As a snake I didn’t know much about levels and skills. It took time to figure out all the different things that humans learned with their reading talent. I had to start at the very beginning.

Trees were smart, though, and I knew it was better to be safe than try for something beyond my skill right away. And the safest place to learn? The human training field.

I managed to steal two more kills before the humans caught on. It wasn’t entirely their fault; at this point I was probably close to a level 2 or 3, and barely bigger than twig. I was really hard to spot. The two kills were helpful, but I didn’t see any blue glows from the gods.

Yes, yes. Status messages. I couldn’t read them so I didn’t really know what they were or what they meant until later.

The humans searched the high grass to find me rather than hunt the slimes. Some even made strange sounds as if I would come when summoned! As if I was silly enough to be lured by simple tricks.

The slimes in the field became obstacles to avoid. I slithered around them because I wasn’t sure if my thorns would defeat them yet. I didn’t want to try while the humans searched for me. Imagine if they caught me attacking a slime and not even getting my thorns through the bark! My grand image as a tree would be broken.

I was small enough to escape most of the humans. Eventually one found me. Or, rather, fell on me after his thorn slid off the backside of a slime.

“A companion monster!” the human shouted horribly loudly. It immediately grabbed for me.

An idiot human! I hissed back at it. It didn’t understand me of course. Humans are too dull to understand every language. Only a very few - the best - can talk to trees, anyway, so I doubt talking to other creatures ever crossed their minds.

The hiss gave me a few moments where the human hesitated. It didn’t last long and it grabbed for me again. I dodged and shouted my displeasure. I tried to be as loud as the grabby-human, hoping the other two-leggers would come take this one away.

They had circled me. They were all staring at me.

I mean, I understand. I’m fascinating. Trees are worthy of awe and praise, and deserve compliments. I wasn’t in my correct body, though, so the attention was a bit odd.

“I can give you a nice home full of plump rats to eat,” the human said. “So just stay still and let me tame you.”

Rats? Can you believe it? How ludicrous! Why do all humans think snakes are going to be pleased with a plump rat? Have they not figured out the curse that follows overeating? Not to mention how dangerous rats are!

The human was insane to try and bribe me with murderous scavengers who would rip my delicate bark from my body. Did he think I was food? Nutrients for other creatures? If he came closer I was prepared to bite him. My thorns would scratch his flesh better than the slime’s. It was firmer and I wasn’t delicate.

The human started some sort of skill. It was a god-given skill. I could tell because it glowed blue. Haven’t you noticed? All the god-given skills look blue. Natural talent doesn’t have that sort of magic light with it.

I’m not insane. I have magnificent eyesight.

I had no desire to serve this human with the grabby hands and loud mouth. I swatted the skill away with my nose. It looked startled when my eyes locked on the predator again. I wasn’t going to let some fool human do as it pleased with me. I was a tree. I would choose who I served, if I served anyone.

“Okay, maybe rats aren’t your thing,” the troublemaker said slowly. Not once did I break eye contact with it. “You’re just a dumb snake. This should be easy.”

Was he serious? Did all humans insult the creatures they hoped to share bonds with?

A tree’s bond is special beyond words, and so unique and magnificent. Interlacing boughs and branches, wrapping together in harmony, and then the ultimate bond: merging. Two trees becoming one. Sharing bark and trunk. Essences becoming one. No sense of where you end and your partner begins because they are you and you are them. It’s an experience like no other. Special and glorious.

It’s something every tree hopes to have.

No tree got it from being rude.

The human lunched for me again. I bit him.

What? It was a small bite. I just bit his hand, and with everyone else standing around just staring at us there were plenty of other humans to look after the wound and care for him. All the commotion made it super easy to slip out, too. I didn’t want anything else to do with any of them so I just took my leave and slithered back towards the trees.

The apple tree might be lonely, and I wouldn’t mind staying under her roots while the night passed.

All the pieces of the other snake were gone when I returned. I didn’t mind since that was how the world worked. I greeted the apple tree with a soft roots skill, sharing a bit of my success with her. I felt some of the soreness of my travels ease. That was the skill accepting her nutrients. A quiet exchange of welcome.

The apple tree responded back with her own version of the skill. It was both a recognition and permission to stay in her shade again. Her protection was necessary while I was so small, just as a young sprout requires the grace of older trees for sunlight and territory. I was too little to fight for myself.

It reminded me of when I was a young seed just pushing through the ground. So many others fell around me because the fully grown trees only allowed a certain amount of nutrients through. What came from the ground wasn’t enough for everyone. I was one of the lucky ones. I survived to become the grandest and greatest of all living things: a tree.

Now I realize that I was a special kind of snake. The human said it when trying to grab me, but at the time I didn’t know what it meant. A companion snake.

Creatures that can evolve are actually rare. Or maybe it’s just that they lack the ambition to improve in that way. I wanted to evolve. It was my goal to become a tree again one day. Most snakes just wanted to eat and have baby snakes. Not me. I wanted to be a tree again.

Because I could evolve, humans could also bond with me. Most creatures only bond with their own kind. Trees bond with tress. Flowers bond with flowers. Snakes bond with snakes. Humans bond with humans. Things that evolve can also bond with humans.

And humans are obsessed with these creatures. I know. That human encounter wasn’t my last. Grabby Hands was quite annoying in his persistence.

A warning came from the apple tree. I lifted my head and searched my surroundings. The creature from earlier was wandering closer, according to my tongue. How strange it still was to taste things.

At the urging of the apple tree, I moved around her trunk. There was a path - small and well hidden - up her trunk to a safer hiding spot.

It felt good to be so high in the air again. Naturally I wasn’t as high as when I was myself, the fifth pine from the top of the hill. Height was reassuring, though, with the bulk of my body off the ground.

It did feel strange not to have a trunk on the ground and roots under the dirt, I’ll give you that. A tree is steady and my roots extended farther below ground than my tallest branch went above. I had such a tight hold on my clump of earth that no one could move me without leaving behind a hundred or more tiny roots.

Sprouts could grow from any one of those roots. Imitations of me that would undermine whatever threw me into this body.

Do you hear me gods? There must be ten of me on that hill by now! You won’t get rid of me that easily!

Of course they’re listening. They’re always listening. They’re gods. And I’m already cursed.

No, I did not fall to my death from the apple tree. It was actually much more comfortable up high. Looking down at a threat was more suitable to my tastes. It made the snake part of my brain happy, since the tree part was always both taller and shorter than all threats. This body was so odd.

I settled in as comfortably as I could to wait for dawn. At some point the sleep curse hit me again. No one told me what creatures needed so I was left fumbling with some of the basics. It would be a few weeks before I mastered sleeping when I wanted, and longer still for me to learn the biggest creature secret there is: at level 10 you get a brand new skill.

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While you wait.....