Mausoleum of Nature

It was night. A boat with a yellow glowing ball on its bow was floating along the river, and then suddenly stopped. Small white lights appeared in the darkness ahead.

“There’s a station,” Yueret pointed to the lights in the distance. “We have arrived.”

Brother and sister went ashore. Yueret took the yellow glowing ball from the bow of the boat. It illuminated the surrounding area within a small radius, but it was enough to see the road.

Yueret and Unana walked along the path to the place where the fires were burning. This place turned out to be an almost abandoned railway station without passengers or staff. The wooden terminal has almost rotted, and all that remains of the canopies are dilapidated wooden poles with lanterns, from which that same light emanated.

“You're scared?” Unana asked.

“No,” replied Yueret. “I'm not afraid of darkness.”

“I’m not afraid of the dark either. Almost. But this place looks abandoned. Do the trains stop here?”

“They are stopping now. But this station has not been used for a long time. Trains on the line, which is now closed, were frequent. I hope the train comes. Otherwise, we will have to sail on a boat somewhere further.”

It was very quiet at the station. Only the sounds of the wind broke the silence. Unana and Yueret sat down on what was left of the wooden bench.

“What will happen if the dolls chase us?” Unana asked. “Will they be able to catch up with us?”

“I don’t know,” Yueret answered. “The dolls do not completely obey that scary man with the carrot nose. He said that the greater the distance from him to the dolls, the less control he had over them. This was noticeable in the actions of the dolls. Now we are at a great distance from his house. And he himself cannot pursue us. He can't leave his house. Even if he lied ... No one followed us while we were sailing along the river?”

A white clot of light appeared from the direction of the river. It gradually increased in size and became brighter. It was noticeable that something was approaching the station.

“There’s something there,” Unana said quietly and pointed to the clot of light.

“These are not dolls,” Yueret noted. “The dolls shouldn’t get here.”

Yueret summoned a shield, and Unana summoned a bow with a loaded arrow.

The source of the light turned out to be a robot buyer that moved along the ground on skis. Unana noticed this and withdrew her weapons. Yueret acted differently: his shield was covered with a blue energy aura.

“What do you want to do with him?” Unana asked. “He seems nice.”

“I don’t know what he will do,” Yueret replied. “He was watching us. I don't want him to continue doing this.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I don't know. The man with the carrot nose told me this.”

“Do you believe him, this weird being? A normal person wouldn't wear that thing where his nose should be.”

“Maybe he's not human. When I hit him with a beam of light, no blood flowed from his wound. He is obviously not alive.”

“That’s why it’s strange to believe him. It’s unclear who he is.”

“He somehow knows the place where we live. He knows about your existence. He wanted to make a doll out of you. ”

“He offered me to become his doll. I didn't pay attention to it because I was scared.”

The robot buyer approached the remains of the platform. He was now about ten human steps away from Yueret. The lid on his back opened.

“You forgot your groceries,” a thin machine voice was heard from the robot. “They will spoil if they are left in me.”

Unana tried to approach the robot, but Yueret grabbed her hand and did not allow her to go further.

“You shouldn’t approach him,” Yueret said.

“What about the food?” Unana was indignant. “The food will spoil if we don’t pick it up.”

“I’ll go to him myself.”

“Did he just bring groceries?” Yueret thought. “Did he come here himself? Or was he sent by a man with a carrot nose?”

Yueret slowly walked up to the robot, took out bags of food and a bottle of water and brought them to his sister. The lid on the robot's back closed. Yueret then returned to the robot, called up the interface through which it was controlled, and pressed the down arrow button. The robot dragged itself back and disappeared into the darkness.

“I sent him to the town,” Yueret said to Unana. “That way we’ll get rid of him for a while.” I don't know what to do with it yet. I'm not sure if he was following us.”

“You’re clever,” Unana said. “You didn’t believe some weird being, but decided to check it yourself.”

Unana hugged her brother and pressed her large breasts against him. Yueret felt something warm and soft, but did not know what exactly his sister pressed against him. He looked into the darkness and wanted to see the train that would appear from there...

... A large white ball appeared in the darkness, which gradually grew larger until it turned into a rectangle. The whistle that a train usually made while moving along the rails was heard.

The glowing rectangle turned out to be a wooden train, which slowly approached the almost destroyed platform and stopped. The doors of the carriages moved aside and opened the passage. Unana and Yueret made their way inside and sat down on the nearby wooden seats.

The brother and sister were so tired from the journey that they did not notice the absence of passengers in the carriage. For them, only one thing was important - to return home.

The train has left. Unana leaned against Yueret, closed her eyes and began to fall asleep. Yueret noticed an inscription of red symbols near the window and touched it with his finger. A yellow translucent screen appeared on the window, where the route diagram with stops, arrival and departure times was indicated. The blue arrow on it showed the location of the train and the direction of its movement.

It was night. A doll with long red hair, eyes closed and arms down, covered in a purple aura, landed at the door of a large stone house.

