There once was a forest. A forest of life. Trees flourished for hundreds upon thousands of years. Animals thrived. The first human had appeared only ten years before. It was an odd thing, the trees thought. But they liked the oddity. The woman that they saw was the only human they'd ever seen. They tried to speak to her, but she didn't seem to hear a thing. And just as quickly as she had appeared, the woman was gone from the forest.
The trees never forgot her, and soon it got them thinking. What if they could create a human, but make it more like them? They thought it'd be worth looking into. Now, they didn't find how on their own. Trees aren't very knowledgeable on such things. But there was a friend of theirs that lived in the forest. A deer with glassy, pure white eyes that resided in a cave in the forest. An oracle. As she walked out of her home, she heard the trees whispering more actively than she had in years or perhaps even centuries. Her ears flicked as she walked past. One tree shouted out to her.
"Excuse me! Miss oracle ma'am?"
It was a timid little voice that belonged to a young tree. All whispering stopped and a quiet fell over the woods.
"Yes, young tree?"
"I've been informed that the elder wishes to speak with you."
"Whatever for? It's much too early for the annual prediction."
"I'm afraid I'm just a messenger, ma'am. I don't know."
"Very well then, I'll go see him."
She could hear whispers erupting once more when the trees thought she was out of earshot. They always underestimated a deer's hearing.
After half a day's walk through the extensive forest, the oracle finally made it to the elder. The elder was the oldest tree of them all, and quite wise.
"Welcome, Miss Oracle. I'm sorry to have summoned you so suddenly."
“If you could please skip the formalities today? I’m afraid I have another appointment later.”
“Of course, I apologize. The trees and I have seen a human.”
“A human! Such a rare sight for this far forest. Has it caused any trouble?”
“No, no, it just passed through. But it sparked an idea in us.”
“Which is?”
“We wish to create a human, but one that is like us and can hear the forest.”
The oracle laughed. “Oh, to be so naive! It is not quite so easy to create a being.”
“But it’s possible? ”
“Yes. Terribly difficult, though. You would have to retrieve a glowing green flower from the canyon east of here.”
“That sounds easy, though. What makes it so difficult?”
“You seem to forget that you trees cannot walk, much less climb a canyon wall. Besides, the wall is high and steep and the canyon wide and dangerous. Tell me if you somehow manage to get it.”
And with that, she abruptly walked off. She had another appointment soon, like she’d said, and it wasn’t as if she thought the trees would follow through with it. After all, they couldn’t even walk.
However, she was not always correct in her assumptions. The spring of the next year, she was greeted with even louder chattering from the trees. Odd, she thought, I haven’t heard such activity since last year…
A voice rang out once again, still timid but a little stronger than last year.
“Message for Miss Oracle!”
“Yes, young tree?”
“The elder would like to request your presence.”
“And you still haven’t been told why?”
“No ma'am.”
She nodded at the tree and headed off once again on the long journey. She stopped short of the clearing where the elder resided. A pale green glow was washed over the trees. The usual chatter of the trees and critters was hushed. Did they really- Stepping into the clearing, she could see that it indeed was a glowing green flower.
She glanced at the elder, then the animals waiting, and finally settled her gaze on the magnificent flower, which was lying on a large flat rock.
“How did you do it, elder tree?”
“The local deer herd had taken in a mountain goat for a few days. They owed us a favor, so they took him to the canyon and retrieved it.”
“You must be a very lucky tree. Mountain goats do not often come so far away from home.”
The Oracle thought it over. It was very lucky, indeed.
“Very well,” she said,”Have you got an idea on how you want the human to look?”
“Yes,” the elder tree said rather proudly,”We thought you might need an idea on it, so we constructed a human from branches and moss. We hope you can make her well.”
The animals in the clearing parted to create a path to the thing they’d all been huddled around. The Oracle went to go see. They had created a great likeness of a human. She was lying on the ground, eyes closed, made of soft green moss with branch bones inside. Vines cascaded from her head as hair and she wore a dress of leaves.
