The Nibiru Effect

by G Sauvé

  “They’re rare,” says Kara.

  “How do you know?”

  “Who cares,” says Jonn. “I want to know what happened. Why did we pass out?”

  “Mosquitos don’t just suck your blood,” explains Kara. “They inject you with a venom that causes you to relive your worst memories.”

  I glance at Jonn, but he avoids my gaze, which tells me we relived each other’s memories. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m grateful as it allowed me to learn things about my friends I otherwise never would have known.

  I now understand how Kara’s mother died. I’m also acutely aware of how close Kara came to dying in that fire. I still have no idea why she’s so selfless, but I suspect Anna’s passing has something to do with it.

  The things I learned about Jonn are equally significant. Not only does his scarred arm now make sense, but I finally understand his obsession with that locket—it’s his only remaining link to his dead wife. Jonn’s desire to take down Avalon also makes sense, though I’m not sure why he would want to stop her when she’s trying to fix her mistake.

  No one speaks for a while, but my curiosity eventually gets the better of me.

  “Why didn’t you get stung?” I ask Kara.

  “I did,” she admits, “but the venom had no effect on me.”

  “Why not?”

  She shrugs.

  “I don’t know, but we’d all be dead by now had I not been immune.”

  “Dead?”

  Kara nods.

  “You were stung dozens of times. You had enough venom coursing through your respective veins to kill an adult T. rex.”

  I gulp.

  “You saved us?”

  She nods.

  “How?”

  “I had help. I managed to chase away the mosquitos before they drained your blood, but you wouldn’t wake up. Then the welts started appearing, and I knew I had to do something. I went for help. I was hoping the arkanes would aid us, but I never made it to Arkania.”

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “I ran into a friend.”

  “Who?”

  A black and orange blur erupts from a nearby shrub before she can answer. It speeds across the jungle floor and comes to a screeching halt less than a metre from me.

  “Korri! You’re alive.”

  The korrigan is so happy to see me he’s literally vibrating. It would be funny if I weren’t worried he’s going to explode. Luckily, the pent-up energy quickly evaporates, and Korri is soon back to his old self.

  “You’re awake,” he finally says. “I was worried.”

  “So was I. What happened to you?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I’d love to hear it.”

  “Hear what?” asks Jonn. “What’s he saying?”

  “He’s going to tell us what happened,” I explain.

  “There’s no time,” says the grey-haired soldier. He tries to stand, but he’s so weak he crumbles after only a few seconds. “Okay,” he admits. “Maybe a story wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

  Kara and I exchange an amused glance, but neither of us says a word.

  “After you left to infiltrate the king’s court,” begins Korri, “I realized how exposed I was, so I moved our captive to a more discrete location.” That explains why I didn’t see him. “After that, not much happened. Almost a full hour went by before I saw you being led out of the city at spearpoint. I knew I had to help, but I couldn’t leave the prisoner gagged and bound, so I undid his restraints. I was hoping he would eventually wake up and find his way back to the palace. Unfortunately, the arkane was only pretending to be unconscious. He attacked me and knocked me out.”

  Korri pauses long enough for me to translate.

  “When I came to there was no sign of you or our former prisoner. I searched the city, but, obviously, you weren’t there. I ventured beyond the city walls, but I still couldn’t find you. I was about to give up when I ran into Kara. She explained what happened and led me to you. By then, you were almost dead. We only barely managed to extract the venom.”

  “How did you do it?” I ask.

  “It’s kind of gross.”

  “Please. I want to know.”

  “Well,” says Korri, “let’s just say it involves leeches. Lots of leeches.”

  The stickiness of my skin suddenly makes sense. As does the slightly bruised circles I only now notice around every single one of the mosquito stings. I tell Jonn what Korri did for us, but I leave out the part about the leeches.

  “What now?” I ask once everyone has been brought up to speed.

  Jonn tries to stand but fails miserably.

  “I guess we’re spending the night here,” he says.

  “Speaking of setting up camp,” says Kara. “It’s starting to get dark.”

  She’s right. The sun has dipped behind the horizon, and night is almost upon us.

  “We should build a fire,” suggests Kara.

  “Not hot enough for you?” asks Jonn, wiping sweat from his forehead.

  “The smoke will keep the insects away,” she says. “Unless you want to risk getting stung by another mosquito during the night.”

  “Good point. I’ll get the wood.” He tries to stand, but his knees give out, and he crumbles.

  “I’ll go,” offers Korri once I explain we’re trying to build a fire. Moments later, he vanishes into the forest.

  “He’s a brave little guy, isn’t he?” says Kara.

  “He is,” I agree. “But I’m afraid he’ll get hurt. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to him.”

  “He should go home,” says Kara.

  I can’t believe it. I would expect such a callous comment from Jonn, but not from her.

  “For once we agree on something,” says Jonn. “We don’t need the korrigan.”

  Kara glares at her father.

  “That’s not what I meant. We must travel up the mountain and find the cure to the fire plague. That hasn’t changed. But now that Korri is here, we have an opportunity we didn’t before.”

  “We do?” asks Jonn.

