The Birth of a New Ru

"When the apocalypse comes, the interdimensional gates will open and all the energies of the cosmos will collide, all at a single point," Ru said, thinking with his hand on his chin. "I need all that energy to get out of this prison."

"Yes, Dad!"

"We knows."

"This time I need a very strong clone, and I need to train him well," Ru said, his eyes scanning the area. "But how? There is very little time."

"Eighteen years in total," said the girl carrying a clock on her back.

"Don't worry. None of our father's clones ever reached the age of eighteen," explained the daughter, who emerged with a skeleton mouse.

Ru's bare white feet made a soft crunching sound on the crystal floor as he cautiously took a step. The taut strings, pressed against his skin, resonated in reaction, delivering a sharp pain that coursed through his body and a jarring tune reverberating in the crystal chamber.

"Does it hurt, Daddy?"

Ru confronted the moment when a tear fell to the floor from his eye. "Yes, it hurts, but the pain makes me think better," he murmured. He immediately adjusted his stance and resumed walking. "Be quiet, girls."

The girls looked at him with a curious expression, intrigued by his presence. Some played with their hair, twirling the strands between their fingers, while others nervously chewed their nails.

"What's on our dad's mind?"

Ru's mind was a labyrinth of complexity. His daughters were worried because they did not want to interfere with the mortal world. But Ru liked chaos, and it always cheered him up. His eyes glittered with a supernatural spark as he reveled in the impending doom.

"Poor me," Ru muttered, this time with a hint of mockery in his voice. "I will awaken a dangerous ally to watch over my new clone."

The girls said in unison, "Who is?"

"You will know when the time comes," Ru said with a grin.

"Then we will have to create a new clone," said the rider of the skeleton rat.

"Have you any pearls left, Father?" asked the girl with a sparkling crown on her head.

"I will create. You just have to find the right human baby. And please make it a little smarter," Ru said solemnly.

"Humans get stupid in puberty, Dad," said the girl with the glasses.

"And the demons won't leave them alone to grow stronger," the skeleton rat rider added.

"I am aware of that," Ru said, and after taking a deep breath, he added, "I need a bit of silence right now."

The girls nodded their heads. They gestured to each other and said, "'Shh."

Ru waited for a while to make sure his daughters were quiet. Then he tried to calm himself by breathing. When he felt ready, he brought his hands up to his face. He had long nails. And Ru was going to use them, as he always did, to get pearls from his precious oyster.

A moment later, Ru dug his nails into his naked torso. He tore through his flesh and reached the ribs. Holding the ribs on either side, he opened his rib cage. Ru's unholy heart, at least two sizes too large for him, was pounding.

The heart was like a glowing ember covered in ashes. It caused Ru a great deal of pain, yet it bestowed upon him certain powers. Without these powers, he would have torn it out long ago.

Ru tightly gripped the heart. He pulled it out of his chest without tearing it from his veins. He brought it to his mouth. Then he took a huge bite out of the heart.

He was engulfed in sudden, intense pain, causing the melodies tomorph into screams. The lights flickered and abruptly went out. The Crystal Tower, with its wings broken, plunged into the void.

Everything was now shrouded in a cold darkness. The tower was silent as death.

Ru sat on his knees in the middle of the chamber, cradling the heart in his hands. His cheeks were singed, yet his jaw moved. He chewed on the morsel in his mouth with deliberate slowness.

In the end, he swallowed it.

The ember formed a tiny river of lava as it traveled down his throat and into his stomach. Ru struggled to breathe through the fumes of his flesh.

Even as he writhed in pain, he managed to concentrate. He carefully placed the heart in his chest.

As he moaned in pain and blew smoke out of his mouth and nose, the color of the fire inside him began to change. As the embers turned from red to pink, Ru's body was healing at a rapid pace.

Eventually, the ball of light that had turned white rose from his stomach and returned to his mouth. Ru pushed the pearl with his tongue and dropped it into his palm.

"Here is my seed, my precious pearl," he said, smiling.

The girls were ecstatic, flapping their red wings and exclaiming, "Yay!" "Awesome!" "Super!" and "Yippee!"

Carefully holding the pearl between his two fingers, Ru walked over to the crystals where his daughters were visible.

"This is the last chance we have, my little ones. Please give the pearl to the right baby," he said with a smile. Then he drew a circle on the crystal with his fingernail.

As he carefully placed the pearl in the center of the circle, he used the magic words to cast the spell: "Vestra molientis!"

As the words merged with the light, the pearl glowed with an intense light. The heat released changed the structure of the crystal, turning it from solid to liquid. Ru pushed the pearl into the liquid crystal.

The girls rushed to the pearl. And they reached it. Giggling and whispering, they formed a circle around the shining gem. Their eyes reflected the enchantment it radiated.

"You did it, Dad!"

"It's done!"

"It's a beautiful pearl."

"Who's to say that it's a seed?"

"Great," Ru said with a thin smile. Then he frowned and gave the girls nightmarish looks and said, "Make your choice properly! If you don't, I will," he said.

He had to pause his speech because the girls began making a lot of noise.

"Okay, Dad!"

"We can do this; don't worry."

"We'll find the best baby."

"We promise, Dad!"

"Please, this time let the baby you choose not be an orphan. I've experienced enough poverty," Ru murmured.

The girls said things like, "No, Dad," "Don't worry," and "This Ru will be extremely rich."

And they flew away with the pearl.