?¡­¡± Today being Tuesday, he immediately went straight to the bath despite feeling chilly this early in the morning. As he went in, he stared at the showerhead with dread, ¡°Can¡¯t believe I¡¯m about to get tortured by this.¡± Shac was scared of the cold water the shower head was about to release after he was about to open it up. But without any choice, he sighed and turned the knob, he immediately felt the cold water in his neck making him involuntarily squeal. ¡°Ah!¡± But he kept on fighting the coldness he was experiencing. Ten minutes later, Shac finally finished his shower. Grabbing a towel, he dried himself off, but his body wouldn¡¯t stop trembling from the icy water. His teeth shaked as he muttered, ¡°Sh-sh-h-h-it.¡± Without wasting any more time, he immediately dressed up for his school today. Sneeze. ¡°This is what I¡¯m talking abo-¡± Another sneeze cut him off mid-sentence. ¡°This is what I¡¯m saying! This damn sneeze every time I feel cold.¡± After finishing up and getting ready for the day, he headed out, walking toward the school once again. ¡°Huh!?¡± His eyes widened from the sudden pricking pain the moment the wind touched his skin. ¡°AHHH!¡± He screamed, falling into his knees as he just stepped out of the door. He slammed the door shut and walked back inside, sitting on the floor touching both of his arms. ¡°What the hell was that!?¡± He gasped as he went back inside. Luckily, the pain was gone as soon as he went inside. But to his surprise, he started feeling cold once again. ¡°Shit, what¡¯s happening!?¡± A shiver ran down his spine as he started questioning what happened. Even as he rubbed his arms, nothing happened, it still felt cold. He curled himself up on the sofa as he felt colder than usual. Shivering uncontrollably, it was as if he was still bathing in cold water. A tear fell through his eyes as he felt extremely weak. Shac has always been weak against cold, that¡¯s why every time he felt cold, he always experienced having a cold, and having to sneeze multiple times. I¡¯m cold. I¡¯m cold. I¡¯m cold. I¡¯m cold. I¡¯m cold. I¡¯m cold. I¡¯m cold. He stayed like that, curled up and trembling. His mind was consumed by the single thought of ¡®cold¡¯. He wanted to move, to fight against it, but his body refused. It was too much, it was far more than he could handle. Shac remained in that position, shivering uncontrollably, powerless against extreme cold. His vision blurred, his thoughts became weaker, and in the end his body gave up. With one last shiver, he passed out, unable to control the cold. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡ÁStolen novel; please report. Shac opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was an endless sight of clouds, stretching as far as he could see. As he stood up, the sight became more clearer, it¡¯s a vast sea of clouds extending infinitely in every direction. ¡°Am I dead?¡± He whispered. ¡°Is this finally heaven?¡± He glanced around again before reaching out to touch the cloud beneath him. ¡°Feels like nothing.¡± He muttered. What is this place? Is this what heaven looks like? He thought, as heaven fits the description of a place having clouds. And the sky, it looks white, totally white. A white sky and a cloud at the bottom, this feels like how heaven would look like. But the difference is that, heaven has a blue sky, not a white sky. And there is nothing here¡­ What is this place? He stomped and jumped on the cloud, but nothing felt different. ¡°It¡¯s like a ground... but it probably feels more like ice, without the slipperiness.¡± He muttered, touching the cloud again. ¡°Yeah, it feels like nothing, it¡¯s like a cold air.¡± Shac sighed heavily. ¡°So this is like that dream, but this time, there are clouds.¡± He muttered, as he remembered the dreams of meeting the duck. He then looked around once again, but found nothing but emptiness, and a vast area of never ending clouds. He took a step forward but suddenly lost his balance, unable to properly process his surroundings. ¡°Ooh... crap... What was that?¡± He muttered, holding his head as he tried to steady himself. ¡°This is scary.¡± He whispered. His heart pounded in his chest, as the thought of him being in an empty place is absolutely terrifying. I wonder if I¡¯m going to fall suddenly? After all, these are clouds, they¡¯re not supposed to be solid ground. His worry grew as he realized that clouds weren¡¯t meant to be walked on, let alone used as a foothold. ¡°That¡¯s not gonna happen.¡± ¡°What!?¡± He exclaimed, looking around the area. ¡°Who was that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± As he glanced around to find who was talking, he immediately noticed a familiar creature he had always been seeing. ¡°Again?¡± ¡°Yes, again.¡± Shac sighed in relief. ¡°I thought it was someone else.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°I thought it was God or something.¡± The duck laughed. ¡°You¡¯re not entirely wrong.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°I am ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á.¡± The duck introduced herself, but Shac couldn¡¯t make sense of the name. ¡°You¡¯re who? I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á.¡± There might be something wrong with me, or I can¡¯t understand what her name is supposed to be. ¡°I don¡¯t know what it is supposed to be.¡± ¡°My name doesn¡¯t matter.¡± She paused, before she walked slowly towards Shac. ¡°All you need to know is that you¡¯re in the void.¡± ¡°The void? You mean, this place?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°O-okay¡­¡± Shac glanced around the area for another time. ¡°So, what am I supposed to do here¡­ Why am I here in the first place?¡± ¡°The simple answer would be, that you died, again.¡± Again? ¡°I did? I thought I was sleeping and was brought in here.¡± She nodded slowly. ¡°I guess that could work too.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± His eyebrows raised as he couldn''t understand what she said. ¡°Consider feeling up your body heat.¡± She said, looking directly at Shac. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Why am I cold?¡± Shac whispered softly, as he touched his face, trying to sense his body temperature. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m cold¡­¡± ¡°Right. Does that remind you of something?¡± ¡°No¡­ I still don¡¯t remember. What happened?¡± He asked, still unaware of what had happened. ¡°You died from extreme cold.¡± His eyes widened in shock. ¡°Why don¡¯t I remember any of that?¡± ¡°Who knows? Maybe your brain is blocking that memory from you.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ I guess that thing does happen.¡± He sighed upon realizing his situation, he then continued, ¡°I do remember eating the second egg, was that the cause?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I guess you still remember what happened before you died.