I cried for Akar but could not see him anywhere. The ground shook violently knocking me onto my face. A tree just outside of our small yard came careening down directly toward me. I thrust my hands up over my head for the inevitable impact of the huge trunk. After several seconds I peered through a crack I opened between my protecting right bicep and forearm. The trunk hung heavily over me only a couple of feet above my head. I rolled quickly to one side only to slam up against the even thicker trunk of one of Akar's legs.

Akar was doing his best to hold a kneeling position next to me with the trunk of the fallen tree held aloft by a combination of adrenalin and his immense strength. The quaking ground shook his insanely hardened body. Even his gargantuan cock waved to the jerking rhythm of the shifting earth. Akar's face was wrought with the struggle of his muscle working to hold the entire weight of the tree up until I could get clear of its path.

Muscle sprouted from muscle all over Akar's straining body as his newly achieved 500-plus pounds of precision carved muscles all worked together against a tree several times his weight. His 36" biceps and triceps as well as his massive forearms were alive with their own branches of rich veining and cabled striations. Akar's upper legs were carved out like pure rock and bigger around than the trunk of the huge tree. His pecs were crisscrossed globes of monstrously cut meat quivering to the combined stain of the weight and shaking of the earth. The coconut sized head of his cock spit erotically produced precum anxiously as the other muscles saturating his colossal body overpowered the tree.

Akar called for me to move further away. The earth was settling to a slow rumble. I made it to my feet and darted toward the wall of our yard. From behind, Akar's body was no less magnificently carved and ripped with muscularity from the back of his handsome neck to the fingered muscle of the small of his lower back to the impossibly striated wonder of his tightly flexed ass cheeks and rear leg biceps.

The shifting earth forced every muscle on Akar's stupendous body to work to its maximum potential as the quake tried to force the huge weight of the tree down on top of him. His muscles slowly writhed with power as Akar struggled to maintain both balance and position. His shoulders rolled into massive hemispheres of steel cable-lined meat, as did his flairing lats and traps. Try as they might, neither the forces of the earth or the deadly weight of the tree could defeat Akar's towering column of pure muscle mass.

The movements of Akar's grinding ass cheeks alone were almost too much for me to resist. Now at a safe distance and with my own cock brutally hard from watching Akar's overpowering muscle supremely displayed in terrifying action, I began to beat my cock with senseless abandon. The quake was all but over as Akar readied his body for one last muscle-carving effort.

Squatting down onto his claves, Akar let out one force-filled yell as he thrust the trunk as high up from his head as he could. He dove onto the ground and rolled directly toward me. He screamed with clear anguish as his weight forced itself over the rigid pole of his astoundingly hard cock shaft. The contact between the falling trunk and the inflexibility of his groin-welded cock forced Akar's torso forward. For a brief moment it appeared as if Akar's majestic man- meat was carrying the full burden of the tree on its rigid shaft. Pulling his body and cock from beneath, Akar rolled back with blinding swiftness and cleared the trunk with only a few feet to spare as it slammed to the ground.

Holding his pained, hard cock with one hand, Akar pushed himself to his feet. He was covered in polishing sweat that showed off his stupendous body and every muscle etched onto it. The reddened sky of the false twilight made him look as if every muscle was made of molten lava ready to consume anything or anyone in his path. I ran up and threw my arms around his neck. My hands instinctively reached down with his to help sooth his beating cock shaft. Akar's body and cock were harder and hotter than I had ever experienced on him before.

His muscles felt both sensuously inviting and petrifyingly dense at the same time. The veining in his immovable cock beat to the rhythm of his pounding heart in my hands. I could feel the surging need for his balls to be released of their waiting victory cream. Together we worked the gargantuan shaft of his flaming cock shaft and mine until they boiled over with our steaming cum. Rich hot volumes of Akar's exploding cream washed my torso with its warming wetness. My cum bathed the side and bottom of Akar's spewing organ. When we finished, we massaged the cum offerings into each other's skin and muscle using our sweat to spread it evenly.

A rumble of thunderous noise turned our attention to the activity to the west. Far on the western horizon, the sky had come to life. Flickering lines of red light made it look as if a huge bon fire burned far off in the western sea causing the eerie light to fall over the island. Dark clouds of dust and steam mixed in painting purple-gray streaks through the evening air. We finished our cum polishing quickly and headed out into the public pathway.

Whatever was going on to the west remained a mystery for the moment. What we knew was that the island had been shaken with a very strong earthquake that had caused measurable damage to the village and, especially, to its surrounding wall leaving 25' to 30' gaps in parts of its protective enclosure. The roof of our hut along with a number of other structures had not been fortunate enough to survive the quake and several other trees were down in and around the village. Men wandered anxiously out into the dirt pathways within the village. Samut and Darat, who had been staying with him, were soon standing with us. Darat took control almost immediately directing men to send everyone to the main square where the naming ceremonies took place.

