Many years ago, during a shamanic ritual on the shores of the Serpent Sea, an ancient creature was accidentally awakened—either a predatory evil spirit or a dark goddess known as the Sleepless One. Since then she has wandered the lands of the North, calling evil spirits, subjugating people, and crushing their fates. Meanwhile, a young shaman-noida who has lost his fiancée because of her walks relentlessly in her footsteps: he was exiled and cursed. At first inexperienced and clumsy, he travels, learns, fights, and gradually gains fame as a dangerous sorcerer. Fate brings him together with twin brothers from Novgorod. Nezhata is a brave warrior, Velko is a singer and player of the gusli—and both have reasons to consider themselves children of the god Veles. The noida understands: the brothers are a tempting prize for his enemy, who has already begun to take them into her hands. In one of them awakens the power of a fire-breathing serpent; in the other, the Sleepless One grants power over the dead… Will the brothers become allies or foes of the sorcerer? Why are they so needed by the impure forces from the Serpent Sea? Only the one who understands the goals of the Sleepless One will be able to defeat her… The first book of a new fantasy series “Children of the Serpent” by talented St. Petersburg writer Anna Gurova, author of more than 30 books, including the cycle “Aratta,” created together with Maria Semyonova.