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// Chapter One: Settling In 
// Story: Servant of the Wild 
// by Agaris 
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	It wasn't a fancy transition - there was no sound, no flash of light, or anything like that. One moment, I was staring into a pitch black void, and the next I was in a forest. Judging by the strange foliage, I assumed it to be the same forest that Pan had shown a cynogriffin in earlier. I certainly didn't know anyplace else that had donuts growing from the tree branches and square berries on the bushes.

The scenery quickly took a backseat to something that seemed like a much more pressing issue. For whatever reason, I could no longer feel my toes. Or my torso. Or... well, anything other than my head, really. I tried to look down and see what was wrong with me, but I couldn't seem to bend my neck. At this point, I decided that panicking - along with shouting as loud as I could, of course - would be the most prudent course of action. "Help! Somebody help, there's something wrong with me, I can't move!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Well, I tried to, at least, but my voice came out slow and deep, nothing like my normal voice at all. It took at least three seconds just to get out the first word.

I'd barely finished five words before I heard another voice, high-pitched and rapid. "Hey, hey, calm down pal, take it easy and you'll be fine, trust me!" I couldn't see the speaker from my fixed vantage point. "Now, let's start with something simple. What's your name? Mine's Thumper! Pleasure to meetcha!"

"An...ders..." I managed to croak out, noticing with only dull surprise that, even though I was talking, my mouth wasn't moving at all.

"Anders, huh? Well, I guess that'll work. I gotta be honest, I expected a more impressive name for Pan's emissary. I mean jeez, at least something a little bit cooler, to make up for the way ya look." The last comment took me aback. The way I look? What was wrong with the way I look? I mean, I wasn't the tallest, and I wasn't overly bulky, but I was pretty muscular from a lifetime of ranch handery. 

Another voice spoke up. It was different from the first, which, despite its pitch, just screamed bravado and just a bit of arrogance. In contrast, this voice was thin and reedy. "Thumper, you can't just talk to the emissary like that! Who knows what would happen to you if Pan ever found out?" As the mystery being spoke, he stepped from the side into my field of vision, revealing his true nature. And what a nature it was - this delicately voiced creature was a massive bear, rubbing its paws together in a penitent manner, the  single long black claw on each rubbing against the other in an unnerving manner. It performed a little half bow. "I'm terribly sorry about my acquaintance's dreadful manner, Your Grace. I assure you, the rest of us are much more cultured than that..." He spat out the next word as if it were a curse. "Rabbit."

Naturally, this was quite a lot to take in all at once. A talking bear, and by his words a talking rabbit as well. The bear called me Your Grace, and both of them called me the "emissary” of Pan, whatever that meant. So, in self-preservation, my brain decided to shut off my voice, leaving me only able to think. Jesus Christ... What in the Hell is happening? I don't know what's goin' on, I can't move, there's talkin' animals, I just, I - Goddammit, COULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE? I practically screamed this last part in my head. 

The bear visibly flinched, and the rabbit, "Thumper,” spoke up. "Whoa there, pal, no need to yell. Glad to see ya found your voice again." Wait, what? Could they hear my thoughts?

"Well, yes, it would seem that way, Your Grace," the bear responded. "Though likely not all of them. Ah, but to answer your question, since it seems that His Majesty could not educate you to the fullest."

“His Majesty?” I queried.

"Yes, the King of the Wild, the Green Man, the Hunter." Clearly something told him that I wasn't getting it. "We are talking about Pan, of course."

“Oh, oh yeah, him. Well, can't say you're wrong, he didn't really explain much of anythin'.” 

"Yes, well, such is the nature of the wild - it's rather... How shall we put this? Unreliable. But in any case, that is why the Council has been protecting the Ironwood Shrine for this long. We have been waiting for you, emissary." The bear bowed again

“Right, that's nice an' all, but I'd really like to know what y'all're talkin' about when you say emissary. And while I'm on the subject, what'd ya mean earlier, how I look? What's wrong with it?” I was getting rather frustrated. You have no idea how awful it is to not be able to look around, to be forced to stare at one place, unable to move of your own volition. To make matters worse, I was looking slightly upward, and my view was tilted to the right a bit. It was just so aggravating!

"Right," Thumper chimed in. "If we wait for this clod to tell ya, we'll be here for a week, so listen up: you were sent here by Pan, that right?"

 “Yeah, why?”

"Well ya see, folks around here are pretty big fans of this guy, basically worship him. But nobody's seen him in centuries - so the stories say, anyway. Now when he left, lots of creatures would come around, pretending ta be him. After all these years with no sign, animals started to give up hope. But a few of 'em stuck it out. They believed that Pan would come back one day, reborn. Now back then, animals were a bit smarter than they are now. Some of our legends even say they could talk to the Civs - that's the civilized races, the ones that built cities and houses and whatnot." He snorted. "Because living off the land like the rest of us is just too hard. So anyway, these animals were... ah, dammit, what's the word?"

