The fear inside Etinnei intensified. The Arctic fox girl saw the creature she feared most approaching her.
"I like you," Kuttanai said. "Let's go with me."
Etinnei remembered a carrot-antenna instead of a nose, a blue hanging tongue: all this even then inspired great fear in her. The arctic fox girl was very afraid to see this face again.
"Are you that much afraid of me?" Kuttanai asked. "I'm your creator's brother. I'm almost like her."
Kuttanai pointed the wrench at Etinnei and pulled him towards him. The Arctic fox girl's neck touched the edges of the wrench. Etinnei closed her eyes so as not to see the face of her opponent.
"I shouldn't open my eyes," the animal girl thought. "If I open them, I'll die of fear."
Etinnei's body hung in the air under the force of gravity of the wrench. Her arms and legs were shaking, and her hair was blowing in the wind.
Sounds similar to the cries of birds were heard in the animal girl's head. Etinnei realized that it was Minniges screaming in her brain.
Kuttanai pulled the arctic fox girl's body closer to him. Etinnei felt it even though her eyes were closed. The fear inside her increased so much that now she could not think. Her mind was completely occupied with fear and anxiety, causing the bird calls to stop.
Kuttanai brought Etinnei's body almost close to himself. The nose-antenna almost rested on the girl's chest, the most protruding part of her body...
Tuot rose to his feet and found that he no longer had an aura on him, and Kuttanai was holding the arctic fox girl by the neck with a wrench.
It seemed to the dinosaur that this was the end. He could not save his friend. Tuot used to think that animal girls only existed in games. There he could talk to him and even control them. But meeting them in the real world is impossible. But despite this, Tuot dreamed of meeting at least one such creature. And one day a miracle happened. An arctic fox girl came to Tuot and broke through the door of his apartment.
"I can ask Halankuo to create an account for me in the "Mausoleum of Nature" and create a character similar to Etinnei," Tuot thought. "I still have her photos. If I do this, then I will have an arctic fox girl again."
Kuttanai's nose touched Etinnei's chest. The arctic fox girl's body was covered with a blue opaque aura and began to radiate coldness. The air around her filled with white steam. A wave of white-blue energy began to emanate from Etinnei's body, which hit the man with the carrot nose.
Kuttanai's nose quickly became covered with ice, which then spread to his face. The carrot-nosed man didn't even have time to react, and within a few moments, his body turned into a white ice statue.
***
Ikte stood in the middle of the forest and felt that there was no more signal.
"So Kuttanai reached Etinnei, and her defense worked," the doll thought. "This passive skill "Fear and Ice," I added to my character to protect her from my little brother. If he touches Etinnei, he will turn into an ice statue."
Tuot hid behind a tree, but decided to look at Etinnei one last time. The dinosaur saw the frozen Kuttanai and the blue silhouette of Etinnei hanging in the air, surrounded by icy steam.
"What happened?" Tuot thought. "Someone froze the man with the carrot nose. Is this really Etinnei? So I can do something too."
Tuot gathered all the energy he had. An aura surrounded his body, and the end of a harpoon appeared from his tail. Then the harpoon began to lengthen and flew towards the frozen enemy...
... The harpoon flew past Kuttanai and cut off his nose, after which it disappeared along with the aura of its owner. Tuot saw a metal carrot on the ground inside a transparent piece of ice.
"It worked," Tuot thought joyfully. "Now Etinnei is in no danger. I hope I meet her in the game, because we will never meet again in life."
Tuot fell to the ground unconscious.
***
Ustumut came out from behind the trees and noticed a doll with red hair.
"You are here," the dinosaur said. "Why aren't you hiding?"
"Why?" Ikte answered. "This is no longer relevant."
Ustumut looked at his curved sword, at the shield that was attached to his elbow, and then at the doll.
"The signal has disappeared," the dinosaur noted. "What should I do now?"
"Nothing," Ikte answered. "I don't feel the signal anymore either. If he disappeared, it means someone cut off your master's nose."
Ustumut's weapons disappeared. The dinosaur walked along the path towards the abandoned village. Ikte could only stand in the middle of the forest and look at him with her "glass" eyes.
