Chapter 17. Ice That Makes Fall Asleep

The snowy coniferous forest on the steep mountainside was covered in thick fog. Drops of water fell from the tips of the branches onto the snow and made holes in it.

The upper part of the creature's head with small white-yellow fluffy ears appeared from behind a thick tree.

"I see ears," a voice said from above.

A girl in a blue-white fur jacket with a hood, from which those same ears were sticking out, ran out from behind a tree and hid behind another tree. Instead of ears, a white-yellow fluffy tail now peeked out from behind the tree trunk.

"I see a tail," a voice said from above.

The girl came out from behind the tree and yawned. Her bare legs, covered on top with white-blue fur shorts, stepped on the snow as if they didn't feel it.

"I don't want to play hide and seek anymore," the animal girl said. "Let's go to the peak of the mountain. I'm interested in what's there."

The fog cleared a little. A path appeared, made of gray-pink stones, which led up a steep slope through another forest area.

The girl walked up to the path, sat down and touched the stone with her hand.

"Someone paved a road here," a voice sounded in the animal girl's head. "This island was probably inhabited before. You should be careful, Etinnei. If there is a road, there may be those who walk along it."

The higher Etinnei rose, the more the view of the surrounding area opened up: spaces covered with snow-covered coniferous forests were visible in the distance, and then disappeared into the fog. The trees became lower and the distance between them increased. Closer to the peak of the mountain, the trees gave way to coniferous bushes...

... Etinnei has reached the peak. It turned out to be flat, treeless, but covered with the ruins of stone buildings and columns. From here the surroundings were no longer visible. They were hidden by the thick fog that remained below.

There, in the center of the ruins, stood a statue of a humanoid creature in armor. Instead of a nose, it had a beak, and feathers protruded from where ears should be. There are two large horns on the forehead, and a small horn just above the beak.

Etinnei looked at the ruins with interest, and then took a few steps forward.

"What is it?" the animal girl pointed to the statue.

"Nothing special," the voice in her head answered. "It's just ancient ruins and a statue."

Etinnei noticed a girl with red glowing eyes and a strange weapon resembling a mixture of a sword and a spear on top of one of the columns. She was also dressed strangely. On the head is a white helmet with two cutouts on the sides, from which two black horns protrude, below the neck a white-blue sleeveless dress to the middle of the hips. On her feet are white-yellow fur boots in the shape of hooves. Long strands of yellow hair peeked out from under the helmet, falling over her chest, curving over it, and then hanging down to her knees.

"So this island is inhabited," a voice said in Etinnei's head.

The horned girl ran her weapon across the snow. A snowflake the size of a person emerged from the trail that appeared and flew to Etinnei. A long icicle emerged from the sleeve of the arctic fox girl...

... The snowflake reached the arctic fox girl, but was broken by an icicle covered in an electric aura.

Etinnei ran back and hid behind the nearest wall. The arctic fox girl was seized with horror. Her eyes bulged and looked at the snow, and icy vapors came out of her mouth.

"She will appear now," Etinnei heard a voice in her head. "Be ready."

A horned girl appeared from under the snow right in front of Etinnei and pierced her with her strange weapon. The animal girl turned into an ice statue, after which it crumbled...

... Tuot screamed and realized that he had woken up. His hotel room was dark. But the dinosaur was not afraid. He remembered that he turned off the light in order to fall asleep faster.

Tuot left the room into the corridor and went to the balcony. From there was a view of the city at night. Towers and pyramids were illuminated in different colors. The dinosaur couldn't take his eyes off them.

"It is beautiful here?" Etinnei's voice was heard.

Tuot looked to the side and saw an arctic fox girl standing nearby and looking at the city.

"Of course," Tuot replied. "There are no such views in my hometown."

"It wasn't in the places where I lived either," Etinnei looked at the city and didn't blink. "I decided to see what this city looks like at night, so I came here. It seems to me that I won't be able to leave here."

Tuot looked at Etinnei's tail, which was wagging from side to side, opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.

The dinosaur summoned a virtual screen and tried to take a photo, but was unable to because his hands were shaking. Soon a trembling took over his entire body. Tuot could not stay on his feet and fell to the floor. His virtual screen closed.

Etinnei heard the sound of a falling object and turned around. Tuot was lying on his back.

"What happened to you?" the arctic fox girl asked.

"Nothing," Tuot answered. "I just couldn't stand it. You're too cute."

Etinnei walked up to Tuot, knelt down and licked the dinosaur's face with her tongue. Tuot began to groan, pushed his friend away, rose to his feet and retreated to the exit from the balcony.

The arctic fox girl looked at Tuot with a sad look. Tears came out of her eyes.

"Why did you push me?" the girl asked. "You don't want to be friends with me?"

