To Fill a Black Hole

Cameron held onto Felix, and they both just hugged each other. Cammy could tell he was emotionally drained, and could hardly blame him. She wasn't mad at Kei Winters, as... well, she could understand hating so much that you don't care anymore if it hurts the people around you. Besides, she got the sense that Felix had an awful life to this point.

"You're right, it is the end," the demon said. "Of this competition. Lets go to the rankings."

The demon snapped her fingers twice in a row. The first time a screen appeared in front of everyone in the meeting room showing their score in the competition:

1. Z: +15 VP, Three Reward Options
2. Janessa: +10 VP, Two Rewards and One Adjustment Options
3. Noah: +5 VP, One Reward and Two Adjustment Options
4. Cameron: +0 VP, Three Adjustment Options
5. Hailey: -5 VP, Two Adjustments and One Overhaul Options
6. Winters: -10 VP, Two Overhauls and One Adjustment Options
7. ELIMINATED

The second snap brought in Austin, now chained up and with duct tape over her mouth. The demon let her fall on the ground with a thud, like a pile of trash dropping into a garbage bin. Except... now Austin was back in their male body for some reason.

Hailey reacted with horror at seeing how close she had been to being eliminated. Felix was little better, and Cameron felt guilty too, as they had helped put Hailey within a hair's breath of being eliminated from VP loss. Even Noah looked down, as if somehow she had failed Hailey for a reason neither side of Cameron knew.

Z by contrast looked incredibly pleased with herself, and Winters looked more curious than anything else. "What are these options?" Winters asked. "What does it mean to have an Overhaul or an Adjustment as options? Are we going to pick between them?"

"No, that's for the audience," the demon answered. "All will be explained later, we have a much more pressing problem to deal with."

The demon went over to Austin. "You see, the normal rules are that when a contestant is eliminated, someone the eliminated contestant is close to is brought in as a replacement."

"However, Austin's child is already here, and they aren't really close to anyone in their lives." The demon said. "His wife, his peers, even his own child, are really all just objects for Austin, for pleasure, money, and status respectively. So I have a bit of conundrum on my hands."

The idea that he was just a status object infuriated the male side of Cameron, whereas Cammy was utterly lacking in surprise. Their father couldn't really love anyone, but having it so bluntly stated shattered whatever lingering respect the male side of Cameron had left for Austin's success, or as a father.

"However," the demon said, "Felix can resolve it by answering, with full honesty, a single question. But be warned, if you lie, I will take your mother, because both you and Austin are very connected to her."

Cameron had to use all of their willpower to not attack the demon. It was fortunate they were looking the other way, at the rest of the group, instead of at the demon. After all, they didn't need to look at Austin anymore, and their attention needed to be on Felix.

"It's going to be okay," Cammy whispered in Felix's ear. "Just tell the truth. No one here will judge you for any answer you give."

"There is someone who hurt you, but that you hurt as well," The demon said. "One could say that each of you destroyed each other's lives. What is there name?"

Felix took a deep breath, and answered. "Billy Hughes."

Several Days Earlier

Billy Hughes had reached the end of his rope. He couldn't cut it in high school, couldn't cut it in the workplace, and most of all, couldn't cut it as a brother. After getting fired from another job, in this case because he dropped something like the clumsy idiot he was, he didn't even bother returning home. All he could do was lookout from a bridge he walked over every day, trying to figure out what, if anything, he could do to fix his life while looking out over the water.

"Hughes? Billy Hughes?" A woman asked.

"Yes?" Billy Hughes turned to answer.

He saw a gorgeous woman. Everything about her looked maternal, with giant breasts, wide hips, and long, flowing red hair. She was also oddly tall, at an even six feet, and looked slightly down on him. She took him by the hand, and said. "Call me Vivian dear, and please follow me."

Vivian lead him away from the bridge and into a cafe. Over the lunch that followed, which she paid for, the woman revealed she was a therapist. She had been trying to track him down for awhile as part of an organization that could help people like Hughes for free. She handed him a business card with all the details, and told him to contact her as soon as possible...

Yesterday

"I've noticed a pattern Billy." Vivian said.

This was only the third meeting with this woman, and yet Hughes already trusted her more than anyone else in his life. She was like the mom he didn't have, as unlike his real mom, she hadn't ignored him.

"What's the pattern?" Billy asked. "Other than me fucking up everything?"

Billy Hughes was 19, and had only barely graduated from high school a year earlier. His parents practically kicked him out once he had graduated, which shut down any chance of him going to college. He was trapped bouncing from dead-end job to dead-end job, only ever barely able to keep his head above water at best. His parents were too focused on his brother's success after that, and Billy became the problem child to be isolated from the successful one. What else was there to it?

"You are constantly trying to be a man," Vivian replied. "Why?"