***
The barrier around Yueret disappeared. Unana landed on her feet and aimed her bow with a new energy arrow at her brother.
"Why am I doing this?" the girl thought. "Yueret is not to blame for what happened to our parents. Why did I try to kill him? Now my brother will hate me."
The bow and arrow in Unana's hands disappeared. The girl knelt down and began to cry. Yueret approached his sister without weapons or aura, crouched down, and then hugged her.
"Don't cry," Yueret said. "I won't hate you."
Unana looked at her brother.
"Are you reading my thoughts?" the girl asked.
"No," Yueret smiled. "I just spent a lot of time with you, so I know you well. Let's go home."
"Let's go. Will we definitely get there? Won't we get lost?"
"No. We will definitely be home. And we will eat squirrels."
"Squirrels are tasty."
Unana smiled. Brother and sister held hands and walked towards their village.
***
Itinit woke up and looked around. At the entrance to the forest, he noticed a doll with pink hair floating in the air, with which he fought.
Yuehei turned around and looked at Itinit, and then he smiled.
"When she looks at me, I want this to last forever," Itinit thought. "I want her not to leave. But if she leaves, I'll wait. I will think about her every day."
Yuehei slowly flew into the forest.
Itinit touched his neck and did not notice either the chain or traces of it. The guy slowly got up from the ground and went into the forest to get the doll.
Yuehei flew to a glade surrounded on three sides by forest and on one side by a large gray rock. The arctic fox girl's body slowly became covered with ice.
Next to arctic fox girl stood an ice statue of Kuttanai. On the opposite edge of the glade, near the trees, a dinosaur lay and did not move.
The doll approached the ice statue and then opened its mouth. Her previously gray tongue became a source of bright yellow light, which erupted outward and turned into a beam of yellow energy.
The beam illuminated Kuttanai's frozen tongue and then penetrated inside. From the yellow energy, the ice statue turned yellow-white, after which it became covered with cracks...
... The yellow light in the doll's mouth disappeared along with the beam. Her tongue turned gray again.
The ice broke. Kuttanai's body began to fall to the ground, but Yuehei stopped him with her gaze. Then the doll, along with her brother's body, rose to the height of the surrounding trees and flew out of the glade.
Itinit approached Etinnei. The arctic fox girl was lying on the ground with her eyes closed and not breathing. Ice completely covered her body, except for her head.
"Sorry, arctic fox girl," Itinit thought. "I cannot help you remove the creature from your brain."
The ice continued to spread up the arctic fox girl's body and covered the ends of the hair that were in contact with the frozen torso.
Itinit felt weak, fell to his knees, then collapsed face down on the ground and lost consciousness.
The ice spread down his neck, then up his hood and hair. Soon he reached the ears on the top of his head. The arctic fox girl's body turned into an ice statue.
***
Halankuo sat near the broken window and looked at the information about the character in the "Mausoleum of Nature".
"This program can track the character's location," the girl thought. "I can find Kyotyoryon."
Halankuo touched the window with the map with her finger. A new window opened above the program window - with a map of the surrounding area. There were two dots on it: a blue one at the site of an abandoned village and a red one, which moved along the gray line.
"The red dot shows the location of the character, and the blue dot shows the location of the creator," Halankuo thought. "Kyotyoryon moves along the railway towards an abandoned railway station. There are no trains there, so she walks. I'll have to go there right now before Kyotyoryon goes too far."
Halankuo ran out of the house wearing only a long T-shirt. The girl noticed this only on the threshold of the house, but for her it was no longer important. She wanted her character too much back.
Outside the village, a coniferous forest began, through which ran old paving stones, partially overgrown with vegetation. The thick old trees were so tall that they could not be seen in full. There were almost no bushes, young trees or herbaceous plants, only ferns grew here and there.
The road ended near a wooden bridge over a narrow river. The trees here were already much lower. Thickets of bushes with small round dark green leaves appeared.
Halankuo crossed the bridge and found herself on a path that led up the slope.
The trees became even lower, and the forest became denser. After some time, the forest gave way to a scorched wasteland with rare herbaceous plants and shrubs.
"It's too bad I don't remember the way," Halankuo thought. "I haven't been here for a very long time."
