Sysadmin workers were supposed to be invisible, right?

So why was everyone staring at Lily?

Sidelong glances brushed down her back as she walked through the office, furtive eyes disappearing behind monitors and cubicle walls the moment she turned to catch them. Or at least, that’s how it seemed. There was a chance that she was simply being paranoid. Her day-to-day routine had been thrown into chaos lately, so it made sense that she’d be feeling a little on edge. That didn’t necessarily mean her coworkers were watching her every move—hell, it wasn’t like they’d shown much interest before.

Then again, she’d never shown up to work dressed like this.

Lily forced a swallow past her pounding pulse, remembering this time to smooth the tiny skirt beneath her thighs before sitting at her workstation. Nope, she wasn’t imagining it—the outfit was definitely drawing a lot of attention. How could it not? The black mini dress had been designed to stand out, its sparkly, flesh-hugging fabric the perfect lure for would-be companions on a crowded dance floor. These traits had seemed appealing back when Lily dreamt of discovering her inner-party animal, but those delusions had burned out even quicker than her photography aspirations, leaving the dress the languish in the back of her closet until…

Well, until she’d run out of anything else to wear.

Ears burning pink and legs crossing restlessly, Lily tried to block out the intrusive gazes and focus on her work. It wasn’t easy. The dress had been tight back in college, but now it felt fit to burst with every breath. Her voluminous bust jiggled and shimmied at the slightest shift, constantly threatening to pop free of its low-cut enclosure. Her usual nondescript jeans and hoodies had obscured the weight she’d gained since graduation, but now there was no hiding the slight bulge of her belly against the outfit’s midsection, nor the soft swell of her hips and thick expanse of her thighs. The only mercy the garb offered was just enough skirt to keep her safely covered, no matter how much the hem swished and swayed. She might look like a slutty club bunny, but at least no one would see her panties.

Or how wet they were.

She was reminded of this fact as she squirmed in her seat, the slick friction sparking dangerous heat in her core. What was going on? It wasn’t like her, getting so inexplicably aroused in the middle of the workday. Then again, it wasn’t like her to put off laundry until she was on her last pair of underwear. She’d never considered herself the most ambitious or driven person, but she was diligent. Consistent. Her comfort zone was a sacred space, her routines holy rituals that kept the madness of the outside world at bay. Deviations from day-to-day doctrines were risky, to be attempted only when the potential gain far outweighed the gamble. Like befriending Valerie, for example.

Though, now that Lily thought about it…wasn’t their meeting at the root of her current predicament?

“Hey, Lily?” a masculine voice broke through her thoughts.

“Huh?” the dazed nerd looked up from her desk, back abruptly straightening as she recognized her team lead’s bearded face hovering over her cubicle.

“How’s, uh, how’s it going?” Carter asked, his eyes flitting around her workspace, as if uncertain where to settle.

“G-good,” Lily squeaked. Oh God, was he going to ask for a progress report? Had he noticed how little work she’d actually accomplished today? Instinctively, she swiveled her chair in his direction, titling her shoulders back and offering a nice, pillowy landing pad for his roaming gaze, far away from the guilty glow of her monitor.

It worked. Behind his wire-frame spectacles, Carter’s pupils seemed magnetically pulled into the taut line of her cleavage. Lily could sense him lose his train of thought between her breasts, the exposed skin blushing in response. Ordinarily, she’d be hastily shielding herself from such scrutiny. But for some reason, today she didn’t mind letting the tall, flannel-clad man stare for a while. In fact…if he wanted to come closer for a better look…then maybe…

“Ahem.” Carter cleared his throat, seeming to regather his wits. “A-anyway, me and some of the others were thinking of um, doing like a happy hour thing after work. I know you don’t drink, but this new place has a lotta cool zero-proof options and I thought, maybe, you’d…be interested?”

Lily blinked. Wait, what was happening?

Was Carter…asking to hang out?

With her?

For fun?

Oh God. Oh shit. It was happening. The moment she’d been waiting for. A shot a redemption; a chance to set the record straight. Back when Lily had first started at the company, she’d been invited to a similar post-office outing, only to freak out and exclaim that she didn’t drink (a lie—she did, or would, in theory). Nearly every Friday since she’d spent simmering in regret, watching as her coworkers filed out for their regularly scheduled revelry, her brain spinning as it searched for a way to renounce her false sobriety without coming off as weird or dishonest. Alas, it seemed she would be forever trapped in the purgatory of her panicked pronouncement.

