A wooden train, consisting of two identical locomotive cars, with a "beak" on the "heads", stopped at a small station surrounded by coniferous forests.
The wooden, single-story station, against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains, looked more like an abandoned village barn than a public building. It had no windows and was made of numerous planks. The only opening, a doorway, was located near the platform.
The platform itself also looked strange. The plank-covered area adjoined a single rail, which then disappeared into the forest and was lost among the vegetation.
The doors slid open. A girl with blue-green hair, peeking out from under the scaly hood of a gray-blue winter jacket, jumped onto the platform.
"Bear cubs, come out," the girl said, peering under the train. Her hood fell off her head, revealing small, straight horns.
"You're lucky that there's no one else on the train except us," a voice from the carriage answered.
The girl looked at the open entrance and saw a man in a black jacket, pants, and boots.
"There's a brown one," the girl said, raising her finger. "The first creator taught me to count to two. He said that would be enough."
"Good job, dad," Yueret thought and jumped down onto the platform.
"There's still one brown one left," Timnichan continued. "If she doesn't get out, the train won't leave. There's no further rail."
Yueret turned toward the carriage and saw a thick, bare leg with a short foot trying to climb out of the open window.
"Unana, you need to exit through the door. It's written right there."
The leg headed back into the carriage. Soon, a girl appeared at the entrance, wearing headphones perched on her brown hair. A "necklace" of purple boots, tied together with laces, adorned her neck.
"I told Unana she shouldn't dress like she's at home," Yueret glanced at the distant mountains. "And she didn't dress like she was at home."
The archer landed on the platform. Her breasts almost jumped out from under the gray-purple top with several oval cutouts in the front, but due to the boots that hugged the sides, they soon came to a balance.
"Now there are two brown ones," Timnichan held up two fingers and smiled. "The first creator said that if there are two bear cubs, we can go to those mountains."
The lizard girl ran forward, and then stopped abruptly and, with a silly expression, pointed at the mountains in the distance.
"It's cold there," Unana sighed.
"So dress properly," Yueret said.
"I forgot. I am your little sister, after all."
Unana removed the "necklace" of boots from her neck and placed it on her feet.
"Okay," Unana sighed. "I'm dressed. We're not going to walk through the snow, are we?"
"We'll go through these mountains," Timnichan continued pointing forward, as if the "bear cubs" didn't understand where the mountains were. "The first creator said they're called the Last Mountains."
"Is your creator there?" Yueret asked.
"I don't know yet," Timnichan stopped smiling stupidly, but her facial expression didn't become any smarter. "I'll find out later, when we reach the Last Mountains."
"I thought so," Yueret looked at the wooden column at the entrance to the station. "Dad made sure that she didn't tell everything she knew at once, but remembered it gradually."
"The train will leave soon, and we'll go there," a silly smile returned to Timnichan's face. "The first creator said we can't go until the train leaves, because it might crush us."
The carriage doors closed. The train blew its horn, and then slowly went back.
"Bye, train!" Timnichan jumped up and waved to the departing train.
"She's so stupid," Unana thought out loud.
"But she has a good memory," Yueret smiled.
The train disappeared behind the last visible trees. Silence fell at the station, broken only occasionally by the wind.
"Now let's go there," Timnichan approached the "bear cubs" and pointed with her hand at the wooden station without windows.
"It's not working," Yueret objected.
"The first creator said we should enter this building," Timnichan turned to the eldest bear cub. "You can find something there."
The lizard girl ran toward the empty doorway. Yueret and Unana followed her.
"So, why is it dark here?" Timnichan grabbed her horns and adjusted them slightly. "Did they forget to turn on the light? The first creator didn't say anything about it. Bear cubs, do you know what to do?"
Unana turned away so the foolish creature wouldn't notice her trying not to laugh.
"Perhaps a lot of time has passed, and this station has closed," Yueret suggested.
"And the terminal closed here?" Timnichan clapped her hands and widened her eyes. "I thought terminals could only close at another station."
Yueret recalled her first encounter with this strange creature on the seashore. Timnichan had insisted the train would definitely arrive, despite the tracks being covered in a thick layer of snow.
"That was another station," Timnichan said, turning toward the platform. "There was the sea there. Why did it close?"
"What's that connected?"
"Only one station can be closed. The second station can't be closed."
"Why?"
"Then it will be abandoned."
"What?"
Unana finally couldn't take it anymore, fell to her knees, and laughed. Her breasts began to "laugh" along with her.
"Only one station can be called abandoned,'" Timnichan explained. "The other station must have a different name."
"I don't understand anything," Yueret thought. "Maybe I should ask her?"
Timnichan looked at the older "bear cub" and answered herself:
"That's what the first creator said when he designed this location."