The girl opened the "Mausoleum of Nature" and looked at the map. The red dot mark of Kyotyoryon was already located near the abandoned railway station. The blue dot of Halankuo's mark was closer to the red dot than at first, but there was still a significant distance between the dots.
Halankuo moved on. A dark green forest with spiky tops of coniferous trees appeared on the horizon.
"The abandoned station is located in that forest," the girl recalled.
The path led further into the forest. The trees on the horizon grew taller. The dark green outlines of the trees on the horizon became more and more like an ordinary forest.
The path abruptly stopped at the edge of the forest and was replaced by a glade overgrown with moss and ferns. In the middle of it was an old rusty rail.
Halankuo climbed onto the rail and walked forward. At first the girl thought she would fall, but her strong desire to find Kyotyoryon helped her maintain her balance.
The rail led Halankuo to a small railway station surrounded by sparse coniferous forest. It consisted of a one-story wooden building with a flat roof, several wooden benches with canopies and one platform, near which there was one gray rail.
The girl opened the window of the "Mausoleum of Nature" again and looked at the map. The red dot mark of the character was very close to the blue dot mark of the creator.
Halankuo approached the wooden station building. The windows and door were boarded up. The girl walked around the perimeter of the building, but did not find the character.
"Where is she?" the girl was scared. "Does the map show the character's location incorrectly?"
Halankuo walked up to the platform and looked at the rail that ran across the entire station. Kyotyoryon was lying on it with her eyes closed. The metal spirit's hands were folded together on his stomach, and his legs were closed tightly to each other.
Halankuo summoned a wrench and aimed it at the character. Kyotyoryon opened her eyes and kicked the wrench out of her creator's hands.
A metal hand appeared from behind Kyotyoryon's back. The wrench turned over several times in the air and fell into the character's metal hand. Kyotyoryon instantly rose to her feet and pointed a new weapon at the creator.
"This hand can attract metal objects," Halankuo thought. "I forgot it."
"You won't be able to do anything to me anymore with this thing," Kyotyoryon said.
"Give me the wrench," Halankuo asked.
"I won't give it back. He is made of metal, and I am the spirit of metal. That means this thing is mine."
"Okay. You can take it for yourself, just come back to me. I will not keep you in the world from which you came."
Kyotyoryon turned the wrench to the side. Halankuo staggered, but stayed on her feet.
"You don't know how to use this thing yet," Halankuo said. "If you come back to me, I will teach you."
"I won't come back," Kyotyoryon answered. "I don't want to go back to a place where there's nothing."
Kyotyoryon tried to throw Halankuo away again with the wrench, but only moved it back a little. The girl was able to resist again.
"Forgive me, Kyotyoryon," Halankuo lowered her head. "I didn't mean to cause you anything bad."
Tears appeared from Halankuo's eyes, and then flew down, falling onto her T-shirt in the chest area and leaving wet spots on it.
"I won't forgive you," Kyotyoryon said. "I don't believe you."
"Sorry," Halankuo looked at the spirit of metal.
Kyotyoryon aimed the wrench at her creator's feet and forced Halankuo's body to take a few steps back.
"I won't forgive you!" the spirit of metal shouted.
"Forgive me," Halankuo lowered her head again.
"I won't forgive you!"
Kyotyoryon pointed the wrench at the creator's head and turned it. Halankuo's body flew towards the station building, but landed on its feet.
"I want to live normally, like living beings," Kyotyoryon said. "I don't want to be your pet or your character that you can keep in that dark place. I want to live, not exist in a world where there is nothing."
Halankuo thought about it. All this time, she treated Kyotyoryon like a character from a game. But Kyotyoryon was a real character, which Halankuo did not understand. The girl wiped her tears and stopped crying.
"You won't bring me back," Kyotyoryon said. "Now the train will arrive and I will leave here."
"There are no trains here," Halankuo said. "This railway is abandoned."
"I summon it. And he will arrive. When we go by train, I noticed that it was made of metal. Then I realized that I could summon him."
"You can't summon a train. You don't have this skill yet."
Blades emerged from the bracelets on Kyotyoryon's hands. The metal hand with the wrench went back into the niche in the characters back. Kyotyoryon jumped onto the platform and then ran towards her creator.
