Night in the Amazon was never quiet—
but tonight, the jungle was holding its breath.
The moment Maya Rodriguez stepped out of her research tent, every instinct in her body sank into a cold dread. The air tasted metallic. The leaves above her vibrated. The river about twenty meters away shimmered with a faint green glow.
The same glow as the vial in her pocket.
The root sample pulsed once.
Hard enough to burn through her jacket.
Maya cursed, slapping a hand over it. "Not now. Please— not now."
But the jungle had already shifted.
Because someone else was here.
---
1. THE ATTACK
The first bullet tore through the tent behind her.
Then another.
And another.
Shadows rushed from the tree line — armed, silent, moving with precision Maya had only seen in government operatives. Her team screamed, scattering into the dark.
"Maya Rodriguez!" a voice barked.
"Drop the sample. Now!"
Project Vein.
They'd found her.
The glowing river splashed bright green against the night as she sprinted through the trees. Bullets shredded leaves around her. Every second, she felt the vial's pulse growing faster, syncing with her heartbeat.
Her feet slammed against the mud.
Her lungs burned.
The jungle closed in around her.
"Stop running!" someone shouted.
"You don't understand what you're carrying!"
She understood enough.
They wanted the root.
And they would kill her for it.
---
2. JUNGLE UNNATURAL
Maya ducked under a low branch. Then she realized—
the branch moved up for her.
Like it was letting her pass.
"What the—"
No time. She ran harder.
Something shot from the bushes — not a person, but an animal. A jaguar. But instead of attacking her… it stopped in front of her, eyes glowing faintly green.
Guiding.
Redirecting.
It growled, blocking her from running toward a direction where a trap had been laid — she could see the faint glint of a tripwire.
She whispered, stunned, "You're… protecting me?"
The jaguar didn't answer, but it looked back at her with the root's glow in its eyes before darting deeper into the jungle.
The roots were controlling the wildlife.
No—
The wildlife was responding to them.
A chorus of howler monkeys screamed overhead, forming a chaotic symphony that shook the canopy. The trees themselves bent slightly away from Maya, as if creating a narrow path for her escape.
She sprinted through it.
Behind her, operatives crashed into branches that refused to move.
Branches that tightened.
Screams erupted.
Something in the jungle didn't want them following.
---
3. THE RIVER LIGHTS UP
The river ahead burst into glowing brilliance — not subtle, not shimmery, but a full radiant bloom of unnatural bioluminescence, lighting the entire jungle like moonlight.
"What is happening…" Maya whispered.
The water churned, spiraling downward, as though something massive was shifting beneath it. The glow trailed up the riverbanks, crawling onto the trees, staining the leaves with flickering green veins.
The vial in Maya's pocket trembled violently.
She tore it out.
The fragment of root inside was no longer dormant.
It was waking up.
The operatives found her again, silhouettes illuminated by the glowing river.
"Maya! Drop it!"
"No!" she screamed, backing away.
"You have no idea what's inside that sample," one agent warned. "It's connected to an active global phenomenon. It is linked to individuals— including YOU."
Her skin prickled.
Every hair stood on end.
Because at that moment—
Her vision broke open.
She wasn't in the Amazon anymore.
---
4. THE GLOBAL VISION
The world vanished in a flash of white.
Maya saw five locations at once:
China — Jianyu holding the black book, symbols crawling across his arms.
Peru — Lena's spirals glowing like molten gold.
Siberia — Akio dragged underground by a living vine.
Antarctica — David staring at a colossal crack glowing beneath the ice.
The Amazon — the root in Maya's hands burning with life.
Then she saw the truth beneath everything:
One colossal root.
Stretching under oceans.
Connecting continents.
Breathing.
Alive.
A single organism spanning the planet.
It pulsed once, shaking her vision.
And she heard the voice.
The same one the others had heard.
A chorus of ancient tones vibrating through her skull:
"WITNESS.
YOU ARE GATHERED.
COME TO THE HEART."
Her breath caught. She fell to her knees, clutching her head as the vision dissolved into darkness.
When her awareness snapped back, she was still by the river.
But the operatives who had cornered her were staring at her in horrified confusion.
Because the vial in Maya's hand was glowing like a star.
And the root inside was moving.
---
5. THE ROOT AWAKENS
The vial cracked.
Maya gasped. "No— no no—"
The glass shattered.
The root slid out, dropping into her palm like a living serpent. It curled gently around her wrist, pulsing with warm light, binding itself to her skin like a bracelet.
Not hostile.
Not hurting her.
Choosing her.
The operatives panicked.
"Don't touch it!" one screamed. "It'll infect you—"
But they were too late.
The root fused with Maya's wrist, sinking into her skin with a soft glow.
Maya stood slowly, the jungle roaring behind her with awakened life.
She whispered, trembling:
"…We're not running anymore, are we?"
The root pulsed once —
No.
---
PART IV CLIFFHANGER:
The root in Maya's vial comes alive, fuses with her wrist, and chooses her — making her an active conduit of the awakening network.