The gray-blue ocean, on which small ice floes floated, seemed endless. Only a small cone-shaped mountain, which from a distance could be mistaken for a rock, peeked out of the water.
But it was an island. At the peak of the mountain there were ruins of buildings with stone columns. At the highest place, on a massive stone pedestal, stood a statue of a humanoid creature wearing a helmet that looked like a dinosaur skull with three horns and a beak.
A humanoid being in dark clothes with a hood approached the ruins, from under which strands of black hair peeked out. His face was covered by a mask with motionless bulging eyes and a metal carrot instead of a nose.
The being approached the statue along the broken road. A girl with red glowing eyes came out from behind the remains of a stone wall. Her weapon resembled a mixture of a sword and a spear. The costume consisted of a black helmet with two cutouts on the sides from which two black horns protruded, a sleeveless black fur dress that reached mid-thigh, and black fur boots in the shape of hooves. Long strands of black hair peeked out from under the helmet, falling over her chest, curving over it, and then hanging down to his knees.
"Don't be surprised, Ayika, it's really me, Kuttanai," the being with the carrot nose introduced himself. "I was released from my home."
"I recognize you," the girl said. "You look the same like before. You look disgusting like before."
"Disgusting? You don't like dolls."
"The dolls are non-living."
"If your creator had heard you, he would have been petrified forever."
"My creator will wake up and punish you for what you did to living beings." And release will not help you. You will no longer be able to log into your account in the 'Mausoleum of Nature'."
"That's why I came to you. You have the login information for my account."
"If you get them, you can create new dolls. That's why I won't give you the data."
"Why? I am not doing anything bad. I relieve living beings from suffering."
"You transform living beings into dolls, and they stop really living. They simply exist."
Kuttanai looked at the statue. Ayika noticed this and frowned.
"Now he is just a statue that I am not afraid of," Kuttanai said. "His horns don't even emit signals. If you don't give up your data voluntarily, I'll have to force you to do so."
A wrench appeared in Kuttanai's hand. Stone pillars emerged from the ground around the carrot-nosed man, blocking his legs and preventing him from moving. Then a stone ball flew towards the doll maker, but was stopped by a wrench and exploded in the air.
A cloud of gray dust filled the ruins. Ayika rushed to attack Kuttanai and tried to hit him from the side with the blade of her spear-sword. Kuttanai blocked the blow with a pink and white electric spear that appeared in his hand free from the wrench.
"Give me the data, and I won't do anything bad to you," Kuttanai suggested.
"You can take them after my death," Ayika answered.
"Okay," Kuttanai agreed and pointed a wrench at the girl.
The cloud of dust cleared. The electric spear in Kuttanai's hand disappeared. Ayika's body went underground and appeared on top of a dilapidated column. Kuttanai directed the wrench at the stone pillars around him, and made them go underground one by one.
Ayika crouched down and touched the top of the column with her weapon-free hand. The ground beneath Kuttanai's feet began to shake. Cracks appeared in it and quickly grew larger.
Kuttanai pointed the wrench at the ground below him, and one of the cracks stopped growing.
Ayika closed her eyes. A black aura appeared around her body. The cracks continued to grow, and the enemy could no longer influence them.
A purple aura appeared around Kuttanai, thanks to which he rose above the ground. A white-pink bolt of electricity appeared in his weapon-free hand, from which a white-pink lightning bolt then flew out. Ayika jumped back. Lightning struck the column and destroyed it.
"Give me the data and I'll leave here," Kuttanai suggested.
"I guard this island, these ruins, this statue, because they are important to me," Ayika thought, who was hiding behind the wall. "Here is a statue of my creator. I don't want this man with a strange nose to destroy these ruins and this statue. But I also don't want him to turn living beings into dolls. That's why I have to end him. I can't hit it from the ground. Looks like I can only use my most powerful skill."
The black aura around Ayika increased several times. Many small stones rose from the ground into the sky. When they reached a great height, they began to attract each other and form a single large stone.
"I won't be able to lower these stones with the wrench," Kuttanai thought. "The wrench can only control one object. When there are many goals, this ability becomes useless. I will have to use my strongest skill too."
Kuttanai raised his hand with the wrench upward and then looked at the sky. Thunder roared.
A beam of light shot from the sky and illuminated Kuttanai's body. A powerful white-pink lightning passed through this beam and struck a man with a carrot nose, after which the beam disappeared. His aura changed from purple to electric pink-white.
More lightning bolts flew from the sky. They knocked down some of the stones, which gathered over the island into a single stone ball. Sometimes lightning struck the ruins and destroyed them even more, but for some reason did not hit the statue.
Ayika tensed. Her aura increased in diameter. The stones that rose up gradually became more numerous. Now lightning could not break the stones and the ball itself, which was forming over the island.
