Skali was right; the higher he went, the easier it became to breathe, and the nicer the view became.

The swirling dust did not come all the way up, and the doorways here were indeed bigger and well-spaced with silky and colourful curtains covering them.

Finally, they came to the last set of doorways on the top, and Skali pointed to one with a dark-hued curtain just above their heads on the next ledge.

“That’s Hangit’s doorway,” he said.

“It is above all the rest,” Sena said with a slight scowl.

“Yes, Hangit always wants to be the best. That part of the rockface is almost impossible to cut. He gave a lot of fruit-foods to many Breakers to cut that doorways, and even then it took them many turns of the moon before they were able to cut through.”

“So, he enjoys an elevated position,” Sena said and then pointed to the portion of rock surface above the abode of Hangit. That part of the rock was not as dark as the portion beneath it. It had a lovely, shimmering glow, as if there were gems beneath it. “That shiny portion. I can see some door markings on it too.”

Skali shook his huge, black head.

“Ha, do not try, Traveller!” he said with horror. “Yes, there are markings, but even the whole bunch of Breakers have not been able to dent it with their tools! Hangit wanted a doorway there, and engaged all of them. That place is too hard to break. I don’t think it would ever be broken!”

Most of the indigens had come out of their doorways and were on the porch-like protrusions in front of them. That was when Sena noticed the females of this strange species for the first time, and he stared with shock. Everywhere he had gone, the female species had always been weaker, and more beautiful and elegant.

But not the Desolates!

The females had the larger bodies, and their heads were frighteningly huge and rough-looking. Their arms, fists, calves, and chests were grotesquely huge and ungainly.

They were the ugliest crop of female species Sena had seen anywhere.

They all stared balefully at him, and above him, Hangit came out and looked down at Sena.

“Foolish Traveller!” he said fiercely. “What are you doing with these dirty flies up here? Get back down immediately!”

Sena looked at Skali.

“Does he have the right to the top?” he asked softly, and Skali shook his head.

“No,” he said, but he sounded timid and scared, and his face – his whole head actually – had become extremely blue. “We can break a door anywhere and live there. But, Hangit has made the top special for some of them, and doesn’t allow us here. Please, let’s go back, Traveller! He can be very wicked!”

Sena looked at Hangit.

“Seems to me we have a right to be here just as you do,” he said calmly, and heard the gasps of shock from the onlookers.

Hangit’s face and head had suddenly become red!

It was a most appalling thing to behold, and yet it was fascinating in a way too. At least it made Sena know how these indigenes showed their emotions. Skali’s head turned blue because he was scared, and Hangit’s head was red because of his wrath.

He turned and bellowed.

“Tartar, Horn, come here and throw that Traveller and those dirty brats down!”

Most of the kids with Skali had turned deep blue, and they began to scramble back down with cries of terror as two of the biggest indigens Sena had seen so far emerged on the porch behind Hangit with red heads.

They were powerful and big, above ten feet and broad across the shoulders. With cries of fury, they vaulted over the porch and came down towards the steps.

Horn landed first and roared, reaching out to grab Sena.

The Halo Breed spun with blinding reflexes and crashed his spinning foot into Horn’s head, the force of the kick thrusting the giant against the side of the wall with such devastating explosion that he went limp, and began to fall through space unconscious.

The little ones who had been fleeing saw the body of the brute falling through space, and they stopped with gasps of shock and looked up at Sena with stunned eyes, and their blue faces rapidly changed back to normal.

Tartar landed on the steps, and now his red head was less red now as he looked at Sena warily. With a roar of fury he rushed forward and wrapped his massive arms around Sena, lifted him, and slammed him into the wall with ferocious strength, causing blood to spurt out of the nose of the breed.

And Sena was filled with rage!

When he felt the blood, he raised his right foot and kicked backwards savagely, smashing it into the shin of the giant and breaking his leg. Tartar yelled with pain but kept his arms around Sena, pinning the warrior’s hands. Sena shot his head backward, smashing it into the brute’s face and breaking his nose, and when Tartar screamed again, Sena felt his arms around him slackening.

He dropped his right shoulder and swiftly stuck his right elbow back, crashing it into Tartar’s ribs, and the giant’s arms dropped from around him. Sena spun around, held Tartar’s head, and crashed his knee into the giant’s face.

Tartar’s red head had now become extremely blue!

He was scared!

Sena slammed a fist into his face, and Tartar slowly collapsed on the steps.

Skali screamed with delight, and his friends also applauded and screamed. They began to rush back up the stairs, and Sena looked up slowly.

Hangit’s red face had now become normal, and he stared down at Sena with a mixture of confusion and wariness.

“What do you want?” he hissed furiously.

Sena did not answer!

He began to run up the steps with blinding speed, and Hangit’s face began to change into a light blue hue as his fear began to escalade. Sena was gathering more speed, and then he lunged off the steps and his body sailed upwards! He shot past Hangit as he drew his fist back, then his foot landed on the wall beside Hangit’s doorway and he kicked out, propelling himself upwards towards that shiny and gleaming part of the wall above Hangit, fixing his gaze on the doorway outline on the wall.

Sena screamed and brought his fist crashing into the wall!

The fire circles in Sena’s eyes were burning furiously, and his fist was ablaze with fire when he sent it into the wall!

There was a deep explosion as the wall within the outline of the doorway broke into pieces and crumbled, revealing a glorious doorway, and a porch quickly projected from the wall beneath Sena.

He landed on the porch and slowly let his hands hang beside him as he waited for the rage to leave his body.

Finally, he turned on the porch, put his hands on the railing, and looked down!

From Hangit to Skali to all the indigens that had appeared on their porches beneath him, staring at him, there was not a single black face!

All their faces and heads had turned deep blue!

They were all scared of the Halo Breed!

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