The sun rose, and the moon fell. The stars were out, and the sky was clear. A beautiful night, with a full moon. It was the perfect setting for a romantic evening, or a quiet one. Though as things would go within this world, the two were not in the best of situations, and the night was not a pleasant one. The man was a simple farmer, who had a small plot of land. He was a hardworking, and honest man, but he was not a very smart one. He couldn't comprehend the fact that he was dead, and all this farming had been for nothing. So when he woke up, and saw the moon, and the stars, and the sky, he was confused. "Where am I? What is going on?" He got out of bed, and went outside to see what was going on.
All that encompassed the cul de sac were... bakeries. Each bakery had the text 'Apple pie' in big bold letters. It wasn't just in the windows, it was also in the doors, on the awnings, on the doorframes. There was even a huge sign in the center of the road with a giant 'Apple pie' on it.
'What is going on...? I'm so confused...' he thought to himself, 'and where am I? And why are there so many apple pies?' The farmer stood in the middle of the street, confused by the number of bakeries, and the large sign. 'Is this... the Apple Pie god's domain...? I must've died... I... I...' The man began to panic. 'Why? Why did this have to happen to me...?! Why couldn't it have been someone else? Apple Pie god, why did you forsake me...?' The farmer then began to sob. He didn't know what else to do.
'There's so many bakeries... I don't understand.' He walked into a store, and saw a man behind the counter. Not necessarily a man... but more-so a humanoid. His skin was black as nothing, horns that protruded from the sides. Four forearms that split at the elbows and empty eye sockets.
"Welcome, Child of the Apple." The being said.
"W-Who are you? And what is all this...? Where am I?"
"You're in the Apple Pie God's realm." The being replied. "You've come here because you're an apple pie, my son! And now you're going to help us make the perfect Apple Pie! Isn't that great?" The being began laughing.
'What is going on...? Am I in a dream...? Did the apple pie god truly forsake me... and bring me to his realm to torture me? I thought he was a benevolent god, not a malicious one...'
"What is all this...?" The farmer asked. He was starting to panic. This was all too much for him. Too many people all of a sudden... too much noise, even the scent was too much for him in a single moment alone. There were machines in the lobby, Apple Pie machines. They were huge, with big black cylinders in the center. There were conveyor belts running around them, and the cylinders were filled with a yellow, viscous fluid. It was a thick liquid that smelled strongly of rotten apple. And a reddish substance was being pumped from the cylinder into the conveyor belts, where it was then being baked. There was also a conveyor belt running past the counter that had pies being loaded into a large cart. They were all shaped like an apple.
"REAL, TRUE APPLE PIES! Not just any old pies!" The man behind the counter shouted. "And this is where you come in!" He gestured to the farmer. "You're going to help make these pies, aren't you excited?"
"From now on... forget all you knew before, for you shall now work for the one and true god of Apple Pies." He continued, smiling. The man began laughing. It was a creepy, high-pitched laugh, that seemed to be the only sound in the room, overpowering everything. "Jovial you shall be, for this is no phony job!" The farmer didn't say anything. He was still confused. He didn't understand. Why was he here? Where was here?
"Apple, apple, apple... pie, pie, pie..." the man began mumbling, and his mumbling turned into chanting. He continued chanting, and his voice began rising, becoming louder, and more forceful. "Piiiiiieee... Piiiiieee...! I get it. So, what I'm meant to do here is bake... apple pies? Is that all?"
"Well, of course you'll do that. You are an apple, after all. You'll be working the apple machine. The apples are harvested from a field in the center of the town, and they are transported to the machine in a big, red cart. The apples are put in the machine, and then you turn on the machine. The apple pies are made. Simple, isn't it?" the man said, and then laughed again. He sounded crazy.
A robed man entered the store from the back. He was very tall, with pale skin and dark hair. His eyes were black, and his mouth was small. His head was large and he was thin, and his arms were long. Too many small details to mention; but the robed man looked... a lot like the other people in the store. He didn't say anything. He didn't smile or greet anyone. He simply went to the back of the store and stood in a corner.
The man behind the counter pointed at him, "He will be your tour guide...ish, guy. He's a bit of a bum. You can refer to him as Vetro but, as of recent he hasn't been responsive. So talking to him would do nothing, or so I'm told. Anywya, you're going to be working with him. You can ask him questions if you want, but I'm sure he'll tell you anything you need to know, in his own way." After a moment he mumbled a quiet "Maybe..."
