The tree line swallowed Nero whole...
The temperature plummeted instantly...
The change was immediate and severe, at least twenty degrees colder than the killing ground behind him. His breath misted in front of his face as he pushed deeper into the canopy, the grey twilight filtering through the large, dark leaves.
Past the first line of treasure, the air grew thick with moisture that clung to his skin like clawing fingers.
The trees here were different. Instead of the massive trunks he remembered from the northern approaches and the swampy Southern Bogs, these were thinner but far more numerous, packed together in clusters that created maze-like passages through the undergrowth. Their bark was darker, almost black in the fading light, covered in fungi that glowed with bioluminescent blues, greens, pink, and yellows, creating a rather beautiful ethereal picture.
Nero moved quickly but carefully, barely denting the dirt ground beneath his feet.
