The great animals sniffed the air vigorously as they circled the naked, human muscle-offerings. As the scent of Samut and Akar's cum- washed bodies drifted into the lungs of the Travelers, the great cats became noticeably excited as if the aroma was feeding their memories of the special bounty that the four massively meaty men represented. Samut's cock and Akar's, too, oozed precum as they surged ever more solidly erect. Their massively pumped muscles pushed the cum-soaked sweat covering them to a glistening polish.

One of the animals broke away from the other two to head north toward the other two Supreme Pickings candidates. From my vantagepoint I could barely see those two men between the projections of the larger boulders in the field and the array of intervening tree trunks. Several of the wooden forked spears lay on the ground behind the backs of the two pairs of slowly turning Pickings. As the giant cat- creatures spiraled cautiously around the paired men, no one made any swift or sudden move. A circle of both larger and smaller boulders was spread between the men and the beasts. I finally figured that their selection of a place to meet the tigers was not a random choice. All the weapons they needed were readily available.

The cat that had strayed to the north stood crouched between the northern Pickings and her companions as if to keep them from joining with Akar and Samut. These animals were as crafty and well skilled in the art of the hunt as the men had been trained to be. The two cats drifted further and further apart as they circled around Akar and Samut. The Pickings rotated slowly keeping so that one of them facing each of the huge cats at all times.

The amount of staggering meat pounded onto Akar and Samut's miraculously muscled bodies had to impress even these single-minded animals as they silently planned their attack. The four stunningly muscled men combined carried well over a full ton of protein-rich meat and had to be a great find for these hungering scouts. The cautious movements of the tigers spoke of their inbred fear and respect for the humans much as the calculated motions of the men did of the cats. The wafting smell of warm cum covering the human muscle- sculptures continued to stir the excitement of the great beasts. Now I understood what the Elders and the Pickings had meant when they referred to the Travelers as `those we both fear and respect'.

From my perch high above the field of battle the plan seemed simple enough. The goal of the cats was to help feed their unseen Traveler pack. The goal of the men was to diminish the size of the band of Travelers. Eventually, both would win and both would lose. In this process, the precious `balance' between their populations would be maintained. I presumed further that the majority of the human population could live in relative safety knowing that the selected Pickings would be the meaty target for the Travelers. For me, I now found myself facing the ultimate destruction of the man I loved for the alleged welfare of this greater `balance'. While I understood the natural selection process and principles at work, it was not possible for me to separate my emotions from the ruthless coldness of the situation. My love-selfish mind raced for a way to save Akar.

As I searched for a glimmer of an idea that might work in my relative safety high above, Akar and Samut continued their slow steady spin following the circling of the two great beasts. Their massive muscles and pendulous cocks stood constantly ready and sharply pronounced. Neither of the extraordinarily muscled men could so much as shift without setting a flow of brilliantly carved flexing into motion. A frenzy of striation inducting pumping and power defining muscle explosions pulsed through Akar and Samut's naked figures as they offered their monumental bodies in challenge toward to the circling beasts.

Suddenly, one of the sleek cats turned and began to roam in the opposite direction forcing the two men away from their back-to-back stance. The two circling tigers moved more swiftly while the third continued to pace threateningly to keep the other two Pickings at bay. The tiger's hunting intent seemed clear; take out the larger two men first before going after the remaining two.

At least that's what I thought until three larger beasts slid out into the opening. Two went to join the isolated cat and the other joined those circling Akar and Samut. No sooner had the third female had growled her presence, than the attack began. Then the smallest of the tigers turned in a whirl of fur and sinew and charged directly at Samut.

The god-like muscle smothering Samut's massive form locked into a vision of monumental definition. Eight feet of upper torso muscle circumference virtually displaced his ultra-thin skin with every fiber, cell and tendon anatomically displayed. Only the bronzing paint of Samut's skin color seemed to remain sprayed onto his gargantuan pecs, shoulders, traps, lats and back. Biceps and triceps more than three feet around became coiled and cabled images of striated and honed muscle-perfection. One of Samut's hands instinctively swept down to the ground to secure a forked spear in its powerful grasp and his forearms swelled with leg-thick muscularity. Even in his crouched position, Samut's cock head protruded far out beyond the dark shadows covering his groin created by his stupendous pec meat cantilever.

"Now!" Shouted Samut just as the front claws of the attacking tiger left the ground for his throat.

