Chapter 16 — Six Intoners
Doveport
Zero's POV
"Sister Zero!"
"What is happening?"
"Why did my nails grow so long?"
My sisters screamed, all speaking simultaneously.
"Hang on! Let me think!" I screamed.
Immediately my sisters fell silent, I got up from my bed while rubbing my eyes, damn it's too early for that and I feel a headache coming on.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"Sister Zero I…"
"I woke up and..."
"I don't know how, but..."
"One at a time!"
Everyone was silent and One stepped forward.
"Sister Zero, we don't know how this happened, all I remember is something happening in Doveport and us being unconscious and when we woke up we were like this."
"That's right, something happened to Three and then to all of us." Four continued.
"All I remember is a boy taking my doll away from me, and then…" Three said.
"Let's all calm down, then we'll find out what happened, first we'll solve the problem with Three's hair and Four's nails."
"Yes sister Zero." My sisters said in chorus.
We all went to the kitchen, I carried Three in my arms to stop her from tripping over her own hair, and I sat her down on the kitchen chair.
"One, can you bring me a pair of scissors?"
"Of course, Sister Zero." One said as she ran in search of the scissors.
"Don't run with scissors in your hand!"
A few minutes later One returned with the scissors, and then I opened a cupboard in the kitchen, took out a bowl and placed it on Three's head.
"I'm just letting you know that I have never cut anyone else's hair."
"Okay, I just want to be able to see where I'm going." Three replied.
"If you insist, but don't complain to me later." I shrugged.
So I cut Three's hair, a few minutes later the floor was covered in long purple hair.
"Look, I have a mustache!" Two yelled as she held a lock of Three's hair under his nose.
"And I have a beard!" Five said as she held a bunch of hair to her chin.
"You two stop playing with your hair!"
"Sister Zero, can you cut my nails now?" Four asked.
"Of course, sit here." I said as I took the bowl off of Three's head and she got out of the chair, Four sat in the chair and I held her hand while cutting her nail.
"How did your nails grow so long?"
"I don't know sister Zero; I woke up like this, with these big nasty fingernails." Four gave her fingernails a disgusted look.
"It's not that bad, just cut them." When I finished cutting Four's nail, I squinted my eyes at the sight, it was barely noticeable, but I'm sure Four's nail grew a little, I shifted my focus to Three and noticed that her hair was a little longer.
There's something wrong here, the happening in Doveport, and my sisters waking up like this are related somehow, I've ignored weird things happening long enough.
With Four's nails clipped, I made breakfast, put the food on the table, but when tasted the food, One's face crumpled.
"What's the problem?"
"Too salty."
Too salty? But this is the same food I prepare every day, I didn't do anything different.
"Fine! I ignored this long enough, but we have to talk!" I slammed my hand down on the table.
"What do you mean by that?" One asked.
"One, you're not stupid, there's something wrong here."
One gave me an understanding look.
"Your memories that don't match reality, your unusual strength, what happened in Doveport and that! No more pretending this is normal!"
"But what do you plan to do sister Zero?" Five asked.
"For now? I will have an honest conversation with you. First of all, I don't know where you guys came from, I never had sisters, I never had parents, I don't know which parents you're talking about, but they sure ain't mine!"
"Sister Zero, that was mean!" Two said.
"I'm don't care! I'm telling the truth, I'm a brothel worker, serial killer, criminal, caught a plague, was tortured in cathedral city and should be dead! I remember dying, but for some reason I'm here with this flower in my eye... This flower in my eye..."
Damn it! How did I not think of this before? Before I die I see a flower, when I come back to life I have a flower in my eye and five girls call me sister, and we are much stronger than the average person. That flower was responsible for everything, wasn't it?
"This is not true!" Four knocked on the table.
"You must not be feeling well sister Zero, better rest, you are delirious." Three said.
"No matter what I say; you won't believe me, will you?"
"I don't know why you are telling such bad lies, Sister Zero, but we know who you are and who we are, we are sisters and we always will be." One replied.
"Tell me something else. Do you know anyone named Alan?"
My sisters were silent.
"I feel like I should. That name is familiar." One said while thinking deeply.
"Sister Zero, who is this person?" Four asked.
"Is this the person we feel is always missing?" Five asked as well.
"Hm! A mysterious person, a shadow, a blurred memory, yet familiar to all." Three muttered.
