*Why am I overthinking this?* Tenaro mentally lectured himself, scratching the back of his head as he groaned. He started trudging forward in a random direction, stomach growling as loud as ever and his shoulder burning with every step he took.

  He stepped out of the clearing, and looked back at the tiger's hide beside the extinguished pitiful campfire,

  *What a waste.*

  He turned and started pushing his way through the dense undergrowth, and tilted his head back. The clear, sharp stars glittering against the clear night sky, now free of clouds.

  Tenaro's gaze lingered, mesmerized by the cluster of stars stretching across the sky, until the canopy slowly thickened. The leaves pressed closer, opaque and dark, blotting out the constellations until the sky vanished completely. He still managed to see dark figures ahead of him, his eyes already adjusted to the dark.

  “Woah.” He muttered, eyes snapping down just in time to see a tree trunk looming ahead in his path. He sidestepped to the left, his shoulder brushing the wet bark, barely avoiding a smack to the nose.

  He strode on, glancing around, parting the curtain of emerald leaves and woody vines, hearing them “Crackle” and “Snap” as he pushed his way through.

  The trees grew taller, clustered tighter together, and his path became a little easier to navigate. Damp air blew around him, carrying the faint sweet, earthy scent of wet bark, Tenaro shuddering again from the cold wind.

  Crickets trilled in irregular patterns from the undergrowth, mixed with the soft, distant hoot of an owl.

  Mud squished underfoot, cold and yielding, clinging to his boots leaving footprint. Leaves stuck to the tops of his boots, brown soil peeking through the roots and grass.

  A large log blocked his path, moss growing all over it. He squinted his eyes and realized there was also fungi growing out of the bark, groups of mushrooms populating on the log.

  He walked over to a cluster of mushrooms, his swords clanging as he crouched. Their blue-grey caps with edges curved inwardly, their whitish short, stubby stems growing out of the wood, with ants crawling all over the mushrooms.

  *Oyster mushrooms.* Tenaro drooled, eyeing the mushrooms with hungry intent, his stomach growling so loud it might be trying to reach out itself. Without a second thought, he stretched out an arm and pulled on a handful of mushrooms, their thick, firm stems making him pull harder.

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  When he finally ripped off the handful of mushrooms, he shook off the ants and instantly shoved his entire palm into his mouth, some mushrooms falling off.

  He closed his eyes in satisfaction, the mild but salty taste of licorice flowing around his mouth, he ignored the metallic taste that came with it,

  *Worth it.*

  He chewed loud and messy, chunks of mushrooms falling from his mouth, but he felt his energy slowly return.

  ---

  He strutted through the undergrowth for a while, still shoving aside leaves that came in his way. “Huff, huff.” He panted, not from exhaustion, but from eating too fast. He finally remembered what it's like being full again, the corners of his mouth stretching. He felt air moving through his throat and escape his mouth as a burp.

  That log doesn't have mushrooms anymore.

  *Never knew mushrooms could taste that good.*

  A sharp, echoing shriek broke the silence. Monkeys. Howling, arguing and scolding each other.

  The sounds of diurnal animals.

  Tenaro paused, tilting his head toward the sounds, catching the first faint glows of sunrise seeping through the dense canopy and a lizard crawling on a leaf above.

  Vines, enormous leaves, and a tangle of undergrowth barred the way. He pushed through carefully, deliberately leaving his swords sheathed, letting his hands and forearms do the work.

  Crickets leapt sideways, tiny bugs scuttled across leaves and vines, and a brown snake visibly slithered under a bush. Tenaro's eyes flicked across them uneasily, determined not to let the bugs out of his sight, in case they tried to scare him.

  There are so many. He thought uncomfortably, shivering slightly as he brushed past crawling insects and crawling leaf shadows.

  Sunlight pooled ahead. He shoved through the last of the dense leaves and stopped so abruptly, his boots dug into soft soil.

  Breath caught in his chest, his eyes widening, a soft gasp slipping past his lips.

  "Wow."

  Below him stretched ruins. Old buildings covered in moss, small trees thrusting through roofs and walls.

  A band of monkeys tumbled across the roof of a small house, squealing and fighting over a bright, round yellow fruit.

  Massive, thick trees surrounded the ruins, while smaller saplings grew through cracks of some buildings. The sun rose slowly, casting golden light across the rooftops, wet leaves and tangled vines, illuminating every curve of stone and moss-covered walls. The wind blew harder, the leaves of the trees all around him rustling and moving with the breeze. He was too mesmerized to feel the cold biting his skin again.

  Tenaro's chest tightened, his shoulders shifted as he leaned forward, wincing as his left shoulder complained, the scratch marks now forming scabs. He wiped off the dirt in his wounds, trying to ignore the pain as he did so. He glanced up again.

  Every detail: the sheer height of the trees, the thickness of the trunks and the vines crawling along the walls of the buildings, spoke of age and abandonment.

  Clarity finally hit him.

  He was staring at the remnants of a civilization long forgotten, claimed by the jungle.