Her body slides out of my arms and hit the floor with a loud thud. The three of them looked too shocked to do anything. Their eyes fixed to the dead woman at my feet. My perception ability allows me to know that Melissa’s heart slows to a stop. I half expect her to heal in some way. There was a twinge of that kind of energy around her twisted neck. In the end, the blood stopped flowing. I could sense a flicker of energy leaving her body. She is dead.

“Why did you kill her?” Keith asks slowly. “She was a reward.”

“That is why. You broke her. You made her into a mindless servant to your whims. There was no future for her that would have been positive. Even if she enjoyed or even fell madly in love with me. That would have been just another tool to use against me. Can you honestly tell me that her future was a positive one?” I rant while fighting back the tears. I have never taken a life large than an insect.

The wall closes, blocking the angels from my view. Next thing I know my implants activate. Causing me intense discomfort. Queasiness, lightheaded, weak, and intense pressure all over my body. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been punished but it was never this bad before.

It took hours to realize that Melissa’s body was still in the room. The constant reminder of my first kill made me even sicker. She is starting to rot. What little food was left in my stomach is begging to leave one way or another.

I think a couple of days passed and the tests began again. Keith didn’t open the wall though. Concentrating on metal balls being thrown at me, drastic changes in temperature, and shifting gravitational forces, is a bit difficult in my current condition. Nevertheless, they continue to come. Each is longer and more intense than ever before.

Sleep is all but a distant memory. Using meditative technics is the only way I can keep moving. They don’t replace sleep, but they do stave it off. I even learn to mute my senses to a degree. Which helps with the rotting corpse I share a room with. It might all be for not though. I haven’t received food since before the murder and water is a rare substance.

Through my perception, I notice a small hole open in the ceiling. My eyes leisurely move upward. As soon as my eyes lock on the whole water comes jetting out. A puddle forms on the floor, inching closer to me. I stand up to evaluate the situation. The water takes nearly an hour to reach the edge of the walls. As my feet soak all I can think of is how painfully slow this is going to take.

Strength is related to muscle mass and structure. A concerning thought as the water reaches my chin. How much do I weigh now? I was a decent swimmer when I was younger.

The water continues to rise. It is even more difficult than I suspected to keep myself afloat. None of my training with Keith prepared me for this. Nothing to make myself more buoyant or take in oxygen from the water. Desperately I flail my arms and legs to keep my head above water.

Temperatures quickly shift between hot and cold. The physics don’t add up. It should take a lot longer for water to transition like this. If it wasn’t for the water, I would put a heat bubble around me and keep my body at an ideal temperature. Doing that while swimming is more than I can muster.

Barely an inch of air left in the room. One final breath is all I can muster in the struggle to stay afloat. Calm sets with the possibility that these will be my final moments alive. Suffocation doesn’t seem nearly as bad as whatever the Seraphim had in store for me.

Healing takes effort, energy, and for the lack of better terms material. What about the opposite? If I can put forth the effort to restrict my bodily functions. Only use what I need to maintain brain function. There could be a chance I can survive this. That way I can end up like that floating corpse in front of me. In the end, I can’t go down without a fight.

Seconds turn to minutes. My heart and brain are the only things fully functional. Oxygen is being pulled away from every point possible in my body. My vision blurs but my mind is still sharp. Standard sensory input slips away. Leaving only my perception and magic senses.

Being the only inputs, they start to extend past previous barriers. Complex molecules become visible. There is even a sense of electrons swirling about. Something is deeper. A form of energy beyond all that atomic stuff. It's massive and all around me. In the water, walls, and everywhere. Connecting everything. This may be my ticket out of here.

I pull the energy into me. Immediately it burns at my every cell. Holding onto it in any way is out of the question. So, pushing it out in a focused attack is the best option.

Reviving my arms to be usable again takes some precious oxygen I don’t have, but I need a direction to funnel the power. My hands cup together, with my fingers pointing at the wall Keith is always behind.

Channeling that much raw energy tears at my cells, the molecules that make up the cells, and even the atomic structure. However, the effect is immediate. A brilliant light forms in my hands and shoots through the water. It hits the wall, punching a hole straight through three other walls. The water boils and rushes out of the room. Air quickly returns. As soon as my nose is no longer submerged, I inhale sharply and end my attack.