"I... I have to go back. I need to find my wife, and my son. I don't have time to be baking pies, I'm a simple farmer." He looked around nervously.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Farmer Nofre, I know what you're thinking." the man said, shaking his head. "You think that we've taken you against your will, and that this isn't your fate. That's not the truth! The reason you're here is because the apple pie god has forsaken you! He doesn't love you! You are here because you're an apple. And that means you must bake. And bake, and bake, and bake." The man's voice was loud and booming. Although internally, he was annoyed by how quickly the farmer's demeanor kept changing, but he had a plan.
"You know... your wife and son... if you don't go do some baking, they'll become apples too! And not just apples... might I say." He grinned mischievously. The man was clearly insane. "They'll become apple pies.
"O-oh. Well, in that case... I guess I'll do the baking. I have no other choice, really..." the man said, and then turned to look at Vetro, who was standing in the corner, counting the tiles on the ceiling.
"I... have to bake... I guess I'll go and bake some apple pies." The man walked to the back, to the kitchen. "But... how am I supposed to bake an apple pie without an apple?"
"Are you stupid? You're an apple! You should be the one who's baking!" The man said. He was getting impatient.
"I'm an apple?" the man asked, and looked at himself. His hands and feet were green. Their textures were... like the flesh of an apple. The skin was smooth and firm, and his stomach was firm too. His face was round and soft. He was an apple. He had always been an apple, he just didn't know it until now. The farmer began crying, he was so confused.
"What are you doing?" the man asked. He was annoyed. The farmer had been wasting time.
"I... don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing... A-and... I just cry when stressed out..." the farmer said.
"Are you serious?" the man asked. "You're supposed to be baking! Get over to that apple machine and bake! Don't cry! It doesn't matter! Just..." He sighed, having to deal with just another bum. "Just do it!"
"I'm... an apple..." the farmer said. He walked to the machine. "This is... the apple machine?" He was confused. He was scared. But, the farmer; Nofre had to bake apple pies.
"Remember, field in the centre of town. Don't confuse it with a Cul de Sac...!" He posed up like a teacher, as he spoke, waving his hands about for emphasis.
"Okay... field, field, field, field." He kept repeating to himself. Nofre didn't want to get confused.
"And Vetro, go follow him, yeah? He doesn't necessarily... need help. He's not a complete dumbass, he can do this on his own, but I want to make sure he doesn't get confused." The man behind the counter said, to Vetro, who was standing next to him, but had been silent the whole time.
Vetro nodded, and promptly exited the building, following the farmer.
"Okay..." the farmer said. "I'm... I'm going to the field." He looked up and saw the huge sign, and then looked back. "What's... what's that?"
He continued walking, looking at a starry sun, dark and outlined with white, teeth sharp and grinning. Dotted with white particles that looked like stars, the creature looked like a sun, with the face of a demon, or a devil. The demon grinned and smiled, and the farmer's eyes were wide with horror. It was half-risen from the horizon. "I'm going to the field, the field... field...field... field...field... field...field..." He continued mumbling, his eyes wide with horror.
He walked on and on, the demon-sun following him. Vetro did not speak and was just silently walking beside the farmer. Nofre felt sick to his stomach.
He walked past a building with the sign, 'Apples,' on the outside. Rather, every building they passed by either had a sign saying 'Apple', 'Apples', 'Pie' or 'Pies'... but not every building was open, there were a couple closed, and then the rest were just abandoned and had been for a while, or they were never even open. It didn't matter, it didn't seem like it anyway.
The smiling dark sun was still there. He continued to walk on, his eyes still wide with horror, but he tried to calm down. "I'm going to the field...field, field, field..."
They passed by an abandoned bakery, once again.
"Hey... robe-guy... this is the field right?" Pointing at an abandoned and overgrown building, Vetro nodded. "...Are we sure? This is the... apple field, yes?" He nodded.
Nofre walked to the entrance, and looked at the overgrown building. The inside was... big. The building was small.
The inside was too big for what was outside. He looked around, he didn't know what to do. He had never been in an apple field before. There were apples growing in the field. Big, red and juicy apples. That's not how apples grow, right?
The big red juicy apples, some were already falling off their stems. The others looked like they were ready to burst. Some were dripping a red, almost thick liquid.
Gooey... ew. He thought. He wasn't the biggest fan of apples, but this was... something. Something out of a story, he thought.
"Hey, robe guy. What do we do now?"
