The Royal Feast

I sat down among countless "Beast People" at a disturbingly long table. I couldn't imagine how long and how many people it took to put this in the dining hall.

The hall was filled with different kinds of alien-like beast heads on the wall, and echoes of the beast people also filled most of it. Not only that, but the room was enormous, at least three times of a normal house back on earth.

On the table, multiple platters made of metal I've never seen before held various different foods. Some weren't even from Earth. There was one food that looked something like a squid, but it was still alive, making quiet noises like it was screaming. Its tentacle like arms started moving.

I wrinkled my face in disgust. But it didn't last for long when I saw a beautiful cake. My mouth started watering. I realized I haven't eaten since this morning. I looked around to see if there were chefs bringing more stuff. I didn't see anymore. I was kinda glad for that, because the table was already so full, that there was hardly enough room for just plates. Maybe these people ate a lot?

Inside the hall, the outside seemed gloomy: light grey skies and a darker shade to the clouds. The land seemed almost desolate. The only thing that seemed to make the place less gloomy was the exotic plants and gardens growing in its vastness. Trees that were a violently dark purple and leafs that were forest green stood tall over the majority of the land.

"I'd like to make a toast," the man announced, holding a cocktail glass with a thick, orange liquid inside. "I would like to toast the boy who passed the test of the mountain and my daughter, Ziya." He raised his glass and everyone followed.

Everyone proceeded to drink from their glasses, the sounds of gulping thick, orange liquid in the air. I stared down into my cup. 'Why not give it a shot?' I thought, but that was a horrible decision. I mean, completely terrible. The taste was awful, but I couldn't gag. The texture also was a component when it came to the liquid's terrible taste.

I had to swallow it sooner or later, so I held my breath and swallowed it all in one whole gulp. Everyone else was done drinking, and the chatting among them continued.

"Hey mister could you pass the maonse?" A young boar boy asked me. He looked to be about 9, judging from the sound of his voice and his size.

"Mayonnaise?" I asked him back.

"No, maonse. The sauce right there," he said, pointing to a thick mixture that looked similar to salsa, but it was blue and black instead. I mean, it was black. The mixture was incredibly dark, with some specs of blue in it.

"Ummm, yeah. Sure I can do that," I said hesitantly.

"Thanks mister. Hey, do you wanna try it?" he asked me. "It's reawy good."

"I guess I could give it a try," I answered. I took a thing that looked similar to a chip and was going to put it in before the kid stopped me.

"Don't try it with that! Try it with this," He handed me a cookie looking thing. I accepted his small gift and dipped it in the mixture. I didn't want to take a look while eating it, so after it was dipped, I closed my eyes and stuck it in my mouth.

Dang! This was actually pretty damn good!

The flavor was so bold, almost like spicy nacho cheese doritos. Except this was way better!

"Hey, this is actually pretty good. What is it?" I asked the kid after finishing the delicacy.

"Pormaus manure," he casually replied as he was taking another bite out of it. "It's a delicacy around here."

My stomach suddenly did a 360. I wanted to vomit. Manure? How could people it the crap of some animal!?!

After I was done silently gagging, I grabbed different, other food. But for some reason, the manure kept looking more and more enticing the more I stared at it. I took another cookie shaped food and took a bite out of it. It tasted so good! Like caramel being slowly melted in my mouth while being fed coffee beans at the same time.

I kept eating the cookie things one after another. The boy next to me just stared in worry.

"Hey you really shouldn't eat that much you know. If you do, you might—," he tried to warn me, but it was already too late. I felt a jolt of pain in my stomach and suddenly started to see colors. I was getting really dizzy when I felt a hand on my shoulder, then everything simply just went normal. I looked to see who was touching me and it turned out it was the boy.

He was holding a luminous purple crystal in the palm of his fuzzy little hand, mumbling words of a language I've never heard before. After a few moments he lifted his hand and stopped mumbling.

"Chasm abilities don't only work from watches. Here on Jaguer, we use manner crystals," he said as if answering the questions in my head. "My chasm ability is to heal and stop fatigue from happening."

"Huh. That's a pretty handy ability you have," I said to him.

"Really? You think so? I mean, it isn't as good as the other kids," He stated in a sad tone.

"Honest. I think it is a powerful and useful ability to have," I said. It was the truth. He would be an essential asset if he went into battle.

His furry little boar face lit up with a smile, or I think it was a smile. He just kinda showed his teeth and closed his eyes.

I was casually eating some of the squid -- which I had to butcher because it was still alive after I grabbed it-- when I felt a cold hand fall onto my shoulder, but it wasn't the boy's.

"Hey, I need you to meet me outside after dinner is over," a female voice whispered in my ear, but it wasn't a suggestion she was giving. It was a command. Me and the boy turned around to see Ziya. The boy instantly turned away and went back to eating his food.

"Uhh, yeah sure. I can do that."

"Great. The king will also be accompanying us as well. So please be respectful," she said coldly.

I had been so busy gorging on this exotic food that I completely forgot that I was on another planet. I really hoped that no one would notice that I was gone, and it was also a good thing that it was Friday, so I wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow.

But even though I wasn't full of food or worried that someone would notice that I was missing, I still had a weird feeling in my stomach. Like something major was about to happen, but I wasn't sure if it was gonna be good or bad.

I hope this isn't gonna be bad.