¡± She said as she understood a bit of Shac¡¯s situation. ¡°Probably?¡± He paused as he remembered something, and continued, ¡°You are a God right?¡± ¡°Technically. I¡¯m just a small part of her.¡± ¡°Her?¡± Shac asked, curious about who it is. ¡°The creator.¡± Shac nodded upon hearing what she said. ¡°I see¡­ The creator huh¡­¡± A creator huh¡­ She must be the one who created these curses. I wonder what the creator looks like. ¡°So that person, the one you called the creator, really exists?¡± He added, curious about the existence of the creator. ¡°Absolutely, after all, you¡¯ve met her already.¡± She said, as she revealed something to Shac. ¡°I did!?¡± Shac exclaimed, surprised by the sudden revelation from the duck. He paused, thinking for a moment, trying to recall who it could be, but no one seemed to match the image of the creator. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a funny question Shac.¡± She said with a serious tone. ¡°I¡¯m being serious.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way I would be wrong.¡± She paused, then continued, ¡°We share the same memories after all.¡± Chapter 14.5: A Ducks Role In front of Shac¡¯s home, Ivan was standing. It was past afternoon and almost approaching night. Ivan looked at his phone, reading the email that was sent to him in the past. He sighed heavily upon reading it once again. He was waiting for this moment, the moment his job was done. It was planned, it was unbelievable, but he did it, he managed to do it. Without any further thinking, he went inside Shac¡¯s home uninvited. There, he saw the body of his friend, lifeless and in a sorry state.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Is my role done now?¡± Ivan asked himself as he approached the dead body of Shac on the sofa. He stared at the lifeless body of his friend, thinking about his involvement with it. Saddened by the sight, he once again asked himself, ¡°Is this for the best?¡± Is this really for the best? That I involved myself with Shac regarding the curse? He couldn¡¯t shake the thought, thinking that his actions had led Shac to this inevitable end. The weight of it all pressed down on him, and he felt lost. Ivan¡¯s eyes burst with tears as he couldn¡¯t help it. His emotions overwhelmed him as the guilt of his actions, of his role in everything that had led to this moment, where Shac died again. He then proceeded to question himself again. ¡°Tell me, Ivan, were you right this time?¡± Chapter 15 (End of PART 1): The Yellow Mountain of Ducklings ¡°The same memories!?¡± Shac exclaimed, surprised about what ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á revealed. ¡°Yes, to be more exact, I knew everything that happened to you.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Shac was at a loss for words. ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á seeing Shac¡¯s shocked face made her laughed uncontrollably. Shac glared at her. ¡°I don¡¯t think there''s something funny about it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, there was nothing funny about it, but I can¡¯t help but laugh.¡± Shac gave a disgusted look at the sight of a white duck who was laughing uncontrollably in front of him. He sighed and took a seat from the cloud. ¡°Can you give me a few minutes to think about this situation?¡± ¡°Of course. Take your time, you should have enough time before it happens.¡± Shac eyebrows raised. ¡°The what?¡± ¡°Shhhh¡­ I thought you were going to have few minutes of break?¡± This duck¡­ Shac took a deep breath, controlling his urge to punch the duck in front of him. ¡°Don¡¯t ever think about doing it. It¡¯s not worth it.¡± She said, as she walked a bit far away from Shac to let him have a breather. ¡°Come approach me when you¡¯re done.¡± As Shac saw the figure of the duck slowly gets far away from him, he immediately gathered his thought about his current situation inside the void, but a thought came over him as he remembered that this duck is able to read his thoughts without any problems. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to take a peek.¡± She said, immediately after reading Shac¡¯s thought. ¡°It¡¯s not that I can control it after all, it¡¯s a shared sensation.¡± That¡¯s kind of cheating¡­ She laughed uncontrollably again. ¡°Go on, don¡¯t mind me.¡± Shac sighed heavily. The thought of ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á reading his though exactly the moment he thought of it, is something that is terrifying. I¡¯m kind of confused now. Should I feel scared? or should I feel scared? Yeah, there are no choices¡­ I¡¯m totally scared at this moment. Shac once again glanced through the area, seeing the vast area of the void. A void huh¡­ I wonder what this place really is? There is no sky, only a white plain sky. The ground is full of clouds, expanding infinitely from what I can see, there¡¯s simply no end to it. And the existence of this duck, who she calls herself as¡­ I don¡¯t know, I can¡¯t seem to make sense of her name, I don¡¯t understand it. But I do know one thing, for sure, this is the cause of the second egg, the ¡®right egg¡¯. But probably, the worst thing right now, is that there is a duck who can read my mind. Shac stood up, his body shaking slightly, and approached her. ¡°Can you tell me about what exactly do you mean by having shared memories?¡± She chuckled, then said, ¡°I thought you need a few more minutes. But sure, I will tell you about it.¡± She paused then continued, ¡°As you might know, there are cursed individuals, you¡¯re aware of that right?¡± Shac nodded. ¡°Like me.¡± ¡°Yes. So when a cursed individual is born, we, the cursed individuals, will have shared memories.¡± ¡°What?¡± Shac eyes furrowed. ¡°How is that possible when I don¡¯t know anything except for my own memories?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because your brain can¡¯t process it.¡± She revealed, as Shac still felt a bit skeptical about what she was talking about. ¡°That should explain why my name can¡¯t be understood, and the reason why I forgot about my name.¡± Shac nodded slowly. ¡°That makes sense¡­ I guess?¡± Although she explained it, it was still something he just can¡¯t get his mind into that easily. ¡°It¡¯s still hard for me to accept the fact that this place exists, and that there is a talking duck in front of me.¡± ¡°And here I thought you will be able to accept it easily.¡± ¡°That. Is. Not. Possible.¡± ¡°But you were able to accept the existence of the curses.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± He paused, thinking that she has a point. ¡°But you know, speaking of the curses, is there even a reason for you to even exist?¡± He asked, his tone was serious. ¡°Because I don¡¯t see any reason for you to even exist at the first place.