“Well, huh?” the first words that came out of my mouth were that of surprise. For whatever reason, I was lying on a very hard wooden surface being hugged by an attractive older woman. She was hanging onto me like I was some kind of life raft. While still confused at whatever the fuck was going on a flood of memories rushed me like a tidal wave. I felt a moment of vertigo as all these alien memories settled in place.

“Fuck me.......” I sighed as realization hit me. I was transported to another world, legitimately said into someone else’s body. To add to that I knew where I got thrown to. It was the game I was playing right up to before I died, which out of all the infinite possibilities why did it have to be this one.

To add some clarity to my statement. I was playing an adult game made by some very passionate developers. This game was very niche but had a shit ton of depth on all fronts. The only problem for me at least was the setting they used.

This world is very matriarchal and men had a very shit time of it. The women here had a much higher sex drive, in fact, an integral part of this game was managing a woman’s libido what the game referred to as “heat”. As a game it was very fun to manage it and sometimes even leave it be to see how they force themselves on you, it only came at the cost of hp. You can imagine how that might translate if the game was real.

To add insult to injury the game male unit I was incarnated into had the base class attractive. So, in this game, you could hire male units if too many female units joined the main character all of whom had needs and the mc only had so much energy. Attractive units were the best if all you wanted was to make your army more manageable, they were considered overpowered in fact because their charisma stat matched the mc. To balance this the developers made it so that with attractive units the heat of female units was raised much faster. While I was playing the game it was worrying how low the hp of a party centered around an attractive male constantly was.

I was now one of those stupid units.

“Ok, ok I hundred percented this game how can you deal with this?” I mumbled as the pain of lying on a hard surface was starting to get to me. As I started to shift uncomfortably the woman who I now knew as my mother started to wake up. Looking at her face made me realize the lady’s eyes were puffy, why I did not know.

“Mom... What happened?” words came out of my mouth before I registered what was happening. It felt so natural that it was giving me whiplash.

“Nothing son. Nothing, mommy is just happy to see you are ok.” tears were threatening to break out of my eyes. I knew what happy tears were and that was not happy. Sorrow started to take me as well, an alien feeling that was not my own. I barely even knew this woman outside of the implanted memories.

However, since this was clearly out of my depth, I let these new sensations guide me. I put my arms around her.

“It’s all going to be okay. We are all here and together nothing can take that from us.” I whispered a saying our dad always used to say when things got particularly hard for us. At the same time, I felt something draw from the core of my being and a soothing aura washed over her. Her shoulders which I now noticed were stiff and relaxed and her expression softened to a much happier one.

“Your right. This is just another bump; this might help us in fact,” she said with gusto all sorrow gone as though it was all a mere act. I got my second bout of whiplash in as many minutes. What just happened?

It took a bit, but a smile dawned on my face at what just happened. I just used my first civil skill.

For the first time, it hit me. I was no longer on earth, now trapped in a known but alien world where my old sensibilities and convictions mean jack shit. In fact, in this world, I was considered a part of the weaker sex where lives are worth a lot less. I started hyperventilating as the loss of everything I once held dear started to crash onto me at once.

Warm arms wrapped around me like a comforting blanket.

“It’s ok. It is all going to be ok” soft words were spoken into my ear, there was so much warmth and comfort edged with supernatural hopefulness that my distress started to come down. Some part of me knew that the skill was playing a huge role and the woman was, in reality, a stranger to me but at that moment I simply did not care. I clung to the warmth which soothed my hyperactive mind that kept spiraling.

The moment ended when my parent’s bedroom door opened and instead of one-two people came out. I could feel my mother’s mood drop a little even in this aura at the presence of the women who looked well put together though based on the beauty standards set by the game. She had a lazy smirk on her face and gave me a look that was not innocent by any stretch of the word and quietly left, leaving only the three of us in our small home.