The gazebo stopped in the middle of the fortress courtyard, formed by a wooden palisade and several buildings. The purple energy aura around her disappeared, after which the doors opened.

“We have arrived,” Myuryuri said. “You can go out.”

Noru was the first to leave the gazebo, and then turned around. Itinit walked towards her, followed by Tuot and Etinnei.

“I will accompany you further,” Noru smiled. “The spirit of the mushrooms instructed me to bring you to her, because I am the cutest on the island and I have ears and a tail.”

“You have too high an opinion of yourself,” Itinit noted.

“You made my ears and tail yourself,” Noru touched her dog ears with her hands, and then stroked the tail.

Etinnei noticed this and began to repeat the movements of the dog girl. Tuot noticed both, and did not know where to look.

“There are too many of them,” the dinosaur thought. “I never thought that I would see two animal girls at once. It's good that there is no third one here. I just can’t stand this.”

This sweet scene ended with Itinit walking up to his character, grabbing her by the hair and dragging her towards the entrance of the largest building in the fortress.

That helped. Tuot focused on his friend and managed to stay on his feet. Soon Etinnei got tired of stroking her own tail, and she noticed that Itinit and the dog girl had already left, and Tuot was standing in front of her with his mouth open.

“Let's go,” Etinnei grabbed her friend by the tail and followed Itinit and Noru.

Tuot barely had time to move his paws to avoid falling. Soon he and his girlfriend found themselves at the entrance to a wooden house with thick white columns that resembled the trunks of dead trees.

“There are mushrooms here too,” Etinnei noted.

Here and there on the columns there were blue, green and purple translucent mushrooms glowing.

“Don’t touch them,” Itinit warned. ‘Otherwise…”

But it was too late. Etinnei touched the purple mushroom, it burst and released a cloud of energy that surrounded the arctic fox girl and began to lift her above the ground.

“That’s why the spirit of the mushrooms doesn’t like alien creatures,” Noru said. “They don’t know how to behave on this island.”

“You won’t punish her, will you?” Itinit asked.

A fiery aura appeared around Noru. The next moment, the dog girl’s body turned into a comet, soared into the air, reached Etinnei, which was already above the level of the roofs of houses, and returned to the ground.

An arctic fox girl without a purple aura was lying in the arms of a dog girl.

“Of course I won’t,” Noru licked Etinnei’s cheek and received the same answer from the arctic fox girl. “She’s a beast girl, and pretty too. Animal girls are the cutest!”

“Even the animal girls themselves admit this,” Tuot thought. “Some miracles are happening to me. My dreams are coming true”.

Noru let go of Etinnei and looked at Tuot.

“She’s looking at me,” the dinosaur thought joyfully. “Now she will ask you to scratch behind her ear.”

“But if you touch the mushrooms, I will fry you and eat you,” Noru turned to Tuot.

“Actually, dinosaurs eat dogs, and not vice versa,” Itinit noted.

“That’s why I don’t like them,” Noru explained. “At first you’re a cute little dog for them and then om-nom-nom.”

Etinnei remembered the conversation between the two dinosaurs on the Munmut waterfront. The arctic fox girl felt uncomfortable.

“I don’t eat dogs,” Tuot said.

Noru looked at the dinosaur incredulously.

“It’s true,” Etinnei confirmed. “That's my friend. He doesn't eat dogs.”

Noru looked at the arctic fox girl and smiled.

“If you say so, then you can be trusted,” the dog girl said. “I’ll make an exception for this dinosaur. But I won’t allow myself to be stroked on the head or scratched behind the ear.”

“This animal girl doesn’t love me,” Tuot guessed. “I won’t be able to scratch her behind the ear. But nothing, now I know that I’m not the only one who likes creatures with ears and tails.”

Noru walked up to a large wooden door that consisted of two halves, summoned a large blue energy door lock and entered the code into a special field...

... The door lock disappeared along with the field. The door slowly swung open and opened a passage into a dark space.

“What's there?” Tuot asked.

“When you enter, you will find out,” Itinit answered.

“Don't you know what's in there?” Tuot looked at his friend in surprise.

“Oh...” Itinit answered. “This place looks different every time. This is the residence of the spirit of mushroom. She can look like anything.”

These words made Tuot scared. He remembered his very first dream, in which an arctic fox girl similar to Etinnei told him not to board the train. Then he entered the train and saw something terrible there. The dinosaur did not remember what exactly he saw, but he remembered the fear and surprise that he felt then.

“I won’t go there,” Tuot said. “I don’t have to go in there, do I?”

The dinosaur felt something heavy fall on its back, after which it noticed thick bare legs in front of it and immediately realized who they belonged to.

“Get off me, Etinnei,” Tuot asked. “You’re heavy, and your paws look tasty. I may eat them by accident.”

The arctic fox girl crossed her legs on the dinosaur's stomach so that he could not see them, and then wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I won’t go there without you,” Etinnei said. “I'm scared. Suddenly there is something there. Moreover, you can be ridden.”