The man, Vetro did not answer. He pointed at a big red cart in front of them. It was the same color as the apples.
"We put them in here, yes?"
The robed man nodded.
"O...okay..." he went over to the closest apple. The apples were the same color as the cart. They were red, but not a nice red. It was more of a sickening red. Like someone had been bleeding out from the inside for a long time, or maybe they just got sick from eating so much. The dirt beneath him felt as if he was stepping on something... soft? But not squishy.
It felt more... gooey? Yeah. It was definitely more of a gooey feeling, the kind you feel when you walk into a puddle that hasn't been there for a long time and it's still fresh and cold and wet and you can't really move around and the goo sticks to you. It's gross. It was like that. But the soil wasn't cold. It was warm, it felt almost like it was alive and it was breathing and it was going to swallow him whole at any moment. But... he had to get this apple, he just had to.
He grabs onto this specific one, on the 3rd row, 7th column from the left. It felt... sticky. The goo was dripping out of it. He tried to grab onto it, but the stickiness wouldn't let it go. It was trying to stick to him, like a parasite, trying to take his hand away from the apple and have him fall to the dirt below. But he had to get this apple. It was important to him.
He grabs it with both hands, and pulls hard, the stickiness was so strong that he couldn't pull it off with just one hand. His grip grew stronger as the apple refused to budge, yet... it was as if it was alive. It was squirming, like a beating panicked heart was inside, or a bunch of centipedes were moving from within. Even the surface, that which reeked of rotten eggs and burnt meat, was not smooth, but instead had tiny little hairs on them. Nofre tried to ignore the details that were too disgusting, the hairs that were growing out of the apple, the fact that it smelled like a dead body that was rotting from the inside out, he just had to get this apple. This apple was so important to him, to the farmer. The farmer was the apple.
But he pulled harder and harder, the stickiness was too strong to fight off, he felt like he was going to lose his arm if he didn't stop. His arm; weak as an apple. Even if a child bit into this thing, they would break their teeth on the outside, but the insides were squishy, slimy, gooey... like it was made of jelly, but also had bones and muscles inside. He had no choice, the farmer, was going to become a pie, a pie that he will feed to his family. Yes.
No. He had to get this apple. He bit his right arm off, as it became an apple. No, it always was an apple. The apple skin and juices began to flow from his open wound, his veins were leaking apples, or were the apples veins? His body was losing a lot of blood, or juice.
"Ah... ah, ah, ah. Ahhhh, Ahhhhhh!" He cried out, he couldn't scream or shout. His body was in too much pain and he had lost too much blood, or juice.
Vetro snickered in the background as yet another fool was tricked by his shenanigans, yet again.
He fell to the floor and began to cry. But, his arm was the apple, or it always had been an apple. And now, he was going to have to live the rest of his life with one arm, and it was going to be very painful. The pain in his body, in his mind, and the loss of blood, or juice, and the fact that his arm was the apple, was going to drive him insane. He cried out in despair as he realized that he would never be able to bake apple pies anymore. Or farm, or save his wife or his son. They would become pies too.
"Vetro... please... just end it, just end it. I can't take it anymore, just... please." He sobbed, tears running down his cheeks. Tears? No... Juice. Yes, crying juice down his cheeks. "Just end it, please. Just end my suffering." His one arm was shaking, and his one leg was trembling, he couldn't move at all, and he didn't have any strength left to move his body.
Vetro slowly approached Nofre, nothing in hand. He grabbed his head, his bald head, his apple head, his apple brain. "No. Your son and your wife will have a feast, you'll be the apple pie, after all... you're an apple. Don't you remember?" The voice of the one in the robe sounded familiar. But he didn't know why, or how.
Vetro placed his tongue on Nofre's cheek, moving up, slowly. To the apple eye, licking every inch of the iris. The taste... the texture, it tasted horrible, and it made him gag, but it didn't stop there.
Vetro continued licking up to his hair, apple hair. Apple everything, he could see it now.
Munch.
He bit into his apple skull. Slowly, teeth sinking into his apple brain, but only touching it slightly.
"Gh...uh.... hhhhh..." his body was convulsing, he couldn't even feel his limbs anymore. His vision was fading, his consciousness slipping, but the pain wouldn't let him die.
Vetro ripped a hole through Nofre's cheek, the blood, the juice was dripping from the wound profusely. He ate that little ripped off piece, before taking another bite into the apple brain.
Crunch.
