Silence. Awkward silence. Or would it be more of a tense silence? I don’t know, but this time, both of us felt it.

“So you’re telling me,” the little fairy began, “that not only are we at the End of the Universe, but also that that End is chronological and not spatial?”

“Uh-huh,’’ I confirmed.

Silence once more. Definitely tense, not awkward. Maybe awkward for me, since I pulled it into this mess of a situation. But mostly tense.

Not that I could fault the fairy for that. I mean, I did basically just kidnap it, even if unintentionally. Unless my Paradox ability decides to activate again, it’s stuck here, however many aeons into the future this is from the fairy’s viewpoint.

“Dungeon,” it finally speaks, “form a Bond with me!”

“Are you sure? I mean, didn’t you say we’re supposed to get to know each other first? You know, to evaluate if the other is a fit in the deal?”

“Yes, yes I did,” it takes a deep breath, “but that was before I knew that everything I ever knew is gone now and there’s no going back.”

“I don’t know, maybe my Ability could activate again. Besides, what if I decide you aren’t a good fit as a Dungeon Fairy for me?” I ask, but really, I’m just playing devil’s advocate.

“You- you little-” before I can hear the rest, the fairy’s hand lifts from my Core for a moment. “Ahem, as I was saying. The way you described it, it sounds like the only reason your Ability activated is because the System was already doing something, but then aborted that action. Since the System is passive after a Bond rejection, there’s no reason to assume it’ll send me back.

And are you really so selfish so as to sentence me to death? Surely you know I can’t survive out there.”

Fair points, all fair points. Not that I ever planned to do so, of course.

“Fine, fine. How does this work, then?” I concede the point.

“Just accept the prompt.”

“Prompt? I don’t see any- Oh.”

Dungeon Fairy, Faellen, offers you a Bond.

Bond type: Basic Dungeon to Dungeon Fairy bond.

Accept?

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Oh indeed. Maybe an assistant really isn’t such a bad idea. I had no idea the System even had such features. Accept please.

The fairy, Faellen, drops its hand, but despite that I can still hear it in my head.

“Oh, thank goodness. Almost thought this would be the end for me,” Faellen lets out a sigh of relief. I wonder if that pun was intentional.

“You didn’t really think I would do that, did you?” I ask in return.

“Yeeaah, sure.” Somehow, I doubt that.

“Anyway, this is a pretty convenient ability this telepathy. How does it work? Do you have it naturally? Or did you have to learn it the hard way? Could I learn it?”

“No, no. Stop! You will NOT attack me with another barrage of questions like that. We haven’t even gotten through the first set,” the last part Faellen mutters quietly. Which is weird, since we’re talking telepathically, so I don’t think I’d be able to miss something no matter how quiet it was said.

“Okay. Oh, by the way, why have we even been talking telepathically this whole time? I get that it’s more convenient, I imagine especially so after I’ll have a much larger Dungeon, but right now it’s not really necessary, right?”

For some reason, Faellen just stares at me. Was it something I said? Or, oh no, is there something on my crystal?

Silence once more ensues. Eventually, the fairy does say something, “You’re kidding, right?”

“No? Why would I be? Is the answer something obvious? Do fairies no do the whole breathing thing or what?”

With a glare that could kill, it says, “You. Haven’t. Made. Any. Air! How do you think I’m supposed to talk in here?! You’re damn lucky that us fairies don’t necessarily need all that biological stuff and can substitute it with mana.”

“Ooh, so it is called mana. I was wondering about that.”

“Is that all you took from that?” Faellen pointedly stares at me.

“Right, right, sorry. How do I go about making air again?” I quickly ask instead. Perfect deflective manoeuvre, if I do say so myself.

“The same way you made this room. You select your Create ability, then choose the needed material, and from there the System and your Dungeon instincts will guide you.”

Instead of mentioning how I technically haven’t made this room, I navigate over to my menu. In fact, I try out a little trick, to directly bring the relevant section, instead of going through the whole process.

Materials: Dungeon stone

Ah shit. That’s probably why there’s no air.

“Hey, uh, Faellen? Small problem.”

“Don’t tell me your stupid Aspect combination is causing some bullshit again. Is the End causing your Ability to end before you can do anything?”

“That can happen?”

“Not normally, no, but you’re not exactly normal. Now answer the question.”

“Yes, well, you see. I don’t have air in my materials. In fact, I only have one material, Dungeon stone.”