chapter 3 - the feasting halls

Approaching a set of twin mahogany doors, the air buzzed with the muffled sounds of hundreds of women. As the doors opened, a wonderful aroma filled my nostrils just before I stopped dead in my tracks, shocked by the scene before me.

The Bellysian feasting hall consisted of a single, massive room the size of a football field with long, sturdy tables made to seat hundreds of hungry women. The tables were blanketed in all kind of treats ranging from smoked meats to fried dough, with some piles standing more than three feet tall. Each caramel-skinned fatty kept a chalice close by, swigging down large gulps of a strange purple liquid between large bites of their meal. The spread was beyond anything I had ever encountered, yet my focus was not on the meal itself, but the women consuming it.

Large, sweaty, unrestrained bodies jiggled and shook with no trace of shame. Women of all ages and sizes clamored for their next bite, scarfing down large quantities of food in seconds. They didn’t care about the scene they were making, or that they were behaving like animals in front of a king, they only had one thing in mind: the meal.

As my eyes scanned the room, not a single woman appeared to weigh under 200 pounds, their large, corpulent rear-ends oozing off the sides of the feasting benches. It was a miracle that any sort of furniture could even support such a massive cluster of fatties.

The room was reminiscent of the dining hall from Harry Potter, with a tall vaulted ceiling and long rows of wooden tables, only there were no wizards, only rows of obese women stuffing themselves as fast as they could. A constant stream of men emerged from what had to have been the kitchen, each one carrying multiple trays of food destined for consumption, future victims for this gluttonous slaughter.

I found myself staring once again, unable to articulate my thoughts, only instead of gazing at something remarkably beautiful, I was horrified by the disgusting site before me.

“It’s best not to linger here too long. Once the food is gone they’ll come out of their stupor and seek to fulfill their other primal needs. Let us go to my palace where we can eat in peace, you must be quite hungry after such a trip.”

I only managed a slight nod before quickly turning my back on the obscene display of gluttony, walking out through the front doors and into the open air.

As I followed Adigon towards his palace, I was completely oblivious to the stares I was receiving from passersby, my mind still lost in the scene. I knew these people loved fat women, but I had failed to envision how an entirely obese female population would behave without strong social barriers to suppress their inner urges. It was like my brain had short circuited, and I couldn’t keep my thoughts bottled up any longer.

“Why are your women so…” My question trailed off as I realized there was no polite way end to the sentence. Stopping and turning to face me, Adigon towered over me with that same beautiful smile.

“Fat?” He said plainly.

I bit my lip and gave a nervous smile, my cheeks once again flushing red from embarrassment.

“To hide your joy and desire to eat is to deny your true self. We encourage women to openly display their happiness, and embrace their innermost desires. Those people in there are living a life of pleasure and relaxation without judgement, something you have never experienced yourself.”

My eyes wandered and I felt a pang of shame within. He said to try and keep an open mind, and not 30 minutes later I was already judging and questioning their way of life.

“Those were commoners,” he said as he rested a hand on my shoulder. The unexpected contact brought my attention back to him, and I felt myself melt as I stared into those deep blue eyes once again. “My guess is that most of those women were under 350 pounds. Many were the wives of fishers, farmers, and the like. In our society, a woman’s weight is a reflection of their wealth and prosperity. In other words, the fatter, the better. When I eventually take up a wife, she will be charged with becoming the fattest in the land, much like the great queens before her. Where you see useless flesh, I see decadence. It’s easy to be skinny in a society such as ours, where manual labor drives our way of life. But if you can afford large quantities of food, there’s no better way to show it off than by flaunting your wife’s new belly roll.”

Before I could say anything in response, the king had already turned around and renewed his walking.

“Come, Kelsey, the royal palace awaits.”