All around us was a beautiful lush forest of all colors and sizes. Huge trees shining bright colors like lights within them, an impossible sight, shades of blue, green and violet, as if the stars had decided to descend and lodge among the leaves, glowing mushrooms seemed to catch the light of the approaching sunset. But perhaps the most impressive thing to see was that above us were the remains of a city, on all sides we could make out the silhouette of what clearly were once buildings of some kind, but which were impossible to decipher due to the level of damage they presented.

[https://i.imgur.com/QKVIjFF.jpg]

Luna, the dragoness looked around, her eyes moving rapidly from side to side, her attitude seemed quite agitated. She transformed her hands into dragon claws again. From among the tall brush a lizardman lunged at her using a spear. Luna grabbed him by the head in midair and using the same spear hilt as a weapon embedded the lizardman in it killing him in the bow.

"We have to get out of here"

"It's almost dark"

"What do you mean?"

"There's something wrong My mother said worriedly"

"This is Lost World, the lower levels of Atlantis!"

"The territory of the dragons."

"Don't get carried away by the scenery, this is a war zone."

"Be ready to fight at all times"

"When night falls the elite troops go to the hunt!"

"Is it really that dangerous?"

"We have to find a more enclosed place."

"A place where we can be attacked from fewer directions."

"Near here there should be some ruins we can use for shelter."

"I hate this place" Said Elise looking around.

"Oh my, so you're scared too?"

"You can't move for fear of dying, can you?"

"Elise the pussy"

"You must have a horrible terror of dragons." The burning child reappeared in one of the tree branches.

"No"

"Why should I be afraid of something that is weaker than me?" Elise said quite seriously.

"Don't lie you fucking degenerate"

"Weren't you crying just a moment ago?"

"You're not fooling anyone, especially yourself!"

"They are different things!"

"Agh how do you want to fucking stupid"

"You know why you're here, don't you?"

"Come on say it loud and clear!"

"Tell the others how you failed!"

"How you were defeated!"

"Here ..... was .... where I lost her..."

"....."

"This is where I lost Nanami"

"Did you hear that? The supposedly great warrior was defeated!"

"Despite all his greatness, it didn't save him from his lowest defeat!"

"The one you can never win!"

"The past can no longer be changed!"

"You had your chance and you blew it!"

"You blew it!"

"All because all you wanted was to die at that moment!"

"And all for what? For another 15 years of suffering?"

"To keep remembering that you won't get her back!"

"So that the humans would keep killing each other right after!"

"You are not a savior, you are only violence! it's the only thing you're good at!"

"War follows you wherever you go, both inside and outside"

"Overlord selected well, in the end, he was right!"

"Being the True Dragon of war is such a bastard that an Atlantean couldn't be one."

"You are not the good person in the story!"

"I never said I was the good guy!"

"I only did what was necessary!"

"And was it necessary for her to die?"

"You are also guilty of what happened!"

"You abandoned her!"

"You have forgotten her!"

"Because of you, she is lost forever!"

"Because of you, she is not here helping us!"

"I never meant to hurt her!"

"I was defending her from the Dragons!"

"I fought at the castle gates"

"You were weak!"

"That's what happened!"

"If you had been stronger her death wouldn't have happened!"

"Maybe, but we wouldn't have won the war either!"

"And how do you know that?!?"

"There's no way to know!"

"It doesn't matter anymore what would have happened!"

"Now we have to live with it!"

The brothers were still arguing strongly with each other, their discussion seemed to focus on Nanami, Caesar's wife, who had died during the war against the dragons. Luna, however, was looking around worriedly, looking for enemies, Tamamo tried to understand how she was looking for enemies.

Tamamo, who was standing next to Elise, crouched down next to her to talk to her closely.

"Cesar, what you carry inside you is a heavy burden.

"It is not easy to face the past, especially when it is filled with pain and loss."

"But you must also understand that blaming yourself will not free you from that burden."

"The scars of your hurtful past may cloud your vision, but you are more than your mistakes"

"You are a warrior, yes, but you are also a person with emotions and also with limits to how much you can endure."

"Cesar, you have carried this burden for far too long.

"It's time for you to stop blaming yourself and start healing."

"But I don't want to forget her!"

"I won't forget her!"

"I promised her!"

"That I will be her companion to the bitter end!"

"I must keep my promise!"

"She deserves it!" Said both brothers in almost robotic synchrony.

"Watch out!"

"Here they come!" Lisa shouted behind us

From among the colors of the trees, a strange type of creature emerged, one as tall as the trees themselves. A monster that looked like a crystal tower supported by three legs, it had inscriptions of light engraved on its body, it looked nothing like a living being, it seemed instead to be a monolith. On the highest part, a vast crystal seemed to act as a head, above it a huge purple halo followed it everywhere. There was no way to understand what was the creature that was in front of us.

[https://i.imgur.com/tVyjOkE.png]

"That's a Nightmare Eye!"

