Post by Marcus Welsh on Feb 26, 2023 21:37:51 GMT -5
The Incredible One sat this morning on a moss-covered log that acted like a natural border to the lush jungle and the sandy beach, on the island he found himself on. It was the island in which OCW had crash landed on many months ago, and held ‘Technical Difficulties’, as they awaited rescue from the harsh conditions of the pacific fringe, the indigenous and the volcano that was now called ‘Frank’. TIO, much like the majority of the roster at the time, had to adapt to the rules of the island, and try to survive, if they wanted to live. During Technical Difficulties, TIO had lost a match against his once long time friend, partner in crime, “CJ O’Donnell”, turned enemy and CJ had buried TIO in the ground. Before this time, TIO had become friends with the indigenous, the man they dubbed “the God that fell from the sky”. They unburied TIO from the grave CJ dug for him, and when it was time for the roster to leave, TIO stayed behind. Some of the roster were pleased to see TIO stay behind, some tried to convince him he would die out here and pleaded for him to come, but TIO didn’t care. TIO was a tired man, and he was tired of the world.
Life was being contemplated on this log on a morning where the sky shone a red soaked sun from the horizon of the pacific ocean. TIO sunk his teeth into a star fruit as he read over a pamphlet he had been handed by a man he called “the Courier”. The courier was a man TIO befriended who took a trip out to the island as the legend of TIO living on this island grew from when OCW was rescued. The rumor spread like wildfire to the closest civilization of this island, American Samoa, and eventually a small tiny man, whose name TIO could never figure out, came with some supplies for TIO. Over the course of the next three months, TIO start semi regular trips from the island to Samoa, getting access to his money and hiring crews to come to the island and build him a home, right on the beach, and other necessities he thought he needed like a record player for listening to music, items for hygiene, and of course a healthy supply of cocaine.
During the latest visit of the Courier, with the monthly refresh of supplies, he had brought along some news of the outside world that TIO hadn’t heard from in a long time… and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to know.
YESTERDAY
“Courier!” TIO exclaimed with a fierce grin.
TIO had been laying on the beach, letting the warm ocean water come up onto the coast and hit his feet as his partner, Wiki, or who the Courier called his “masiofo”, or in English, “queen”, was brushing TIO’s now long hair that went past his shoulders. TIO could see the Courier arriving in his boat with some fresh supplies from the Samoan island of Tutuilla, some fifty nautical miles from the island, and landed at the dock that TIO had commissioned built especially for the courier, which included a small shack for him to rest in on late visits. TIO rolled up from the sand and onto his feet, wearing only a loincloth. TIO’s figure was much different from before he crash landed on the island. He had lost the majority of any fat he had on his body, and had lost around thirty pounds. Due to his workout regime on the island, and not having access to fatty foods, TIO was ripped from head to toe. Unfortunately, due to closing in on forty, and his continued cocaine use (something Samoa is ripe with), he is starting to look older in the face, and his beard and hair are pepper.
“Ofoofogia!” the courier called out, the samoan word for “incredible”, he waved a piece of paper in his hand as I did a light jog down the beach towards him and the other indigenous, who had also befriended him, came out of the jungle from the sound of the boat’s motor.
“It’s good to see you,” TIO nodded, rubbing the hair of the courier, “how is Samoa?”
“Samoa is lelei, it’s good,” the courier smiled, usually talking in his language and repeating the english word next, “bad afa, storm, the other day, that is why I am tuai, late.”
“Don’t you worry,” TIO laughed, “I won’t attempt to drown you like I did last time. My woman has taught me some patience… I’m assuming you have the usual, yes?”
“Yes,” the courier nodded, “but I also come with something you might enjoy. Piiga!”
The courier flashed a small two paged pamphlet in black and white, like it had been printed off an old school printer, and TIO whisked it away from his hands. He opened the pamphlet up to read and a letter fell out onto the sand with the name “Ian” on it. Perplexed, cocking his eyebrow, Wiki picked up the letter, as she had caught up with him and TIO, breathing heavily from his nose, looked at the advertisement.
“What is this?” TIO asked, bluntly.
“Piiga! Wrestling!” Courier exclaimed, “it’s the people from who crashed with you those many months ago! They’re going to the south pole for a show!”