Or would she?

“You don’t have to come just ’cause it’s your boss asking,” Carter quickly amended. “If you’ve got other plans, or just need to crash at home I—”

“N-no!” Lily quickly interrupted. “It’s okay, I—”

Would love to come, was what her brain said at first.

But then she remembered.

The Mountain. The Magister. She’d been running that quest all week, dedicating every spare hour to defeating her indominable foe. Mornings began with some light grinding around the Stormbringer Catacombs, then at least one pre-work boss-run (though it usually turned into two). Her attempts continued almost immediately after returning home, and then again after a short break for food and chores (if she had time).

Even when not in-game, the Magister consumed her thoughts. As she ate breakfast, she mentally reviewed the creature’s attack patterns; at work, she surreptitiously made spreadsheets of spell costs and timings; over dinner, she pondered other possible class builds and stat buffs; in the shower, she reflected on her most recent defeat, remembering how it felt to watch her avatar fall to the Magister’s hypnotic influence, unable to resist as the tentacles seized her limbs and the colors filled her thoughts and…

Sometimes, these recollections ended with Lily discovering she’d been unconsciously groping her own breasts, her free fingers idly tracing the swollen, soaking lips between her legs.

She tried not to wonder why that was.

“S-sorry,” she stammered, quickly turning from Carter’s gaze. “I forgot, I-I’m actually busy tonight.”

“Ah. No worries—I know this was kind of last minute.” He flashed a hopeful smile. “Maybe next time?”

“S-sure!” Lily forced a grin of her own. “Totally! I’m there.”

Carter departed with a wave, a gesture Lily vigorously mimicked until it threatened to slosh her tightly packed tits free. She quickly tucked herself back into place, face hot and head buzzing as it replayed the interaction over and over again. It’d gone well, right? She hadn’t been too weird, had she? Sure, she’d turned down a long-awaited invite to play an outdated MMO but…

…Wait, why exactly had she done that?

Lily sat back in her chair, an odd, airy sensation seeping into her skull. Moments like this were becoming more frequent, these inexplicable breaks from character followed by a sense of free-floating confusion. As always, it wasn’t long before her mind began to reorient, explanations and justifications growing like roots, twisting and pulling her back down to earth.

Of course she’d declined Carter’s invitation. Just receiving it was more than enough excitement for one day. If she actually went out—especially dressed like this—there was a chance the stimulation would be too much. Besides, she couldn’t risk letting her Realm skills grow rusty, not when she was so close to finally beating the Magister.

The Magister.

Yes…that was right. It only made sense to prioritize her current quest. Once she’d summitted that mountain, then she would finally be free.

Probably.

There were many aspects of her recent behavior that Lily could shrug off.

But sometimes, the oddities added up.

It wasn’t concerning, for example, that she’d stripped naked the moment she got home; her dress had been squeezing her all day, and her panties were sopping past the point of comfort.

It wasn’t concerning that she felt no desire to seek out a change of clothes; she’d already run through most of her wardrobe and was more than comfortable spending the rest of the evening nude.

It wasn’t even concerning that she needed to find a clean towel for her gaming chair; that was only logical, given how much of a drippy, sticky mess she’d been.

However, when she failed find a fresh seat-covering and—rather than actually do her laundry—simply sniffed to find the least girl-spunk-scented option, well…

…That was maybe cause for some concern.

She could rationalize this course of action if she tried. Time doing laundry was time she couldn’t spend grinding “The Master of the Mountain.” And given how crowded the machines in her building could get, who knew how long the simple chore would take? It made sense, then, that she would settle for a less-than-perfectly clean towel and boot up Realms of Rinn anyway.

But…did it really?

Why did she feel so…compelled to return to her tentacled tormentor? How had this one quest become such a high priority? Lily had indulged in her share of hyper-fixations, but this was different. It was…dizzying. All-consuming. Inescapable. In some ways, it really did feel like the Magister had gotten into her head and taken control.

Taken…control. The Magister was…taking control…

Fuck, why did thinking about that make her feel so…

So…

The title screen for Realms of Rinn splashed across Lily’s monitor, jolting her from her daze. She hadn’t even realized she’d launched the game, but already her hands were going through the motions, logging in and spawning Lyra at her guild hall. Despite lingering unease, the compulsion to continue her quest was too strong to ignore, the fearful voice in Lily’s head quieting as she prepared for another boss run.