"Well, I'm a man." Billy replied, confused by the question.

"You say that, and yet you don't seem to be very confident in that answer," Vivian said. "You constantly got into fights while in school, and constantly reference your brother being better than you. When I've asked you to explain that, you talk about him being more athletic, more successful with girls, and more loved by your parents."

"Well-" Hughes was cut off, and it didn't feel so bad.

"And when I asked about why you thought your parents loved him more than you, you would just bring up your father saying you were a failure of a man," Vivian continued. "That he didn't even care you got into fights at school, only that you lost them."

"I-" At this point Hughes started to cry. Something he usually hated himself for doing but had no problem doing with his therapist.

"Even your own mother, according to you, wants you to be more masculine," Vivian dug deeper. "She doesn't say or do anything, its just that she pays more attention to her brother than you."

Billy's tears became impossible to ignore, and Vivian brought him into a hug which felt more genuine than any he had gotten before. "And remember how this all began?"

"How?" Billy asked.

"Your brother told you to hit a boy just because he had been playing with a girl's toy," Vivian said. "You hesitated, and because of that, another boy showed up. Remember his name?"

"Felix." Billy answered. He remembered far too well.

"Yes," Vivian said. "And the whole reason you got into that fight which prevented you from playing sports, was because your brother wanted you to hurt another kid. Yet you blame yourself for hesitating. Why?"

"Because if I just followed through with it, it would've been over with before Felix and everyone else showed up." Billy said while gently withdrawing from the hug.

"But you would have to hurt an innocent boy to do that," Vivian said. "Why did your brother insist so much on you doing it anyway?"

Billy collected himself before replying. "He said I was acting too much like a girl."

"And what's wrong with that?" Vivian asked. "Is it really so bad to be a girl?"

"Well... no, but I'm not a girl." Billy said, hopeful his answer didn't give too much away.

Billy Hughes hadn't told her about other interests he had developed. How interested in a young age he was with anime depicting boys being turned into girls, or when he got much older, how into hentai about similar topics he was. But that part of himself was one he kept buried, even from her.

"You could be one, if you wanted to." Vivian said.

"Wait, what? I'm not-" The sound of the clock signifying the end of their session rang.

"Before you leave, take this card." Vivian handed him a business card with two golden Hs on it, and the catchphrase, "Where Fantasies Come True."

"There's a number on the back of that card," Vivian said. "When you see it in your caller ID, please pick up."

The conversation had taken a very weird turn for Billy, but before he left, he still replied. "Of course."

A Few Hours Earlier

Vizrokoth hadn't been looking forward to this, but the screw up with Austin's date had been the last straw for management. They weren't cancelling her, but an assistant who went by Paisley was going to show up to conduct a review. With that in mind, the demon had ducked out once it became clear Winters was going to take awhile to complete the course.

Paisley was waiting in Vizrokoth's office of sorts by the time the demon was able to teleport in. If one were to see Paisley on the street, you would assume they were cute, somewhat rebellious, young woman, with pink hair and casual clothes. However, the demon knew that looks in this case were very deceiving. Paisley had been an assistant on many seasons of Harem Hotel, such as a dreadful ripoff season called Bros to Babes that the network wanted to pretend didn't exist after its ratings tanked. That she had managed to survive the fallout of that season's dreadful ratings was quite impressive, and was why Vizrokoth was careful not to underestimate her.

The demon had chosen to put her office in a flipped version of the bunker that the contestants wouldn't have access to, and even if they did somehow explore the flipped version beyond the transformation room, wouldn't be able to find it. An additional benefit was that it prevented intruders like Paisley from interacting with the contestants on accident. The office itself was a basic, minimalist affair, but it wasn't for any aesthetic reason, the demon just didn't spend much time there. Even when she was managing the show behind the scenes, she was often elsewhere, doing magic.

"I'm glad you were able to squeeze me in on such short notice." Paisley put up a brave front, and had come prepared with a manila folder.

Seeing what she came with, Vizrokoth went over to a nearby filing cabinet, and withdrew the binder that held her show's bible. While the demon detested it, she had learned well the ways of bureaucracy, corporate or otherwise. She needed to ensure she had all of her notes on standby depending on what Paisley asked.

"I thought we could get started on that the Producers are... frustrated." Paisley said.

The demon walked over to her, and stayed standing. Vizrokoth wanted to give off the impression that she was an eager host wanting to get back to work, and so played up being antsy. Paisley's reaction was initially hard to gauge, but her first comment said volumes.

"Lets start with the big one," Paisley said. "You effectively made Austin into a sacrificial lamb. You weren't even willing to give her a date before the competition until the audience had issues with it. Why?"

"I had the idea that the contestant most hated by the master should have to earn the right to a date by doing well in competition," Vizrokoth said. "However, the audience didn't care for that."

