THE DEVIL’S TRUFFLE follows Luca, a grieving former stage performer called Luce Divina, who retreats to the misty Piedmont forests after his boyfriend dies in a crash the night he was going to propose. Obsessed with recreating their last meal — tajarin al tartufo bianco — he’s drawn to a mysterious truffle hunter, Al, and his eerie pig Aurelia. Al trains him in ancient, brutal rules of the hunt, but Luca’s grief makes him break them. The finest truffles, he learns, grow from buried love and loss: Al’s past students are now pigs, including Bianca, who was Aurelia. When Luca finally digs up the “perfect” truffle beneath his dead boyfriend’s jacket, he’s transformed into a pig himself, forced to lure new hunters for Al. The cycle only risks breaking when a vengeful chef, Sofía, arrives hunting her vanished sister, forcing Luca to choose between feeding her to the forest or staging one last performance of Luce Divina to set them free.
#LikeAndSubscribe #SleepStories #PeculiarTales #Storyelling #creepystories
Attributions:
Title: inner
Athor: cordutie
Souurce: https://freesound.org/s/839948/
License: Attribution 4.0
Title: ClaraSchumannPianoTrio35.mp3
Author: Teo4
Source: https://freesound.org/s/241302/
License: Attribution 4.0
#LikeAndSubscribe #SleepStories #PeculiarTales #Storyelling #creepystories
Attributions:
Title: inner
Athor: cordutie
Souurce: https://freesound.org/s/839948/
License: Attribution 4.0
Title: ClaraSchumannPianoTrio35.mp3
Author: Teo4
Source: https://freesound.org/s/241302/
License: Attribution 4.0
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:21The Devil's Truffle, Ten Chapters, Philcarrer, Piedmont, Italy.
00:30Warning, Body Horror, Grief, Transformation, Consumption.
00:35Anchor Dish, Tayarin Altartufo, Bayonco.
00:41Hand-Cut Egg Yolk Pasta, from Piedmont.
00:45Butter, White Wine Reduced Sharp, Raw Yolk Stirred Off Heat, Until Silk.
00:52White Truffle Tuber Magnatum, Shaved, Until the Steam Hits You.
00:58Luca's line.
01:00It tasted like being chosen.
01:03His boyfriend cooked it the night before the crash.
01:07The night of the proposal that never happened.
01:11It's the scent the forest uses.
01:14The flavor of the forbidden truffle.
01:18The reason Luca came to Piedmont.
01:20If I find the truffle, I'll remember how to live.
01:26Chapter 1.
01:28Luce Divina.
01:30The stage lights in Milan.
01:33Used to make Luca Mollredi sweat glitter.
01:37As Luce Divina, he was holy.
01:40He wore cathedral dresses, stitched with mirror shards, and sang like his lungs were full of wire.
01:50Every queen in Rome knew his name.
01:54Every critic in La Repubblica called him a resurrection.
01:59In the front row, every show, Matteo.
02:03Actor, beloved across Italy.
02:08Eyes like wet river stones.
02:11He'd mouth after the show, and Luca would fly.
02:15Their kitchen was the size of a coffin.
02:19Matteo cooked.
02:20Tie-yaring al-tartufo.
02:23Bayonco the night before the crash.
02:27Hand-cut egg yolk pasta.
02:30Butter.
02:31White wine reduced.
02:33Until the pan screamed.
02:35Raw yolk stirred off heat.
02:38Until it went silk.
02:40White truffle shaved.
02:42Until the apartment smelled like sex.
02:45And wet leaves and God.
02:48Luca stole a bite from the pot.
02:52Matteo swatted him with a spoon.
02:56Espera.
02:57It tastes like being chosen, Luca said.
03:01Matteo laughed.
03:03Good.
03:04Because I am.
03:06He was going to propose the next day.
03:10Live.
03:11On Domica Inn.
03:13The ring was in his jacket pocket.
