Drakengard Anomaly: The Tale of an Angel and an Intoner

Enough, this is weird! I escaped the girls' grip and noticed the sad look they gave me when I did that. My heart ached with this sight, but I needed to focus on the important matter here.

I stepped back with Noir and Rubrum looking at me, probably wondering why I had done this.

"Who are you?" I asked, half-closing my eyes in distrust.

The girls looked at each other worriedly.

"Please, say that you remember us! Tell us you don't have the same problem as our sister!" One exclaimed as a despaired expression appeared on her face, clasping her hands together and approaching with shaky steps.

"I've never seen you all in my life and I don't know which sister you're talking about."

The girls looked at each other again, exchanging an unspoken message but it looked like they were going to cry. 

Taking a deep breath, I tried to control the situation before any problem arose. I do not want the elves barging into my home and seeing five children crying, as I do not know how to explain the situation and doubt they would believe me.

"Listen, this is so confusing, you guys broke into my house and act like you know me. I don't understand what's going on, so how about we calm down and talk about it?" I suggested, pinching the bridge of my nose while smiling hesitantly.

My words relieved the girls, as they whipped their tears and smiled at me with a hopeful gaze. Therefore, I got them some chairs, other than the one that Two broke on my back.

We all sat around the kitchen table, with Noir and Rubrum beside me, and the girls on the other side, shifting nervously on their seats while looking at me expectantly.

"Well, for starters, your names are One, Two, Three, Four, and Five, right?"

I received a chorus of affirmative answers.

"Well, whoever your parents are, they're not creative with names. What kinds of parents name their kids with numbers?"

"We… We don't know." One replied, looking down ashamed.

"What?" I asked surprised, raising an eyebrow.

"We have no memories of our parents." Four continued, averting her gaze while rubbing her hands together, where I saw her big nails.

"It's like a blur, whenever we try to form a face, the image disappears." Three replied cryptically, waving her hand like a magician.

"But you're not going to disappear, are you?" Two asked worriedly, staring directly into my eyes with a sad gleam.

"No Two, he would never do that!" Five scolded her sister, slamming both hands on the table.

"Well, we have a problem here, I don't know who you are, you don't know who your parents are, but you know me. Is this not strange to you?"

I received another chorus of confirmation.

"For a long time, we've wondered what's wrong with our memories." One said.

"But in the end, we learned that it didn't matter, as our sister was there to take care of us." Two spoke with a shaky smile, but judging by her expression, there was something wrong.

"That until… until what happened a few months ago." Four stuttered, rubbing her hands even harder.

"What happened to your sister?" I asked curiously but regretted it thanks to their answer. 

"Sister Zero has gone mad!" Five exclaimed, throwing both arms upward.

"Five!" Four shouted to her sister.

"What, it's true!" Five screamed back.

"But you don't yell that kind of thing around!"

Then Four and Five argued, but One interrupted them.

"Four and Five, that is enough!" One scolded her sisters as the two went red and silent with embarrassment.

"Can you tell me more about this sister Zero?" I asked, resting my elbow on the table and my head on my hand while taping my finger on the wood.

"Sister Zero is the oldest of us all, she always treated us well, taught us, trained us…" Three muttered, her voice getting lower and lower until it became a whisper.

"… But in one night, she appeared different, she… she…" Two did not finish as tears came out of her eyes.

"… She tried to kill us." One finished with seriousness filling her voice. 

Then she looked down with her hair covering her eyes as she gripped her tights with strength.

I stiffened upon realizing the seriousness of the situation; they were not lost children playing a trick on me but something worse.

"Do you girls have any clues on why your sister's suddenly changed?" I asked, taking a cloth from my pocket and offering it to Two.

"Thank you." The girl replied shyly, before drying her tears.

"No, we were hoping you would know, after all, you knew her." Four spoke, returning to a calmer stance and putting a reassuring hand on Two's shoulder.

"Sorry, but I've never met a girl named Zero." I replied and the stare they gave me almost broke my heart.

Way to go Alan! You can cut down a bunch of centaurs but cannot deliver some bad news

"I… I understand." One whispered. Tightening her grip on her legs as an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"Excuse me Miss One, if it's not a problem, could you tell us more about Lord Alan and your sister's relationship?" Noir asked politely, speaking with a gentle tone.

This cheered the girls up a bit. Thank you very much, Noir!