Kuttanai realized that his most powerful skill had become useless and stopped using it. Lightning stopped flying from the sky. The electrical aura that surrounded him disappeared. Kuttanai landed on his feet and looked up.
A huge stone ball the size of a significant part of the island formed above the ruins. Small stones no longer rose up. Kuttanai pointed the wrench at the ball.
"Now I won't let it explode," Kuttanai thought. "Now it's assembled, so I can control it with the wrench."
A giant stone ball hovered in the air above the island and did not move. Ayika stood on all fours and grimaced from tension. Her aura could no longer increase. It had reached her limit. The girl clenched her fist and tried to explode the stone ball in the air, but she couldn't.
But Kuttanai also could not move the ball from its place. It turned out to be too big to move. The most his wrench could do was keep the ball from exploding.
Ayika could no longer maintain her skill. The girl had almost no energy left. Her aura began to diminish and soon disappeared. Small stones began to break off from the ball, fall down and disappear into the air.
Kuttanai lowered the wrench and walked through the ruins in search of the enemy. He found Ayika lying face down on the ground near the almost destroyed wall. Kuttanai pointed the wrench at the girl and turned her over on her back. Ayika's eyes were closed, her mouth was open, and her black tongue was hanging out of it. The girl was not breathing.
"It looks like she's dead," Kuttanai thought. "Now I can pick up my data, enter the "Mausoleum of Nature" and find the character."
Kuttanai opened his interface and pressed many buttons. His long tongue turned into a blue translucent energy hose, which penetrated into Ayika's mouth. The girl's eyes opened and became blue without pupils, and her body was surrounded by a blue energy aura.
Energy from Ayika's body began to flow into Kuttanai's body through the hose, and a blue energy aura was also transferred to him.
After a few tens of moments, the process stopped. The hose went back into Kuttanai's mouth. The girl's eyes returned to their original form and closed.
***
Unana woke up and felt something slippery touch her feet. The girl turned around and saw Kimchan, who was sitting on the bed near her legs. A blanket and pillow lay on the floor. Unana had no clothes and his hair was disheveled.
"Why are you waking me up like that?" Unana asked in a sleepy voice. "I don't like tickling. I'll wake up and feed you, just a little later."
The puppy jumped off the bed and left the room through the open door.
"I need to close the door so that the animals don't wake me up," Unana thought. "I'm so sleepy now that I can't do anything. I can't even put a pillow and blanket on the bed."
Unana laid down on her side, but almost immediately realized that lying without a pillow was uncomfortable. The girl had to get out of bed, take the pillow and put it back.
Kimchan came out from behind the door and began barking.
"Can't Yueret feed you?" Unana asked.
The puppy did not answer.
"Am I talking to a dog?" Unana guessed. "I need to wake up."
Unana went to Yueret's room. The door to it was closed, but the girl summoned the door lock and entered the room. But her brother was not there. Then the archer began to open all the doors in the house, go into all the rooms, open closets, look under the bed, but Yueret was not there.
The only creature that Unana met was Kimchan, who was sitting in the kitchen near the refrigerator.
"It looks like Yueret is not in the house," Unana thought. "I'll have to feed you."
Unana opened the refrigerator, took out a piece of meat and put it in the dog's bowl. The puppy ran to the bowl and began to eat.
"Maybe Yueret is in the yard?" the archer thought.
Unana left the house, walked around its perimeter and sat down on the porch. Yueret was nowhere to be found. At this moment the girl began to worry. She began to have bad suspicions.
"He ran away," Unana thought. "He left me and went to that girl with the wrench. We need to catch up with him before he goes too far."
Unana summoned her interface, went into her inventory, and touched the buttons with icons for clothing and shoes. A black T-shirt with a cutout on the chest, black shorts and gray boots appeared in the air and moved onto the girl.
"Yueret, I'm coming to you," Unana mentally addressed her brother. "I hope that girl with the wrench doesn't do anything bad to you."
Heavy footsteps were heard coming from the house.
"Kimchan definitely can't stomp like that," Unana thought. "I checked all the rooms. Is there really someone in the house?"
The sounds of footsteps became louder. A dog squeal was heard. Unana left the porch and stopped near the wall.
A dinosaur wearing gray plate armor came out of the house, holding a short, curved sword in one hand. With his other hand he held Kimchan's tail. The puppy squealed loudly and tried to bite the dinosaur, but he did not have enough flexibility to do this.
A small black bow with an ordinary arrow appeared in Unana's hands.
"Let the dog go!" Unana shouted.
The dinosaur only now noticed the girl with the bow.
"This is my prey," the being answered. "I will eat it."
Unana released the arrow. The dinosaur fought it off with his sword.
"You will come with me to the house of my master, who will transform you into a doll," the dinosaur said. "My name is Ustumut. I am master Kuttanai's battle doll."
"I would rather die than become a doll," Unana thought. "Yueret, it's time to protect me, just like I protected you."
