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Great Buzzard Eli James IV · **02-25-2019, 02:22 PM**

IT'S PITCH BLACK with the wind moving in strong due to the coming storm. On many television screens, the local news station is catching everyone up on what's happening...

"We now have heard many eye witness reports that the tornado has touched down and we're looking at it moving to an F-4. Please take shelter immediately if you've decided to stay. Again, take shelter and be safe. We're going to try to keep you updated here throughout the night," the weather person shares.

Meanwhile, several power outages have been reported and different forms of security are preparing for rescues since many have decided to stay to endure the storm. And in the middle of his large property, Eli James is one of those that stayed. Inside Eli's home, he and an older man are playing cards on the kitchen table with a few candles lit to give them some light.

"Eli, my boy, you never were good at card games" the older man says

Eli starts reorganizing his cards and responds, "Heh, that's because my old man taught me everything I know about the game."

"I taught you how to never leave a loser."

"And I never do."

"I think we both have different views on what it means to win if you tell your father that you haven't lost."

"A loss is in the eyes of the beholder, especially when they don't know the final intentions of the player that has so-called 'lost' the game."

"You lost respect from everyone that followed you. They left you.
Even that damn freak Elisha abandoned you after the shit you pulled, boy. Your wife disappeared. Everything you done built is now gone. You sit here talking to your dead daddy trying to make sense of it all. Eli, you need to go back so you can finally rest."

"Go back? To what? I led people to a better life. It was their choice to leave. I knew they would all betray me at some point. They were not strong enough to carry on the burden that I carry. They were weak."

"Yeah, you're right. They were definitely weak. But it wasn't just them being weak, Eli. You got soft. You went in teaching them the truth and error of their ways. Then you got involved with a slut and focused on purifying the place. Your job isn't to purify, Eli. It's to speak the truth and kill where sin abides. You made friends, not disciples. In a way, you got weak too, son."

"I never got weak."

"Keep telling yourself that. Mystica... Callaway... Wild... Luca... Madison...

... Elisha... Duke... Feder... Morbid... The War. Do you think they'd tell you after everything you were the strong one? You did a lot, boy, but you missed a lot too. You just took a few wrong turns. Just think about it."

"Sloppy. My eye off the target. Sure, I would say that's accurate but I was never weak. I killed those people at the Promise Land because I was purifying the sin at my own camp. I let Elisha kill everyone at the Village to show everyone truth is above all."

"And here we are. Alone in the house, we built on hundreds of acres with no disciples, you have no wife to continue the bloodline, and no ear to hear the truth. What good is a message of truth if no one is around to listen to it?"

Eli and his dad pause the conversation to finish the hand. They both lay their respected cards with Eli losing.

"Never lose my ass."

"You're not even real."

"If you lost to your dead father who isn't even here, then how in the hell did you win the war against those that were there? You ain't done. Not yet."

Eli shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. Once he opens them back, he's by himself. The wind is picking up speed as the tornado approaches his location. Eli stands up and decides to take a stroll outside while praying.

"Almighty. You called me to preach truth to this world and I have done so with great authority and vengeance that you placed in my hands. I prophesied and you fulfilled. I spoke no lie and completed all the tasks you assigned for me to do. I made vows and held them all with great conviction. Am I not done? Strike me here and take me on home, unless I am reborn to do a new task. I am in your hands so let it be as you want."

Eli falls in the grass as if he were a drunk man falling down leaving the bar. He starts speaking gibberish under his breath waiting for the tornado.

"Lying down outside during a tornado while everyone else hides inside. Now, this is freedom."

"I haven't felt this free in some time. I'm glad you're with me."

"I'll never leave you, Eli. I'll tell you what to say when it's time, but for now, let's enjoy this rebirth of the James name."

They both start to laugh out loud while waiting for the storm to come through.....

The sun is out and Eli wakes up with a strong jerk. He sits up and ponders for a moment everything that happened last night. He notices no tree's down. He turns around and see's his house is just how he left it last night. Everything was fine. The tornado did nothing. Eli looks out in the field and starts to laugh.

"I hear you."

"You gone get up, boy?"

Eli turns and see's his father drinking a cup of freshly squeezed lemonade.

"Let's go. It's time for you to get reborn, son."

Eli follows his dad down to the river. Eli has a huge grin on his face and starts making his way in the river slowly. His dad starts to sing "Amazing Grace" while Eli kneels, and submerges himself in the water. He comes back out a few seconds later with a big laugh and screams.

"I've been reborn."

"We all have a moment in time to say our farewell to this land and move into the next. And don't worry Cadryn Leslie Tiberius, I'll make it much more fun than if you were sitting in an airport waiting for your next flight. It's not a threat that a lot of people make these days about killing ya or ending your career, because your time may not come just yet. I'm here to show you the way. I'm here to help your journey be a good one so when that calling for ya comes -- and it will come -- you'll leave with a smile.

But I know your job is to fight me, beat me, and move closer to being called a king.
Heh. Any king crowned at the end of this tournament will be nothing more than a paper champion. A pawn in the game we call life. They'll be announced asking, get a crown, and fill their heart full of pride. The truth, man, that there is one king and the rules more than a section we cut out. He rules the seen and unseen. His breath allows you and I to move and speak, and he'll come calling for that breath back.

So I'm looking forward to hearing all your words at me. It'll probably be nothing I haven't heard before. Call me fat. Call me crazy. Tell me all about how I lie and fool of something and just trying to get others to drink my kool-aid. Heh. It's just sad when people speak these things, not because it's so petty but because they speak what they don't know.

Imagine a kid who never went to school and just learned a trade by watching and doing, like construction. One day, someone comes looking for help writing PHP or JavaScript. That someone comes up to that construction kid and says, "Write me a game that uses A.I. by the end of the year or you're dead." Do you know what happens when the clock strikes 12:01 AM on January 1st? We have a dead body. He can't do something he wasn't educated to do with something so complex.

Or what about this...

An actor is on the set making their next movie. Let's say they play a surgeon. He walks by on the street and right in front of him is a person bleeding to death. People are panicking and yelling while they wait for help, "Is there a doctor?" Though saying words written for him on a paper may show the world he has some knowledge, the chances are he can't save that life. So what should the actor do? He should be like the rest and wait on those who are trained to help the situation, or just walk on by.

People like to talk about me and what I do as if they know something. The fact is they didn't walk where I walked and haven't heard what I heard. You can call me crazy, just like many have in the past, but when no one can prove me a liar then the joke's on them at the end.

Ya see.. though I'm a part of this tournament, it isn't to be crowned some king. Just go examine my history here and see if I care about titles. My purpose was much different than people expected then... and it's different now than it was then.

As far as you and I go... I thank you for the sacrifice you've made. Your role in this will not be forgotten and it will be seen one day. See ya soon, Cadryn."

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