Tatita was horrible!

She was a gangling, giant-like indigen with a foul smell around her. The smell was so bad that it polluted the air around them.

Sena looked at her with horror and tried not to wrinkle his nose. He wondered how long he would have to be in her presence before they crossed the Desolates.

“There she is,” Hangit said, unable to avoid a twist to his lips as he offered the gross indigen. “In all her glory! At least, my doorway will smell good for a change!”

“And is that the thanks she gets for your cruelty to her?” Sena asked so coldly that the look of disdain left Hangit’s face, and he quickly put a hand to her heart area as he retreated.

“Forgive my impudence, Traveller, I beg you,” he said desperately, turned, and fled the dome.

Sena took a shallow breath and gestured towards the table.

“Please, Tatita, eat. You must be famished!”

She lumbered towards the table without a second to waste, sat down, and pulled a bowl of fruit-food towards her. She ate hungrily, noisily, and farted in-between, turning the dome into one bad-smelling atmosphere.

Many of the young ones could not take it and fled into the other doorways, but Sena stayed with her and her brother, and each time she looked at him self-consciously, he smiled kindly.

To live a life like this, to be bullied, spurned and evidently hated, must not have been easy for her at all.

As she was drinking from a bite of the water-fruit, loud screams from outside filled the dome!

These were voices of terror, cries of fear, calls for help!

It was so bad that Sena rushed to the doorway, stepped on the porch, and looked down! He saw a gigantic, ferocious creature walking down the valley. It seemed to be hunch-backed, and it breathed fire as it walked, with fiery fire emitting from its mouth too. It had five jointed limbs on each side of its body, and as it moved, it snatched up the indigenes in sight and stuffed them in its blazing mouth.

The creatures of the Desolates were running blindly towards their doorways, screaming with terror!

Suddenly, one of the limbs of the demons reached out and snatched Sena from the balcony! It dragged him down relentlessly towards its yawning gullet which was filled with blazing fire!

The limb had encircled Sena completely, pinning his arms to his sides, rendering him powerless as that yawning gullet came near! Sena could hear the crackling sound of the inferno in the demon’s throat and felt the heat on his face.

He struggled fiercely, but the tentacle around him was unbreakable. As Plunder began to push him into its mouth, Sena opened his legs wide and braced one foot on each side of the monster’s mouth, then he summoned all his strength and began to force Plunder’s mouth open.

Plunder groaned and tried to push down and cram Sena’s body into its gullet, but the Halo Breed kept his feet braced against its snout, aware that it was his only chance of survival. He strained hard, pushing Plunder’s mouth apart to its extreme ends, then the demon bellowed with a mixture of rage and pain and pulled Sena out of its face and hurled him forcibly against the black wall.

Sena grunted with pain as he fell to his hands and knees and fought hard to push the dizziness away. Plunder’s limb-hand curled around Sena’s foot, lifted him, and slammed him into the wall again.

Sena moaned as he fell limply on his back from a fractured skull and broken ribs. The pain that seared through his body was excruciating, and he was losing blood too fast. Plunder reached down, grabbed Sena by the waist, and hurled him with a bellow of rage across the valley!

The sand swirled around his head, and he could barely breathe as he rolled helplessly toward the metallic blue wall on the opposite side of the valley.  The impact was an explosive blasting cacophony as Sena’s vision went black, and he crashed down on the hard floor helplessly!

The wall had caved in where his body hit, and it broke into several huge chunks of metallic blue that rained down heavily on Sena, burying him under a heavy barrage.

The Halo Breed was buried under a high mountain of debris!

Plunder jumped high and landed beside the pile, then he bellowed loudly with glee, and his ten limbs curled into fists of victory as it let out a mighty, prolonged roar of victory, sending fire shooting from his mouth and throat!

He had killed the Halo Breed, and Lord Lastor was going to be mighty pleased, and maybe elevate Plunder as his direct assistant!

Buried under the pile of rocks, Sena Kukah whispered softly, but it was filled with rage.

“I am the warrior of the Spirits, the Halo Breed, and I have no weaknesses! Though I fall under an insurmountable pile of rocks, my faith is resolute, and my ability is beyond end! I will not break!”

And as Plunder watched with sudden horror, the pile of rocks exploded outwards as Sena emerged with balled fists, his scream filling the air of the valley.

The fire in his eyes spun with sheer malice as he glared at Plunder, then he suddenly smashed a fist into the blue wall, and when his hand emerged, it was covered by a glove of rock!

Sena did the same with the other fist, and when he turned and faced the shocked Plunder, his fists had gloves of rock! His roar shook the very ground of the Desolates, and Plunder took a step backwards.

Sena roared as his right fist came flying forward, smashing into Plunder’s chest and hurling him against the wall. He tried to explode off the wall but Sena did not let him. He braced himself in front of the monster and let his fists work.

His eyes blazed with unadulterated wrath as his rock fists smashed into Plunder with ferocious abandon! Plunder tried again and again to move off the wall, but his efforts became weaker and fainter as Sena’s fists tore into his body. Plunder’s wails of pain changed to an intense roar of pain and horror when Sena’s fists crushed his ribs and created a hole in its belly!

Fire erupted out of the hole in a fierce explosion that threw Sena backwards. The Halo Breed shielded his face with an arm as Plunder exploded into a blast of fire!

The demon roared and took stumbling steps forward, waving its limbs helplessly as the fire consumed it and burned, burned, burned! It crashed to the ground in a heavy impact that sent its burning body exploding out into little piles of burning pieces!

Sena let out another roar of fierce dominion, and then he slowly relaxed as the fire died down slowly in his eyes, and within his soul.