First, a quick check to see if Valerie was online. Nope—unavailable as always. For a woman who claimed to be a dedicated Walker, she didn’t seem to spend much time playing the game. Maybe she worked nights or something. Whatever. Lily could face the Magister alone.

In fact, in some ways…that might even be preferable…

Shaking free of that thought, Lily tabbed over to Lyra’s stat screen, frowning at the two new status ailments pinned to her profile:

>[Brainwashing – Lv. 1]: You can feel the Magister’s influence lingering in your mind, a psychic seed eager to sprout. Idle thoughts lead back to the monster’s lair, half-remembered dreams urging you to heed your Master’s call. You can resist it…but for long?

>[Mark of the Magister – Lv. 2]: There’s no ignoring the changes now. The crest on your womb grows warm every night, muddling your thoughts and sapping your strength. Your body is still your own, but it’s becoming something…else. Something less than what it once was. And yet so, so much more.

The first effect wasn’t much of a concern. As far as Lily could tell, “Brainwashing” just meant that Lyra’s hypno-meter filled faster than it used to, an annoyance that savvy play could manage. More concerning was the “Mark of the Magister” de-buff. Every time its level went up, Lyra’s stats changed in alarming ways, apparently reflecting her body’s ongoing corruption. Her intelligence and resistance were most significantly reduced, though the second stage had knocked a few points from her strength and dexterity as well. Interestingly, for every downgrade those attributes received, a corresponding increase appeared next to her vitality and charisma. It made her think back to the thralls the Magister always summoned, adventurers who’d succumbed to its control completely, becoming little more than defenseless incubators and HP pools.

If Lyra couldn’t achieve victory soon…would she end up like that too?

For some reason, Lily’s breath was beginning to tremble. A warm shiver traveled down her neck to her hips, bare thighs clenching as if to catch it. What was wrong with her? Why did the thought of her avatar’s downfall make her pulse race and heart flutter?

Maybe it was the thrill of such a novel, unexpected challenge. MMO’s rarely imposed irreversible consequences upon players, so of course Lily would react strongly to the sharp rise in stakes. What hardcore gamer wouldn’t find this exhilarating?

Swallowing this explanation, Lily withdrew the Magister’s Eye from her inventory. Cascades of color flooded her screen, a soft, relaxing sigh parting her lips. Awareness of the outside world dimmed as she fell into the rhythms of her quest, traipsing through the manor’s corridors on her way to the boss’s chamber. It was a routine so familiar it’d become almost trance-like, the only difference this time being an unexpected whisper at the back of her mind, questioning why she even bothered to fight in the first place. Wouldn’t it be quicker to just let her hypno-meter fill right away? It wasn’t like it would make much difference. She was going to end this session as the Magister’s docile, dull-eyed broodmare regardless—why put off the inevitable?

Lily bit her lip. She wasn’t sure where these insidious impulses were coming from. A part of her wondered if maybe the Magister really was manipulating her thoughts. But that was stupid.

This was just a game, after all.

By the time she reached the final door, Lily was practically panting with anticipation. Her face felt flushed, her hips rolling restlessly in her chair as she entered the boss chamber. She told herself it was just nerves, but that traitorous voice in her head begged to differ. Hadn’t she noticed how drenched the towel beneath her was? Didn’t she recognize the eager ache between her legs?

Wasn’t it obvious what was happening?

Such questions dogged and distracted Lily the whole fight, leading to her swiftest loss yet. It only took two Mind Melters for Lyra to succumb, her limbs falling limp and jaw going slack as she staggered helplessly into the Magister’s waiting arms.

Lily sat back in her chair, sucking air between her teeth.

Defeated.

She was utterly, hopelessly defeated.

So why did she feel so…so…

Excited?

It was happening again. The tentacles wrapping around her avatar; the mesmerizing colors filling the screen; the sounds of cloth tearing and flesh slapping as Lyra was bound and broken for her Master’s pleasure. Like every time before, there was nothing Lily could do but watch. Only now, there was none of the horror she’d felt during past playthroughs. It had transformed, melting and morphing into something…different. An urge she refused to acknowledge. A burning itch she couldn’t bring herself to scratch. A dark desire she would deny no matter how badly it twisted inside her.

Or so she’d believed. Until she felt her hand drift from her mouse; until her fingers began sliding up her thigh towards the warm, waiting folds of her pussy. She let out a helpless whimper, her half-lidded eyes full of dazzling, swirling color, the wet moans and sighs of her avatar echoing in her ears.

Was it finally happening?