Tuot felt something warm on his back. Etinnei tried to press her whole body against her friend, and the warmth from him penetrated through the feathers.

“My animal girl is lying on me,” Tuot thought. “Why am I scared? I should be happy. If I will die, at least with the character I dreamed of.”

Tuot took a step towards the dark space beyond the door and found himself in a wooden train carriage with Etinnei on his back. Large rectangular windows overlooked a very wide river that resembled a long lake or bay. In the distance, silhouettes of mountains could be seen on both sides of the reservoir.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“I was afraid it would be a train,” Tuot’s heart was beating quickly. “And it happened. I hope that at least it won’t be what happened in the dream.”

Etinnei grabbed the dinosaur's head in her hands and turned it towards the door at the end of the carriage.

“There’s something there,” the arctic fox girl said quietly.

Tuot looked in horror at the door, which did not open. The dinosaur felt as if its heart had moved to his belly.

“There’s nothing there,” the dinosaur said. “It seemed to you...”

“There’s something there,” Etinnei repeated. “I hear it with my ears, which are in the right place.”

A dark silhouette appeared in the window at the top of the door. Tuot summoned his weapons: a short curved sword and a semicircular shield, but was unable to activate the aura due to the fact that Etinnei was on his back.

... The door opened. On the threshold stood a mushroom the size of a person, with a purple cap from which two black horns protruded.

“Mushrooms shouldn’t travel on trains,” the thought flashed through Tuot’s head.

“Why?” a strangled voice was heard from the door.

Tuot and Etinnei looked at the mushroom stalk. A large round hole appeared in it, similar to a mouth.

“This creature talks,” Etinnei noted.

The mushroom has moved forward a little on its stalk. Two small ones appeared above the large hole, emitting a blue glow.

“He even has eyes,” Tuot noted. “We need to run away from here.”

The dinosaur turned around and ran in the opposite direction from the mushroom, to another door that led to the next carriage. But right in front of the door, a hat with horns appeared from under the floor. Tuot had to stop and then slowly retreat to the middle of the carriage.

The mushroom has completely come out from under the floor. The “mouth” and “eyes” appeared on it stalk again.

“You don’t have to be afraid of mushrooms,” a voice came from the mushroom’s “mouth.” “They can't walk, fly or hit you.”

“Ordinary mushrooms can’t,” Tuot agreed. “But... You're not like that.”

“I’m a spirit of mushrooms,” the mushroom admitted. “My name is Sanachan. I can't harm you. You don't see me, but my projection. This is a specially created space that is isolated from the world. I created it to communicate with other beings. My antennas are emitting too strong a signal. Therefore, no one can be near me.”

“You don’t exist?” Etinnei asked.

“Yes and no,” the mushroom answered. “My real body is in another place, which is isolated from the real world. You only see my image here. You can touch me if you don't believe me.”

Etinnei pointed the sleeve of her fur top at the strange creature and shot an icicle. The mushroom did not react to the attack. The icicle went through the stalk of the mushroom and broke on the seat behind it.

“You don’t exist, but you seem to exist,” Etinnei moved her ears on the top of her head. “It’s not clear.”

“But you are in the same position,” a voice sounded from the “mouth” of the mushroom. “You are traveling on a train, but in fact you are in a house, which is located in the crater of a volcano on an island in the middle of the sea.”

Tuot looked out the window. The wide river was finally crossed and showed its shore. The mountains no longer looked like silhouettes. Now these were ordinary mountain ranges, covered with dark coniferous forests, which stretched along the coast and in some places dropped steeply above the water.

“Are these places outside the window also unreal?” Tuot asked.

“Yes,” the mushroom answered. “It's just a background. This is necessary in order to fill the space. You don't want to talk to me in the dark, do you?”

Etinnei shuddered and jumped to the floor. The Arctic fox girl felt anxious, but soon this feeling disappeared.

The train entered a cave and stopped. The doors opened. Itinit and Noru entered the carriage.

“Sorry for being late, spirit of mushroom,” Noru said. “I came to the wrong stop, and then I saw the train and flew after it.”

“This space works well,” a voice sounded from the hole on the mushroom’s stalk. “I didn’t hope that you would find the train, so I showed up here myself.”

“My hair almost caught fire when I was flying astride her,” Itinit admitted.

“But you were able to get on the train,” the spirit of mushroom objected. “It means you created a good character.”

Noru pressed herself close to Itinit and placed the top of her head under his chin.

“I need to pet you,” Itinit said. “I know.”

Itinit put his hand on the top of the dog-girl’s head and ran it through her hair several times, and then began scratching behind the ear. Tuot noticed this and immediately forgot about the talking mushroom with horns and that he was on a train that did not exist.

“Itinit has his own animal girl,” the dinosaur thought. “Almost like mine. I hope that Etinnei will one day agree to become one of my favorite characters, no, my most favorite character.”

Tuot turned around to find his friend, but did not see either the arctic fox girl or the mushroom with horns...

