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[Alexandr Korol]

the paradox. I call the Mystic-Old-Man, I tell him all this, and I ask, “What is this? Did I catch something? Did I eat something bad? What’s wrong?” And he says — imagine, this isn’t Big Alexander, this is the Mystic-Old-Man telling me — “Well, Alex, you do know what’s happening in the world right now, right?” He tells me, “You know the world is going through a transition, right? This is just how it manifests in people.” Okay. And yet, for the past two years, Big Alexander had been telling me exactly this — that something is happening, that I’m turning into someone, that something is happening, that it’s some kind of mutation, some kind of transformation, and that “you shouldn’t even think about it, no doctor can help you, ha-ha, hee-hee.” Just like that. Again, in no way should you take this as an example — only doctors can help you, don’t apply my case to yourself. But just the fact of it. From everything I’ve described, you can at least take note so that you panic less — you can convince yourself that you’re transforming, but still go to the doctor. At least you’ll be less afraid, because I worry about you. I don’t want you to be in any kind of fear. I want every person to be happy.
And so, I begin to mutate. One thing hurts, then another, then something else, so much so that I think I’m going to die, that this is the end for me. Can you imagine? This is what was happening to me, and it became especially intense in the third volume. And do you know why? Because in the third volume, I begin moving through different worlds. And this is the key to what the third volume is really about. It’s as if, for two or three days at a time, I become a completely different person—and this goes on for many months. Every three days — I’m someone else. My thoughts are different, my feelings are different, my desires are different, my character is different, my perception of myself is different, even my appearance seems to change. The way I perceive my apartment, the way I perceive everything — it all shifts. And every three days, I’m different. Honestly, it feels like some kind of witchcraft, doesn’t it? I don’t understand. It’s as if I’m being physically thrown around in some kind of labyrinth, tossed between different worlds. But it’s so unusual because I seem to be the same person, living in the same place, doing the same things — at that time, I was working on the third volume — but I realize that every three days, I become someone else. Just imagine all the different kinds of people you’ve ever met or seen in your life. And now imagine that every three days, you don’t just resemble one of them —