¡± ¡°Everything exists for a reason, and that includes us, the curses.¡± She paused then continued, ¡°You should already know. We¡¯re both cursed. That¡¯s our purpose here.¡± She responded, trying to get the message to Shac. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. But he couldn¡¯t quite grasp what she was trying to convey. ¡°In simple words, we exist to spread unhappiness.¡± She coldly responded, then continued, ¡°And it has been going for years.¡± ¡°Are you having fun?¡± ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á was shocked from the sudden question of Shac, it was the first time someone had asked her about that. ¡°I wonder?¡± She answered, puzzled, as she wasn¡¯t sure of herself whether she was having fun or not. Disappointed, Shac looked away from the duck, trying to control his anger. ¡°That¡¯s one of the worst responses I¡¯ve ever gotten in my whole life.¡± ¡°I know.¡± She laughed awkwardly, and looked at the sky above. ¡°I know that myself.¡± As the emotion from both of them started to become ugly, suddenly the sky of the void who were supposedly white, is starting to turn in a shade of gray. ¡°W-what is happening?¡± ¡°The void, it¡¯s starting to shift.¡± ¡°Shift? And what is that supposed to mean?¡± The whiteness of the void slowly turns in the shade of gray, coloring the light that the sky emits into more dim. ¡°I haven¡¯t told you yet, but this place, the White Void, is a grave, not just for the dead, but for the living as well.¡± "Huh¡­" Shac stood frozen, trying to keep up with ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á, but everything seemed like an overload of information to him. The Void wasted no time, shifting and causing tremors in the clouds, throwing Shac off balance. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Why is it shaking? An earthquake?¡± She laughed. ¡°You seriously thought there would be an earthquake in here?¡± Trying to regain his balance, Shac glared at her. ¡°At least tell me what¡¯s happening right now!¡± ¡°Calm down. It¡¯s not like you¡¯re going to die. Just wait, it should start any time now.¡± She replied, clearly reluctant to answer his question. As the White Void slowly lost its light, the tremors continued, and a ball of light began to form at the center of the sky. It seemed to be drawing in the light of the Void, growing little by little. Shac couldn¡¯t help but shield his eyes from the blinding ball of light. ¡°A ball of light?¡± He muttered, peeking out from behind his hand, squinting at the burning brightness. ¡°Am I supposed to run?¡± He asked, fearing that the light might consume him. ¡°No.¡± she answered immediately. Shac¡¯s legs began to tremble as the ball of light grew, and the light itself became more intense. Suddenly, the ball of light began to shift and change. It twisted in on itself, and from every side, sharp beams of light shot outward. At first, they were small, but as they grew, they stretched into straight lines, forming shelves that stuck out from the ball. The light in the center grew brighter, and the shelves began to take shape, holding books inside them. Are those bookshelves? ¡°Why do you think so?¡± She asked, reading his mind once again. ¡°Because those things that sticks out of the light, it definitely resembles a bookshelf.¡± The entire thing now resembled an asterisk, with beams of light shooting in every direction, and having sharp shadows across the Void. And at last, the tremor of the clouds stopped, signaling the end of the shifting. ¡°Is it finally done?¡± ¡°Mostly.¡± ¡°Mostly!? You mean there¡¯s more?¡± Staring at the enormous structure, it resembled a library, with shelves sticking outward like spikes, and light spilling from its core. Shac dropped from the cloud, his legs giving out. Realizing that the shifting is finally done, he sighed heavily, still processing the sight, ¡°A library, huh... What a weird shape. Is this supposed to be a library?¡± A liquid from the supposedly library started to drip downward, slowly at first, and as it touched the cloud, it painted it red. The ball emitting light suddenly turned reddish, as if it were bleeding, with a thick stream flowing rapidly down toward the Void below. The ground beneath began to twist, creating ripples from the pool of what seemed to be blood. "What the hell is happening?!" Shac¡¯s eyes widened as he stared at the sight of the unnatural library bleeding in front of him. Suddenly, Shac froze, his chest tightened sharply, an unbearable pain pierced his chest. He fell to his knees, gasping for air. ¡°W-what¡¯s happening?¡± he choked out. Then, the stench hit him, an extremely foul smell. It travels through his lungs, making him gag. ¡°What is that smell?¡± He clutched his chest, not being able to bear the smell anymore. With a deafening, unnatural sound, the cloud erupted once again as the ducklings began to form. Their yellow bodies pushed upward from the liquid, slowly shaping into a mountain. As the ball continued to bleed, the ducklings were slowly born from it, filling the Void beneath the library. The mountain of ducklings grew, piling higher and higher. The blood continued to flow from the library, feeding the growing mountain, giving birth to the ducklings beneath. The transformation continued until the mountain finally filled the Void beneath the library, creating what seemed to be a path leading up to it. ¡°No... no way...¡± Shac whispered, horror etched into his face. Shac stumbled back, his breaths were shallow, his vision spinning as the mountain of ducklings grew higher and higher. ¡°What is this supposed to be!?¡± Shac shouted. ¡°Instead of asking me.¡± She said coldly, ¡°Why don¡¯t you hear them out?¡± ¡°Hear them out?¡± Shac asked in confusion, then he froze. Cries. Screams. Laughter. Countless human sounds erupted from the mountain, growing louder and more horrifying with each passing second. It sounded as if someone was enraged, while others seemed to be crying, each noise felt full of pain. Shac clutched his ears, falling to his knees as the noise grew unbearable. ¡°Make it stop!!!¡± he screamed. But the duck simply stood there, watching. STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPP! The mountain seemed to respond to Shac¡¯s scream, as though mocking on his pain, more blood sprayed from the cracks in the shelves, staining the void with splashes of red. The cries grew sharper, and more painful. Through the chaos, Shac began to recognize the voices. They weren¡¯t strangers, they were villagers, they sound familiar. It could be his friends, or someone he must¡¯ve knew during his time in the village. ¡°No... no, this isn¡¯t real.¡± Shac whispered, his mind spiraling and confused. He clutched his head, shutting his eyes to block out the horrific sight, but the voices still reached him, passing through his head. ¡°It¡¯s as real as it needs to be.