Bloodcurdling screams rang out through the city as a humongous structure rose seemingly from the core of Earth itself. Adults, young, elderly, everyone on the age spectrum could be seen running for their lives to escape. The city’s buildings were forced out of the way and crashed to the streets below to make room for the building that rose from the ground underneath them. No one could understand what was happening as the city fell into pandemonium.

During this chaotic event that couldn’t be explained through science, Aarush Chawla was busy perfecting his life works. He was a doll maker. Right now, he was in the middle of creating one of his finest masterpieces of his life and refused to let anything stop him before it was finished. His painted brush gently rubbed over the doll’s body as his eyes focused with unparallel focus. Aarush didn’t care for the earthquake raging through the city.

It looked as if even death wasn’t enough to stop him before he completed his work. He worked and worked and worked tirelessly on the doll. There wasn’t a single spot left unchecked or incomplete by Aarush. Every single part of this doll must function properly or it would be a failure. Aarush would never produce a single failure. Every failure must be scrapped and destroyed. While Aarush wouldn’t call himself a perfectionist, anyone who’s seen him work would surely do so.

Aarush worked until the foundation of his store began to crack and break. His hands never stopped moving even as the roof began to crash and fall. He was almost finished! Perfection was just a moment away! All he needed to do was properly dress the doll and give her the tool that would complete her. The dollmaker’s hands reached out to grab the miniature chainsaw and just as he placed it into the little nurse's hand, a large piece of wood from the roof of the building came crashing down upon him.

A hole was stabbed directly through his chest, but his eyes never left his now finished masterpiece. Aarush smiled as he tried to wipe away some of his blood from the doll’s face. It wasn’t until this moment that he felt that the color of blood was such a repulsive color... Although he was saddened, he would never be able to see his creation in work, he didn’t feel regret at his death. He managed to complete his masterpiece.

As Aarush closed his eyes and accepted his death, a bright diamond blue light began to shine in front of his dying body.

[The Obelisk, is amazed by dedication to your craft and awards you a skill!]

The bright light dimmed its shine and an orb could be seen floating in the air. This orb gently floated down towards Aarush’s body before phasing into his body.

[The Dollmaker Pursuing That Which Is Beyond The Horizon]

[Rank: F(Growth)]

[Skill: You are capable of things that no other dollmaker is able to do. Bring life to your creations and watch them grow alongside you.]

It wasn’t until morning came that Aarush Chawla opened his eyes again. He was in the middle of his destroyed doll shop and there was a large scar on his bandaged bare chest instead of a gaping hole. Somehow, he was still alive. But Aarush knew that there was no logical way he could survive an injury as severe as that. The Nurse was missing as well, what was going on?

“Creator, it looks like I managed to save your life!” A voice that sprouted rainbows and butterflies in his heart spoke to him.

“I didn’t think I could save you, but it looks like I'm more amazing than I thought!” She giggled.

“I never knew that a person could bleed so much. Would you believe me if I said I had to thread you a new heart out of my own uniform? I’m surprised it worked! I can’t wait to “treat” even more people!” She gushed as if the thought of those injured and maimed brought great pleasure to her.

“Alice... You’re alive...?” Aarush couldn’t believe his eyes as the doll standing at 29 inches tall, almost as tall as the average six-year-old child.

“So, Alice is my name, huh? It's pretty cute just like me. It looks like you have a good taste for names Creator. If you tried to give me an ugly name, I would’ve just chopped you up myself.” Alice walked over to him just as naturally as any human would.

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There was no gait, limp, or anything unusual in the way she walked, talked, or expressed her emotions. It was as if she was no different than any other human. If you exclude her height, the bloody chainsaw she has in her hand, and the floating words above her head, that was.

[Alice, the Mad Nurse]

“It's pretty boring in here, Creator. My heart’s been shouting at me since earlier to go to that big tower over there. Can we go there?” Alice asked in a cute voice.