The doll raised its head and then opened its eyes. Her pupils turned purple. The wooden door opened with a creak. The doll entered a large room with a high ceiling covered with cobwebs. Light entered through small windows on the walls, on which hung the heads of dolls with bulging eyes.

Footsteps were heard on the second floor. The doll's pupils turned black. A man with a carrot nose slowly descended from the stairs at the end of the room.

“It’s you, Ikte,” Kuttanai said. “Did you come here on my signal?”

“Yes,” answered the doll. “But I will not obey you. Thanks to the signal, I found the place where you are. I haven't been here for so long that I forgot the way here. Although I am a doll and cannot experience feelings, I still have one feeling. I can't come to terms with what you did to me and our little sister.”

“I had no choice,” Kuttanai said. “Yuehei was sick and couldn’t walk. Now she can fly and heal someone herself. I gave her what she was missing. Then I turned you into a doll so that what happened to Yuehei would not happen to you. I even made myself into something like a doll. I like to make dolls out of living beings. The dolls feel almost nothing. If a living being experiences feelings, he becomes unhappy. Once upon a time, I received a signal that made me think about turning a living being into a doll. I worked on it, and the signals I received told me how to do it correctly.”

Ikte looked at the window in the wall. The pupils of her eyes turned purple. The window separated from the wall and flew towards Kuttanai. A wrench appeared in the hand of the doll creator, with which he stopped the window and then returned it to its place.

Ikte looked at the other wall. A piece of stone separated from it, fell to the floor, broke into many small pieces, which then attacked Kuttanai. The man with the carrot nose released white and pink lightning bolts from his hand, and pieces of stones were broken.

A large piece of stone fell from the ceiling above Kuttanai and flew down, but was stopped by a wrench and thrown aside.

Ikte closed her eyes and rose almost to the ceiling. Kuttanai aimed a wrench at the doll, but was unable to control it. He was prevented by a piece of stone that separated from the floor.

Kuttanai looked around and noticed that small pieces of stone began to separate from the walls, floor and ceiling and slowly move towards him.

“Ikte decided to use her strongest skill,” Kuttanai guessed. “This could be a problem for me.”

Kuttanai's nose antenna turned orange. The heads of the dolls separated from the wall and flew to Ikte.

“It’s her skill, Intuitive Storm, that moves objects with the power of thought,” Kuttanai thought. “But it doesn’t work near Ikte itself. I remember this.”

The dolls' heads reached Ikte, crashed into her and exploded. A cloud of purple smoke formed under the ceiling, from which Ikte's body fell.

Kuttanai “picked up” his sister’s body with a weapon and then pulled her towards him. The wrench grabbed the doll by the throat.

“If you move objects with your eyes, you waste a lot of energy,” Kuttanai said. “Therefore, it is better to use the key.”

“You just don’t know how to concentrate well,” Ikte answered.

“Why know something if it doesn’t help you? I don't want to kill you because you are my older sister. So get out of here.”

Ikte's body escaped the wrench's grip and flew towards the front door. The doll with its eyes closed left the house, became covered in a purple aura and took off.

***

Tuot woke up and saw posters with animal girls on the walls. It's an ordinary morning for an ordinary dinosaur who likes animal girls.

But then something went wrong. A metal hand with sharp claws crawled out from under the bed. Tuot got scared, screamed and jumped to the window.

The hand went back under the bed. Tuot tried to open the window, but it was locked.

“I don’t remember the password for the window even in my room,” Tuot thought in fear. “I won’t be able to go out through the window. I have to run through the door."

The dinosaur looked at the door and noticed Kyotyoryon’s head crawling out from under the bed.

“Did you scare me?” Tuot asked.

“Not me, but my hand,” the spirit of metal answered. “I learned a new skill because I gained experience during the fight with you in the forest.”

“Do you gain new skills based on your experience?”

“Yup.”

“Like characters in games,” Tuot thought.

Tuot went to the door to leave the room, but it suddenly opened. Halankuo entered the room with a bun in her mouth. The dinosaur immediately drew attention to the girl’s hips, because she was only wearing a long purple T-shirt.

Halankuo said something unintelligible.

“I know that you’re inedible,” Tuot guessed.

“I uh uh ahh,” Halankuo took the bun out of her mouth. “Why are you looking at my legs instead of food? I took it on purpose so that you wouldn’t stare at them.”

“I accidentally saw meat,” Tuot turned to the window. “If I see meat, I want to eat it.”

“This is not meat that can be eaten,” Halankuo said. “This is my meat. I hope you didn't try to eat me while I was sleeping?”

“No,” Tuot lied. “Friends are not food. That's what your mother said.”

“Mom,” Halankuo looked down. “Don't talk about it. I came to pick up Kyotyoryon. We'll go somewhere. You will have to live without us for a while.”

“Where will you go?” Tuot asked.

Halankuo opened the virtual screen and wrote a message to Tuot. The dinosaur heard the notification sound, opened its screen and saw a red circle in the lower right corner. The dinosaur clicked on it, and a screen with chats opened in front of him - lists of icons with names and text fields opposite them. In one of the chats there was a message:

“I want to find data to restore my parents, so I’m going to the village. I am writing this message because Kyotyoryon cannot read. She doesn’t know the purpose of the trip, and it’s useless to explain to her.”