Both Samut and Akar hit the ground on their hands and knees and darted with blinding speed in opposite directions away from one another. The tiger's paws found only empty air as it flew over the area previously occupied by the two massively muscled men. Akar's crawl brought him up immediately next to a huge 3½-foot diameter boulder. Samut was already on his feet several yards away with two wooden spear shafts ready in his powerful hands. Both men were veritable sculptures of staggeringly proportioned muscle perfection. Their ram-hard cocks were locked onto their groins containing the same muscular brilliance as the rest of their colossal bodies.

Akar wasted no time as he turned his attention and huge body on the nearby boulder. His already chiseled muscles became a duplicate image of the rough-hewn stone as he locked his monstrous three-foot upper arms around the base of the rock. With nary a whimper of expressed effort, Akar hoisted the large boulder from the ground as a combination of trained conviction and adrenaline filled his stupendous muscles with overwhelming strength. The great rock rolled over top of Akar's staggeringly hard pecs as he cupped it by the bottom in the crooks of his vein-reinforced arms. Akar's cock wedged itself up against the base of the rock to serve as a third point of support.

By now, the attacking cat was back on its feet and spinning fluidly toward the direction of Samut. The gigantic muscles sweltering on Samut's god-like body were ready as he stood fearlessly crouched on the ground. Every expertly proportioned muscle quaked with mind- boggling excitement and anticipation. Steam hissed out of the great tiger's nostrils as its angered determination growled out. Samut raised both hands high over his head positioning the insignificant- looking wooden spears for the obvious assault. A pair of 38" biceps carved their petrified balls of astonishing beauty on each side of Samut's ferociously focused face. His gargantuan triceps became locked coils of spring-like pressured meat as the wonders that were his biceps fissured over and over again with surfaced fibers of steel hard muscle. The heavy veining covering Samut's thigh-sized forearms danced with the midday sunlight as if a nest of venomous snakes were waiting just beneath his tissue-thin skin. The shaft of Samut's majestic 27" cock pointed the anger of his glowing cock head and spitting precum directly at the face of the angered beast.

The tiger crouched pushing all of her potential strength into her hindquarters for the pounce. Samut's already impossibly striated muscularity forced itself to a level of hardness that was etched beyond human belief. Akar groaned under the waiting weight of the giant boulder secured in his grip. His legs and glutes were as hard and defined by the carried burden as all of Samut's glimmering body. Akar's pecs, biceps and triceps were so filled with intensified meat that their massive definition threatened to crush the rock they held.

With one purposely-measured shout, Akar launched the huge boulder skyward. The confused cat's attention was ripped from his intended victim, Samut, to the sound of the shout. Before she could figure out what was happening, a ton of hurled rock clipped her across the left hind leg. The boulder landed square on the lower part of the tiger's leg shattering the tendon-shrouded bone. Samut was in full charge before the cat had fallen to the ground and the damaging boulder had rolled past her. His monstrously huge muscles moved with an erotic grace as Samut flexed his way forward. With well-practiced accuracy, the snake-tongued points of the spear in his right hand found its mark leaving the great cat dead on the spot with the wooden shaft sticking upright from the back of her neck.

No sooner had Akar let loose of the boulder then he twisted his astonishingly small waist to point the overwhelming bulk of his pendulous torso muscles toward the other two circling beasts. The large pack leader was already charging. She was too close for Akar to have any chance to get out of her way. The saber teeth pointed their intended viciousness from the cat's open jaw directly at the monumental glory of Akar's ram-powered cock head. Instead of rolling to one side or the other as I had expected, Akar leaned forward pushing both locked arms straight at the face of the charging tigress. His pecs exploded forward as the capturing pressure of his extended biceps and triceps forced their over-packed muscle out in the only direction available to them. Akar's lats and upper back muscles swirled outward into huge thick sails of enveloping meat unfurled from either side of his v-shaped back. As the deadly enemy drew close to her intended victim, powered-line after powered-line of infinite striations spread through the clenched brilliance of Akar's insanely flexed upper legs and ass muscles.

Timing his move to perfection, Akar's hands landed on the top of the cat's head, which he then used as a pommel board from which to force his massive bulk up into an unbelievable aerial summersault. Akar landed sidesaddle on the surprised beast, forcing it flat onto the ground as he grabbed onto handfuls of loose skin and fur on the back of her great neck. The sudden impact of Akar's 600 pounds of pure muscle on her unexpecting back slammed the cat's body onto the ground hard enough to drive the air out of her gasping lungs.