“How could I refuse?” Aarush helplessly smiled.

He still hasn’t come to terms with anything that’s happened since he woke up. If he thought realistically, this was probably the afterlife. Whether it was hell or heaven, that has yet to be seen yet. Before deciding to leave with Alice, Aarush searched through rubbles of his shop for any dolls that managed to survive in good condition. Unfortunately, it seems that only Alice survived.

“Yay! Pick me up and put me on your shoulder.” She requested.

Aarush did as she asked and began to make his way toward the tower extending into the sky. Alice happily hummed as they walked through the remains of the city. The horrible, despairing, and terrible sight didn’t bother her in the slightest. In fact, when they encountered their first corpse, Alice hopped off of Aarush and began experimenting with the body. He didn’t understand exactly what she was doing but considering she was a Mad Nurse, maybe she was trying to bring them back to life?

Alice skipped and hopped like an innocent young girl as she searched around for more corpses. She chopped the limbs off of the first body with her chainsaw. It revved up like a real chainsaw and easily shredded through the corpse’s skin and bones. The sight disgusted Aarush but at the same time brought a smile to his face as he saw his creation enjoying herself.

The mad nurse grabbed severed arms, heads, organs, and stuffed them all into the first corpse they saw. Once everything was in place, she took out a needle holder, toothed forceps, suturing scissors, and a needle and thread. Aarush watched in pride as Alice began piecing together these severed limbs onto a single body. A white light shined while she worked with a smile on her face, humming a tune he didn’t quite recognize. Hours went by with a cute little doll working her heart out and a dollmaker watching his creation living her life.

“Now arise my adorable patient! You will be the first of many to spread my name!” She maniacally giggled with the white light coating her chainsaw.

Aarush watched as she stabbed her toy chainsaw into the corpse’s chest and revved it up. The corpse violently vibrated before a loud scream escaped from its lips. Hearing this cry only caused Alice to laugh even more. She hopped off the abomination and skipped her way over to Aarush. This abomination began to become animated. All three pairs of arms pushed at the ground, the backwards facing two pairs of legs exerted strength to keep it standing, while three heads, one facing backward, mumbled incoherently.

“Good job, Alice!” Aarush praised her by rubbing her head for doing a good job.

“Stupid idiot Creator. Of course, I did a good job...” Alice kicked at the ground with her cheeks blushing.

“With Eli, Creator won’t die on my watch.” She soon named her own creation.

“Eli is a cute name.” Aarush stated.

“Of course it is, I made it after all. Now let’s get going.” Alice rose her hands up.

Aarush picked her up just as she wanted and placed her on his shoulder despite parts of her nurse uniform being covered in blood. Eli followed behind them mumbling all the way. During their journey over to the tower, Aarush belief that this was the afterlife only increased more and more. He saw no living people on their way over here. On making it to the entrance of the tower, there was a gigantic door that looked as if it needed to be pushed open to get inside.

Aarush tried pushing it open but just as he expected, it didn’t budge an inch. Alice created that strange light from earlier again and gently pushed on the door. Unlike how things went for him, the door seeming opened on its own when Alice tried.

“What’s that light, Alice?” Aarush took this opportunity to ask.

“Hehe... This is the energy of the universe.” She told him.

“How did you learn to use that?” He asked. It was his first time hearing anything about the energy of the universe.

“Would you like to find out, Creator?” Alice smiled a playful grin.

“Yes.” He answered simply.

“Well Creator, you already have the energy of the universe inside you. You just need to create a pathway for it to flow throughout your body.”

“Did you make a pathway for Eli?” Aarush asked.

“Eli’s special. I could cut her open to try and show you directly, but I don’t think you’re that stupid considering you created me after all.” Alice told him.

“Okay, how do I make a pathway for the energy to flow? What should it look like?”

“Keep walking down this hallway. I’ll explain on the way to the 1st Floor.”