“OCW is Metallica now?” TIO shook his head, looking at the graphic of a solid ice pyramid on the land of Antarctica with the caption “The Great Illuminatis' '”. “Never mind, why did you bring me this?”
“Don’t you want to go home?” the Courier asked honestly, “I thought this was all temporary?”
Wiki knew he was about to lose his cool so she began to rub his abdomen, trying to calm him down but he gently moved her arm, gave her a soft kiss on her forehead before grabbing the Courier by the neck and pressing him up against the shack.
“Temporary?!” TIO yelled, as some of the indigenous whooped with excitement, “do you honestly believe I would waste all of my earnings for my entire life, to build a home on the beach, and a dock for you, if it was going to FUCKING TEMPORARY?!”
“No,” Courier shook his head, trying to get TIO to loosen his grip, “you’re taugavale, right, of course, island tupu, king, I’m sorry. Could you please let go?”
“Yes,” TIO nodded, letting go as the courier collapsed onto the dock, “I’m sorry. Tell me though, why did you bring me this?”
“A man,” the Courier coughed, brushing himself off and standing back up, “he was very smart. I don’t know exactly who he was, but he came with a briefcase with money and asked me to deliver this to you… he told me not to open it. I didn’t even know there was a tusi, a letter. Are you angry with me?”
TIO had stopped listening to the courier, he had since opened up the letter addressed to him by his first name and read it, vigorously. He became quite emotional as he ripped up the letter, not revealing the contents to anyone and throwing it into the ocean.
“I have to go.”
Without saying another word, TIO rushed into the jungle, pushing some of the indigenous men out of his way. TIO’s woman looked at the courier with a look of concern.
“Was it something I said?” the Courier asked.
Wiki shook her head, having understood what he said, and she shook the Courier’s hand. She yelled something out in her native tongue to the others as she ran into the jungle after TIO. The indigenous began to chant something and offered food to the Courier.
PRESENT
TIO threw the core of the star fruit onto the beach, so a bird or another creature could eat its remains, as Wiki emerged from the jungle. Her copper skin glowed from the brilliant sunrise, as she had a cloth over her bottom half but was nonetheless just as nude as TIO. She sat down next to TIO, and glanced up at him, as she would notice a single tear coming down his face. She brought her hand up and wiped it away.
“What is wrong?” Wiki asked, saying the words in her heavy pacific accent.
“That letter was from my former boss,” TIO explained, “it’s an invitation.”
“To what?” Wiki gently grabbed the pamphlet from TIO and looked it over, “is this ice?”
“Welsh must’ve knew I was still out here,” TIO spoke to himself, “he’s keeping tabs on me with the local Samoan’s, and the Courier.”
“My king,” Wiki said, as she enjoyed calling me, “what is this?”
“This is what I did,” TIO explained, “you remember when I crashed here? The wrestling - the fighting, this is what it is. And there’s this big match and I’m invited.”
“You should go!” Wiki beamed.
TIO laughed, shaking his head and standing up, pacing back and forth in front of Wiki.
“I’m serious,” Wiki rose too and pushed the pamphlet to me, “you are bored here.”
“Bored?” TIO laughed out loud, “I’m not bored! I love it here! I don’t need that. Maybe it needs me, but I certainly have nothing to do with it.”
Suddenly, from the jungle, three young boys come crashing out and topple into TIO. All four of them fall to the ground, the younger boys laughing and TIO looks up with a look that could kill. The other young boys look concerned, at first, but play off the deadly stare with laughter.
“Come on, big guy!” exclaimed one of the younglings, “beat me up!”
“No,” TIO said firmly.
“Man from sky,” one said in broken English, “pin me and raise gold. Yell loudly! Say your favorite word!”
“My favorite word?” TIO asked himself quietly before getting cut off.
“FUCK THE WORLD!” all three yelled, laughing hysterically and falling again to the ground.
“Three on one,” the third boy said, “you can’t beat us all!”
TIO sat up, elbow on his knee, and stared at Wiki, who just rolled her eyes and smiled. TIO quickly speared one of them as the other lept onto his back. TIO roared like a wild animal, shaking one of the boys off and throwing the other into the water. TIO runs for a moment, and stops, and bounces back, imitating bouncing off the ropes of a wrestling ring, and drop kicks a boy, who flipped in the air and landed face first in the sand. TIO grabbed another by his makeshift cloth underwear and threw him into the air before slamming him back down. TIO kneels down on one knee and looks sharply at the three boys, who scatter away from the imposing TIO. Wiki slowly gets to her feet and mockingly claps.
