KITZANA, DAUGHTER OF THE PANTHERS: QUEEN OF THE EMERALD HEART

LOGLINE: Raised by panthers and schooled by the jungle's wisdom, a naked human woman becomes the revered Queen of her wild domain, only for her heart to meet its match in a man willing to shed everything – even his clothes – to truly belong to her world.

FADE IN:

ACT I

EXT. JUNGLE FLOOR - DAY

SOUND of dripping water, insect chitter, the distant cry of a HOWLER MONKEY.

The air is thick, humid. Sunlight struggles through a dense, emerald CANOPY, dappling the undergrowth in shifting patterns of light and shadow. Everything is alive, breathing, watching.

A gnarled root, thick as a man's thigh, cradles a pathetic bundle of rags. From within, a faint, weak CRY. A HUMAN INFANT, no more than a few months old, skin flushed with fever. Abandoned.

Something moves in the periphery. A fluid darkness.

SHADOW, a magnificent male BLACK PANTHER, materializes from the foliage. His muscles ripple under a coat of polished jet. He sniffs the air, golden eyes fixed on the infant. A low, predatory GROWL rumbles in his chest.

He is joined by BLADE, a slightly smaller, sleeker female. Her gaze is just as intense. They circle the bundle, silent, twin specters of death. Shadow lowers his head, lips curling back to reveal terrifying canines.

The infant whimpers, a sound of pure vulnerability.

Blade shoves her head against Shadow’s flank, a sharp, commanding gesture. She lets out a soft, questioning CHUFF. She approaches the infant. Her maternal instinct, a bizarre, powerful anomaly, overrides her predatory nature. She nudges the rags with her nose, gently.

Shadow watches, confused but trusting. Blade looks at him, then back at the child. She licks the infant’s feverish brow with her rough tongue. The baby quiets, soothed by the strange, dangerous comfort.

Blade curls her powerful body around the infant’s cradle of roots. Shadow lies beside her, a formidable guardian.

The panthers have made their choice.

DISSOLVE TO:

MONTAGE

A symphony of wild education.

EXT. JUNGLE - DAY KITZANA, now a GIRL of 5, completely naked, crawls on all fours. Her movements mimic Blade’s perfectly. She pounces on a rustling leaf, her small face a mask of concentration. Blade watches, purring her approval.

EXT. JUNGLE CANOPY - DAY KITZANA, 10, scrambles up a giant kapok tree with the impossible agility of a monkey. A troop of LANGUR MONKEYS chatter around her. One tosses her a ripe mango. She catches it, bites into it with a wild grin, juice dripping down her chin.

EXT. WATERING HOLE - DUSK KITZANA, 15, sits cross-legged before an ancient ELEPHANT MATRIARCH. Her hand rests on the elephant’s wrinkled leg. Kitzana’s eyes are closed, her face serene. We hear the deep, subsonic RUMBLE of the elephants, a communication felt more than heard. She is learning their memory, their history.

EXT. RIVERBANK - DAY KITZANA, a young WOMAN of 18, lies utterly still on a sun-drenched rock. A few feet away, a massive PYTHON digests its meal. Her breathing is slow, her focus absolute. She is learning the patience of the serpent, the art of becoming part of the landscape.

EXT. CLIFF EDGE - DAY KITZANA, now in her early 20s, stands atop a precipice overlooking her kingdom. Her body is a testament to her upbringing – lean, powerful, scarred. She watches an EAGLE soar on the thermals, her eyes reading the wind, the clouds. She is the jungle’s daughter, fluent in all its dialects.

END MONTAGE

EXT. CRACKED RIVERBED - DAY

The jungle is suffering. The earth is parched and split. The vibrant green is tinged with brown. Animals, gaunt and desperate, gather around a muddy, shrinking puddle.

A pack of savage WILD DOGS, all mange and snarling teeth, burst from the brush. They are invaders, driven by hunger, their savagery a violation of the jungle's order. They snap and bite, scattering the smaller animals, claiming the last of the water for themselves.

The jungle is at war.

From the trees, Kitzana watches. Her face is grim. Blade and Shadow flank her, silent and tense.

Kitzana drops to the ground. She lets out a series of calls – a sharp primate cry, a low feline growl, a bird-like whistle. She is rallying her people.

EXT. HIDDEN CAVE ENTRANCE - DAY

Kitzana leads a procession of desperate animals – deer, tapirs, monkeys – to a fissure in a rock face, cloaked in vines. It’s a place from the elephants’ deep memory.

Using her human strength, she pulls aside a massive, fallen stone that blocks the entrance.

