“It was a terrible mistake to come here.”

Ryou crept through the corridors and passageways of the hive, the constant buzzing of workers and guards flying about as they tended to their affairs served as a grim reminder of the peril he was in.



It all started when a small pastry store set up shop. A humble yet charming mom and pop-type business, Ryou took notice of it as soon as it opened, it didn’t take long for him to give them a go.

“Come on in, lad! Come on in!” A boisterous yet lovable portly man greeted Ryou warmly. He introduced himself as Bobasa, owner and pastry chef. With a broad smile under his bushy mustache and red in the face despite his dark skin, he gestured Ryou to look at his displays. The only worker besides him was a quiet teenage boy, his shoulder length sandy-blond hair and timid expression gave his appearance a striking resemblance to Ryou’s own.

The smell of freshly baked pastries made his mouth water. Each item he browsed looked enticing in their own right. Nonetheless, Ryou predictably went for the creampuffs - his all time favorite.

He stopped dead in his tracks just as he was about to voice his order, eyes wide with surprise. The price tag. That couldn’t be right, they were priced at least five or six times the amount a creampuff would normally cost. Ryou quickly glanced at the other items, checking for their price tags. It only added to his confusion when he saw that everything else seemed to be priced accordingly.

Noticing his customer’s bewilderment, Bobasa checked on him. “Something wrong, young man?”

“...ehrr, are those prices correct?” Ryou said as he stared through the display glass.

“Ah, yes! Those aren’t your run of the mill cream puffs! They’re expensive, yes, but I guarantee you that they’re unlike anything else you have tried!”

Ryou was intrigued - enough so that he decided to fork over the money. The puff had a distinctive sweet scent, though it looked nothing out of the ordinary.

Buyer’s remorse for his impulsive decision struck him almost immediately a feeling of doubt setting in as to the wisdom of his investment.

The feeling dissipated completely as soon as he took a bite.

His teeth sank into the delicate exterior with a soft crunch, the thick cream surged out and greeted his eagerly awaiting tongue. He was almost ashamed of the impassioned noise that escaped him when it's delectable sweetness wrapped around his taste buds in an overwhelming sensation of mouthwatering pleasure. The overflow of filling oozed onto his parted lips and down his fingers, catching between his digits. Heat rose in his cheeks as he fervently lapped it all up, savoring the dripping substance with each slow and deliberate drag of his tongue against his palm.

Bobasa did not hide how pleased with himself he was as he watched his client’s evident enjoyment. Though Ryou was a bit embarrassed at his excess, he was still left speechless by how every other puff seemingly paled in comparison.

After his first bite, Ryou started visiting the place whenever he could afford to, quickly becoming a regular. He didn't even bother trying anything else, choosing instead to stick almost religiously to his favorite pastry.

Until the shop ran out of them.

Ryou checked the shop daily, ceaselessly inquiring about their availability as Bobasa unsuccessfully tried to explain about how rare and scarce the secret ingredient for the filling was, making it nearly impossible to predict when he'd next have access to a new shipment of it.

Ryou was having none of it. The boy was utterly dismayed at the privation of the sweet he had grown hopelessly addicted to. So much so that he barely noticed that the shop felt somehow off. Less homey than before. Something was missing, and it wasn't just those succulent puffs.

Growing increasingly impatient, Ryou kept trying to press the issue further. He could smell it, Bobasa was hiding something, there was clearly something the man wouldn’t tell him. Through sheer persistence, Ryou eventually got Bobasa to relent, his usual cheerful visage darkened into a gloomy one. “Maybe you can help me out, lad.”

A killer bee’s hive.

The fat bastard was having people sneak into a killer bee’s hive for him. The base material for that wondrous filling was the royal jelly that killer bee larvae were packed full with. Who would’ve thought that the kindly and jolly fat man had been offering some sizable pay so that anyone imprudent, foolish or desperate enough would endanger themselves to favor his business. His callousness was mind-boggling too as he admitted without qualms that the only reason he was keeping the secret from Ryou was that he'd rather find another candidate than risking one of his best customers.

Nevertheless, against his own better judgement, Ryou took the man on his offer. Setting out towards the hive as he placed his want for scrumptious desserts before his own safety. The boy was provided with a map highlighting the safest route towards the brooding area, general tips on how to avoid detection and instructions on how to extract that sweet, sweet ambrosia from the larvae.

Nobody knew for certain what the bees did to the people they captured. What was known is that the number of disappearances around the vicinity of any of their structures was conspicuously high. Some said they seal their prisoners inside combs and leave them to melt into honey. Others dismissed said notion as ridiculous and absurd, arguing instead that they simply used their spears to skewer anything they considered a threat or intruder.

Whichever was the case, it dawned on Ryou that the poor boy working at the shop had probably found out. He felt like an idiot for not noticing that the young helper went missing shortly after the shop ran out of their stock of creampuff filling. Ryou felt a twinge of guilt that he’d been mindlessly stuffing his face with something that people had been risking, and sometimes losing, their lives to acquire.

Ryou felt awful for the kid, briefly pondering over what led the boy to his unfortunate attempt. Maybe he was in crippling debt, maybe he severely underestimated the risk and was beguiled by the prospect of a quick buck. Ryou shamefully realised that he was in it cause he was itching for more of those goddamned puffs.

"Okay Ryou, calm the fuck down. Maybe nothing happened to that boy. Maybe he just chickened out and didn't have the heart to face his boss afterwards." He thought to himself, trying with little avail to quell his nerves. That hapless kid couldn’t have been older than himself, the similar appearance made it all the more easy to picture himself into whatever horrible fate might have befallen him. To think that any mistake, any misstep or miscalculation could spell him his demise made shivers run down his spine. His life was as good as forfeit if he somehow botched things up.