Was she actually going to do it? Give in to the forces she’d tried so hard to fight? Embrace her failure in the most humiliating way possible?

Do it. The wicked whisper demanded. Yield to your nature.

“Ooooouughhhhh…” Lily shuddered as the animalistic exultation escaped her. Her fingers stroked and circled her dripping sex, eager to rub the last of her dignity away, to assist in her pathetic, degrading surrender. Hot, horrible pleasure throbbed through her insides, arching her back and squeezing a pitiful whine from her lips. Her eyes rolled back as she rode the roiling waves, yet she could still see her avatar writhing on the Magister’s tentacles, could still feel those blazing colors branding themselves into her brain.

Then they were gone.

Lily blinked, dazed and delirious, her muzzy mind taking several seconds to process the “WALKER DEFEATED” menu on her screen. The greedy emptiness within her pulsed, unsated. She whimpered, drawing her fingers up her swollen, sensitive lips, only to grit her teeth and slide her shaking hand free. Her hips rose, her cunt clenching on the edge of orgasm, begging for satisfaction. But Lily held back, all her willpower focused on keeping her hands at her sides, fists balling as she fought through disorienting, mortifying embarrassment.

What the hell was wrong with her? Had she actually almost made herself cum…to losing an MMO boss fight?

The flustered nerd closed her eyes, struggling to get her breath under control. It felt like she was standing on the brink of a precipitous fall, her balance so precarious that a single misplaced thought could send her tumbling over the edge. She knew what awaited her at the bottom: the awful truth. The reality that she’d climbed a mountain of excuses to escape. Even now, heart racing and flesh trembling, fingers glistening with irrefutable evidence, she just couldn’t bring herself to believe it.

It wasn’t possible. There was no way that the real reason Lily had spent so many hours on this quest, the real reason why she’d put off chores, proper hygiene, and long-awaited socialization wasn’t because she was desperate to defeat the Magister. It was because what she actually wanted was…was…

No. No no no. That wasn’t right. Lily had her share of personality flaws, but being a masochistic, monster-fucking gooner was not one of them. This was just…a lapse in judgement. A hormonal imbalance. Sublimated excitement and frustration from her missed connections with Valerie. It didn’t matter; Lily’s goal remained the same. Defeat the Magister. Break its hold on her thoughts. Prove that all the time and effort she’d spent wasn’t due to some subconscious sexual obsession. This was a struggle for victory, not a fucked up new fetish.

Lily needed to win. But to do so, there was another line she would have to cross:

Asking for help.

Lips pressed into a grimace, the reluctant gamer opened her in-game messages, scrolling back to the one reply Valerie had ever sent. As usual, she’d claimed to be too busy to party up, but had offered something else as compensation: a link to a subreddit dedicated to this quest. “In case you need some pointers ;),” the accompanying text read.

Despite its friendly tone, the message had irked Lily. When it came to Realms of Rinn, she’d always prided herself on being a self-made expert. Sure, she’d watched a few tutorials to get started, but never had she needed a guide to defeat a difficult boss or dungeon. She’d earned her endgame build through hard work and dedication, thank you very much. Still, in light of her current situation, she supposed accepting outside assistance was (barely) preferable to admitting she was insatiably horny for an MMO monster. So…

Gritting her teeth and holding her breath, Lily clicked on the link.

What she saw made her eyes widen in shock. R/CultoftheMagister wasn’t a gaming subreddit. Not in any serious sense of the term.

It was a porn subreddit.

Mouth open and mind reeling, Lily plumbed the forum’s depths with morbid fascination, her screen consumed by an endless feed of Magister-centric smut. There were drawings and 3D-renderings, erotic fiction and steamy confessionals, live-action clips and CG gifs galore. The quality varied from post to post, but the passion on display did not. Every user performed as though actually in a cult, gleefully discussing their deepening corruption and dedication to their Master. The most popular accounts were, of course, the subreddit’s “Priestesses,” female creators who glorified the demonic god with their bodies and proudly shared the results. Among their number, there was one who rose above the rest, whose posts consistently raked in thousands upon thousands of upvotes, whose face and name Lily recognized with a gasp:

Valerie.

The first fellow Walker Lily had ever befriended; the gorgeous goddess who’d brought the Magister into her world; the subject of r/CultoftheMagister’s #1 post, a pornographic gif simply titled:

“Deeper Than Ever Before…My Unworthy Holes Serve My Master.”

Lily couldn’t resist clicking.

