It was a chilly night and a pale half-moon hung in the leaden sky. There were only a handful of stars above Jeremy’s head, with the rest obscured by billowing clouds as if a storm was drawing in. He was in a place unknown, a city he had never heard of except in stories like the one he was now writing about. He was walking along a row of warehouses, the smell of salted water reaching his nostrils. The sound of waves crashing against an old wooden pier was the only thing breaking the sepulchral silence around him.

Jeremy moved slowly, his tired eyes observing the rectangular buildings, most of which had been abandoned a long time ago. As he continued walking, he recognized the scenery from the first Black Queen story, the unsuspecting birth of the legend, and sighed. He had allowed himself to get so absorbed by his research that he was now recreating familiar descriptions while sleeping. The awareness of it all should have comforted him and yet produced the opposite effect. Something undefined crawled up his spine and made him stop in his tracks. Was his mind trying to tell him he wasn’t supposed to be there?

Up ahead, there was a purple light flashing above a half-open metal door. It pulsated at steady intervals like a lighthouse beacon giving solace and guidance to the ships passing in the night, but to Jeremy, it was more than that. It was an invitation to a dimension of kink where each new discovery could prove fatal. He hesitated to continue and pinched himself, hoping to return to the waking world, but nothing happened. He turned around and saw the nocturnal skyline being enveloped by purple mist and dissolving into nothingness. The dream wanted him to go forward and he had no choice but to comply.

Jeremy walked to the door and stepped inside the warehouse, following a dim corridor until he reached a large square room adorned with royal curtains, a golden throne, and a violet carpet leading up to it. The room was larger than the building that housed it and appeared to continue expanding as he moved forward. It was a neat trick, made only possible by the unique nature of dreams or the matter-bending rules of an old sci-fi and fantasy TV show.

There was a shadow sitting on the throne, her legs crossed. Jeremy couldn’t see her face, only her glowing violet eyes. When she spoke, her voice was as inviting as a siren’s call, and made his legs tremble with unbridled excitement.

“Welcome, Jeremy. I hear you’ve been looking for me,” she said.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Don’t be impertinent. You know who I am. Now, shouldn’t you be kneeling before your Queen?”

“No, because you’re not real. The Black Queen is just a character, a modern-day boogeyman for desperate souls or people looking a good wank. You’re erotic fodder, nothing more.”

“Am I? Are you sure about that? All legends have a hint of truth to them. Why should mine be any different? Come closer. I want to see your face.”

“I think I’d rather stay here,” Jeremy responded, planting his feet on the colorful carpet.

“I said, COME!” The Black Queen commanded, an inviting finger pulling him in. Jeremy started walking again, this time devoid of volition. It seemed that in that place, all the rules were hers and no one else’s. As he closed the gap between the entrance of the room and her opulent seat encrusted with purple gems, his surroundings changed and he saw hundreds of people - mostly men, but there were a handful of women too, - kneeling in lavish adoration. Their eyes were blank, all their thoughts rewritten. The sole purpose of their subservient existence was to please their mind mistress in any way she desired. Jeremy looked down at the swarming mass of bodies and shuddered. How could anyone think a vision like that was hot and worth being a part of was beyond. He tried to resist taking another step but his feet were his in name only. All the muscles in his aching body were responding to the mellifluous call of the powerful monarch.

“Neat trick,” he muttered as she pointed downward, demanding he finished the rest of his journey on his hands and knees.

“It’s not a trick, just how things are meant to be. The Black Queen is Power, the Black Queen is Control...” she cooed.

The famous mantra echoed in his ears, each word ringing true and not a product of erotic fiction. “Everyone must kneel,” she said. “You’re no exception.”

“That’s not going to happen,” he growled.

“That’s what everyone says right before I take their minds and make them mine. Look at them, Jeremy! All those enslaved souls once stood where you are, proclaiming their defiance and resistance against my divine right, but they were all mistaken. Delusions of grandeur are the easiest to overcome. All one needs to know is which strings to pull, and even the strongest individuals unravel before our feet. Whatever is going on in your mind right now is wrong. You too will become a part of my legion of obedient thralls.”

