The creature's face was indeed missing a nose. Its place was taken by a dark round hole.
"Did you notice?" the creature moved its tongue. "I need to create this thing."
"So create it," Kyotyoryon answered.
"I can't create objects from metal. But you can."
"I am the spirit of metal. I can create different things from my metal."
"Then create an antenna for me."
"I don't want."
"Why?"
"You are evil and scary."
"For some reason, everyone except the dolls thinks I'm scary. It's good that dolls can't feel."
"I can cut your head off. Then you won't be so scary."
"I need to make an antenna, not cut off my head."
"Let me cut off your head and then make an antenna. It will be good for you and for me."
The creature moved completely out of the floor, crossed to the adjacent slab, and then summoned a long wrench the size of a short sword.
"The antenna can only be inserted into this place," the creature pointed a wrench to the hole where the nose was. "That's why your proposal doesn't suit me."
"I won't do anything for something so scary..." Kyotyoryon looked at the floor. "I don't know who you are..."
"I am Kuttanai, the creator of dolls," the creature introduced itself. "I make dolls out of living things to make their existence better. I myself am no longer human."
"You're a scary doll with a hole."
"What? I used to be called the person with the carrot nose. My antenna reminded them of a carrot."
"What is an antenna?"
"It's something similar to your horns."
Kyotyoryon touched her horns with her hands, and then looked at Kuttanai.
"At first I took one of them, but it didn't fit," Kuttanai continued. "It's not compatible with my data."
"Then I won't be able to make you your carrots. All my metal is like that."
"You have nothing to do with it. I just haven't done enough experiments. If I change you, you'll be able to change the properties of the metal as you please."
Kuttanai instantly found himself near the virtual screen, after which he continued:
"This is the screen of the "Mausoleum of Nature", the program in which you were created. Of course, I don't have access to your creator's account, but I can use the hidden capabilities of the program that are not yet fully ready."
From what Kuttanai said, Kyotyoryon understood only the phrase "Mausoleum of Nature", but this was enough to frighten her and make a decision. A spear, which was hanging above the head of the spirit of metal, flew at Kuttanai...
The doll maker stopped the attack with a wrench, after which his weapon grabbed the spear with its horns and began to hold it in the air.
"Let go of me and my metal!" Kyotyoryon shouted.
Kuttanai turned back to the virtual screen and pressed a few buttons on it. The image was replaced by a blue frame, inside which stood a model of Kyotyoryon in almost human form.
"I seem to have succeeded," Kuttanai said. "Your energy fed the screen, causing your model to be reflected in it. Now I can do more with you than I could before, though it's still not enough."
"His weapon is also made of my metal," Kyotyoryon looked at the wrench. "That means I can control it."
Kuttanai pointed his weapon-free hand at one of the buttons on the screen, and didn't see his wrench slip out of his other hand. Of course, the creator of the dolls noticed the loss after a couple of moments, but this was enough for the weapon to almost reach the bracelet on Kyotyoryon's hand.
"You're still very stupid," Kuttanai looked at the wrench.
The doll creator's pupils activated with a purple glow. In an instant, the wrench broke free from the control of the metal spirit and moved into the owner's hand. The spear simply vanished into thin air.
"Hey, give it to me!" Kyotyoryon shouted. "That's my metal!"
Kuttanai's pupils deactivated. The creator of dolls looked at his weapon.
"Do you need this thing?"
"Yup," Kyotyoryon answered. "My creator has one just like this, only smaller. I took it, but then she took it from me. I collect all the metal. I want it with me."
"What? Who is your creator?"
"Her hair is the same color as yours, but she's not scary."
"This isn't Ikte," Kuttanai turned his gaze to the screen. "But her creator is definitely not a stranger to me."
The man without a carrot nose pressed a button above the character model's head. The image on the screen changed to a text block with several round buttons on the sides.
"It's all so complicated," Kuttanai thought. "If I had not given the data of the "Mausoleum of Nature" to anyone, then this metal creature would not be here now. But then I wouldn't have been blocked in the house. I would try to find new creatures to become dolls. I don't even know if I did the right thing. Maybe I should ask Yuehei?"
Kuttanai looked at the wall, from the hole in which the chain was sticking out, and then continued his thoughts:
"A human can't endure as much as a healing doll can. Now Yuehei has gotten what she wanted so badly. That day, she told me something. That was the last time I heard her voice."
… The house, which stood on the high bank of a wide river, surrounded by pine forests, was the only surviving building in the village.
A guy and a girl, surprisingly similar to each other, sat on the bank of the river and looked into the water.
