After Lilly told me her tale, I felt rather bad for the girl. She had been through a lot the last few years and really needed a safe place. I just needed to decide whether or not I would be said place for her.


    “I am sorry, Lilly. You have dealt with much in your travels. But now that you’re here, you can relax as much as you want. You won’t need for anything, not as long as you are in my Domain.” I promised her. I didn’t even think before speaking, which isn’t like me at all. I was planning on inviting her to stay for a couple nights to rest, and think it over if I really wanted her to stay with me, but I guess that plan’s going out the window.


    “Thank you, Willow. I appreciate you,” she said from her seated position under my trunk. She quickly sat up though, as we both heard a series of howls coming from the south of us.


    I guess protecting her would be considered part of my guardian duties, now that I volunteered my protection. Think before you speak, dumbass!


    “You really are unlucky. First the Orcs, now the wolves. Climb quickly, as I know how fast a pack can really be.” I made a ladder out of my vines again for her to get up on me. She quickly climbed up to the lowest of my branches. I urged her further though, as I didn’t know how high these wolves could jump.


    “Do you see anything?” I asked her. I could only see inside my Domain, and the wolves sounded a bit far off.


    “Yes. There’s a large pack of at least a hundred coming our way,” Lilly called out to me. She didn’t have to yell though. I could hear her perfectly even if she were to whisper.


    “I see. Make yourself comfortable, as this might get pretty bloody. I’d rather not kill, but I will if they try to hurt you.”


    Lilly patted my trunk and adjusted herself so she was straddling my second highest branch and leaning against the one above it. She looked a lot more comfortable this way than the way she was sleeping last night. I’d have to remember this position for if I ever needed to rescue anyone again.


    It was odd, thinking of me being a sort of hero. But I knew I could never let a human or other intelligent species come to harm under my branches. Well, aside from minor pranks involving tripping over my vines.


    Sorry Club. It was just too funny.


    The wolves finally came into view of me. They were all running pretty fast, and it took them only a few seconds before they reached me from the edge of my view.


    The lead wolf was much larger than the rest. It stood at least 6 feet tall at the shoulder, and its fur was a much darker gray than the others. It had sharper claws, longer fangs, and looked more feral. Everything about it screamed “Boss Monster”, with the pack being a bunch of trash mobs to do crowd control. The way it snarled actually gave me an interesting idea as to how I could kill it though, if it came to that.


    The wolf boss stopped and sniffed at my trunk. A thought came to me, and I suddenly wished I was any other creature than the one I was right now. The large beast turned its body and as it lifted a leg, I reached out with Telepathy, practically shouting at the thing.


    “Don’t you dare pee on me!” I reached out with my closest vine and smacked it on the nose to get it to stop. “Bad dog!” I yelled mentally. Lilly was looking down on this with a mixture of humor and horror. I completely ignored her though.


    The Big Bad Wolf, Which I am going to start calling BBW, yelped with surprise and looked around for the offending attacker. I could feel pure animosity radiating from our connection. It hadn’t realized that I was connected yet, given its surprised snoot boopage. I called out to it again through our connection, this time with a lot more aggression in my tone. This seemed like a monster that respected strength, so that’s what I’ll show it.


    “You will NOT pee on me!” I commanded through the mental link.


    BBW looked around in confusion, obviously unaware that it was me, the tree, who was yelling at him.


    “Who’s there?!” BBW barked out. The audible portion was just a regular bark, but I felt the meaning behind it through the link.


    “It’s me, the tree. Do not pee on me, got it? I will smack your nose again if you try again!” I threatened him. I relayed everything going on through my link with Lilly. It was a bit of a mental strain to hold both links at once, but it was good training for the skill, at least.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    “What do you mean, tree? Trees don''t communicate, dumbass,” BBW barked his response. The rest of his pack was torn between staring at him and glancing at me.


    Okay, rude. No need for name calling.


    “If I can’t communicate, then how are we talking? Obviously, some trees can talk, yah damn furball.” I bopped his nose again with a vine, though this time I was a lot more gently this time.


    “QUIT TOUCHING MY NOSE!” BBW snarled. I felt a lot of aggression coming through our link. I sent the feeling back to him, only amplified about 5 times.