Within an hour, we were all there. Darat and Bara stood on an elevated log platform in the middle of the open area. Darat raised his hands and all grew silent immediately. He spoke with clear and concise directions. The first order of business was to be the reparation of the perimeter fortifications. Hut repairs would have to wait. All men not assigned to the pending Supreme Picking elevation process were to help with the wall rebuilding. A small group was selected to go to "The Fields" village to help them in securing several days of foods and meats supplies for the village. Then he moved to a new issue.

"This will bring "The Travelers" to us faster than usual." Darat announced. "They will be frightened, too, and looking for known food sources lower down. We will need to be prepared as quickly as possible for them."

A concerned grumble spread through the crowd of Pickings present. Darat held up his hands for silence but Mother Earth interceded by issuing an aftershock to the recent quake. Many of the Pickings dove for the ground. Being more familiar with the concept of earthquakes and aftershocks, I shouted for everyone to remain calm and not to worry, as this would be short and not as violent as the previous earth shaking. The second quake was pretty mild and lasted only a few seconds. When it was over, Darat signaled for me to come to him. He asked how I knew to make my prediction. I told him that we had knowledge of such things where I came from. At his direction, I told the crowd to expect many of these smaller quakes and that they were nothing more than the earth "re-balancing itself'. This seemed to reduce the tension and concern.

Then Darat called for the men to move on to their assignments immediately and for the priests and those involved in the elevation process to remain. Akar, Samut, the other two selected Pickings and several others stayed along with the core of some 30 or so Priests working with them. Six other massive Pickings also stayed, as did I. The ten Pickings were truly amazing to see. Not one of them appeared to be less than 425 pounds of sterling, naked muscle. As Bara prepared to address them, Darat called me aside and asked me to come with him. I, of course, wanted to stay with Akar but Darat would not permit it. Akar smiled for me to go with Darat and gave me one last reassuring formal shoulder hug. We held it as long we dared in public and then I went off with Darat. I could hear Bara speaking to them as we departed. Darat took me back to Samut's hut where he bid me to sit with him.

"I am afraid that your friends and their ship will not be coming for you right now." Darat began. "The Priests tell me that the western ocean has exploded with fire from under the sea. This will keep the ship of your people from being able to get to the western beaches and the expected early arrival of "The Travelers" will make going down to the western lowlands difficult for now."

From Darat's description, it sounded as if an underwater volcano had finally made its presence known at the surface of the sea surrounding this special island paradise. In fact, our scientists had known that this area was highly volcanic and suspected that some sort of catastrophic situation would occur sometime in the not-to-distant future. That was part of the reason for pursuing contact with the peoples here. I guess that they hadn't figured that the activity would happen quite this fast but, as we have learned from the past, the natural order of Mother Earth works in her own ways and on her own schedule.

"What will happen with me then?" I asked trying to add all of my knowledge and my limited understanding of their culture together in my head.

"We will need to keep you with us, Mortumee; at least for the time being." Darat answered honestly. "And there are things you will need to know now that you were never intended to become aware of."

Darat paused as if to study my face and body actions. Then, with a seeming nod of approval, went on.

"Usually only four Pickings are selected for elevation but ten are prepared in case more are deemed needed and worthy." Darat spoke seriously. "The Travelers are those that the selected ones must meet and, with them scared and expected to come to us early, we will need to send all ten men to them."

"I don't understand what one thing has to do with the other." I interrupted. "Just who are these "Travelers" anyway?"

"I know you do not understand, Mortumee." Darat continued. "Nor do I expect that I can make you understand. It is all about balance for us and this disturbance has upset that balance here on our island. The damage to this village has been limited but significant. I must presume that it has been the same at all of our villages. The Travelers will try to take advantage of this weakness in our walls. We need to make sure that no further disruption to the "great balance" occurs and those selected for Supreme Picking's are the only ones who are prepared to meet with the Travelers to ensure that they are placated here and will move on to the lowlands where they belong."

"I still don't understand." I quipped. "Are these Travelers enemies or are they friends."

"They are those who we both fear and respect." Was all that I was going to get out of Darat. "They are a part of our natural order and help make us who we are as much as we affect who they are. For countless generations, we have coexisted along with every other creature and plant in our small island world. Legend tells us of other similar disturbances and the wisdom of the past tells us of the need to regain balance as quickly and effectively as possible."

"But how do the Supreme Picking candidates fit into this?" I pushed.

"The Travelers usually pass by this village as they move from the high grounds during the dry season to the low grounds of the wet season. Only those honored with the choice to be elevated to the level of Supreme Picking may meet the Travelers on their journey and only the Travelers have the power to complete the elevation."

"Again, I do not understand." I responded hoping for more information.