"Sorry," the dinosaur said. "I didn't mean to offend you."

Etinnei wiped her tears.

"Do you really want to be friends with me?" Etinnei asked. "I have four ears, but you don't have any. We are not right for each other."

Tuot grabbed his head with his hands and did not feel his ears there.

"I really don't have ears," Tuot answered. "But it is not important. Friendship doesn't depend on how many ears you have."

Etinnei rushed at Tuot and knocked him to the floor, after which she began licking his face with her tongue. The dinosaur tried to resist, but his girlfriend did not understand this and was not going to stop.

Tuot became covered in an energy aura, and only then did Etinnei notice it. The arctic fox girl got off the dinosaur and looked at it for a few moments. This was enough for Tuot to get up from the floor.

Etinnei rushed at her friend again, but missed and fell face down on the floor.

"Today I had a dream in which you were," Tuot said. "I need to tell you about this."

Etinnei got down on all fours, then sat on her knees, stuck out her tongue, and began wagging her tail from side to side.

"What was I doing there?" the arctic fox girl stuck out her tongue. "Tell me!"

Tuot talked about what he dreamed about today. Etinnei scratched behind her ear on the top of her head with her foot, and then stuck her own tongue back into her mouth.

"I can't sleep," a voice was heard in Etinnei's head. "You think too much."

A white and blue penguin with a horn on its forehead that looked like an ice cream cone appeared in front of the arctic fox girl.

"I'm trying to remember what happened on the island with the ruins and the statue," Etinnei replied. "But I cannot".

"You don't have enough memories," Minniges' voice rang out in Etinnei's head. "But I have a backup copy of them. They are stored on a memory card inside me. I'll take them out and show you. Just don't be scared if you see something scary. Are you ready?"

"Yes. I want to know my past."

Minniges disappeared. Etinnei felt that she was getting cold and at the same time wanted to sleep. A wooden coffin filled with ice appeared near the Arctic fox girl. Her eyes closed, her body rose above the floor, and then moved into the coffin.

Tuot noticed this, made a loud bird screech, and then ran off the balcony.

Etinnei's legs were covered with ice, from where it began to slowly spread up her body. The arctic fox girl's hair changed from black to white-yellow, and the gray-purple fur top with sleeves was replaced by a white-blue fur jacket with a hood...

... Etinnei, in her winter form, stood on the seashore, in a snow-covered coniferous forest. The arctic fox girl's bare feet stood on an ice floe that had washed ashore. Etinnei did not feel the cold, only a slight coolness, but she felt the wind blowing in her face.

"The weather is good today," a voice in Etinnei's head said.

The arctic fox girl turned around and saw Minniges in front of her.

"The Island of the Stone Statue should be visible from here," Etinnei thought.

In the middle of the sea was a snow-capped mountain with steep slopes. But the path to it was blocked by a gray-blue sea with a large number of white ice floes.

"Almost nothing is known about this island," Etinnei touched the arctic fox's ears with her hands. "I want to know what's there. Let's go there."

"It's dangerous there," Minniges replied. "We can't go there."

Etinnei turned away and closed her eyes so as not to see her companion, but Minniges appeared before her even in this state.

"Don't forget that I live in your head," Minniges said. "Only you can see and hear me."

"Are you afraid that something will happen to me?" Etinnei asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid. If something happens to you, what will happen to me? I never left you. I looked at the world through your eyes and heard through your ears, refrigerator girl. I'm not sure I can live like an ordinary being."

Etinnei reached out to Minniges and stroked his horn on his head, which looked like an ice cream cone. In reality, the arctic fox girl was stroking the air.

"Do you want ice cream?" Minniges asked.

Etinnei took her finger into her mouth...

... It was a sunny summer day. Etinnei, in her summer form, was climbing the mountainside, along a path of stones. The forests remained lower down the slope. On both sides of the path grew low coniferous trees and shrubs that almost spread along the ground, and herbaceous plants that did not form a continuous cover. The empty space between the plants was occupied by gray-black stones and black earth.

From the peak of the mountain there was a view of the gray-blue sea and on the other side there were ruins of buildings with columns and a statue of a humanoid creature with a beak and three horns on its head.

"I wonder what creature is depicted in the form of a statue," Etinnei thought. "I have never seen such creatures."

"This creature does not necessarily exist in reality," Minniges replied. "Perhaps this is a fictional creature."

Etinnei took a few steps towards the statue. From behind a half-destroyed wall, a stone ball the size of a human head flew at her. The arctic girl dodged. The ball flew off the peak and exploded in the air.

"Is there really someone guarding this place?" Minniges' voice sounded.

