Upon realizing that it is indeed a library that records every loop of the people, he asked the duck about what was on his mind.

“What about Ivan? Is he also included in the library?” He asked, “There should be a book about him, right?”

×××× 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.”

Whoa… I can’t believe it…

A sense of gladness filled him, just the thought of the existence of the book of Ivan made him hopeful.

“If that’s the case… Then, is it possible for me to read it?”

“No problem.” She answered immediately.

“What…” Shac looked at her, surprised. “That easily?”

“Yes. It should be fine.” She responded.

Shac frowned, thinking that this might be another trap. Well, that’s a bit surprising.

“Not really. I am your guide, it’s only natural.”

“Is that so?” Shac sighed deeply. “You and your mind reading should not exist at all.”

“I already told you. We share the same memories, and by that logic, you should be able to do it too.”

“No.” Shac whispered. “That’s impossible, and simply doesn’t make any sense. How would I be able to do that?”

“Hmmm…” She paused, then started thinking. “Uh… I guess it’s something I wouldn’t be able to explain.”

“So much for being a guide.” Shac shook his head, then continued, “Then it should be easy for you to guide me in getting Ivan’s book.”

“I don’t need to guide you about it. It’s about the same thing.”

“Oh really?” He said in a low voice, and then looked back at the book in his hand. It was still beating the same as his heart.

He took a deep sigh, and focused. Here goes nothing…

He closed his eyes, and cleared his thoughts once again. He imagined himself going inside the library, walking through it, and approaching one of the bookshelves.

The bookshelf had a lot of books on it, but he only needed one. And without wasting any time, he immediately grabbed the book and opened his eyes.

“Oh, it looks the same.” He then opened the book, only to realize that it was indeed the same book, it was still his book. “Wait what?”

Surprised, he looked back at her. “What am I missing?”

“Don’t look surprised, did you even realize what you just did? You repeated the same thing without thinking that it was supposed to be Ivan.” She explained.

“Uh…”

So I need to think about Ivan? I guess?

“Then…” He took a deep breath, trying to focus.

Okay. Let’s try this again.

He cleared his thoughts, and imagined himself going to the library again.

Ivan’s book. Ivan’s book. Ivan’s book. He repeatedly thought, as if it were a spell.

As he approached the bookshelf, he immediately saw the book he was looking for.

What is that book? Is this it? He thought as it looked a bit darker than the rest, as there was a dark aura that surrounded it.

Is this really Ivan’s book? It had a darker aura than the rest. Agh…

He avoided thinking about it too much, and immediately grabbed the book. As he managed to grab it, he opened his eyes without wasting any more time.

“Oh shit-” Suddenly he lost his balance as he held onto the book with his right hand. “Wait what? This is so much heavier than my book.”

Crap. Why is this freaking heavy? It felt like three books on top of each other. What the…

The book continued to beat quickly, it was faster, more violent, and it didn’t beat the same way as his heart.

And why is it beating this fast? Not even my heart was this fast.

Considering that the book is different from his book, he then successfully managed to grab the book of Ivan.

“Is it supposed to beat this way?” Shac asked, looking at ××××.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. It simply means that Ivan is alive.”

“Is that so?” Shac murmured as he looked back to the book. “But is it safe for me to open it?”

“Absolutely. There’s nothing wrong with peeking someone’s book right?” She said.

“I mean…” Shac hesitated, as he remembered what Ivan said.

He was hesitant to tell me his past and it was something that left me wondering for days. What could’ve happened to him?

“Hah…” Shac sighed. He knew that hesitating wouldn’t lead him to something. He either looks at it and learns about the past himself, or avoids it and wastes the chance.

I might not get this chance again. Seeing how unnatural this world is, this might be his only chance to read Ivan’s book.

I’m just taking a peek Ivan, this shouldn’t take too long. He thought, as if he was talking to Ivan.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

He took a seat and opened the book. Welcomed by the same text that he was familiar with, he took his time to read it properly.

