The purple energy darts reached Tuot, but hit the shield on his elbow and were absorbed.
"Your shield can eat energy too," Suturu noted. "Just like mine."
Tuot looked at his shield. The symbol on it was now glowing green. The dinosaur's aura became very bright and almost opaque for a moment. Then the symbol on the shield "went out" and became black again.
"Now it's clear why I feel a little better," Tuot guessed mentally. "If something energetic hits the shield, it absorbs it, and if it's something elemental or just an arrow, it reflects it."
"Hitting you with energy is not very good," Suturu continued. "I will hit you with lightning."
"Why is this doll talking about its plans?" Tuot was surprised. "Although for me it is even better this way."
The energy circle above the shore disappeared. And then Tuot realized how wrong he was.
"She can hit me with elemental skills, but I can't hit with energy skills because of her shield," the dinosaur was scared. "What should I do?"
An electric aura surrounded the blade of Suturu's sword. The doll stuck it into the ground, and then rose to the height of a medium-sized tree that grew on the shore of the lake.
Weak lightning flew from the sword in different directions. Tuot's harpoon attacked it, but then retreated, because a rain of electric darts fell on the dinosaur from above.
Tuot dodged the attack, and then looked up. Suturu was standing in the air, shooting white-blue darts from an electrical circle with a lightning pattern inside.
The dinosaur jumped to a tree on the shore and hid behind it. The next moment, several holes appeared in the trunk, through which the electric darts passed, and then disappeared into the water.
Tuot touched the symbol on the shield with his claw. A white glowing silhouette appeared in front of the dinosaur, which soon became a lizard with yellow scales.
"I hope at least this will work," Tuot thought. "I'll hold out for a while, and then the dog girl will come and burn this doll. But I hope in vain. She doesn't love me, so she won't help."
Tuot grabbed the lizard with the harpoon, and then quickly ran to a nearby tree. The next batch of electric darts flew past the dinosaur, but hit the lizard's head and thereby activated its yellow aura.
Tuot hid behind the tree again. This time there was no attack.
"I'm not hitting," Suturu thought. "Someone is too far away."
The doll approached the tree behind which the enemy was hiding, and then dropped to the ground.
Tuot noticed the enemy approaching, flapped his wing, and released several energy feathers. Suturu was not prepared for the sudden attack, but her shield absorbed the feathers. The symbol on the shield began to glow like Tuot's, but purple. The aura became opaque for a moment due to the excess energy, but the electric circle remained unchanged.
"The absorption only affects energy skills," Tuot watched the enemy from behind a tree trunk. "Elemental skills are not strengthened, although the energy for them becomes greater."
Suturu directed an electric circle at a tree, from behind the trunk of which a tail in a green aura was peeking out and waves of yellow energy were periodically emanating. Tuot noticed this and ran behind the trunk of a nearby tree, but did not have time to hide behind it...
Most of the electric darts were deflected by the shield, but a few hit the dinosaur's legs. Only a wave of yellow energy from the lizard removed the current and saved Tuot.
The electric circle in front of Suturu disappeared and then appeared above the tree behind which Tuot hid. The dinosaur did not notice this and remained standing.
The electric circle assumed a horizontal position and then shot lightning downwards. The tree was cut into two vertical halves, but remained standing.
Suturu extended her hand to the side. The sword that was sticking out of the ground returned to the doll. It had already lost its electric aura and did not scatter lightning.
"Lightning hit someone's shield," Suturu guessed. "But now someone won't be able to hide. The trees won't be able to help him anymore."
The doll was right. Tuot ran out from behind a split tree with a yellow lizard held by his energy harpoon and ran at the enemy. Suturu filled her blade with lightning and threw it forward.
Tuot parried the doll's sword with his shield and continued to run into the attack. Suturu caught her weapon, and then flew up sharply so that the enemy wouldn't reach her.
Tuot noticed this and hit the ground with his shield. The black symbol on it began to emit a purple glow, after which a purple circle appeared under the dinosaur…
… A powerful stream of air lifted Tuot up. The dinosaur's aura changed color to purple. Suturu did not expect this, and was soon attacked by the enemy.
Tuot touched the doll's shield with his shield, and then pressed it. The opponents flew down…
… Suturu's body fell to the ground and broke. The mask on her face cracked, and her head, without it, rolled toward the lake shore. Her arms and legs ended up under different trees, and her torso remained where he fell.
Tuot stood in front of the remains of the torso and watched as the sword in the electric aura pierced the doll's stomach. Electricity ran through the torso, causing it to twitch as if it had a head and limbs.
Etinnei woke up in a wooden coffin floating down the river. Tree ferns grew along the banks, with single grassy plants with scaly leaves growing between them.