    BBW shook his head, and I felt a minor feeling of submission coming from him before his feelings of aggression returned with fervor. This time I felt a bit of a desire to dominate behind his emotions.


    At this point, I informed Lilly that I would be severing our link for a bit, at least until BBW either submitted or left us alone. She sent out feelings of worry, and I returned it with a wave of undeserved confidence. I had never done a mental battle before, but I felt I could do this. BBW and Lilly’s mind both seemed small, though Lilly’s was the slightly larger one of the two. My only mental struggle was when I was first learning how to control my vines with just mental power and when I first started having multiple threads of Telepathy going at the same time. I felt more confident than I should have though. Part of me knew I should be worried about this, but the rest of me was oozing with confidence.


    “Alright, BBW. If you want a mental battle, I’ll give you a battle worthy of the name,” I said, mostly to myself, though BBW also heard it. I felt his confidence waver at that.


    I bundled my mind up and battered at his using a ball of mental energy. I felt him strain his body and saw his back left leg give a bit. He stumbled but quickly recovered. In return he just sent a wave of hatred and other emotions. It was barely enough for me to notice over my concentration.


    When I first made contact with anyone, it felt like a soft noodle of mental energy bridging the gap between us. When I threw my mental energy at BBW, I felt a part of my mind actually leave my body. I was glad that I was only fighting mentally against a wolf, and not a trained mental expert, as I knew that would leave me extremely vulnerable if I were to ever try that again.


    As BBW threw wave after wave of emotions at me, I used it as practice to better prepare my defenses. This was actually the perfect opponent to train against, as he was eager but mentally weak. He also didn''t know how to throw mental energy around, though I only learned how to as a byproduct of getting the Telepathy skill.


    I slurped the ball of mental energy I threw at BBW back up and started gathering it again. This time I tried forming it into a sort of mental blade to pierce his feeble mental defenses. It was really just a relatively small bundle of raw emotions that he’s been throwing at me in waves. The rest of his pack was just staring at him during all of this. BBW appeared to be getting exhausted from the mental battle, and his pack was none the wiser as to what was going on.


    I formed my blade through pure effort of will and shoved it into BBW’s mental wall. It was interesting feeling it pierce through. It was also interesting seeing BBW take physical damage from my attack. His nose started bleeding and he yelped in pain when he was struck.


    Okay, maybe I should put more effort into training mental defenses and attacks. I’ll have to ask Lilly about that later on when this is done. The end appears to be approaching after that last attack of mine.


    BBW stumbled and fell on his face. He shook his head, and withdrew into himself. I felt a wave of defeat emanate from him before this, so I took this to mean he surrendered. I took the opportunity to give him his retreating orders.


    “I order you to leave. You and your pack may take the Orc corpse laying at my base, but you will take it with you and leave me be. You do not own me, I will not be marked or scented as your property. Take your meal and go. I do not wish to be defiled, nor do I wish to cause pain. You have provided me a valuable service by coming through here, but the next time I see one of your kind try to disrespect me by pissing on my body, I won’t be so generous.”


    After that, I disengaged my mind from BBW’s and left him to limp away. A couple of other wolves tried to come over to him, presumably to see what caused him pain, but BBW just snarled at them and they retreated.


    BBW took a few deep breaths, then let out a loud howl that was sure to reach the very back of his pack. He then trotted over to the Orc corpse, took two big bites, then left. The rest of the pack took a few bites each as they all ran by, but that was the conclusion of my contact with that pack. It was a fruitful endeavor. One I will remember and learn from.


    I reconnected with Lilly and briefly explained everything that went down. She seemed impressed at my feat, but there was a hint of confusion emanating from her. I asked her about it, but she brushed my comment off and asked to climb down.


    “I’m just surprised at how well that went, given it appears to have been your first mental battle. It has me curious about a couple things, is all.” Lilly said. Despite her calm demeanor, I could feel her thoughts going a mile a minute. I knew she had probably more than just a few questions to ask.


    “I see. And what are you curious about?” I asked her. I hoped she didn’t get too personal, but other than me being a reincarnator, I didn’t have much else to hide. Hell, I don’t even know if I should hide that anyways.


    “Be honest with me here. How long have you been on Vir?”


    “Are you asking my life story?”


    Lilly just nodded slowly.


    “Alright, then I guess it started like this. I woke up and everything was dark...”