20 hours ago, I died.

Okay, maybe not literally, but still. May as well have. I was the most magnificent, beautiful pine tree. My branches were wide and clean, and my seeds sprouted many young saplings. I might not have been as glorious as a Redwood, but I was still amazing. Then suddenly in the middle of the night I opened my eyes.

Just as an FYI, trees don’t have eyes.

I’d become a creature.

It’s horrifying! I move. I actually have eyes and see. My first sight was a large black snake slashed to pieces outside the hole I was stashed in. I didn’t actually see it get slashed, thank goodness, but it was there.

My scales - I have scales! My lovely bark is gone! - are black, like that snake outside the hole. I am also very small, barely the size of two pine cones. I must be that other snake’s sapling.

20 hours ago I woke up like this. I know the gods are laughing at me. They did this on purpose for their own amusement. I’ll show them. No one turns me - the fifth pine at the top of the hill - into a creature! I will be a tree again!

You hear me, gods? I will undo what you have done! I don’t know how, but I will find a way! There must be a way. I cannot live if there isn’t a way to be myself once more.

My tongue flickered out as I tried to scream at those invisible nuisances who called themselves gods, and I recoiled as I found out I could taste.

What a vulgar sense. Is this what taste is? Or is it scent? I’m not well versed in creatures. I think it’s taste though because it reminded me that this body requires nourishment, so I crawled out of my small hole and set out to find a promising spot.

Perhaps movement wasn’t all that bad. As a young sapling I had to depend on the grace of others because my roots were planted where I fell. If the older trees squandered the sunlight I had no choice but to accept their decision. It wasn’t until I was older myself that I could overpower them when they denied me and push my way to the most abundant and direct food.

As a creature now I could find the spot where no other tree stood and move myself there. It wasn’t easy. I tumbled over myself a few times. Fallen limb-sprouts and stones felt uncomfortable against my skin. Feeling was familiar, but these soft scales were too squishy. I longed for my solid bark around my trunk; it was strong enough that these small pebbles would be nothing.

Slipping through the large snake’s blood was disgusting, and an honest mistake. I meant no dishonor to the dead. It was just - I hadn’t quite figured out how to move where I wanted to yet. After 20 hours of looking out at her I wasn’t surprised at the amount of blood on the ground. Her fluid would be great nutrients for the grass and trees, and one day even her body would become one with the soil. I thanked her spirit for her sacrifice, and apologized for making a mess of her remains.

Perhaps her corpse would feed one of the nearby maples, or one of the small dogwoods sprouting close by. They sported bright colors at different times of the year, and after being a dull black all year round she might enjoy that.

Oh, I guess sight isn’t so bad. But how did I know about colors?

Maybe a snake’s brain just knows. Or maybe the gods did it so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by my new senses. I would have been more grateful if they’d left me as a tree.

I managed to find a warm spot of sunlight not far from that hide-hole. It looked soft and inviting, and none of the nearby trees had laid claim to the space between. I spread myself out as soon as I felt the warmth on my scales so I could take in as much of that delicious sun as possible. Then I raised my head up and proclaimed the most basic of tree skills: Eat.

I waited.

A tree eats sunlight very slowly. I was patient until my middle clenched and I realized the skill hadn’t worked.

Eat! I tried again, this time opening my mouth and shouting it with the creature’s limited talent.

Nothing.

Eat. Eat. Eat.

If anything the discomfort in my middle grew as my disappointment mounted.

My ‘eat’ skill didn’t work! I was going to starve! Curse the Gods and all their doings! This was far from a joke! How could I, a proud and strong pine, bring myself down to the level of a creature just to die from lack of nutrients?

This wouldn’t do. I had to find a way. In the past, squirrels nested in my branches, and birds perched on my limbs. They found a way to manage. If such small things could find a way to live then so could I. I just had no idea how a snake took in food.

There was one more option to try. After the disappointment of ‘eat’ I was almost too scared to try it.

Trees have two basic survival skills. “Eat” is a skill that lets us take in nourishment from the sun and air. “Roots” is different. It is one of the very few dual function skills in the world. A tree pushed waste out with “roots” and also took in nutrients not found in the air and sun. It wasn’t as satisfying because it wasn’t as pure, but water, blood, and bone made a young tree strong.

Grumbling unhappily, I warned the gods that if this didn’t work I’d see to it that they all became worms in the future. If I died of starvation, so help me I would find a way to their homes myself just to toss them in the dirt.

Roots.

A blue light shone in the corner of my vision as I felt the skill activate. It had the squiggle lines and soft color of a god’s message, so I dismissed it. The messages from the gods were for humans. They were written in human language and no one else could read them. They were just squiggles that made no sense. A god’s message for a creature couldn’t be anything other than a mistake.

I was glad though. “Roots” worked and I felt a bit better.

I did it again. Roots. I sank down into the grass and let the sun warm my body. This sensation wasn’t all that different from being a tree and letting the light touch my branches. I didn’t take up as much space, and I couldn’t raise myself very high from the ground, but the comforting touch of bright sunshine stayed the same.

The blood from the other snake was gone from my scales. “Roots” fed it back into the dirt and grass, I suppose. I was cleaner, and felt my energy restored.

But my middle was still empty. For this body that was apparently an issue that needed resolving. Even taking in nutrients from the ground wasn’t covering up that uncomfortable feeling.

I needed to figure out how creatures “eat”.

Before I could do that, I needed to master this movement thing. I examined myself as best I could. A tree’s only real sensation was touch. Two leggers walked on me - mostly birds, but occasionally humans - and four leggers climbed me. Those were mostly squirrels and chipmunks, and rarely a cat or two. Then there were the six leggers, eight leggers, and more. Anything with six or more legs was usually smaller than a seed.

After reviewing all these creatures which once called me home, I couldn’t think of a single no-legger that grew under me. There were the slimes - nasty creatures - but slimes were gelatinous bubbles and I was a snake. Snakes were made of flesh and muscle and bone.

And this silly tongue that keeps escaping. How many times must I taste the grass for this body to be satisfied?

Well, movement couldn’t be learned by staying still. Staying still was a tree’s privilege, and I was currently a snake. Being unhappy about it wouldn’t change anything.

Watching some of the other creatures wandering nearby, they didn’t seem to think too much about how they moved. They were mostly six and eight leggers, but that didn’t stop them from having bodies and moving as they pleased. And they had more body to move around and coordinate too.

I raised my head up and looked to the sky. That movement seemed easy enough. I knew how to do it, and managed it well. It was the moving forward bit that was still troublesome. Since I knew how to move my head I tried imitating the creatures around me and just moved without thinking too much about it.

I landed on my back with a thud, completely upside down, with the unbarked underside of my belly showing. It felt so uncomfortable, I had to let out a string of curses at the gods.

They cursed me first, and I’m sure they’ve heard much worse.