When it "woke up" the plant was quite confused. It had no memories beyond some vague genetic disposition for its kind. Normally seeds stored within fruits like the apple tree's would either stay inside until its weight dropped it from its parent. There it would either A: get picked up and eaten where it would eventually be excreted and therefore have a chance to grow with the fertile manure, B: rot away within its fleshy confines and consumed by insects, or C get carried by the wind and take its chances in the great outdoors.
However, its primitive memories didn't quite have anything similar to its current situation. This was no grassy hill, no sun basked field of grassy plains, and certainly not some soft topsoil it was planted in. No, although it had no eyes its root had carefully investigated its perch. This was some manner of beast, its body had long since cooled but the powerful vitality it once possessed was still clearly felt, slowly drifting away into the winds as if ice evaporating on a hot summer's day, and yet it was still plentiful enough for it to feed off of its nutrient. Yet, although it did not understand, there was a feeling of discontent within it. It had no concept of human emotions, so it had no words to describe the strange sensation.
In fact, it knew no words at all.
However, it needed none, for this was a drive that was etched deeply within its very being, the "root" of its existence. A tree needed more than just water and soil to thrive, and within this ever-present darkness, there was none to be had. It had grown incredibly tall, its growth was clearly abnormal as a wooden spear or pole rather than a tree as it lacked leaves and branches. Resources were sacres and it had none to waste when it knew not if it could ever even reach the sun.
Was it in a cave? Maybe it was just an overcast day? Fog? It did not feel anything covering it, so it must've been a problem with the environment. It pondered on what actions would best solve its current predicament. Days passed without its knowledge nor care. For now, there was no issue, for the corpse and its blood provided ample nutrient and energy for its growth, but as time passed and it grew, it could feel the bear's body shrinking every day and the Mana within it depleting. It was not an unlimited resource, so therefore the plant knew it had to solve the issue before then. But how?
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A week had passed, and the small tree had yet to make any breakthrough in its perplexing conundrum. It was now as thick as a man's waist and was over 30" tall, and yet still it had yet to felt even a single ray of sun. Perhaps it was impossible? Its root system had greatly expanded and all but the bones of the creature had been practically consumed already to fuel its rapid growth, however, that soon proved to be an unexpected disaster in the making.
How you may ask?
Because it had fallen over.
It was rooted within the bear, but as it was also consuming it every day and expanding upwards it neglected to find a stable ground to root it in place, it was basically eating the ground under itself. Like a particularly obese man, or perhaps a turtle that has fallen over, it had trouble getting up. It had to spread its roots and slowly reabsorb its trunk for quite a long time before it learned how to slowly use its roots as tendrils to pull itself back in a standing position.
Although oddly paradoxical, the feeling of soil was both familiar and strangely foreign territory for it. It was in the nature of trees to grow and accept the blessings of the earth, however ever since it was "born" it had never once made contact with it. It was moist and soft, quite unlike the dense muscles of the bear. Here, it had no need to use a pre-established cardiovascular system to find purchase, because the ground was incredibly soft and loose. It could easily dig its own pathways with its roots.
However, the dampness of the ground, the chill of the morning, and the uneven and sparse spread of minerals bothered it greatly. As if a scared child exploring the great outdoors without its mother for the first time, the now small tree was quite timid in its action. Standing at a modest height of 6 feet with its trunk now only 4 inches wide with the smallest bundle of leaves at its top. However, its roots were the only thing it did not regress on. Once being able to spread throughout the entirety of the Armored Bear, which boasted a girth not losing out even to an elephant, there were many rope-like tendrils of roots curled around the tree in concentric rings, slowly reaching in curious hesitation around its surroundings.
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Another month has passed, yet the light of day never came. Its formerly vibrant green leaves now held traces of a dull yellow, and its trunk had paled many shades, fragments of bark had chipped off here and there. Weak and brittle not only from the lack of light, but also of water and nutrients.
Whereas if the carcass of the bear could be considered a land of plenty, this patch of forest surrounded in greenery was desolate and full of danger. The young sapling did not comprehend the nature of its situation at first, in its naivety and excitement it tried to interact with everything. Most things didn't take kindly to that apparently. The surrounding weed greedily drained all the water nearby, leaving the poor tree to slowly wither away and make do with the morning dew. They hoarded the bits of minerals available, taking far more than their sizes require to grow. And the more they grew, the further their reaches, and the more they consumed. In an endless pattern. Even other fellow plants such as itself weren't off the menu of their hunger. It had lost much of its limbs these few weeks. At first, it had been overjoyed at the feeling of another root reaching for its own. Unaware of its sinister intentions.
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Was this a game? How does one play? Oh..? That's quite a tight grip, but that was ok, it found comfort in the motion, the intimacy.
