Img source: https://oni26.tudura.com/pict/e4/0310.jpg / https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/115305
Artist: Onineko
So yeah, this one turned out pretty dark. Funnily enough it was supposed to have a wholesome twist at some point. But when I got there in writing I realised I didn't have enough space left for it. But then when I was done I realised it wasn't nearly as long as I thought it was, but it just seemed longer due to the time skips.
Caption number 51.
Ashley slowly trudges through the woods, holding his wounded leg as he ignores the dull pain every step sends through his body. He keeps going for a long time, but the slow blood loss eventually begins to make him dizzy, so he sits down on a fallen tree to rest. After laying his hunting bow to the side, he winces slightly as he tightens his makeshift bandage.
As he rests, the pain fades, at an unusually fast pace. He is weary of falling asleep in his condition, but strangely, he is only feeling more awake as the pain lightens. Confused, he carefully takes the bandage off, to find the wound he had received to his shin before gone completely.
The wound being healed was certainly a good thing, but it was also unnerving. He quickly gets up and grabs his bow again. He takes one step away from the fallen tree, but as he tries to take another, he finds that his leg is stuck. "Huh?" As he looks back, he sees that the bark of the fallen tree is somehow growing around his calve.
He tries to pull harder, but it only hurts. He tries to pry at the wood growing around his leg, but that somehow hurts as well. "Ow! Let go, damn tree?!" Finally, he takes his knife, and tries to cut himself loose, but cutting into the wood hurt too much to continue, and cutting his own flesh... he couldn't find the resolve to do that. Thinking it through further, he would probably bleed to death if he had done that. However, it meant that he was out of options...
- Several hours later -
All Ashley could do was wait for help. The sun had set, and he could feel the air around him cooling down. He should be freezing, yet the cold didn't bother him at all. Though freaky, it wasn't a bad thing. If he could survive for a few days and nights, someone would surely find him eventually.
He reached down and pulled the leg of his pants up, to check on his leg again. The bark no longer seemed to be growing around his leg. It was fusing to it. "What the hell??" He looked at it more closely. It seemed like his skin around the bark was turning pale and soft. He bent forwards to take off his shoe, which was somewhat awkward with his lower leg being stuck to the tree. His shoe came off surprisingly easily though, but his foot was... bent out of shape almost completely. It was covered in more tree bark, and resembled a root more than a foot.
- Several days later -
No matter how much time passed, Ashley didn't seem to grow hungry. He tried to ignore the changes to his body, but they were undeniable. His lower leg was now pretty much fully engulfed by tree, and a small sapling had begun to grow behind him. He didn't know how it happened, but his other leg had now also gotten stuck to the tree. In most regards it looked as if he was turning into a tree, but if that was all, then some of the other changes seemed strange and unnecessary.
It was hard to tell as he didn't have many points of reference, but his body appeared to be shrinking, yet his pants were tight around his hips. The rest of his skin had also turned soft and pale, it looked almost feminine.
- Several more days later -
Animals passed him by a few times, and on a few days it rained. Other than that and his slowly changing body, nothing had happened ever since Ashley got stuck to the tree. "... I... I am still here..." His voice sounded strange, though he wasn't sure whether it was because it had changed, or because it was the first time he had heard a human voice in several days. The sapling behind him had grown into a small tree, and when he tried to touch it one day, his hand had gotten stuck. His shoulders and his waist had narrowed considerably, and there seemed to be a pair of bumps on his chest. He didn't care too much about what his body looked like by now though, as long as he could keep his remaining hand free.
- Several months later -
... Ashley realised that she was probably a girl by now... She realised it as her clothes finally wore out to the point where they fell off, and she saw her breasts for the first time. Without giving it any further thought, she tries to go back to sleep. As the tree had grown, more of her body had become encased in it, including her other hand. By this point all she could do anyway was look, maybe wiggle her body slightly, and of course, sleep, as she allowed herself to slowly sink deeper into the tree...
- Several years later -
Ashley lazily opens her eye... She rarely woke up nowadays, since not even stuff like trying to guess what order birds would fly away in would even entertain her any more. Something felt different this time though. Her eye slowly focused, until she saw a person right in front of her. She forced her mouth open, despite the bark covering it. "Ah...haaah..! y-yyou...." She leans forwards, causing the wood and moss covering her body to break and part away. It hurt a little, but not nearly as much as she thought it would. Her legs and right hand remain fused to the tree, but with her now once again free arm, she grabs the man and pulls him close. She begins to sob as the crushing sense of loneliness which she had been ignoring for all these years rushes back to her. "I... get I-I.. please... get me out of t.. these woods!"
She hopes with all her being that he would somehow get her loose from the tree and rescue her. Or that he would listen to her, talk to her, console her, or at least stay with her. But that isn't what most people do when a creature suddenly emerges from a tree and grabs them. No matter how weak and sad it looks.
The man quickly begins to struggle, and soon frees himself from Ashley's grasp. "No! S-stay..!" Despite her pleas, the first person Ashley had seen in years runs off, leaving her all alone once again...