“My brave warrior,” she laughed.
“Har har,” TIO licked his lips, coming in for a kiss.
“You miss the fight,” Wiki nodded, pointing to the pamphlet that was blowing around.
TIO rushed over a few yards away and picked it up, so it wouldn’t cause harm to any of the wildlife, and stuffed it in his loincloth.
“That’s why you were crying,” Wiki explained, “you miss it.”
“No,” TIO firmly denied, grabbing her hands, “I cried because I love you.”
This was the first time TIO had said those words to Wiki. He had never had to say them before, it was mutually agreed that they had immense feelings for each other, from the moment they met months ago when she first fired an arrow at him in the jungle.
“I cried because, I have to go,” TIO sniffed, “that’s why I got mad at the Courier yesterday. I’ve had the itch for a long time, but something that made the itch go away was the prospect of never being able to fully satisfy it; because I am here and it was out there. Away from me. But, it’s back now, and look at me.”
TIO holds out his arms to show off his near perfect body.
“You, Wiki, and the rest of your people, this island, gave me a gift. And the gift was bringing me in the best shape of my life.”
“Minus the white drug,” Wiki moaned.
“I had to indulge in something,” TIO spit, “but beyond that vice, I am not the same man I was when I came to this island. I was slow, weak, tired, and a pathetic man–”
“And you still are.”
A group of older indigenous men stepped out of the jungle this time, not as old as the thirty-eight year old TIO, but much older than the teenage boys he wrestled with moments ago. The biggest of them all, they called him Maleko, as he grasped a sharp spear in one hand, bloodied with the red life force of the kill in his other hand, a medium sized pig like animal, as he threw the dead mammal at TIO’s feet.
“Quiet,” Wiki hushed, “He is not pathetic. He came and brought us many gifts. One of them was the word of the outside world!”
“So?” Maleko laughed, “I don’t care! E le o malamalama lava lenei alii i la tatou gagana faavae! Haha!”
“I may only understand a little of your language,” TIO shot back, having deciphered what Maleko spoke, “but you’re not here about words, right Maleko? I know they’re tough for you.”
Maleko became angry as some of the indigenous laughed. He gave them a ferocious look and they all stopped laughing right away.
“I overheard you speaking,” Maleko circled TIO, “you leave us? After everything we do for you, you repay us by leaving! You leave Wiki! How thoughtful, you are big man. GO! Go and don’t come crying back to us when your world spits you back out!”
“He’s not leaving me,” Wiki interrupted before TIO could fire back.
“What do you mean?” TIO looked perplexed, as did the others and Maleko.
“I’m going with you,” Wiki nodded, “nothing you can say will allow me to stay. You cannot convince me to not be with you. You are my king–”
“He isn’t a king,” Maleko cried in anger, “this man isn’t a god! He’s nobody!”
“Watch your tongue,” TIO stiffly said, “or I’ll cut it from your loose mouth.”
TIO turned his attention back to Wiki, he took one of her angelic hands and rubbed the palm.
“I’m glad you don’t have to convince you to come,” TIO smiled.
“Ugh,” Maleko groaned, “both of you go! I will take over this island, I will crap in your house, I will destroy your dock. We didn’t need them before you came and we don’t need them–”
Having heard enough, TIO grabbed Maleko by the throat and gave him a swift kick in between the legs. Maleko growls like a wild animal and wraps his legs round one of TIO’s legs and bites his knee. Crying out, TIO grabs a nearby rock and slams it into the side of Maleko ribs. He releases his grasp, gasping for air as TIO goes to the ground and puts Maleko into a sleeper hold and begins to taunt him as Maleko keeps searching for oxygen.
“Just because you’re big doesn’t mean you're better, Maleko,” TIO yelled, between breaths, “you know who’s nothing? You! You never mattered before I came here and you still won’t matter when I leave. Are you still petty that I beat you once your father died and I became the leader of this island? Eh? Face it, you’re nothing. You got beaten by an outsider and I’m finally done with you.”