A rush of cool, damp air escapes.

Inside lies a subterranean river, a hidden artery of life, untouched by the drought. The animals rush forward, their grateful cries echoing in the cavern.

EXT. JUNGLE CLEARING - NIGHT

Kitzana stands at the edge of the clearing. She orchestrates her defense against the wild dogs.

It’s a masterpiece of strategy.

A line of ELEPHANTS forms a living wall, their trumpeting calls a terrifying deterrent.

From the canopy, MONKEYS hurl hard, unripe fruits, bombarding the dogs, creating chaos and confusion.

Blade and Shadow lead the other big cats in swift, phantom-like strikes – not to kill, but to harry, to wound, to break their morale. They appear and disappear like smoke.

Kitzana herself is the heart of the storm. A blur of feral grace, she moves through the conflict, her calls directing the flow of battle, a naked, savage queen leading her army.

The Wild Dog pack, broken and terrified by this unified, intelligent defense, finally turns and flees into the night, their yelps fading into the darkness.

Silence returns.

The animals of the jungle turn their eyes to Kitzana. The Elephants raise their trunks in a salute. The monkeys CHATTER her name. Shadow and Blade approach, rubbing against her legs, their purrs like rolling thunder.

In this moment, she is sanctified. She is Kitzana, Queen of the Emerald Heart.

FADE OUT.

ACT II

FADE IN:

EXT. JUNGLE - DAY

YEARS LATER.

The jungle is lush and balanced. Kitzana, now a woman in her late 20s, moves through it with serene authority. She arbitrates a dispute between two territorial birds with a series of soft clicks, then inspects a patch of medicinal herbs pointed out by a wise old orangutan.

She is content. She is complete.

SOUND of a sputtering engine, getting closer.

Kitzana looks up, her brow furrowed. It’s an unnatural noise.

The sputtering turns into a SCREAM of tearing metal, followed by a deafening CRUNCH and then… silence.

A new scent taints the air. Man. Metal. Fuel.

EXT. CRASH SITE - DAY

A small research plane is mangled, nose-first in the dense undergrowth.

JULIAN (30s), a handsome, sharp-featured naturalist, crawls from the wreckage. He’s bruised, bleeding from a gash on his forehead, his clothes torn. He clutches a leather-bound notebook and a shattered compass. He looks around, dazed, overwhelmed by the sheer, oppressive wildness.

JULIAN (to himself, breathless) Okay… okay, Julian. Assess. Survive.

He moves with a clumsy respect, trying to navigate the tangled roots. He is an observer, not a conqueror, but the jungle doesn't care.

EXT. RAVINE - DAY

Julian, weak from his injuries, misjudges a step on a moss-slicked log. He cries out as he tumbles down a steep, rocky ravine, landing hard at the bottom. His leg is bent at an unnatural angle. He grits his teeth, pain washing over him. He’s trapped.

High above, hidden in the leaves, Kitzana watches. This human is weak, vulnerable. Her first instinct is to leave him to his fate. But something else stirs within her – a strange pang of... empathy? A curiosity for this creature so like herself, yet so different.

She lets out a low, guttural call.

Down below, a troop of langur monkeys appears. They chatter at Julian, then begin dropping strong, thick vines down into the ravine.

Julian stares, bewildered. He sees Kitzana for the first time, a silhouette against the sun at the ravine’s edge. She is a myth made flesh. Wild, powerful, naked, and radiating an aura of absolute command.

He hesitantly grabs a vine. With the monkeys’ help, and Kitzana’s silent, watchful guidance, he manages to pull himself out. He collapses at the top, looking up at her in awe.

JULIAN (panting) Thank you… Who… what are you?

Kitzana just stares, her eyes a deep, unreadable green.

EXT. KITZANA'S DEN - WEEKS LATER

Kitzana’s “den” is a wide, sheltered overhang beneath the roots of a colossal Banyan tree, overlooking a waterfall.

Julian’s leg is splinted with branches and vines. Kitzana has been tending to him, using poultices of crushed leaves taught to her by the elephants.

He’s been trying to communicate. He points to himself.

JULIAN Ju-li-an.

He points to her.

Kitzana watches his mouth. She mimics the sound, her voice a rough, melodic approximation.

KITZANA Joo-lee-un.

She points to herself.

KITZANA Kitzana.

He smiles, a genuine, warm smile. He opens his notebook, sketching the plants she uses, the animals that visit them without fear. He is documenting her world, and in doing so, he is falling for its queen.

He watches her mediate a squabble between two capybaras. He sees her converse with Blade and Shadow, who tolerate his presence only because she does. He no longer sees a naked woman; he sees an extension of the jungle itself, pure and perfect.

