The Porcelain Doll

The monarch observed with a heavy heart as the sparks ascending from the abruptly ignited body intertwined with the graceful movements of fireflies.

Meanwhile, Ru lounged on his throne, discovering the gray eyes mirrored in the crystals and the sparks that danced within them.

"I buried these silvers in the ashes of a gray world, so that they can't be found," he murmured and sighed. "Oh, but I am grateful to you. After all, by burning my seventh clone, you erased my last trace from the earth."

When the sorcerer's hazy image appeared in the crystals, Ru tried to sit up on his throne. "And you saved me from... whoever that was," he said.

"Your Highness, what have you done?" The question spread with a breeze throughout the garden. The wet grass was caressed by the hem of the fussy silk robe.

"I did what had to be done. I bided farewell to him," the monarch said, rising from the flaming bed and fastening his belt.

The sorcerer Heise noticed the movement. One of his eyebrows raised in a questioning manner. "Ah, I see."

The monarch stood before him like a statue. "Your vampire lord gifted me a porcelain doll, and unfortunately, the doll broke," he said.

"Still, you didn’t have to dispose of it so quickly," Heise said, opening his fan to hide his smile.

"My art gallery does not accommodate replicas. I only accept original works," the monarch declared.

"Your Excellency, I will procure that original artwork for you," Heise replied, shutting his silk fan and aiming it towards the small stream. The water, summoned by his silent magic, flowed toward the blazing bed and snuffed out the flames before they could spread.

Ru, struggling to sit up on his crystal throne, whispered, "A sorcerer," addressing the blurry silhouette.

"You... you... are a huge problem."

Movement was difficult, as if the very air resisted him and the invisible web of magic enveloping his body held him back. Each step had to be slow, deliberate—any sudden motion might cause the ethereal threads binding him to tighten and slice into his skin.

Ru's star-sparkling dark hair, now grown so long it brushed against his legs, further hindered his stride. Yet it wasn't just his hair that weighed him down. The delicate, shimmering threads tethered him to the magic tower, like a prison spun from light. As he neared the crystal that reflected the sorcerer's blurred silhouette, he stopped clenching his teeth and whispered coldly:

"You revived my seventh clone and presented it to your majesty like... a sex doll."

Sometimes he stumbled over them, but not this time. He focused on the silhouette in the crystal; his reflection fractured and multiplied in the shimmering surfaces around him.

"You and that vampire lord you mention—why are you tormenting me?"

He talked to himself, hoping to be heard. He often did, for time hangs heavy. Luckily for him, they had built a balcony into the building, surrounded by a magical barrier. Every now and then Ru would go out and curse the 2222 stars that covered his eternity with their glow. He wanted to do the same on this three-hundred-hour day, but he gave up. He noticed some small movements in the reflections.

"My daughters, where are you?" he said sweetly. He had seen small red sparkles in some of the crystals. They faded quickly, but Ru knew the daughters were still there.

"I promise, my dear daughters, I won't be mad at you," he said, continuing to search the crystals.

A small red light flashed on the crystal and faded. Ru suddenly placed his hand on the crystal.

"I said I wouldn't be angry, but I will be angry if you hide a little longer."

"Daddy," a tearful voice said.

"Speak, my pretty child," Ru said in a creepily sweet voice.

A petite girl with snowy-white hair and crimson-tipped wings appeared on the surface of the crystal where Ru had placed his hand. Her wide, sparkling red eyes glimmered with mischief, and her cheeks were dusted with a soft pink blush. She held a massive lollipop, almost as big as she was, twirling it with both hands as though it were a treasured toy.

"We're sorry," she said in a shaky voice.

"We didn't know he could be so stupid," said the girl with the ponytail who appeared next to her. She sat on a clock face.

"Who are you talking about?" Ru asked.

"Eleventh," said the chubby little girl with curly hair who had found her place between them.

"My eleventh clone would have succeeded if the demons hadn't trapped him at school. At least he had a rich man to care for him," Ru said, looking very pensive.

"Can we grow a new clone before the apocalypse, Dad?" the girl with the lollipop asked.

"How much time do we have before the apocalypse?" Ru questioned.

The girl with the ponytail started walking fast on the clock face. With the movement she provided, the hands of the clock began to turn. "Three weeks in our time, eighteen years in planet Earth time," she said.

"Hm, so the countdown to the apocalypse has begun," Ru said. A sinister grin appeared on his innocent face.

As the glow of the crystals faded with his ominous expression, the girls shuddered and fell silent. It was as if their father held some secret knowledge, the key to the impending apocalypse.