Mausoleum of Nature

After being hit by a flaming arrow and falling from the roof, Ustumut could not understand where he was. The dinosaur stood and looked around until he heard heavy footsteps from behind.

Ustumut turned around and saw in front of him a guy dressed in a black jacket, pants and boots. In one hand he held a large rectangular-oval shield, in the other a short sword.

“What did you do to my little sister?” the guy asked.

“Nothing yet,” Ustumut answered. “But I want to do it. My name is Ustumut. I am master Kuttanai's doll. I sense a signal and it compels me to bring your little sister to my master. She should become his doll. You are her older brother?”

“You guessed it right,” the guy said. “I am Yueret, Unana’s older brother. I don't want to fight with you. But it seems to me that you won't leave.”

“Yes,” Ustumut answered. “Even if I want to leave here, the signal won’t allow me.”

A green energy aura appeared around Ustumut. Yueret responded by activating his aura.

The dinosaur pushed off from the ground. A moment later, he was behind his opponent and struck him with his tail. Yueret was saved by a protective barrier in the form of a sphere that automatically appeared from the aura.

Ustumut ran to the fence and turned around. On his sword-free arm, a small purple oval shield appeared with a black symbol in the middle. The dinosaur touched him with its claw.

A luminous silhouette of an egg appeared near Ustumut, floating motionless in the air.

“Looks like he has a plan,” Yueret thought. “This dinosaur is not stupid, despite the fact that he is a doll.”

Soon the silhouette turned into an egg with a black shell and dark blue veins, which began to stagger. The cracking of shells was heard. The veins began to glow and released a wave of dark blue energy in a radius from the fence to the house.

The protective sphere around Yueret began to flicker.

“This egg imposes a negative effect that reduces defense,” Yueret thought. “He definitely has a plan. But I don’t have one.”

The first wave was followed by a second. Yueret's protective barrier became almost transparent.

“I still have the shield,” Yueret thought. “It doesn’t require energy. Maybe I can somehow hold on a little longer and this egg will disappear. No, the plan is too bad. But there is no other.”

After the third wave of dark blue energy, the protective barrier disappeared.

Ustumut swung his sword several times. A symbol consisting of air currents appeared in the air and flew towards the enemy. Yueret covered himself with the shield. The wind symbol struck the shield and pushed Yueret back a little.

The egg released a fourth wave of energy. Yueret's energy aura became almost transparent.

A clot of whirlwinds appeared in Ustumut’s hand. The dinosaur pointed it at the enemy and released it.

A powerful stream of wind erupted from the clot of whirlwinds and hit the enemy. Yueret completely hid behind the shield, but this did not help. The guy was carried by the wind to the wall of the house, and the shield disappeared.

“I need to deal with the egg first,” Yueret decided.

Yueret released a blue energy beam from his hand, but did not hit the egg, since Ustumut covered it with himself. The beam hit the shield on the dinosaur's arm and absorbed it.

The fifth wave of energy has passed. Yueret's aura had almost disappeared. The guy realized that his aura would soon disappear, so he ran to attack the egg.

Ustumut parried several blows from Yueret's sword with his weapon, but did not notice how a light beam from the enemy's hand hit the egg.

The egg began to flicker, but released one last wave of dark blue energy before disappearing. This was enough for Yueret's aura to disappear. Ustumut noticed this, pushed the enemy away with his shield, and then released an energy harpoon from his tail.

Yueret felt that he would not be able to activate the aura again due to lack of energy. So he simply summoned a shield and covered himself with it. But this did not help. The harpoon wrapped around Yueret’s body, lifted him off the ground and threw him over the fence.

Ustumut entered the house and headed to the second floor.

The dinosaur stopped near the door to Unana's room and then hit its head on the door, causing several cracks to appear in it. This was followed by several more head blows, and the door shattered into several pieces.

Ustumut looked around the room, but saw no one. The dinosaur did not wait for someone to appear there, and went to the first floor.

At this time, Unana was sitting under the bed and did not move. The bedspread, which reached the floor, completely hid her from anyone who could enter the room.

After the dinosaur left the room, Unana crawled out from under the bed, went to the window and opened it. Yueret stood below him and looked up.

“He has finally come,” Unana rejoiced. “A little more and it would be too late.”

Yueret noticed his little sister looking out of the window.

“Unana, jump!” Yueret shouted.

“Where have you been?” Unana asked.

“I'll tell you later. Jump!”

A purple aura appeared around Unana. The girl jumped from the window and landed next to her brother.

Yueret grabbed his sister by the hand and dragged her into the bushes near the fence.

“We must run,” Yueret said.

“I thought you would fight a dinosaur and defeat it,” Unana suggested.