¡± The duck replied coldly. ¡°You¡¯ve seen the cycles, Shac. You¡¯ve lived them., but have you truly understood them?¡± Shac forced his eyes open, glaring at her despite the pain. ¡°Why show me this?!¡± ¡°To remind you of what you are.¡± The duck answered. The smell of decayed corpse of the ducklings grew stronger, choking him further, and the cries grew louder. The mountain of ducklings swayed, as if it might collapse under its own weight. ¡°Make it STOP!!!¡± Shac shouted again, desperate. The duck stepped back, her face was unreadable. ¡°Then stop running.¡± She paused and looked straight at Shac. ¡°The answers are there.¡± She pointed at the blood-covered mountain, ¡°If you''re brave enough to face them.¡± Shac opened his eyes and looked at the mountain again. ¡°It should be easy, right?¡± ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á said as she slowly approached Shac, lying on the cloud. ¡°After all, we are all curses.¡± Chapter 16: The Corpses of Ducklings While Shac was lying on the clouds, the noise of the dead ducklings echoed through his head. No, to be more exact, they were the sound of countless humans. Crying, screaming, and laughing, those were the noises they produced. Just the thought alone was terrifying enough, but it didn¡¯t end with that, as the noise continued to torture Shac. ¡°Arghhh¡­¡± Shac opened his eyes. It was hard for him to do so, but he still tried despite the pain in his head. ¡°Augh¡­¡± He growled, still feeling the pain, trying to fight against it. The duck laughed and looked at him in amusement, ¡°Don¡¯t you want to seek the truth?¡± The truth of what!? He thought to himself, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to say it as the pain prevented him from doing so. Despite that, he tried his best to deal with the excruciating pain in his head. Then, faint and distant voice whispered to him. Help me¡­ Help? Shac froze, he steadied his breath. ¡°Who.. are¡­¡± I feel my body getting colder¡­ To him, the voice sounded familiar, but at the same time it was not. Why did you forget about me¡­? ¡°W-what¡­¡± Shac muttered, as he tried to gather his thoughts, but the noise continued to mess with his mind. Even so, he didn¡¯t stop crawling. He couldn¡¯t stop. Am I going to die again? AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHQWEETYIOPPPADGGKLZCB!!! The scream erupted like a violent explosion in his ears, tearing through his thoughts. KRRIIIV_WDASVBN_SZDAAWNZNZ__**VBRDASBEFAJJ**SJN&WD+WLLO_NBHEUBBJ!!! It wasn¡¯t just a scream, it was a loud screeching scream, a sound too broken to be human. The noises twisted into a chaotic mess, leaving him paralyzed in fear. ¡°Gruurrggrrrrgrrgrrgr¡± A rough, broken sound escaped his mouth, as his body trembled violently, unable to process the overwhelming pain and terror. ¡°W¡­ what¡¯s this¡­.¡± Although weak, he finally managed to control his thoughts. ¡°M-MAKE IT STOP!!!¡± He screamed, still lying on the floor of clouds. He tried to scream, but nothing could make it stop. The noise, the cries of the dead ducklings still echoed through his head. The sound continued entering his head nonstop, as if the sound were drilling into his mind, screaming and laughing at him. He crawled through the clouds, slowly, approaching the mountain of the dead ducklings that stretched up above the library in the middle of the void. The noise, being painful already, grew much worse as he neared it, making it far more unbearable than it already was. This smell¡­ He choked and coughed unexpectedly in the stench of the corpses, it was a smell he couldn¡¯t imagine encountering, but it was here, undeniable. The stench of a single decayed duckling was bad enough, but a mountain of yellow duckling corpses? He couldn¡¯t imagine such a thing would be possible. ¡°T-this is¡­¡± He muttered in pain. He felt the blood touching his hand, it was thicker than he thought, and continued to spread throughout the clouds. It didn¡¯t end with just his hand, as he crawled through the pool of blood, his whole body was drenched through it. FUCK¡­ AHHHHH¡­ AGGHHHHH!!! He couldn¡¯t do anything against it, he couldn¡¯t fight the pain in his head that continued to pierce through his head. But he didn¡¯t stop, he crawled his way through the pool of blood, along with the pain of approaching the mountain. His face was drenched in blood, and the half of his body, specifically the front, turned red as he crawled through it. ¡°A little¡­ more¡­¡± He muttered as he continued on crawling, closing the distance bit by bit. The duck smiled at him, seeing him fight through the pain. ¡°You can do it!¡± She cheered. ¡°You¡­¡± He tried to scream, but his voice was low. He crawled violently, trying to reach for the body of a corpse duckling. More¡­ more¡­ more¡­ As he reached out his right hand, he managed to touch the mountain. ¡°Ahhhhh!!!¡± He screamed as he struggled and finally successfully reached the mountain. ¡°I told you, you can do it.¡± She said, looking at the sorry state of Shac. The noise¡­ It was gone? He immediately stood up as he noticed the loss of the noise. It really is gone¡­ Looking at the corpse mountain again, he managed to get a close look of the yellow ducklings. He turned back, glared at the duck grinning at his face, and stared at her. His face were soaked in blood from the corpse, which started dripping as he stood up. ¡°Surely it was nothing compared to you dying yourself, right?¡± Shac took a deep breath and said, ¡°Was this your plan?¡± The duck tilted her head. ¡°A plan?¡± She said as she shook her head, ¡°To what? To let you swim though the blood of the corpses? My plan is nothing that small.¡± ¡°Haaah¡­¡± Shac tried to steady his breath, but the smell of the ducklings made it hard for him to do so. He tried pinching up his nose, but it was an unnecessary struggle. ¡°You sure made a mess.¡± Even so, the first thing he thought needed to do is to calm down. After all, in front of him is a talking duck, an anomaly, something that should never have existed in the first place.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I know you¡¯re angry and confused, but for now¡­¡± She tried to clap her hands but forgot that she was a duck. ¡°Oh, I forgot.¡± Hearing that, Shac looked at the duck, confused. ¡°Forgot what?¡± ¡°Nothing. But you¡¯re actually brave enough to fight the pain, and that deserves a celebration. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± What is she talking about? ¡°A celebration of that? That¡¯s a bit out of place. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± Shac, constantly seeing the shifting emotion of the duck, began to question whether he was seeing a fake smile from her. ¡°Which one of you is the real you?¡± She frowned. ¡°Which one are you taking about?¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking you right now, how much of you is actually the real thing?