Date, time and activity: the three things that you would find in the book. It logs the important details about the curse and the person, and leaves unnecessary details. It’s short and precisely logs the date and time, but that’s about it.

As Shac reads through it, he immediately noticed that Ivan’s book is indeed heavier compared to his book.

Probably because it has more pages? He thought as he tried flipping through the pages and confirmed that it has indeed more pages than his.

He goes back into the first page and reads it more carefully. The first thing that he noticed is that the curse happened two years ago.

× × × × × × × × × ×

Date: April 04, 2022

Time: Tuesday 8:04 AM

Activity: Met the duckling on the grasses while walking towards school.

Date: April 04, 2022

Time: Tuesday 8:06 AM

Activity: Left the duckling behind and continued walking towards school.

Date: April 04, 2022

Time: Tuesday 11:59 PM

Activity: The duckling died of starvation.

Date: April 05, 2022

Time: Wednesday 12:00 AM

Activity: Ivan died of asphyxiation.

× × × × × × × × × ×

“Only four?” Shac whispered. as it was short, and it ended with only four entries.

He then continued flipping through each page, each noticing that it was the same thing all over again. Four entries, and nothing has changed.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,

As he flipped through the 15th page, something had changed.

Fifteen…?

× × × × × × × × × ×

Date: April 04, 2022

Time: Tuesday 4:30 PM

Activity: Met the duck in the grasses while taking a walk.

Date: April 04, 2022

Time: Tuesday 11:59 PM

Activity: The duck died upon laying the egg.

Date: April 05, 2022

Time: Wednesday 8:05 AM

Activity: Found the dead duck and the ‘left egg’ in the grasses while taking a walk.

Date: April 05, 2022

Time: Wednesday 9:35 AM

Activity: Evie ate the ‘left egg.’

× × × × × × × × × ×

“Evie…? Huh? What?” Shac muttered, confused. “Did the book mistakenly written someone else’s name?” He asked.

“No, it’s accurate.”

“Accurate? But this is supposed to be Ivan’s book… Am I wrong?”

“You’re not wrong. It’s Ivan’s book, it’s his only book and not others.” She explained.

Shac paused to think, he never heard of someone named Evie. Not even once he heard of it, not even Ivan told him about it.

Evie… Evie… Who is this person?

I never heard this name before, he didn’t even tell me about her… So I have no idea who this person is.

But reading the book, it says that Evie ate the ‘left egg’. So this must be the person who got the curse instead of Ivan?

He looked back at the text written on the 15th page.

When I asked him about how the curse got passed on, he didn’t answer me, he was hesitant to answer me.

Then surely, this Evie is the one who got the curse instead of Ivan.

So Evie became a duckling?

And Ivan lived without worrying about the curse?

Is that what happened?

If I am right, then that must’ve been the case. He did say that in exchange for someone else, he managed to escape the curse.

The question is, who is Evie? And why did she eat the egg? Was she aware of it? Or not?

Shac was left with many questions unanswered, he didn’t have enough information about Ivan’s past. After all, all this time he was unaware that Ivan became cursed. He was living totally ignorant about the existence of the duck’s curse.

It wouldn’t hurt to ask right?

Eager to know the answer, he turned his head back to ××××, and asked her, “Who is Evie?”

“Ivan’s twin sister.” She revealed.

Shac’s eyes widened. “Wait what!? Are you joking around or not?”

“Why would I joke around?”

“Because it doesn’t make any sense. I’ve known Ivan for years, and I don’t remember him having a twin sister.”

“It’s because you forgot about her.”

Shac looked at her confused, “Huh? I forgot about her? I don’t even know about her!” He paused, then sighed, “This is nonsense.” He said as he turned his head back to the book in his hand. “Even if I did forget about her. How did that even happen?”

“It’s the after effect of the curse.”

“The after effect? How is it different from the other?” Shac asked, then continued, “All I know is that it causes death.”