TIO goes to snap the neck of Maleko but Wiki cries out. TIO stares at Wiki’s concerned face, as TIO closes his eyes, takes a slow breath, and releases Maleko. Maleko coughs for air as a couple help him away from TIO.
“Don’t,” TIO yells at the others, who step away from Maleko. “Before I go, let’s get some things straight. Maleko, go. Go to the other side of the island.”
“But,” Maleko stutters, out of breath and shocked, “that’s where Frank is.”
“Tough fucking shit,” TIO scoffed, “you know the river border between our side and the side that got scorched? You go there and don’t cross. Ever. Remember - I fell from this sky and I’ll know if you do. You can say what you want, but trust me, if one of your fucking toes touches the river. I’ll fucking smite you. Now GO!”
Maleko stares at some of the others, who aren’t sure what to do, as TIO flinches at Maleko. He jumps and runs away into the jungle. TIO turns to the others as he brushes sand off himself.
“What you heard from Maleko is true,” TIO began, “I am leaving. This isn’t goodbye forever, it’s simply, sometime I will see you again. It may be awhile, as I have some business to attend to. Some personal things. Trivial to you all but to me, it is important. I want you to remember something…”
TIO glanced over at Wiki, who was translating to the others as their English was not as good as her’s, Maleko’s or some elders further in.
“When I landed from the sky, I was a God, but a broken one. I was lost, confused, and angry at much of the world. I was angry with every aspect of my life and when I landed here, it’s as if life breathed me another chance. Another chance for renewed health, renewed friendships, renewed love… renewed life. These many months have taught me something very important - you only have one life, yes, even as a God, as your king, and that you need to satisfy every part of it.”
“I have been given another opportunity to reclaim a title I once lost, I hold in high regard, many years ago. I will face many warriors, and based on the information I have, I do not know who I will be fighting. But that’s ok, I have never, ever, been one to shy from a challenge and in fact, I thrive in them. I have given you all the opportunity to live a better life, with the language I have taught, the resources I have brought to you, for the first time in my long life, I was selfless to you all. It’s time for me to be me again.
TIO extends his arm and points to the ocean.
“I will be going south, to an island covered in cold and ice, to fight inside a pyramid. I will fight not just for myself, and my beautiful Wiki, but I will fight for you and for this island! It won’t matter who is inside that frigid structure, knowing I have the support of this tribe, your drums of war will beat in the rhythm of my heart and it will keep me strong! I came here, far out of your existence, and showed you my power. I will now go back to them, fresh out of their existence, and show them the power I claimed here! They will know what it means to lose, to achieve a warrior’s death, to your king!”
All the indigenous, including Wiki, raise their arms in the air, as the sun rises higher, and shout in unison.
“King Incredible! King Incredible! King Incredible!”
Life was being contemplated on this log on a morning where the sky shone a red soaked sun from the horizon of the pacific ocean. TIO sunk his teeth into a star fruit as he read over a pamphlet he had been handed by a man he called “the Courier”. The courier was a man TIO befriended who took a trip out to the island as the legend of TIO living on this island grew from when OCW was rescued. The rumor spread like wildfire to the closest civilization of this island, American Samoa, and eventually a small tiny man, whose name TIO could never figure out, came with some supplies for TIO. Over the course of the next three months, TIO start semi regular trips from the island to Samoa, getting access to his money and hiring crews to come to the island and build him a home, right on the beach, and other necessities he thought he needed like a record player for listening to music, items for hygiene, and of course a healthy supply of cocaine.
During the latest visit of the Courier, with the monthly refresh of supplies, he had brought along some news of the outside world that TIO hadn’t heard from in a long time… and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to know.
YESTERDAY
“Courier!” TIO exclaimed with a fierce grin.
TIO had been laying on the beach, letting the warm ocean water come up onto the coast and hit his feet as his partner, Wiki, or who the Courier called his “masiofo”, or in English, “queen”, was brushing TIO’s now long hair that went past his shoulders. TIO could see the Courier arriving in his boat with some fresh supplies from the Samoan island of Tutuilla, some fifty nautical miles from the island, and landed at the dock that TIO had commissioned built especially for the courier, which included a small shack for him to rest in on late visits. TIO rolled up from the sand and onto his feet, wearing only a loincloth. TIO’s figure was much different from before he crash landed on the island. He had lost the majority of any fat he had on his body, and had lost around thirty pounds. Due to his workout regime on the island, and not having access to fatty foods, TIO was ripped from head to toe. Unfortunately, due to closing in on forty, and his continued cocaine use (something Samoa is ripe with), he is starting to look older in the face, and his beard and hair are pepper.
