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Jessica – First-Person NarrationPart I: The Awakening of the Mountains
The moment we crossed into the Altai borders, the air changed.It was as if the sky had noticed us—had been waiting for us for years—and suddenly grew heavier, deeper, darker.
Harper glanced at the part of me that was driving and curled her lips."Jess… this sky is something else. Russia's sky doesn't look like this. I studied painting, I know."
I smiled. "Harper, you paint the sky—you don't study meteorology."
"No, I'm serious," she said.And at that moment, I understood: she was serious.
The color of the sky…It wasn't blue anymore.It wasn't gray anymore either.
It looked as if blue and black had collided, and then someone had drawn a thin green line between them.It wasn't natural.Nothing was natural.
The ground… trembled differently beneath the wheels.My element.My home.It behaved like a pain in my stomach, like a hum sinking beneath my skin.
Harper cracked the window open as if listening to the air."The air… is swelling. Jess, this isn't a normal wind."
It wasn't.The wind was rhythmic.As if something was breathing.
Something… had awakened.
***
The first village we reached upon entering the Altai Republic was a place so remote, so cut off from the world, that its name barely appeared even on maps.Karakol.
And do you know what was strange?
No one reacted.
No one looked at our caravan.No one looked at us.Not even at Harper's curly hair—which drew attention even in Vladivostok.
It was as if…They already knew we were coming.
Women watched from their windows, but their faces showed no emotion.Men sat in front of their doors, eyeing us, yet their gazes were empty.As if we weren't "strangers from the outside world," but simply "part of the routine."
Harper whispered:"Why aren't they surprised at all? Is something wrong with my face? Is my hair messed up?"
"No," I said, my eyes locked on the single large building in the middle of the village. "It's about us."
Harper squinted at me."So… you think they know us?"
"No. But…"But what?I didn't know.Only the earth was telling me:
Something… knows you.
The village's so-called shaman—a woman in her sixties—stepped outside before we even knocked on the door.
As if she had heard us calling her.
I was about to speak, but she spoke first:
"You've arrived."
That was all.As if we were two long-expected packages.Ordinary.Unremarkable.
Harper leaned toward me, whispering:"Jess. Why does this woman look like she'd win auditions for a really good horror movie?"
The woman turned to Harper—speaking in her own language, but with perfect emphasis and clarity:
"Because you should be afraid, child."
Harper's face went pale.And inside me… something else moved.The earth—at that moment—spoke.Or rather… awakened.
The woman approached me.Her eyes were ice-blue; far too bright for someone her age.
"It felt familiar to you as well, didn't it?"
"What?" I asked.
"The voice of the earth."
Every hair on my body stood on end.Harper took a step back.
The woman beckoned us toward the village's only large building."We must talk. I know why you're here."
But something inside me was screaming at her:No… you don't know why we're here.You only know the surface of the story.You don't know the truth.
Still, we followed her.Because we had no other choice.In this corner of Siberia, there was no one else but us.
And somewhere inside me, a fearful whisper said:
This woman might be one of the first humans to ever touch the Gatekeeper.
***
When the woman led us inside, there was a massive table in the center of the room.Spread across it was a map of Altai—but not a modern one.It was drawn with ancient markings, like part of a ritual.
And in the middle of it…A sketch.
A tomb encased in ice.A body inside it.A woman.
The Siberian Ice Princess discovered in 1993.
The woman touched the sketch with her finger."We call her the Gatekeeper."
Harper pursed her lips."Gatekeeper… is she waiting for us?"
The woman shook her head."Not for you. She was waiting for the sky. For the unbinding of the chains. And those chains—humans broke them without realizing it."
Then her eyes turned to me.
"Because of you."
I took a deep breath."What does this have to do with me?"
"Hasn't the earth told you yet?"The woman smiled—not a cruel smile, but the smile of someone who knows far too much."The Gatekeeper's fate is tied to yours, child."
Harper threw her hands up."Hold on. Hold on. We leave New York, cross the ocean, come to Siberia, and—some ancient mummy has a destiny connection with Jessica? Jess, what did you do?!"
"All I did was be born!" I said.
The woman shook her head."No. You weren't born here. None of you were."
My heart sped up.Harper's face froze.
The woman pointed to the mountains on the map."The kurgan is breathing again. And you… came in answer to that breath."
Then her gaze lifted toward the sky."Because tonight, for the first time, the Absolute Light of Thuban will tremble."
***
When night fell, the silence of the village grew heavier.Harper was sleepless; I was even more sleepless.And the earth… did not sleep at all.
When I stepped outside, the air was freezing.There was no moon.No stars.
But deep within the sky, something was burning.Like a creature breathing.
Harper came beside me."Jess… there's electricity in the air. Like… multiplying. Is that a good thing?"
"No," I said. "It's not a good thing."
The moment the words left my mouth, the ground beneath my feet shifted.As if calling me.
I took a step.The vibration grew.Another step.A deeper hum.
Then…
The earth whispered my name.
"Je…ssi…ca…"
My knees almost gave out.Harper grabbed my arm.
"Jess?! What's happening?!"
I couldn't form a single word.
The earth whispered again.
"Ch…ai…ns…"
My breath caught.The ground was carving something into the underside of my consciousness.
An image.A tomb.Ice.A woman.And in the dark eye sockets of the Ice Princess—a shadow.
And the shadow… was looking at us.
Then:
"C o m e."
The moment I heard it, I fell to my knees.Harper screamed.
"Jessica!"
But as she tried to hold me, the wind shoved her back.Air—Harper's element—was starting to lose control.
The wind whipped our clothes like lashes.The earth cracked beneath my feet.
Harper shouted:"Jess—snap out of it!"
I couldn't answer.Because at that very moment, the sky tore open.
The Absolute Light of Thuban appeared for the first time.
Green.Blue.A violet mixed with darkness.
But it wasn't an aurora.Something… was opening its eye.
And that eye… was looking at us.
Even Harper went silent for a moment.
Then she whispered:"Jess… that's not an aurora. That's… something else."
"I know," I said.My voice was cold as ice.Because the inner voice of the earth was no longer whispering—it was screaming:
"The Gatekeeper is waking."