Saturday Story 2025 #27 (The Black Queen: Legend – Part 20)

This unique take on the world of The Black Queen continues today on my Patreon. This tale plays with the ideas of the original stories and turns them upside down in unexpected ways. It will be a long multi-parter with plenty of surprises along the way. Synopsis below:

When Jeremy is tasked with writing a piece about an erotic urban legend, he discovers some truths are better left buried.

In today’s installment – Part 20 – Laura discovers the truth about everything that happened, and the revelation changes her forever. The story is now complete.

To read this story before anyone else, head over to my Patreon page and become Spell… B-O-U-N-D, too. The minimum pledge for this type of early access is $5 per month.

An excerpt is available below:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/133993549

Laura sat at her computer, eyes facing the screen, but she wasn’t looking at it – Oh, no! They saw past it, beyond infinity, as if they had bore witness to something too terrifying to explain. She was no longer the same person after the events at Deirdre’s underground lab, and who could blame her?

Far too many things troubled her mind nowadays. There were the nightmares, nocturnal revisitations of her time trapped inside Omicron’s digital fantasy. All the gruesome details that she had tried to forget, were always coming back to her, stronger than ever, making her dread going into bed.

Then, there were the voices, echoes of her worries being whispered in her ears when she least expected them. Triggers and mantras self-replicated inside her weakening thoughts, constant reminders that the abyss was closer than she thought. She tried to drown them with music, silly videos, and more coding projects than she could handle, but they were fucking relentless, digital ghosts brought to life by her memories.

And finally, the worst of them all: the impossible visions who walked, talked, and touched her body and mind at the same time: the dark-haired woman whose face was always changing, though she seemed to love lingering on Deirdre’s features to mock her. What began as random impressions in the corner of her eye was now a full-fledged apparition that all her senses could register. But there was nothing benevolent about it.

Laura sighed, her throat dry. She was back and standing right behind her. Her silky voice chilled her to the bone.

“Hello, Laura. Are you ready to talk today?”

“Go away. You’re not real,” the hacker replied, but she knew saying that was as good as nothing. When the thing emerged, it would only leave of its own volition.

“Are we going to play that game again? Of course, I’m real. You and countless others throughout the world make me real. Legends don’t disappear. They take on different forms as necessity arises. You need to listen to me.”

“No, I don’t!” Laura spat. “My brain is fucked up, but if I ignore you, it will be on its way to recovery sooner than later. Get out! You’re not welcome here.”

“If only it were that easy, my dear,” The Black Queen said. “I’ve been waiting for this moment. Listen to me.”

Laura closed her eyes and started singing to herself, hoping that the sound of her voice would remove the unearthly presence from the world, but it was as much of a fool’s errand as trying to argue with it. Words and ideas would be shared no matter what. All she needed to do was refuse to believe in them.

(…)

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