Akira stayed limp for an hour and after thinking the hooded figure left
he scrambled to the door, panic driving him. He yanked, pushed, slammed. Locked. Reinforced. Every attempt failed.
His chest pounded not just from fear, but something deeper. Something in his veins throbbed and burned. A tingling warmth spread rapidly through his body, like fire rushing along nerves he didn't know existed.
What is happening to me?!
A sudden, sharp pressure gripped his chest. His heart lurched violently, pain shooting up his arm. His vision blurred, darkness creeping in from the edges. The walls seemed to tilt, the torchlight flickering and dancing with a life of its own.
A low hum vibrated in the air around him. Symbols, fleeting and strange, flickered across the floor beneath his feet and along the walls almost invisible, almost alive. Magic, reacting to him. Responding.
He gasped, clutching his chest.
"Ahh!!!"
The pressure doubled, constricting, making every breath a battle. His knees buckled, and he fell hard onto the floor.
No… I can't… not now…
The hum intensified. The symbols flared brighter. Pain seared through him. His vision went white.
Akira's thoughts stuttered, racing and fading all at once: This is it… I'm…
And then darkness.
Akira's eyes fluttered open. Light filtered weakly through the curtains, but the pounding in his head made it difficult to think. His chest still burned faintly, a lingering ache from the events of the previous night.
Sitting up or trying to, he froze. A man sat across from him, casually perched on a chair.
"You're awake," the man said, voice calm, almost conversational, yet every word carried an unmistakable edge.
Akira croaked, voice hoarse: "W-what happened to me?"
The man leaned forward, fingers steepled. "You made a mistake last night." His eyes glinted with cunning. "You tried to escape."
Sending a shiver down Akira's spine. "No you must be mistaken"
"No." The man's faint smile was calculating. "The King knew this and sent me to ensure you didn't and won't ever do it again. I applied high-level, ancient magic directly to your soul so if ever you go against his majesty's order your soul will burn eventually killing you. That is why your heart almost failed. That is why you lost consciousness."
Akira's stomach lurched. "You… you did this to me?"
"Precisely." The man leaned back, voice smooth and cold. The King cannot allow hesitation, rebellion, or weakness. Every summoned Hero is bound, not just by Summoning magic, but by these… safeguards.
Akira's hands shook. "So… I could have died?"
"Yes." The man leaned back, voice smooth and precise. "If you had accepted your role from the start, obeyed the King, and acted as the Hero you were summoned to be, you would still be alive—unharmed, respected, perhaps even valued.
Akira's mind swirled. "So… this magic—it's on me now?"
The man's eyes sharpened. "Correct. The magic remains. It reacts to resistance or attempts to flee. It is bound to your soul. You cannot undo it. You are now a weapon—and a prisoner. Survival depends on obedience."
The man stood slowly, silently, his presence leaving a weight in the room. "Consider this your first lesson. Your life is not yours. Your body is bound. Your soul is marked. And the King will not tolerate defiance. Anything else, and you die. And someone else will take your place."
He left without another word, leaving Akira alone with the residual burn in his chest and the chilling understanding:
His life, his free will it's all gone he's is just a living, breathing pawn.