A scowl emerged on Paisley's face in reaction, but she went back to reviewing her notes. "A poor idea, but perhaps a narcissist like Austin was doomed anyway. I recommend you find a better solution than an emergency date in the future."

"Of course." Vizrokoth replied. She was starting to understand Paisley, but she would have to wait for the optimal time to test her hypothesis.

"While Zachary has been here, they have effectively been eliminated," Paisley said with rising anger. "Why?"

"It was too likely that Zachary would attack the master, and unlike Payback Edition, I was not seeking to start the show with a sacrificial lamb." Vizrokoth said.

Paisley slammed the desk in response. "But you did have a sacrificial lamb in Austin, you've just stretched out how long it would be until she was eliminated!"

Most new showrunners would've been terrified by an outburst like that, but that only confirmed to Vizrokoth her theory. Underneath the anger at the demon's lack of professionalism was a note of jealousy in Paisley's voice. In that moment Vizrokoth knew Paisley's anger was because she wanted her own season, and had worked for a long time to get it, but had kept being denied by the network. The demon was an upstart that had managed to dodge the usual corporate climb, and that made Paisley furious.

"Austin was a heel for the audience," Vizrokoth said. "Check the comments and message boards. You will see that they despise Austin, and cannot wait for her... or him I should say, to be eliminated. Stretching it out helped get part of the audience invested in seeing Austin suffer, and eager to see their replacement, who you know I have been dutifully setting up."

She saw Paisley pause hearing that. While she did recover, it took long enough to let Vizrokoth know she was on the right track. "Okay, but why keep Zachary and Benjamin in a state where they are effectively eliminated? Were you trying to get multiple candidates into the same slot?"

Vizrokoth grinned in response. "How did you guess?"

It wasn't quite as simple as mere rules exploitation. Z had no relationship to Felix, and therefore wouldn't have been an option under the rules she had set out for the show without some shennigans related to transformations to sneak her in. Kei Winters and Cammy, meanwhile, were mostly artificial creations, and a test to see how much she could retroactively alter reality as the show went on to make them the real, original personality. Regardless, the demon knew exactly what to do now. Let Paisley think she was clever, build up her ego, and then offer the opportunity to help her get her own show.

"You have a transformation coming up soon," Paisley said. "Split apart the dyads, as I'd rather not-"

"Cameron and Cammy work together so well." Vizrokoth said. "They're the audience favorite, why break something that works? Its not like the Producers care if we bend certain rules, they just want ratings. You should know that, as someone whose been around the block a lot more than me."

Paisley then said something then that surprised Vizrokoth. "It's not just about the audience!"

Before she continued, Paisley tried to calm herself down, but then launched into a rant. "It's the principal of the thing. We don't just immediately turn the contestants into sluts for the master after all, a show needs conflict. Stakes. A glimmer of hope for the contestants that they can escape unscathed even if it is ultimately futile because that's what made us one of the best shows in the multiverse!"

So Paisley wasn't just jealous of Vizrokoth, she was an idealist of sorts. Just like her, she loved Harem Hotel as a game, and wanted to play the role that facilitated it. She cared about the audience, but not for cynical marketing reasons, but because she respected a formula that made countless fans across the infinite multiverse. This was going to be even easier than Vizrokoth thought.

"I will happily split Z, who clearly wants it to happen as well," Vizrokoth said. "I'll even let the audience decide if they want to split Winters, depending on how she does. But, I'm going to keep them counted as one contestant."

Before Paisley could respond to that, the demon continued. "And, I'm going to show you how by bending the rules, you can make an unforgettable season of Harem Hotel. Let me help you get what you want."

"Okay, okay, I'll be back here next week, so be ready." Paisley said and then blinked out of Vizrokoth's office...

Felix had never been this drained in his life, as all of his emotions had been squeezed out of him over and over again. And the worst part was, this day wasn't even close to over, as everything that had happened had only brought them to 4:22 PM. While the demon had said they had a time limit of 4:50 PM, he suspected she had slowed down time, or otherwise manipulated things to create space for other activities. But who knew, maybe his perception of time was warped because of having to wear a mask and being so drained.

"You told the truth," Vizrokoth responded with a smile. "Good. Now, everyone, and yes that includes you Cameron, are going to watch this. While I doubt any of you will be as toxic as Austin has been, you all need to see the consequences of refusing to play the game."

Vizrokoth rubbed her hands together, and then upon pulling them apart, revealed her right hand held a plant seed. She then walked over to Austin, ripped the tape off his mouth, and shoved the seed into it.

"Swallow." Vizrokoth's voice took on a strange tone, as Austin did as commanded.

"What the fuck was that you fucking cun-" Austin's last angry tantrum was cut off. It would be the last words he ever said as a man as all over him, as strange green veins became visible all over him.