"You must trust what I tell you for now, Mortumee. For now please believe that your disposition is important to us and for you. If we can get you to your people it will be best for all concerned and for the great balance that needs to exist here." Darat concluded. "I know how much Akar has come to mean to you but it is important that the separation that has always been part of our agreement takes place now. From now on you will stay with me, here in Samut's hut. He will not be needing it now as he, Akar and the others will remain with the Priests for final instructions and preparation."

I tried to voice my objections. I did not want to be separated from Akar – certainly not like this. We had not even had a chance to say our good-byes. Darat did not respond other than to rise and lift me up with him. He put his massive arms around my neck and held me long and hard in a formal hug that was much more "fatherly" than ritualistic. It took all my energies not to burst into tears but I held back as best as I could. Darat forced me to lie down and sat with me until an uncomfortable sleep overtook me. Toward dawn I was awakened by a second aftershock. Darat was still sitting awake by my side. The quake was short and mild. Darat thanked me again for the knowledge of aftershocks and offered to prepare the morning meal for us. As he went to the door of Samut's hut, I noticed that we now had two hugely muscled younger Pickings with us. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was now to be guarded from here on out.

I was assigned to help with wall repairs. Not being as big or naturally strong as the Pickings, my task was to run water and food back and forth to the men actually working to rebuild the damaged wall sections. My two muscle-guardians were always with me, helping to carry and fetch but never letting me far from them. Darat appeared now and again to check on me but seemed to be quite occupied at supervising all the work and communicating with the Priests.

We worked for two full days and well into the nights. Aftershocks continued but were much weaker each time. At one point in the middle of the first day, one of the Pickings who had been out in the wooded area between the two protective open fields came by and told of having heard the sounds of the Travelers on the move. As his word spread, the pace of the work by the Pickings increased. Everyone seemed focused on making sure that the repairs were done well before the Travelers came by.

The sight of the hundreds of massively muscled Pickings toiling in their glorious nakedness was breathtakingly beautiful. Sweat covered every inch of their bodies as they hauled 20' and 30' tree trunks from the intervening wooded area to the village perimeter. They worked with only rudimentary axes and ropes to fell the trees they needed. Once downed, it only took two of the Pickings with their great, great muscle mass to carry each tree trunk.

Their bodies were in a constant state of pumped flex with their 30" arms crushingly wrapped under the trunks and their 6' to 7' torsos pushing the striated masses of their gargantuan pec meat up against the pressing wood of the tree. Their seemingly always-hard cocks appeared to serve as a third support under the tree trunks. More than once I witnessed one of the Pickings pumping his cock with his powerful arms to ensure that it was at its maximum state of arousal. Inevitably, they would push down on their anchored cock with triceps- etching strength when they were done just to be sure that their cock was as hard as possible.

The massive Pickings flexed and stretched during the days work in between carrying trees and hoisting them by hand into place to keep their monstrously huge muscles toned and hard. One group was assigned to fell the trees with the immense torso muscles of their backs, shoulders, lats and waists in constant flowing motion. A veritable mountain range of pec, biceps and deltoid meat moved slowly through the wooded area selecting just the right trees to take down while still ensuring that appropriate screening remained. Their tight waists seemed wasp-thin as their monstrous torso muscle twisted through the axing movements. Their ever-present aroused cocks stood out 15 `, 16", 17" and 18" from their muscle-ridged groins like a spare, overly-thick axe handle.

The carriers then pruned the smaller branches and hauled away each cleaned trunk with their legs of sharpened thigh muscle as thick, dense and big around as the tree itself. Their stupendous arm muscles threatened to reduce the wood of the trunks to splinters under the grasping pressure of their balled biceps, writhing forearms and coiled triceps. Pec meat sized and shaped like half moons of rock- solid muscle locked the tree trunk against their plated abs beneath their massive cantilever of delicious meat. The supporting arms of their prodigious cock meat rode dangerously underneath the heavy trunk spitting its precum on the smooth bark.

Teams of Pickings took the delivered trees from their arms of their companions and powered them upright into the waiting shallow holes using only the raw power of their staggering leg, ass and back muscles. Swinging testicles and moist, muscle-hidden sphincters glimmered into temporary view now and again as the great flexing ass cheeks of one giant muscle-creature or another stooped down to guide the base of the trunk into the ground. The placed posts were tied together as the gaps in the wall disappeared one by one. By the late afternoon of the second day, the wall work was completed.

A celebration of sorts took place that night as a number of the Picking workers gathered in the courtyard of the naming ceremony to share the evening meal. The bearers of the meal told of the successful work being done at other villages and reported that, fortunately, injuries from the great quake were few and mostly not too serious. Only four deaths were known and all of them in the "Fields" village at the north end of the tribe's settlement area where the quake seemed to have been the most violent.

