Chapter 16: Identity

Raziel laid on his bed pissed off after emptying the only good food he had eaten in days into the toilet. He realised he might not have the conviction to survive in this cruel world. Perhaps he could commit suicide, it's an easy way out of the miseries of this world.

He got off his bed and made his way across the room to the wardrobe. He grabbed several clothes and made them into a makeshift rope. He tied it and made a noose and proceeded to hang himself of the fan by standing on a stool. He tightened the noose around his neck and kicked the stool from under his legs.

The noose compressed his airways and he could feel his life slipping away. He started to struggle. He tried to gather his power and create a cosmic fire to destroy his suicide rope but he couldn't. The compression of his airways made it difficult for him to gather his power together.

The moment his life started slipping away, he realised he didn't want to die inspite of his sufferings. If he could not gather his own power to create a cosmic fire, why not use the Mojo around him to create a cosmic fire.

He attempted to manipulate Mojo to create cosmic fire but failed miserably. It was more difficult than he thought but it was easier than gathering his own power in his current situation. He knew if he did not grasp the concept on time, he would die.

He focused the remaining energy he had into sensing the Mojo surrounding his body and then he could feel it. The fact that he was a step away from death and a cosmic superhuman heightened his senses otherwise it was impossible for a level 1 to manipulate the Mojo in his environment. Ability to manipulate the Mojo in the air belongs to only those that have reached level 4.

The instant he felt the Mojo in the air, he turned into a giant ball of cosmic fire setting the room ablaze. In that instant he felt he was a god, that with just a thought he could burn down the whole world. He landed on the floor of the room gasping for breath. The whole room was on fire.

Betty dashed into the room and flooded the room with water. She is a superhuman of one of the lesser pathways. The water pathway. She quenched the fire. She looked at Raziel who was sitting on the floor of the room, "What the fuck did you do? When I said the Vice-Admiral doesn't care about what we do, it doesn't include burning down the house."

Vice-Admiral Rowland was already standing at the door to Raziel's room. He spoke in a gruff voice, "Follow me slave."

Raziel tried to look for any spare clothes to wear. "Now!" He barked at Raziel.

Raziel used his hands to cover his private area and followed the Vice-Admiral while fear of what the Vice-Admiral is going to do gripped his heart.

Vice-Admiral Rowland walked to a passage in the apartment and opened a door which led down to a basement. He asked Raziel to go in and them he followed behind closing the door behind him. The basement was empty except for a chair and one piece of iron lying carelessly beside the chair. He walked to a chair and sat down. Raziel was standing naked trembling because he was weakened after the stunt he pulled. He looked at Raziel, "Explain to me what happened."

Raziel could feel the tension in the room and the anger the Vice-Admiral felt after his apartment almost got burnt down, "I tried to commit suicide but I couldn't go through with it. So I summoned cosmic fire to destroy the noose but I couldn't control my powers." He had no idea he performed an impossible feat by controlling the Mojo around him. He simply thought it was because he couldn't control his powers properly and that's why the house was almost burnt.

Vice-Admiral Rowland stared at Raziel with a cold look on his face, "You're my slave, you belong to me. Unless I tell you to die, you should never contemplate suicide." He sighed, "I never wanted to do this to you but it seems you've not come to terms with your identity."

Raziel wondered what was going to happen to him. He then saw the Vice-Admiral stand up and pick up a branding iron. It had the jagged shape of a lightning on it's stamp. He guessed what was about to happen to him and tried to run. Before he could even carry out his thought, he saw Vice-Admiral Rowland zap towards him and hit him on the head. He instantly lost the ability to move and speak.

Vice-Admiral Rowland struck the branding iron with several bolts of lightning that brought it to a temperature of about 500°C.

He grabbed Raziel's head and placed the stamp of the branding iron on his forehead for two seconds and then removed it. He climbed the stairs of the basement and left it.

Unimaginable pain coursed through Raziel's body. The pain could not even allow him to think. He couldn't even scream out in pain. He just lay there on the floor with the pain threatening to kill him in silence. The pain could not knock him out because of his greater endurance as a superhuman.