Life of the forest

Vert crouched on a tree branch, looking out through the leaves at the fire burning in the distance, birds flying away in a mass panic, critters currying along the ground as quickly as their little legs could carry them. Black smoke billowed into the air, choking the oxygen out of the atmosphere. Vert glared at the destruction being rained upon his forest friends before turning away and running for it. He knew there was nothing that he could do to help. Nothing he could do on his own, anyway.

He leaped from tree to tree, swinging and moving fluidly among the branches, having learned from the monkeys how to traverse their landscape. Momentum was his driving force, and it carried him faster than he knew only his legs could. He needed to reach the center of the forest as quickly as possible if he wanted to get any help from the forest itself.

It was already standing up when Vert landed on the calling rock, immediately folding down respectfully before the massive beast of a creature. He was never quite sure what to call it - it was neither creature nor plant, mortal nor immortal. It was a thing constantly in flux, with plants blooming across it, and ever changing limbs made of roots and trees. Vert knew that it would have already sensed the fire in the distance. But he also knew that it would need to be convinced to do anything about it.

"Vert." The voice burst through the trees and the dirt and the rocks, converging in Vert's mind so that he could comprehend it. The first time he had heard this voice, it had been overwhelming, and had knocked him out for several days. But with time he had become attuned with it, and it no longer phased him to hear booming through his mind. "There is a fire to the south, yes? Is it the humans again?"

Vert nodded. "It is. They are burning through it again, suffocating the animals and destroying the earth. They are selfish. You can no longer sit idly by while-"

"Vert." The boom of the forest's voice cut him off in an instant. Vert stared down at the ground, trying not to glare. He was tired of seeing his friends die while the forest did nothing. "You are correct." Vert's head snapped up in surprise. "It is well past time I did something. Let's go."