She sat beside the green girl and examined her further. Satisfied with the quality of her construction, she ordered the animals observing to fetch the green flower. As she waited, she bent over the girl and put a hoof on her chest. She began to scoop out a cavity where a human would usually have a heart. Putting the moss and grass and leaves in a neat pile beside her, she turned to her right. There was a small rabbit with large eyes holding up the flower.
The Oracle, now holding the flower, prepared herself. She reached over and delicately placed the flower inside the cavity. Once she was satisfied that it was securely in place, she replaced the moss and leaves over top. Without any more to do to help the girl to life, she sat back and watched. The animals stared with bated breath.
“Is that it? Is the girl alive?” The elder tree spoke. His leaves were positively quivering.
“Yes, whether she comes to life or not is now entirely up to her.”
So they waited in eager anticipation of their girl of the forest. And they waited. The flower of her heart still glowed its soft green through the cavity. Her face was still as it could be. They waited in silence.
Finally, it was night. They’d waited for seven hours in that clearing to no avail. She didn’t look any closer to being alive. The creatures went to sleep soon after.
Morning came and with it, a startling awakening.
“WAKE UP!” It was a high-pitched voice belonging to a squirrel. The squirrel in question was perched atop of the rock the flower had been resting on the night before. “THE FLOWERGIRL IS BREATHING!”
All creatures seemed to freeze. Time stopped for a moment. Then all chaos broke loose.
Creatures of all sizes were scrambling to get a glimpse, tumbling over each other in their haste and recklessness.
“HALT!” The elder tree bellowed through the clearing. The animals froze once again and seemed to regain control of themselves. They murmured apologies and stepped apart from the clusters and crowds they’d gone into.
The entire forest seemed to hold its breath as the Flowergirl got up. She looked around silently before walking past the animals and up to the elder tree.
She paused at the elder tree’s base. Looking up, she tilted her head and whispered a question.
“Father?”
“Yes.” He breathed back. Created from the life of a flower, she was the forest’s new Flowergirl.
10 years later, the girl was accustomed to the forest. She spoke to the trees and cared for the creatures.
She walked down the forest path that normally led to the Oracle to visit her best friend. A voice called out to her before she got to him.
“Hey, your father wants you to get back before nightfall this time!”
She grinned and ran to him.
“Ash, don’t use your messenger job against me!”
“I’m not using it against you, I’m using it for your father!”
He was unrecognisable by now, but Ash was the small tree which had called out to the Oracle. By now he’d grown taller and bolder.
“Well, tonight I can’t stay and talk anyways. I’ve got to go check on a grove of ill trees and then go to the annual prediction tonight.” Her voice, usually cheerful, was darkened by this. The forest had fallen on bad times.
“How’s the north side doing?” Ash’s voice was heavy with dread.
“Not getting any better, that’s for sure. With how dry and sick they’re getting, I’m worried that it might affect the entire forest.”
“Maybe the Oracle will have good news. Anyways, if you want to visit the sick grove and make it back in time for the prediction then you’d best get going.”
“Oh, I nearly forgot. Thanks, Ash.”
“Bye.”
The sick grove was the same as it had been yesterday. Spreading by the minute and so dry you’d be surprised if they were ever healthy. She quickly left. The trees’ groans of pain made her feel like she was about to faint if she lingered too long.
At the clearing with her father, she sat in wait for the Oracle to arrive. It felt like she was waiting too long; it felt like she should be doing something, but she wasn’t sure what. She paced around the clearing breathing heavily, with her head hurting in a dull ache. Suddenly, she felt a stab of pain in her chest. She fell to the floor coughing and wheezing and shuddering in pain.
“Flowergirl! My daughter, what is wrong?!”
She couldn’t answer, she couldn’t breathe. Struggling, she finally regained her breath and was able to stand up with some effort.
