Shortlisted
Olgoi-khorkhoi
Sha Tin Junior School, Yoki Chan, 10
Prelude
F
or millennia, though she’s a vast open land, Gobi is more likened to a fortress with
defences in forms of frigid sandstorms, parched lands and hostile mountains. Many have
tried to conquer this land, only few succeeded. Yet however strong these defences are,
legend goes that under the mountains of sand of Gobi hides an even more terrifying and
powerful protector in the name of the Olgoi-khorkhoi, so much so that it’s still feared by many
Mongolians today. But Gobi now faces an invader with more force than even her best defences.
Only time will tell if Gobi will survive.
Somewhere in the south of the Gobi Desert, at the height of summer, soaked in sweat and
bathed in sweltering sunlight, Dr Snow was lost. Being her first time in Gobi, she had to rely
on her electronics, especially the car’s GPS. The GPS, regrettably, broke. She didn’t know how it
broke, and worse, she didn’t know where she was. She tried retracing her route back to the town
she started, but little did she know that she was already way off course. Dr Snow was in Gobi as
a geologist working for a mining corporation tasked to produce a report for new mineral sites to
mine.
After hours of driving, she was desperate and disoriented. She was bewildered by the real
image of Gobi desert. Far from being a mere desert, Gobi was a quiet display of contradictions,
where searing deserts are flanked with snow capped mountains and grassy pastures. At the
height of her disorientation, she was suddenly met by an iridescent pool of liquid. Colorful plumes
swirled, swelled and spread over its entirety. Out of curiosity and wanting to rest, Dr Snow
stopped her car by the shimmering body of liquid, she exited her car and went to touch the water.
Her finger was coated by the lustrous water. Despite its beauty, being a geologist, she instantly
knew that it was polluted. Inspecting the pool, she saw on its far side pipes and tubes feeding
it with polluting waste. This might be one of the many ‘tailing pools’ used for the dumping of
chemical mining waste. Not wanting to inhale the fumes, she decided to leave.
As she stood up, she noticed a silhouette on the water. It looked like a tall column rising
behind her, gradually blocking the sun behind. It became dim as if she was under a shadow.
Fearing the worse, she turned around to look. As sudden as it appeared, the source of the
silhouette had all but vanished. Instead, there was a gaping hole in the ground. “Anyone there?”
Her voice trembled. It was silent, all she could hear was her racing heart beat. After a moment
of silence, the cavity started to collapse into itself. Disturbed, she started to move away from
the void. While walking away, she felt a slight rumbling in the ground underneath her. Not
wanting to provoke more fear in herself, she dismissed the sound as overactive imagination.
However, before she could gather herself, the sand shook violently. Something enormous was
moving underneath her. She began to wobble. Losing her balance, she fell and struggled on the
sandy ground. She soon regained her foothold, at which another abyss started to form. But this
hole had a spiral of dagger-like teeth. It started to rise and it became a column almost as tall as
Dr Snow. She could smell a stuffy scent of rotten flesh and blood. “This isn’t a hole or column,
it’s a creature!” She was dumbfounded at the realization. Without a moment’s notice, the beast
