Grust was on the run. Some new and terrible weapon had hit his village in blinding flash. The whole area around it just felt dreadfully, dreadfully wrong. He new that if he stayed long that he would die. 4 of his seven eyes were blinded. The other 3 where on the opposite side of its head they the explosion. He feel his body slowly getting weaker.
At first tried to go straight to the nearest big down. Then he rumbling of tanks. The league forces were attacking, he was pretty sure they kill him if they found him, if he was lucky. Otherwise it would be straight to the labour camps of the rest of his life, which would have been short there even if he was completely unharmed. He'd go through the woods, he was a experienced woodslizard he could hide out there indefinitely.
He broke under the tree cover, the sounds of war faded away as he got deeper. It was strange to only see half the world now. Having 180 degree arc were things could move up to him with ill intent and he could see them scared him, he constantly turned around as he made his way deeper into the forest.
Suddenly a groundswrat stopped in front of him. It was a small creature, only 8 inches tall. Like all advanced animals on this planet it had 7 fold radial symmetry. The jaw was in the middle at the very top. It was fluffy and red. At base was a long fluffy tail. Longer then the creatures body. It was very flexible and was used to help it balance amongst the trees.
Its moved like a puppet it usually agile movements jerky and angular. It grabbed a stink and started to write something in the soil.
"Follow me, the penitent can help you." it wrote.
Grust knew of the tales of the Penitent. Mysterious and needed aid would be granted and only clue was a note that it was from the Penitent A lost child would be suddenly returned home. A starving family would find a animal walk right up to their house and suddenly die. A notorious criminal would be found tied up. They were many tales, some were certainly true. Nobody knew what the Penitent was. A mysterious monastic sect, the mayor in disguise, aliens, friendly ghosts, angels in training. The idea of possibly meeting Penitent thrilled him.
He followed.
The beast then returned to normal, ran up the tree and ate some nuts.
There seemed to be nothing special about were he stopped. They was nobody around, no buildings or caves or anywhere a person could hide. It just looked like any other piece of forest.
"Grust, welcome" said a voice said a voice that seemed to from a tree
"Where are you," asked Grust
"I am quite, where disguised here, I'll move a bit so you can see which one is me," said the voice.
Suddenly a root burst from the ground and then hovered a foot or so from Grust's chest. This three working eyes, stared at it opened wide.
"Your a tree then . All this time wondering and I've probably walked right passed you" joked Grust
I'll answer your questions. But first I will heal you. Just grasp my root, I will do the rest.
Grust did so. Grasping it with 3 hands at once. He felt warm spread through his whole body. The weakness left him, he was a good a new, better actually. The warm reached his eyes, he could see the full circle again. Some sort of glow as pulled out of his body and into it's root. It then flowed down the root and was gone.
"Go back a few paces," asked the tree
Grust did so.
Firstly the trees roots thickened and lengthened. Then the trunk got wider and tall. The major branches then reached out further. Lesser branch and leaves then grew to fill the gap. Once it was done the tree had reached from 40 to 60 feet tall. Its trunk was 8 feet wide. It was now one of the largest trees in forest.
"That was slightly more potent then I expected. No matter, I already was systems in place to prevent damage once I become truly enormous. Being huge will make somethings easier. Secrecy will be impossible, but things are dire enough to risk cultural contamination," observed the tree.
It then address Grust, "Do you think there are any other people in your village in need of help?" it asked.
"Yes, I saw them," Grust then paused "I just left them and ran, I didn't he check if I could help. I'm such a coward," denigrated Grust.
"There was nothing you could have done, nothing any of your species could have done. You as a species don't know what sort of horrors you've brought back. If you tried to say you would have died. But now you've found one of the few beings on the planet that can help not just your village, but your whole species, it fact the entire biosphere," reassured the tree.
"So I bring them here? I might be able to get a few over in time, assuming they can survive the journey," suggested Grust
"I'll help you" said the tree
It would
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