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.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“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, ×××× 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?