As the glow of the crystals faded with his ominous expression, the girls shuddered and fell silent. It was as if their father held the key to the impending apocalypse. What did Ru, the enigmatic prisoner of the dimensional realm, have in mind?
Ru continued to walk along the fragile glass floor. The thin wires holding his hair and horns vibrated with every step he took, causing a piece of frightening music to play in the crystal structure.
"What's on our dad's mind?"
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.
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, who loved chaos, was in good spirits. His eyes glittered with a supernatural spark as he reveled in the impending doom.
In the silence that followed, the Crystal Tower responded to Ru's quickening pace with vibrations. Sounds from the depths composed a chaotic symphony.
"Poor me," Ru muttered again, this time with a hint of mockery in his voice. His shadowy figure was reflected in the crystals as he stood on the delicate glass, a dark silhouette against the cosmic backdrop.
"I have to save the planet Earth for my freedom."
The girls said in unison, "Whoa."
"This time I have to go into show business. Once I infiltrate the game, I can attract dimensional energies and save myself from this damn place. But when I do, I'm saving the planet Earth," Ru explained, more to himself than to anyone else.
"Daddy's gonna be a hero, sista," said Lollipoper.
"I think our father is planning to take over the world after he becomes a hero," said the one with the glasses, the newcomer.
Suddenly, she jumped onto the spinning face of the clock, causing her sister, who was still running on the surface, to be thrown.
"You read my mind, my clever little one," Ru said with a grin.
"Then we will have to create a new human Ru," said the rider of the skeleton rat.
"Have you any pearls left, Father?" asked the queen of girls, her voice filled with anticipation and curiosity.
"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 fingernails. 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. The unholy heart, at least two sizes too big for Ru, 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.
Ru was engulfed in a sudden, intense pain, causing the dimension-filling melodies to morph 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 jumping for joy and flapping their red wings and saying things like, "Yay!", "Awesome!", "Super!", "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 crystalline.
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.
They emerged from the blossoming seeds of flowers in the meadows of planet Earth. Then they flapped their wings in search of newborn babies.
It was summer, the month was June. The weather was warm and rainy. Many babies were born.
"Which baby shall we choose," asked the girl with the queen's crown.
"The cutest one, of course," said the girl who had tied the pearl to the skeleton rat's back.
The girl with the glasses shook her head in the negative: "Our choice will be a short-lived baby, as always."
"Why is that?" said the witch girl who rode the lollipop like a flying broom.
"Because we can't kill babies, don't pretend you don't know," said the curly-haired, chubby girl who was exposed, flicking the petals of a poppy with her spear-like needle.
"She is right," said the crowned queen, adding, "We cannot do this despite our father. We can't because it's beyond us, girls."
"Oh, too bad, our new father will probably be poor again," said the one with the glasses.
"We'll find a rich baby, not a poor one," said the rider of the skeleton rat.
"Rich human babies are well protected, we don't want to be seen on camera," said the one with curly hair, who had stuck the needle into the ground like a spear and was holding on to it.
"We will find another orphaned baby boy," said the crowned queen. Because she knew it was the easiest thing to do.
"Does the baby have to be a boy," asked the clockmaker girl.
"Sure. Our father wants all of Ru's to be boys," replied the chubby warrior girl.
The girls flew, and the rat ran. Finally, an orphanage was found. There was a baby with a birth defect in his legs, and he was the best candidate.
Six girls held up the pearl. The other six girls opened the baby's mouth.
"Don't be afraid, baby. We're bad, but we're also good," said the Lollipoper Witch.
"If you eat this food, you will be completely cured. You will run and play like your friends," said the chubby warrior.
"You will be stronger and smarter than all of them," said the clockmaker girl.
"Let's hurry, the demons will be here any minute," said the girl with the glasses.
The girl crowned queen had the last word: "Make him swallow it!"
The pearl went into the baby's mouth. And it quickly took root in his stomach and reached his heart. Its branches wrapped around all his veins, cutting off his blood flow.
Watching the seven colors of the rainbow sparkle, the baby breathed his last.
When the baby was reborn in the cradle where he died, the color of his first look contained all the greens of spring. His lips, which had turned from purple to pink, were smiling. Even his hair had grown. And most importantly, he could move his legs.
"Done," said the crowned queen, who returned the baby's smile with a smile.
The Lollipoper Witch gave the baby her lollipop. The girl with glasses landed on his nose. The others flew around him.
The rest of the story was about leaving the planet for the girls and growing up for the baby.