"I changed you back to your original form because I refuse to have one my creations wasted and despoiled a second longer than necessary," Vizrokoth said. "You wasted every chance given to you to stop being a pest, and tried to kill the master, a crime that will not be forgiven for a very long time."

Green gunk started to pour out of every orifice on Austin's body, and all the gunk didn't fall to the floor, but instead wrapped around his body. The reason he had stopped speaking was because of the green gunk filling up his mouth, that was now visible as his mouth opened in horror. The gunk then expanded, and enveloped everything, the growth in size causing it to encase Austin in a green slimy shell.

"Austin is now something often called a Semen Flower," Vizrokoth said. "They are plants, and depending on the portion of their lifecycle, they are fairly harmless. However, there are two stages that matter to us here."

As she spoke, the slimy green shell hardened and dried, looking closer to an egg than anything else. While horrifying, Felix had hoped that maybe this was the end of the transformation, but that hope of course was dashed.

"The first stage that matters is what you just saw," Vizrokoth said. "These flower seeds require a human, or similar creature, to swallow them. The reason for that is during the plant's germination, it probes the mind of the host it is inside of to learn how to become an attractive female of that creature's species, while it devours the host's body from the inside out."

"Wouldn't that kill the host?" Z asked, unfazed by proceedings.

"No, the germination process protects the brain so it can utilize its memories," Vizrokoth said. "Austin's misogynistic worldview is an asset for this plant."

A massive crack emerged on the green egg. This was soon followed by several more cracks, and at the last minute, Vizrokoth teleported the egg out of the room they were in. She then opened a hologram screen in front of them to reveal a dirt field in a location Felix didn't recognize, where Austin's egg hatched. Gunk exploded all over the place to reveal a beautiful naked woman, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and breasts so massive that Felix didn't believe Austin would be able to move or have a functioning spinal column with them. But that was when he noticed something else.

"Austin no longer has functioning legs as a semen flower," Vizrokoth said. "Besides water, sunlight, and soil, semen flowers require a constant diet of semen, hence the name. It's the equivalent of six blowjobs per day, although any of her holes will work for feeding purposes, and these flowers blossom much faster depending on how much cum they get."

That was when the group noticed Austin below the knees was planted into the ground. It was hard to notice if one wasn't looking for it, and from afar, she would just look like a gorgeous naked woman. That disguise worked because Felix and everyone else watching the screen saw a horde of men approach Austin. They were wearing ragged clothing, and carrying various weapons, ranging from bits of piping to guns, but they stripped out of all of that near the flower.

"I also undid the transformation on Austin to sever them from you Felix," Vizrokoth said while looking at Janessa, oddly enough. "Otherwise, we would've all been trapped with some nasty consequences."

Everyone saw the semen flower that was once Austin get happily gangbanged over and over again. She never showed any sign of protest, regardless of how rough the men were with as, and she let out pleasured grunts and squeals instead. But over time, a few of the men who had gangbanged the semen flower experienced a similar transformation to Austin, as they would stop moving, green gunk would erupt from their bodies, and they were encased in shells.

"A semen flower, on top of looking like a human woman, releases a constant aphrodisiac that is not resistible without a gas mask or supernatural protection at close range," Vizrokoth continued. "That same aphrodisiac makes it easy for the flower to insert seeds by sneaking them into open orifices during sex. The flower chooses men with low semen production, or poor quality semen, to turn into semen flowers."

More green eggs dried and then hatched into yet more semen flowers. All of them looked like gorgeous women, with oversized breasts, and asses along with hourglass bodies. A few of the men were still around, and hadn't noticed anything that had happened to their fellows. Those who weren't still trying to cum just fell to the ground asleep around the semen flowers.

"These flowers were created by a government with access to both magic and technology, but on a world experiencing ecological collapse," Vizrokoth said while turning off the hologram. "There was also an excessive number of men relative to women, so the government made these flowers to re-balance the population. Most semen flowers die relatively quickly, and in the process, rejuvenate the land. But Austin's won't."

"How long will Austin be like that?" Felix asked, although he almost immediately regretted the question.

"Semen flowers don't age and while they die quite fast if they lack their namesake, that is far from the only group that will run into the flowers," Vizrokoth said. "Austin will experience every moment as a semen flower that is now in an optimal ambush spot, as it's near a road merchants use on that world, and bandits often camp nearby to prey on them."

The implications spoke for themselves. It would be a very, very long time before Austin stopped experiencing getting fucked, sucking dick, and otherwise a plethora of other activities, all while stuck in the exact same space for what could be centuries if not more. The mixture of disgust, horror, and boredom would last for Austin for longer than Felix would be alive.

Vizrokoth then opened the exit. "Meet me in the meeting room, and do not make me wait."

The demon then teleported away as Felix and the others got moving...