“There’s no way!” Sebastian exclaimed as he held the silver and blue device against the winter morning light. “Can you believe this?”
“I don’t know,” his best friend Charles lay down a fantasy sword replica to stare at his precious discovery. “What exactly am I looking at?”
“Dude, are you for real?” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “It’s a fucking Dreamcube, only the best video game console ever created!”
“Never heard of it,” Charles shrugged.
“Oh, come on! Have you been living under a rock all this time?”
The two men - aged 36 and 34, respectively, were out and about, enjoying their longstanding monthly tradition. Every five weeks, they would hit the road looking for garage sales and antique stores, looking for irresistible deals to spend their paycheck on. While Sebastian enjoyed the hunt a lot more than Charles, it was usually the latter that ended up seeing his bank account grow smaller at an alarming rate, for his tastes were more refined and, therefore, more expensive. During their hauls, they had procured such things as a phonograph, a collection of Japanese secret puzzle boxes, an antique clock that worked by weights running under gravity, unboxed limited-edition action figures from the late 70s, and more. It was the first time the world of video games made an appearance, though.
“No, but I never got the appeal of those things growing up. What’s so special about it?”
“This was all the rage when it came out. Every kid in my neighborhood wanted one but they were quite expensive. I remember going to the mall to look at the demo station they had there, and when they rotated the games on display, I was a happy camper. Ah, good old days...”
“So, are you buying that or not?”
“I just might... the console looks in perfect condition, and it even comes with the original cables and the instruction manual... now, if I could only find some games... Help me look, will you?”
“What do the boxes look like?”
“Square. Glossy, with a black and blue stripe at the top,” Sebastian pointed at a pile to his right and another behind him. “See what you can find.”
“Okay.”
Charles rummaged through a vast collection of cases containing all sorts of software escapades. There were first-person shooters, janky early 3d survival horror titles, platformers with dubious mascots, and colorful puzzlers galore, but also some unexpected delights like the port of the second entry in the Femdom Farm series and...
“That!” Sebastian almost bit his tongue with excitement. “Give it to me right now.”
“Here you go,” Charles handed him a slightly worn box whose cover image depicted a woman with purple/violet eyes, partially enshrouded in darkness.
“Fuck yeah!” Sebastian cheered. “This just made my day.”
“What is it?”
“This, my friend, is The Black Queen: Impending Doom, a fantasy action/adventure title I’ve always wanted to play as a kid but never got the chance to. It sold gangbusters back in the day but then the developer folded a couple of years later and the last remaining copies in the wild became prohibitively expensive. It’s been ages since I’ve seen one of these.”
“It’s still expensive as fuck!” Charles glanced at the price tag. “You’re seriously not giving two hundred and fifty dollars for a game, right?”
“You know what? I sure am!” Sebastian bagged both the console and the game. “And give me that copy of Femdom Farm II, while you’re at it.”
“Dude, seriously! Your wife is going to kill you when she finds out.”
“Ginny doesn’t have to know for now, okay? I’ll put them in the basement and when she discovers them two or three months down the line, I’ll tell her they’ve always been there, and she’ll never suspect a thing as usual.”
“You’re such a child, sometimes.”
“Guilty as charged, but who cares? Are you getting something for yourself or what?”
“Not today.”
“Let’s get out of here, then. I want to hook this baby up and try it before Ginny comes back from work.”
“Hey man, it’s your funeral!” Charles grinned. While Ginny was okay with his collecting habits for the most part, money spent on games would never stop being a waste to her. He would enjoy his new toy before her truth ruined his day.

