Arctic Twilight

The Arctic is melting, revealing not just vast oil reserves, but a terrifying secret buried in the permafrost.  Dr. Anika Kaqłi, a brilliant Dena’ina Athabaskan glaciologist, witnesses her ancestral homeland fracturing with each passing day. Leading a small team of Indigenous scientists and activists, she unearths a prehistoric pathogen — Cryos — capable of flash-freezing entire ecosystems. A chilling solution to climate change, or a global catastrophe waiting to be unleashed?
Helios Corp, a ruthless energy conglomerate led by Katherine Watson, sees Cryos as a tool for profit and control. Their relentless pursuit of Anika’s team, spearheaded by the morally bankrupt Willie Martinez, transforms the frozen wilderness into a desperate battleground. Anika’s team must navigate not only corporate greed but also ancient Dena’ina prophecies that speak of a celestial serpent whose icy breath once plunged the world into an ice age. Could Cryos be more than a scientific anomaly? Could it be a force with a will of its own, tied to legends long dismissed as folklore?
Torn between saving their ancestral lands and preventing global ecological disaster, Anika and her team — seasoned hunter Kaius, wise elder Inuqiaq, and passionate biologist Silimaq — face impossible choices.  As Helios tightens its grip, their internal conflicts mirror the fractured landscape around them. Betrayal strikes from within when Inuqiaq’s granddaughter, Elara, a skilled programmer, secretly collaborates with Helios, lured by the promise of funding.  Meanwhile, Kaius’s son, Jaqłin, a promising young scientist, grapples with his loyalties, torn between his father's traditional ways and the allure of Helios's technological promises.
Their perilous journey leads them to a hidden cave, a place of ancient Dena’ina power, where cryptic symbols offer a glimmer of hope: a ritualistic method for neutralizing Cryos.  But with Helios closing in, Anika must make a choice. Risk a controlled release, potentially averting the worst of the climate crisis but inviting unforeseen consequences? Or watch their homeland succumb to corporate greed and ecological collapse?
In a climactic showdown amidst a raging blizzard, ancient wisdom clashes with modern technology. Elara confronts the consequences of her choices, Jaqłin rediscovers his roots, and Anika races against time to perform the ancient ritual. As the Arctic itself becomes an active participant in their struggle, Anika faces her destiny, holding the fate of her people, and perhaps the world, in her hands. The twilight of the Arctic may have arrived, but the fight for a new dawn has just begun.