Red was very curious about the last member of the construction team at the moment, mainly because she could be useful on his newest floor. Had he known that there was a [Void] tag, then he would have gone through the trouble of checking through the entire dungeon for it. Instead, one such creature just happens to fall into his lap.

Poly wasn’t exactly what he would have expected from a fairy meant to connect to the abyss between realities. She was a cute and shy little thing, not an indescribable horror like the Void Beasts that lay in wait just beyond the parking lot. Just looking at her sheet was enough to tell him that she was rather unremarkable. However, if she is fit for the Diner then he would be foolish not to explore those options.

“R-red, if you don’t have any other build tasks for me, I really should be getting back to the team,” Poly said timidly, obviously trying to get away from being the center of his attention at the moment. While he understood what it felt like to be around your boss’s boss, he couldn’t just let her go at the moment.

“Hm? Oh! Yeah no I need you for the rest of the day.” Red said idly as he quickly opened up the build menu and plowed through a hefty chunk of mana just to order all five rooms he had left on the first floor. It was too bad that there was no discount for bulk orders.

“Alright… I will get to work on those.” She muttered as she turned before Red cleared his throat and she froze in place. She was a mousey little thing, and Red hoped that he wasn’t going to scare her too much.

“Before you go through the trouble of getting to the rooms I was wondering if you could help me with something in the parking lot,” Red asked with a smile before he brought his hand down for the small fairy to climb onto. She looked at the faceted palm before up at his crystalline face, acting as if he was some bear about to maul her. She took in a deep breath to center herself before stepping onto his palm in her sensible non-slip work shoes.

Red gently carried her out of the diner and back into the parking lot where the endless void around them waited. He then proceeded to the edge of the lot, bits of stone crumbling into the void below as a dramatic effect. His dungeon instincts told him that no matter what the first time someone approached the edge, pebbles, and small stones would fall away to emphasize the depth of endlessness.

“So, this is the void. It is an endless expanse of nothingness with no life or warmth beyond the edge of the parking lot.” Red explained as he looked around for any sign of the beasts that dwelled within. There was one floating a small way out and twisting in unfathomable directions, but other than that Red didn’t see any of its fellows around.

“It’s… pretty,” Poly said with a small bit of wonder as she looked at the small pinpricks of stars in the distance. She of course had seen the night sky within the confines of the [Garden], but it was always so bright. There were too many stars to appreciate the blackness of the heavens. Within this floor, it seemed like every single star was special. Each pinprick of light was an island, fighting against the darkness. Yet the dark was an endless ocean of potential. Without even thinking about it, she stepped to the edge of Red’s hand, reaching out to touch beyond the border of reality.

Warning!

A dungeon minion is attempting to expose themself to the harmful substance: [Void]

Will you allow them to continue this course of action?

Yes. No

Red blinked in surprise at the nature of the message, having never gotten one about his minions before. He supposed that was good, it meant he would be kept appraised of anyone about to hurt themselves, but at the moment it left him in a precarious position.

He could either let Poly do what she wanted and give her the free will to embrace herself in the element she was tagged with or he could protect her from a potentially risky situation. Whatever option he chose, would have a different outcome to Poly’s development as a minion.

He didn’t know the fairy very well, and if she died then she would simply respawn back in the garden as if nothing had happened. However, the warning suggested that irreparable damage could be done to her. He didn’t want to risk the lives of his minions for any reason, but he was still the one in control of the situation. So at the very least, he could pull her back if he thought she was at risk of anything. It was a gamble, but at the very least it was a safe gamble.

He pressed his finger to the confirmation button and watched as the fairy seemed to be able to walk forward entirely off of his hand. Instead of falling into the void below or disappearing, she simply began to float in the place where she had stepped off. She was smiling brightly, curling in on herself as she felt the embrace of the void on her. Red reached out, the feeling of pins and needles on his skin as he exposed his mana to the area beyond the parking lot.

“Poly? Are you alright?” He asked as he poked her side, trying to see if she was alright. She opened her eyes and looked at him, which made Red jump back in shock at what was gazing at him. Her pupils were dilated far beyond what would be normal for any kind of humanoid should be able to do. The green of her iris was in the place of her sclera as the voids gazed into Red’s own crystalline eyes.

“The song is beautiful, Red. It is all-encompassing and yet it allows every other sound to drown it out. It is every piece of the orchestra and yet it is the empty theater hall. It is a comedic tragedy, a lamentable luxury, with beauty that no park or gallery could ever match in horrifying beauty. There is nothing greater than the song of the [Void] and how it is everything between the universes. It is not an absence, it is potential.” She mused in a voice that seemed to dance in an unheard tune. Red wasn’t sure what to make of it, the tune giving him some kind of headache as he tried to understand the rhythm.

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“Alright, Poly. I am going to take you out of this. I think that we have proven your song is part of the void. How about we get back to work?” He asked as he gently cupped his hands around her, still not enjoying the tingling feelings that shot up his arms. It was so strange to have a physical sensation like this, especially with the lack of actual skin to become rigid.

