From the study, I could spot Lynn in the kitchen bending over slightly to get a cup from the lower shelf. Her belly was now slightly rounder. Not too noticeable if she was wearing a shirt, but a tight fit would reveal it..

My eyes looked back to my work, but for some reason I couldn't focus. Hell, I could barely even remember what my work was about, other than me trying to get a particular function to run. The contexts within the files were so nested that it took hours just to figure out where things were.

I groaned in frustration, getting up to do what I always did when I was stuck: Procrastinate. Walking over to her, I snaked my arm over her belly, losing myself in the familiar scent of her hair.

The damp smells of soil and grass filled my nose, which seemed to comfort me for some reason. It was a while before I wondered why she was taking so long to get a cup.

"Son, awake? Hungry?" said Lynn as she looked back, the sweet smile on her face as loving as I remembered.

"Huh..?" was all I could croak out in shock.

"Sun is up, son is up. Time for return!" cried Lynn. She began a familiar dance, throwing her feet in the air. I could see her bloated belly bounce up and down with every movement.

I woke up.

[https://i.ibb.co/9NqMSN8/goblin.png]

Orange light tinged the leaves of the tree I was climbing. It was still pretty early by the time we had awoken, which allowed us a good amount of time to return to our camp before the river became, as my father put it, the ‘Badlands’ again.

After receiving a pretty cold response from me with his morning rousing, the diminutive goblin awkwardly set out as usual, to find something to fill his belly. I wanted to get back to our hideout, but seeing as we weren’t exactly sure of our current position, the only way to find out was to get a better view.

Most of the trees didn’t grow very tall, choosing instead to spread out their many roots and branches wide. All except this one, which seemed to loom over the rest of them. It’s trunk had numerous strong vines that were excellent in getting me to the top. I was still halfway to the top when I noticed something.

With every fistful of vines that I grabbed, there was a slight change in what I perceived to be an aura of the tree. Surprise, fear and caution, every change sending the magics in my stomach to lurch violently.

I had fallen the first few times due to shock, but curiosity spurred me on. Grasping vine after vine, branch after branch, I endured the waves of emotion rolling over me.

Eventually reaching a height from which I could climb no further, I peered through the leaves and twigs in my way. From my vantage point, I could finally have a good look at where I was all this while. The river, with it’s possibly magical properties, flowed serenely from a nearby mountain.

Using the tree as a starting point, I made a rough map in my head of numerous locations of interest. The goblin cavern, the river, the mountain. I committed them all to memory as best as I could.

A vine snaked towards my head, caressing my goblin skin gently. I interpreted what I could from the cascade of emotions.

Curious. Fascinated. What. Is. It?

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I was slightly taken aback at the sudden gesture, though I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised. In a world of magic and goblins, of course the trees would move.

With a soft pat!I lightly tapped the branch I was seated on. I wasn't sure if the tree could understand but there wasn't anything to lose.

"Hello, tree friend. Am goblin. Good morning!" I hollered out in a cheerful tone.

Confusion radiated from the large tree when I said those words. It prodded at me with a vine.

Confused. Speaking? Why. Do. You. Not. Speak?

Scratching my head, I thought about how to fill this gap in communication. There wasn't much to do while Gro'Bur was still out so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get to know this sentient tree.

I tried to tap into the same magi-sense that had saved us earlier, but I could already feel it running on fumes. The cloud of uneasy energy within my stomach must have dissipated throughout the night. Still, there wasn't really anything to lose right now by using up the last dregs of magic available. It was uncomfortable anyway.

The attempt proved useful. Triggering an immediate response from the tree, it flooded me with foreign elation and expectation. Encouraged with my success, I attempted to utilize the same procedure again, this time with the tree itself.

And instantly regretted it.

"Helloooo!!” rang a shrill voice that caused my head to shake violently. ” You can hear me can't you? I don't know what you are but I know you can definitely hear me!"

With a yelp my hands let go of the branches in shock, the momentum sending me tumbling backwards off the tree. Vines snapped forth, wrapping themselves around my arms and legs and binding me tight. My heart was still beating rapidly in my chest as I sighed in relief. It didn’t take long though before I noticed that the way they moved around me was odd to say the least.

Various shades of green and red intertwined on my chest, and several shoots went creeping up my legs and past my loincloth. Something told me that I’d seen this scene before in my mind. In great desperation, I hurriedly invoked my magi-sense on the vines hoping to get myself out before the unimaginable occurred. Once the connection was established I heard the same childish voice speak, only this time in an extremely disturbing manner.

“How about here, huh? You like that? Gonna give up now and talk? It might be a little too late for that though.. I can go even further, y’know?” sneered the voice creepily.

“I’m.. I’m listening, Oh Viney one” I stammered out. The odd sensation of communicating through magi-sense was off-putting, but refreshing at the same time. Here it seemed that my linguistic abilities had reverted back to my earthy patterns.

The vines stopped abruptly, and it didn’t take magi-sense to feel the awkward moment.

“Ahhh..!! You can hear me..! That’s.. that’s good! Viney One is pleased.” replied the tree. The vines slowly pulled me back up onto the branch, before releasing their hold on my limbs. I massaged my painful legs while maintaining the connection, which I took to surprisingly easily.

“Yes, thank you great viney one for saving my life.” I placed my hands together and did my best goblin-bow. “Pray tell, how may this green one repay you?” Ignoring the fact that it was the reason for my fall in the first place, I wasn’t going to give up any potential allies in a world I knew nothing about.

“Eh? Pray.. what? Ahem, nevermind. First, reveal your name to me, green thing! I have seen many of your kind around, but never one that could talk. Why are you the first?” it asked curiously. “Plus I can feel something off about you. Something.. wrong.”

“I..don’t know viney one.”

“You don’t know?” came the reply.

Inwardly, I contemplated letting this tree know about my otherworldly self. So far it had been friendly enough, but I’d never talked to a tree before that talked back, so I wasn’t sure how it’d react. There was a first time for everything though, so rolled the dice I did.

“It’s true. My name is.. Or was Timothy. And I'm not really a goblin, or at least I wasn't before.” I let out wistfully.

“I was a human living at a place called Earth, which is far far away from here. I had..have a wife, who’s pregnant, and I’m not sure where she is right now. Something brought me here and turned me into..this.” I gestured to myself hard. "As for why I can talk to you.. your guess is as good as mine Oh Viney one. I just want to know what happened to me and how to get back."

The tree spirit was silent after I finished speaking. I could feel uncertainty and hesitation from its aura, which I could take as non-threatening at the very least. It was a couple of moments more before I heard it reply.

“That’s.. a little hard to believe Ti-mo, which for some reason makes me want to believe you all the more. You’re a green one, but also not, and I can see the misalignment in your soul."

Several vines stretched out around me, carrying me to the ground. From there one of them began drawing on the grainy soil in front of the tree.

"This is you." It began with a stick figure that resembled a human. "Or at least what should be you." The vine then proceeded to remove the drawing's arms and legs, before reattaching them in odd locations. It finished with erasing the head and replacing it with a goblin's.

"This is what's really happening to you right now, and I'm not too sure what caused it or why. All I can say is that someone with the strength to alter a soul to that extent would not reside on this plane. No mortal has or should have that power." replied the tree.

"Is there anyone who actually knows how I got here?" I implored, a hint of my frustrations leaking through.

"Oh, that I can help with." Said the tree casually. A vine of dark red stretched out, pointing high into the sky lazily.

"Just ask any of those Gods sitting up there."