“Ofoofogia!” the courier called out, the samoan word for “incredible”, he waved a piece of paper in his hand as I did a light jog down the beach towards him and the other indigenous, who had also befriended him, came out of the jungle from the sound of the boat’s motor.
“It’s good to see you,” TIO nodded, rubbing the hair of the courier, “how is Samoa?”
“Samoa is lelei, it’s good,” the courier smiled, usually talking in his language and repeating the english word next, “bad afa, storm, the other day, that is why I am tuai, late.”
“Don’t you worry,” TIO laughed, “I won’t attempt to drown you like I did last time. My woman has taught me some patience… I’m assuming you have the usual, yes?”
“Yes,” the courier nodded, “but I also come with something you might enjoy. Piiga!”
The courier flashed a small two paged pamphlet in black and white, like it had been printed off an old school printer, and TIO whisked it away from his hands. He opened the pamphlet up to read and a letter fell out onto the sand with the name “Ian” on it. Perplexed, cocking his eyebrow, Wiki picked up the letter, as she had caught up with him and TIO, breathing heavily from his nose, looked at the advertisement.
“What is this?” TIO asked, bluntly.
“Piiga! Wrestling!” Courier exclaimed, “it’s the people from who crashed with you those many months ago! They’re going to the south pole for a show!”
“OCW is Metallica now?” TIO shook his head, looking at the graphic of a solid ice pyramid on the land of Antarctica with the caption “The Great Illuminatis' '”. “Never mind, why did you bring me this?”
“Don’t you want to go home?” the Courier asked honestly, “I thought this was all temporary?”
Wiki knew he was about to lose his cool so she began to rub his abdomen, trying to calm him down but he gently moved her arm, gave her a soft kiss on her forehead before grabbing the Courier by the neck and pressing him up against the shack.
“Temporary?!” TIO yelled, as some of the indigenous whooped with excitement, “do you honestly believe I would waste all of my earnings for my entire life, to build a home on the beach, and a dock for you, if it was going to FUCKING TEMPORARY?!”
“No,” Courier shook his head, trying to get TIO to loosen his grip, “you’re taugavale, right, of course, island tupu, king, I’m sorry. Could you please let go?”
“Yes,” TIO nodded, letting go as the courier collapsed onto the dock, “I’m sorry. Tell me though, why did you bring me this?”
“A man,” the Courier coughed, brushing himself off and standing back up, “he was very smart. I don’t know exactly who he was, but he came with a briefcase with money and asked me to deliver this to you… he told me not to open it. I didn’t even know there was a tusi, a letter. Are you angry with me?”
TIO had stopped listening to the courier, he had since opened up the letter addressed to him by his first name and read it, vigorously. He became quite emotional as he ripped up the letter, not revealing the contents to anyone and throwing it into the ocean.
“I have to go.”
Without saying another word, TIO rushed into the jungle, pushing some of the indigenous men out of his way. TIO’s woman looked at the courier with a look of concern.
“Was it something I said?” the Courier asked.
Wiki shook her head, having understood what he said, and she shook the Courier’s hand. She yelled something out in her native tongue to the others as she ran into the jungle after TIO. The indigenous began to chant something and offered food to the Courier.
PRESENT
TIO threw the core of the star fruit onto the beach, so a bird or another creature could eat its remains, as Wiki emerged from the jungle. Her copper skin glowed from the brilliant sunrise, as she had a cloth over her bottom half but was nonetheless just as nude as TIO. She sat down next to TIO, and glanced up at him, as she would notice a single tear coming down his face. She brought her hand up and wiped it away.
“What is wrong?” Wiki asked, saying the words in her heavy pacific accent.
“That letter was from my former boss,” TIO explained, “it’s an invitation.”
“To what?” Wiki gently grabbed the pamphlet from TIO and looked it over, “is this ice?”
“Welsh must’ve knew I was still out here,” TIO spoke to himself, “he’s keeping tabs on me with the local Samoan’s, and the Courier.”
“My king,” Wiki said, as she enjoyed calling me, “what is this?”
