The Cursed Ruins of Pōmaikaʻi

Prologue

The legends of superstitious tribal peoples can usually be dismissed as just that—mere superstition. But sometimes, there's a reason these superstitions exist, and it is best not to push your luck.

The island where our story takes place is like no other. Well, all islands are unique in their own way, but that's not the point. If there's one place where weird stuff right out of a 1940s pulp fiction or even a high-brow Tarzan novel can take place is here. No one knows where it is, and no one really knows it exists, save for the people who live here and only a small few outsiders. Eventually, the outside world will know of this place.

But not right now.

The island Ka'āina i hoʻopōmaikaʻiʻia e Maui, or The Land Blessed by Maui, or just Pōmaikaʻi, Blessed Land, sits somewhere in the Pacific, protected by some kind of shield that renders it invisible to the outside world; neither satellites nor aerial photos can detect it. In short, the only way to find it is to either find it or stumble across it. That's it. It's literally a lost island in the middle of nowhere.

The only outsider to find it and live on it is a young man from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He had been on a cruise with his family when the ship got caught in a typhoon. The boy, only 16 at the time, was thrown overboard, and the ship sank, taking his family with it. By some stroke of luck, he grabbed onto a floating suitcase and let the current take him to the nearest island.

There, he was discovered washed up on the beach by the native Teo Tribe, a member of the Polynesian ethnic family.

Two years later, the boy, who ended up sojourning into the jungle, was well on his way to becoming a jungle hero in the vein of the legendary Tarzan.

The boy's birth name had been cast aside in favor of a new one, befitting his new life: Kainak.

The boy learned to survive in the jungle from his adopted Teo family: how to hunt, how to find fresh, clean water, keep himself clean, make shelter, etc. He'd learned enough to take his chances in the wild, rejecting his human clothes for a Tarzan loincloth, but kept his connections to civilization with a digital watch and some books that were in the suitcase that saved his life.

Kainak prowled through the trees. He slipped on occasion, but, understandably, he wouldn't be fully accustomed to the jungle just yet. Give it time, and he'll be swinging and brawling like Tarzan. For now, he was lucky he wasn't hitting every single tree, like George. Didn't mean he wasn't well on his way, in fact, he'd already given up on being found and decided it was best to survive on this island and become the best jungle dude he could be. There was no sense in waiting for someone to come for him.

The wild boy stopped at a branch. Some of his long, unkempt brown hair got in his eyes, but he pulled it out.

The heat and humidity of the jungle required him to wear this loincloth, and swinging around had toned his body. He wasn't going to become a big beefcake like way too many images of Tarzan, but more like a gymnast or a swimmer—athletic.

To go with that brown hair, the young wild dude had piercing brown eyes, which scanned the jungle intently. His day was made up of behaving like an animal—eat, sleep, drink. While you might think this is ridiculous, don't knock it till you've tried it. And Kainak had gotten used to it.

The jungle dude crouched on one of the branches. His skin tone was a light bronze by now, mostly due to being out in the sun a lot, although the tree cover did a heck of a job providing excellent shade, even in the heat and humidity. There was also a bit of First Nations heritage that contributed to this, but this does not imply that First Nations people are savages. The author hates that stereotype, along with the "magical" Native American, hence the creation of a modern-day Native character in another work.

Anyway, he moved like an ape, which, surprisingly, were native to the island, even though many Pacific islands do not have indigenous simian populations. This island did. This is just another way the place is more unique than you might think.

Sorry for the digressions, by the way.

He jumped from tree to tree, occasionally slipping, but his reflexes were already sharp enough to catch the branch. The teen jungle hero sighed and kept moving.

Then he heard something; he'd never heard it before during his time on the island. Curious, he jumped down from the branches, towards the foot of the great tree before landing gracefully. He followed the sound through the brush, occasionally brushing off bugs that had fallen on his skin. To his relief, Malaria was not an issue.

He emerged from the brush to find himself at the entrance of some stone ruins. The 18-year-old scratched his head while examining these ruins. He could hear the sounds of something crying from inside them. His human curiosity, which will never go away, itched like a mosquito bite. His new primal instincts, which he was working on, were telling him to turn and run as soon as possible because this did not look good.

Well, there's a reason the phrase "we're only human" exists.

Kainak strode towards the entrance of the ruins. Small towers that resembled guard towers reached for the sky on the edge, but there were no taller structures. It was mostly small structures kind of like houses and small shops. Whatever this was, it was a small city in the middle of the jungle.

Now Kainak knew it wasn't just the Teo Tribe that lived on the island. There were the Paea and Pele tribes, both of which lived in different parts of the island. He also knew that they were not unfamiliar with stonework, they just didn't use it. It was mostly used for weapons since they didn't have the tools to mine big rocks to carve into whatever the hell this was.

As he stepped foot on the stone steps, his bare foot feeling the cool touch of the stone, he heard a roar. He grabbed his knife and looked around for the source of the roar.

Then he realized the roar is what he had heard before. And this is before he blacked out.

"Kainak? Kainak? Wake up! Kainak!"

He didn't know how long he had been out for, but when he came to, he found several Teo warriors and their chief, Manti, standing over him. The kahuna, Kame, examined him, including his head. Kainak could not feel anything, and judging by Kame's sigh of relief, it wasn't bad. "He'll be alright," said Kame.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We found you here near the entrance to the village," said Manti.

"How did I..." Kainak squeaked.

"I do not know," said Manti. "Do you know what happened?"

"There was this stone ruin," he said. "And I—"

"Kainak, listen to me," said Manti. "Whatever you do, do NOT go anywhere near those ruins again, do you understand me?" His voice still held fear, but was firm and tipped with subtle anger.

The Jungle Dude was confused, but he nodded. "But why?"

"That place is cursed," said Manti. "No one must ever go there."

Though he was confused, Kainak nodded. He wouldn't find out why until much later.

And that's where our story really begins.