Mausoleum of Nature

An electric beam passed through a fallen tree trunk and turned it into ashes, which fell into the water.

Halankuo managed to jump back and hide behind a thick tree that grew on the shore. The girl tried not to think about anything, because by her thoughts the enemy could determine her location.

A cracking sound was heard, which gradually grew louder. Halankuo knew what this sound was, because she herself used electrical skills.

The tree behind which the girl was hiding almost instantly collapsed to the ground. The electric beam began to move further and demolished several more large trees, after which it disappeared.

Taikuron flew across the river and stopped over stumps and tree trunks. The electric ball between his antennas disappeared and the balls changed color from red to yellow.

One of the trunks rose slightly above the ground and fell into the river. Then another trunk moved in the opposite direction from the river and fell on the mountainside.

“Taikuron must find her to extract the data,” the penguin thought. “But Taikuron doesn’t see her. She hid.”

The penguin sank to the level of the treetops and slowly flew forward along the river valley.

The abandoned village, hidden by the forest, was left behind. The river widened a little, the mountain slopes retreated from it, and the flow became slower.

Suddenly Taikuron noticed a very thick coniferous tree and stopped. The balls on his antennas turned red again, and an electric discharge began to accumulate above his head...

... The electric beam cut off the tree, but instead of falling, it flew towards Taikuron. The penguin did not expect this and was thrown back by the flying trunk, and then nailed to the ground by the already falling trunk.

From the forest, white-blue lightning flew towards Taikuron, surrounding him, and then taking the form of a large electric cage.

The penguin looked at the trunk and tried to throw it away, but the bars of the cage kept it inside. A powerful current discharge appeared between the antennas, which soon suddenly disappeared.

Taikuron looked away from the trunk that was crushing him and noticed a girl with long black hair who came out from behind the trees. She was wearing a black leather dress, black boots, one stocking, and in her hands was a wrench. The pupils of her eyes emitted a purple glow.

“It’s you,” Taikuron thought. “You separated Taikuron and his other half.”

The girl's figure blurred a little in the penguin's eyes, after which her clothes changed: instead of a dress, a long T-shirt with a cutout on the thigh appeared, and the stocking disappeared.

“My name is Halankuo,” the girl said confidently. “I didn’t separate you, but I can do it.”

… After Halankuo heard the sound of the electric beam, she found herself in a different place. There was the same forest around, only the view of the valley changed a little - the mountains retreated from the river and it widened a little.

“I made you move to a safe distance,” Halankuo heard her mother’s voice. “From here, Taikuron won’t be able to read your thoughts.”

“Is this teleportation?” Halankuo asked mentally. “Does such ability exist?”

“I converted your body into data and transferred it. This is a little different from the usual air element skill.”

“This creature will be here soon. What to do?”

“I have a plan. In open confrontation we will lose to him. Taikuron is a very strong character, but fortunately he is as inexperienced as he is strong. So we will have to use everything we have to stop him.”

… Halankuo waved her free hand through the air and summoned the window of the “Mausoleum of Nature”, with a dark silhouette on the left and many buttons on the right.

After pressing the button with the image of the sphere, Taikuron’s body, along with the tree trunk, began to emit a white glow, but the penguin managed to send the last thought to the enemy’s brain:

“Taikuron will find his other half. Taikuron will be whole.”

The penguin's body and the tree trunk that crushed it turned into a white luminous silhouette and then disappeared. In the window of the “Mausoleum of Nature”, a full-length image of Taikuron appeared in place of a dark silhouette.

“I didn’t know that Mausoleum of Nature could trap characters,” Halankuo noted. “What should we do with him next? It's scary to wear it inside the program. What if it gets out?”

“Send it to the memory card,” her mother’s voice answered. “It wanted the memory card, so let it have it.”

***

Unana walked along the path that led to an abandoned village. Black leather shorts covered her wide hips; a low-cut purple top somehow held her hefty breasts, and blue stockings, gray boots and headphones with small antennas on her head completed this cute look.

The archer reached a wooden post, almost hidden among the trees, and then stopped. A brown puppy, looking like a bear cub, ran out to meet her.

“Kimchan, don’t be afraid,” Unana said. “Yueret is not here.”

The puppy turned into a dog girl.

“That... there... There’s nothing else there,” Kimchan said.

“Yueret took her, Unana thought. “Now he has a girlfriend. Perhaps this is not even a living person, but some kind of doll. I need to find the place where he hides her.”

Unana and Kimchan went to the abandoned village and soon reached it. The only wooden house stood with an open door, which somehow held on.

“That... it’s not there,” Kimchan said. “There's only a coffin there.”

“What?” Unana thought. “It’s a box for storing dolls, like in the game.”

