I know I am close to the truth. But I feel like… I should not know it.
No matter.
I must find it.
The next book catches my eye: Higher Than the Pain of the World.
This one is in a much better state. Its leather cover is smooth, almost pristine. But the moment my fingers brush against it—
Pain.
Agony.
A pressure slams into me, sinking into my bones, my mind—a weight I was never meant to bear.
The pain of the world.
No, not just pain. All of it. Every grief, every despair, every silent cry of a forsaken soul.
I gasped, nearly dropping the book, but an unseen force holds me in place.
Then, the letters—the same ones that appeared in the other book—are no longer just on the page.
They are in my mind.
"You feel it now? This is what you created."
"N-no… it hurts! It hurts so much!"
"Now you are no longer higher than the pain of the world."
"No… please… I never meant for any of this to happen."
"You did."
Did I?
I—I can't think straight anymore.
Am I going to die?
"...Again?"
The words left my lips, but I did not think them.
"You pitiful fool."
What? Who said that?
"I am you."
...
"Do not believe those word."
"I will take your place. Vacate the body."
W-what is happening?
Something is pushing me out—out of my own body.
"What happened this time? Our body seems... different."
What do you mean? I don't even know what's happening…
"Ah. Those damned letters again."
"And so you are back..."
"Mark my words, this time I will beat him."
"..."
The book fell from my hands.
No… not my hands.
His…