“There’s something wrong with the forest. The trees are in pain.” She didn’t know how she knew, but it was clear in her mind. Something was wrong.
“The sky!” She shouted, pointing up. It was darkening, the stars blinking out as they were covered by smoke.
“The forest is burning! Flowergirl, run away from it! I cannot run, but you can! Save yourself!” The elder tree was distraught. To have his creation torn away from this world so soon was a pain he could hardly imagine.
“But father, you will die!”
“I said run! That is an order!” He hardly ever was harsh with her, and it shocked her deeply. She turned and fled south, away from the smoke. But the forest was burning quickly, quicker than she would’ve thought possible.
Through the forest, weaving through the trees she ran, hardly thinking along the way. The pain was growing deeper and it was agonizing to run. She noticed something she recognized though. Her eye caught on that, she lost focus on running and crashed to the ground. It felt as if her stomach had been stabbed and her head and limbs were burning. She only noticed she was screaming when her ears stopped buzzing. With labored breathing, she turned to the thing which had distracted her. It was the path to the Oracle and to Ash. She ran that way. Perhaps the Oracle will know what to do, she thought in desperation. As she went along the path, the trees’ branches on the sides scraped her sides and tore her mossy arms, but she didn’t stop running.
“ASH!”
“Flowergirl?! Is it really you?!”
Ash sounded fearful and pained. His branches were drying out.
“Flowergirl, the Oracle is inside the cave! She might know how to help us!”
She only had the strength to nod back before she hurried the rest of the way. The Oracle was sitting calmly at the entrance, her white eyes transfixed on the haze above them.
“I know what you want, and there is no way to help them. It is already in motion and will not stop.” She cast her gaze to the girl. “And you will die beside them, too. You are connected to the forest by the flower you call a heart. Surely you’ve already begun feeling the pain.”
Flowergirl sunk to the ground, and the Oracle took that as an answer.
“There is only one way for you to survive. You must replace your heart.”
“Replace my heart? Wouldn’t it be painful?”
“Oh, yes, terribly painful. More than you could ever imagine. You would lose all connections to the forest and become a normal human. But you’re dying, Flowergirl. Your choices are limited.”
“Why would I want to replace my heart? Just so I can live while my friends all die?”
“Well, yes. Aren’t you afraid of death?”
Flowergirl looked into those unnerving eyes with a troubled expression. The pain of the forest was unbearable. But she wasn’t sure if she wanted to leave it.
“Ah, I can see you need to think it over. I’ll leave you to it. The heart is under that rock.”
She ran swiftly south, but not before pointing out a flat rock. Flowergirl lifted it up with some effort to see a small box. She picked it up and almost immediately dropped it. It was moving. Undoing the latch, she saw the heart. It was red and blue, beating with an unnerving sound. It repulsed her.
She trailed her fingers along the moss covering her chest cavity. She’d just have to replace her heart and it’d all be over. She wouldn’t feel the forest’s pain any longer. But she thought of her family. Her father had told her to save herself. What would he say to this? And Ash. She would never get to talk to a tree again. She stared at the heart, thinking.
She was roused from her thoughts by a scream. Looking up, she saw the fire was close. So close, she could feel the heat and could hardly breathe. It had been Ash screaming. He was gone, she could feel it. One small thing and she’d never feel the trees’ pain again…
Her decision was made. She picked the beating heart up from the box. She curled her fingers around it and steeled herself. She raised the heart up.
… And she cast it into the flames. She watched as it sizzled up and burned. Her whole body ached and she could feel she was dying. The fire sped up as it consumed the heart, almost as if it were hungry for more flesh. The flames danced higher and nearer and all the more greedy. The flames licked her moss feet. They flowed up to her head hungrily.
Just as quickly as she’d been gifted to the forest, she died with it. The daughter of the forest was not meant to last. Yet as her body was feasted on by the flames, she left behind a glowing green seed nestled safely in the soil.