Once upon a time there was an apple that granted eternal life. It was passed down from the gods and anyone who ate one bite of the apple would become immortal. But mortals would go mad just at the sight of the apple and kill themselves.
According to legend though, the two kids who have the strongest minds will find the apple and destroy it so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. This legend was created 300 years ago. And nothing has happened. Well, not that you know of, anyway.
In a land far, far away there lived a child on a farm with his sister and father. He had to endure long, hard and hot days of work in the fields, so he knew how to stay strong even during the worst of times. His sister, though, she knew machines. When she was sent out to do some work, she would make a contraption that could cut the crops for her, or mill the fields automatically.
But one day a year, they could go into the forest and play. This year though, they felt like they wanted to go deeper into the woods. The two walked deeper and deeper into the forest and soon they found a dark cave that had a heading above it:
The Sacred Place Of The Apple Of Immortality.
They walked in. They had heard the legend of the Apple Of Immortality, and they wanted to see if the legend was true. But as soon as they entered the cave though, they heard a grunting and sniffling. It was the guardian of the Apple Of Immortality.
The guardian was a strange sight. It had the horns of a bull, the head of a dragon, the body of a serpent, and the legs of a lion. It lay asleep in the cave, and when it heard the footsteps of the two children, it started stirring. The children ran outside of the cave as fast as they could.
When they got out, the sister panted and said: “We need some weapons and contraptions!” So they spent hours outside the cave carving weapons and building machines. Soon, the brother had made three perfect spears and the sister made a suit of sticks that reacted by swinging rocks when something came close enough.
So they went into the cave and the guardian woke. “Who dares wake me from my everlasting slumber?!” It bellowed. It looked at the two children and roared in their faces. Nothing happened. “I see,” it said. “You two are tough ones, they usually die of fright.” The guardian sighed. “It will be a shame to kill you, you have such strong spirits.”
The guardian took a step forward, and a rocks were flung at his eye from the suits. “Argh!” It yelled. It was really polite before, but now he was getting angry. “If you just let me wipe your minds of what you have seen, I can spare you,” the brother threw a spear and it got stuck in the guardian’s thick hide.
“Argh!” It screamed once again. “You really want to die, don’t you?” It snarled. They could see its neck getting an orangey glow, and they knew they had to move. The guardian opened its mouth and a giant burst of fire erupted from it. While it was busy coughing up fire and small pieces of coal, the brother jumped onto a rock and threw one of his spears right into the guardians mouth and the blade stuck out the other side of its neck. It lay hanging in the air for a moment, and then disintegrated.
Since the guardian was gone, the children were free to go to the apple of immortality. Just before the brother walked down the staircase that led to the apple, his sister warned him: “the apple will attack your mind in any way it can, and engulf your soul with greed and negativity.” The brother sighed. “I will fight it.”
He ventured down the long, winding staircase, which felt like an eternity. But finally he was there. As soon as he saw the apple, he was plunged into his worst memories. He was in the scorching sun, ploughing the fields. When he had his break, he walked to his father’s knees and collapsed. “Please!” He cried. “I cannot work anymore!”
His father held out a broad hand. The brother took it and got back up. All of a sudden, his father’s left hand flew out of no-where and smacked him straight across the face, sending him flying into the crusty earth. “You mean nothing!” His father yelled at him.
Then, the brother’s strong conscious kicked in. “You aren’t real!” He said. The landscape faded, and he was back in the room, alone with the apple of immortality. He ferociously grabbed the apple, feeling the warmth and power inside. The brother began, once again, walking the staircase. When the children got back to the farm, they didn’t know what to do with the apple, so they put it on the chicken coop for tomorrow.
That night, foxes attacked and ate every single chicken except for the one they hadn’t named yet. When they found the apple, it was totally flat and dry with claw marks, so the chicken had obviously stamped on it and drank the immortal apple juice. The children named the chicken Flatapple.