Halankuo released lightning from her hand, which quickly turned into a large electric wrench hanging in the air. One of the hands of the spirit of metal found itself between the horns of the key, and it was immediately struck by a powerful bolt of lightning. After that, the wrench disappeared, as it gave up all the charge for the attack. Kyotyoryon's hand, which was shaking from the current, separated from the body and fell to the floor.
"She got rid of her hand so that the lightning would not pass further through her body," Halankuo mentally guessed. "She's smarter than I thought."
Kyotyoryon ran to attack again. Halankuo was able to dodge, and the hand with the blade pierced the wooden wall of the station building.
A bolt of lightning appeared in Halankuo's hand. The girl tried to point her hand at the enemy, but did not have time. A blade emerged from the bracelet on Kyotyoryon's leg. The character raised his leg up, and then struck with a leg armed with a blade...
... The blade stopped near Halankuo's neck. Kyotyoryon's body stopped moving.
"What happened?" Halankuo thought. "Why did she stop moving?"
"I really regret that this happened," a voice in Halankuo's head said. "I didn't want to leave you and Tuot."
This voice seemed familiar to Halankuo. After a few moments, the girl realized who it belonged to.
"Mom," Halankuo was surprised. "It's you?"
"Yes," the voice answered. "Parents must protect their children even after death. I'm glad I was able to protect you. Right now I'm just a data set. I do not exist in material form."
Halankuo remembered the memory card that her character found in the village.
"I gave you some of my abilities," the voice continued. "Now you can move objects with your eyes. Like a wrench, just with a sight."
"Thank you, mom," Halankuo smiled. "I will definitely find you and save you."
"You won't have to look for me. I already live in your brain. If you want to ask about something, you can ask using thoughts. Now we must act. Use what I gave you."
Kyotyoryon's body flew off the platform. The metal spirit could have fallen, but it took on a fighting form and began to hover over the rail. The wrench fell out of the niche in the characters back and fell onto the surface of the platform.
Halankuo didn't know that her pupils began to emit purple light, but she felt that if she looked at an object and concentrated on it, she could move it to another place.
A metal spear appeared near Kyotyoryon, which then flew towards Halankuo. The girl looked at it, but lost concentration. The spear flew to the side and hit the wooden wall of the station.
"I understand that I won't be able to control all these spears if they fly at the same time," Halankuo thought. "What should I do? I can pick up a wrench and use it, but I won't have time to do it."
"Look at the one who calls for spears," a voice in the girl's head sounded.
Halankuo looked at the character. Kyotyoryon was flying in the air, so it was not easy to focus on her. But even one moment of control over the enemy's body was enough. The spears disappeared. Kyotyoryon took on human form and then landed on the rail.
Several metal copies appeared around Kyotyoryon.
A whistle sounded. Kyotyoryon looked towards where the sound came from. Halankuo took advantage of this and looked at the character. The body of the metal spirit rose slightly above the rail and hung in the air.
A train appeared from behind the forest. Halankuo tried to move Kyotyoryon to the edge of the platform, but was unable to due to the pain in her eyes.
The girl closed her eyes, and the pain began to decrease. Kyotyoryon found herself on the rail again.
A black and red train with one locomotive and one carriage arrived at the station with a loud whistle and stopped in front of the spirit of metal. Kyotyoryon jumped onto the roof and reached the closed hatch. A metal arm extended from a niche in the character's back and forced the metal hatch cover to move aside.
Halankuo opened her eyes and looked at the character. The girl understood that Kyotyoryon would now leave her, but she no longer tried to stop her. Halankuo understood that she herself was to blame for this.
Kyotyoryon jumped into the hatch, after which the lid closed it. The train whistled and then moved forward along the single rail and left the station.
"You know, mom, creating a character was interesting," Halankuo thought. "I looked at the birds, at their movements in the sky and on the ground, and at one clumsy dinosaur. I wanted to create a metal bird and see if it could fly. Only I didn't know that the bird would be cramped in the cage and would want to fly away to freedom."
Volume 1. "Mausoleum of Nature: Fear and Ice" finished