Using time and disorientation to his advantage, Akar swung his body forward to sit fully mounted on the confused beast. He leaned forward to wrap one of his gargantuan arms around the throat of the shaking and dazed cat. The muscle-writhing forearm of Akar's other arm was locked behind the struggling creature's head just below the base of her skull. Akar pulled and choked with all his strength. His stunning arm muscles froze into diamond hard yard-around appendages of painfully carved meat as he worked. The cat tried to rise but Akar's riding bulk and choking actions forced her back down to the ground. The sheer scale of Akar's wrapped upper arm virtually swallowed up the tiger's entire face with the flexed ball of his clasping bicep. Akar growled his resolve as he tightened his grasp forcing all of his upper body muscles to granite-like hardness. Then, with one swift jerking twist of Akar's bouldered arms and shoulders, it was all over for the huge cat.

Two were down and four were remaining. But that did not last long as four more giant tigers, including one staggeringly huge male leapt out into the open. Suddenly, instead of four against four, it was 2- to-1 against the Pickings. My entire body shook with fear as the carnivorous reinforcements bolted onto the field. Akar was on his feet in an instant. Sweat glowed from his cum-shined muscle. The preceding exertion had forced his body to an even higher level of anatomically perfect pronouncement. Each and every solitary muscle was filled to bursting with fibered meat that appeared hard enough to resist an atomic explosion. Akar's 2-foot cock looked so hard that I feared it would launch missiles of fiery hot cum at any second. Every movement was a study in muscled beauty.

Samut's body was no less charged and ready with it's own overwhelming muscle. If these men were going down under the onslaught of the saber- toothed clan, then they were going down hard – very, very hard. Just watching Samut's heaving breasts, legs and biceps coiling with ultra- formed muscle pushed my untouched cock to the brink of eruption. I had and have never seen so much gargantuan man-meat so fabulously formed. I was certain that any one of Samut's various muscles could have reduced the boulders lying around the field to pulverized dust. I needed to believe that this same muscle could do as much or more damage to the attacking Travelers.

The new beasts that had come into the battle had no intention of being patient nor could they appreciate the muscular beauty that the four human gods possessed. These creatures had come to feast and intended to do so quickly. The charge was on immediately with two of them, including the male, heading directly for Samut's stupendous mountain of waiting muscle and two charging at my unaware lover. The other four roamed in tighter and tighter circles around the other two Pickings. I could see no hope for my Akar or his muscle-chiseled companions. I closed my eyes.

All eight tigers roared simultaneously. I heard their loud cry for only one or two seconds before the next earth-shattering noise pierced the air. At the same time, the platform and tree and the platform shook with wild violence.

Opening my eyes, I could see the fiery red glow of flying lava and dense purple clouds festering into the sky far to the north. The explosive forces of the sudden eruption of the previously dormant North Volcano were immediate and without pity. The platform holding Darat and me rattled and ripped itself from its lodging into the great tree trunk and branches. I could see trees already toppling toward the ground. I screamed and tried to reach out for Darat as the landing disappeared from beneath our feet. Darat caught my hand and wrapped me within the hard envelope of his own massive muscles as I tried to do the same for him.

A huge wave passed beneath our small boat pushing my tied body forward and then back as we rolled down the backside of the swell. I could feel the forward surge of the vessel as the second wave flowed by carrying us with it. The third wave broke just as it hit us washing us with its foaming water and threatening to almost capsize the boat. I heard the others yelling as they tired to turn the boat back before the fourth wave hit. The rocking boat had forced my mind away from those dreadful last memories I had of Akar and the Travelers.

The scraping sounds and vibrations of the small canoe rubbing along the sands of a shoreline soon filled my blinded senses. I heard the splashes of my boat mates as they jumped from within to pull it onto the beach. One last small wave helped them with their final positioning of the canoe onto the waiting land. I lay still and confused for a couple of minutes as the men from the boat seemed preoccupied with getting it secured. Then I felt the boat move slightly as one of the men re-boarded it. Gently removing the cloth from my eyes, I found myself staring at Darat's smiling face.

"We are here, Mortumee." Darat spoke untying the cord that had held me fast for far too long.

"Where is here?" I asked with a stronger voice than I had expected.

"This is the sacred South Island that has been reserved for Priests and Elders in the past." Darat answered matter-of-factly. "Now it will need to have a new use."

