“I saw it all. It was epic. The eagle swooped down and snatched him up, but the Alpha Neuterer wasn’t having any of it and...”

  “Calm down Benji. And lower your voice. Arthur needs his rest.”

  “Yes, of course, mother. I’m sorry.”

  I woke up to pain, darkness, and voices. Though I could barely understand them before I fell back into unconsciousness again.

  The next time I awoke, I felt numb and overly exhausted, but the pain was mostly gone. If it wasn’t for the exhaustion I felt, I would have thought I was dead. I could hardly tell if my eyes were open or closed; it was so dark. However, it was warm and comfortable though I had no idea where I was. The last thing I remembered was the eagle on top of me.

  I thought I remembered it swooping down and grabbing me a second time. But everything was blurry. The thought of being in the eagle’s nest crossed my mind, and I began forcing my exhausted body to move around to find and exit. Panic quickly set in when I realized there was no way out. I was just starting to claw at the oddly soft prison I found myself in when a voice spoke.

  “Be calm, my child. All is well. You are safe now.”

  The voice was motherly, soothing, and made me feel completely safe. I immediately wanted to trust it. This only made me hesitant to do so.

  “Who are you? Where am I? And what do you want from me?” The questions flooded from me before I even realized it.

  “Most refer to me as the Mother Tree. As for where you are, you are in my branches inside a healing pod. For what I want. Well, that is best discussed when you awake.”

  “I am awake. What do you mean?”

  “Sleep now, Arthur Nutsy. You need to recover.”

  “Sleep. I’m not sleeee…p…y..” Suddenly my eyes grew heavy and I fell into a dreamless slumber.

  I woke up to the morning sun in my eyes. Feeling completely rested and full of energy, I jumped to all fours and began looking every which way for danger. I was on some sort of large flower. Its petals were white and the center where I had been laying was yellow, reminding me of an egg yolk.

  The tree its self was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The bark was a white opal with just a hint of purple hidden within. Leaves with a soft pink color, reminding me of a Japanese cherry blossom. The tree looked celestial in nature, like something one would expect to see in heaven. It was truly massive. And not just because I was small, but this tree was several times larger than any tree I had seen before. It looked to reach to the heavens themselves. I was so taken by the tree’s beauty I didn’t even know there was someone speaking to me.

  “Arthur, how are you feeling?”

  I jerked around looking every which way for the speaker but seen nothing. I recognized the voice. It had spoken to me inside the flower pod.

  “Where are you?” I asked while looking around.

  “You are on me.”

  I looked down at the flower that was on. The petals were falling off and my eyes widened. “A talking flower?”

  I heard a slight chuckle, then the voice spoke again. “Not the flower pod, my child. I am the Mother Tree.”

  “Wait. You're the actual tree its self?”

  “Yes, you could say that.”

  “But trees can’t talk.”

  “According to your world, neither can squirrels.”

  My eyes widened at that. “You know of my world?”

  “I do. I know of many things. There were thousands from your world sent here. Unfortunately, you are the only squirrel. ”

  “Do you know why we were all sent here? And what do you mean by, unfortunately?”

  “The reason is unclear. However, I’m sure it has to do with the timer on your stat page. As for your second question, the squirrel population is slowly dying out. This is my fault, as I slumbered for far too long.”

  “I had been wondering what the timer is. Do you know what it’s counting down too?”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “I am sorry I do not know what the count down is for, but I can assure you it will not be good for you or anyone from your planet. I recommend getting as strong as possible before the timer.”

  “Great. I figured there was some sort of catch to accepting that prompt. Also, I’m a bit confused about how it’s your fault the squirrel population is dying?”

  “I am a Celestial tree. The mother of all squirrels. As of now, you are the only squirrel on this continent. It is my fault because I was slumbering and could not give out blessings to my children. Therefore, the squirrels are being hunted and used as power sources to grow an unsavory type of tree. There are those who fear the blessing that I can bestow upon my children.”

  “Okay, this only raises even more questions, but first I must ask, is there anything to eat around here? I’m sorry, I’m just absolutely starving.”

  A motherly laugh echoed out. “Yes, of course. You may eat of my fruit. However, by eating the fruit of my tree, you will be given a blessing. I had planned to give this to you later, but now shall be fine.”

  I started looking around for fruit when I realized what the tree said. “What does that mean, exactly? Will I gain some sort of special ability?”

  “Yes, the blessing you gain is not up to me, but your soul will choose the power for you.”

  I wasn’t about to turn down magic powers and food. “Alright, sounds good to me. Food and magic power sounds like a great deal.”

