LYRA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE

By Amer Ali

The jungle was never silent, but tonight it felt as though the very breath of Viridia was being held. Thick mist rolled like a phantom tide across the ground, coiling around tree roots like searching fingers, and above, the moon was a blurred ghost behind the dense canopy. Lyra stood motionless in the shadow of a giant kapok tree, its ancient bark covered in moss and secrets, her green eyes narrowed as if trying to pierce something not of this world. The jungle, her ally and refuge, was uneasy. It whispered in a language that only she could half-understand, its murmurs fractured, its usual rhythms broken. For weeks, strange signs had stirred in the forest -- black feathers falling from trees that had no birds, streams that ran red for a day and then turned clear again, and animals abandoning their nests en masse without cause. Lyra had followed every trace with a hunter's instinct, but each time the clues led her deeper into uncharted territory, and each time, she found... nothing. Or at least, nothing that explained the weight pressing on her soul. Her fingers brushed the hilt of her obsidian blade as if expecting something to lunge from the shadows, but the jungle remained still, watching. Behind her, the remnants of her old base -- once a sacred place of strategy and safety -- now lay abandoned. She had moved her operations to higher ground after a strange sickness had swept through the glade, killing off even the most resilient vines. No predator had been seen near it since. Something unnatural had seeded itself there. And yet the jungle had not fought The jungle was never silent, but tonight it felt as though the very breath of Viridia was being held. Thick mist rolled like a phantom tide across the ground, coiling around tree roots like searching fingers, and above, the moon was a blurred ghost behind the dense canopy. Lyra stood motionless in the shadow of a giant kapok tree, its ancient bark covered in moss and secrets, her green eyes narrowed as if trying to pierce something not of this world. The jungle, her ally and refuge, was uneasy. It whispered in a language that only she could half-understand, its murmurs fractured, its usual rhythms broken. For weeks, strange signs had stirred in the forest -- black feathers falling from trees that had no birds, streams that ran red for a day and then turned clear again, and animals abandoning their nests en masse without cause. Lyra had followed every trace with a hunter's instinct, but each time the clues led her deeper into uncharted territory, and each time, she found... nothing. Or at least, nothing that explained the weight pressing on her soul. Her fingers brushed the hilt of her obsidian blade as if expecting something to lunge from the shadows, but the jungle remained still, watching. Behind her, the remnants of her old base -- once a sacred place of strategy and safety -- now lay abandoned. She had moved her operations to higher ground after a strange sickness had swept through the glade, killing off even the most resilient vines. No predator had been seen near it since. Something unnatural had seeded itself there. And yet the jungle had not fought

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F5PLL9Y9
• ISBN13: 9798280451254
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 169 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.0"