Darat helped me slowly to my feet. As always, I found myself amazed at the stunning muscularity of this man who, in his sixties, had a body that looked a full two decades younger. Darat's chiseled 25" biceps rolled into beautiful balls of richly dense meat as he hoisted me to my legs. His pecs quivered into striated spectacles of fanned muscle diving into deep shadow of his cavernous cleavage as they worked. Darat's half-hard cock arced out toward me as if offering itself as an additional handle for support and appeared to carry the power to support all of my almost 300-pound muscle weight.

Other than an apparent case of wobbly `sea-legs' I felt surprisingly strong and confident. My vision had adjusted to the late afternoon light. Turning to one side to get out of the canoe, I caught sight of the darker sky to the northwest. Deep purple clouds steamed into the atmosphere from a single source point and rolled lazily to the northeast and away from us. I could not see any signs of exploding lava nor, I realized, had I heard much in the way of volcanic rumbling recently.

"The North Volcano seems to be moving back to sleep." Darat spoke noting my northward gaze. "We are far from our main island now and should be safe."

"Akar? Samut? The others?" I questioned anxiously.

"We had to move quickly." Darat continued solemnly. "Akar saved your life in the fall. One of the Traveler's was on you almost immediately. You took a good swipe to the head by her claws but the infection is gone now and you are healing well. Akar pulled the Traveler from you and gave you to me to take care of. He returned to help hold off the Travelers to give us time to get away. I am sorry, I don't know any more than that about him or Samut. All of our settlements have been affected and we have suffered some losses among our people but, on whole, we have been very lucky. The volcano eruptions moved to the north and west of the island, away from most of our villages. There was much confusion."

"How long was I unconscious?" I asked.

It took a full day to get you down to the southern beaches. The volcano was still very active then and we knew that our people were in trouble." Darat answered. "Our two boats were sent here as our part of the new mission. It took three days to cross the waters to get here."

As Darat finished helping me ashore, a second canoe with five men pounded onto the beach only a few yards from where we landed. There were two Priests, two Elders and one massively muscled Guardian in that canoe. I recognized one of the Priests to be Bara immediately. He glanced at me and nodded a brief smiled toward me as he jumped into the shallow waters of the beach.

The three other men from our boat rushed over to help Bara and the others. As soon as I got a good look at them, I immediately recognized Tawn and Paro as two of the men with whom I had unknowingly traveled. I did not know the third man with them but, from his staggering amount of naked, honed muscle and gargantuan, hard cock, he was obviously another member of the Picking village or a Guardian.

"I fear that your own people cannot or will not be coming to get you now and, possibly, for some time." Darat went on handing me a wrapping that included my precious notebook and pens. "Until then, Mortumee, your different knowledge and deeper understanding of the workings inside the earth could be of help to our people … if you are willing to help us."

Without Akar, I did not feel like helping anyone but the Islanders were as much family to me now as anyone and had opened their hearts and their lives to me. If my people could not or did not return suddenly didn't seem to matter anymore. As we began to talk, Bara moved in with us. Seeing his sharp facial features in the warm light of the sun made him look proudly handsome in a stern, serious sort of way. His ragged, torn robing barely contained the massive wealth of semi-hard cock draping outward in a smooth, delicious arc from his shining, wet loins. I could feel my own exposed cock tingling with want from my memories of Bara's monumental organ.

"I will help wherever I can." I smiled to Darat as I tried to turn my attention away from Bara's projecting cock shaft. "I don't know what value I can be or what it is you are seeking to do, but where I can serve you, I will."

"You are more valuable than you realize, Mortumee." Darat assured me with a welcoming formal hug. "Our great balance has been seriously affected. Our home, our mix and our numbers have been disrupted. The lives and ways of the Travelers and the other creatures of our homeland have been altered, too."

"The extent of this unbalance will take a long time to figure out and adjust to." Bara stepped into the conversation. "And one thing above all is now even more important to our people…and that is where you can be of the greatest help."

"How is that?" I inquired of both stunningly muscled men.

"The Elders and Priests agree that in order to ensure the ultimate survival of our people we need to establish a second tribe here on this island." Darat responded. "To keep the main tribe focused on rebuilding on the main island, this new `colony' will be created without the knowledge of the rest of our people."

"For all of us to be sure that our people will always survive, it is time that we gather new thoughts and new ideas to blend with our old ways." Bara went on. "You, Mortumee, more than anyone, can help us with fresh ways to achieve a new and better balance. We believe it was the will of the ancestors that brought you to us just at this important moment in our history and we ask you to stay and help us as long as you can. If and when your people come back for you, we will send them to you and you may go with them then with our gratitude."

I knew my answer almost before they finished speaking. Akar was gone, what could possibly be left for me? •