They also reported that the sounds of the Travelers were now very close to the northern settlements and that they could be here as early as 3 days from now. A discernable hush fell over the listeners whenever the Travelers were mentioned. I couldn't be sure, but it seemed that my presence stifled the conversations surrounding them. The Pickings were happy with the reports of the repairs and glad to be finished with their external work. Tomorrow, they could turn their attention to fixing their own huts and the other minor repairs needed in the village.

The meal soon turned to the joy of their accomplishment. As they reveled during the meal and night drew upon us, talk turned more and more to personal bragging; comparing who had done the most or who had worked the hardest. Eventually, it became a contest of personally claimed strength and endurance. These macho sharings were verbal at first but became more and more physical as the evening wore on.

The younger Pickings began to brag about their great stamina and insatiable hunger to keep working even when more mature Pickings "begged" for a break. The larger, older Pickings argued back about their wisdom at knowing how to use their great size and strength better and more effectively than the anxious younger men. As the talks turned sharper and sharper, the men began to subconsciously flex their immense muscles at one another. Soon their bodies glowed in the firelight of the evening as crisply as their more and more pointed words.

"These arms carried over 100 trees a day!" Proclaimed one particularly huge senior Picking showing off a pair of flexed biceps at least 32" in circumference and looking like honed granite wrapped in roping veining.

"And these legs hoisted all of your logs plus those of several others into place in the wall." Spit a wonderfully handsome young Picking while pushing every fiber of every striated leg muscle on his 40" columned lower appendages into face-filling view.

"Your work was meaningless except for my ability to keep ahead of you felling the great trees," Shouted a Picking with an exceptional pair of powerfully flexed pecs grinding their diamond-shredded meat against one another in a staggering most-muscular cramp.

Sharpened muscles flexed everywhere the eye could see as more and more men claimed to have been the best, strongest or most productive of the village workers. As they shifted and maneuvered their monstrously beautiful muscles toward and at one another, their cocks moved from permanently semi-hard to poundingly aroused. Sweat mixed with clear precum dripped from their bodies and their charged cock- weapons. Their muscles carried the pumped texture of pure stone as they beat on themselves with their fists and forearms to proclaim their power like some great male animal announcing his intent to challenge the clan for supremacy.

Groping hands began to assault flexing muscles with playful roughness as one Picking or another chided a nearby neighbor about their "weaker" meat. Brutally flexed biceps and coarsely lined lats, delts and pecs were poked, prodded, squeezed and pressured as one man would seek to prove his muscle superiority over another. Their monstrously hard cocks were equal prey in the machismo contest as they clasped the piped organs with painful harshness that threatened to turn vicious. Not one of them wanted to show any sign of pain or weakness to another. Soon the vast group was nothing more than one huge sea of massive, pumping muscle and cock crashing together like a sea of animals intent on feeding on themselves.

As one set of hands would challenge someone's inflexible biceps, glutes, legs or pecs, another pair of hands would be pounding away at a reddened cock-pipe. It was only a matter of time before the smell of released cum began to filter into the air and, one by one, the massive muscle-gods began to surrender to the groping passions of their handling. The younger Pickings seemed to explode first with waves of hot cum splashing onto the ground and, occasionally, steaming into one of the nearby campfires. The gyrating muscles of their sweat-polished bodies became streaked with flows of rich cum as the older Pickings added their voluminous cream to the party.

As much as I longed to be swallowed up into the middle of their healthy muscle-orgy, because of my weaker strength, I had positioned myself a safe distance from the main grouping. My two muscle sentries sat cross-legged on either side of me. They, too, sported raging erections. Their own marvelously muscled torsos overshadowed the smallness of their hidden waists. A pair of 15" to 16" cocks pointed up just beyond the vast cantilever of their quivering pec meat like the heads of two large snakes sneaking out of a basket of marbled muscle. From the cabling and flexing of their shifting upper arms I could tell that they were deeply engaged with the meat of their rigid erections.

In spite of my distance and two protectors, I had still managed to get my share of meaty grasping and cock stroking over passing muscle whenever I could and soon found myself wearing the banner cum-stains from several nearby spewing cocks including those of my sentries. I had lost my own load fairly early in the process as my hands reacted on my hardened tool to the sight of the endless images flexing muscle all around me.

Some of the men were still grappling and moving toward the jettison of their weighty cum-loads when Darat appeared.

"The Travelers draw very near!" Darat shouted bringing an almost instantaneous silence over the cum-soaked group.

"We have only one more day before they will be with us." He continued staunchly. "I suggest you all get as much rest as you can tonight so that we can finish our preparations for them tomorrow."

An agreeable grumble rolled through the crowd. Then the massive collection of marvelous muscularity began to disperse silently and quickly.

"Come, we must rest, too." Darat said taking my hand. "There is much to do and little time to do it." •