"Enlightened?" The bear suggested.

"Yeah, enlightened! Thanks, Farro. So they were enlightened. And one night, the leader of these guys had a dream. In this dream, Pan showed up and said, 'One day I will send someone to you. My emissary. He will guide you and protect you, and he will give my word form in your world.' And the leader asked him how they'd know, and Pan replied, 'When the tallest tree in the forest falls, he will soon be there.' So they go looking for the tallest tree, but when they find it, it's an ironwood. I don't know if you've heard of 'em before, but ironwoods are tough bastards. Forest fires can't do shit to an ironwood, and I don't think anyone has ever seen a fallen one before. So naturally, the Council (that's what these guys are going by at this point, by the way) thinks it must be a mistake and starts looking for the second highest tree. But then, about 70 years ago, a crack showed up in the ironwood's bark. The Council and their descendants have been watching the tree ever since, named it the Ironwood Shrine. And about a month ago, the tree just toppled over, leaving nothing but that stump you're sitting on now. So when you showed up, we knew you had to be the emissary we've been waiting for for so long."

”Um.” I was bewildered. Did time work differently here than on home? How did Pan know so long ago that he was going to send me here? ”That's... nice.”

"Isn't it?" I could practically hear the grin in Thumper's voice. "You wouldn't believe how long it took me to memorize all that stuff. I tell ya, it - "

Luckily, Farro the bear interjected before Thumper could continue. "Yes, quite. I'm sure we would all love to hear your tales of misadventure, Thumper, but not now. His Grace had another question, I believe, about his appearance?" He glanced at me to confirm. I would have nodded if I could, but I had to settle for a simple thought “Yes”. "Well, it's... hard to describe. I think it may be better to just show you." With that, he began to approach, extending his paws with those deadly looking prongs toward my head. Some part of me fell into the basic animal instinct to run, and without even trying, I sprang up on my four legs and jumped back. Wait a sec, something doesn't feel right here... Hey, I shouldn't have four legs! I tried to get a better look at myself now that I could move with a semblance of grace - oh, fine, I could move, at least. I glanced down at where my legs should be but saw instead two distinct tangles of hair-thin vines wrapped to look like two big vines. Looking through and beneath these appendages (and seeing them stretch a bit to accommodate for an apparently over-sized head - which was also my torso? I think?), I saw two more vine bundles stretching up to somewhere. I reoriented myself and stared at Farro. I would have stared at Thumper as well, but I couldn't see him. 

“Find me a mirror.” A hint of fear tinged my voice. “Now.”

"Of course, Your Grace. Would you like to be carried, or shall I let you walk on your own?" The bear rubbed his paws together, and through my delirium I could almost imagine a small glasses perched on the tip of his nose. The image seemed so fitting for him that I began to giggle to myself.

"I'd say carry 'im, Farro, I don't think he's in any state to move by himself right now." Farro glanced down nervously at the ground.

"If you're sure... Alright Your Grace, please try to stay calm this time. Slowly... Carefully..." He reached out, placed his paws on either side of my head (which I could barely feel, despite my head seeming to be the entirety of my body), and lifted me into the air. Readjusting, he fell to three legs and placed me on his back with the fourth. I nearly slid right off, but my... my vines seemed to slither further out of my body and wrap me tightly to the bear's broad back. It was simultaneously the most disgusting and most natural feeling I have ever experienced. With barely a grunt of surprise, Farro took off deeper into the forest. I took the chance to look around some more. It appeared that the vines connected with each other in the center of the bottom of my head, where my neck would be, and I could easily use them as a neck, albeit with much more flexibility.

Not long after, the ride was over. I slid to the ground, vines uncoiling from Farro's torso. A creature that I assumed to be Thumper (a white jackalope with proportionally small feathered wings – at this point I don’t think anything could have fazed me, not even the irony of Thumper’s name) helped to steady me as I got down. There was a pool of water nearby, which I quickly stumbled over to. The reflection was nearly perfect when I looked in - though whether that was a good thing or a bad, I can't say. My new body was... strange, to say the least. My body was now about a foot tall, and made of wood. It was shaped like a tall bowl, with a shallow indentation at the top and spiky protrusions around the rim. I already described the four tangles of vines coming out of the bottom, rounded part of the bulb. Near the middle of my new form were two softly glowing green eyes. One was shaped in the traditionally human, almond-y shape, while the other was a large, ragged oval. I had no mouth. I stood there staring at my reflection for a long while before Thumper spoke up. "You alright there, pal?"

