Dread Mage

The little treant followed Sonder around, its tiny wooden legs pattering softly against the forest floor.

She didn’t mind it at all; in fact, she thought that it was very cute.

Despite its size, it moved quickly, darting around her to inspect insects and colorful flowers.

Sonder found herself laughing as it attempted to mimic the fluttering of a butterfly, its tiny branches moving furiously in a rhythm.

However, a sensation she hadn’t experienced in a long while suddenly overcame her: hunger.

Though she seldom felt hungry and usually ate lightly, now her stomach seemed to twist with emptiness.

She looked around.

Fruits lay scattered on the ground and hung from trees, and bushes were dotted with berries, but she didn’t take them.

It wouldn’t be right.

She turned her attention to the treant and crouched down as it ran about.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find something to eat, would you?” she asked.

The treant stopped and approached her, tilting upward as if to listen.

Sonder gestured to her mouth, “Something to eat. Do you understand?”

It tilted its form from side to side.

It didn’t seem to understand what she meant.

Sonder sighed softly.

The treant existed in a world completely different from hers. The idea of hunger likely didn’t resonate with it as it did with her.

She began to wonder what trees ate.

Rooted to the earth, without mouths or teeth, how did they feed themselves?

Her mother had once told her that flowers lived on sunlight; was it the same for trees?

She could only imagine.

Sonder pushed her thoughts about hunger aside for the moment. The little treant continued to observe her with what she imagined was curiosity, its tiny wooden legs tapping lightly against the ground as it shifted from side to side.

“I don’t think you can help me find food,” she said, a smile forming on her face as the treant so valiantly tried to understand what she wanted.

“We don’t eat the way you do,” spoke another voice.

The little treant scampered towards the source of the voice immediately.

When Sonder turned to see who had spoken, she wasn’t entirely surprised.

It was what she could only describe as an adult treant, albeit with a surprisingly human-like appearance, complete with a face.

“We feed while we sleep,” it explained. “We anchor ourselves to the earth and absorb moonlight and the water from the ground.”