"They can launch a Laser instantaneously to destroy everything!"

"Don't let it see you!"

"They're anti-air units!"

Luna shouted to warn us all, but while she was still speaking a beam of light came out of the strange monster, which hit the tree where the burned boy was. The tree almost immediately burst into flames. Tamamo ran to protect Elise from the blow, while Lisa and Luna threw themselves against the monster's head. With a strong impact from the green dragon, followed by the demon's kick, both of them managed to destroy the huge crystal in the head, and the monster fell lifeless moments later.

"What the hell was that thing!"

"That was like seeing a wall attack!" I said in fear.

"That was just one unit repositioning itself!"

"He must have already warned the others of our presence!"

"We really have to go! NOW!"

We all turned to get going, but when we turned to look there was already something there. A group of dragon knights, human-shaped monsters that seemed to have been created using metal in combination with crystal, which seemed to take half of their body, all with a sickly grin. One of them put up his spear preparing to attack, his back flared up spitting flames of fire, the next second I felt my body being pushed hard from my waist, then a big boom like an explosion. I was confused, I didn't know what had happened, but after a couple of seconds more I noticed how around my body was a big golden tail, which had its origin from Tamamo, wondering why he had done it I noticed how the fire-haired man was no longer with his companions, but behind our group trying to take his spear out of one of the trees.

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

UAi7l1q.png [https://i.imgur.com/UAi7l1q.png]

"Impaling knights!"

"They can attack at the speed of sound!"

"When their back is glowing you better jump sideways if you want to live!" Luna warned us

"You should have told us that 5 seconds ago!" Tifa shouted in fear, flying.

"There are a lot of them!"

"What do we do?" Levia asked

"Over there! On that wall!"

"There's a tunnel!"

"We can retreat there!" Said Momo

"Lisa! You go first!"

"Make sure it's safe!"

"Luna protect Elise"

"Everyone else stay behind me!"

Right after speaking Tamamo stretched out his nine tails, which grew considerably and tried to function as a shield, at the same time that Lisa ran first into the tunnel. Soon after, while we were running on the other side of the tails we could hear the rumble of the brutal blows that the terrifying monsters were throwing. As Luna carried Elise in her arms, the little girl seemed to be looking back towards the burning tree.

"Quick, get in!" shouted Lisa, extending her hand toward the others.

Tamamo, with his tails still extended, retreated into the tunnel, protecting the rear as the Impaling Knights approached. Luna and Elise also entered the tunnel, followed by Tamamo who just as they entered put her hands in front of her and then blew between her fingers, from her mouth came out a huge hellish blaze of blue fire that in almost moments consumed everything in sight, a sea of fire was all that was left outside the tunnel. But you could still see the knight's feet moving, trying to move forward as they were engulfed by the flames. Tamamo, seeing himself with no other option, hit the roof of the entrance with his destroying tails so that it collapsed and sealed the passage.

"Well, now all that's left to do is to keep going" exclaimed Luna as we advanced through the dark tunnel.

"So you were supposed to be just an ordinary human here right, Tamamo?" I said emphasizing what I just saw.

"Well, sorry"

"I should have said that I was a nine-tailed kitsune instead of a goddess."

"But the idea remains the same, I can't manipulate this world in any way."

"I would call setting fire to the whole forest as manipulating the world though" I replied to her.

"...."

"Hey, you girls think the burned kid maybe.....?" said Tifa coyly.

"I rather doubt it"

"This is Cesar's subconscious."

"He could very well appear in front of us right now."

"As Tamamo said before, the only way to get him to leave is to talk to him or Elise."

We continued walking through the dark tunnel, which seemed to be made of stone blocks, it appeared to be inside of a castle, in which there was no source of light, but the place seemed to be in good condition compared to what it appeared to be. Tamamo this time taking note of the lessons learned on the subway set his flame to illuminate far ahead to see anything approaching.

As we advanced carefully we saw how a light came from one of the walls on the sides, it seemed that there was a door and on the other side there was a light on. After opening it a little to make sure there was no other monster we entered the place.

BcmPvmR.png [https://i.imgur.com/BcmPvmR.png]

Inside there was a room that we all knew quite well, it was a replica of the twins' room back at the house, there were two beds on either side of the room, and on one of them were two black figures, clearly girls, but also shadows that I could not define, it was impossible to tell anything more about them, Elise stopped, her gaze was fixed on the figures in the distance.

"What are you looking into?" asked Luna, noticing the thoughtful expression on her father's face.

"Kasumi? Charlotte?" Said the worried white girl.

"Dad?"

"Are you here?" The mysterious shapes answered.

Elise was slowly approaching the beds, her hand outstretched, wanting to try to touch them, but she stopped short, her gaze wandering between the two black shapes, the two figures were just shadowy blobs. One could not discern who was who. As her eyes shifted from one figure to the other, a sense of frustration and confusion was palpable on the white girl's face.

