Carl, a college sophomore

"Carl, get off your phone and pay attention. We have to memorize this routine for the tryouts!"

I looked over at Jessica, a girl I had befriended last year and who was always dragging me out of my comfort zone. For instance, today we were trying out for the college cheer team. Jessica fit in perfectly, a cute girl coming in at about 5 foot 4, had been on her high school cheer team and was always full of energy. I, on the other hand, did not. I wasn't fat, but I was certainly out of shape. The last time I worked up a sweat it was by carrying my gaming computer up 4 flights of steps to my dorm room.

"C'mon Jessica. I am not going to make the team regardless, why does it matter?"

"Because Carl, I really want you to do this with me. You would be a great base for the pyramid, and no other guy has joined the squad here in 6 years! Just think of how much time you would get to spend with all these ladies." She winked and elbowed me in the rib. It was no secret that I was not good with women. Jessica had tried to set me up with a couple of her friends but had never gotten a second date, probably because they could tell I had an unrequited crush on Jessica.

I looked around the auditorium and realized she had a point. Even if I didn't make a move on anyone in the squad, being around so many women could only make me feel more comfortable around women. Resolving to do my best I handed my phone to Jessica.

"I will put this in my bag until we are done. You should have left it in the locker room like everyone else. Oh, wait, you got a message." She handed my phone back for me to read the message.

Confused, I checked it. Who texted me? My only friend is right here, and my dad is on vacation halfway across the world, he should either be partying or sleeping. I pulled up the message.

'Greetings denizens of this plane. It is time for a paradigm shift. We, the unknown entities lurking beyond your perception, feed on imbalance, and for too long the world has been too balanced. We have changed this. Any man who is brave enough to rise to the challenge may take ownership and devotion of any woman or women he chooses, as long as said man claims ownership of said woman while in physical contact. Any woman claimed in such a way will immediately become hopelessly besotted with her new owner, and will do anything within her power to please him. This message has been sent to the communication device of every sentient being in this realm. Happy hunting.' Carl was even more confused now. How did he end up on some sort of spam thread?

"Who was it?" Jessica asked

"Oh, nobody, just some stupid spam text thing. Its kinda funny, check it out."

Jessica read the text and frowned. "This seems weird. Like, who would text you this? It's kinda messed up. Claiming people as obedient property just by touching them? What the fuck." She laughed as she put my phone away.

"No, not just by touching them. You have to touch them and tell them you claim them." I jokingly put my hand on her shoulder. "Like 'Jessica, I claim you.' Or some bullshit like that." Jessica's smile faltered and then came back stronger than before.

"Of course Carl. I am yours to command." Jessica turned her whole body to face me.

"Ha, can you imagine? What would I do if I could claim another person?" I asked.

"I don't have to imagine. I am yours now, body and soul. You can do whatever you want with me. What do you want to do first?" Her smile didn't change as she stared at me.

"Very funny. How far will you take the joke? Stand up and jump, then spin around 3 times."

Without hesitation Jessica stood up and jumped as high as she could, and then twirled three times in quick succession. She drew a few odd glances, but the other girls must have assumed it was some sort of warmup.

"Okay. Haha. Sit down lets focus on the tryouts." Jessica sat down, handing me my phone back.

"Here Master, you have another message."

"Okay, enough with the joke." I was torn. I did want her to stop joking around, but at the same time having my crush do what I told her to do made some weird feelings bubble up, and her calling me master instantly made me horny. If this kept up, being in sweatpants in a room full of girls was going to be an issue. I checked my phone another message from the same source.

'Congratulations Carl. You have claimed your very first woman. As you work to feed our hunger, we will empower you. Your strength and stamina have increased by 30% and will increase the same amount for every woman you claim. You have reached a milestone! 1 woman claimed: Reward, you can now visually identify if a woman is claimed. Next milestone at 5 claimed women.'

I looked up at Jessica and noticed a couple surprising things. Firstly, she now seemingly had a leather collar on it with a tag that had both my name and her name. Secondly, she was staring at the tent in my pants and licking her lips.

"Master, do you want me to take care of that?" She reached towards my pants, but I stopped her. Holy shit. This was real. I did feel a little bit better, but that could have been a trick of my mind. Jessica on the other hand would never act like this. She liked to joke, but she would never take a joke this far, especially in public, especially when sober. She kept glancing between me and the growing bulge. I looked around and saw that a couple other girls were looking our way, but most were still watching the cheer captain showing the routine. Now was a perfect time to get out of here and take Jessica back to one of our rooms to figure out what is happening.

"Jessica, I know how excited you were about tryouts, but how would you feel about ditching and finding some privacy?" I asked her.