Vision of a Cure

I slept above ground during my visit to Terrian. The humans who lived there thought I was seeking a death wish for doing so. I was a child of only twelve years and wondered why these desperate humans, our neighbors, had faith only in hiding from that which killed them: an acquired immune disease.

From the year of my birth until this point in time, this disease had killed over half of the planet's population. The virus had mutated and was spread through mosquitos. Once bitten and infected, they only lived, at most, for two weeks. People lived below ground, and there was still hope that some day their God would send someone to rid them of this plague.

As I slept that night on a pew in one of their abandoned church buildings, I had a dream that would forever change the course of this world. I saw my world, Armava, with the beautiful fire in the sky from sunstorms. There were humans struggling to survive. They warred against one another and their flesh was marred with scars and new sores brought on by plagues. The setting changed. It was now Terrian that I saw, and some familiar faces I had seen below ground. They were struggling with this plague. Then a voice echoed in my ear. "It is not time for these people to be judged yet. Satan has tried to steal them from me, so they cannot fight for me."

"Lord, dear YAHveh, help me understand." I mumbled. Just then, I felt a pinch on my arm. I opened my eyes and saw the mosquito lying dead on the pew in front of me. Half of its body was eaten away from the acid in my blood.

I took a deep breath and sat up. I thought back on the dream. The history of my people, coming out of the human race during the end of times on Armava. We are immune to many of their diseases. Could it be that these humans share the same blood with those of Armava? Could they be dying of something I am immune to? I bowed my head. "My blood, is that the answer, Lord?" I felt a surge of energy pour out of every pore of my body. I opened my eyes wide. Could a child stay a plague through vision?

I took the dead mosquito in my hand and ran out of the church into the dark night. I hurried into a rocky cavern and went below ground, where I knew someone would listen to even a child. I entered a room where a man with sagging skin on his bones knelt to pray over two young twin girls lying near a makeshift altar. A small wooden cross leaned against the wall, a curious sight I have yet to understand.

He looked up, his bulging blue eyes scanning my face, then looking at my open hand which held the dead mosquito. He smiled through the tears running down his face. "He sent you. YAHveh sent you. Tell me it is true. You had a dream, did you not? I had a dream of a stranger curing us from this wretched plague. You do not look like us. Tell me who you are."

"My name is Sylvia and I am your neighbor. I am from the planet Armava. I had a dream. I think I know how this plague could be stayed, but I will need some help."

"These girls are my daughters. They are sick like I am. My wife is well and she provides for us. My girls won't be alive for much longer, perhaps they will be gone tonight. My prayers shall keep them alive as long as you need. My name is Lot, and I am at your service. I have a lab, but it is above ground and needs a lot of reconstruction. I will help you as much as this body will allow me. A vision came to me saying a child would be our hope."

I smiled. "I will save the lives of these two girls and all that God would allow me to. I have an idea that will work, but I will need to see how I can implement it. My blood is different than yours, and it may be the answer to stop the plague. I must find a way to dilute it and I must find a catalyst that simulates the virus, one that is not too weak for my blood to recognize." I paused for a moment in thought. Lizards that changed color rapidly with the surrounding environment ran rampant through my mind. "On Armava there is a reptile's venom that should do the trick. I know it gets my blood pumping. It also caused a rapid breakdown of the immune system in the humans who lived on Armava, or so I have read."

"What are you waiting for, let's get to work," Lot said. "No one else should needlessly die from this disease. God bless you, child." He took my hand in his and brought it up to his dry, chapped lips to kiss it.