The archer entered the house. The wooden door that closed the entrance to the room lay on the floor.

In the middle of the room there was a stone pedestal, and on it a stone coffin. Unana cautiously approached him and looked ahead. The archer expected to see the remains of a doll or a person there, so she was afraid that there would be someone lying inside.

But inside were only fragments of stones and a pile of stone dust.

“Yueret destroyed this creature,” Unana sighed. “Apparently it attacked him and he had to do it. But why are these remains made of stone and not bone or metal? Was Yueret attacked by a statue?”

“Did you see who was lying in this coffin?” Unana asked her pet.

“No... No... No,” Kimchan answered. “When I was here before, I smelled the smell of stone. I didn't see who was lying there. I was in puppy form.”

“These remains are similar to what they cover statues with. But the statues cannot move.”

Kimchan scratched behind her ear with her foot, and then tucked her tail. Unana looked at her pet and imagined her in a stone coffin, dismembered into pieces. The archer touched her headphones so as not to think about it.

“The statue is no longer a statue, probably,” Kimchan said.

Unana looked at the coffin and noticed next to it a lid with stone symbols partially covered in dust.

“Something is written here,” the archer thought. “I have to look.”

Unana walked around the coffin and then sat down. The girl's hand reached out to wipe away the dust and read the symbols, but did not reach the goal. Unana felt something pulling her in the opposite direction.

This something turned out to be Kimchan in the form of a large dog, similar to a bear. Unana was unable to resist such a large animal, and was carried out of the house within a few moments.

“Why did you interfere with me?” Unana asked. “There's something written there.”

Kimchan returned to her almost human form, and then grabbed her hostess’s hand. The dog girl looked at the archer with enlarged eyes, full of fear and trembled.

“It... is coming here,” Kimchan said.

“Who’s coming?” Unana looked around, but didn’t notice anything. “I can’t hear anything even with these headphones. They have special antennas that improve hearing.”

“I feel the energy moving here. We must run.”

Kimchan turned into a big dog. Unana believed her pet and climbed onto her back. The dog was covered in a fiery aura and flew forward like a comet...

... Black bull horns appeared from the ground in the middle of the street. Then the upper part of the head came out, wearing a black helmet, with eyes that moved from side to side and were looking for something.

The creature's gaze stopped at the roof of the house, which was visible from behind the trees. The lower part of the face and neck came out of the ground. Long black hair hung from under the helmet and went underground with his head.

“The coffin is in place,” the creature with horns thought. “But there’s no one here anymore. I hope that whoever tried to do something with my coffin is already far away and the signal will not affect him. It would be very bad if the signal attracted other creatures here.”

The head disappeared underground, after which it appeared again in front of the entrance to the house. This time the body continued to move upward, and soon the creature completely left the earth.

“I must remember my name,” the creature thought. “After being reborn, I forgot to read my name on the coffin lid. I hope no one has read it before."

The creature entered the house and quickly reached its coffin. The lid was lying on the floor, and the symbols on it were partially covered with dust.

The creature ran its hand over one of the symbols and freed it from dust:

“Ayika,” was written on the coffin lid.

***

Etinnei fell down and found herself in a coniferous forest with tall trees with narrow crowns.

“I’m not on the train anymore,” the Arctic fox girl thought. “Did I escape from there?”

Minniges did not answer. Etinnei turned around and saw a train traveling in the distance. The animal girl looked in the opposite direction and noticed a purple mushroom cap with horns coming out of the ground.

An icicle came out of Etinnei's sleeve. The mushroom cap completely emerged from the ground, and then moved.

Several purple energy mushrooms appeared in the air, which landed on the ground around Etinnei and settled there. An energy circle appeared under the Arctic fox girl’s feet, from which a bright purple light emanated.

Etinnei noticed the danger and tried to jump back, but instead something threw her up. The Arctic fox girl's body was surrounded by a purple energy aura, which slowly lifted her up.

“This is my space,” a voice was heard from below. “You won't be able to leave here.”

Etinnei looked down and noticed the same mushroom with horns, with a black round hole on the leg that served as its “mouth.” An icicle from the sleeve of the Arctic fox girl flew towards the enemy, but instead of the target it hit one of the purple energy mushrooms, turned in the opposite direction and then returned to the summoner.

Etinnei caught an icicle. The energy aura disappeared from the Arctic fox girl’s body. The animal girl began to fall down, but a step from the surface of the earth she stepped on another energy mushroom, which then burst.

Etinnei's body was again surrounded by a violet energy aura, which raised her to the height of the treetops.

“In fact, you are inside my residence,” the mushroom said. “Your body is now lying there, in the energy capsule.”