The arctic fox girl looked at the water and suddenly noticed something dark in it. She stuck her hand in to check what it was, but she didn't get anything. Something dark disappeared into the depths.
There was a noise of water. Rapids began on the river, and the coffin got stuck in them.
Etinnei scrambled onto the nearest rock, but then fell backwards. Fortunately, ice formed on the surface of the water, which softened the fall, and then carried the arctic fox girl to the shore along with the coffin.
"That thing worked again," Etinnei thought. "The water always turns hard when I fall in."
Suddenly the Arctic fox girl felt warm. She looked at her arm and found the sleeve of a white and blue fur jacket instead of a gray and purple top.
"When that hard white thing appears, my clothes change," Etinnei noted. "Why?"
The ice on the river disappeared. The fur jacket was replaced by a top.
"Now the clothes are back. Why?"
The arctic fox girl wanted to find an answer, but she couldn't. She climbed into the coffin, lay on her back, and then ran her finger in front of her. A blue translucent virtual screen appeared above the coffin.
"What is this?"
The arctic fox girl began to examine the screen. It had several rectangles in a blue frame with symbols inside.
"They look like my thing in which I sleep and float on the water. What happens if I touch them?"
Etinnei poked her finger at one of the buttons. Another screen opened in front of her, this time with buttons in the form of black silhouettes of a jacket, a sword with a shield, circles. But the character's attention was drawn to two buttons: with a white and blue snowflake and a blue and white lightning bolt.
"Which one should I press? If I press the snowflake, will it snow? And if I press the lightning bolt, will lightning strike? And if I press both, will it snow with lightning?"
Etinnei simultaneously touched the button with the snowflake and the button with the lightning bolt with her index fingers of both hands. But neither snow nor lightning appeared from the sky. Instead, an inscription of incomprehensible black symbols appeared on the screen, and then disappeared.
"Why didn't the snow and lightning appear?" Etinnei felt sad. "I did press the buttons. But something strange appeared. If my creator were with me, I would ask her. But there is no one here. I can't ask anyone."
The arctic fox girl climbed out of the coffin, took a few steps, and found that the screen had moved with her.
"Disappear!" Etinnei shouted.
But the screen did not disappear. The arctic fox girl waved her hand and accidentally moved it from top to bottom. The screen finally disappeared.
Etinnei was happy for a moment, but then tears came to her eyes:
"The creator abandoned me. There is no one to talk to in this place."
The arctic fox girl walked along the river bank and noticed a large lizard with grey scales resting on a rock.
"There's someone here!" Etinnei rejoiced. "I can talk to someone!"
"I'm Etinnei," the animal girl introduced herself. "I have ears and a tail. Unfortunately, you only have a tail..."
The lizard turned its head towards the character, but did not answer. Then it looked at the water, after which it quickly disappeared into it.
"Why isn't she talking to me?" Tears came out of Etinnei's eyes. "I talked to her, but she did not answer and ran away."
The arctic fox girl turned her head to the side, saw the forest through her tears and decided to go there.
The forest was filled with the cries of birds, which gave Etinnei hope of meeting a talking creature.
On one of the trees, the Arctic fox girl found a small bird with a long tail, but she couldn't even talk to it. The animal flew up and disappeared into the dense thickets of ferns and vines.
Etinnei fell to her knees and screamed. Tears streamed down her face and fell onto her clothes. After a few dozen moments, the animal girl felt weak and fell face down on the ground.
"At least the ground here hasn't become hard. I guess it's only the water that's hardening."
The Arctic fox girl stopped crying, but only because she had run out of tears. Evening had come. Etinnei regained her strength, and she went to the coffin, which still stood among the stones on the riverbank.
"This place was made especially for sleeping in. There are still many animals in the forest. Maybe someone will talk to me tomorrow."
The Arctic fox girl lay down in the coffin, curled up and closed her eyes, after which the lid covered her. The coffin moved from its place, rounded the rapids and floated further down the river.
The next day, Etinnei woke up from the noise of water and looked out of her coffin. Her gaze "rested" on a stone wall that hung over the bank and was hidden in dense vegetation.
But the source of the noise was behind. Etinnei turned around and saw how masses of water fell down a high steep cliff, forming foam below.
"Where does this water come from?" Etinnei wondered.
The beginning of the waterfall was not visible from the steep bank to which the coffin was attached, but this interested the animal girl even more.
Etinnei stepped out of the coffin and stepped on the water, but it did not freeze. The Arctic fox girl's foot plunged into the clear, cool liquid.
"The hard white thing did not appear," Etinnei noted. "Why? Appear!"
