(Woman to tree tf)

It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. Sophie was out in the state park taking full advantage of it. She loved this park for its natural scenery, it was the perfect place to go when she needed to get out of her house and think. She had another reason for being out today though. She had recently decided to start a vegetable garden in her backyard and she came out to test out something she hoped would help her with that project.

Sophie came from a family of mages, one of a network of families that kept magical knowledge as their closely guarded secret. While studying her family's tomes, she discovered a spell that would make plants healthier and increase their growth rate. Sophie figured the park was the perfect place to test it out as there was plenty of vegetation and plenty of space to avoid prying eyes. She bent down in front of some weeds and extended her hand. A faint green light shone from her palm and in seconds, every plant within a four foot radius began to flower. Beaming with satisfaction at this result, she decided to try a more focused application. She pointed her finger at an acorn on the ground and happily watched as it almost instantly germinated into a healthy oak sapling. Pleased with the results, Sophie decided to continue her nature walk, not noticing a fallen sign on the ground that read "Park Boundary - Private Property Beyond This Point."

Meanwhile, a young woman named Amber was out for a walk around her family's land. She was glad that her family had enough space to get a nice walk in without having to run into other people. She was somewhat shy and preferred to simply enjoy the outdoors without other people around. She had just exited the heavily wooded area of her family's property and began walking though what was, for the most part, an open field, save for the few large sugar maple trees that her family would extract sap from in late winter to early spring to make delicious syrup out of.

Sophie continued her walk, blissfully unaware that she was no longer inside the park. She extended her hand toward a small branch sticking out of the trunk of a nearby maple tree. The green light shone from her hand and the small branch began to elongate. It was then that Amber caught sight of Sophie.

"Hey! What are you doing here!?" Amber shouted at the trespasser.

Sophie was startled right out of her focus on the spell and turned toward the shouting voice. The green light on her hand suddenly turned bright orange and flew from her hand to strike Amber in the knees.

Amber opened her mouth to ask what that was but before she could open her mouth, her feet began sinking into the ground. Any attempts to pull them out proved futile. Her legs just kept sinking until she was buried up to her waist. Sophie could only watch with no idea what her startled reaction had caused.

Now that she had stopped sinking, Amber pushed hard against the ground in an attempt to pull out her buried legs. Suddenly, she felt the strangest sensation she had ever felt. Her feet began to grow and split apart. Within seconds they burst out of her socks and shoes and began to spread out in all directions. Soon the growing and dividing began to spread up her legs. Her ankles, her knees, her thighs, they all split apart and the dividing branches spread out in all directions, weaving their way throughout the soil and anchoring Amber more inescapably in place with each passing second. It was almost as if Amber's legs were becoming.....

"Roots?" Amber thought incredulously. As soon as that thought went through Amber's head, she noticed that her fingers were getting longer. She could only watch in stunned horror as her fingers grew to the length of golf clubs. As her fingers elongated, she lost any ability to bend them. They simply became long, stiff sticks. Finally, Amber's situation began to come into focus when green buds began to form on her extended fingers. These buds quickly grew into leaves that looked identical to the leaves of the maple trees spread throughout the field.

"Wha, wha..." Amber was unable to form a word due to her rapid, fearful breathing. Her legs were spreading underground like roots, her fingers were extending and growing leaves on them. "Am I......turning into a tree?" Amber asked herself.

She tried to tell herself that something like that cannot be possible, but it was impossible to reassure herself of that when her hands resembled maple tree branches. What was that orange light that had hit her. Who was this trespassing girl? Was she some kind of witch? Is there a way to undo whatever it was that she did?

Amber tried to demand answers, but was cut off by her arms suddenly shooting up above her head. She looked up and saw to her horror that more tree branches similar to the ones her fingers had become began to sprout all over out of her arms. As these branches spread out in all directions, her arms became stiff and immobile. It was no longer possible for Amber to lower her arms or move them at all from their outstretched position above her head. Her legs had become roots and her arms had become branches. She no longer had any movable limbs.

Before she could process this, she felt an odd itching sensation. She craned her neck and saw a hard, dark brown substance beginning to cover the parts of her body that she could see. Her skin was turning into bark! She tried to shake it off, but with no arms or legs it was futile. Her struggles were soon brought to an abrupt halt. She lost all ability to move as her muscles hardened into solid wood. All Amber could do now was look at the trespassing girl who had done this to her with that strange orange light. Amber was past the point of wanting answers, she simply wanted to beg for help, for mercy, for any scenario where she wasn't rooted in place. Alas, she was unable to say anything now that her lungs and vocal chords had become lost in a mass of wood along with everything else below her head.