“This is what I did,” TIO explained, “you remember when I crashed here? The wrestling - the fighting, this is what it is. And there’s this big match and I’m invited.”
“You should go!” Wiki beamed.
TIO laughed, shaking his head and standing up, pacing back and forth in front of Wiki.
“I’m serious,” Wiki rose too and pushed the pamphlet to me, “you are bored here.”
“Bored?” TIO laughed out loud, “I’m not bored! I love it here! I don’t need that. Maybe it needs me, but I certainly have nothing to do with it.”
Suddenly, from the jungle, three young boys come crashing out and topple into TIO. All four of them fall to the ground, the younger boys laughing and TIO looks up with a look that could kill. The other young boys look concerned, at first, but play off the deadly stare with laughter.
“Come on, big guy!” exclaimed one of the younglings, “beat me up!”
“No,” TIO said firmly.
“Man from sky,” one said in broken English, “pin me and raise gold. Yell loudly! Say your favorite word!”
“My favorite word?” TIO asked himself quietly before getting cut off.
“FUCK THE WORLD!” all three yelled, laughing hysterically and falling again to the ground.
“Three on one,” the third boy said, “you can’t beat us all!”
TIO sat up, elbow on his knee, and stared at Wiki, who just rolled her eyes and smiled. TIO quickly speared one of them as the other lept onto his back. TIO roared like a wild animal, shaking one of the boys off and throwing the other into the water. TIO runs for a moment, and stops, and bounces back, imitating bouncing off the ropes of a wrestling ring, and drop kicks a boy, who flipped in the air and landed face first in the sand. TIO grabbed another by his makeshift cloth underwear and threw him into the air before slamming him back down. TIO kneels down on one knee and looks sharply at the three boys, who scatter away from the imposing TIO. Wiki slowly gets to her feet and mockingly claps.
“My brave warrior,” she laughed.
“Har har,” TIO licked his lips, coming in for a kiss.
“You miss the fight,” Wiki nodded, pointing to the pamphlet that was blowing around.
TIO rushed over a few yards away and picked it up, so it wouldn’t cause harm to any of the wildlife, and stuffed it in his loincloth.
“That’s why you were crying,” Wiki explained, “you miss it.”
“No,” TIO firmly denied, grabbing her hands, “I cried because I love you.”
This was the first time TIO had said those words to Wiki. He had never had to say them before, it was mutually agreed that they had immense feelings for each other, from the moment they met months ago when she first fired an arrow at him in the jungle.
“I cried because, I have to go,” TIO sniffed, “that’s why I got mad at the Courier yesterday. I’ve had the itch for a long time, but something that made the itch go away was the prospect of never being able to fully satisfy it; because I am here and it was out there. Away from me. But, it’s back now, and look at me.”
TIO holds out his arms to show off his near perfect body.
“You, Wiki, and the rest of your people, this island, gave me a gift. And the gift was bringing me in the best shape of my life.”
“Minus the white drug,” Wiki moaned.
“I had to indulge in something,” TIO spit, “but beyond that vice, I am not the same man I was when I came to this island. I was slow, weak, tired, and a pathetic man–”
“And you still are.”
A group of older indigenous men stepped out of the jungle this time, not as old as the thirty-eight year old TIO, but much older than the teenage boys he wrestled with moments ago. The biggest of them all, they called him Maleko, as he grasped a sharp spear in one hand, bloodied with the red life force of the kill in his other hand, a medium sized pig like animal, as he threw the dead mammal at TIO’s feet.
“Quiet,” Wiki hushed, “He is not pathetic. He came and brought us many gifts. One of them was the word of the outside world!”
“So?” Maleko laughed, “I don’t care! E le o malamalama lava lenei alii i la tatou gagana faavae! Haha!”
“I may only understand a little of your language,” TIO shot back, having deciphered what Maleko spoke, “but you’re not here about words, right Maleko? I know they’re tough for you.”
Maleko became angry as some of the indigenous laughed. He gave them a ferocious look and they all stopped laughing right away.
“I overheard you speaking,” Maleko circled TIO, “you leave us? After everything we do for you, you repay us by leaving! You leave Wiki! How thoughtful, you are big man. GO! Go and don’t come crying back to us when your world spits you back out!”