I try to stop the energy from building up in me, but it is no use. Smoke rises from my flesh as the energy quickly disintegrates my body. Somewhere in the depths of the energy, I can sense other beings. They seem to be shouting at me. The effects of the energy make it to difficult to make out what they are saying.

“HELP ME!” I scream.

With that comes a sensation of hands all over me. Somehow it stops my body from taking in more energy. Now I just need to do something about what I already collected. No reason to be fancy about these things. I release it in a sphere around me. Pushing it out as hard as I can. The room buckles, sparks fly everywhere, and metal groaning fills my ears.

“We will come,” a voice in the darkness.

The voice shocks me back to reality. I lay on my side in the room. The walls are now splattered red with what I guess is Melissa. The lights are off and a huge hole leads out of the room. Sitting up I wait and weigh my options.

Time crawls by and no one shows up. I expected guards to come rushing in. with my perception I reach out of the room. No one is there. They must be waiting to see what I do next. We are in an uneasy stalemate.

Assessing myself, my body feels fine. No injuries that I can sense. A bit worn out from my activities, but surprisingly in good condition. My skin is almost bone pale now though. Tentatively I touch my arms worried that my skin has changed in some way. Nope perfectly fine. Its weird.

Feint footsteps pulls my attention out of the room again. There are five beings out there. They managed to get all the way to the hole before I could sense them. Waving arms in some sort of silent communication. In preparation of what is coming next, I begin to pull heat into the palms of my hands slowly. The ship most likely has sensors that could detect climate fluctuations.

A new figure comes down the hall. Not nearly as smooth or careful as the others. When it reaches the whole in the wall its form is clear. Clapping sounds. As if someone was told what clapping is via a phone game. It is just not right and oh so familiar. Keith steps into the room.

“That was a truly impressive show of power. I knew you had it in you. Congratulations!” he says. Getting to my feet then staying motionless I stare at him. “The change to your physical form is interesting. Especially the glowing eyes. We must run more tests to find out the extent of your abilities. This is truly exciting.”

The guards start to move in. They are blue like the others. With the same techno armor as the one that I fought had. Each one wielding a blade of some kind. All at the ready.

“This one is to insolent Doctor Keith. We have gotten orders to erase its memories and put it into the general population.” The guard next to Keith says. “There are enough of his kind who have agreed to follow our command. Our mission will be successful with or without him. Activate the implants to full strength.”

The full immense weight of the implants suppressing my abilities falls on my body. It doesn’t stop me from moving heat into my palms. I pull it into me slightly faster. Now trying to shape the heat into daggers.

Four of the guards approach me. They stop shortly before me and look at each other. They must be sensing something is quite right in the situation. All of them take defensive stances. Brandishing their weapons, trying to communicate that whatever I have planned is a bad idea.

“I said to activate the implants to full strength!” the lead guard yells.

“That is what I set them on,” Keith replies.

“Then why is it able to manipulate the temperature in the room. What other dangers are there?” He asks.

With that, I step and teleport. Popping up in between two of the guards. Luck is on my side, and they are close together. I can shove the heat blades into

Their spines. Do they have spines? They must have some spine equivalent right? Yes, they do. Noted by how they slumped to the ground hard. Time to run.

Teleporting around the room. Then out into the hallway. there are not many options for me. Always turn left. Running as hard as I can is the only thing on my mind. A painful thirty seconds of not being tackled makes me think that the guards aren’t chasing. Keith is also not giving chase.

I try out doorways, push buttons, and pull on what appear to be covers of some kind. Nothing works and I am left to continue moving forward. Eventually, I come across an unlocked door. It may also be that my random button pushing has finally produced the right combination to open a door.

A giant window greets me. The visage brings me to my knees. Metal as far as I can see moving forward. To the sides, I can just make out the edges as it drops off into nothing. Smooth flowing lines. Only interrupted by the occasion window, dock door, or cannon placement. A spaceship so large it could hold the population of the largest city on Earth and still have room to spare.

The beauty of space is the only thing that kept me from going insane with the implications. Swirly celestial bodies. Nebulas, stars, potential planets and so much more. So much is visibly clear. There is no doubt that I am no longer on Earth.

A fist flies out of no-were. Knocking the wind out of me as I hit the ground. Three of the five guards stand over me. Again, they were able to move without me noticing.

“Damage his body all you like. Avoid the brain so the memory wipe will be affective.”