“This dinosaur is very strong. He can summon an egg that reduces defense.”

“Are you scared of him?”

“Yeah. This was the first time I saw such a negative effect.”

“Then let’s fight him together.”

“This is dangerous. If they capture you, they will make you a doll.”

“I don't want to be a doll.”

“Then we have to run.”

“And leave the house to this dinosaur, which is not even alive?”

“Yeah. If you become a doll, you won't need this house. It will mean nothing to you.”

The brother and sister walked along the fence to the emergency exit, opened the door and walked out onto a stone path that led into a mixed forest with tall trees.

“Where is Kimchan?” Unana asked.

“I don’t know,” Yueret answered. “I didn’t see him.”

“You can’t leave without him. Kimchan can get to that dinosaur and it will eat him. He himself said that he wanted to eat Kimchan.”

Yueret and Unana began to walk along the fence and look around. Near the forest they saw a brown puppy sniffing the ground.

“This is Kimchan,” Unana rejoiced. “It has been found!”

Unana ran to the puppy, took him in her arms and went into the forest. Yueret followed her.

***

Kyotyoryon was lying on the bed with her eyes open and not moving.

Halankuo sat on the floor next to the spirit of metal in front of a virtual screen with the “Mausoleum of Nature” open. The girl went into different sections of the program, but was never able to find out the reason for her character’s malfunction.

There was the sound of an incoming message. Halankuo minimized the program, logged into her messenger account and saw a message from Tuot there:

“I'm not at home. I went with Itinit to the coast and now I am in Munmut.”

If Tuot had been at home, Halankuo would not have believed him. But now the girl took this information seriously. She was surprised that Tuot would do such a thing, but the character bothered her more.

“Why did you go there?” Halankuo wrote.

At this time, Tuot and Itinit were in a hotel room playing a game on virtual screens. Tuot heard the sound of an incoming message, minimized the game and read it.

“It’s a secret,” Tuot wrote. “When I get back, I’ll tell you.”

Itinit heard the sound of an incoming message. The guy minimized the game and saw a message from Halankuo:

“I have a problem. My character stopped moving. But it is impossible to translate it into its original form. What to do?”

“Sorry, I can’t play yet,” Itinit addressed Tuot. “I need to go.”

Tuot opened his mouth wide in surprise and began to move his head back and forth.

“Where are you going?” the dinosaur asked.

“I can’t tell you,” Itinit said. “But it’s important.”

Itinit closed the virtual screen, left the room, and then looked around. When he was sure no one was watching him, he opened the virtual screen again.

“Did you move the character back into the program?” Itinit wrote.

“No. Kyotyoryon really doesn’t like being inside the program. I promised her not to move her there again. If I do this, she will be offended by me,” Appeared the answer from Halankuo.

“This may be the only way to fix the character. If you move it into a program, reboot it, and then move it into the real world, it should work.”

“How do you know?”

“This has already happened to my character.”

Halankuo looked at the motionless Kyotyoryon and imagined her as the doll she had seen before. The girl created the character out of curiosity, and at first did not consider the transferred creature to be alive. But gradually Halankuo realized that she had become attached to this strange creature, which thinks like artificial intelligence, at the same time has its own character and often comes to strange conclusions. Halankuo wanted her character to be the same as before.

“If I do what Itinit advised, Kyotyoryon will not like it when she wakes up,” thought Halankuo. “And if I leave her in this form, she may remain only a shell, albeit a real one.”

***

Yueret, Unana and Kimchan entered an abandoned village. The old paving stones were overgrown with plants, but they were still walkable. All that remains of most houses are wooden walls. Young trees grew on the roofs of the few surviving houses.

“They won’t find us here,” Yueret said. “There are no local residents left in this village, so it’s safe here.”

“For some reason I don’t think so,” Unana was too scared, so she didn’t believe her brother.

The village consisted of two long streets located along a small rushing river. Beyond the river one could see rocks covered with dense mixed forest. On the other side of the village there is a gentle slope of the mountain, overgrown with bushes.

“Where were you this morning?” Unana looked angrily at her brother.

“I accidentally ended up in the forest not far from here,” Yueret explained. “Then I realized that I had been influenced by the signal.”

“Is it coming from the carrot of that scary being?”

“Don't know. But I was able to resist the signal and returned. I don't want the signal to affect you the way it affected me. Therefore, we need to run from here to where the signal will not affect us.”

“It acts somehow strange. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.”

“This happens for some reason. The doll seemed to be talking about this.”

Yueret remembered that when he was under the control of the signal, he was worried about Halankuo.