“He’s not leaving me,” Wiki interrupted before TIO could fire back.
“What do you mean?” TIO looked perplexed, as did the others and Maleko.
“I’m going with you,” Wiki nodded, “nothing you can say will allow me to stay. You cannot convince me to not be with you. You are my king–”
“He isn’t a king,” Maleko cried in anger, “this man isn’t a god! He’s nobody!”
“Watch your tongue,” TIO stiffly said, “or I’ll cut it from your loose mouth.”
TIO turned his attention back to Wiki, he took one of her angelic hands and rubbed the palm.
“I’m glad you don’t have to convince you to come,” TIO smiled.
“Ugh,” Maleko groaned, “both of you go! I will take over this island, I will crap in your house, I will destroy your dock. We didn’t need them before you came and we don’t need them–”
Having heard enough, TIO grabbed Maleko by the throat and gave him a swift kick in between the legs. Maleko growls like a wild animal and wraps his legs round one of TIO’s legs and bites his knee. Crying out, TIO grabs a nearby rock and slams it into the side of Maleko ribs. He releases his grasp, gasping for air as TIO goes to the ground and puts Maleko into a sleeper hold and begins to taunt him as Maleko keeps searching for oxygen.
“Just because you’re big doesn’t mean you're better, Maleko,” TIO yelled, between breaths, “you know who’s nothing? You! You never mattered before I came here and you still won’t matter when I leave. Are you still petty that I beat you once your father died and I became the leader of this island? Eh? Face it, you’re nothing. You got beaten by an outsider and I’m finally done with you.”
TIO goes to snap the neck of Maleko but Wiki cries out. TIO stares at Wiki’s concerned face, as TIO closes his eyes, takes a slow breath, and releases Maleko. Maleko coughs for air as a couple help him away from TIO.
“Don’t,” TIO yells at the others, who step away from Maleko. “Before I go, let’s get some things straight. Maleko, go. Go to the other side of the island.”
“But,” Maleko stutters, out of breath and shocked, “that’s where Frank is.”
“Tough fucking shit,” TIO scoffed, “you know the river border between our side and the side that got scorched? You go there and don’t cross. Ever. Remember - I fell from this sky and I’ll know if you do. You can say what you want, but trust me, if one of your fucking toes touches the river. I’ll fucking smite you. Now GO!”
Maleko stares at some of the others, who aren’t sure what to do, as TIO flinches at Maleko. He jumps and runs away into the jungle. TIO turns to the others as he brushes sand off himself.
“What you heard from Maleko is true,” TIO began, “I am leaving. This isn’t goodbye forever, it’s simply, sometime I will see you again. It may be awhile, as I have some business to attend to. Some personal things. Trivial to you all but to me, it is important. I want you to remember something…”
TIO glanced over at Wiki, who was translating to the others as their English was not as good as her’s, Maleko’s or some elders further in.
“When I landed from the sky, I was a God, but a broken one. I was lost, confused, and angry at much of the world. I was angry with every aspect of my life and when I landed here, it’s as if life breathed me another chance. Another chance for renewed health, renewed friendships, renewed love… renewed life. These many months have taught me something very important - you only have one life, yes, even as a God, as your king, and that you need to satisfy every part of it.”
“I have been given another opportunity to reclaim a title I once lost, I hold in high regard, many years ago. I will face many warriors, and based on the information I have, I do not know who I will be fighting. But that’s ok, I have never, ever, been one to shy from a challenge and in fact, I thrive in them. I have given you all the opportunity to live a better life, with the language I have taught, the resources I have brought to you, for the first time in my long life, I was selfless to you all. It’s time for me to be me again.
TIO extends his arm and points to the ocean.
“I will be going south, to an island covered in cold and ice, to fight inside a pyramid. I will fight not just for myself, and my beautiful Wiki, but I will fight for you and for this island! It won’t matter who is inside that frigid structure, knowing I have the support of this tribe, your drums of war will beat in the rhythm of my heart and it will keep me strong! I came here, far out of your existence, and showed you my power. I will now go back to them, fresh out of their existence, and show them the power I claimed here! They will know what it means to lose, to achieve a warrior’s death, to your king!”
All the indigenous, including Wiki, raise their arms in the air, as the sun rises higher, and shout in unison.
“King Incredible! King Incredible! King Incredible!”