Ty slowly came back to awareness, but his awareness was strange. Where his feet should be, a series of sucking sensations from what felt to him like straws. Where his arms should have been many limbs stretched into the air, and he felt the sun on what he supposed was his skin.
*"Awaken, young dryad,"* The voice was male, and carried the weight of centuries of experience. He felt his consciousness shift, separating from the tree he had been connected with, and as he did so, he lost connection to both the limbs where his arms should be and the limbs where his feet should have been. He was just floating in the darkness, and he started to panic.
*"Calm yourself, young one. Your body is new, and separate from mine. You must separate fully, or you will be unable to truly live independently of me."*
Ty took a deep breath, though he couldn't see his body to see his chest rise and fall.
*"Now, to separate, just move forward and think about the light you could feel from me."*
Ty did so, thinking about the comfort the light had given him. And sure enough, he felt himself sliding forward, until his body disconnected from the wood it was merged with, and stepped out into the sun. Blinking with eyes he had never used before, Ty examined the forest around him, breathing in the new scents. He frowned, as his panting didn't sound quite right. It was much higher than it should have been.
He looked down, making a few startling revelations. First, his skin had taken on a bark-like texture, similar to the tree he had just exited. Second, he wore no clothing anywhere on his body, yet he felt completely comfortable with this nudity. What he was slightly less comfortable with, were the two breasts, slender frame and complete lack of a certain something on his lower half. He was not a he at all, but a she.
*"Well, of course you're a she,"* The voice that had been talking to Ty before said *"Have you ever heard of a male dryad?"*
"Druid?" Ty asked. It had been what she was trying to make before the light had pulled her into the game.
*"Are you deaf, girl? I said Dryad. A dryad connected to me, a tree."* The tree sighed *"You'll retain a mind link with me out to a certain range. You can't go much past that point, or you'll be unable to sustain yourself. If you take seeds with you, and plant them near you, you should be able to go further if you can grow them with your natural gifts."*
"What's your name? And what's mine?" Ty asked, thinking more and more that Ty did not fit her anymore
*"I do not bother with names,"* the tree said *"If you must call me something, call me Ash. As for you, I did not name you for the same reason. If you wish, you can choose a name, and I will call you by it."*
Ty thought for a moment as she sat down in the grass.