"Of course, we can Noir." One replied. Raising her head a smile slowly appeared on her face.

"Oh, do you know who I am?" Noir asked surprised.

"Yes, you are Grimoire Noir, the magic book that always accompanied Alan along with Grimoire Rubrum. We remember you!" Five continued, jumping on her seat.

"And what else can you tell us?" Noir asked playfully.

"Well, we don't know much, after all, Sister Zero and you knew each other long before we were born. But according to our sister, you saved her from the bad men in one night…" Five explained crossing her arms and looking up in thought.

"…Then you accompanied her to our parents' house, they were surprised to see a person with two magic books, but after Sister Zero explained what happened, our parents were grateful…" Four continued, a nostalgic smile appearing on her face.

"…Time passed and Zero and you grew closer, she always had difficulty getting along with other people, you all were her first friends. So, as time passed, we were born and you were always there, helping us, playing and taking care of us, together with Sister Zero, but then…" Three completed.

"…Then more evil men arrived, they broke into our house and tried to take Sister Zero away, but you saved us, we don't know what happened to our parents, everything seemed to be over…" This time Two spoke.

"…But the bosses of the bad men put a bounty on you, and Sister Zero and you got separated. They took you all to Cathedral City while we fled to the forest with our sister. After that, we took some hidden treasure and went to Doveport, where we lived until the day our sister lost her mind." One finished.

"Lord Alan, do you know what that means?" Noir asked with surprise in his voice while Rubrum stared at me in silence.

"Yes Noir and it's impossible, we saw her die and buried her. Whoever that sister Zero is, it can't be Rose." I replied seriously, tapping my fingers with enough strength to crack the table.

"Young ones, do you mind answering more questions?" Noir asked.

"No Noir, you may ask." One replied.

"Thank you very much. First, who are we? Moreover, by that I mean, do you know where Lord Alan, Rubrum, and I come from? What did we do before reaching Midgard?"

"Alan is a mage from a distant land called Japan, which is suffering from various disasters, the main one being an illness. You all came to Midgard by accident and now are looking for a way to return home, to find Alan's siblings. Or at least that's what you told us." One said.

"And why do you say that?" Noir asked again.

"Well, Alan's appearance says otherwise." One spoke hesitantly, looking at me and letting out a nervous laugh.

"Explain please." I demanded, crossing my arms and frowning. I swear I will kick them out if she insults my appearance.

"Alan claims to be a mage, but he looks very different from what we remember. He looked more… more…" One hesitated to answer.

"He looked more human?" Noir asked.

"Yes, human…" One looked at me worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm not offended." I sighed, calming down the girl. Well, I expected worse.

"Continue, please." Noir spoke.

"Okay, with Alan's new appearance, I guess he's something else…"

"What, he is exactly?" Noir asked curiously.

"He is an angel." One said in wonder that only a child could say, with her eyes shining like stars.

"HAHAHA!" I laughed at that statement, making One look offended by my reaction.

"Sorry, sorry, I have nothing against being called an angel, I take it as a compliment, but I'm not one, I honestly have no idea what I am." I shrugged.

"You can only be an angel, what else would you be?" One asked.

"You have wings!" Two spoke.

"You can use magic!" Three continued.

"You always show up at the right time!" Four said.

"And you are handsome as one!" Five flirted, blowing a kiss that I dodged like a bullet.

The last statement surprised me; I would like to see if she would say the same thing if I looked like a biblically accurate angel.

"Okay, okay! I'm an angel, there's no need for us to discuss that." I replied, waving both hands and closing the matter.

"Well, now I just want to ask one last question. Your sister Zero, what does she look like?" Noir asked.

"She has fair skin, white hair, pink eyes, and a flower in her eye." One spoke.

Noir, Rubrum, and I faced each other again. I do not know what face I am making, but I believe that if Noir and Rubrum could, they would widen their eyes and open their mouths.

"Lord Alan, this is not possible." Noir exclaimed in shock.

"I know Noir, or Rose has come back to life or there's someone out there pretending to be her, I'm willing to believe the latter. But what does One mean by a flower in the eye?"

"Yes, Sister Zero has a flower in her eye, she always has!" Four spoke.

Magic is involved, for sure.

"You know, this conversation cleared up a lot of my doubts, but it also created new ones. Like, why are you here? Not at my home, I mean, but in the Land of the Forests." I asked the sisters.