***

Kyotyoryon noticed how her torso rose from the table and then hung in the air. The arms and legs remained in the same place.

The spirit of metal looked down, did not find any body parts there, and realized something.

“This evil doll tore my head off,” Kyotyoryon thought. “I need to put it back in place.”

The spirit of metal looked at her hand, which was lying on the table, and imagined a blade coming out of the bracelet on it. One of the fingers on his hand moved, but nothing else happened.

“The hand is moving,” Kyotyoryon thought. “But that’s not enough. I can't move things through the air like the creator. But I will do it, even if I don’t have such a skill. I am the spirit of metal, so I can do whatever I want with my metal.”

At this time, Sitihi was moving Kyotyoryon’s torso through the air with a wrench and did not notice that the hand on the table began to move. But this was noticed by the weapon-head, which was looking at the table.

“It’s moving,” the head said.

“Don’t bother me,” Sitihi replied.

... The metal spear flew into the back of the doll, but was intercepted by the head and taken in the teeth.

“The doll is not only evil, but also stupid,” Kyotyoryon thought. “Her separate head is smarter than her. Maybe this doll just appeared recently?”

The head unclenched its jaws. The spear fell out of her mouth and fell onto the table. Only then did Sitihi pay attention to the foreign object.

But it was too late. The spear rose into the air and then pierced the doll in the neck. Sitihi immediately lost control of the metal spirit's body with the wrench, and it fell to the floor.

This won’t kill me,” the doll looked at Kyotyoryon’s head in the air. “I'm not a living human.”

“Get me together,” Kyotyoryon asked.

“I haven't finished studying your body yet. I don't understand how it works. When I understand, then I'll collect it. In the meantime, you will remain in a disassembled state. You are not a living being, so nothing will happen to you.” “But I’m alive,” Kyotyoryon looked at her hand, which was lying on the table.

This time she managed not only to move her finger, but also to release the blade from the bracelet. However, he didn’t want to go back.

“I did better this time,” Kyotyoryon noted. “If I try, I will collect myself.”

Sitihi pointed the wrench at the metal spear that protruded from her neck and pulled it out. Kyotyoryon noticed this and caught a piece of her metal with her gaze, but could not move it to another place.

Strength began to leave the character. The spirit of metal felt pain in her eyes, and then her head seemed to be filled with something heavy.

Kyotyoryon's eyes slowly closed. The spirit of metal tried to resist this, but could not.

***

Unana woke up from something cold that touched her cheek.

“Yueret, don’t be like a dog,” Unana tried to open her eyes normally.

In response, a thin dog bark was heard. This sound made the girl open her eyes wide and notice in front of her a brown puppy that looked like a bear cub.

“It’s you, Kimchan,” Unana said. “I dreamed that Yueret became a dog and was rolling me on his back.”

The puppy took on an almost human form.

“I... I kept an eye on your brother, as you ordered,” Kimchan said.

Unana's heart rate increased rapidly, causing her chest to sway. The skin on the girl's face turned a little red.

“What is he doing?” the archer asked.

“He... he... cooked food, cleaned, caught squirrels,” the dog girl answered.

“There are no other girls with him,” Unana thought joyfully. “He’ll be fine.”

“He also went to the forest,” Kimchan said.

Unana stopped rejoicing and began to worry again.

“Did you follow him in the forest?” the archer asked.

“Yes,” Kimchan answered. “But I couldn’t get close. He walked along some road and then returned back.”

“Which road?”

Yueret tried to go to that girl with the wrench, Unana thought.

“There... Abandoned village... House...” Kimchan answered.

Unana remembered how, together with Yueret and Kimchan, when she was an ordinary puppy, she ran away from a dinosaur doll. Then she tried to stop her brother from entering the abandoned house, but he pushed her and entered.

“This is not that girl,” Unana thought and calmed down a little. “But it’s not good that Yueret is trying to go to such places. Who knows who he might meet there?”

Footsteps were heard outside the door. Kimchan almost instantly took on the form of a puppy. The next moment, the door opened and Yueret entered the room with a tray on which lay a plate of fried squirrel and a glass of green liquid.

“I brought a squirrel,” Yueret said. “I caught it myself not far from home. The unfortunate squirrel fell into a trap, and I decided to save her.”

“I don’t want such a squirrel,” Unana frowned.

“I was joking. This is a squirrel from the refrigerator. I let that squirrel go.”

Unana took the tray and smelled the food. The puppy tried to grab the meat, but met an obstacle on its way in the form of the girl’s breast and buried its nose in it.

“By the way, for some reason Kimchan is not growing,” Yueret noted. “She’s been living with us for over a year now. During this time, dogs grow to large sizes. Something is wrong here.”

The puppy jumped off the bed and left the room.

“Sometimes it seems to me that it understands human speech,” Yueret said. “It’s good that it’s just a dog.”

Unana looked at her brother with her mouth full of food and nodded. Along with her head, her chest also nodded, as if confirming the words of its mistress.