He could hear voices raised in anger, but he could not see the faces clearly. He had a sensation of being tossed around from one end of a big room to the other. His face was screwed up with confusion as he moaned in his sleep, acutely aware that the bed was shaking, and that the mattress was sailing into the air.

He was aware of the mattress sailing into the air and tilting dangerously, and he groaned louder in his sleep! Was it a nightmare? Was he awake, or still asleep?

Then the heat began!

He felt so hot, as if he was being roasted in an inferno! It made his sleep a torture, and Sena finally opened his eyes with a deep-throated groan, and immediately wondered whether he was still asleep or awake because the ceiling was almost against his face!

And he still felt the heat and heard the fire!

The room was a horrible amber, and as he craned his neck he saw that everything was on fire!

The mattress was indeed suspended in the air near the ceiling, and below him the room was burning furiously! The bed, the chairs, the curtains, the drawers and wardrobes! Everything was on fire!

The red fire licked upwards dangerously, but luckily, it did not get to the mattress he was lying on. He tried to sit up, but that action would have caused his head to smash into the ceiling, so he continued to lie naked on the soaring mattress as he wondered dully if he had left a naked lantern on. Had his hand or feet recklessly overturned a lantern that had caught fire?

If that had been the case, wouldn’t he have died in the fire too? Would his mattress be suspending in the air? Or maybe, the Spirits had once again come to his aid?

“Hold your ire, you vile Sage!” came the disgust-filled voice of an old man to his left. “The Breed wakes finally. The decision shall be his alone now!”

“The decision is not his, you evil spirit!” came the voice of Prosper Freeman, the Sage of the Spirits. “His head is but that of a child, so his ways are already mapped! Why on earth can’t you just understand?”

Sena once again looked at the inferno blazing furiously beneath his mattress and noted carefully that everything in the room was on fire, then he lifted his head and looked at them.

Prosper Freeman was hovering on the mattress to his left, and on his right was the pale ghost-like figure of an old, grand man in glittering clothing.

“Who are you, if I may ask, sir?” Sena asked calmly.

The ghostly figure bowed his head slightly.

“King Ato Baffour Koduah at your service, my son,” he said in a curiously booming voice. “Your father, the Spirits bless him, was my dearest friend, and a man I chose to be king in my stead.”

“I remember you,” Sena said quietly. “I learnt about you in the Underworld. Your cowardly son murdered you for the throne.”

“Sadly, that is so,” the ghostly spirit of the king said. “And he was supposed to reap his just rewards, but alas, my dear wife interfered by turning him into a statue!”

“A quite regrettable exercise, Your Majesty, for it has denied us access to Hades, and has given us quite some unfavourable options. Pray, sir, what are you doing here?”

The spirit of the king sighed.

“Well, forgive me, my son,” he said calmly. “I wanted to seek your indulgence – “

“Liar, you vile ghost!” Prosper Freeman interjected with fury on his face. “I found him trying to transport you through a secret portal in the roof, my Lord!”

“Surely, that cannot be true,” Sena said coldly. “Tell me that he jests, Your Highness, for kidnapping is a thing I detest most.”

“Do forgive me for my rashness, but I was desperate. Perhaps, you should listen to the reason behind my disrespectful actions.”

“Proceed, Your Majesty, for I long to hear your reasons because I’m assured, they must have been pressing and instant.”

“Thank you, my son. Indeed, they were!” the spirit of the king said. “Alas, I find myself in a quandary for I cannot cross over to Gleam with my wife, whose restless spirit saw it best to usurp that which is natural! She came and changed my murderous son to stone, meaning your passage to Hades to end Lord Lastor is compromised!”

“Not true, for the good Spirits have provided a way!” the Sage said. “He is to marry Grace Klubi of the Skits, she of royal blood, and with whom he can breach the Tenements and go to Hades!”

The spirit of King Koduah nodded calmly.

“Indeed, that seems the only way left, but there are always prices to pay that the good Spirits do not reveal, my dear friend!”

“We all pay prices in various forms in daily circumstances, dear King.”

“It is so, wise Sage, but alas, the price I speak of is dear. Have you told the Breed that Grace Klubi of the Skits, due to her mother’s bloodline, she being of a vile spirit, will not be able to return to Densua once she enters Hades?”

“What?” Sena asked and turned to Prosper Freeman. “Does he speak truth?”

Prosper bowed once.

“It is not of my volition to divulge such information, but yes, having lain in the belly of her mother for nine moons, she not being a pure-blood royal, it will be impossible for her to enter Densua again unless she marries Lord Lastor, if you fail to vanquish him, and if Lastor returns to Densua.”

“And that is not all, my dear son,” King Koduah said quickly. “Have you been told that as long as you live, Lord Lastor and his vile agents cannot enter through the Tenements again, but soon as you die, they will enter?”

“Aye, I’m privileged of such information,” Sena Kukah said calmly.

“But do you know that with the Golden Elemental Totem in your forehead, and you not being a full royal of Densua, your years shall pass quickly than normal? The GET in your forehead is killing you quickly, alas, and if Lastor is not ended soon, and balance restored to the universe, you will die quicker than you expect, perhaps as early as two decades from hence!”

Again, Sena Kukah looked at Prosper Freeman who nodded again.

“Yes, he speaks truth, Sena, Warrior of the Spirits! But do not be alarmed! Once you marry Grace, you will be a full royal, and your years would not be shortened by the GET.”

“But, once you marry the descendant of the Skits, the only way for you to enter Hades would be with her! But she would never be able to return with you! Hades would be her burying ground!”

Sena sighed miserably.

“That is not a destiny I wish for Grace of the Skits,” he said sadly.

‘The Halo Breed, Hell in Hades, ‘The Halo Breed, Hell in hades, ‘The Halo Breed, Hell in hades, ‘The Halo Breed, Hell in hades, ‘The Halo Breed, Hell in hades, ‘The Halo Breed, Hell in hades, ‘The Halo Breed, Hell in hades

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