03:16He never made it to the studio.
03:20Luca watched the car burn on the A4.
03:24Watched Italy more.
03:26A man he hadn't even got to say yes to.
03:30After alcohol.
03:32Pills.
03:34A bathtub full of red water.
03:37And a note that said,
03:39I wasn't chosen after all.
03:42They pumped his stomach.
03:43The doctor said,
03:46You need to find something to live for.
03:49Luca bought land in Piedmont.
03:52Not to heal.
03:54To disappear.
03:56The locals in the village of Barbariscoe
03:59took one look at his painted nails.
04:03And the scar on his wrist and left.
04:06A drag queen.
04:09Mavai.
04:11This is not a performance.
04:14Go back to your city.
04:16That night, the smell finds him.
04:19Warm.
04:20Butter.
04:22White wine.
04:24Truffle tayarin.
04:26Exact.
04:28Not similar.
04:29Exact.
04:30He follows it through mist.
04:33Until he's at a house.
04:35That wasn't there an hour ago.
04:38The door opens before he knocks.
04:42Alessandro Al.
04:43Fury stands there.
04:4630s.
04:47Beautiful in a way.
04:49That makes your teeth hurt.
04:51Like someone.
04:53Carved him from marble.
04:55And forgot to give him blood.
04:57You followed the smell.
04:59Al says.
05:01Not a question.
05:03Dinner is already on the table.
05:06Tayarin.
05:07Al Tartufo.
05:08Bayonko.
05:10Steam rising.
05:12Luca eats.
05:13And breaks.
05:15Because it tastes like Mateo's hands.
05:19Like the night before everything ended.
05:22Al watches.
05:24Doesn't blink.
05:26Doesn't eat.
05:28You're not tasting the food.
05:30Al says.
05:32You're tasting memory.
05:34From the darkness.
05:36A sound.
05:37Wet.
05:38Snuffling.
05:40Aurelia.
05:41Steps into the light.
05:43A truffle pig.
05:45Pale as bone.
05:47Eyes too round.
05:49Too knowing.
05:50She doesn't look at the food.
05:53She looks at Luca.
05:55Then at Al.
05:57Then back at Luca.
05:59Like she's taking attendance.
06:03Chapter 2.
06:04The Rules of the Hunt.
06:06Al trains him in the dark.
06:094 a.m.
06:10The Forest is a mouth.
06:13The Forest gives.
06:15Al says.
06:17But it remembers.
06:19He gives Luca the rules.
06:21Doesn't write them.
06:23Doesn't explain.
06:25Just speaks them slow.
06:28Like liturgy.
06:30Rule 1.
06:30Do not dig where Aurelia refuses.
06:34If she turns away.
06:36Something beneath is not ready.
06:39Or not meant for you.
06:42Rule 2.
06:43Take only what you can carry without longing.
06:47If you want more.
06:49The ground will take something back.
06:52Rule 3.
06:54Never hunt on a night you are thinking of the dead.
06:57The soil listens when you ache.
07:01Al looks at Luca.
07:02When he says this.
07:04This is the most important rule.
07:08Rule 4.
07:09Do not follow the smell that reminds you of someone.
07:13That is not the truffle.
07:16That is the echo.
07:19Rule 5.
07:20Never fall in love with your mentor.
07:23Because love makes you stay.
07:26Even when you should run.
07:28Rule 6.
07:29Never ask what feeds the finest truffles.
07:34Luca learns.
07:36He stops drinking.
07:38His hands stop shaking.
07:40He finds his first truffle.
07:43And it's small, ugly, but real.
07:47Al nods.
07:49Good.
07:50Aurelia starts sleeping outside Luca's door.
07:54At 3.
07:553.13 a.m.
07:57Every night, she whimpers.
07:59When Luca opens the door.
08:02She's staring at the floorboards.
08:05Beneath them, something shifts.
08:08Luca follows Al into the barn once.