  “Think about it. Korri can move faster than any of us. Plus, he knows all the shortcuts. He could travel back to the korrigan village and warn them not to drink the water while we travel up the mountain and find the cure.”

  “It’s a good plan,” admits Jonn.

  “It is,” I agree, “but it’s not up to us. It’s Korri’s decision.”

  “What’s my decision?” asks a voice behind me. I turn to find Korri standing with an armful of dried branches.

  I take a moment to explain the situation.

  “I won’t do it,” he says.

  “W-why not?”

  Korri sighs and takes a seat, dropping the branches into a neat pile.

  “There’s no point in returning to the village.”

  “Of course there is. The korri—”

  “They already know!”

  A heavy silence follows my friend’s words.

  “I-I don’t understand. Why would they continue drinking from the river if they know it’s infected?”

  Korri sighs.

  “Because they think Korrigana is punishing them for their lack of faith. They believe she will find a way to punish them, no matter what they do. So they keep drinking.”

  I can’t believe it. It makes no sense. Or does it?

  “Oh my god!” I gasp. “Is that why they only fed us fresh fruit juice?”

  Korri nods. His guilty expression tells me he knew all along.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “What difference would it have made? Nothing you could have said would have convinced them to alter their beliefs.”

  It’s hard to believe anyone would willingly drink from a known source of poison, but who am I to judge? People have done insane things in the name of religion for millions of years. Why would prehistoric humanoids be any different than their modern-day brethren? Avalon merely took adva
ntage of the korrigans’ faith to attain her goal, which if her actions are any indicator, is to exterminate every living thing in this time.

  “What’s going on?” asks Kara.

  I take a moment to explain everything Korri just told me. A heavy silence follows the revelation.

  “What does this mean?” wonders Kara.

  “Nothing,” says Jonn. “The plan remains the same. We travel up the mountain, locate Avalon and force her to give us the cure. Then, once we’ve done all we can for this time, we head back to our own times and hope Avalon’s actions haven’t irreversibly altered the timeline.”

  The plan is far from perfect, but it’s the best one we have. We eventually get a fire going, and after a surprisingly tasty meal, we settle in for the night. I’m exhausted, but the intensity of the day’s events is insufficient to quiet my troubled mind. I stare at the night sky through the branches, pondering the mystery that is Kara. Why didn’t the mosquito venom affect her like it did Jonn and me? Then again, it’s not like it’s a bad thing. Without her, Jonn and I would be dead. Still, it’s strange.

  It takes a while, but my troubled mind eventually grows quiet, and the exhaustion of the day catches up with me. Moments later, I’m sound asleep.

  Memory 60

  W e head off early the next morning. The smoke from the fire kept the bugs at bay, and the well-deserved rest allowed up to regain our strength. Even our welts have vanished, leaving behind only minute traces of our encounter with the mosquitos.

  Jonn leads the way, guiding us along the path that will take us to the summit of the Mountain of Fire. Not long after we depart, I hear what sounds like a massive dinosaur moving through the trees, but none of my companions hear it, so I chalk it up to my imagination and move on.

  We walk for nearly an hour before I begin to tire. I start to lag behind, though I make sure to keep the rest of the group in sight. Korri slows his pace to keep me company while Kara remains with Jonn.

  “Do you believe Korrigana is real?” I ask after a while. Given how he speaks of the korrigan goddess, I suspect he doesn’t believe she exists, but I have learned not to make assumptions based on impressions.

  “That depends on what you mean by ‘real.’ I believe the one my fellow korrigans call Korrigana is real, but I don’t think she’s a goddess.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t believe in such things. Do you?”

  “Not really, but if the past few weeks have taught me anything, it’s that anything is possible. I try to keep an open mind.”

  Korri nods and we progress in silence for a while before I ask another question.

  “Where are your parents? Why haven’t I met them?”

  Korri hesitates.

  “I’m not a forest korrigan,” he says after a while.

  “What do you mean? What are you?”

  “I’m a lava korrigan.”

  I look him up and down, and his peculiar appearance suddenly makes sense. The dark, almost black skin. The orange hair and eyes. The matching nails. Why didn’t I see it before?

  “Aren’t lava korrigans extinct?”

  “Most people assume that, but we’re still very much alive.” He looks around to make sure no one is following us. “Lava korrigans live inside the Mountain of Fire. They spend their days shoveling lava. Without them, the volcano would have erupted long ago.”

  “Shoveling lava? That doesn’t sound like fun.”

  “It’s not. That’s why I ran away when I was a kid.”

  Things are starting to make sense, but there’s still much I don’t understand.

  “What’s it like living inside a volcano?”

  “It’s hot,” says Korri, matter-of-factly. “But that’s okay. We lava korrigans can support high temperatures. It’s the cold we don’t like.”

  “Is that why you can’t change colour?”

  Korri shakes his head. “Lava korrigans don’t change colour. Only forest korrigans.”

  “Why?”

  “They are descendent from both lava korrigans and arkanes. That’s also why they’re so much taller than us.”

  It makes sense.

  “Can all lava korrigans move as fast as you?”

  Korri nods. We progress in silence for a while before I think of another question.