At first, Yueret felt even more confused, but after a few moments, a new thought appeared in his mind.
"Did your creator make games?"
"Yup," Timnichan stuck out the tip of her blue tongue. "He made them so I could do something while I waited for the bear cubs."
Unana stopped laughing, but her chest disagreed.
"I need to turn on the light," Timnichan said, looking into the dark space of the station. "The first creator didn't say anything about this. So, priority is given to the second creators, the bear cubs."
"I have a lamp," Yueret summoned the interface.
Soon the dark space was illuminated by a blue ball "hanging" in the air.
"Will it follow us?" Timnichan asked.
"Yeah," Yueret answered. "It's pursuing whoever summoned it."
"That's good. We'll find whoever summoned that round thing and tell them they're smart."
The terminal changed immediately. Instead of a dark space, rows of wooden crates and loose planks appeared, scattered throughout the room.
"Are we sure we need to go here?" Yueret asked.
Unana grabbed her brother's hand.
"Yup," Timnichan looked at the boxes as if trying to distinguish them. "We need to go there."
"Need to go to the box?" Unana hid behind her brother.
"No," Timnichan approached the glowing orb and pointed downward.
"Is there some kind of dungeon down there?" Yueret asked.
"Yup," Timnichan answered. "It's for hiding from bears. It's for hiding from big bears, not like you, little brown bear cubs."
"Are there bears here?" Unana snuggled close to her brother.
"Now I understand why the station closed," Yueret said.
"The bearries attacked the station," Unana thought in horror. "Someone forced them to do this."
A few moments later, the girl slapped her cheeks with her palms:
"Hey, what am I thinking? I'm not a child."
"There should be a hole in the wooden thing," Timnichan said, walking over to the nearest crate.
"They're all wooden here," Yueret noted. "The ones that were made of paper have rotted."
"So there are a lot of holes here," Timnichan said, looking at the older "bear cub" with a silly smile and bulging eyes like a toad's.
"Unana, you were right," Yueret looked at his sister and mentally addressed her. "She really is stupid, but to find dad, we'll have to endure."
Unana nodded in response, as if she could read minds.
"Hole, come find me!" Timnichan slapped the floor with her tail, causing one of the boards to rise into the air and land right on the character's horns.
"Aaah, Yueret, let's get out of here..." Unana turned toward the station exit and almost groaned.
The big brother could only pat his little sister on the head.
…The lizard girl and the "bear cubs" were sitting on wooden boxes scattered all over the floor.
"Perhaps the entrance isn't in this building?" Yueret suggested.
"No, the first creator said it was in this one," Timnichan answered. "That's what he said. I remember. I have it all written down on my memory card."
"What?" both "bear cubs" shuddered simultaneously.
Timnichan removed the board from the horns and quickly discovered that the hole hadn't appeared. Beneath the missing board was another, stronger one...
"There's a memory card in my head," the lizard girl slammed her fist into her head. "I haven't seen it, but I believe it's there. The first creator said so."
"Perhaps I should open your head and take out that memory card?" Yueret suggested.
"Ahh..." Timnichan stuck out the tip of her tongue and her eyes widened.
"I think that would be too simple," Yueret tried to answer his own question. "She's not a doll or a robot, so we won't open her head. But even if we do open it and take out the map, we won't know any more than we know now."
"Dad did a very smart thing," Unana noted.
"Yeah, he's thought of everything possible," Yueret agreed. "We'll have to trust the lizard."
Meanwhile, Timnichan remained sitting in the same position, her tongue slightly protruding and her eyes bulging. She seemed to have hibernated, like ordinary cold lizards in winter.
"What's wrong with her?" Unana asked.
"Perhaps she blocked herself?" Yueret suggested. "It's unlikely to be hibernation. Cold lizards already have their hibernation over."
A small purple bow with an electric arrow appeared in Unana's hands. Yueret noticed this but didn't stop his little sister. For months, the stupid lizard had pestered Yueret so much that he felt no pity for her, unlike the bear-like puppy.
Unana drew the purple energy bowstring and smiled. Finally, she would get revenge for everything the spirit of the wet bed had done to her.
But her revenge was unsuccessful. Timnichan fell onto the boards behind her at the last moment, and the arrow struck the wall instead of her, creating a thin hole in it.
"Deer antlers, that's the wrong arrow," Unana cursed. "You should have summoned the arrow that guides itself."
"It's not nice for bear cubs to curse," Timnichan suddenly said. "These are the words of the first creator."
"I'm not cursing," Unana turned away. "I just saw deer antlers."
"Where are the deer's antlers?" Timnichan stood up in one movement and began to swivel her head wildly, as if she were a doll.