Suddenly, Amber felt herself begin to grow. Her torso and neck grew taller and thicker, losing all human shape in the process. To Amber's horror, her head began to sink into what was now her trunk as it grew. Soon her neck was absorbed into the growing column of wood, then the back of her head. Once her ears sank into the tree trunk, the world went silent. Her mouth and nose disappeared beneath the expanding layer of bark. Finally, her eyes vanished and everything went dark.

The tree's trunk continued to grow after Amber's last human features vanished. Eventually Amber's clothes were torn apart by the large tree trunk that had grown inside them. The tattered remains of the tank-top, shorts, bra, and panties that Amber was wearing fell silently to the ground. A few minutes later, the tree's trunk stopped growing. Sophie was left staring in speechless shock at the tree that was now standing where the girl who had shouted at her had been. It was indistinguishable from the other maple trees around it and the only movement seen from it was its branches lightly swaying in the wind.

"Sophie, what are you doing out here? This isn't part of the park!" Sophie was pulled out of her horrified stupor by her friend Holly catching up to her.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Holly asked upon seeing Sophie's pale face. Sophie struggled to form words and ended up pointing frantically at the new tree.

"Okay, it's a tree..." Holly responded incredulously. "What about it?"

Sophie realized she would have to verbally explain what happened and managed to calm down enough to talk in between panicked breaths.

"So I was practicing that plant growth spell I told you about. Then this girl showed up and yelled at me and I freaked out and the spell turned orange and hit her and she sunk into the ground and started growing leaves and now she is that tree and I don't know what happened or what I'm going to do now and please tell me you know how to change her back because I have no idea what I did." Sophie blurted out the explanation, practically hyperventilating by the end of it.

"Holy shit." Holly sighed. "It's going to be damn near impossible to change her back if you don't even know what you did."

"But you'll help me reverse it right?" Sophie asked desperately.

"How am I supposed to help? I'm banned from using magic, remember?" Holly replied, pointing to the red marking on her right hand.

Sophie stood silently for a moment before speaking again. "Well, I guess we'll have to get help from our parents or the council to help her."

"NO!!" Holly shouted, causing Sophie to flinch. "Are you insane? Do you really want to tell the council that you turned someone into a tree?"

"If I have to in order to undo this." Sophie said.

"Like I said, there's no guarantee anyone will be able to undo it if you ended up casting something that isn't a known spell. You're better off just keeping this a secret."

"Unbelievable, you're saying we should just leave her here?" Sophie asked tearfully. "You deserve to not be able to use magic!"

"I'm trying to help YOU!" Holly shot back. "I know from experience that you don't want to end up dealing with the council! They'll treat you like a criminal and screw up everything you have going for you, and there's no guarantee that they'll even be able to do anything for her anyway!"

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Holly spoke again in a softer tone. "Look, all I'm saying is you shouldn't get yourself in trouble if it won't help. If you want to, you can research on your own what might have happened and how to reverse it. Our families have whole libraries of spellbooks. You'll have plenty of time too, it's not like she's going anywhere. Just don't panic and approach this with a level head is all I'm saying."

Sophie considered what Holly had said for a moment before replying. "Won't people notice she's missing?"

"In the end it won't matter if we figure out how to change her back." Holly replied. "And if we can't, well, no sense in us getting in trouble if it won't change her back."

"I guess that makes sense...." Sophie relented.

"Come on, you're not going to accomplish anything until you've calmed down. Let's get out of here before someone sees us." Holly said.

"Okay." Sophie replied too drained to argue anymore.

"Oh yeah, one more thing." Holly said before walking over and picking up the tattered remains of the former girl's clothes. "We shouldn't leave any evidence, we can burn these when we get somewhere safe."

Sophie just stood there with a thousand yard stare.

"Come on, try to calm down. Think of something else for a while. We're starting college in a few weeks. I hope whoever my roommate is isn't too annoying." With that Holly led Sophie back toward the park, leaving an ordinary looking maple tree standing behind them.

It was dark and silent. Amber figured she must have fully changed into a tree by now. She no longer felt herself growing. However, she could still fully feel the roots that had been her legs and the many branches that her arms had divided into. Feeling and thinking was all she was able to do though. She no longer had eyes to see or ears to hear and movement was impossible now that her body was just a rigid mass of wood. She wasn't sure how she was still thinking and feeling since a tree shouldn't have a brain or nerves, but she wasn't sure how a person could become a tree either.

So many questions were going through Amber's mind. Who was that girl? What was that orange light? Was it some kind of magic? Amber could hardly believe something was possible but the fact that she was now rooted to the ground was making her believe. What was that stranger planning to do with Amber now that the latter was an immobile plant? Amber wasn't sure what could possibly be gained by turning someone into a tree. Amber could only wonder what the strange girl's plan was now, and more importantly for Amber, if she ever planned on reversing it. Amber had no way of asking the stranger any of these questions and had no way of finding out for herself. Dread filled Amber's mind as she realized the unknown trespasser could leave her like this for good, and there would be absolutely nothing she could do about it. She didn't even know if the stranger was still there. With no sight, hearing, or movement, her world was reduced to the ground she was planted in.

