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. He tried to approach the girl, curious about what's it's trying to do.
"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?"
What is she trying to do with the duckling? Ivan stared at her, eager to learn about the current situation.
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.
Hoping I'm not wrong, that duckling 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." Ivan paused before continuing. "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?"
Of course I don't think they are normal, there's no way they are.
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. And to make it more worse, 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 paused, then continued, "Besides, I already told you, I'm here to kill them."
"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?"
"By making them unable to breathe."
Unable to breathe?
Ivan eyes opened widely. "Then, do you think it is somehow connected to me being suffocated 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, these ducklings are cursed creatures. The most basic necessity for them is to be fed. If not…" She paused and looked at Ivan. "You already know what happens. You will die every midnight for each day you haven't fed it anything."
"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, since these creatures work mysteriously." She shrugged her shoulders. "Even if you managed to follow its tracks and saw it dying in your eyes, no matter what you do, they will somehow 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 added, 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 said.
So it was the only reason I was dying? Ivan sighed as he 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 replied.
Zoyi nodded slowly. "Got it." She looked at Ivan. "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, and started walking towards back to home.
After minutes of walking he arrived back to his home together with the duckling. He placed it gently on the table, watching as it waddled around the table.
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 the investigation for 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, but the day must go on.
× × × × × × × × × ×
When he woke up the next morning, sunlight was streaming through his window, hitting his face. He immediately jumped out of bed and rushed to check on the duckling. But…
"No…" Ivan whispered. To his shock, the duck was gone.
Panic set in as he searched every corner of his home. "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 scanned every corner for the little yellow duckling. 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. Aghhhhh!"
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.
"Oh? What's up Ivan?" She greeted, surprised from the sudden call.
"The duck is missing. I can't find it anywhere."
Her 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, and we need to be careful. If there are more of them then…"
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 stopped in their tracks.
"What the-" Both froze from the sight, it was something they never have expected to see.
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, they are not something to joke around.
"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 home, doing his best to hurry. When he arrived, he grabbed some bread from the kitchen and dashed back toward the mango tree.
Panting, he finally reached Zoyi. "Haaah... Here's the bread." He handed it to her, still catching his breath.
"Thanks, this should be enough." Zoyi said.
She gently placed each bits of the bread in the ground, trying to lure the ducklings out from the village, somewhere a bit far away. 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."
Ivan nodded slowly. "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. As Ivan watch the scene, his heart pounded hard watching her approached the ducklings.
With swift movements, Zoyi killed the three ducklings easily by hitting them with the stone. The sound made Ivan flinch, but he forced himself to watch. It took only 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, there was a violent burst of blood. Her body exploded, spraying blood everywhere and painting the grass beside the river in red.
"Wha-" Ivan froze, shocked by the sight. He stepped back, his shoes now stained with blood, and the nearby grass soaked in it as well.
But then, he realized something. The scene was disturbingly familiar, it was something he is familiar with. A yellow duckling was on top of the ground soaked in blood where Zoyi had stood 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 ached 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 as he failed to kill the Zoyi.
How? How did Zoyi manage to kill them so easily?
Then a sudden thought came crashing to him. 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.
That should be the case. After all, Evie have eaten the egg too.
Zoyi started wandering around, seemingly unaffected by Ivan's attempts to harm it. Ivan just watched as it walked out of sight, disappearing into the grasses along the river.
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, as he scratched his head in confusion.
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?
× × × × × × × × × ×
[ Final chapter of Ivan's backstory. ]