08:12Rows of stalls.
08:14Names carved into wood.
08:18Names carved into wood.
08:18Chiulia.
08:19Marco.
08:21Elena.
08:22Paolo.
08:23The grooves are old.
08:26Moss in the letters.
08:28Previous students, Al says.
08:31They graduated.
08:32In Paolo's stall.
08:35A pig with a dragging leg watches Luca.
08:39Its eyes are brown.
08:42Human brown.
08:43It blinks too slow.
08:46Al serves.
08:48Tayari.
08:49Al tartufo.
08:50Bayonko that night.
08:52Luca stares at it for 20 minutes.
08:56His hands in his lap.
08:59He doesn't eat.
09:00Al smiles.
09:02First time.
09:04Good.
09:06Chapter 3.
09:07The Echo.
09:08Luca's getting better.
09:10He can smell the difference between a summer score zone
09:14and a winter melanosporum.
09:17Buried two feet down.
09:21Aurelia trusts him.
09:23Almost.
09:24They are in a clearing when it happens.
09:27Aurelia freezes.
09:29Ears flat.
09:31She won't cross an invisible line.
09:35Luca crouches.
09:37The soil is warm.
09:39Warm.
09:40If the ground feels warm, leave.
09:44He presses his palm to it.
09:47It gives.
09:48Soft.
09:50Like bruised fruit.
09:52Like a chest.
09:54Underneath.
09:55He swears he hears something.
09:58Not a sound.
10:00A pressure.
10:02But, um.
10:03He obeys.
10:04He laves.
10:06Rule one kept.
10:08That night.
10:10That night.
10:38Underneath that.
10:39Underneath that.
10:39Like copper.
10:41Al is waiting in the kitchen.
10:42Tyarine.
10:45I can smell it.
10:51I can smell it on you.
11:07I can smell it on you.
11:17I can smell it on you.
11:22I can smell it on you.
11:37I can smell it.
11:47You may smell it on you.
11:50I can smell it on you.
11:53I love it on you.
12:06and mud. And his hand closes around something. Fabric. Rotted. A sleeve. Under it, a wristband.
12:19Kappa Führer Fest, 2018. Under that, bone. Finger bone. Yellow. Clean. Al is there instantly.
12:31He doesn't look surprised. He kneels in the mud with Luca. His suit spotless. The finest truffles,
12:41Al says. Grow where something precious was buried. Who? Luca's voice is a ruin. Giulia,
12:52Al says. She broke rule three. 23 years ago. She was very hungry. Luca vomits truffle.
13:03It's been weeks since he ate one. It comes up whole. Unsliced. Perfect. Al picks it out of the mud.
13:14Holds it up. Not random. Not natural. Chosen. That night, Luca Googles missing persons.
13:26Piedmont. Hunters. Five names. Five faces. Five stalls. Giulia Moretti. No relation.
13:37Missing 2001. Marco Bianchi. Missing 2007. Limp. Elina Costa. Missing 2013. Paolo Grieco. Missing 2018.
13:57Asti. The fifth photo loads. Bianca Ferry. Missing 2014. Truffle Hunter.
14:06Last scene with her pig. The pig is in the photo. White. Pale. Eyes too round. Luca looks at Orlian.
14:20She's in the doorway. Watching. Grief ferments. Al says from behind him. Loss makes the soil rich.
14:31Chapter 5. Bayonka. This is Orlia's chapter.
14:36Bayonka Ferry. 29. Her wife Anna dies of cancer. Bayonka stops eating. Stops hunting. Then she starts
14:49hunting. Every night. Rule 3. Broken every night for six months. She finds the warm ground. She smells
15:00Anna's. Rosado El Salto. She digs. She wakes in the barn. Luca is not carved yet. But Bayonka is fresh.
15:13She learns the new body. The hunger. The way Al uses her to find new grief.