However the reality of the situation quickly came crashing down upon it. The other plants weren't just pushing it away, no, they were strangling its roots and preventing it from getting any food. They weren't friends, but competitors. And that was all that mattered in this dark and dreary place, the next meal.
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How much time had passed..? It had no way to tell, and frankly, it was beyond caring. It had shrunk greatly, its leaves shriveled, but the tree no longer cared. There was no sun in this forsaken place, no hope of seeing the dawn. No, there was only darkness, dirt, and the slowly creeping hands of death from every direction.
It has been a tough time, form its modest height of 6' it was now currently half of that. Barely taller than any of the shrubs or wild grass sprouting nearby. Rather than an apple tree it now more closely resembled a sycamore tree. Well, a dying one anyways, which wasn't far off from the truth.
Bare of leaves, its bark was peeling off in large strips, even its trunk seemed to wilt with a hunch too it. The only green to be found upon it was a splattering of mold. parasytes leeching what little vitality the tree had left. Less than a year old and yet it felt a deeply set exhaustion within its roots. It had resigned to its fate and spends its remaining days observing this beautiful but cruel world.
Time passes slowly when you were a tree. Distances were measured in inches rather than the miles of other animals, and time in days and weeks.
It wasn't certain when something changed from its monotone cold war situation with the other plants, but its impact rippled across the grapevine. It was the first time the tree had seen something that wasn't a plant. Well, something alive anyways. It was a white bunny. An odd sight to be sure considering the lack of snow, but the tree lacked the understanding to question it. All it knew was that the creature was absolutely mesmerizing. The way the moved, unimpeded by the vicious grass. The way the trampled the cruel green mold underfoot without care. It was even eating the other plants.
A faint shiver passed through the tree's roots at the sight, however rather than the fear of the others it was excitement.
That freedom, that beauty, that strength. How it envied and longed for such to be its own. At that moment, something fundamental changed within the tree. It didn't belong here. If so, why didn't it just move? The answer was simple, it had been too afraid. What if the outside was even worse? It was scary and dark, and it didn't want to be alone, even considering the circumstances.
However, watching the small bunny, it understood. Life didn't have to be stationary. It wasn't stuck here, there was more out there. It had made up its mind, no matter what fate waited on the other side, it was going to leave this wretched place.
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The competition was harsh within the forest. Even after trying its hardest to leave everything else alone and leave, the others were determined to make it stay to feed off its husk. It felt as if every inch gained as at the expense of a pound of flesh. A dogged trench war with enemies on all sides. However, it eventually made it out from their grasp, and when every mistake could prove a fatal one, the tree quickly learned the trade so to speak. Soon, it was the one doing the bullying as it slowly bid its time and regained strength. It was not above eating the other plants if need be.
Its bark had never quite regained the rich brown it once was, but it was no longer an ashen grey. It even started to regrow some leaves. Just a few, but it gave it a sense of hope. It knew the morning would come, and it'll be ready when it does.
It was still an incredibly bare tree though.
However, even its own sorry appearence couldn't put it down. Why? Because it had discovered one of its kin! They didn't do much though. The little apple tree had quite literally run into it. If you could call crawling at half a mile per hour and then accidentally bumping its head into the other's trunk running into something.
It had sat there, simply basking in the joy of finding family for quite some time before it realized something was wrong. minutes, hours, days, it didn't matter how much the apple tree waited, how much it anticipated the possible companionship, there was never any response. It wasn't sure quite what to expect. It had never seen another tree before now. Surely, its own kind wouldn't mistreat it like the other plants? Those were molds, mushrooms, and shrubs, they weren't trees! Trees were definitely better and had more class than that, right?
However, the other tree wasn't like itself, which quickly because evident in how it simply did not move. As still as any other rock literally the area, or the bones of its first meal.
Even when it prodded the other with its roots or waved them at it, there was no reaction. Days, weeks, perhaps even months, the apple tree patiently waited. Was it asleep? Yet no matter how large its resolve, time eventually whittled even that away, and so it left in low spirits. Perhaps the other simply didn't like it..?
Was it because it was small? Could it be because it looked different? Ugly? Maybe it had to change its approach?
Over its tiring and long journey, it also met different types of lifeforms. Small things, even smaller than itself! the poor things only had 4 short and stubby roots, however, they would move around much like it! Just like the white bunny that inspired it so long ago. They made weird chittering noises, but that was fine. There were lots and lots of them all around wherever it went and many times they would play with it. Climbing onto its trunks of circling around in a strange dance. One, in particular, seemed especially fond of itself, a tiny grey one. It was the quickest climber when there were races on its trunks with the other creatures. These little ones often come, but so too do they quickly leave. Only this grey one had surprisingly stayed with it.
They seem to enjoy climbing and playing with its leaves, so although the tree did not like to waste what little resources it had, it felt no regret in growing some tiny branches with bundles of leaves at the top to serve as a small nest for its first friend.