"This… This… This has to do with our sister." One murmured.

"Listen, you don't have to tell if it's something painful to remember."

"No… Since Sister Zero and you know each other, I think you need to know… Of all my sisters, I have the most acute senses so one night I woke up to the sound of footsteps… It was Sister Zero, covered in blood and staring at me with a knife in her hand. I did not understand what I saw, it could only be a nightmare, that is until Sister Zero grabbed me and tried… And tried to kill me…"

One said with difficulty, her voice low and full of sadness, but she continued her story.

"…I screamed, using my magic without care, and threw Sister Zero away. I do not know how I knocked her unconscious; Sister Zero was always the strongest of us all… My screams woke up my sisters too. I did not stop to explain; we grabbed our things and ran away from home. We wandered around for some time, trying to understand what happened, my sisters did not want to believe it… But I managed to convince them of what I saw…"

"…We walked through Midgard and saw the cruelty of the Lords and the injustice that the people suffered. So we used our powers for something good, we turned bandits over to the authorities, we stopped soldiers who abused the people, we killed monsters that attacked villages, but it never seemed to end, so we decided to…"

"…We have decided to defeat the lords!" The other sisters screamed in unison.

"WHAT?" I yelled in surprise. 

Noir and Rubrum backed away as well upon hearing what these kids planned to do.

"Sisters, you don't give out that kind of information all at once!" One scolded her sisters.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Are you crazy? Facing the Lords, you know that each of them has an army, don't you?"

"Yes!" They answered.

"Do you all know that they also have Mages?"

"Yes!"

"And Golems?"

"Yes!"

"And tamed monsters?"

"Yes!"

"That every Lord knows how to use magic?"

"Yes!"

"Then why the hell do you want to face them?"

"To save the people of Midgard!" They all replied.

"And what makes you think you have any chance of winning?"

"If we work together, we are sure we will win!" Two said, punching the palm of her hand.

"And with your help, no Lord will stop us!" Five spoke, pointing at me.

"Hang on; I didn't say anything about helping you girls!"

The sisters went silent, surprised by my answer.

"Sisters, calm down and let me finish. As I was saying, we decided to defeat the Lords, the closest to us being Bass, the Lord of the Land of Sands. We decided to cross the Land of Forests to get to him, but we stopped here after hearing the stories of a monster terrorizing the place. "

"What stories?" I asked, having an idea of what she was talking about.

"We heard stories about a monster dark as night that lurks among the trees and attacks anyone who enters the forest." One spoke.

Damn it! My method of driving the soldiers away created some rumors. 

"You don't need to worry; I've already dealt with this monster." I replied, smiling while puffing my chest.

"Serious? That's good to hear." One sighed in relief.

Then the awkward silence returned.

"So… Will you help us?" One asked.

"No." I replied.

All the sisters gave me a look of betrayal.

"Why not?" One asked.

"Fighting the Lords is a mistake, you better go home." I replied.

"But people are suffering, we cannot ignore it, it is our duty to help them!" Four screamed.

"All the people who fought the Lords died horribly, I don't want the same to happen to you."

"But if we all fight, we can make it!" Two said.

"This is not an anime; the power of friendship doesn't work here."

"What is anime?" Three asked curiously, raising her hand.

"Something the people of Midgard are not ready to know."

"But you've faced the Lords before! Why not do it again?" Five asked.

"I did that once and look how I ended up." I said, running my hands beside my face.

"But…" The sisters tried to speak, but One interrupted.

"Enough! He made his choice, the only thing we can do is respect it. We have our mission; we cannot force Alan to participate." One replied, getting up from her chair and approaching me.

One stared at me, despite trying to keep a smile on her face; I saw sadness in her eyes. Looking at the sisters, they were not doing well in hiding their feelings and averted their gazes from me.

"After everything that happened, I'm glad to see you again, I hope someday you'll remember us." One gave me a quick hug and walked away.

The other girls followed One right after.

"Goodbye Mister Alan… I hope we can meet again." Four spoke.

"Send a letter if you want to talk." Five said.

"Please try to remember us." Two continued.

Three approached and stopped in front of me "A fallen angel, the past still haunts him, but he still seeks the light. Until we meet again, Alan."

With their goodbyes done, the sisters left my house. Two tried to put the door in place on the way out, only for the door to fall again. Giving me a nervous look, Two ran to her sister's side.

