I woke up. No, I collided with reality at full speed.

  I didn't understand where I was. A hurricane howled in my head. Thousands of voices were tearing my mind into shreds, screaming over one another.

  Where are we? Who are we? How are they doing without us? What became of them? The meaning of life? There is no meaning! There is meaning! To live or not to live? What is this all for? Why?!

  "SHUT UP!" I roared, digging my fingers into my head.

  I squeezed my eyes shut so hard that bloody spots drifted before my vision. I squeezed my skull, hoping to simply crush these voices, to force them to fall silent forever.

  I snapped my eyes open. The cave was gone.

  I was suspended in absolute, impenetrable darkness. No frames, no walls, no floor, no end. And I began to fall.

  A horrific, hollow feeling in my stomach. A freefall into nowhere.

  What?.. was all I had time to think.

  BAM.

  The impact against hard stone knocked the wind out of me. I realized I was lying on the floor of the cave. Reality returned with a jolt, bringing with it new flashes of images.

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

  I saw Mira. And in that same second, frames flickered in my brain: here she is pulverizing someone into dust. Here she is piercing my chest with a sword, nearly killing me. And here—she is hugging me as the world around us collapses, and I feel unbearably, truly sick.

  "It gets worse every time," Mira’s voice sounded. It was calm, but there was steel in it. "The hallucinations are becoming more vivid. The voices won't stop. You no longer understand where you are or what century it is."

  I curled up on the floor, feeling another wave of someone else’s memory wash over me.

  "Mira... please..." I wheezed. "Rid me of this. I beg you. Stop it!"

  "Don't worry," she stepped closer. "I’ve already started rewriting your Book. I’m tidying it up. But for now... for now, you’ll have to endure. I’m sorry I couldn’t be by your side all this time."

  "THAT BOOK!" I broke into a scream. "It’s horrific! It’s killing me! Destroy it! Burn it!"

  Mira gave a sad chuckle, crouching down beside me.

  "And yet, when you created it, you were so proud of yourself. You called yourself a genius. You swore that this Book would be your greatest salvation, your personal immortality."

  She sighed, looking at the heavy volume.

  "And now it brings you more pain than benefit. Your 'gift' turned out to be your most terrifying cage."

  Her palm rested gently on the crown of my head. Her warm fingers began to slowly, methodically run through my hair.

  Click.

  The voices began to subside, drifting away, turning into an indistinct hum at the back of my mind. The darkness in my eyes became cozy rather than frightening.

  "Sleep, Zen..." she whispered.

  And I began to fall asleep. In the final moment, I thought about that "Greg" who once spent his time with a smile on his face.

  He was probably the happiest idiot in the entire history of this cursed world.