  “Go on down to my trunk and I will pick you a fruit.”

  I started to do just that when I hesitated. “Uhh, I will have to use my claws to climb down.”

  “Worry not, little one. Your claws will not harm me.”

  Shrugging, I started down to the trunk. To my surprise, my claws easily gripped the tree, and I made my way down. At the bottom of the tree there was thick snow white grass. The grass spanned throughout the entire glade the tree was in. It was odd to look at, but so were most things in this world.

  As soon as my paw touched the grass at the base of the tree, my eyes widened. The grass its self felt like a mix between memory foam and clouds. Well, what I assumed clouds felt like. I was rolling around in the grass before I even realized what I was doing.

  “I do hope that you enjoy.” The next moment, a pinkish white apple fell from the tree. Moving over to sniff the odd apple, my eyes widened, it looked to be made of crystal and within was a mixture of swirling gold and purple light.

  “Umm, do I just bite it?”

  “Yes, you must consume it all to receive the blessing.”

  Hesitantly, I nibbled at it. No sooner than my teeth sunk into it, my eyes widened and I took in a sharp breath. It was absolutely the most incredible thing I had ever tasted. I expected it to be hard with its crystalline appearance, but to my surprise, the outer layer had a velvety texture to it. The meat of the apple was perfectly crisp. For whatever reason, the mushroom I had eaten popped into my mind. It tasted nothing like mushroom but it invoked the same feeling of satisfaction as I ate it. Pushing the thought aside, I just simply enjoyed the apple.

  Far too quickly, the apple was gone. I was just fixing to ask if I could have another when a prompt appeared.

  Quest completed: Come in contact with Mother Tree.

  Speak to Mother Tree to receive reward.

  Blinking this one away, another prompt appeared.

  Blessing of the Mother Tree Obtained:

  Summon familiar.

  Before I blinked this one away I heard the Mother Tree speak. “It is done.” Then a blinding white light filled my vision, and I fell unconscious.

  I woke up laying on the cloud grass, as I now thought of it. Focusing on the new prompt, it opened.

  Congratulations, you now have access to your class magic.

  (Note must reach level ten before class magic can be used.)

  That was annoying, but at least I had access to it. Blinking the prompt away, another appeared.

  Congratulations, access to Stat page, Titles, Racial gifts, Blessings, Class spells, and Skills are now available.

  Now we’re talking, finally. Maybe I could figure out what that yellow bar was exactly. And did that prompt say my blessing was summon familiar? Blinking the prompt away I nearly jumped form surprise. Inches from my face was a white rabbit.

  “Oh! You’re finally awake!”

  I blinked a few times, but the rabbit just kept looking at me.

  “It seems you have met Benji.” The mother tree said. “He will be helping you with your quest.”

  “You can just call me Ben.”

  “Wait. Quest? What quest?” No sooner than I spoke, a prompt filled my vision.

  New Quest: Bring 3 male and 3 female squirrels to the Mother Tree for repopulation.

  Quest Type: Legendary

  Time limit: Before count down ends.

  Failure to complete: Unknown

  Reward: A single request from the Mother Tree.

  “Okay, that quest. First, I have a question. Can you turn me back into a human?”

  There was a long pause before the Mother Tree spoke. “I can, though I recommend against such a request.”

  “Thats all I need to know. I’ll do it! Also, I work best alone. I don’t need any help.”

  “I’m sorry, but that is unacceptable. Benji White will join you. If not for him, you would already be dead.”

  I turned to look at the rabbit. “Well thanks! I was also meaning to ask. What ever happened to the eagle? It’s all a bit of a blur.”

  “Oh, it was totally epic! I saw the whole thing. The eagle swooped down and…” Benji said in an overly enthusiastic tone before the Mother Tree cut him off.

  “You were lucky Benji was there. He has the spell lesser heal and was able to keep you alive while he dragged you here. As for the eagle, from what Benji said you attacked it, then it dropped you. The eagle then flew down to retrieve you in a mad rage and impaled its self on a branch while catching you just before you hit the ground.”

  “That’s not what I said!” Benji protested.

  “It is the best explanation. You may tell Arthur what you saw when you leave.”

  “Sounds like I was lucky.” I turned to the rabbit. “Thank you again. I appreciate you saving me. I really thought that was going to be the end. However, I really do work best alone and I don’t…”

  “No!” The Mother Tree said in a firm voice. “Benji White will accompany you on this quest.” There was silence for a moment until the Mother Tree spoke again. “There is a dungeon not far from here. I recommend you both go and clear it. You need some levels before you set out to the land across the waters.”

  “Wait! What do you mean, land across the waters?”