A part of the apple craniums split, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe and cerebellum all exposed, the meninges was already in full view, being the dura mater and pia mater. Vetro's fingers dug into the apple's cranium, slowly peeling it off, revealing the grey matter that made up the frontal lobe. He reveled in his feast, before devouring the entire frontal lobe.
"Ughhh..." The farmer's eyes rolled to the back of his head, but Vetro wouldn't let him fall. Not just yet. He just somehow had to let him live, as he ate his entire brain.
He slowly, piece by piece, ate away the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobe. His fingers had already dug deep, but the cerebellum was his favorite. He pulled the rest of the skull, leaving only the cerebrum stem, or the brainstem intact so that he would stay conscious, and keep feeling the pain. It would have been better to eat it all at once, but it was just too tasty to resist. And so he kept taking his time, enjoying every second of it.
A grin wide enough to open up his own mouth entirely and reveal the dark abyss within him, a smile so sinister and so full of malice that it would make the devil himself cringe in fear, a look that would send shivers down anyone's spine, a look so full of hate and disdain, that would make you feel like you're the scum of the earth and you deserve to suffer, that would make you feel worthless and like a nobody, and would make you feel like nothing at all, not even the maggots in the trash deserve this kind of torture.
But that's where the feast started, and that's where the feast ended. Vetro ate the stem of the apple's cranium, and the rest of the brain was gone, yet Nofre was still alive and could feel his entire being disappearing. Slowly. Painfully. Painlessly. Quickly.
Until the pain was so unbearable that his body just gave out.
His body was now limp, but it wasn't dead, and it wouldn't die. Vetro was done with him.
Grabbing Nofre's limp and living body, he threw it inside the cart, but managed to not hurt any of the remaining fragile working apple organs. He put his body into a machine that resembled a huge shredder, labeled 'APPLE HERE FOR APPLE PIE! DON'T FORGET, NOT JUST ANY APPLE PIE, THE APPLE PIE GODS' APPLE PIES!' It had a large funnel opening where the body went in and the top had a button and a lever, the button being used to turn it on, the lever to determine how the apples would be sliced, and a chute for the apple slices to come out, and a slot where you can insert the pie tray.
Vetro turned on the machine, and it slowly started to slice him, but it was so slow, so torturous. It started by the feet, up to the shin, then to the knee, the thigh, the waist, the hips, and it stopped at the groin.
It slowly turned on the lever, slowly cutting his genitals in half. It took its time, the blade not cutting fast enough, or the apple body not moving enough.
Nofre wanted to scream, but his lungs couldn't take in enough air to make the sound. And the machine just kept turning, slowly cutting his genitals in half. It didn't want to cut all of his penis, or testicles off. No. Just a piece. A piece of his penis, or a testicle. It was like a sick game, the game of Russian roulette, where the goal was to not get the bullet. But this time, it wasn't a game of luck, but a game of waiting till you die. It would slowly cut the genitals, a piece at a time, the pain would be so excruciating, it would be impossible to bear.
But Nofre was still alive. Still suffering. Still not dying.
"Wow! He's strong!" The man, who was once behind the counter said as he clapped. Vetro looked over at him and smiled, the man smiled too. "But it's time to finish him off, I don't want him to be alive when he's baked and his family is eating him!"
So then he turned on a button hidden behind the lever. It started to shred him from the waist up, to his torso, then to his chest, and then his neck. The blade didn't cut his head off though. It was too strong, it would have killed him instantly, and he needed to be alive for this, so then he pressed another button, and the shredder started to slowly crush his skull. His eyeballs popped out and the blade went in, shredding his eyes, then it slowly went further down, shredding whatever remained of his brain, and his broken skull.
Ding!
A fully baked pie came out, a delicious pie, that was made with only the best and most disgusting ingredients. Vetro licked his lips, but he wouldn't taste any of this pie. Not him. Not ever. His only meals ever were apple brain... apple cranium and everything apple. The man smiled and clapped again, before grabbing the pie. "Perfect...!" He whispered to himself. Vetro was a little upset, because the man could have easily baked this apple himself.
"The great Zabulus has once again, come forth with the greatest Apple Pie known to being!" The man, Zabulus said to himself.
Exiting the field-green-house-little-thing, and re-entering the bakery. Zabulus could not help but laugh at the sight before him.
"What? Are you not going to try it?" The man said, a huge smile plastered on his face.