"Uh..." Unana looked at the wall and noticed a hole through which a barely noticeable beam of light was shining. "There is in the forest, behind the station."
The "bear cubs" had to watch as the lizard girl opened her mouth, lolling her blue, oval-tipped tongue onto the floor. It extended all the way to the entrance, after which the mindless creature stepped on it, sliding as if on ice.
"Yueret…" Unana closed her eyes and resummoned the bow.
"Yeah, it's disgusting," Yueret approached his sister and hugged her, ensuring she wouldn't accidentally see the spirit of the wet bed.
"Why do bears have a lizard as their guide, and not someone smarter?"
"Someone smarter wouldn't sit in one place and wait for years. That's why we only have this lizard."
... Timnichan appeared at the station's threshold, holding a pair of deer antlers and a silly smile on her face.
"Did you take the antlers off the deer?" Yueret asked.
"My tongue chased it and got stuck," the lizard girl explained. "I wanted to ask it if he'd been here, but it said 'EEH' and ran off."
"You speak the language of the deer well," Yueret noted. "Perhaps if you put antlers on your head, you'll be able to understand what they're saying?"
At that moment, Unana became curious about what was going on and cautiously peeked out from behind her brother.
"No," the smile disappeared from Timnichan's face. "I'm not a deer."
"She's not stupid?" the "bear cubs" thought simultaneously.
"The first creator said that you can't insert body parts from other animals," the lizard girl's smile returned.
"No, she's still stupid," Yueret and Unana simultaneously changed their minds.
"What should I do with these horns?" Timnichan approached the "bear cubs." "The first creator said nothing about this, but you are my creators too, so you must answer for him."
"Uh…" Yueret tried to answer, but instead of words, only some kind of mooing came out of his mouth.
"Yueret, you talk like a deer," Unana frowned. "You should stay away from that horned lizard."
Timnichan touched the top of her head with her hand and discovered horns growing on the crown.
"I already have only antlers," the cold lizard spirit's eyes rolled back. "The deer's antlers won't fit, even if you lift the first creator's ban."
"Now it makes sense why Papa gave her antlers," Yueret guessed.
"You could return the deer's antlers," Unana suggested. "The deer is probably crying because it's missing its antlers."
"Is that true?" Timnichan craned her head forward and looked at the "bear cubs" with wide eyes.
"Because of this, the other deer won't recognize it," Yueret said.
Timnichan turned toward the doorway and, using her tongue again, exited the station.
"Actually, that's not why we came here," Unana recalled. "Maybe we should look for it ourselves while that stupid lizard is running around the forest with deer antlers?"
"I'm afraid we won't find what we need," Yueret looked at the pile of planks on the floor. "We don't even know what to look for."
"But I don't really want to wait for that lizard to find that hornless deer and return its antlers."
"I'm not sure it's possible to restore a deer's antlers if they've fallen off on their own."
"Then the lizard won't come back. Maybe we should look elsewhere?"
"Okay. There are plenty of boards here. Searching here is pointless."
The "bear cubs" left the station building through the entrance and then went around the other side. At that moment, Yueret noticed something strange.
"Wait," the older "bear cub" said to his sister. "I think the lizard was right about one thing."
"What?"
"Look at the building. There are no openings to enter. Not even windows."
"Yeah, there's nothing here."
"This building looks like it was built specifically for something other than what train stations are built for."
"But this building was once a train station. Was it windowless, or were they removed later?"
Yueret gestured toward the wall of a building made of planks and logs. It was completely uniform, so much so that it looked more like a freight car than the main station building.
"I see," Unana said. "Did dad create this building for us?"
"It's too much, even for him. Why devise such a complex plan to get us there?"
"Maybe this building is what we need?"
Unana noticed the plank roof and two holes opposite each other.
"Yueret, I think I've found it," the archer said, activating her purple aura.
"What?" Yueret looked where his sister was looking, but saw nothing.
"There are two holes there. If we go through them, we'll find ourselves in some hidden place."
"But the lizard said this place is underground. Why is the entrance on the roof?"
"It's for protection from the lizard, so it doesn't notice. The lizard is stupid."
The youngest of the "bear cubs" used her aura to rise to the roof and land near one of the openings.
"There's one hole smaller, and the other larger," Unana noted. "One for me, one for you, bro... Yueret…"
An older "bear cub" landed near the opposite hole, surrounded by a purple aura.
"Now I'm absolutely certain this was done specifically for us," Yueret said.
"Really? Maybe it's just two holes? I was just joking, actually."
"No. There are no more holes in the roof, even though these boards are very old."
Unana peered cautiously into "her" hole, but saw only a black background.
"Is there something there?" Yueret asked.
"No. But it's better to check."
The archer summoned her weapon, and then fired an electric arrow into the hole.