¡± Upon hearing the question again she continued to laugh and didn¡¯t change her expression. Being a duck, it was hard to visualise whether she was smiling or not. ¡°It¡¯s fine to doubt me. But if I were to be honest with you, then¡­ The one you are seeing right now is the real deal.¡± She walked and closed the gap between her and him, ¡°Besides, do you actually seriously think that faking my emotions would benefit me?¡± ¡°Because it would be.¡± Shac tried to respond nonchalantly, but his hand trembled. He clenched his fist, as he tried to stay composed. She looked at Shac and laughed. ¡°I guess.¡± She then paused and pointed her finger above Shac¡¯s head. ¡°But at the moment, it wouldn¡¯t benefit me at all. And, you¡¯re completely missing the situation.¡± As he looked above his head, he could clearly see a mountain of the ducklings and the mysterious bookshelves that spans out in all direction. ¡°What is that really?¡± He asked, confused by the existence of the library. ¡°Now you¡¯re finally asking the right questions.¡± She nodded her head as if she was waiting for Shac to ask the question. I don¡¯t understand¡­ He looked back at the duck, trying to make sense of her. She doesn¡¯t make any sense. Am I looking at an enemy, or am I looking at an ally? But no matter how he look, it won¡¯t give him any answer. As she noticed Shac¡¯s gaze, she suddenly gave a disgusted look at Shac, and sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t mind you being curious and all, but could you stop, and started focusing on the matter at hand?¡± Shac gave up, and instead continued looking at the massive bookshelves that looked like it resembled an asterisk. The sight was surreal that he couldn¡¯t quite grasp the idea behind it. A floating library that drips blood in the middle of the White Void, and a mountain of the ducklings corpse stretching from the blood below up to below the library, those were the things that he could see. But even so, it was something he couldn¡¯t explain no matter how long he stared at it. ¡°How¡­ How exactly should I focused on this matter?¡± ¡°Look at it again.¡± Shac looked at the whole sight again, ¡°And? What about it?¡± ¡°You¡¯re right to think that it is a library.¡± She said and continued, ¡°What else could you think of it?¡± ¡°That it¡¯s absolutely disgusting.¡± Shac voiced out. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± She chuckled and was surprised from Shac¡¯s response, ¡°That¡¯s something I wouldn¡¯t even deny. But it should be more than that right?¡± ¡°Is there even a reason for me to answer that?¡± ¡°Calm do-¡± She paused herself, and sighed. ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m asking though.¡± ¡°If you are asking for a reason. Then, I have absolutely no idea.¡± Shac looked at the white duck beside him, and continued, ¡°Besides my mind is not working properly.¡± He smiled at her, hiding a hint of annoyance and anger. ¡°And even when I were to be given enough time to think, I still wouldn¡¯t be able to answer you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s normal, it¡¯s not that I expect you to knew immediately what it is.¡± ¡°Then why asked!?¡± He exclaimed, as he couldn¡¯t control his annoyance. ¡°Are you seriously asking that?¡± She said, ¡°Obviously, because every one of you has a unique thought.¡± A unique thought? ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°How often would you think that someone is an exact copy of you?¡± The duck asked, she looked above and faced Shac. ¡°I never thought once that there is someone who is exact copy as mine.¡± He looked back at her and declared, ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± ¡°Is it really?¡± He frowned. ¡°You¡¯re saying that I am wrong?¡± ¡°Normally you would be right. But you should know it by yourself, that an exact copy of someone is possible.¡± ¡°An exact copy of someone¡­ How is that possible? Never once in my life that I met someone who is an exact copy of mine, and that goes the same way to other people.¡± Because if I really knew about it, there¡¯s no way I would forget about such thing. And I don¡¯t exactly remember knowing that it was possible for someone to have an exact copy of themselves. Shac tried to think of something, but nothing could explain how having the exact copy was possible. He scratched his head, feeling lost and tired. Aghhh¡­ Why should I¡­ ¡°Let me ask you then.¡± She said as she approached the mountain, and continued, ¡°Right here right now, am I the same as them?¡± His eyebrows raised from the sudden question. Although it was unexpected, he tried to gather his thoughts in order to answer her. ¡°In a sense yes, but if you were asking other else, then it¡¯s a no also.¡± ¡°Oh? Tell me about it then.¡± ¡°You are an adult duck, and those beside you are a mountain of ducklings. You are the same as them in that all of you are ducks. But if we¡¯re talking about appearance, it¡¯s clear you¡¯re not the same as them,¡± Shac explained in a low voice, his breath was shallow. She nodded slowly, ¡°That¡¯s right, but you are missing the important truth.¡± ¡°The important truth? What am I exactly missing at?¡± ¡°That I am here alive. While here they are drenching in their own blood, forming a mountain of corpse.¡± ¡°That is something that I know, and those are given already.¡± Shac responded, confused about what she was trying to convey. ¡°But I thought we were talking about the ¡®exact copy¡¯ of someone?¡± ¡°Yes, and the reason why I asked you about it is because there¡¯s something about this mountain of corpse that you yourself have experienced of.¡± Shac raised his eyebrows, confused, and asked, ¡°Is it something about the curse?¡± ¡°Right, and I know that you met the ducklings multiple times, and even saw them dying multiple times.¡± ¡°You mean¡­¡± He paused and looked at the massive mountain of the ducklings, ¡°Those ¡®exact copy¡¯, these ducklings are the one you are talking about?¡± She nodded slowly and said, ¡°To be more exact, every time a duck dies, its blood drips from the library. And that explains the number of corpse in here.¡± Shac got a goosebumps immediately from the thought, and said, ¡°And the fact that there is massive mountain of them, proved that there bas been countless of deaths.¡± ¡°Right. But even though they are all ¡®dead¡¯, the same can¡¯t be said to their experience. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Shac paused, then asked, ¡°In that case the thought that they were ¡®exact copy¡¯ is not a thing anymore? You said it yourself, that they were different from each other.¡± ¡°If you were to meet them again, then you can¡¯t say the same to them.