"See how powerful he is! His fat fairly glistens with power!" Her face reflected a horrific lust for power, and pain.  "We shall feast tonight! Throw him into the vat!" The Queen called out to her magicians.  Their black robes had once been pure white, but the fabric was stained with the corruption in their flesh.  It couldn't be helped either.

Their robes were made with the most expensive and desired fabrics, obtained from the overgrown spiders deep within the forest.  Only the silks they spun were harvested.  The silks could only be produced in that forest, and by those enormous spiders.  If they were cultivated elsewhere, there were no magical properties in the silks.

Powered only by rituals, runes, and stolen energy, the magi of her empire were corrupt to the core.  But in the Empress's eyes, they were necessary to operate the portal, and bring forth her sacrifices.

"Begin the ceremony!" Several white robed magicians, new to the capital and not yet corrupted, stepped forward, and poured their power into the runes at the base of the vat. The Queen's eyes were filled with a lust that should make any normal human cringe, but all the nobility of her realm also were filled with that greedy lust.  A lust for power.

"The vat already fills with the black liquid, Your Majesty.  The newly summoned person is being drained of his greatest power and lifeforce."  She smiled cruelly, but then frowned.

"Why does he not cry out then?"  The priest shook his head.

"We do not know. There is terror in his eyes, and it also appears to be excruciating pain buried there, but he does not utter a...." Then they heard a howl begin to build from the vat.  "Ah, finally.  That iron will of his must have broken."  The Queen smiled cruelly again.

"It has only been a month since the last sacrifice, but I have missed this sound. It is something that will keep me quite warm tonight."  She sat forward.  "Listen to him! I have never heard such torment!"  The priest nodded.

"His power must have been great. My predecessor often spoke about how it was like having your skin sanded off with salt. I still remember his eyes as he was thrown into the vat."  The lead magician smiled maliciously.  His mentor had been sacrificed because he had not been able to open the portal for longer and longer periods of time.  It had been his own suggestion that they use his mentor's lifeforce to sate their hungers until the portal could be opened again.

The curses he uttered within the vat made them all smile as they stole and ingested his vast power.  Even until this night, those curses remained, yet unfulfilled.

"This is so soothing!"  The Empress shivered and smiled at the sheer amount of agony the victim must be enduring.  She truly relished their torment.

The howls echoed throughout the throne room, and other then the Empress, the rest were shaken by those howls.  They started to feel less and less like agony, and sound more like an animalistic rage.

The vat slowly filled with stolen power, and the once overly fleshed form grew thin, and visibly frail compared to the heavy amounts of fat that once existed on his frame.  The vat started to bubble.

"Lift him with the screen and use the scrapers to pull the sludge off his skin. Do not pull his skin with it or it will contaminate the offering!"  A priest called out to several aproned workers on the side of the room.  The magicians moved to all sides of the room, with priests between them. They were not patiently waiting even though it took only a few minutes to remove the excess and leave it in the vat.  The Queen stood up.

"Take the corpse away, for now is the feast!"

"What do we do with the body?"  A girl asked.  It was her first time on this detail. She was a commoner, and it was a job many wished to never do again.  The old man looked at the body and sighed sadly.

"We dispose of it.  To think that these people once lived lives of luxury, but were yanked away from that other world to become food for the nobility."  She frowned.

"Food?"  The old man nodded.  While he filled her in on the details, the Queen was drinking her first cup from the vat.  The other nobles were also lining up for their own share.

"The ritual strips away the strongest power the person possesses, and their accumulated lifeforce.  All that fat on his body would sustain a normal man for nearly a year. He must have had a lot of wealth to get that fat.  But look at him now. Nothing. No fats left. Just muscle."  She looked down.

"Okay, so the ritual takes away his power, but I still don't understand how it gives them his power."  He rolled his eyes.

"That liquid contains his power. They drink it. If they don't finish it, they get nothing. Because there is so much, it will be difficult for them to drink it all."  He listened quietly.  "Yeah, even the soldiers are lining up for their share."  She frowned.

"The soldiers too?"

"That's how this country is so powerful, child.  Didn't your own hometown get defeated?"  She nodded.

"Oh!"  Understanding entered her eyes.  "That is why they were so strong!"  He nodded.

"The knights, the generals, and even the soldiers take part in this feast."  He frowned.  "Although, I don't hear the normal groaning about how difficult it is to drink."

"I can't get enough of this foul stuff!"  The Queen inhaled her third cup. "Its like I can't stand the taste, but once my cup is empty...."  The priest smiled and finished his second mug.

"It is indeed unusual. I've never had a brew so powerful before.  Almost like it wants to be finished."  He watched as the last soldier held up his mug.

"The final one!"  A shout went around the room, and everyone waited for the last drop to be swallowed.

"This is it!  What we all deserve!"  The Queen felt her stomach churn as she waited for the last drop to hit his tongue.

"Sir?  His eyes!"  The old man looked down at the cart that carried the corpse.

"What....this has never happened before."  He said quietly. "He's alive!"  The man sat up, pressed on his belly, his slack arms, then stood up.  He bounced up and down a few times.  Earlier, his howl of pain could be heard throughout the castle.