* * *

About an hour later, they were both back at Sebastian’s house, but not for long. Despite his friend’s insistence, Charles chose not to stick around for the great trip down memory lane.
“Are you sure?” Sebastian asked.
“Positive. You’re the one that likes these things, not me. I hope you have fun.”
“Oh, I will,” Sebastian said as he started opening the box. The twenty-year-old machine was as good as new, the stylized geometric shape with a slew of multicolored buttons on the left face and the shiny controller ports on the right one exuding the same futuristic aura that had captivated millions of people around the world. The Dreamcube had always been ahead of its time and it was still an impressive (and sexy) piece of tech.
Sebastian hooked it up, turned on the TV, and was immediately engrossed by the synth jingle accompanying the console’s logo on the center of the screen. Since the device predated the age of mandatory online updates, it was good to go in less than a minute, the disc drive blinking with a soothing white light. He placed the coveted game inside and allowed the fanfare of the menu screen to play for a couple of minutes while he grabbed a drink and some delicious yet unhealthy snacks. He had about three hours before Ginny back home and he was going to enjoy them to the max.
When the game started, nostalgia’s pink goggles stopped working. The graphics were a lot worse than he remembered and the constant frame drops during the opening level were nauseating enough to give him a headache. He persevered because he really liked the overall fantasy setting and wanted to feel young once more. 
Things improved considerably in the second hour, but they were still not great. His biggest issue was how sluggish some of his attacks felt until he remembered upgrades came in the form of scrolls he had to collect in each level. The first doubled the speed of his normal attack and the second extended the length of his blade for more devastating combos. The more additional skills he unlocked the better he felt.
Another half an hour later and he had already mastered several unforgiving techniques that gave him the upper hand against the Black Queen’s minions. The next chapter promised a major twist in the plot but it had to wait for another occasion. He turned off the TV, packed the console away, and cleaned everything up right before his energetic, and sometimes overly controlling spouse arrived. He played his cards right and kept his purchasing secrets to himself. Charles was right. There would hell to pay if she discovered his shenanigans ahead of time.
The rest of the day came and gone and the full moon hanging in the sky brought it with a familiar desire he hadn’t felt in a long time. He needed to play some more and uncover all the secrets of his adventure. He couldn’t wait.

* * *

Three days went by before he could get the console up and running again. Between taking Ginny to dinner on their anniversary, and having her parents stop by for a surprise visit, he was too busy being social and polite to find the time to murder hundreds of lust-driven virtual creatures, but when the occasion presented itself, he was back in the cursed world of Alluria hoping to come closer of destroying the evil hypnotic-eyed sorceress for good.
The first minutes of the new session was a bust as if he had already forgotten everything he had learned before. Then, muscle memory kicked in and a couple of additional scrolls increased his repertoire. He was already a killing machine when he reached the adventure’s mid-point and a lavish CGI scene started playing.
The Black Queen’s character model had always looked too good to be true. Whether clad in flowing robes or wearing a skintight dress that made every digital curve of hers a menace to horny teenagers and adult men alike, she was an icon of deadly femininity he wouldn’t mind succumbing to... with moderation, of course. She was flamboyant yet regal, raven hair framing an impossibly beautiful face that, much like Helen of Troy, could command a thousand ships with a single stare.
Sebastian watched in awe as the scene of her first arrival on the battlefield played out and the dynamic of the game changed for the better. With the antagonist finally unleashed, the levels that followed became tighter but much more dangerous to navigate as well. Infused by her dark magic, new variants of enemies wreaked hell with their curved swords and bloodstained claws, and friends of old became zombie-like foes, enslaved by the evil puppeteer’s will. The battles became frenetic with exploding particles and dramatic slow-mo effects making the fantasy land more oppressive by the second. The spectacle didn’t always work as intended but it was pushing the console’s specs hard and that was commendable.
The hours flew by even faster the second time, the fun ending abruptly when he looked at his watch. He would at least another session to reach the Black Queen’s castle, but whether that meant the end of the game or simply another turning point on his adventure remained to be seen. 
“Soon,” he whispered to the game’s box as he packed everything else again. The titular character’s beautiful eyes almost seemed to smile when he did, promising a revelation his eager mind wasn’t ready to process.