"Don't worry, Ikte. Yuehei will be able to walk."
"I've already tried everything," tears came out of the girl's eyes. "But nothing helps her. Even in the city they don't know how to help. But Yuehei wants to go to school and study with us. In two years she'll be twenty, and she might not have time to study with you."
"Don't cry. Let's go to her. If we sit here and cry, Yuehei will get worse. She should hope for the best."
Ikte wiped her tears with her sleeve, and then looked at her brother:
"You're deceiving her, Kuttanai. Yuehei hopes, dreams, but her dreams do not come true. She almost does not believe us anymore."
"Don't worry," Kuttanai turned away. "That will change soon."
"Will it change? Do you know something?"
"Yes. But I won't tell you. Otherwise it won't work."
"Tell me! I won't tell anyone."
Kuttanai turned to his sister.
"Sorry, I can't tell anyone. It's a condition of the agreement. If I break it, I'll be punished."
"Who will punish?" Ikte looked at her brother in fear. "Are you involved with someone?"
Kuttanai did not answer. He simply stood up and went home. Ikte followed him...
The door to the house was open. The brother and sister entered the semi-dark hall, and then went up to the second floor along the stone stairs in the corner...
Kuttanai entered one of the rooms and saw a girl who looked like Ikte on the bed. She was looking out the large round window opposite the bed.
"I'm back, Yuehei," Kuttanai said. "Weren't you bored alone?"
"I'm already used to it," the girl was still looking out the window. "It must be boring for you, because everything is changing for you."
"Everything will change for you, too. I found a way to help you walk."
"You're lying."
"Not this time. I had a dream."
"Do you believe in dreams? Anything can happen in a dream. Today I dreamed that I could fly, but I couldn't talk. Will it really come true?"
"Yeah, just wait…"
… Kuttanai pressed the button below the text block. The model of Kyotyoryon appeared on the screen again, in a nearly human form, staring motionless ahead.
"You can choose from two options," the creator of dolls said. "They're both good. Option one: you make me an antenna that suits me, and I'll let you go. Option two: you don't make an antenna."
"I choose the second option. I don't want my metal to be taken by someone, especially someone so scary."
"Then you will stay here until your energy fills the screen of "Mausoleum of Nature", and then you will become my character."
Kyotyoryon only understood the last phrase, but it frightened her even more than the mention of the "Mausoleum of Nature."
"I need to run away from here before this thing next to me does something bad to me," Kyotyoryon looked at her image on the screen. "This scary man didn't disassemble me like a scary doll, which means I can move. Only this chain for some reason does not pull out. I'm trying to pull it, but it's not working."
Kuttanai returned to the slab that had brought him to the room, and then disappeared under the floor. Only after this did Kyotyoryon pay attention to the room she was in and did not notice any door or anything like that.
"I won't be able to get out of here. But if that's the case, then why did they tie my leg with a chain?"
Kyotyoryon looked at the screen next to her and remembered that she had seen something like that before.
"The creator summoned such a thing to send me to a place where there is nothing," the spirit of metal felt her limbs stop obeying her, and her head began to tremble. "This evil scary man can do the same thing if I stay here."
Kyotyoryon knew she had to run, but she couldn't even move. Something inside blocked all movement, and the spirit of metal didn't even understand it.
***
Etinnei is kneeling on the riverbank, looked at her reflection and cried. Some of her tears even reached the water and were carried away with other water somewhere far away, into the sea. But most of the "eye drops" remained on her fur top, which served as a good barrier due to her large breast.
"I wanted to tell her so much, but she doesn't know me. I wanted to tell her that I found friends, first online, and then in this world. I even met a girl with ears and a tail. She's a little different from me, of course, but she thinks the way I used to think. I can even tell her about the penguin in my head. I can tell my creator anything, because she created me so that I would feel good. And I feel good now, but I felt bad before."
"If you feel good, then why are you crying?" a familiar bird voice sounded in Etinnei's head.
The arctic fox girl wiped her tears with her sleeve, and then saw a blue and white penguin with an ice cream cone antenna on his forehead.
"You were crying so hard. I thought you were going to melt," Minniges' voice explained.
"I will not cry," Etinnei looked at the fern forest on the opposite bank of the river. "I will find my creator and make her remember. I must tell her everything that happened to me! Then she will tell me what to do. If she created me, she knows what will help me."
Minniges disappeared. Etinnei stood up from her knees, and then once again wiped away her tears with her sleeve.