“Bring me back to earth,” Etinnei asked.

The Arctic fox girl's body began to slowly descend. When there were only a few steps left to the ground, the aura around Etinnei disappeared. The animal girl landed on her feet.

“Soon you will leave this place,” the mushroom said. “But first I’ll extract the character from your brain.”

Etinnei lowered her head and heard a cry similar to a bird. Soon he connected with the flow of her own thoughts, which is why the Arctic fox girl could no longer think.

“It looks like you have doubts,” the mushroom said. “The creature inside you is trying to resist. Now he controls your feelings, and then he will completely subjugate you.”

Etinnei looked at the mushroom, but no longer understood what it was saying.

“You’re not ready yet,” the mushroom said. “You have to learn to suppress the being inside you, otherwise it will suppress you. You will become just a shell for him. You will become like a doll.”

Etinnei looked at the mushroom and no longer noticed it. Soon the animal girl stopped hearing the sounds of the outside world. All she heard was the penguin's screams in her head.

***

Kyotyoryon woke up and saw in front of her a wooden ceiling with thick logs.

The spirit of metal raised her head and noticed that she was lying on a wooden table, but this time in assembled form. There was no one around her - neither the doll nor her head.

Kyotyoryon released the blade from the bracelet on her hand and then brought it to her face.

“I’m assembled,” the spirit of metal thought. “Now I’m whole. I need to get out of here before the stupid doll comes back.”

Kyotyoryon jumped to the floor, and then went to the only round window, which for some reason had no glass. It had a view of a low stone tower and a leaky wooden platform on stilts.

Kyotyoryon did not think long and jumped out the window. The character's heavy body broke through the dilapidated wooden surface of the platform and fell into the water...

... Kyotyoryon opened her eyes and noticed that she was hanging above the platform. Ahead was a large wooden ship with round windows similar to the one she jumped through.

The inspection of the surrounding space was interrupted by a lump in my throat. Kyotyoryon opened her mouth and a small stream of water came out.

“You are quite stupid,” a voice came from below. “Apparently you were created recently.”

Kyotyoryon stopped vomiting water, and then turned her head down towards the source of the sound.

Sitihi stood on the sandy shore, near the wooden platform and looked at the sea with her motionless eyes. She held a shovel in one of her hands, and the other was pointed upward.

“I'm not stupid anymore!” Kyotyoryon shouted. “I’m not new anymore!”

“You can’t understand what happens when a creature jumps from a ship window onto a wooden dock.”

“I don’t crash. I'm tough.”

Kyotyoryon's body sank to the shore. The spirit of metal turned around and noticed a head behind it, from the mouth of which hung a black rubber tongue, surrounded by a blue energy aura.

“Are you the one holding me?” Kyotyoryon frowned.

The tongue began to quickly curl up and returned to the mouth. The head moved through the air towards Sitihi, who grabbed her by the hair.

“This head won’t be able to answer you,” the doll said. “But once upon a time it answered. This is my little sister's head. Once upon a time she also became a doll, but she did not come to terms with it and cut off her head. Now her body lies in some place, and her head is with me.”

Kyotyoryon looked at the head in the doll’s hand. In the open mouth and eyes the light, the source of which was the tongue, had not yet gone out. Tears appeared in the eyes of the spirit of metal, after which she fell to her knees and turned away so as not to see the lifeless head of the doll.

“Why do you carry it with you?” Kyotyoryon asked.

“My sister wanted to see the world,” the doll answered. “Now I’m fulfilling her wish.”

“But it’s just her head. This is not your sister.”

“That's her. It looks the same.”

“But she doesn’t even talk. This head is not alive.”

“You could talk when I unscrewed your head, but my sister can’t. You are not like dolls.”

Kyotyoryon rose to her feet and looked at the doll with wet eyes.

“I’m alive,” Kyotyoryon said. “But the dolls are not alive.”

Sitihi looked at the head in her hand. The light went out in her eyes, and now they looked like ordinary doll eyes.

“Sister, can you hear me?” Sitihi asked. “If you hear, show your tongue.”

The head showed no signs of life. She still looked at her sister with doll eyes.

Sitihi stuck the shovel into the sand and then pressed the nose of her head with the finger of her free hand. The mouth opened and the long rubber tongue that had previously held Kyotyoryon in the air fell out.

You see, she’s alive,” the doll turned its head towards the spirit of metal, while its body remained in the same position.

“You helped her,” Kyotyoryon noted. “She didn’t open her mouth herself.”

Sitihi pressed her finger against the nose of the weapon-head again. The tongue returned to its place and the mouth closed.

“You’re right,” the doll turned its head to the side. “The head is not alive. I need to find her body. Then the head will be able to talk.”