“I see,” Tuot said. “I won't disturb you.”

Kyotyoryon crawled up to Tuot on her knees and tried to grab his tail with her hand. The dinosaur heard the ringing of metal that the character's body made when moving, and activated a green energy aura. Kyotyoryon crawled back and leaned her back against the wall.

“Kyotyoryon, now we will go by train,” Halankuo said.

“It's not evil?” Kyotyoryon asked.

“No,” Halankuo answered. “He’s made of metal, just like you.”

Kyotyoryon ran up to her creator and grabbed her hand.

“Not so fast,” Halankuo said. “Wait until I get dressed.”

The city was still quiet and there were no people. Halankuo and Kyotyoryon entered the cave cafe. Itinit was sitting at one of the tables and reading the text on the virtual screen.

“Do you want to check what thing you forgot to wear?” Itinit tried to guess the purpose of the visit.

“No,” Halankuo answered. “I found a mirror in my interface, so I can look into it. That's not why I came to you. Look who is standing next to me.”

Itinit turned away from reading, looked towards Halankuo, and then covered his face with his hand.

“Why did you do this to Tuot?” Itinit said slowly.

“This is not funny, Itinit,” Halankuo frowned. “This is my character, which I created in the ‘Mausoleum of Nature’ and transferred to the real world. Her name is Kyotyoryon. She is the spirit of metal.”

Itinit minimized the virtual screen, stood up from the table and took a few steps in the direction of Halankuo and Kyotyoryon. The spirit of metal hid behind its creator and looked out a little.

“She’s afraid of you,” Halankuo explained.

“I’m not scary,” Itinit answered. “I just wanted to check whether this is really a transferred character or not. I only saw her in the program. How can you prove that this is not a person in disguise?”

Halankuo whispered something in Kyotyoryon’s ear. The spirit of metal came out from behind its creator. The character's body was covered with a white opaque aura, from which it soon freed itself. Kyotyoryon was no longer wearing clothes, and her hair hung in long strands in front and covered her chest, stomach and crotch.

Kyotyoryon turned her back to Itinit, which was not covered by her hair, and then ran her hand along her spine. The skin at the point of contact cracked, and Kyotyoryon removed part of the spring from her back.

“Now are you sure that this is a real character from the ‘Mausoleum of Nature’?” Halankuo asked.

Itinit could not answer. He looked motionlessly at Kyotyoryon.

“What happened to you?” Halankuo asked.

Itinit approached the metal spirit and touched the spring with his hand. Kyotyoryon tried to leave, but Itinit grabbed her by the hair and began to run his fingers through it. The guy then let go of his hair and ran his hand over the character's thigh and buttocks. Halankuo noticed this, entered the “Mausoleum of Nature” and forced the spring to disappear inside the back, after which the skin in this place was restored.

“Now I believe,” Itinit looked at Halankuo. “She is real.”

“It’s time for us to go,” Halankuo said. “We can’t be late for the train.”

“Do trains already go to our town?” Itinit asked.

“After Taikuron disappeared, the train was restarted through Yenekit station,” Halankuo replied. “That’s what it says on the railway company’s network page.”

“But the inhabitants of the city have just begun to be restored,” Itinit went to his table and sat down on it. “There may be no passengers here, and the train won’t stop.”

“The train will stop,” Halankuo answered. “I bought two tickets.”

Kyotyoryon's body was covered with a white opaque aura, from which it soon freed itself. The spirit of metal was back in her costume.

“Kyotyoryon is already dressed,” Halankuo noted. “She has a good sense of time.”

“Unlike you,” Itinit smiled.

“Did I forget to put something on again?” Halankuo made an angry face.

“One stocking,” Itinit pointed to the girl’s leg.”

Halankuo looked at her legs. The purple stocking was really only on one leg.

“That’s okay,” Halankuo smiled.

The spirit of metal and her creator left the cafe and headed down the cobblestone street. After two blocks the town ended. The road, which was a continuation of the street, led down into the river valley, to the railway station.

A light rain began. Halankuo and Kyotyoryon hid on a bench under a canopy that stood on the platform. Drops of water beat against the canopy and dripped onto the paving stones with which the platform was paved.

“Something is falling from above,” Kyotyoryon pointed with her hand at the raindrops falling from the canopy.

“It's raining,” Halankuo answered. “It's water from the sky. It is needed to replenish the world's water supplies.”

“Without this water that falls from above, the water in the world will disappear?”

Kyotyoryon walked to the edge of the canopy and put her foot under the raindrops.

“This water flows somehow weakly,” the spirit of metal said. “I hope I can beat her.”

Blades emerged from the bracelets on Kyotyoryon’s hands.

“Don’t do this,” Halankuo asked. “You can't beat the rain.”

But Kyotyoryon was not convinced by these words. The metal spirit blade moved towards the raindrop.