With nothing else to do. Amber began to take in what it was like to be a tree. No matter how hard she tried, she could not move any part of her new body voluntarily. The only movement she could feel was that of her new branches slightly swaying in the breeze. She was shocked at how clearly she could feel every part of her new form from the smallest branch to the deepest root. Despite her worry about her predicament, Amber noticed a very pleasant sensation coming from her branches. Whatever this good sensation was, it was making her feel energetic, which was very strange to Amber. How could she feel energetic while she was a rigid, immobile tree? She also noticed an oddly satisfying feeling coming from her roots. Amber knew she should be terrified, but it was impossible to deny how good these sensations felt.

Amber could only stand there, rooted in place and unable to do anything except take in whatever the world around her allowed her to feel. She quickly lost all sense of how long it had been since she had gone from woman to tree. Since feeling was the only sense she still had, all she could do to keep herself occupied was try to piece together what it was she was feeling. The slight movement she felt was her branches swaying in the breeze, that one was fairly easy to figure out. After a while, Amber noticed the sensation in her roots felt like a thirst being quenched. This made sense, that was the purpose of roots for any plant. She was bewildered by how clearly she could feel her roots soak up any moisture in the soil. How strange it was, to be drinking water through what had been her legs. Thinking about how plants lived, Amber eventually figured out that the pleasurable sensation in her branches was sunlight. The leaves covering her branches were bathing in the sun's rays to nourish her new body. Despite not being able to move, she felt quite alive.

Amber's mind drifted into blankly enjoying the sunlight until the sensation began to grow faint. After an indeterminate amount of time, she no longer felt her leaves taking in any more energy from the sun. Amber was snapped back to reality. She panicked at first with no idea why her leaves had stopped soaking up the sunlight. She already was beginning to feel a strange kind of hunger without it. Why didn't she feel the sunlight anymore? What would happen to her without it? The absence of any sight or sound left her to frantically question what the absence of the most vivid sensation she experienced since transforming meant. Soon however, the rational part of her mind figured it out: night must've fallen.

Amber was relieved to have figured out why she wasn't feeling the sun anymore, but now had a new source of dread. She had been left as a tree until nightfall. Amber doubted that the girl was still around after what must've been hours, so she had simply been left as a tree. There was no guarantee that the mysterious stranger would come back to undo whatever it was that she did. Amber was simply stuck as a tree. She sadly pondered the implications of that. She might never see or hear anything again. She might never move or speak again. Her family and friends would likely never figure out what happened to her. She would just stand there, rooted in place and soaking up water and sunlight. She would only be able to perceive the world around her by what she could feel. This is what she had to look forward to for the rest of her life unless by some miracle the strange girl returned and reversed the transformation....if reversal was even possible.

Amber's situation just seemed more hopeless the more she thought about it. However, she was starting to get distracted from her worrying about her future by a drowsy feeling that was coming over her. Just like with the lively feeling the sunlight caused, Amber wondered how it was possible to feel tired as an inert plant. Sure, the sun is what would nourish her in this form but there wasn't much she could do with that energy, and there was no physical activity to be exhausted from. Amber tried to ponder this more but the drowsiness she felt slowly clouded her mind. She soon found it hard to form coherent thoughts as she drifted into what passed for sleep in her current form.

Amber remained in this stupor until she felt the energizing light of the sun return. Morning had arrived and Amber once again felt strangely lively. Another day of soaking up the sun had begun. Her roots somehow continued to find plenty of water in the soil as well. Despite her fear of remaining a tree permanently, she had to admit these sensations were among the most pleasant she had ever experienced.

From there, it continued just like that. Basking in the sun during the day and drifting off into the sleep-like state at night. This should have made it easy for Amber to keep track of how long it had been since she had been planted. However, she quickly lost track of how many days and nights it had been since they were all the same. Amber found it so hard to think. The terror of being trapped in place as a tree contrasting with how good it felt to absorb sunlight with her leaves and water with her roots left Amber in a dreamlike stupor most of the time. The only times she was snapped out of it was when she felt a new sensation. Amber had to figure out what it was purely through touch, but this was quite easy with nothing else to focus on.

She had felt squirrels climb up her trunk and throughout her branches. She had felt raindrops shower her as her roots eagerly drank up the water seeping into the soil. She had been scared by the feeling of her branches being whipped around on an extremely windy day, but her sturdy trunk held firm. She had felt woodpeckers peck her, this was the most unpleasant sensation so far and the closest thing she had felt to pain since becoming a tree. However, in the absence of any new stimuli, she simply let her mind go blank. Her leaves and roots did everything she needed automatically. Amber had to admit that there was a certain beauty to the simplicity of it.