The post expanded, and there she was: Valerie, the Magister’s top Priestess, naked and kneeling in a bedroom filled with eye-insignia art and dark, flickering candles. Her flexing thighs straddled a massive, tentacle-shaped dildo, its subtly flared tip just barely kissing the lips of her flushed, glistening sex. She shot the camera a bleary glance, bright blue eyes clouded with arousal, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as a tremble of anticipation rippled across her smooth, bronze skin. Lily felt her own insides throb with sympathetic desire, her pulse pounding as she watched the blonde’s slow descent onto the monstrous appendage, its girth visibly stretching her statuesque body from the inside. By the time her dripping cunt reached the base, it was as if all sense and dignity had been forced from her head, her eyes rolling and tongue lolling with dumb, delirious pleasure.

It was too much. Lily’s fingers were between her legs before she could stop them, circling her swollen clit and pumping between her soaking folds. Her free hand sunk into the soft flesh of her tits, groping and squeezing, tugging and teasing, as if possessed by the same self-destructive desire displayed onscreen. No doubt, to an outside observer, Lily looked just as lost and lustful as Valerie. It didn’t matter. When the golden Priestess began grinding and humping her Master’s stand-in, Lily’s pleasure rose in perfect sync, a shivering moan escaping her lips right as the Priestess’s mouth opened in equivalent ecstasy.

That’s when the second tentacle entered the frame.

Lily couldn’t tell where it’d come from. Perhaps Valerie had attached the dildo to a remotely operable rig, or perhaps an assistant was maneuvering it off-screen. Whatever the trick, its execution was flawless, the fire in Lily surging as the long, wobbling tendril hovered before Valerie’s gaze. Her long lashes fluttered, a thin strand of drool slipped from her lips moments before they closed around the swaying sex-toy, servicing it as dutifully as if it really belonged to a god. In the same instant, a familiar cascade of colors began flowing over her eyes, a visual edit obviously added in post. But no less effective for it.

Lily was close. So close it was almost painful. The release she’d been resisting for so long was now on the verge of eruption. Her lips quivered with pitiful whines and panting breaths, electric arousal sparking across every inch of her flesh. It was positively mesmerizing, watching Valerie inhabit her darkest fantasies, mouth and pussy leaking as her throat bulged and insides worshipped her Master’s colossal, conquering cocks.

But even more arousing than the Priestess’s form was her utter, shameless abandonment. The Valerie from the beginning of the clip, the poised, elegant beauty that had approached Lily at the convention, was nowhere to be seen. In her place was a dumb, drooling breeder, a brainless bitch in heat, a slut with no other purpose beyond being a faithful fuck-pet for her Master. Crude moans and lewd slurps leaked from her mouth, saliva stringing and splattering her tits as she bounced and gagged. Pussy juice gushed violently when she came, her whole body convulsing with animalistic delight, her mindless humping slowing just enough for her cunt to recover before greedily sucking in its owner once again.

That’s what finally pushed Lily over the edge.

“Oh! Oooooaaaaahhhh!” Lily couldn’t stop herself from crying out. The powder keg of pleasure had finally popped, triggering an explosive chain reaction from her curling toes to her fluttering eyelids. Her voice rose until it was barely a squeak, the sound broken as her entire being shuddered with raw, uncontrollable ecstasy. She’d never experienced anything like it. Never before had an orgasm felt so ugly yet irresistible. Never before had she given into pleasure so fully, nor lost herself so completely.

She couldn’t wait to do it again.

By the time the aftershocks ceased, the gif she’d been watching had stopped. But Lily was only getting started. Far from satisfying her, this brief taste of forbidden pleasure had only heightened her appetite. There was no point in fighting anymore, nor denying what she now knew to be true. The Magister wasn’t her new nemesis—it was her new fetish. She wanted to struggle and lose. To watch the monster ravish her avatar and picture herself in its grasp. To indulge in the worst impulses of her imagination. To follow her fantasies to their darkest destinations.

Hours and orgasms blurred together as Lily’s descent into debauchery continued. Only when her hunger pangs become too strong to ignore did she extract herself from her sodden seat and stumble towards the kitchen. There was no time to cook—she could only spare the seconds needed to rip open a bag of chips, stuffing her face as she wobbled back towards her waiting desktop, her tongue licking flavored dust and sticky arousal from her fingers. She knew it was degrading. She knew it was disgraceful. She didn’t care.

The dam inside her had broken. There was no resisting the carnal current it had unleashed. The only question now was how far the black waves would carry her.

Lily couldn’t wait to find out.