1 The Explorer

The small figure rustled through the bushes, moving their bare feet over the orange, cracked tiles.

The cover of the tree canopy hid the ruins, the tall pillars and arches eroded by time are a reminder of the great civilization that once stood in its place.

Rays of light penetrated the leaves illuminating the figure, He was short, about

a meter.

He wore a hood, it was grey, a leaf skirt covering short brown trousers, he wore braces on his arm, consisting of tree bark tied with vines and more bark guards on his ankles.

"Right, that's the east part searched!" the child said cheerfully, marking the area on what looked like hiding, in charcoal.

The child reached into his backpack which was also made from hiding, to put away the map and coal.

The figure looked towards the south side of the ruins.

"Let's have a look around the south!" the boy said, making his way to the south, that side was built lower and was flooded, its depths forever guarded by centuries-old green water.

The boy walked down the steps and hopped into the large lily pads littering the surface of the water. Jumping from one sunlit lily pad to the other, disturbing the fireflies living in the tall grasses.

The path of lily pads let the boy to what looked like a window which was just barely holding back the water, if there was once glass then, then nothing remained of it.

"I should hurry up before it starts raining." the boy thought to himself, before stepping inside of the room. The floor was carpeted with leafy vines that crept out the window and down a stairway most likely downstairs.

The boy reached into his bag and pulled out what looked like a firefly in a jar, he placed it on the floor illuminating the room with a warm yellow light.

The boy looked around the room noticing a cracked table, stool and what would have once been a shelf.

The boy ran up to the table, feeling around it and grabbing a hold of the little dusty item on the desk. Upon closer inspection the item was a bright blue gem, more specifically a necklace, without hesitation the boy hung it on his neck, looking at his reflection in the water.

"Quite the find!" the boy said looking at the gem against the light, it looked roughly cut, and significantly darker on the inside than on the outside.

The boy moved back into the room and continued down the stairs, there were a few centimetres of water on the floor, but it looks like the moss absorbed it.

The boy walked back for his lamp and went into the wet room.

towards the edge of the room was what looked like a statue. it was made from a darker tone than the rest of the city.

It had a large torso, with two arms, getting thicker until they reach the palm which had three fingers, so did the legs except they had no fingers, but rather a flat surface.

As the boy moved his hand to feel the statue it's eyes lit up.