That is how it was for a seemingly endless stretch of time. Eventually Amber noticed the energizing sensation of the sunlight diminishing. This caused her concern as she wondered if something was wrong with her, not knowing what it would be like when a tree gets sick. After focusing for a while, she noticed that her branches didn't seem to have as many leaves. Soon enough, she even felt some leaves fall right off her branches and that's when it clicked. Autumn had arrived and she was losing her leaves. That meant that it was sometime in October. For the first time since the first day she had been a tree, she had some idea how long it had been since her transformation. It had been early August when she was changed so it had to be close to two months.

Her mind was at its most active in weeks as she wondered what had happened in the world around her while she remained stuck in one place. Had her family and friends looked for her? Had anyone else encountered the girl with magical powers? If so, would they have been transformed as well? Soon her mind came to the question most pressing to her immediate situation: what would happen once she lost all her leaves?

The feeling of her leaves taking in sunlight had been what kept being a tree from being a complete nightmare. The thought of the coming winter scared her. It would mean months without being able to take in energy from the sun. She was barely awake during the nights when there was no sunlight, did that mean she would be unconscious through the whole winter? That seemed better than the alternative, having to be stuck motionless in the cold with no good feeling from the sun to distract her from her predicament. The ground will be frozen so she likely won't get much water through her roots either. She wished desperately that she could move or even see or hear. She just wanted something to distract her from the looming winter.

There was nothing she could do to stop it though. With each passing day more leaves fell off her branches. Amber felt less energetic with every leaf that was lost and it was taking her longer for her mind to become active again each morning. The weather seemed to become more windy as her branches were moving quite a bit. However, this was not always enough to keep her awake, plus it sped up the rate at which her leaves were falling off. Soon, her branches were completely bare. Amber couldn't believe it was possible for a tree to feel this tired. With no more energy from the sun, Amber's thoughts slowed to a crawl, until her mind went blank completely.

After that, existence was a sporadic blur. Amber was in a deep sleep-like state and unable to form coherent thoughts for more than a few seconds. She was occasionally jolted awake by something from the outside world acting upon her. Sometimes it was a strong gust of wind shaking her branches violently, perhaps during a blizzard. Other times it was an animal climbing her. In any case, she was never able to ponder what it was she was experiencing for very long before drifting back into her slumber.

Suddenly, Amber was jolted out of her sleep by a poking sensation. Something was piercing her bark. Amber was just about fully awake when she felt whatever was poking her begin to rotate. Something was drilling into her trunk! She wanted to swat it away, or at least yell at it to stop. Alas, her wooden body was as immovable as ever and she could do nothing as the unknown object drilled further into her trunk. It became painfully clear just how helpless Amber was as a tree. Anyone or anything could do what they wanted with her and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't escape, she couldn't fight back, she couldn't even protest. She couldn't even see what was going on around her or hear any danger coming. Today something was drilling into her trunk, tomorrow something might decide to break off her branches. There was nothing stopping someone from cutting her down. She had never felt more vulnerable.

As suddenly as it started, the drilling stopped. Amber felt the foreign object be pulled out of the small hole it made in her trunk. As soon as it was removed, Amber felt something else inserted in its place and with that nothing else happened. Amber was left wondering what it was that was stuck into her. Amber then noticed what felt like liquid flowing out of her trunk through the inserted object and that's when it hit her. She had become a sugar maple tree, the very kind of tree that her family would collect sap from in late winter to make syrup. She was now having sap harvested from her, no differently than any of the other sugar maple trees in the field.

Amber figured it was either her father or her brother that had just drilled and inserted a tap into her trunk. Amber felt hurt that they were doing this without her. They should be out looking for her. Then again, they would never find her, she was no different from any of the other maple trees. They had no way of figuring out what had actually happened. By now it had to be late February or early March if they were collecting sap. She had been missing for at least five months. She couldn't expect them to stop living because she was now a stationary plant. She slowly drifted back into her slumber, hoping they would at least be able to make some good syrup from her sap. It was all she could do for them now.

More time passed and before Amber knew it, buds began sprouting on her branches. These buds soon grew into full leaves, allowing Amber to once again be energized by the sun's rays. Spring had arrived and Amber was once again awake and feeling quite alive. She assumed this was the cycle she'd have to go through every year as long as she lives as a tree. She desperately wanted her life as a human back, but it was hard to feel too sad while the sun and the water and nutrients from the soil were keeping her nourished and healthy. It would probably get easier the longer she remained like this. After years and probably decades as a tree, this will all likely be quite normal to her and she wouldn't even think about it anymore. There wasn't anything she could do to change her situation, so really, there was no point in worrying about it.