"I can't help but feel something when I hear the name." Two said.
"This person Alan, he has been with me for some time, we lived together for years, and if he were here he would confirm that everything he has told you is true."
"And where is he?" One asked.
I sat in a chair while placing a hand on my forehead "I don't know, forget what I said, let's eat."
My sisters looked at me worriedly "Yes, Sister Zero." They said in unity.
CRACK!
Looking towards the source of the noise, I saw Two holding half a spoon, the other half on the table.
"OPS!" Two said nervously.
"Eventually we will train a little, all of us, we need to get used to our strength."
"Yes sister Zero!" My sisters said again.
TIMESKIP
We spent a few days at home, waiting for things to calm down in Doveport, but we had to go back to work, we need money after all, we walked around the city streets in case someone decided to try something due to what happened, but surprisingly nothing actually happened.
When we finished our usual performance in the square, people applauded us, but something was wrong, people were staring at us with huge smiles on their faces and clapping furiously with exaggerated praise.
"BRAVO! LONG LIVE OUR MUSE!"
"WHAT DIVINE MUSIC!"
"GRACE US WITH MORE!"
When it was time to ask for the money, the people watching us deposited everything they had in my box, it started with bronze coins, then silver coins, then gold coins, when the coins ran out they handed over valuables, necklaces, earrings, rings, the children gave my sisters any toy they had in their hands.
"Please stop, this is not necessary!" I shouted to the audience, but they didn't stop.
"OUR MUSE DESERVES ONLY THE BEST!"
"A GIFT FOR OUR BEAUTIFUL LADY!"
The audience roared with their big smiles.
Enough! I need to get out of here!
"Thank you for your kindness, but we need to go, we'll be here again tomorrow at the same time!" I closed the box, grabbed my sisters and ran out of there, but as I ran I noticed that the audience's gaze was following us, their heads were turning in our direction with fixed gazes and big smiles, I only felt a little relief when I made a curve and a house blocked the audience's view.
"Sister Zero, what was that?" One asked.
"I don't know."
"I didn't like the way they looked at us, it was scary!" Two said.
"I know."
"We're not coming back here tomorrow, are we?" Five asked as she held my leg.
Good question. We will? I don't like what happened, but if we stop coming here, we'll lose a source of income. Looking down, I saw the worried look my sisters were giving me. Come on! Think of something to get out of this situation!
"Listen, how about we put this aside and get something to eat?"
"Serious?" Three asked.
"Can we have cake?" Four asked.
"Of course!" I said while taking my sisters to the bakery, or pastry shop, or whatever it is, I just want to stop to understand what happened.
TIMESKIP
We found a place that served cakes and pastries, we sat at a corner table, while my sisters ate, and I sat thinking about what happened.
"Will you not ask for anything?" The waitress asked me.
"No."
"You seem to be lost in thought."
"You can say so."
"Care to say what you are thinking about."
"About a group of strange people I met."
"Was it the people from the square?"
"Did you know about them?"
"If I know? Everyone in Doveport knows about them!" The waitress exclaimed.
"Can you tell me what happened to those people?"
"Not exactly." The waitress said as she shrugged.
"Could you explain me?"
"All I know is from hearsay, but a few days ago a series of deafening screams echoed through the city, when they stopped people came running to the source of the noise to see what happened, they found several people unconscious in the square, when these people woke up they asked about a group of muses, but no one could say who these muses were, we just assume they went crazy."
"And what happened next."
"Not much, almost all the windows in the city were broken, those who were in the square or nearby kept asking about these muses and returned to the square daily, but fell into a deep sadness when the 'muses' did not appear, those who were far away from screaming like me, just got an earache."
"I see, thanks for the information. How much do I owe you for the food?"
"Two silver coins."
"Two silver coins? I don't remember it being that expensive."
"Unfortunately we had to raise the price, everyone had to raise the price due to the lords' absurd taxes, and they raise taxes every day." The waitress said sadly.
"Who are the lords?" One asked.
Glancing at One, I saw that she took a bite of her cake and then nothing else.
"Why didn't you eat your cake?"
"Too sweet. But can you answer my question? Who are the lords?" One replied.
"No one important…"
"The lords are the cruel rulers who rule Midgard; they saddle the people with increasing taxes and kill anyone who stands against them."
Shit! The waitress had to open her mouth!
"Is there no one to face the lords?" One asked.