* * *

Two days later, he was back at the controls, dishing out impressive sword combos and earth-shattering spells, only to find out he had to backtrack to collect additional scrolls to even attempt the final boss. The third gaming session was an exercise in repetition and frustration served in spades, with recycled bosses blocking branching paths and health drops becoming scarce. Even with maxed-out abilities, the difficulty spike was noticeable and lazy. He hated practically every minute but got the job done. The last sequence was now at hand. Sebastian sighed and headed toward the Black Queen’s castle.
As expected in a triple AAA title, the final location of the game was impressive in terms of scale and grandeur. The same couldn’t be said about the gameplay offered, though. With only a couple of rooms to navigate before triggering the wrath of the evil monarch, it was obvious the developers had cut corners, thus depriving the players of a truly riveting climax. At least, the final fight was entertaining enough.
The Black Queen was quite the aggressive opponent, and her magic spells were often chaotic and unpredictable but he was ready for every dirty trick up her sleeve. Collecting all the scrolls had given his character increased resilience, speed, and attack power, more than enough to either tank or evade her most destructive techniques. No matter how hard the AI fought, he was simply too powerful.
Darkness fell and so did the virtual menace, the beautifully rendered sorceress drowning in a pool of blood on the castle floor. The cutscene wasn’t as impressive as the preceding ones but considering it was made with two decades old tech, it was still inspiring. While the overall package hadn’t lived up to his childhood expectations, The Black Queen: Impending Doom was still a classic, and worthy of being treated as such. Sebastian lay down the controller, stretched, and waited for the credits to roll...
... which never came. Instead, he was greeted by a morphing transition, unlike anything he had ever seen before. The face of the Black Queen slowly transitioned from a digital avatar to a lifelike woman whose magnetic eyes pierced the TV screen at about the same time the background dissolved into an array of blue spirals, red squares, and green moving lines, a mind-melting kaleidoscope that flooded the living room with its overwhelming radiance.
Sebastian barely had time to react, the muscles on his hands and feet becoming heavy. The mesmeric spectacle continued as a low buzzing sound infiltrated his ears, slowly rendering his brain numb. It was as if he was staring at the embodiment of one of the mighty foe’s spells, a dark command whose sole purpose in life was to capture weak-minded souls and turn them into obedient meat puppets. Unblinking, he absorbed the impossibly compelling chromatic show, welcoming every nuance with devotion and wonderment. 
He was already drifting in and out of consciousness when a beautiful woman’s voice, a relic from an age long gone, became the only thing he was allowed to focus on and believe in. The purring vixen said,
“Congratulations! You have finished my game. In order to celebrate your achievement, I’ve arranged a small surprise for you, but you’ll have to come and collect it. I’m at Dock 15, warehouse 3 waiting for you. The combination to the door is 19672. Come to me….”
“I...” he heard himself saying but his voice was but a murmur, a drop of water in a vast, roaring ocean whose waves obliterated everything they came in touch with. He registered the subliminal command but failed to process it. Much like the company that had created such a visually arresting spectacle, the location that had ensnared so many men like him in the past was no more, a memory lost to time, progress, and furious skyscrapers reaching angrily for the sky like heretic biblical towers. Nothing of that time remained, save for the hypnotic signal slowly burrowing into his psyche.
Sebastian continued to lose himself from within, oblivious to his surroundings and how much time had elapsed since the game’s hidden message had taken root inside his brain. He didn’t hear Ginny arrive home, nor did he notice when she came to him, touched his right shoulder, and asked,
“Honey, what’s going on here?”
Vision blurred and jaw slacking, Sebastian raised his head to look at her, seeing black hair where there should have been red and magnetic purple eyes instead of green.
“Are you my Queen?” 
“What?” Ginny confronted his vitreous gaze and then the full extent of his forbidden purchases. “Seb, have you been spending our money on pointless junk again?”
“I’m here for my surprise, my Queen,” the confused husband said, the virtual world and the real world intersecting within his altered state of mind.
“Surprise? Seeing you waste your time with games is already one and hardly pleasant. Turn this thing off immediately.”
“I... I don’t think I can...” he replied, falling into a light trance again when another iteration of the swirling patterns hit his eyes.
“You can’t? Sebastian Brooks, are you trying to be funny?”
“I need to obey my Queen...” he replied, his body slowly sinking to the floor. “Are you my Queen?”
Ginny stepped between the flat-screen television and his kneeling figure, her slender frame lit by the mesmeric display. She looked down, she said,
“Huh, your mind is really fucked up for some reason, isn’t it?”
“I need to obey my Queen,” he repeated, every neuronal connection turning into a puddle of submissive goo. “Are you my Queen?”
“Interesting...” Ginny crossed her arms and smirked. For the first time in five years of marriage, she had every reason to be happy with one of these impulse decisions after all. Despite not fully understanding what was going on, she could learn and perhaps make her man the best version of himself yet.
“Yes, dear, I am,” she replied, stepping on his naked hands. “And you will submit to me.”
Sebastian nodded silently, awash in blissful adoration. The past was no more and could never return, but the future awaited beyond pixels and pre-rendered cutscenes. The Black Queen would always live inside his drooling thoughts, reshaping his way of looking at the world and the women within it, starting with his beloved wife. It was time to be played and happily give in.

The End