On one of the columns stood a girl in a black helmet, from the holes in which two black horns protruded, with long brown hair, in a short black fur dress without sleeves and black fur boots that looked like hooves. In her hands she held a spear-sword.

"Run away from here, refrigerator girl," Minniges's voice was heard. "This is the spirit of the cow that guards the ruins and the statue."

The horned girl pushed off the ground with her feet, found herself near Etinnei in one leap and raised her weapon to strike. A large icicle emerged from the arctic fox girl's sleeve and parried the blow of the spear-sword.

"Don't touch me," Etinnei asked. "I came to look at the peak of the mountain. I was wondering what was here."

"No one should climb to the peak of this mountain," the horned girl answered. "I am Ayika, the guard of these ruins. It looks like you are also a character created in Nature's Mausoleum. Who is your creator? My creator is here."

The ice icicle from the Etinnei sleeve crumbled. Ayika pointed the blade of her spear at the statue, which stood on a stone pedestal among the ruins.

"Is your creator the statue?" Etinnei asked.

"Now yes," Ayika answered. "But he used to be like you or me. I have been guarding it and these ruins for many years. And I'm waiting for my creator to return."

"Get out of here, refrigerator girl," Minniges' voice was heard.

"This girl is just like me," Etinnei answered mentally. "She's not dangerous."

"She attacked you. You shouldn't trust her."

"She's good. She won't attack me again."

Ayika scratched Etinnei behind the arctic fox's ear, then took off her hood and stroked her head.

"I haven't seen creatures with features of different species for a long time," Ayika said. "Who is your creator?"

"Who is the creator?" Etinnei could not understand. "I don't have a creator."

"This cannot be. People with the ears and tail of an arctic fox cannot exist in this world. You were definitely created in the "Mausoleum of Nature."

"What is the "Mausoleum of Nature"?

This is a place where there is nothing. I don't want to remember this. It's good if you don't remember what it is.

"I don't remember having a creator. It seems to me that I have always been."

"How did you get here? My creator specially settled on this island because it is very remote from other territories and there are frequent fogs, although there is no fog today."

"My coffin floated ashore on a neighboring island. I travel in it. I'm interested in finding out what is where and what it looks like. I also wonder if it's tasty or at least edible."

"I also have a coffin. Can you show it?"

Etinnei summoned a wooden coffin using her interface. Ayika jabbed her spear at him, but the blade was stopped by an ice barrier that suddenly formed around the coffin.

"I don't remember," Etinnei answered. "Only Minniges is with me. He lives in my head..."

"This happens with characters. Sooner or later, an image appears in their brain from the generation of thoughts, which turns into a character. My creator knew this, so he copied me in the form of statues. When the image of a new character appears in my head, another statue appears in the world."

"Like the statue of your creator?"

"Yes. My creator cares about me even after he turned into a statue. If I am killed, I will be reborn from one of the statues. I don't know which one exactly. But my data will be transferred there."

"I don't have statues. But I have Minniges. He talks to me and tells me what to do."

"Didn't he warn you that it's better not to go to the peak of this mountain?"

Etinnei looked down and made a sad face.

"He warned me," the arctic fox girl said. "But I was interested in being here. I always look around all the places I go."

"As you can see, there are just ruins and some kind of statue here," Ayika looked at the statue of her creator. "There's nothing interesting here."

"But this is a statue of your creator. Is it not interesting to you?"

"It means a lot to me. One day it will crack and crumble. My creator will be the same as before. Then we will be together. But you shouldn't even think about this place and this statue. Forget what I told you and go back to where you came from."

Ayika stuck her spear into the ground. Etinnei was thrown into the air and then transferred to the coffin...

... Tuot and Itinit came to the balcony and saw there a coffin with an ice statue of Etinnei, which was surrounded by white ice steam.

"What's happening?" Tuot asked.

"It looks like her passive skill," Itinit guessed. "Don't be afraid, nothing will happen to your friend. Soon it will melt. I went to bed."

Itinit went into the corridor. Tuot looked at the frozen Arctic fox girl and wanted to approach her, but he remembered the dream and did not want it to come true. The dinosaur just stood there and looked at his friend, but this time he didn't think about food. He just wanted Etinnei to be the same.

Morning has come. The sunlight illuminated the girl's face and neck. A few drops of water fell on the floor of the balcony. Tuot heard them and noticed that the ice was slowly melting.

The dinosaur felt such joy that he approached the coffin and tried to break the remaining ice, but received an electric shock.

Lightning pulsed inside the ice, and some of it came out through cracks.

When there were many cracks, the ice statue crumbled. Etinnei's hair turned black again, and her fur jacket was replaced by a fur top with sleeves and a hood.

The arctic fox girl opened her eyes. The coffin disappeared and her body rose to the ceiling before collapsing to the floor.