“I remembered,” Yueret said. “The signal affects those whose feelings change. Each sense has a scale that fills depending on the creature’s experiences. By default it is hidden and very difficult to see. If the feeling level is less than the signal level, then the signal can take control of the creature. When I was worried about Halankuo, my level of concern for you decreased, and my level of concern for Halankuo had not yet increased enough to exceed the signal level. Therefore, the signal was able to control me.”

“I thought you went to that girl with the wrench,” Unana frowned. “If the signal worked as you said, then you were trying to choose between me and Halankuo?”

Yueret realized that Unana was about to get angry, and took a few steps back.

“If she thinks like she just said, the level of her feelings will change, and the signal will be able to control her,” Yueret was afraid. “But it won’t be possible to deceive my younger sister, who knows everything about me.”

“No,” Yueret replied. “I was more worried about you than about Halankuo. Therefore, I was able to free myself from the influence of the signal. Halankuo is my childhood friend whom I forgot, and you are my little sister. You are more important than her.”

Kimchan stopped near one of the surviving houses and began to bark. Brother and sister approached the puppy. Yueret then walked to the door and slowly opened it.

The old door creaked open. A corridor with shabby walls appeared, which ended in a door with several holes. Yueret tried to enter the house, but was stopped by Unana. The girl held her brother's hand and did not allow him to go further.

“You can’t go there,” Unana said. “It could be dangerous there.”

“I believe Kimchan,” Yueret said. “He found something and wants me to go there.”

Unana grabbed her brother's hand with her other hand and pulled him back. Yueret tried to free himself, but he failed. Then he walked back, and then turned around and pushed Unana against the wall of the house. The girl hit her head and was forced to let go of her brother's hand.

Yueret entered the house, opened the second door and found himself in a room in the middle of which stood a stone coffin on a stone pedestal.

Kimchan ran up to the pedestal and began barking. Yueret slowly approached the coffin and saw in it a stone statue of a girl with long hair, from under which “bull” horns peeked out, in a short sleeveless dress, with hooves on her feet.

“What is it?” Yueret thought. “And why is it here? This is the first time I've seen this. This is a statue of a very strange creature. It looks human, but the horns indicate that it is not human. Maybe this is a character from some game?”

Yueret summoned his interface, took a few pictures of this statue, and then left the house.

“It’s really better not to go there,” Yueret said. “Unana, I shouldn’t have listened to you.”

But Unana was not near the house. Yueret looked around and saw his younger sister in the distance, walking towards the exit of the village.

Yueret ran after Unana, caught up with her and grabbed her hand. The girl turned around and looked angrily at her brother.

“Leave me alone!” Unana shouted. “I would rather become a doll than go with you! I don't want to be with the one who killed mom and dad!”

“I didn’t kill mom and dad,” Yueret said. “I just didn’t find them. But I will find them. I don't want you to become a doll.”

“It happened so. I'm sorry. I just wanted you not to stop me from entering that house.”

An arrow appeared in Unana's free hand. She plunged it into her brother's hand, which was holding her hand. Yueret felt pain in his hand, screamed and let go of his little sister's hand. Unana ran further and disappeared behind the trees.

Yueret tried to pull the arrow out of his hand, but felt pain and stopped.

Blood came out of the wound. Kimchan approached Yueret, grabbed the feather of the arrow with his teeth and pulled it out of the guy’s hand. Blood flowed even more from the wound. Yueret began to lose strength, and realized that something urgently needed to be done.

The guy summoned his interface, entered his inventory, took out a bandage and bandaged the wound.

By evening, Yueret found himself sitting under a tree. His hand almost stopped hurting. His strength returned a little. The guy summoned a virtual screen and wrote a message to Ikte, in which he told about what happened. Yueret knew that he himself could not cope with a dinosaur doll and a younger sister who was offended by him, so he hoped for help from someone else.

Soon an answer came from Ikte:

“Show me your location.”

Yueret pressed the button with the spear tip icon at the top of the screen...

... Ikte sat on a stump in an old mixed forest with an open virtual screen in front of her.

“That girl shouldn’t become a doll,” Ikte thought. “She’s his little sister. Little sisters are always special to older brothers. I can help these people, but I can't risk it. I must not be controlled by the signal. I can't feel the signal here, but closer to Yueret's house I can feel it. Looks like now I'll have to keep avoiding the signal until someone finishes off Kuttanai. Now I can't do anything with it. I tried several times before. But every time it didn't end in anything. Although I did not obey the signal, I was able to defeat Kuttanai even in a weakened state. Back then the signal was much weaker than it is now. All I can do is flying to Yueret's house and guard it. Maybe I'll meet an old friend there. Kuttanai must have sent his smartest doll there. It will be interesting with him.”