Ryou cursed himself for thinking with his stomach and allowing his craving to get the best of him, an overwhelming urge to turn back plaguing him. Nevertheless, he had already waded far too deep into the hive, the brooding area was so close that retreating now would spare him of little danger.

"I'm only doing it this once. If that heartless blob of a man fails to get someone else to do this for him, I'll manage just fine without those creampuffs." Ryou vowed to himself, loathing his own stupidity for the predicament it got himself into.

With his heart thumping in his chest, Ryou pressed onwards, step after careful step as he covered the last few turns towards his goal.

He took the last turn, and an empty chamber greeted Ryou. His blood grew cold at the sight. Could it be that this wasn't the right place? Had he read the map wrong? Was it inaccurate to begin with? Whichever was the case, it was very likely that he would not be able to trace his way back.

Ryou whipped out his map, trying to double check his position. But it was useless to even try, he was far too panicked to make heads or tails of it now. Hyperventilating and tearing up, he frantically looked around, scouring a landscape that was both unknown and alien for something he could recognize as a landmark that he had arrived at brooding area. He became desperate, begging for anything under the sun to send him a sign that he wasn't lost.

His answer came as one lone larva released itself from the ceiling with pinpoint accuracy, engulfing the boy's head in one fell swoop. Startled, Ryou couldn’t even lift his arms to try and push the worm away from himself. Instead, he remained petrified, frozen in shock as his new companion made its way downwards, quickly gobbling down his shoulders and locking his arms against his torso.

“Wha-Is this thing fucking eating me?!” Ryou’s eyes shot open in fright at the realization. The grub already had him down to his midriff, the boy could do nothing but shudder as the rim of its orifice constricted against his small frame, lunging itself downwards as it fondled it’s way past his belly and waist.

“No! No! No! Please don’t do this to me, I don't wanna be eaten!” He whimpered aloud, pleading for his life. His voice cracked with fear and trepidation. The boy shivered like a leaf, his flimsy legs grew increasingly wobbly, until finally giving under the terror and added weight, toppling him onto his back.

“This isn’t happening! This can’t be happening!” His teeth chattered. He fought to keep his ragged breathing under control. His legs disappeared inch by inch as the grub hungrily lapped them up. They kicked and floundered helplessly as they were slurped, until finally rendered immobile when the monster glomphed the boy’s shins. His toes curled into the shape of little marbles as his feet followed.

“Bloody hell, that thing ate me, it bloody ate me.” Ryou muttered to himself, incredulous as to what just transpired. His body was completely crammed inside the worm, knees folded and arms pressed against his chest as tight gelatinous walls squeezed him. The heat grew unbearable, his clothes and hair soaked in both his own sweat and the viscous fluids that lined the grub’s insides. They stuck uncomfortably to his skin. The air was stifling, each breath was laborious and required conscious effort.

“Is this thing going to digest me? Am I going to die? Is it gonna hurt?” Questions came flooding as apprehension filled Ryou’s head. He’d just been eaten, swallowed up alive and whole. To even think of what happened to food after consumption made the muscles in his throat clench.

“Somebody please help!” he shouted, voice washed away in the gooey grub.

He flinched, letting out a loud gasp when he saw his clothes had already dissolved.

Help wasn’t coming. No one was sent to save the previous kid, why would anyone come for him? Ryou blubbered through sobs, tears and snot streaming down his face as the weight of the circumstance he found himself into hit him. His demise was imminent and unavoidable, dangling right before his eyes.

Despairing, Ryou began to struggle. The boy kicked and pushed, using the scant space he had to hurl his body and limbs against his cramped confines. He screamed just because he could, crying out at the top of his lungs for a rescue he knew wouldn’t come. He couldn’t bear it, Ryou refused to surrender idly as his young life was reduced to worm chow.

His muscles had grown stiff and unresponsive, a dull ache enshrouding them. His voice had been depleted to a hoarse whisper, so faint that it barely crossed past his lips. He fought until exhaustion, with his last spark of energy finally extinguished, his naked body laid stock-still, slumped limply on its fleshy deathbed.

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so unsettling. After managing to sneak past the much deadlier and capable killer bees, Ryou got himself captured by a mindless grub instead.

The heat that once felt intolerably severe had become a soothing warmth now. The linings of his enclosure, once so repulsively soggy and glutinous, now felt like a slouchy bedroll. His muscles loosened, and his resolve to keep struggling was waning fast.

Ryou soon caught himself closing his eyes, they snapped open with a jolt each time. Though the lull of sleep was tempting, and to remain awake was of no consequence to his ultimate fate, the notion that if he slipped from consciousness he might not come back, that the exact waking moment he was in could be his last, did not allow him to surrender peacefully to it.

Ryou didn't notice when exactly, but a familiar taste filled his mouth. That unmistakable heavenly sweetness he came here after. He began laughing feverishly as he realized what the royal jelly he’d been gorging himself with was made of.

His mind grew foggy as his body began to coalesce, limbs welding together as his features slowly muddied, sinking into a shapeless mass. The heat enveloping his body became like the sensation of orgasm, moaning sounds emerged bubbling from the mush as it shifted and swirled, passionately seeking more of itself to taste and sink into before finally settling still.



By next morning, Bobassa sighed wearily, just how awfully incompetent could these damn kids get, he wondered scornfully. His scowl quickly eased into a smile as the door swung open, it’s little bell signalling the entrance of another fool.

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This stunning commission was made by the one and only  Icudhara.

Many thanks to my dear friends  Progressive and Heavens-Parasite for all the patience, assistance and guidance provided :) This story wouldn't be as good without the two of you <3

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