“You’re right, but that’s the only surface.” She said as she stood up and approached him. “You see, the curse is not just a curse that randomly kills everyone. It’s not, and it’s far from that. It’s a curse that is driven by a set of rules, which responds to the person’s action.”

A curse… With a set of rules?

“Rules like what? The way that the duckling needs to be fed? Because if not, it would die?”

She nodded slowly. “That’s one of the scenarios. And Evie being forgotten is also one of the scenarios.”

“So that’s how it is…” Shac paused to think for seconds, and then he asked, “I guess eating the egg makes people forget about them?”

“Yes, that’s about it.”

“I see…” He paused, then continued, “Should I believe you or something?”

“Hah…” She looked at him, and couldn’t believe what she just heard. “What a dumb question.”

“It’s not though.” He said as he raised his eyebrow.

“Really now? Are you going to keep questioning me that way?”

“Probably? I mean I have no choice right? What else can I do besides believing in a talking white duck.”

“Hahaha.” She chuckled. “That’s what you should be doing from the start, then the time wouldn’t be wasted that much.”

“What does a duck gonna do with the time? What an arrogant duck.”

“I am your guide.” She said, then repeated, “I am your guide.”

“Ahhh… I got it already!” Shac muttered, annoyed. “Even if you did say those things, the mere fact that you’re helping me made you suspicious enough. All I know is that you know what the world is happening right now, and I have no choice but to learn things from you.”

He clenched his fist in helplessness at the situation. There was nothing he could do but believe what the duck said was true.

She flapped her wings in a way that seemed like a shrug. “I guess so.”

Shac then looked back to the book, as there was still one last page that he hadn’t looked at. He then flipped the second to the last page, where he could finally see the last moments of Ivan’s book.

× × × × × × × × × ×

Date: October 01, 2023

Time: Sunday 4:50 PM

Activity: Ivan ate the ‘right egg.’

Date: October 02, 2023

Time: Monday 12:00 AM

Activity: Ivan met the duckling in the dream.

Date: October 02, 2023

Time: Monday 7:42 AM

Activity: Ivan died of hypothermia.

Date: ×××× ××××, ××××

Time: ×××× ××××:××××

Activity: Ivan arrived at the White Void.

× × × × × × × × × ×

It’s mostly the same as mine, he ate the ‘right egg’ and died. Then soon after he arrived at the White Void. So that’s what the ‘right egg’ is really for, it’s the way to White Void.

As he read through it more clearly he noticed that the year between the previous page and the last page was a year after. What!? Am I missing something?

Wait… If 2022 is when Evie ate the ‘left egg’, and in 2023 is when Ivan ate the ‘right egg’…

Doesn’t that make them too far from each other? Why? How did that happen?

Huh… Am I reading this correctly? Evie ate the egg a year before Ivan ate the other egg… Huh?

“Wait duck…” He said, calling ×××× who were sitting in the cloud. “What is this?”

“What is it?” She answered. “Found something interesting?”

“Acting like you haven’t read my thoughts yet.” He responded, then continued, “But then, this doesn’t make any sense, I do remember that the egg was supposed to be the same date as the other. Right?”

“Kind of, because a duck could either lay the egg early or later. It depends on whether you are able to feed them.” She answered, and added, “And to answer your suspicion, yes there is something different about it. What do you think happened?”

A year after the ‘left egg’ that was supposed to end his curse. Evie was able to eat the egg, and this made Ivan be able to escape the curse. In short, the curse was already done, it was already dead. It’s supposed to be that way.

But a year later, Ivan was able to eat the ‘right egg’. Was it because there was another cursed person?

And he was able to eat that curse? And that led him to the White Void.

As Shac thinks for what the cause, he thought for a while before choosing the best answer he could think of. “There was another cursed person.” He said, with a serious expression.

“That’s right.” She said as he looked at Shac, and asked him, “Say, who do you think was the other cursed person?”