15:20She's good at it. The grieving come to Piedmont. Because the truffles are famous. They ache. The soil listens. She
15:33leads
15:33them to the warm spots. She can't save them. She tries at first. She refuses. Stands in their way. They
15:45go around.
15:46Over years. Over years. She stops trying. Until Luca. Now. She scratches at his door. Every night. At 3.13
15:57AM.
15:58The ground under his house. Is the warmest she's ever felt. It's not ready. Not yet. She lies at the
16:09Bayonka tree.
16:11Because that's where Anna is. Or was. Now Anna is in every truffle Al sells. To Turin restaurants.
16:20Bayonka presses her head. To Luca's door. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Chapter 6. The proposal that never
16:33happened. Anniversary. Two years. Luca breaks. He cooks. He buys tayari. He buys eggs. So yellow they're
16:46orange. He buys a white truffle. From the market. In Alba. It's not the same. It'll never be the same.
16:57He cooks. The kitchen fills with steam. With memory. With Mateo. He plates it. Sits. Takes a bite.
17:09It tastes like nothing. Like paper. Like absence. He throws the plate. It shatters.
17:19The smell doesn't leave. The smell doesn't leave. It gets stronger. The windows fog. The walls sweat. The floorboards
17:30breathe. Bottom. Bottom. He runs. Into the forest. Thinking of the dead. Rule 3 broken. The smell is ahead
17:44of him. Tayarin. Altartufo Bayonko. Mateo's version. The exact version. Orlia body slams him from the side.
17:58She's screaming. Not a pig sound. A woman sound. A Bayonka sound. She bites his coat and drags him
18:09backwards. Her hooves. Her hooves carving trenches. He fights her. He claws her. Lassi Ami. She doesn't let go.
18:21He collapses in the mud. Sobbing into her flank. She lies on him. Heavy. Warm. Alive. Holding him down.
18:34Like she's afraid he'll float away. Al finds them like that. He stands over them. Dry in the rain. If
18:44you want
18:45to hunt tomorrow. You'll do it sober. Al says. If you want to live. You'll stop wanting to taste him.
18:55Luca looks up. Mouth full of mud. I don't want to live. I want to choose. Al crouches.
19:05Brushes wet hair from Luca's forehead. His hand is cold. That's what they all say. Chapter 7. The
19:15Forbidden Dig. Luca doesn't sleep for three days. The rules chant in his head. He repeats them until
19:25they're nonsense. Until they're dare. Night four. He's thinking of the dead. Rule three broken. He walks.
19:37The smell finds him instantly. Tayarine. Butter. Wine. Truffle. Mateo's hands. Rule four broken.
19:50Aurelia is at his heels. Aurelia is at his heels. She doesn't block him this time. She walks beside him.
19:59Defeated. When they reach the clearing. She stops. Sidze looks at him. Please. Luca steps into the clearing.
20:11Rule one broken. The ground is bare. No leaves. The soil is warm. The ground feels warm. Leave.
20:23He kneels. Presses his palm down. It gives. Soft. Like a bruise. Like a chest. It exhales.
20:36He digs. Fabric. Dark. Theatrical. He knows the weave. Mateo's jacket. The one from his closet.
20:50The one Luca never got back from the police. He makes a sound. Wordless. Broken. Under the jacket.
21:01The truffle. Perfect. Spherical. Pale gold. Veins of ivory. It pulses. No, that's his hands. No, it's not.
21:16It smells like the kitchen. Like the night before. Like yes. Aurelia screams. Human.
21:26Bayonka. Luca know. He grabs it. The soil opens. His arm goes into the elbow. The warmth becomes wet. The
21:39ground has a pulse.
21:42Bottom. Bottom. Bottom. Roots shoot up. Trees bend. Luca. Al. Behind him.
21:54Calm. Calmed. You chose memory over life. The truffle beats once in his hand. Black. Chapter 8. Luca.