Numbly, I responded. "Yeah, yeah, just... I need a minute alone, OK?" I nearly tripped as I walked unsteadily back into the woods, pondering my new situation. Why did this happen to me? Was this what Pan had been trying to tell me? Why would he send me like this? I thought he wanted me to be his champion or something, I'm supposed to fight others, aren't I? I mean, he said this was a battlefield, how in the Hell am I supposed to fight like this? I'm kind of useless right now... Lost in my thoughts, I failed to notice that I'd walked onto a rough dirt path. Then something nudged me in the side. 

Turning to face this newfound threat, I saw a pale blue hoof attached to a leg of the same color. That leg stretched up to a blue body – the body of an alicorn. He (judging by the ruggedness of the jaw) was looking back down at me with a half-interested, half-disdainful look on his face. “What in the skies above is that thing?” He wondered softly aloud. “Hmm. Perhaps it would make a good pet for little Alianora.” Suddenly, his horn started to glow with a deep blue radiance, and I started to rise into the air. Oh no. Oh HELL NO. I was not about to be a pet for some child! I immediately began thrashing my vines around in an effort to get free.

“Stop struggling, you wretched creature! I swear, the trouble I go to for that fill – OW! One of my vines had gotten a lucky shot in and struck him clean across the face. I could see the hate fill his eyes as he gingerly rubbed the slightly green mark with a hoof. “You little PEST!” he roared. “I will show you not to mess with the Kalisem family!” So saying, his magical glow intensified, and he hurled me into the woods. Trees passed with only inches to spare on either side until my journey was abruptly halted by a tree stump: the Ironwood Shrine. The alicorn was close behind, barreling through the foliage until he arrived in the clearing, where he lowered his head and pointed his horn at me. He gritted his teeth as a much more vibrant glow began to form around the appendage. “Burn in Tartarus,” he spat.

Terrified, I scrambled to the top of the shrine. I spotted a rather deep looking chink in the center of the stump and, in an inane attempt to escape, I began to stuff my vines into it. As the last one slipped in, the alicorn released his spell, and a ball of flame came roaring my way. It was at that moment that something truly strange happen. 

I felt my vines uncoil. Each and every hair thin strand of plant matte suddenly expanded, reaching deep within and entirely throughout the trunk. Some vines grew especially thick and burst through the bark of the stump, twining together to form two long arms. Two of the sturdier roots migrated to the bottom of the stump and began to extend. The shrine shuddered and rose into the air, taking along little clumps of dirt from the ground. Vines encircled them and turned them into appendages that were recognizably legs. Just like that, I was bipedal again, and instead of the fireball incinerating a foot-tall plant creature, it slammed harmlessly into the torso of a nearly eight foot tall, honest-to-god golem.

The alicorn looked up from his battle stance, expecting to see a charred spot where the impertinent thing had been. Then he looked up some more. And some more. He whimpered. “Oh, hello there, I’m terribly sorry about what I did back there, I’m sure we can work something out, yes?” His tone was ingratiating, his smile even more so. I really didn’t like him. I reached out with a vine-arm; he panicked, and his horn began to glow again. 

Now, now, we can’t have any of that. My arm uncoiled and the vines it was comprised of shot forward with blinding speed, wrapping around his horn, his torso, and his front legs. His horn continued to glow until I increased the pressure on it, causing him to cry out in pain. I raised him up to eye level. “You have very nearly committed a heinous act against me and all the creatures of this forest. What have you to say in your defense?”

The alicorn was blubbering by this point – it seemed he was quite a coward. I was glad to not have olfactory receptors anymore – urine is not the most pleasant of smells. “I – I’m s-sor-ry, I’ll n-never d-do it ag-gain, p-please *hic* don’t hurt b-beehehee, I probise I’ll be good, I wod’t cobe here agaid, just please let be go.” 

“See that you don’t.” I unwrapped my vines and dropped him unceremoniously to the ground. After picking himself up, he didn’t even bother to wipe his face clean of bodily fluids before sprinting off through the trees.

There was a moment of quiet as the reality of what I had just done finally sank it. Oh my God. I almost killed him! I nearly killed another living, thinking being! The Hell’s wrong with me? I mean, I think I kinda enjoyed that! Why would I enjoy it? I wasn’t just going to kill him, I was torturing him! Jesus, what is wrong with me?

A small voice at the back of my mind wiggled like a worm on a hook. He was going to kill you, you had no choice. You had to make sure he wouldn’t come back, it was the only way. The strongest will thrive, the weakest will perish. You must be the strongest. And like a fish that hadn’t eaten in a week, I jumped on that bait. It was the only way.

Then the silence was broken by many a “Your Grace, Your Grace,” and “Hey, are you OK?” as Thumper and Farro sprinted on all fours into the clearing. Their voices petered off as they got a good look at me. Then Thumper spoke up. “Alright, now that’s more like it!” Farro immediately slapped him in the head.

I allowed myself a brief laugh before getting back to business."Well, now that I’m more suited to travel, I think it’s high time that I learn more about this place, don’t you?”