The Chained Watcher

Backstory: A Pawn Gone Wild

Remember G's pantheon days? Remember how someone went and summoned a Hero? Such a shame their summoned pawn was released into the wild. Such a shame.

~~~

So, get this straight. Isekai, right? The lifelong dream of any otaku, full of adventure and magic and maybe even romance. The perfect opportunity to start anew!

If only.

Pulling his hood further over his head, Nick keeps his eyes fixed on the cobbled road in front of him, refusing to acknowledge the warrior priests of War and Death trying to recruit anyone who looks strong and healthy. He is not getting dragged into their pointless divine war, not if he can help it.

He remembers his summoning all too clearly. The suffocating violet light that clawed and tugged at him, dragging him through this eldritchly terrifying nothingness to bring him to his summoners. It rewrote something in him. That invasive light, that magic, went inside him, and it changed something. His thoughts aren't in English anymore, and he can't remember how he used to speak, and the more he dwells on it the more terrified he gets.

Breathe. Don't focus on it. Inhale. Hold. Hold. Exhale.

After that, he found himself kneeling before a god. Or... something that claimed to be a god. The 'god' of Stars told him his duty as the Hero of Stars was to train himself for a divine war set to start a decade or so from his summoning. He'd tried to ask for more details on it, like why the gods were going to fight, but the god who'd summoned him just got more visibly irritated with every question.

He'd been kept there in the Temple of Stars for about a day. Then, while trying to sneak out, he'd heard muffled voices from the giant god-sized door he'd been told by the priests to never touch, let alone open. It was supposedly the god's inner sanctum. What he interpreted that as was, 'bedroom'. One of the things an ethereal god shouldn't actually need that was nonetheless present.

Sure, it was a risk, but his curiosity drew him to press his ear to the door, eavesdropping on a god.

"Disqualified?! What do you mean I'm disqualified?!"

"Watch your temper, Grylawx. You know exactly why. The rules for this exam were clear. No Heroes. They're too much of a wild card, and can twist luck into such knots of insanity just by existing that it threatens the secrecy of the planet."

"So the Hero is the problem? Fine. I'll just kill it then."

Cold sweat slithered down his back at those words, and the complete and utter lack of concern for the sanctity of life held within. His life. If the messenger hadn't spoken again, he likely would never have lived to see the dawn.

"No, the damage is already done. Killing it won't un-disqualify you, and at this point the verdict is to just let it run around to add another variable to the exam."

"Is the Hero a problem or isn't it! Which is it?!"

"Oh, it's definitely a problem. However, it'll be a problem no matter what we do with it, so the Facility Leader ruled we let it run wild to test adaptability in the still qualified candidates. Speaking of, I'm also here to escort you off of the Facility Leader's pet planet."

"And if I don't leave?"

"Well one would think you wiser than that, but I suppose I might be assuming too much of you considering your recent flaunting of the rules. If you're still on the planet a day from now, the Facility Leader will alleviate their irritation using you. I don't suppose I need to spell out what that would entail?"