The arctic fox girl took her leg out of the water and was about to cry, but suddenly remembered the snowflake and lightning on the interface screen.
Etinnei swiped her finger in front of her. The virtual screen with buttons in the form of lightning and snowflakes appeared in front of her again. This time, the animal girl only pressed the snowflake, and it lit up blue-white.
The buttons on the screen disappeared, and then were replaced by round gray slots. Two of them had icons: a circle with a snowflake inside and an icicle. But most of the slots remained gray: these skills were closed to the character.
Etinnei pressed the circle with the snowflake. A moment later, a white-blue clot surrounded by icy vapors appeared in her other hand.
"Can this thing make water hard?" Etinnei looked at her new skill.
The ice clot grew a little and took the shape of a ball. Now it no longer fit in the little hand of the arctic fox girl, and she decided to test her guess...
… The ice ball flew into the waterfall and crashed into the powerful stream of water. Etinnei saw that nothing had happened and almost cried. But then a miracle happened. The lower part of the waterfall was covered with ice, which began to spread quickly upstream against the current.
Etinnei looked at the almost frozen waterfall and could not believe what had happened to it. The pure white translucent ice was so beautiful that the arctic fox girl could not look anywhere else. Etinnei was truly happy for the first time. She was no longer worried about being abandoned by her creator and not being able to talk to anyone.
But the happiness did not last long. The water could no longer flow down, so it accumulated at the top and after a few dozen moments, one powerful stream swept away the monumental creation of the arctic fox spirit.
Ice fragments and splashes of water hit Etinnei's face. The arctic fox girl again felt abandoned by her creator and no one was talking to her. She returned to the coffin and cried until the next morning...
… For several months, the coffin with the character inside traveled along the river system of the Southern Continent until it reached the sea. There was no longer any dense vegetation, only low coniferous bushes and mosses. The air was cool and the sky was gray. The seashore was covered with black sand, and black-white birds were wandering along it.
"Maybe they will talk to me?" the animal girl was still hoping for a miracle.
Etinnei left the coffin and went to meet her future acquaintances.
The birds quickly noticed the new creature, but hurried to hide in the sea. One of them, dark blue and white, remained on the shore.
"Who are you?" the Arctic fox girl asked. "I am Etinnei. I have a tail and four ears, but no one wants to talk to me."
The bird did not answer. It froze, waiting for the strange creature to act.
Etinnei approached her new acquaintance and extended her hand to touch it. In response, the bird pecked the finger that appeared from her sleeve, and then followed its relatives.
That day, Etinnei was left alone on the shore of the cold sea. The cries of a strange creature with four ears and one tail were heard across the flat coastal plain covered with moss, and reached the rocky mountain peaks on the horizon.
That night, Etinnei fell asleep for the first time not in a coffin, but on cold black sand...
… The next day, the Arctic fox girl woke up from something hot. The sand beneath her had warmed up in the sun, but the air was still cold.
Etinnei climbed out onto the cool, damp moss that grew near the shore and felt relieved. Then she happened to look out to sea and noticed a dark blue and white penguin without legs above the shore. The top of his head was decorated with two antennae with transparent balls at the ends, and a thick horn protruded from his forehead, like an ice cream cone.
"Better not talk to it," Etinnei thought. "It won't talk to me."
"Why do you think that, refrigerator girl?" a bird-like voice sounded in Etinnei's head.
"I'm not a refrigerator girl. I am the spirit of the arctic fox."
"Can't you use ice and lightning? Only refrigerators can do that."
Suddenly, Etinnei realized something. Her eyes began to tremble, but no tears came out of them.
"You're talking to me?" the Arctic fox girl felt joy.
"I don't understand you," a voice sounded inside Etinnei. "Speak to me with your thoughts. I live in your head, so I can't hear what you say with your mouth."
"But I see you."
"You will see me even if you close your eyes."
Etinnei closed her eyes. The seashore had disappeared, but the penguin remained.
"Why did you appear?" Etinnei asked mentally.
"You wanted someone to talk to you," the voice answered. "Now I will talk to you."
Etinnei opened her eyes and smiled. She was truly happy for the first time since leaving her creator…
… Etinnei stood on the shore of a lake in a volcano crater. Her opponent, the acid doll, looked at her with large "glass" eyes and waited for an answer.
"I won't show you anymore," a voice in the head of the Arctic fox spirit said. "My ice cream will melt."
"Why did I forget you?" Etinnei asked her brain companion. "You were the first being who spoke to me there."
"There you met me whole, with three horns. But then someone took two of my horns, and you forgot me."
Etinnei looked at the green-haired doll standing before her. Now the Arctic fox girl was ready to answer. But they were not words. It was an icicle covered in an electrical aura.