Now, all that could be heard was laughter.

"What is your name?"  The girl lifted her eyes from the fire.

"Llani."  She swallowed a lump in her throat.  The man's gaze was intense, but not hostile, or lustful.

"I am Leon."  He tore into a piece of roast deer with relish and sighed happily.  "It's been many years since I could enjoy food."  The old man stayed silent.  "What is your name, old man?"

"Reina.  What did you mean about enjoying food?"  Leon wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

"I had a disease that stole my enjoyment of life. The doctors said I should have been dead long ago, but my body craved food, so I kept living."  Reina frowned.

"A disease?"

"Yeah, it was also extremely painful. I was housebound for the last ten years, unable to move that much, or it would cause a lot of pain. I was in large amounts of pain just existing too."  He smiled and tore into the meat again.  "I don't know what they did, but I haven't felt this good since I was a kid!"

"They performed a ritual."  Leon looked at him.

"A ritual? You mean a religious healing ceremony?"  He shook his head.

"You are from another world, similar to this one, but different. Power exists in your world, so they bring your people here and steal it."  Leon looked at his meat, then back at Reina.

"Steal my power?"  Then he started to laugh.

"What is so funny?"

"The only thing I possessed was the ability to survive that disease. It was still more powerful then I was though. I was still dying.  So the thing they stole from me was the disease, and the fat I got from being so sick for so long."  Reina looked back at the faint shadow of the castle.  There had been no activity in the castle since the howls of agony stopped a few hours ago.

"So, they are all dead then."  Leon nodded and tore another chunk of meat from the cut he held.

"Most likely.  That disease would kill anyone from my world eventually.  It was at its peak in my body when they brought me here.  If they are not dead yet, they will soon wish they were."  He smiled a large smile.  "Is there any city or town far from here where we can go?  Hunting isn't hard on this world, but I'd like to see if there are any normal jobs I can handle now that I'm healthy."  Reina scratched his chin, and looked at the young girl in front of him.

"Llani can guide you to a town quite far away from here.  They might like to know that she's alright, and since you were able to use that soldier's bow so easily, they might appreciate someone with your skills there."  Leon looked at him carefully.

"And what about you?"  Reina shrugged.

"I'm going to confirm whether or not they are dead, or dying.  If they are dying, or dead, I'll head back to my own hometown, and see if I can start over.  If they are still alive, I have to remain at my post or they will skin the inhabitants of my town alive."  Leon stopped suddenly, and bristled angrily.

"Really."  He thought for a moment.  "I'll take the first watch.  You two should get some sleep.  In the morning, we'll part ways, and you can confirm whether or not it's safe to go home."  Reina smiled, and laid down on a blanket of moss.  Llani watched Leon carefully.  "Go to sleep, Llani.  I'll be here when you wake in the morning."

Llani laid back against a log, and could not keep her eyes open any longer.  She fell asleep with the gentle eyes of a lion like man looking down on her.  She hasn't felt safe enough to do that for a long long time.

"You can go home, Reina."  Reina opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself to a seated position.  Llani also blinked and sat up.  Leon pointed to the castle.

"Its burning!"  Reina stood up.

"Its being cleansed."  He handed Llani a piece of roast deer from the shank still over the coals.  Reina looked back at Leon.

"Cleansed?"

"If what I heard while on that cart is true, all of the important people of this kingdom were there.  Nobles, officers, military commanders.  All of them.  This Kingdom is done.  Every person who participated in bringing people from my world, stealing their strength and life then disposing of them like garbage, were dying and are now dead."  Then Reina shivered as he saw a slight shimmer pass through Leon's eyes.  Llani looked at him carefully.

"Does that mean I can go home now?"  Leon smiled gently at her.

"Yes, now you can go home."  He looked at Reina, then stood up and picked up the bow.  "Reina, if you can dry that meat enough to let it keep long enough for your trip home, can you also do the same for Llani?"  Leon walked away from the fire.

"Where are you going?"  Reina asked carefully.

"To get another deer.  Be back in half an hour."  Leon walked into the forest with confidence in his abilities, though only twelve hours before, he was housebound, and in agony every minute of his life.  He also knew a little of what those people were after.

He crouched down, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath in through his nose.  Then he opened his eyes.  The iris was slightly almond in shape, and much larger than normal.  He began to move slowly through the underbrush, his senses leading the way.  Just like a large wildcat.

"Llani, be careful around that man."  She looked at Reina earnestly.

"Why? If he meant us harm, he could have done that while we slept."  Reina nodded.

"True, but he was able to hunt down one of our deers in less than an hour and bring it back to the fire without using the bow.  I saw no wound when he began to skin it."  She frowned.

"Really?  Then what did he use?"  She shivered at his words.

"His bare hands."  He closed his eyes.  "And now that he's finally free of the disease that would have killed him eventually, there is no telling what he'll do.  He's lived with pain and suffering the likes of which no one from our world will ever experience. There is no telling how it will have affected him."  He let out a sound of forced resignation.

"That world gave birth to a human monster, and our Queen brought him here.  May the gods help us."