When we got back to the house, the things we had bought had not yet arrived, apparently the furniture would take longer to ship, so they would arrive tomorrow. Although the truth didn't matter to me because I was already used to sleeping on the floor, and Tamamo didn't care either. Seeing the room so unfurnished reminded me of the times during the war when I had to sleep alone in the open or in the ruins of some house. It wasn't comfortable, but I didn't care.
We each lay down on the futon and Tama seemed to respect my decision not to do anything yet, we just fell asleep.
...
...
...
In front of me was a rather young girl, and although she had perhaps a large chest for her age, that was not her most striking feature, those were undoubtedly her ears and her fox tail, which had a color as dark as night, and her beautiful crimson eyes. She was dressed in a majestic way, with an arranged dress, but at the same time light that only increased the feeling of seeing a doll, but she had gold and diamond jewelry. In addition, she had a staff in her hand, also golden and dignified. It was Nanami, the Empress of Atlantis, who was standing in front of me with her usual dejected look.
The reason?
Instead of sitting on a throne with her servants and her people. She was facing a graveyard. She saw the results of the sins of her father and her own people. The devastation they had wrought on the continent and the world through their selfishness.
The cemetery was not for civilians and not for ordinary soldiers like me. They were from the White Cloaks, they were the elite, the best we had, the ultimate dragon hunters. And yet all you could see were crosses. But the Atlanteans were not Christian or religious. They were of the people who came to this damned continent from other places to fight.
lz9BqRW.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/lz9BqRW.jpg]
"So these are the Dragon Hunters that were supposed to protect us this morning?" She said in her beautiful voice.
"They weren't supposed to, but they did," I replied.
"They came from the base to the east to give us time to escape south."
"We didn't think it was a coordinated attack from both sides at the time."
"Your people have not stopped helping us since they arrived, and yet they are the ones who receive the hardest blows from our enemy.
"We have already told you that only together can we stop the end of our time.
"They died for what they believed in, for creating an opportunity for victory, even at the cost of their lives.
"It is impossible to replace the losses we have suffered.
"Dragon slayers are now an almost extinct race," she said as she turned to see the consequences of her actions once again.
"They are the ones who believe in victory the most. "
"They have the power to do something, that's why they fight with all their might."
"We can only believe in those who are left." I try to give her hope, but also to be honest about our possibilities.
"And why do you fight?"
"You don't have their strength and you're still here."
"I'm not the only one"
"Most of us here are in the same situation"
"Why I'm standing here now, I don't know"
"I was thinking about protecting my family the day this all started and now I'm here in the middle of it all"
"In fact, I don't know how I got to be talking to you now.
"The only reason you can even make it to me is because you remind me of the one right decision I made in my entire life.
"Make the agreement to unite our two armies in the fight against the dragons."
"Are you sure?"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"I am only a soldier, not an officer."
" And since your servants do not have permission to even look at your face, it is suspicious."
"Well, I'm still the Empress of this place."
"I can't say out loud that I like the way you treat me, like I'm just a normal girl, someone who can make mistakes and also have doubts, fears. "
"Everyone here thinks I'm some kind of goddess, and they're afraid of me."
"So you don't want to tell others that you married me two months after I came to this place and saved you from the dragons who wanted to kidnap you."
"I have no idea how others would react if they found out that you are now the Emperor of Atlantis."
"If that title means anything now, then all that's left is a dead kingdom awaiting its own destruction."
"So I have already decided that when all this is over, I will leave all this behind as well and escape with you to your world. "
"I don't care about anything anymore, this place just deserves to perish."
"I just want to have a life with you, in a world without dragons, even in poverty."
I turned around with my machine gun and went into battle. In the heat of the battle, we had orders to carry out, even if we had to die defending them. There were only three soldiers left in our sector, and we were not to let a single dragon pass. My fellow soldiers, I don't remember their names or faces, but they were as frightened as I was. We were close to completing our journey, after so much fighting and sacrifice, and behind us was the heart of Atlantis, the Celestial Forge. All we had to do was buy time until Nanami could complete the great orichalcum sword, and when it was finished, we could finally attack the dragons and their leaders.
uZMSf9d.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/uZMSf9d.jpg]
But the dragons were too powerful, and my two companions were killed by one of their energy beams. I knew that I would be next. Just when I thought it was my turn, Nanami came running and stood right next to me. She looked at me with a sad face and closed her eyes. Then I saw her take out a huge sword from her hands, huge, wide, heavy. But the more she drew the sword, the more color she lost, first it was her eyes, then her skin turned pale, then her hair turned completely white. When she finished, it was almost like seeing a ghost. When the sword finally appeared, there was no hope. There were only cries of agony and pain from people who were tortured, tired, and desperate.
The next time I blinked, I was sitting on Jade's throne, the place that rightfully belonged to Nanami, now it was me. The people looked at me with illusions, dreams. They could see their new way of fighting dragons, their new leader. Nanami's heir and their hope. But it wasn't me, I could look like her, have the same voice as her, have her clothes, I could have her body, but it wasn't her. People were looking at a false idol, and I had to pretend to be that.
Before I knew it, I was in the last corridors leading to the sanctuary of the First. I had the great sword in my hand, I had Avalon, the end of the war was near. But there were no dragon bodies at my feet, only those of my allies. None of them were even complete, and the formerly blue corridors were now red. There was no time, and yet I stood there, unable to do anything. I was afraid, afraid of what might happen at any moment. Afraid that I would have to do it and fail the people who trusted me.
I hid behind a metal box, covering the passage of the hall. I could hear the screams of the dragons on the other side. Their claws scratching the box, trying to get it out of the way. And I tried with all my might to seal the hall with it. But when I did, all the light went out, just darkness.
There was nothing, there was no light, I couldn't even see the hand that once belonged to the girl I loved. There was only darkness and the sounds of dragons, lurking, walking, scratching the walls, looking for me. I panicked, I didn't want to be there, I couldn't stand it anymore, I hated the darkness, the dragons, the smell of blood that was everywhere. Please somebody get me out of here.
"Please help me!!"
"Please light!"
The next thing that appeared was the full moon. I was now on top of a mountain, I could see the sea in front of me, and I could see the moon high in the sky, lighting up the whole place as if it were daytime. And then I realized that there were no dragons or darkness, just a mountain and a vast space as far as the eye could see. I was no longer afraid, it was a quiet, relaxing place. A place where nothing bad could happen.
...
...
...
I woke up suddenly, I felt like I could hardly breathe, my body was shaking. I wanted to cry. But when I opened my eyes, I saw Tamamo's face, she was also awake, when she saw me, she greeted me with a smile, as if her face said calmly that the bad had already passed. She hugged me tightly with her eight fox tails, as if to say that she was with me. That I was not alone. She was always with me.
Looking around the room, I could see that the room could understand that it was still night. But the moonlight was coming through the windows of the room, lighting the place almost as if it were daytime. It was a safe place, I was in a room in my mother's house, in a country that was not at war, with a goddess by my side. After some time in Tamamo's embrace, I felt calm again.
Leaving the horrors of the past behind, I tried to fall asleep, hoping never to have another nightmare. And well, now I had someone by my side to take care of me again.