The upper part of the fur top was so wet that water was already dripping from it. But the animal girl did not notice this. She turned to the forest, which rose up the mountainside to go in search of the creator...
Suddenly, something purple and brightly glowing appeared above the treetops. The arctic fox girl wiped her tears with her sleeve again, and then saw a doll with long red hair, surrounded by a purple aura. Her eyes were closed, and her arms were hanging down, as if they were broken.
"My creator," Etinnei's mouth fell open in surprise.
The flow of tears stopped instantly, although the eyes were still wet.
"Creator, do you remember me?" Etinnei asked.
"Come back," the doll opened its eyes.
"But... Don't you remember me?"
"I don't do such trifles. I'm busy with one important matter now, and I flew here to deliver you to the base. You teleported too far, so your friends can't catch up with you."
"So that's how I ended up where the skull with horns was," Etinnei remembered. "But I didn't even notice how I teleported. I have to tell my creator about this."
The arctic fox girl tried to open her mouth, but the flow of thoughts was so powerful that it did not allow her to make a sound.
Etinnei didn't even notice how her body rose above the forest and flew towards the top of the mountain. She realized that something strange was happening only when the top of a tree fern flew past her.
"Did I teleport again? But why am I flying? I can't fly. Where is my creator? Why did she disappear?"
Etinnei tried to turn back, but she couldn't even turn her head. Her whole body couldn't move, but for some reason it kept moving forward.
Fear instantly returned to the animal girl. She remembered how she couldn't move when she met the most terrible creature in her life...
Fortunately, the flight soon ended. Etinnei's feet landed on the stone path in front of the familiar arch. The arctic fox girl felt that she could move again...
Icicles immediately emerged from her sleeves, after which Etinnei began to turn around chaotically in search of the supposed threat.
"I brought you to the base," a familiar voice rang out from above. "Don't run away anymore, otherwise we won't be able to get together and decide what to do."
Etinnei looked up and saw the same doll in a purple aura, moving towards the entrance to the ruins.
"Creator..." Etinnei took a step forward. "I will never run away again..."
The doll stopped in front of a hole, masked by vegetation and therefore resembling a burrow. Her head turned towards the character, but her eyes were closed.
"My creator remembered me?" Etinnei thought and rejoiced. "Now she will say that she remembered, and I will be able to tell her."
"Don't stand at the entrance," the doll actually said something. "This base is secret. I can't let anyone find it because of you."
"Creator, why..."
Etinnei bowed her head. Tears no longer flowed from her eyes, as they simply ended. Instead, a quiet moan, similar to a dog's, came from the mouth of the arctic fox girl.
"It seems you do not understand," Ikte's pupils turned purple again. "I will have to force you."
The doll looked at the animal girl and tried to focus her gaze on her, but could not because of the icicle that was flying straight at her. This allowed Etinnei to jump into the thicket near the path and disappear into the forest.
The icicle was thrown aside and smashed against the trunk of a nearby tree. Ikte then looked at the place where the arctic fox girl stood, but did not find her.
Unana and Yueret were sitting on the bed in front of a large virtual screen on the wall. Most of it was covered with a black background, and on the sides were round buttons with blue glowing symbols.
***
"When will he come already?" Unana looked at the wall with displeasure. "I even dressed in my school uniform."
"These are the only clothes of yours in which you look like a person who goes outside," Yueret looked out the window.
"He saw me in ordinary clothes."
"That's why it's important to show that you're a normal person."
Unana grabbed the stuffed squirrel toy that was lying nearby, looked at it sadly, and then put it behind her back.
"Sorry it took so long," a voice came from the wall.
Unana and Yueret looked at the black screen, which soon showed an image of a brown-haired man's head against a fern branch.
"I didn't think anyone would ever use this memory card," the man on the screen continued. "But if someone did, it was definitely you, Unana, and Yueret."
"Yeah," Yueret confirmed. "I'm Yueret, and this is Unana."
Unana remembered the meeting in the abandoned village and for the first time felt somehow strange.
"I can already see," the man on the screen said. "As you may have guessed, I am Itinit. If you wanted to ask me where your parents are, I know as much as you do."
"You're hiding something," Yueret said. "Tell me what you know."
The screen went black, but soon the image returned. This time the background was changed to a stone wall covered with a liana with large leaves. Itinit's head remained unchanged.
"Sorry," Itinit continued. "I had to make sure no one was listening. Your parents didn't just abandon you. They had to do it."
"What?" Unana and Yueret almost fell out of bed.
"It sounds strange, but..." Itinit continued. "It could be related to the signal."