¡± ¡°Them? What do you mean¡­¡± Then Shac slowly realized what she was trying to say, there is a single person who he always met everytime he looped. The one friend who he always been meeting again and again. Ivan¡­ Shac breathe deeply, trying to regain his composure. ¡°So you were talking about the loop, am I right? And the fact that they were the same ¡®exact copy¡¯ as the past loop?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, and you should know by now that as the person who is repeating the same loop, you are the only person who brought changes in each of them. Otherwise they would remain exactly the same, dying the same death, with the same final thoughts.¡± She paused then walked back beside Shac, and continued, ¡°The exact copy is possible to exist, but even a slight difference would make them unique from each other. And you know the greatest thing about the existence of this mountain of corpses?¡± Shac looked at her but didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Even though they are all corpses, each one of them differ from other. Some were crying in pain, some where screaming and some of them even were laughing. But it all comes into one in the end¡­¡± She paused then looked at Shac, ¡°They all struggled in pain.¡± Shac froze from the sudden change in tone of the duck, her tone suddenly grew cold and serious that it took him by surprise. As he couldn¡¯t respond with her, ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á continued, ¡°And if you were also wondering, some part of you are also included in this mountain of corpse. Do you want to see your corpse among them? Chapter 17: The Library of Ducklings "My corpse?" Shac muttered, hearing something unbelievable from ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á. He froze at her sudden question. "Didn''t you expect that your corpse was also included in this mountain of corpses?" She asked. Despite the coldness, Shac felt sweat form on his forehead, gradually making him feel cold from the temperature of the White Void. His sweat was cold. "I..." He whispered. He knew that it was a mountain of corpses from cursed people, but he didn''t expect that he himself was included in it. She chuckled. "Don''t worry, I''m just asking you. But looking at your face, I basically have the answer I need." He froze from the sight of the mountain, trying to control his breathing. He couldn''t look at ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á, he couldn''t muster the courage to do so. If I am included in these corpses, then it must be because I died multiple times throughout the loop... It must be the case, right? Standing in front of the mountain, the duck noticed how Shac once again froze, lost in thought. It had happened multiple times now, and it showed how stressed he was. "How do you find this place as it is?" She asked, trying to ease Shac''s tension. "Well... I don''t know anymore..." He answered in a low voice, then continued, "All I know is that this must be the afterlife." "Afterlife, huh..." She muttered, then continued, "Personally, I would call this place a sanctuary." Shac looked back at the sight of the White Void. Although it was white and had a floor full of clouds, it shifted into something darker and more dreadful. "How is this a sanctuary?" He knew that it was far from a place you would call a sanctuary. She tilted her head and asked, "Is it not?" He sighed deeply and shook his head. "I don''t know what to expect anymore." He looked above, gazing at the massive floating library in the middle of the White Void. "Then, there must be a reason why this massive library exists, right?" "Of course, everything you can see in this place exists for a reason. That is true for both the library and the mountain. After all, the blood that came from above, it came from the library itself." Shac looked upward. He watched as the blood dripped continuously from the library. From the start, it hadn''t stopped. "Did the blood ever stop dripping?" "Yes, but that was a long time ago." A long time ago, huh... Shac continued looking, lost in thought.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. "That library, it is the heart of the void," She said, then continued, "And in this void, it is the only thing that is alive." Suddenly, Shac felt a sharp pain in his heart. "Aghhh!" he groaned in pain, but it was gone immediately. Now a sharp pain all of a sudden!? Shit... This is crazy... "I wonder about that," He said as he glared at her. The void and the duck herself were both things that Shac couldn''t comprehend. What did she just do? Why did my chest feel pain all of a sudden? But now he knew that, no matter how much he defended himself, there would always be random trouble whenever the duck was involved. He suspected that she did something. After all, all of this happened because he met the duck, he was cursed. She laughed and brushed off Shac''s thought as if it were nothing. "As I said, it is the heart of the void, and you will see why. But first..." She paused, then walked toward him. "Imagine yourself getting a book." Shac gave a confused look. "Imagine myself? What is it for?" "Do it, and you will see why." "Tsk..." He clicked his tongue. He knew he couldn''t do anything else but follow her, as it was the only lead he had right now to help him. Shac closed both of his eyes and did it. He took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts. He imagined himself going into the library, approaching the bookshelf, and grabbing a book. Holding it with his right hand, he managed to grab a book with ease. He opened his eyes and looked at his hand. To his surprise, a book was in his right hand. He was holding it. "This is..." he whispered, confused and lost. "H-how?" Did the book appear just like that? It looked like a normal book, but something about it felt off. "Why is this heavy?" He paused, then continued, "Is it... alive?" That was his first thought upon touching the book himself, as it didn''t feel like a book. Despite having a normal appearance, the book felt alive. As he held it with both of his hands, he was able to feel it more properly. It was heavier than it looked, and it was warm and sticky, which was odd because it looked like a normal book. "What''s this!?" He shouted at the duck. "What exactly is this!?" "It''s a book," She responded immediately. "I know that it looks like a book, but this is not a book!" He said in a loud voice, then held the book in front of her. "A book is not supposed to be alive! This thing is beating, why is it beating?!" "Doesn''t that remind you of something?" She paused, then continued, "Like a heart, maybe?" She laughed. "A heart...?" Shac muttered when suddenly a loud beating sound broke the silence. "Wha-!?" It continued to beat, multiple times even. "This is..." He knew this familiar sound, he knew it very well. Immediately, he reached for his chest, feeling it up with his left hand. There, he knew that he was right, that it was the sound of his heart beating loudly. Why is it beating so loudly? It continued to pound loudly, as if the heart were next to his ears. But that wasn''t the only thing, as the book in his right hand was beating too. Which startled him because it was beating together with his heart. It''s beating the same way¡­ His heart and the book were beating the same way, as if they were one and the same. "Do you understand it now?" She paused, then continued, "You''re holding your own heart," the duck said, leaving Shac in disbelief. "It can''t be..." He whispered, his grip on the book tightened. "My... heart?" His voice trembled, and for a moment, he forgot to breathe. Chapter 18: A Ducks Book ¡°My¡­ heart?