22:07Cold. Damp. Heavy. Ironed. Luca wakes. Wrong. Heavy. His hands are hooves. His scream is a squeal. He scrambles up.
22:24Stone. Wood. Bars. Luca carved fresh in the wood. Lopsided you. Chiulia to the left. Moss. Alina to the right.
22:40Nail gouges. Paolo across. Dragging leg. The pigs step forward. Eyes human. Aware.
22:51Trapped. Trapped. Paolo looks at him. Welcome to hell, kid. Al crouches at his stall. Eyes like midnight water.
23:03You broke every rule. You hunted while thinking of the dead. You followed the echo. You dug where Aurelia refused.
23:14Luca throws himself at the bars. The sound is raw. Animals. The best truffles, Al says.
23:25Come from those who loved too much to let go. Now you will help others find what you lost.
23:32Aurelia enters. She walks to Luca's stall. Presses her head to the bars. Brow to brow.
23:43You are one of us now. I'm sorry. Al stands. Hunger will guide you. He leaves the door open.
23:53Luca sinks. He understands. The smell of truffle is not earth. It's not fungus. It's memory.
24:05Grief. Love buried alive. And he's about to help harvest it.
24:11Chapter 9. The next hunter. Time is soup. Seasons mean nothing. A car. A woman. Sophia. Chef from Torino.
24:26Her sister died hunting last year. She's not sad. She's furious. She wants answers.
24:36She wants a body. Al sends Luca and Aurelia. Luca's first hunt as a pig. The hunger is not in
24:47his stomach.
24:48It's in his bones. It's a compass. It points to grief. Sophia radiates it. Rage is just grief with teeth.
25:00They find her in the woods. She has a shovel. A photo of her sister. Luca knows where the warm
25:10ground is.
25:11He can smell it. It smells like Sophia's sisters and Yalati del Plin. Rule 1. Aurelia refuses.
25:21She sits. Luca looks at Sophia. Then at Aurelia. Then at the warm ground. He walks the other way.
25:34First rebellion. Al watches from the trees. He doesn't stop them. Yet, that night, Luca dreams.
25:44Not of Mateo. Not of Mateo. Of Luce Divina. He can't sing. But he can move. Chapter 10. Luce Divina.
25:56Sophia finds the barn. She finds the stalls. She finds Luca. She raises the shovel. Over warm ground.
26:07Luca has to choose. Obey hunger. Feed Sophia to the cycle. And become Al. Or he performs.
26:20Moonlight through slats. No music. No sequence. No audience except pigs. Except grief. He moves.
26:32It's not dance. It's ritual. It's the same gestures. Luce Divina. Used to end every show. Hands up. Head back.
26:46Offering his throat to the sky.
26:49Take me if you're going to. The other pigs stir. Paolo lifts his dragging leg. Alina stops. One by one,
27:00they move.
27:02A broken animal chorus. A protest. A funeral. Aurelia joins him. She stands on her hind legs. Just for a
27:15second.
27:16Impossible. A memory of being Bayonka. Sophia watches. The shovel shakes. Sophia drops the shovel.
27:27She pours lamp oil. She pours lamp oil on the warm ground. Strikes a match. The fire is low and
27:35blue. And smells like a nyelati. She walks out of Piedmont. She doesn't look back. She'll have nightmares forever. But
27:47she's alive. Luca can't follow. He and Aurelia are still pigs.
27:54They walk into the forest. They walk into the forest. No stalls. No rules. They don't hunt. They don't dig.
28:05Luca will never taste.
28:16Aurelia lies with him. For the first time since the crash. He isn't hungry. A human hand. Not Al's.
28:27Not Lucas. Not Lucas. Not Lucas. A stranger. They plant a truffle sapling in clean dirt. No body. No grief.
28:39Just soil.
28:41The forest. For the first time in 200 years. Gets to be just a forest.
28:47You don't find truffles. They let themselves be found. And sometimes they let you go.
28:57The forest.
Comments