"I won't go with you," Unana answered. "Let go of the dog and get out of here!"
"I will eat the dog later," Ustumut decided. "I will deal with you first."
Ustumut threw Kimchan over the fence. The puppy whined loudly and then ran into the nearby forest.
"Why don't you want to come with me?" Ustumut asked. "Becoming a doll is not scary at all. Part of your brain will be removed and replaced with an artificial one. Your eyes will stop moving. No tears will fall from them. You won't feel hungry. You won't have to eat."
"For some reason you wanted to eat the dog, although you are a doll," Unana noted. "You contradict yourself."
"I eat in order to feel the taste of food. I don't need food to live because I don't live. I exist. If you become a doll, you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want, and not get fat."
"Maybe becoming a doll isn't so bad?" Unana thought. "Although not. If I can't worry about Yueret, he might end up with some undead girl who will hug him."
"Be like that yourself," Unana answered. "But I don't want. Give the dog back and go away."
"Then I will have to grab you," Ustumut said. "This is my master's order. I obey a signal that makes me do its bidding. Therefore, I cannot leave - neither of my own free will not in any other way."
A white-blue ice arrow appeared inside Unana's bow and flew towards Ustumut. A small purple semicircular shield appeared on the dinosaur's freed hand. The arrow hit him and partially covered it with an ice crust, after which he disappeared.
Ustumut shook his shield, and the ice crust crumbled.
"This is a weak skill," the dinosaur noted.
"Of course it's weak," Unana confirmed. "I don't want to fight you. I want you to return the puppy and leave."
"It's impossible to convince me," Ustumut answered. "I obey only the signal of my master."
A white-purple electric arrow appeared in Unana's bow. Ustumut responded by being covered in a green energy aura.
The archer released an arrow. An energy copy of it separated from the dinosaur's aura and flew towards the enemy. The arrow hit the dinosaur replica, bounced off it, turned over and flew back to the bow.
Unana jumped to the side and dodged her own arrow, which then reached a nearby tree and disappeared. The arrow left only a black mark on the tree bark.
An energy copy of the aura flew towards Unana and pushed her. The girl fell to the ground. The copy flew back to its owner and merged with him.
Ustumut released a green energy harpoon from his tail. Unana tried to rise, but at that moment the harpoon wrapped around her and pulled her towards the enemy.
"My master said that you will be the best doll after his sisters," Ustumut said.
Unana became scared. She didn't want to become a doll and lose her feelings. It seemed to her that along with her feelings she would lose her brother.
The archer shot an ordinary arrow at Ustumut's leg. The dinosaur screamed in pain. The energy harpoon released the girl and then disappeared. Unana fell to the floor, rolled towards the wall of the house, and then ran into the corridor.
While Ustumut was screaming, Unana closed the front door and then locked it with a lock. After that, the girl ran to the second floor, to her room.
Ustumut went up to the porch and tried to pick the lock.
"Modern codes are different from the ancient ones," Ustumut thought. "Technology has gotten a little better over the years. But it's still a door lock."
The code entered into the lock worked the sixth time. The dinosaur turned the handle and the door opened.
"Leave the house!" Ustumut shouted.
A fiery arrow flew out from behind the house. It hit the dinosaur in the tail and set it on fire a bit. Ustumut screamed loudly, jumped up and ended up on the edge of the roof. The fire on his tail went out. But the roof turned out to be uneven. The dinosaur lost its balance and fell to the ground.
"This house itself attacked me," Ustumut decided. "The creator didn't warn me about this."
At this time, Unana closed the window in her room. Her bow with an energy string hung behind her.
"This will distract him a little," the girl thought. "I hope Yueret will come and deal with him."
***
Yueret stood in a mixed forest on the slope of a mountain. He didn't understand how he ended up here.
"I was worried about Halankuo and decided to go to her, went to the station, but then somehow ended up here," Yueret thought. "I hope I didn't go far from home. Unana is probably already worried about me."
Yueret went down the mountain and saw a river valley, along the bottom of which a small river flowed. A railway in the form of one rail ran next to it. The mountain slopes were covered with mixed forests, but there were almost no trees at the bottom of the valley.
"I remember this place," Yueret thought. "If you walk along this railway, you can go to the station, and from there you can go home."
Yueret wanted to go down into the valley, but instead went up the mountainside.
"Why do I go up?" the guy thought. "I wanted to go in the other direction."
Then Yueret remembered Ikte's words that not only dolls, but also living beings can feel the signal.
"She said something about actions that are not characteristic of a certain being," Yueret thought. "Is the signal really affecting me?"
Yueret sensed that Halankuo was in danger. If he returns home now, something terrible could happen to her. The guy stopped and thought.
"This signal forces me to go to Halankuo," Yueret thought. "But I have to go home. Unana is waiting for me. She might be in danger. I won't forgive myself if something bad happens to my little sister because of me."