The earth… trembled.
It was as if the deep, ancient blood that ran through the veins of the world had paused for a heartbeat—and then started flowing again.The frozen ground beneath my feet split with a thin, delicate line—like the first crack on a frozen lake.But there was no water beneath this.
There was something alive.
The Sentinel.
Harper stood a few steps away, feeling the invisible vibration rising from the ice as if she could catch it with her palms. Air shimmered at her fingertips; the wind whipped her hair but never touched her face.An unruly element, struggling to learn the voice of its wielder.
Inside me, earth was swelling.Somewhere deep below, a heart was beating.
Thump.Thump.Thump.
Every beat pushed the ground higher, hotter, angrier.
And then—
The world opened.
Not slowly.Not gently.But as if something beneath had punched upward.
The ice sheet, the snow, even the first layer of earth—all of it burst into the air at once.A storm of snow exploding upward with all its glitter, all its cold, all its roar.
But it wasn't random.
This was awakening.
Harper's eyes widened."Jess… Jess, this—""I know."
Because I felt it too.The earth was breathing with me.
When the ground tore open into a vast pit, an ice-covered sarcophagus rose from within.For a heartbeat, time froze.The silence was heavier than the storm itself.
Carved on the coffin were symbols of a forgotten tongue: circles, chains…and at the center,
a green eye.
His eyes.
My chest tightened.
Harper stepped back, trying to control the air around her.The wind sharpened around her palms, swirling faster, clearer.Sometimes air was invisible—but not this time.
This time, it screamed.
"Jessica…" she whispered. "Something is coming—"
The storm erupted.
Shards of ice spiraled around the coffin, rising and twisting into something grotesque—something alive.Like the ice itself had been jolted awake and was roaring.
The lid of the sarcophagus cracked.
What went through me wasn't emotion—it was an alarm.Earth coiled around my feet like an angry beast.
"Get ready," I said to Harper, struggling to contain the power rising inside me."For what?""For everything."
Inside the coffin lay a body.
Pale, frozen… but not dead.
It took a breath.
I heard the ice melting.Or rather—I felt it.It burned through me like a hot blade.This wasn't a normal awakening.
This was a breaking of chains.
Harper screamed.Wind exploded outward, hurling ice shards in every direction, howling like a rabid creature.But it wasn't attacking the coffin out of obedience.
The wind itself was afraid of her.
I was pulled downward—not in body—in spirit.The earth knew me, and I knew it.
Power rose through my legs like heat, heavy and overpowering.My hands shook.When I opened my palms, my fingertips glowed the color of soil.
Harper stared at me."Jess, you're… glowing.""So are you."
A spiral ring of wind formed around her; thin as a blade, carving the snow at her feet.Vibrating like an engine revving before it launches.
Around me, the ground cracked and rose—small stones gathering beneath my feet, then scattering again.I wasn't doing it by choice.
We were both awakening.
But so was the coffin.
Suddenly the ice shattered.
The Sentinel's eyes opened—Her left eye frozen white; her right eye a blazing green.
Something tore inside me.
Harper staggered backward, but the wind refused to let her fall—it shoved her forward instead.
And I stepped forward without wanting to.The earth would not let me retreat.
The Sentinel breathed.The sound was a sharp, icy vibration.
Then she spoke—
Without moving her lips.The voice carved itself straight into my mind:
"Heirs. The chain is broken."
Harper's wind burst in a violent outward wave—a scream made of air.
At the same moment, the earth around me rose and wrapped my torso like a shell—a warm, dark cocoon.
Earth and air collided.
Literally collided.
As if the two elements were shouting at each other for the first time.Earth swelled.Air split.The sky trembled.
The Sentinel lifted her hand.A wave of ice crashed toward us.
Instinctively, I shouted:
"Harper, left—!"
She gathered the wind on her side.I raised the earth on mine.
Both struck the Sentinel's ice wave at the same instant.
And the world… exploded.
Ice shattered.Earth cracked.Air screamed.We were thrown backward by a violent force.
The wind hurled Harper into the air;the earth yanked me back and slammed me to the ground.My knees crushed into snow.My lungs burned—but the power inside me did not fade.
The Sentinel rose.Ice fell from her like broken armor.Ancient symbols glowed across her skin—the chains of prophecy.She clutched her left chest.
I recognized that pain.
His pain.
Harper collapsed beside me."Jess… we can't do this."
A lie.We could.
This was only the beginning.
Earth growled inside me: Rise.Wind whispered in Harper's ear: Breathe.
I rose.Harper rose.
This time, together.
The Sentinel lifted her hand toward the sky.Light gathered behind her like a pure white lightning strike.A mournful howl echoed from the ice-laced heavens.
And in that moment…
The earth spoke to me—not in words, but in pulse.Harper's wind danced like a ghost around her.
For the first time,we truly breathed as one.
I clenched my fists; the ground climbed my legs.Harper spread her arms; wind spiraled downward.
And we shouted:
"Enough!"
Earth lunged forward.Air slammed from above.They struck the Sentinel in a crisscrossed blast.
Ice shattered.The Sentinel collapsed.The sky dimmed.
Silence fell.
I was gasping for air.Harper dropped to her knees.
The Sentinel lifted her head…And for the first time, like a weary human—she looked at us.
The ice in her eyes melted.The green one glowed.
With a whisper-soft voice, she said:
"Your awakening… is complete."
The Sentinel's words hung in the misty air.And then—
The sky split open.
The first thing I heard was a crack—but a crack coming from the heavens.As if an invisible giant hand had torn the clouds apart, revealing the light inside them.
A pure white line opened the sky like a vertical wound.The air trembled.The earth trembled.I trembled.
Harper held her breath."Jess… this… this is the Sky Gate—"
Light poured down from the tear.Not like a cold waterfall;more like a calling…A calling that knew us.
The pulse of the earth suddenly quickened; a hot shiver climbed up from the soles of my feet.Harper's wind swirled toward me, as if trying to catch me.
The tear widened.The light shaped itself into a doorway.First the outline formed, then it filled in, then a deep, inner hum spread through the world.
The Sky Gate… was opening.
The ground beneath me pulled back.The wind shoved Harper forward.As if both elements had made a decision:
We had to go.
"Harper—hold on!" I yelled, but it was too late.
The light hit us like the breath of a titan.Our bodies stayed behind—or maybe only their weight did.Our souls lifted all at once.I felt a pull in my chest, like an invisible, unbreakable thread…And that thread yanked us straight into the gate.
Harper's voice echoed:"Jess—! Are we— going? Are we— not— go—ing?!"
Her voice shattered, dissolving in the light.
It wasn't the world that went dark;it was us.
The Sky Gate fully opened…
And our souls, along with our bodies, were pulled into a light from which there was no turning back.