  “Why did you leave your home? I saw how the forest korrigans treat you. Why would you stay with them when you could live with your friends and family?”

  My friend’s shoulders sag.

  “I was banished.”

  “Why?” I ask, but we catch up to our companions before he can answer.

  Jonn and Kara stand by the oddest canyon I have ever seen. Shaped like a giant half-pipe, the stone slide leads deep into the valley that stretches before us. The slope is subtle, and the walls steep. They come to an abrupt halt twenty or so metres above us. In order to reach the peak of the mountain, we have no choice but to travel along this natural half-pipe.

  “What are we waiting for?” I ask, having now forgotten about my conversation with Korri.

  “I don’t like this,” grumbles Jonn. “It’s too exposed.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” says Kara.

  “We could go around,” offers the grey-haired soldier.

  “That would take too long,” says Korri once I tell him what Jonn said. Taking the lead, he enters the roofless tunnel and motions for us to follow.

  We progress in silence for nearly a full minute before Jonn insists on taking the lead. Korri doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he appears quite content hanging back while Jonn takes all the risk. We keep going for a while before the hulking soldier raises his hand in warning.

  I halt, mid-stride, and scan my surroundings.

  “I don’t see anything.”

  Jonn shushes me, and Kara points to the top of the half-pipe. There, balanced on the very edge of the stone wall, is a large black ball. It’s about two meters in diameter and glistens in the sunlight.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  Jonn shushes me again, but Kara ignores him.

  “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s not alone.” I follow her gaze and spot a second sphere. A third soon appears. Then a fourth. Before long, their numbers swell past quantification.

  “What are they?” I ask.

  “They’re bad news,” says Korri.

  “What does that mean?” I ask, but Korri doesn’t get a chance to answer. Acting as one, the spheres roll forward. One second they’re just hovering there, defying gravity, and the next they’re rolling toward us, gaining speed with each passing moment.

  Memory 61

  I stand there, frozen in disbelief, as the massive spheres speed toward us. Jonn and Kara stand by my side, equally petrified. We remain this way for a while before Korri snaps us out of our stupor.

  “Run!” he yells. Moments later, he’s nothing more than a blur, speeding along the slanted half-pipe. Jonn, Kara, and I hesitate for a moment before rushing in pursuit.

  We dart forward, desperately trying to stay ahead of the giant marbles. We succeed, but only for a few seconds. I dodge an incoming sphere and bump into Jonn. He snaps at me, but keeps running. I do the same, though it soon becomes clear I won’t be able to keep up.

  Kara is a born athlete. She dodges the balls as though she’s been doing it her entire life. Within seconds, she has pulled ahead. Jonn is less agile. He bounds forward, his massive muscles bouncing up and down as he does. He stays ahead of me by sheer force of will. I do my best to keep up, but I’m just about the least athletic teenager there ever was. I’m good at running away, but the actual act of running isn’t something my body is accustomed to. Within seconds, I have completely lost sight of my companions.

  All I can see are giant black masses speeding past me at incredible speeds. It doesn’t help that the half-pipe has grown more slanted. The spheres gain speed with each passing second, and running becomes increasingly difficult. It’s only a matter of time before—

  I do
n’t even have time to finish the thought. One second I’m running for my life, doing my best to avoid the incoming balls; the next my face is slamming into the stone surface. The wind is knocked from my lungs and tears fill my eyes. I ignore the spheres that surround me and focus on forcing air back into my lungs. It takes a while, but I manage to inhale. No sooner have I accomplished this than I notice a giant marble heading toward me.

  “Uh-oh!” is all I have time to say before something heavy slams into me. At first, I think I’ve been flattened by a sphere, but then I realize I’m back on my feet, running alongside Jonn.

  I’m surprised to be alive, but utterly stunned he risked his life to save me. And he isn’t alone. Kara is up ahead, beckoning us forward as she dodges the rolling balls.

  “Don’t stop,” she says as we bolt past her. For a brief moment I fear we will leave her behind, but then she’s running alongside us, smiling. I can tell we’re slowing her down, but she refuses to abandon us.

  We keep going. It takes a while, but we eventually master the art of sphere dodging. I have just accepted the fact that we may make it out of this ordeal alive when things take an unexpected turn for the worse. One second we’re running along the stone half-pipe, struggling to remain upright; the next the angle of descent gets so intense we lose our footing. Moments later, all three of us are tumbling uncontrollably. It’s only a matter of time before we’re hit.

  Memory 62

  T he world spins as I tumble down the steep slope of the half-pipe. I catch glimpses of blue sky and black spheres. The hard surface pulls away momentarily, only to slam back into me. It takes all the strength I have not to cry out in pain. But such bravery evaporates when something heavy crashes into me. The mass of muscles that is Jonn flattens me, trapping my battered and beaten frame between it and the hard surface of the half-pipe. While it puts an end to my uncontrolled tumble, it also turns my skin into a bruised mess of cuts and scrapes. I’m just about to lose consciousness when Jonn rolls away.

  “Thank god!” I mutter in a momentarily fit of gratitude. But I forget all about that when I see a black shape rush toward me. I roll to the side and only barely avoid getting flattened.