“No. This is not real and I have no intention of submitting to you like the men in your stories. In a moment, I’ll wake up and all of this will go away.”

“Hmm, it’s cute you think it’s that easy. There’s a reason my legend survived this long. Once I get inside people’s heads, I’m always there, haunting their days and nights until they give in. You may not believe it but the steps you’ve taken so far have been nothing but preparation for your complete debasement. I already know how your story will end.”

The Black Queen’s magnetic pull became stronger, making his knees tingle and buckle forward. Jeremy kneeled four feet away from the throne, close enough to see her angelic visage. The Nubian Goddess was even prettier than any previous description with her generous curves wrapped in tight PVC and shiny black thigh-high boots. Her ebony hair was long, and her full lips, a pool of endless seduction. Her eyes, whose uncanny color was often attributed to special contacts were cold and calculating, and yet irresistible, tying his tongue in knots the longer he stared at them.

“This is not real...” he muttered in his thoughts. “Keep it together, Jeremy. This is not real.”

The Black Queen rose from her throne and there was a collective gasp of surprise and adoration as all the brainwashed servants lowered their gaze to look at the floor. They were not worthy. They would never be worthy to see her otherworldly beauty unless she willed it so. The living legend circled the trembling yet still resistant man and grabbed him by the hair, whispering,

“Everything you can think of is real while you’re thinking it. All it takes is one thought, one idea flourishing in your mind for an obsession to become your life. The more you look for me the deeper you’ll go, so do us all a favor and give in now. Accept me as your superior and the only thing in this world worth living for, and you’ll be a happy man. Forget the stress of writing things you don’t want to write. Forget your boss and his silly demands. The only thing you need is the pleasure of not having any thoughts of your own, just like all of them. You too can become a part of the legend if you open yourself to me like your mind is dying to. That’s why you’re here. That’s why your dreams have become entangled with my world. Deep down, you’re a submissive boy with unfulfilled needs of servitude and devotion. I’m here to sate your hunger. I’m here to quench your thirst. I’m here to rule your world. Pledge your undying allegiance to your Queen and let me take care of the rest.”

Silky hands slid down his neck and chest, her purple-painted nails grazing the skin with seductive intent. Her words were the sweetest poison known to Mankind, every single one of them conspiring against his sanity. Jeremy bit his tongue but no scream came out, muffled by the insidious brainwashing already taking place in the deepest recesses of his subconscious? If this was indeed just his imagination firing on all cylinders, then why was his cock so hard, shooting upward like a rocket on its way to the moon? His engorged balls responded to her suggestions, wanting to hear more until they exploded in utter bliss.

“Hmm, yes...” The Black Queen wrapped one hand around his genitalia and squeezed. “See this right here? This is the real you, the source of all your energy and woes. Men are simple to control because so much of your existence is centered on your libido and the need to shoot your load. If you control their cocks, you control their minds. This filthy appendage of yours is the reason you’ll never be able to resist me.”

“You’re wrong. I will always deny you and whatever sick fantasies you bring forth. Myths have no power over me. I choose my destiny and it has no place for what you are and what you stand for.”

“Is that so?” The Black Queen grinned and released his manhood from her overpowering grasp. “If that’s what you think, then why are you on your knees before me? Stand up and walk away. Wake yourself up if this is only in your head. If you’re right, then you should be strong enough to deny me, then.”

He was. Of course, he was. He didn’t believe in her just like didn’t believe in fairies, vampires, and ghouls. There was nothing supernatural or divine about a sultry character conjured up in the dead of night. 

Jeremy tried to stand up but The Black Queen pressed her heels against his heavy legs pinning him to the ground and his new subservient position. The shiny boots commanded his lips to yield and his tongue to lick them clean. Heaven was black and had the taste of a woman.

“Go on, Jeremy! Fight me and leave,” she whispered. “Or go deeper inside the rabbit hole you’ve uncovered and let me show you the beauty of servitude. My legend was forged a long time ago but your true journey is just beginning. Kiss my boots and show me you understand your true purpose. To be under my control is perfection incarnate.”