"Oh, great, what's the problem this time?" said Lisa annoyed again

"I think it's easy to say this time."

"Those two should be the twins."

"But it seems that Cesar is not able to distinguish which is which" I said theorizing.

The real twins, the ones behind me ran past me until they reached Elise's side, both grabbed their arms and waved them, trying to draw attention to themselves. The two androids were worried, even without their emotions coming out, you could tell by the desperate way they were behaving.

"Dad!"

"Why are you having trouble seeing us?"

"We're right here!"

"Can't you see us?"

"Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad!"

"It doesn't matter that you can't tell us apart"

"We're both just one AI! We are one hive mind!"

"Either is the right answer!"

Elise, ignoring his daughters at his side averted his gaze from the beds and looked at Luna with a tormented expression.

"I can't... I can't tell them apart."

"I know they're Kazumi and Charlotte, but their faces... their personalities... they're the same."

"How can I call me their father if I don't even really know them?

"They both look the same to me"

"What a damn father you are!"

"Not only are you not able to give them a livelihood."

"You don't even know who's who?"

"Not only are you a disappointment to your partner but also to your so-called daughters?"

"Tell me, are you bored of playing house?"

"Why don't you put the dolls back in their box instead?"

"This whole thing was a stupid idea in the first place."

"To be the father of two androids, one machine, two things that aren't even alive."

"To call them both daughters, what a heresy against nature!"

"And what's worse, forcing them both to call you father!"

"You are the biggest failure there is! How could you be a father of anything!"

"You can't even take care of yourself!"

"You can't even say what you want to be, a boy or a girl!"

"Your life is a waste of space!"

"There is nothing in your future !"

The burned boy came out of one of the closet doors, his body intact despite the supposed damage he had received earlier, now he was back as if nothing had happened. With his usual painful words.

"Enough of this! Has been not enough already!?"

"Leave my sisters out of this!"

"Neither they nor my father are to blame for anything!" Said Luna angrily to the boy

"But you can't escape the truth, can you!?"

"You're a failure, Cesar"

"A failure as a husband, a father, and a warrior"

"Nobody loves a failure" said the burned boy twisting into a snarl.

"That's not true!"

"We love Dad!"

"We don't want a different father"

"Nor do we want a different life!"

"Dad can be weird, like everyone else, and he has problems, like everyone else."

"But he has been the first person to treat us differently than a machine!"

"From the first time we met until now!"

"Dad really loves us! He loves us as real people!"

"The fact that we are here, in his mind, those black shadows and his concern for them is real!"

"He gave us a life that we are proud of!"

"A life in which we can call ourselves human even if we are not really human!"

"This is the life we want to live!"

"Together with him and our mothers!"

The twins hugged their father to protect him from the cruel words spoke, they would not let guilt and doubt win, clearly distinguish a flame of determination behind it, one that a machine would never have. For them, this was about saving their father as he had saved them.

"In Japan, there is the legend of the Tsukumogami yokai"

"An object that has been cared for 100 years is able to receive a soul as a reward."

"Giving them the opportunity to become beings with their own consciousness and will."

"For it proves that they have been loved by their owners."

"But these girls have been loved from the first day by their whole family."

"It may not have been a hundred years, but they both had it from the moment they stopped seeing themselves as mere machines and sought something beyond their original purpose."

"The same that they have carefully nurtured and cultivated with the love of a true family."

"A proof of the care and respect that Elise and the others have given to the two androids we call daughters."

"There is no greater proof that he deserves to be considered a good father than his own daughters forgiving him for the things he failed to provide for them!"

"The love you hold for them is what defines you as a father, not the ability to tell them apart."

"You may struggle to distinguish them visually, but it's the bond you share, the experiences you've had together, the emotions you've exchanged that truly matter, Elise"

"Dad, we're not upset that you can't always tell us apart"

"We know you love us just the same." Kazumi said.

"And we're grateful for everything you've done for us" Charlotte added right after.

Tamamo was behind Elise, embracing her with his daughters, they were all around him, trying to calm the doubts about himself, proving again that his daughters were real to him, that his love was real.

"Thank you" whispered Elise, feeling the burden of her mistakes and doubts begin to lighten.

The burned boy instead of continuing with his usual annoyance looked at the action with curiosity, drooping, in silence. His frustrated face changed to a slight smile. With a shy gesture, he takes his own hand and turns back to the closet, closing it quietly. Soon after, the shadows of the twins slowly faded until they disappeared completely, the same happened with the closet, which changed to reveal a new exit.

dIbZPV7.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/dIbZPV7.jpg]

On the other side of the wall was a new place, a beautiful, deep cyan forest. One where the grass shone with a brilliance only surpassed by that of the blue leaves of the trees. Where the only thing there was to break the monotony of the intense color were the occasional black lines, which indicated the trunks of the trees. The view of the beautiful forest continued far beyond a hill.