"I wish, little one, but everyone who tried was made an example, there is no justice for us less fortunate ones."
"Justice huh?" One said as she looked at the table.
That conversation went too far.
"Here is your money." I paid the waitress and left with my sisters before the waitress could put any dangerous ideas into their heads.
What came next was training, time to find out what an Intoner can do.
TIMESKIP
I really wasn't expecting that, on second thought I should have expected that, Intoners, the word that popped into my head, I don't know what an Intoner is, but for some reason they use the song as a form of magic.
One day I took my sisters to the forest to practice our skills, a place far from prying eyes, I honestly didn't know where to start, so I asked my sisters to try to do the same thing that happened in Doveport, at first nothing happened, but as my sisters tried, they said they felt something different, eventually something happened.
My sisters sang, it was a harmonious sound, a beautiful song and from that song came magic. How do I know it was magic? When you live with a guy accompanied by two magic books, it becomes easier. I tried to do the same. And who knew? I can also use magic too. Take that, Alan! But now came the question of what we could do with that magic.
As the days passed I discovered that each of my sisters could do something different with their magic. In addition to superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and senses, each of my sisters could summon something.
Five could summon a disk that fired a powerful beam of magic, Four could summon shields of magic, Three could summon threads of magic, Two could summon hands of magic, and One could summon bands of magic that wrapped around her arms and legs and left her faster and stronger.
I could do something similar to One, I could sing and get stronger, practically indestructible, Intoner mode, that's what popped into my mind when I found out what I could do.
But this magic didn't come without drawbacks, each of my sisters had something that kept growing, Five's breasts got bigger every day, causing me to constantly have to adjust her clothes.
Four's nails keep growing; she prefers to fight using punches to break her nails.
In Three's case, it was her hair; I had to teach her how to cut her own hair, it would be inconvenient for her to have to walk over her own hair when I wasn't around to cut it.
Two's strength became absurd for a child, it was no greater than mine, but Two could lift large rocks and break tree trunks in two, this strength was becoming a problem, I had to teach her how to control it or she would tear down our house.
As for One, she had the least noticeable problem, her senses were getting stronger every day, her sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, they all got to the point where One was uncomfortable, I had to prepare food especially for One, too much salt or sugar and the food would become unpalatable to her. One also started to wear clothes that covered her entire body, except her head, to protect her supersensitive skin.
After that came the physical training, nothing too dangerous for a kid, I just taught my sisters how to throw a punch, dodge and how to handle a fight, it may sound strange but my sisters and I seemed good at fighting, it was like something natural, too natural for kids who never fought and for me trained in 'street fighting' as Alan called it.
TIMESKIP
Problems arose, but nothing exactly directed at us, taxes got too high for us to just buy everything we need; we need to get food some other way, which is why we were here.
My sisters and I were in the forest hunting, I was hidden among the foliage of the forest, watching a deer in front of me, the animal was focused on eating the grass, I slowly took out the hunting knife I had bought and took a step towards front.
CRACK!
But I ended up stepping on a branch, the deer raised its head and looked around, until its eyes focused on me, the deer tried to turn to run, but I didn't allow it, with a burst of speed I shot towards the deer and with fluidity I cut its neck.
The deer struggled but eventually fell dead from loss of blood. I placed the deer on my shoulders and waited, my sisters should have been here by now.
"AAAHHH!"
I had my answer when Four ran past me, and chasing her was a large boar, riding on the boar's back was Three and running after the boar came One, Two and Five.
"Four get out of the way!" Three screamed.
"I am trying!" Four yelled back.
"Wait!" One screamed.
Four ran around a boulder with the boar chasing her, One and Five climbed onto the boulder, they waited for the right moment before jumping on the boar's back.
"So how do we stop this thing?!" Five asked.
"I don't know!" One replied.
"Leave it to me!" Two screamed as he jumped in front of the boar and punched its head, due to the sudden stop. Five, Three and One were thrown forward, an exhausted Four fell to the ground and the boar fell dead.
"You finished?"
"Yes sister Zero!" Two said as she dragged the boar across the ground.
One staggered towards me as Five and Three carried Four by the arms and legs.
"Then let's go home."
"Sister Zero?" One called out to me as we walked out of the woods.
"Yes?"
"We could…"
"No!"
"But…"
"No!"
One was silent.
