1 In The Beginning

Birch had a good life, he sat in the meadow with the long grass and the wildlife, soaking up the sun and being the home to a family of birds. Though Birch never saw these birds he could hear their calls and feel them rustle through his leaves. He loved these birds, he could never talk to them but he enjoyed how they stayed during the winter and gave him something to listen to.

He didn't have much company Afterall, the meadow was beautiful but didn't grow trees anymore, and sure a few flowers would visit every spring, but no matter how hard Birch tried to shelter them with his thick leaves it was never good enough and the frost always took them away.

It was winter again. Birch was alone, and though it was the end of winter A blanket of snow covered the ground, hiding even the grass from him. All Birch could do this season was watching the sun slowly make its trip up and down the sky. Sometimes as the sun set it painted pretty pictures with reds, pinks, blues, and even purples as it vanished, consumed by the night.

It was around that time once again and birch watched as the sun slowly close the distance between it and the mountains when suddenly a little old lady in a fur coat tracked through the snow by him. She abruptly stopped and retraced her steps back to Birch, starting to examine him.

Humans had never really taken interest in him. Sometimes in the summer they would stop and eat under his shade but one had never done this before. The old lady reached forward and ripped some bark off Birches trunk. She looked pleased with what she saw and reached into her coat pocket, revealing a vile of some kind of green liquid.

The lady poured the liquid on the ground near him. Birch felt the liquid quickly travel up his roots and throughout his system. The liquid started to feel like fire and Birch felt his bark cracking and forming new shapes, His limbs contorted and... suddenly it stopped.

Birch felt the pain be lifted from his body. "Woah…" Birch quickly lifted his hands to his mouth. "i-I can talk!" Birch looked at his hands then down. He had a body, with legs! Birch looked at himself in amazement. A moment ago he was chained to the earth, but now…. Now he was free