"Erm... n-not at all..." Nofre's wife, a middle aged beautiful lady with blonde hair, brown eyes and a nice body, said, stuttering.
"Oh... come on now, don't be shy! Give it a try, I promise you... It'll be as good as your husband's food." He whispered into her ears, as he lightly placed his four hands on her shoulders.
She gulped. She knew it would be a mistake to say no to this... stranger, yet she also knew what her fate would be, even if she had no idea what happened to her husband.
The son, on the other hand, was eager to eat the pie! What a delight! Oh golly he couldn't wait to have some! It had been a while since they ate a good ol' pie! He grabbed the knife on the counter, which seemed very odd... why would there be a knife on the counter? Who cares! It's time for pie!
He cut the pie with the utmost care and delicacy, and then proceeded to give a slice to each and everyone. Zabulus got one too! How nice. Everyone sat down, and the boy was the first one to bite.
"Mmmm...! This tastes amazing, what's it called?" The boy exclaimed, his face lighting up like a lightbulb. He was very happy! It was his first time trying pie.
"It's apple!"
"This is an apple?!"
"Apple Pie! You see, the difference between apple and apple pie is that the apple pie has been cooked in a way that it is more delicious."
"Oooooh!" the kid exclaimed, as if he was learning something new and exciting.
The lady was skeptical at first, however, seeing her sons reaction, she hesitantly took a bite out of the pie.
"It tastes horrible!" She said with disgust.
"Ah, yes, well. You're an apple after all, and we can't all enjoy our food now, can we?" Zabulus replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're an apple. You're also an apple." He said to both the son and the lady. The lady was still in shock and the son was just confused. The son was also confused. He had never eaten an apple before.
"Apples are delicious. We need apples for our survival, and the only reason you can't taste the deliciousness is because your tongue has yet to be properly formed. Your stomach is also in the process of growing and maturing, which is why you don't feel the wonderful flavor that comes from the apples." The man continued to explain.
"B-but we aren't..."
"Now! I shall give you a job, now that you've eaten..." He towards the son, "Your father," Then to the lady, "Your husband, I shall give you a job! A job so good that you won't be able to refuse. It is a great honor, and a privilege, to be an employee at the one and true god's apple pie bakery!"
"N-no!" The lady exclaimed. She stood up and backed away, "You're sick... Blurgh...." She vomited on the floor. "I-I don't know what you're talking about... I don't want any part of this, I want to leave!"
"You're going to refuse my offer? What about you, sonny? Do you want a good job?"
"N-no..." The son said. "I want to go with mother, I want to leave."
"Fine..." The man sighed. "But you have eaten the pie, you can't refuse the offer."
"W-what?! Why can't I leave?"
"Well, that would be breaking the contract, now wouldn't it? And if you break the contract, well... You will become an apple, just like your beloved husband."
"No! I don't want to!"
"Yes you do! You will become a fine addition to our apple pies."
"No! Please, don't do this!"
"Yes! I am going to do this. Vetroooo! Get these two to the machine." The man commanded. Vetro nodded and proceeded to pick up the lady and son.
"Please! No!"
"I'll give you an option." Zabulus spoke, "We can either put you through the machine... Or you can work here, in the apple pie bakery."
"N-no! I don't want either!" The lady shouted, trying to struggle out of the grasp.
"Well, too bad for you. I am giving you a choice, either you work for the apple pie god or you go into the shredder! Looks like..." He looked as his arm as if he had a watch on it. He didn't. "You have exactly 5 minutes to make up your mind."
"No!" She cried.
"Yes. 5 minutes." He grinned.
"NOOOOOO!!"
"Alright, 1 second! Choose, or die."
"Please, don't make me choose!"
"I said choose!"
"No!" She screamed, crying. "Please... Just let me go..."
"I'm sorry, but your time has run out. To the shredder you go!" Zabulus yelled.
"Nooooo!!!!" The lady cried, as she and her son were dragged to the shredder. The lady struggled and cried, but to no avail. Her son did too, however, he was less vocal and more physical.
Vetro's grin grew wide beneath his hood as the sound of apples being torn and more of them breaking filled his ears. Juice and Apple fragments splattering all over his robe and his body. But now he knew, he had a feast to complete.
"Hey, Vetro, clean the floors when you're done."
He nodded as he walked away to the field, readying himself for yet another night where he feasts more than he should.
The dark sun grins as it watches Vetro pleasure himself in eating the apple brains of the family. His pleasure being the one thing it desired.