¡± His voice trembled, and for a moment, he forgot to breathe. The pounding of both his heart and the book took him by surprise, as it was indeed beating at the same time. ¡°H-how is this a book then?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á tilted her head. ¡°It¡¯s a book. Can¡¯t you see it?¡± The book that was supposed to be his heart continued beating, and it started beating at a fast pace. Calm down¡­ Calm down¡­ He assured himself, trying to calm his breathing, hoping to stabilize the heartbeat. He took a deep breath one final time before deciding to open the book. ¡°Hah¡­¡± He opened it, like any other book. Although it felt sticky and didn¡¯t feel like a book when touching it, it still looked like a book, like any other one. ¡°Oh¡­¡± Surprised, he noticed immediately that it looked like a normal book. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± He noticed the text written on it. Date, time, and¡­ ¡°¡­Activity? What¡¯s this?¡± He looked back at her, then continued, ¡°Date, time, and activity? Of what?¡± He asked, unsure of what he was looking at. ¡°The text is written in there for you to look at. Got it?¡± She said as she took a seat. ¡°Go on.¡± She said, as if shooing Shac away. Shac found himself looking back at the first page of the book. It was written with dates, times, and activities, those were the three things he could see. June 05, 2024¡­ Wednesday 8:09 AM¡­ Activity¡­ Met the duckling on the sidewalk while walking towards school¡­ What!? ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 8:09 AM Activity: Met the duckling on the sidewalk while walking towards school. Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 8:10 AM Activity: Left the duckling behind and continued running towards school. Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 4:12 PM Activity: Met the duckling again in front of the school gate. Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 4:12 PM Activity: Left the duckling in front of the school gate. Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 11:59 PM Activity: The duckling died of starvation. Date: June 06, 2024 Time: Wednesday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac died of asphyxiation. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á The book showed a list of what seemed to be a logbook. He read through it, one by one. It didn¡¯t take too long for him to notice the familiarity of what was written in the book. ¡°This is¡­¡± He muttered, frowning at the absurdity of the text. ¡°How is this¡­ possible?¡± He flipped to the next page, eager to know what came next. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 8:09 AM Activity: Met the duckling on the sidewalk while walking towards school. Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 8:11 AM Activity: Left the duckling behind and continued running towards school. Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 4:13 PM Activity: Met the duckling again in front of the school gate. Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 4:15 PM Activity: Left the duckling in front of the school gate. Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 11:59 PM Activity: The duckling died of starvation. Date: June 06, 2024 Time: Wednesday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac died of asphyxiation. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á It¡¯s the same? He then looked closely and noticed a bit of a difference. No¡­ the time was a bit different¡­ He then turned the page again, now on the third page of the book. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 11:59 PM Activity: The duckling died of starvation. Date: June 06, 2024 Time: Wednesday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac died of asphyxiation. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Although some of the times when he met the duckling were a bit different from each other, there were things that didn¡¯t change no matter how many times he turned the page. 11:59 PM, the duckling dies of starvation, and 12:00 AM, I die of asphyxiation. Those things didn¡¯t change. It repeated multiple times, as long as the duckling was not fed, he would surely die at exactly 12 AM of asphyxiation. That explained why he couldn¡¯t breathe every time. So it was asphyxia. I didn¡¯t know that it was because of the lack of oxygen¡­ But nothing was written about why I would suddenly be killed just because the duckling died of starvation.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. He took a deep sigh, remembering his past nightmare. How did I even manage to get past the curse¡­ I can¡¯t believe I managed to escape¡­ He then looked back at the book. It logs the activities and includes the date and time. He thought for a moment, then continued flipping through the pages. And same as the other pages, nothing was totally different. He flipped the pages until he reached the blank pages. ¡°What?¡± Surprised, he flipped back and forth, noticing that the contents of the book were shorter than he expected. That was it? He turned the pages back to the last page. There, he immediately noticed that something was different. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Date: June 11, 2024 Time: Tuesday 11:59 PM Activity: The duck died upon laying the two eggs. Date: June 12, 2024 Time: Wednesday 4:50 PM Activity: Shac ate the ¡®right egg.¡¯ Date: June 13, 2024 Time: Thursday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac met the duckling in the dream. Date: June 13, 2024 Time: Thursday 8:15 AM Activity: Shac died of hypothermia. Date: ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á, ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á Time: ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á:¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á Activity: Shac arrived at the White Void. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Shac¡¯s eyes widened as shivers ran through his body. This is¡­ my last loop¡­ I remember it too well. It felt like it was just an hour ago¡­ Suddenly, his body felt cold. He shivered in the cold. ¡°Why is it suddenly cold¡­ Hah¡­¡± Ah, right¡­ I completely forgot. This place is chilly. Having been preoccupied this whole time, he completely forgot that this place was chilly since the start. He was just reminded because he remembered what happened to him earlier, when he died of extreme coldness. He flipped the page back to the previous one. I see, it was different, and it completely logs the previous loop. He found that compared to the first pages, this one was the page for the previous loop. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Date: June 05, 2024 Time: Wednesday 8:05 AM Activity: Received the email and read the message. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á This page has an email on it¡­ There was nothing about email on the other pages. The email is the proof that it was a different kind of loop compared to the first one. ¡°Wait¡­¡± He whispered. ¡°Then they are not all the same?¡± Then how about the other loops? He flipped the page to the previous one. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Date: June 12, 2024 Time: Wednesday 8:01 AM Activity: Shac ate the ¡®left egg.¡¯ Date: June 13, 2024 Time: Thursday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac dreamed of the first dream. Date: June 14, 2024 Time: Friday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac dreamed of the second dream. Date: June 15, 2024 Time: Saturday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac dreamed of the third dream. Date: June 16, 2024 Time: Sunday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac dreamed of the fourth dream. Date: June 17, 2024 Time: Monday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac dreamed of the fifth dream. Date: June 18, 2024 Time: Tuesday 12:00 AM Activity: Shac dreamed of the sixth dream. Date: June 18, 2024 Time: Tuesday 8:39 AM Activity: Shac died of loss of blood. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á So this must be the third loop, the time when I managed to eat the egg. He read through the text and remembered what happened that time. ¡°Died of loss of blood,¡± he whispered. He then glanced at his chest and felt it. ¡°That was horrible¡­¡± It happened all too fast¡­ I couldn¡¯t even react to her, all I know that I died without even being able to fight her. Up until now, I have no idea who that girl was. I haven¡¯t seen her in the school before, and that was the only time I met her. Considering that she was able to kill me that easily, simply means that she is also a cursed person, and a dangerous one on top of that. The third time he died, he met the girl, the one who killed him with ease just by using a finger gun. She has long white hair, and a hoodie that is also white. Despite looking innocent, she was one hell of a being. How was she able to kill me with a finger gun? That doesn¡¯t make any sense! A finger gun that is able to create a hole in my chest? Shac took a deep sigh. It is simply unbelievable. No matter how I look at it, that finger gun, it just doesn¡¯t make any sense. Shac shook his head and looked back at the book. As he turned the page back to the previous one, he was met by the third loop. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á Date: June 13, 2024 Time: Tuesday 4:55 PM Activity: Shac died of oxygen implosion. ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á ¡Á An oxygen implosion!? What is that!? Shac was startled, he did not expect to read that. He paused, trying to remember what happened to him that time. I do remember not eating the egg, and that led to my death. My body did start getting larger on its own, and after that, I don¡¯t remember much¡­ An oxygen implosion¡­ My body exploded from too much oxygen? Is that how it is? ¡°Why?¡± he muttered in confusion. I could understand if it was the same as others, where the cause of my death is the loss of oxygen. But in this loop, I died because of too much oxygen? Why would that even happen in the first place? ¡°No¡­¡± He shook his head, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t delve too much into this.¡± All I know now is that this book seemed to be writing the details about the loops. This is yet another crazy thing to see. He closed the book, and couldn¡¯t believe what he just saw. It was all familiar to him, the things that were written in the book, those are simply the things he couldn¡¯t forget. He then looked at ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á and asked, ¡°How is this possible?¡± ¡°Because that¡¯s how it was made. The library holds the record of everyone¡¯s suffering throughout their life.¡± She revealed. Shac looked above, seeing the massive floating library in the void. A record of everyone¡¯s suffering¡­ Was it really necessary for such thing to even exist? He found himself looking at the mountain of corpses in front of him. ¡°But¡­¡± Shac whispered, unsure of what to feel. ¡°These things, do they have any importance?¡± ¡°You¡¯re still thinking that way?¡± She stood up and walked towards Shac. ¡°You¡¯re wasting your energy pretending things are normal when you already know they¡¯re not. Nothing here is. Not you, not me, and certainly not everything you¡¯ve been seeing.¡± She said, which further confused him. ¡°Now, if you are going to keep thinking like that. You should kill yourself now.¡± Kill myself? Why would I do that? ¡°I know that¡­ It¡¯s just I¡¯m having a hard time trying to believe.¡± He looked around the White Void, then continued, ¡°What¡¯s the point of doing any of this?¡± ¡°The point? Is that a death should have a meaning, and that¡¯s what this place implies.¡± ¡°A meaning?¡± He asked, confused. ¡°Is that what this place is for?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think so?¡± She paused, then continued, ¡°That book is your heart, and it is there for you to understand it. That should give you the idea of what I just said.¡± Shac looked back at the book in his hand, it continued to beat. Finding the meaning to my deaths¡­ All I was thinking was escaping death and nothing more than that¡­ Was that the meaning I was trying to find? I don¡¯t know. I simply don¡¯t know. Even if I did spend most of my time thinking about it, I would never find the answer for that. Besides¡­ Finding a meaning to my death seemed to be the worst idea when I¡¯m currently stuck at this never-ending curse. ¡°Hah¡­¡± He sighed deeply. ¡°Now what?¡± He said in a low voice, as he found himself looking at the library. He froze in the sight of the library, lost in thought. ¡°Say duck¡­¡± She looked at him. ¡°What?¡± ¡°What about Ivan? Is he also included in the library?¡± He asked, ¡°There should be a book about him, right?¡± ¡Á¡Á¡Á¡Á chuckled, as if she was expecting him to ask about Ivan. ¡°It¡¯s also in here.¡± Shac¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You mean!?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s here.¡±