This has been going on for days, ever since One found out about the lords she's been researching Midgard more, whether it's asking me questions with occult meaning, reading books or asking anyone she meets. One came to the conclusion that we should help the people of Midgard, her argument is that with our strength and magic we have a chance of defeating the lords. I tried my best to get One to give up on this stupid idea.
"Listen One, fighting the lords is stupid, they have armies and mages at their disposal, each of the lords can use magic and they aren't afraid to massacre an entire city to kill one person, so please don't try to fight against the lords. Do this not just for me, but for us, your sisters."
One looked at the floor in silence.
"Yes sister Zero." One whispered.
"Thanks." I put a hand on her shoulder.
But I leaned on One to avoid falling to the ground.
"Sister Zero!" One screamed.
"Do not worry, I'm fine." I tried to comfort One.
One looked at me worriedly, but didn't insist.
I put a hand to the flower in my eye, this is getting frequent, there's something wrong with this flower, I get a bad feeling every time I touch it, it was like something was corrupting my body, recently my mind has been getting lighter, my consciousness has slipped, sometimes I feel like lying down and closing my eyes, but I feel like something bad will happen if I do.
I hope it's just my head playing tricks on me, because if it isn't...
TIMESKIP
I was in the cathedral city, this place was in ruins, collapsed buildings covered the horizon, the streets were red, red with blood from the mountain of corpses in front of me, the sky was red, red with a big flower floating above and in that flower there was a giant, that giant was me, 'I' sang, a song of death, a song of destruction, a black song, I felt this song entering my head, I grabbed my ears trying to block out the horrible sound, I screamed, I heard a flapping of wings, looking up at the sky I saw a dragon, a dragon was falling from the sky.
Then I woke up.
With a huff of air, I sat up in my bed; I was breathing heavily and covered in sweat. What the hell was that?! That flower! That damn flower! You are the cause of all this, aren't you?! I'll finish you off! I don't know how, but I will!
KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK
"Sister Zero?" One's voice came from the other side of my door.
"Come in."
One opened the door to my room and she walked in accompanied by our sisters.
"Sister Zero I… We had a nightmare." One said.
"All of you?"
My sisters nodded.
"Do you want to sleep here with me?"
"Yes!" My sisters responded.
"Come here."
My sisters climbed into my bed, it was difficult, but we managed to fit six people in one bed.
"Goodnight." I said.
"Good night sister Zero." My sisters responded.
Yes good night…
I waited until my sisters were sleeping, then I left the house, I kept walking until I reached the forest and there I stood there thinking about what I was about to do, I raised my right hand and faced the knife I was holding, well I think that's it, I hope my sisters will be all right, there's enough money in the house and One is smart, she'll manage, I pointed the knife at my chest and...
"AAAHHH!" I screamed as I got up. What… What happened? Standing up and looking around, I realized I was naked, covered in blood and in the woods. Looking back, I almost fell to the floor at what I saw; it was me, wearing my pajamas, with a knife in my heart and a huge flower sticking out of my eye.
The flower, and the other me, disappeared in black and red particles, leaving only the knife and my clothes.
"You won't let me die, will you?" I took my hand towards the flower.
"No." A voice answered inside my head.
"What are you?"
"The Black Flower."
"What do you want?"
"I want you to destroy the world."
"Destroying the world, I don't want to do that, I hate this world, but not to the point of destroying it."
"But you will."
"What if I refuse?"
"Then they will."
"They? You mean…"
"Yes. Or you, or them."
"I will not allow this, I will end you."
"Impossible."
"That's what we'll see."
"You won't last forever; your mind won't last forever."
I ignored what the flower had to say, I put on my clothes and took the knife, I left the forest and stopped in front of my house. Why are you standing there, Zero? You've done this before. What are five more kids? My hand shook, I swallowed, then took a step forward, bracing myself for what I was about to do.
END OF THE CHAPTER
Hello, thanks for reading this far.
This chapter took a little work to do, honestly I was running out of ideas for interaction between Zero and her sisters, I also needed to make this story move forward, so I used a series of timeskips. Let me know if this chapter was rushed, I wish I could have developed the sisters more, but I also feel that if I did more, I would end up pushing the story too much.
The next chapter will be Alan's, I'll probably do one or two more chapters on his side, talking about his life in the Land of Forests. I'm afraid this will look like I'm favoring my OC; let me know if it looks like that.
That's it for now, until the next chapter!