Now the house was silent, I leaned on the table and rubbed my eyes. I am not good at this kind of thing; the drama only makes me more nervous. When I stopped, I saw Noir and Rubrum staring at me.

"What?" I asked the books.

"You will go after them, don't you?" Noir asked as Rubrum leaned to the side.

"No, why would I?"

"Because they asked for your help?" Noir replied.

I crossed my arms and leaned myself in the chair "I have nothing to do with this, if they want to die that much then let it happen."

"I expected more from you, Lord Alan, leaving five helpless little girls to wander this cruel world." Noir said mockingly while Rubrum quickly nodded at Noir's statement.

"I know what your game is and you're not going to convince me." However, Noir and Rubrum kept staring at me.

"You will go after them, don't you?" Noir asked again.

Letting out an irritated growl, I ran after the girls and found them walking towards the village.

"Wait!"

The girls turned towards me and I saw a smile forming on their faces.

-XXXXXX-

"So how do I look?" I asked the girls, showing them my new clothes. 

I wore my long white trench coat, white gloves, brown pants, my old black boots, and my gray backpack.

"Hm… It looks good, but something is missing…" Five said in thought, walking around me.

"…I know! You need a hat!" Five exclaimed, snapping her fingers.

"A hat?"

"Yes, one that matches your coat, am I right, sisters?" Five asked her sisters.

"Yes/Absolutely/You bet/I agree." The sisters responded.

"Well, if that's what's missing then let's go to Lyllenas. There are a few things I'd like to sort out before we leave."

With a series of confirmations, we walked towards the elves' village. Looking back, I saw the girls forming a line behind me, starting with One and ending with Five, adorable.

We received looks from the elves on our way when we arrived in the village. Some laughed at the sight; others gave curious looks. The girls, on the other hand, looked admired at the villagers.

"So, what did you think of the village of Lyllenas?"

"It's interesting/I like this place/Do you live here?"

"I like this village too, and I don't exactly live here, but I have a job as a teacher."

Our first stop was at the school, where I talked to the principal. I am not resigning, I just asked for a few days to resolve some "family issues."

The next stop was Elyon and Thessalia's house. The elves had different reactions to seeing me with a group of children; Elyon almost had a heart attack while Thessalia spoiled the girls.

"Look at them, they are so cute! Where did you find them?" Thessalia asked, pinching One's cheeks, stroking Two's head, and hugging Four while Five ate some snacks that Thessalia prepared and Three slept in a corner.

"Young man, I know I joked about you giving us some grandchildren, but you didn't have to bring five kids here!" Elyon exclaimed, sitting on his rocking chair while clutching his heart.

"They are not my daughters, they are the sisters of a friend of mine, and they were separated during a monster attack and ended up in the Land of Forests. I will take them to their home in the Land of Sands."

"I see, so will you be gone for a while?"

"Yes, but I intend to return when everything is solved, so no need to worry."

"But we are going to defeat the Lor… AAAHHH!" Two yelled as Four stomped her foot, cutting her off.

I sweated nervously as Elyon looked at Thessalia, seeing that she was distracted.

"Are you going to do something dangerous?" Elyon asked, rocking on his chair while looking at the ceiling.

"Yes, I am." I replied embarrassed.

"Please take care of yourself." Elyon sighed, his eyes shining with worry.

"Leave it with me." I smiled, reassuring the old elf.

Then, we left the house of the elves, giving our goodbyes to each other; it took a while to get the sisters out of Thessalia's arms. 

Now all that remained was for me to find a hat. We stopped at a tailor store and found what I searched for, a white hat with two feathers, one black and one red.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked the girls, putting on the hat after paying for it.

"Yes!" The sisters replied in unison. 

With our business here finished, we used an old cart that the sisters found near the village to transport the girls, so they all got on it and waited for the start of our journey.

"Noir, you pull the cart." I said to the black book.

"Why me?" Noir asked despaired.

"You will do that because it was your idea for us to take on this endeavor."

Lowering his head and sighing, Noir created two hands, grabbed the wooden bar in front of the wagon, and pulled it while Rubrum played with the girls.

I checked my backpack supplies, food, money, map, water, and extra clothes, the sisters also had a few things, mainly their money and water canteens.

Well, it is not that bad after all. Maybe this trip will be fun in the end. I thought as we walked out of the village.

END OF CHAPTER