“Yes, work! The beautiful admission of the void, bringing anything into everything and making it singular. It is the bliss of the void to create and empower, and we are but stewards of that energy. The endlessness sings through you, Red. It is the call between our hearts that flutters through our forms and makes us whole. I am made of it as are you. We are both so much and yet we were never anything before these moments.” She mused as she flopped into his hands before he pulled her out of the darkness. He was glad that she didn’t fight against the pull, but rather leaned into it.

When she was pulled back to within the boundary of the parking lot, there were things different about her. Her hair had turned pitch black as if she had been dipping it in tar. Her hands were much the same way, inky darkness soaking up to her elbows and dripping with the void. Red had seen nothing like it before and hoped that he wasn’t about to get an earful from Ivy about what he had just done.

Title(s) Acquired!

No one is titular but a title is nothing to sneeze at either!

Polyamora has earned the following title(s):

Umbral Orator

Void Singer

Matter Manipulator

Red blinked at the titles before looking down at her, understanding that he had just skipped something in her development to where she was now far beyond the bounds of an ordinary fairy. She smiled wide as the titles attached to her being, the darkness on her hands creeping up her arms while her hair extended out like tentacles. The darkness of her pupils spilled over into her irises like ink overflowing a well, that same ink pouring out and onto her bright pink skin.

Red released the fairy from his grasp and held his tongue as she didn’t move as if locked in place spatially above the lot. Darkness enveloped her, and Red saw as the transformation began the void beasts gathering around the edges of the lot, watching the strange event happen.

“Oh… Ivy is gonna kill me for this one.” Red muttered with a frown as he floated backward away from the growing sphere of darkness that had Poly at the center of it. This was different than the other title transformations, with no glowing motes of light or build-up of energy. Instead, a sphere of negative space was taking up Red’s vision as he retreated towards the diner.

The sphere stopped at the size of two sedans parked bumper to bumper in the parking lot, the edges imperceptible against the emptiness beyond. He slowly began to approach the sphere before the door to the dungeon was flung open and Ivy was panting with rage as she had run to the entrance.

“What did you do to Poly?!” She screamed with fury as an audible cracking noise began to come from the sphere of darkness, something changing about it as the edges became clear with beams of light emitting from cracks in the darkness.

“I-I don’t know! I just saw that she had a [Void] tag and the edge of the lot is now an entrance to the void and-and-and- I don’t fucking know what bullshit the system is on!” He screamed as the cracking got louder and more beams of light began to emerge, cracks across the surface of nothingness became visible while the two argued.

[Interjection! I have no control over the actions of my users. You elected to expose the fairy to [Void] energy despite the description of Song of the Void stating it was a tool for her growing into her powers!] Ras appeared with the complaint that the system was at fault for whatever was happening.

Red said something in response, but it went unheard as suddenly everything was forcefully made quiet as if all auditory wavelengths within the second floor went flat as the sphere detonated. Red and Ivy averted their eyes as the sphere exploded in a wash of light. The brightness felt like it burned at flesh, all color being muted to pale imitation as suddenly the Diner at the End of Reality was itself a bright burning star. There was no ringing of an explosion, but slowly those in attendance for this strange transformation regained their senses.

Red blinked as he saw the Void Beasts at the corners of his vision, all of them undulating and squirming in ineffable ways as they seemed excited by what was happening. His ability to hear slowly returned as the sound was once again allowed to flow within the space. Ivy made small noises to try and understand when she could hear again.

He gazed upon where Poly once floated, and in her place was something bright and beautiful. She was wearing a dress made from the skin of a star, its bright red coloration glowing with the same warmth as the sun. Her skin was pitch black with flecks of light. At first, Red thought them to be a kind of freckle, but watching one made him realize that the glowing motes of light traveled along her form like stars moving across the night sky. Her hair had become icy blue like the trail of a comet had been rendered down into threads and delicately placed as a gorgeous mane flowing down her shoulders.

When she opened her eyes to look at Red, they were two pure white spheres, like white dwarves had been plucked from the heavens and set into her skull. She gave a small smile, her lips a floral pink against the darkness of her form, the only thing that remained of the little fairy known as Poly.

“P-poly?” Ivy whispered in horror as she looked at the being in front of them, not sure if it was still the same fairy that they had known. Red was about to open his mouth before a pop-up appeared, one that raised more questions than it answered. It was an uncomfortable pop-up, and he was not sure how to address it.

Warning!

Assistant Laborer Poly has undergone multiple ascensions and evolutions in quick succession. Her mental state could deteriorate if left as is.

Options:

Delete - Remove Poly from the dungeon entirely and erase her from spawners.

Disconnect - Remove Poly’s consciousness from the new [Minion] and respawn the original with memories of the incident removed.

Wait - Do not act. See how the conflicting memories of the new and previous interact.