“The Black Queen is Power, the Black Queen is control...” the obedient thralls surrounding them sang in unison. They all longed for such an honor, and to lose themselves even further in the depths of her depravity. Jeremy stared at the boots as they reflected the unnatural glow of her eyes onto his weary pupils. This wasn’t real, but it was such an enticing dream, promising greatness as capitulation, a new state of being devoid of worries and pain. For eons, philosophers, mystics, and religious men around the world had sought the path of transcendence, a way to shed an old skin and embrace infinity. The vision talking to him offered that and so much more with her sultry voice and commanding presence. 

“The Black Queen is Power, the Black Queen is control...” the mindfucked servants repeated one, two, three times all the way to infinity. They yearned for his voice to join the submissive choir, forever bound to the wishes and whims of their superior ruler. The louder they sang the less he could hear his own thoughts, submerged under a deluge of intoxicating bliss. One kiss and the walls of his persona would crumble.

The impossible monarch towered over him, her heels searing his flesh. Behind her, the luxurious curtains rose to reveal a cornucopia of iridescent spirals plastered on the warehouse’s wall. They too demanded his attention and capitulation just like in the stories of old, the memories of a time long gone, reawakened and revisited, more powerful than ever. 

“Be mine, Jeremy,” she commanded. “Let me in.”

Lulled by the ever-rising voices of her obedient servants, the engrossing spirals in her background and the weight of her boots on his legs, Jeremy leaned forward, pursed his lips, and...

* * *

“What the fuck? Jeremy, wake up!” A familiar female voice rang in his ears, somewhere on the threshold between consciousness and unconsciousness, the realm of the living where logic and reason ruled, and the pocket dimension of sexual fantasies where a woman with violet eyes made everything bend to her will. Something wet splashed his face, cold water from a plastic cup held by a baffled woman.

He opened his eyes and saw Laura tapping her feet like a teacher angry at her favorite student. She was wearing a pair of striped pink vinyl pants and a black tank top with the words “Angry Bitch” stylized in the shape of an ECG strip. Her curly hair was pulled back and she was wearing goth-like makeup with black, dark blue, and silver undertones. He blinked three times as his eyes adjusted themselves to the brightness of his bedroom and asked,

“Laura, what are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“I broke in, duh! It’s not like your lock is complicated or anything.”

“No, I guess it’s not, but why? You’re quite far away from home, aren’t you?”

“I was in the neighborhood following a bad date - don’t ask! - and decided to surprise you with a quick visit to see how your erotic quest was going. When I got here, I thought you were in trouble so I rushed in to help. Had I known you were partying on your own instead, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

“Partying?” Jeremy looked at her, confused. What the hell are you talking about?"

“Are you serious? Look down, mister. If that’s not a party, I don’t know what it is.”

Jeremy followed her bemused gaze to his legs and shook his head. He was naked from the waist down, his deflated cock hanging like a plastic bag. His hand were sweaty and his legs were covered in fresh droplets of cum and there were stains on the sheets and the carpet as well. The nocturnal exercise had been anything but boring.

“What the...? How did this happen?”

“You were jerking off in your sleep,” she smirked. “That was a first, even for me. I thought you were in distress with the way you were moaning and kicking your legs against the bed, but no! Just a good old wank.”

“There’s nothing good about this,” he covered his genitals with his hands and rushed to the bathroom to clean himself. “Fuck, this is embarrassing!”

“Hey, everybody loves self-gratification, so you’ve got nothing to worry about. I just want to know what got you so horny you couldn’t help yourself even when asleep. Spill it, Jeremy! What’s your secret?”

“I was having a dream,” he replied behind the locked bathroom door. “The weirdest dream I’ve ever had.”

“Oh? Was I a part of it? Am I so desirable to you you can’t keep me out of your mind no matter what?”

“No, I... I was dreaming about The Black Queen.”

“Really?” Laura sat on the other end of the bed, legs crossed, and waited for him to come out. “Tell me everything.”

((to be continued))