The Secrets of Sake: Part 1, SAKAMAI

Part 1

Sakamai

Our heroes' journey began in a small, agrarian village called Tanbo. All of Tanbo's residents were known as Sakamai, and they enjoyed abundance, growing happy and plump as if divine intervention had chosen them for a life of comfort, ease, and opulence. Until one day in late fall. A day like any other...

Suddenly, horrifically, alien beings of unstoppable power and size laid waste to the village. Uprooting homes mechanically and devoid of remorse, whole families of Sakamai were ripped apart and bound - seemingly at random, and in defiance of the laws of gravity.

A quiet behemoth works methodically.

For weeks they hung motionless, quietly suspended midair above the only land they knew. Devoid of life nourishing resources, most importantly water, the Sakamai became so parched from the sun's dull rays, even cool autumn breezes were abrasive and withering.

While each of them prayed for an end to this misery, and a return to the land that taunted them just out of reach, the aliens returned.
Now they used new torturous devices to separate, waterboard, and shred away their humble brown clothing until their raw, white, emaciated and atrophied flesh was laid bare for all to see. Unable to make sense of their surroundings and Tanbo's rich, wet, brown earth a cruel and distant memory, finally the Sakamai were reunited in a new terrifyingly cold and industrial landscape.

"How much more can we take?" they asked one another. "What foul gods would go to such lengths to punish us, barely keeping us intact?"

Just then, their pleas were met with water. Precious water! And unlike the harsh, cold waterboarding they endured previously, this water felt warm, inviting, and seemed to flow with no end from the strange, cavernous, and incomprehensible sky.  Ravenously the villagers of Tanbo feasted. They drank with reckless abandon, unsure if another opportunity like this would ever return! Slowly but surely, the heat increased, and the Sakamai flesh swole with the piping-hot water until many of them looked so plump, naked and close-to-bursting, their dimensions were larger than ever before and they squeezed tightly against one another, unrecognizable.

"I wouldn't wish what we endured on anyone," one Sakamai remarked. "But odd as this may sound, I think I look better than ever!" Long gone now was the distant memory of Tanbo. And with their newfound abundance, the villagers cozied up against one another contentedly. At least now they were fed, warm, and together once more.

Until the aliens returned again.

(Click here for Part 2)