She, in turn, is fascinated by him. His gentleness. The way he uses delicate charcoal sticks to capture the world on paper. She feels a connection she has never known, a pull towards her own species that is both exhilarating and terrifying.

One evening, as fireflies dance in the twilight, he reaches out, hesitantly, and touches a scar on her arm. She doesn't flinch. She covers his hand with her own. Their eyes meet. The space between them crackles with a silent, profound understanding.

They are in love.

FADE OUT.

ACT III

FADE IN:

EXT. JUNGLE - DAY

The idyllic peace is shattered.

SOUND of a CHAINSAW, a vicious, mechanical snarl that rips through the natural harmony. It’s followed by another, and another.

Kitzana and Julian race to a ridge. Below, a horrifying sight. A huge swath of the jungle is being clear-cut. Armored bulldozers push over ancient trees. LOGGERS, grim-faced men with heavy machinery, are tearing the Emerald Heart apart.

This is not a threat to be reasoned with. This is an annihilation.

Kitzana lets out a cry of pure rage and grief. It’s a sound that is both human and animal, a declaration of war.

EXT. JUNGLE - BATTLE MONTAGE - DAY

Kitzana, with Julian at her side, unleashes the jungle’s fury.

A bulldozer grinds to a halt. A troop of MONKEYS swarm it, pulling wires, stealing keys, and pouring sticky sap into the engine block.

The LOGGERS are suddenly ambushed. Not by a visible enemy, but by the jungle itself. Swarms of WASPS, disturbed from their nests (expertly aimed by monkeys), descend upon them.

A massive ELEPHANT, guided by Kitzana’s calls, emerges from the trees and shoves a felled log, creating an impassable barricade on the logging road.

Julian, using his knowledge, points out a large fuel depot to Kitzana.

JULIAN There! Puncture the barrels! Without fuel, they’re useless!

Blade and Shadow, moving like lightning, dart in. They slash at the thick rubber hoses connecting the barrels, their claws tearing through them. Fuel gushes onto the forest floor. The loggers are crippled.

Kitzana leads the final charge. She is a terrifying whirlwind of motion, appearing on a bulldozer to distract the driver, then vanishing, her war cry echoing from all directions at once. The loggers, unnerved and outmaneuvered by an enemy they cannot fight, begin to panic.
EXT. LOGGING CAMP - CLIMAX - DAY

The HEAD LOGGER, a grizzled, furious man, makes a last stand. He revs his chainsaw, advancing on Kitzana.

HEAD LOGGER You freak of nature! I’ll carve you up myself!

Julian, no longer an observer, tackles the Head Logger from the side. They crash to the ground. The chainsaw sputters and dies.

Julian looks up at Kitzana, his face smeared with dirt and determination. He has made his choice. He is a defender of this world.

The other loggers, seeing their leader down and their equipment sabotaged, lose their nerve. They drop their tools and run, scrambling back to their trucks, fleeing the wrath of the green hell they have awakened.

EXT. JUNGLE CLEARING - DUSK

The sounds of machinery are gone. The jungle slowly begins to heal, its quiet rhythms returning.

Julian stands before Kitzana. The battle is over. He looks at his torn shirt, his muddy trousers, his scuffed boots. They feel alien, like the costume of a man he no longer is.

He looks at Kitzana. She stands proud, her skin glowing in the fading light, unadorned, a perfect embodiment of the world around them. She is truth.

With a deep, cleansing breath, Julian makes his ultimate surrender.

Slowly, deliberately, he unlaces his boots and pulls them off. He peels away his socks. He unbuttons his shirt, letting it fall to the damp earth. Finally, he unbuckles his belt and steps out of his trousers.

He stands before her, completely naked. Completely vulnerable. Completely reborn. The chill on his skin is not from the air, but from the shedding of a lifetime.

JULIAN (whispering, his voice full of emotion) I give everything. My old life, my old self. I am yours, Kitzana. I belong here. With you. Forever.

Kitzana watches him, her green eyes softening. A slow, radiant smile spreads across her face – a primal, beautiful smile that reaches deep into her soul.

She steps forward and takes his hand, her strong, calloused fingers lacing with his. His skin, pale and new against hers.

They stand together, two humans, stripped of everything but their love and their new-found belonging. They are surrounded by the silent, watchful eyes of their family – the panthers, the monkeys, the distant shape of an elephant in the trees.

They are the new Adam and Eve, not at the dawn of creation, but at the heart of it. The Queen and her King, protectors of the Emerald Heart.

FADE OUT.