Her Immortal Love (Brides of the Vrakken #2)

2. Alina

2

ALINA

I jolt awake, my head throbbing and my vision blurry. The ground beneath me feels... wrong. It's not the soft sand of the Greek beach I remember. It's rough, scratching against my skin.

"What the..." I blink rapidly, trying to clear my vision. As the world comes into focus, my breath catches in my throat. This isn't Greece. This isn't anywhere I've ever seen before.

The sky above me is a deep, unnatural purple, swirling with clouds that look more like smoke. And there, hanging impossibly in the air, are two moons. Two. Fucking. Moons.

"No, no, no," I mutter, scrambling to my feet. My legs feel weak, like I've been asleep for days. "This isn't real. It can't be real."

I spin around, taking in my surroundings. The landscape is alien, dotted with twisted, gnarled trees that look more like sculptures than living things. In the distance, I see mountains that seem to defy gravity, their peaks curling inward like massive claws reaching for the sky.

My heart races, pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat. This has to be a dream, right? Some kind of hallucination? But the air I'm breathing feels too real, carrying scents I can't even begin to describe. And the ground... I look down, then around.

I'm in a fucking cage.

I barely notice the other humans around me as panic rises in my chest, threatening to overwhelm me. The last thing I remember is walking along the beach in Greece, the warm sun on my skin, the sound of waves... How did I get here? Where even is here?

I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly aware of how vulnerable I am. I'm still wearing my sundress from the beach, but it offers little protection against the chill that's settling into my bones.

"Think, Alina, think," I mutter to myself, trying to stay calm. But how can I stay calm when everything around me screams that I'm not on Earth anymore? The two moons mock me from above, a constant reminder that I'm so far from home I can't even comprehend it.

I'm yanked from my panicked thoughts as the cage door creaks open. A harsh voice barks out commands my muffled sense don't hear, but as everyone else moves, the meaning is clear: get out.

My legs shake as I stumble forward, nearly tripping over my own feet. The other humans around me look just as terrified and confused as I feel. We're herded like animals toward what looks like some kind of holding pen in the distance.

"What's happening?" I whisper to no one in particular, my voice trembling. No one answers. We're all too scared to speak.

As we walk, I catch glimpses of our captors. My breath catches in my throat. These... creatures... they're not human. They almost look like it but they are pale and gorgeous with massive wings folded against their backs.

But it's what they're doing that really makes my heart stop. One of them raises a hand, and I swear I see flames dancing across their fingertips. Another gestures, and the earth itself seems to ripple in response.

"Magic," I breathe, the word feeling foreign on my tongue. "That's... that's fucking magic."

A woman next to me lets out a choked sob. "This can't be real," she whimpers. "We're dreaming. We have to be dreaming."

But we're not dreaming. The rough ground beneath my bare feet, the acrid smell in the air, the bone-deep chill that's settled into my body – it's all too real.

I watch in horrified fascination as one of the winged creatures lifts off the ground, soaring over our heads with impossible grace. Their wings catch the strange light, shimmering like oil on water.

"Move faster!" One of them shouts in heavily accented English, shoving a man who's fallen behind. The creature's hand glows with an eerie blue light, and the man yelps in pain, stumbling forward.

I force myself to keep walking, even as my mind races. Magic is real. These... beings... whatever they are, they can control the elements, fly, and God knows what else. And they've brought us here, to this alien world with its purple sky and twin moons.

Why? What do they want with us?

The holding pen looms closer, and dread settles in my stomach like a lead weight. Whatever's waiting for us in there, I know it can't be good.

I stumble as I'm shoved into a crowded holding area, my bare feet scraping against the rough ground. The stench of fear and sweat assaults my nostrils, making me gag. All around me, humans huddle together, their eyes wide with terror and confusion.

"Watch it!" A man growls as I bump into him. His face is gaunt, his clothes torn and dirty.

"Sorry," I mutter, trying to find a spot to stand without touching anyone. It's impossible. We're packed in like sardines, bodies pressed against each other in this nightmare of alien captivity.

A strange sensation washes over me, like static electricity dancing across my skin. I shake my head, trying to clear it. Must be the stress, I tell myself. But it doesn't stop. If anything, it intensifies.

"Does anyone know where we are?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. No one answers. Some just stare blankly, while others shake their heads.

Another wave of... something... hits me. This time, it's not just a physical sensation. For a split second, I swear I can see... no, feel... the fear radiating off the people around me. It's like a visible aura, pulsing and swirling.

I blink hard, and it's gone. "Get it together, Alina," I mutter to myself. "You're losing it."

A woman nearby starts to sob, the sound cutting through the eerie silence. As I turn to look at her, another flash hits me. This time, I don't just see her fear - I see flashes of her memories. A small apartment, a cat curled up on a windowsill, the smell of coffee brewing...

I jerk back, gasping. What the hell is happening to me?

"Hey, you okay?" A young man asks, reaching out to steady me.

The moment his hand touches my arm, I'm hit with another vision. This time, I'm nearly bowled over with waves of energy, flooding me with the emotions around me until I'm trembling, holding back vomit.

I pull away, my heart racing. "I'm fine," I lie, my voice shaking. "Just... just tired."

These can't be real. They're hallucinations, that's all. My mind trying to cope with this impossible situation. But as I stand there, trying to calm my breathing, I can't shake the feeling that something fundamental has changed. Not just in my surroundings, but in me.

I take a deep breath, trying to center myself. My scientific training kicks in, a desperate attempt to make sense of this insanity. I focus on the alien landscape around us, my eyes darting from one bizarre sight to another.

The trees - if you can call them that - are unlike anything I've ever seen. Their trunks twist and coil like serpents, bark a deep indigo that seems to shimmer in the strange light. The leaves aren't leaves at all, but more like translucent scales that rustle with an almost metallic sound when the wind blows.

My gaze shifts to the ground. The soil is a rich, dark red, almost like rust. Small, iridescent creatures scurry between the twisted roots of the trees. They look like a cross between beetles and crabs, their shells gleaming with an oil-slick rainbow of colors.

"Six legs," I note absently. "Exoskeleton. Arthropods, maybe? But nothing like Earth's..."

A memory hits me like a punch to the gut.

My lab at the university in Munich, the smell of antiseptic and the hum of equipment. I was working on my thesis, studying the effects of environmental stress on gene expression in fruit flies. It seems like a lifetime ago now.

I see my parents' faces, pride shining in their eyes as I explained my research over dinner. My mother, always practical, asking how it could be applied to her work in oncology. My father, the philosopher, musing about the ethical implications of genetic manipulation.

God, what I wouldn't give to be back in that moment. The warm glow of the dining room light, the taste of my mother's homemade moussaka, the sound of my father's deep, rumbling laugh...

Tears sting my eyes as the reality of my situation crashes over me again. That life is gone. Everything I've worked for, everything I've dreamed of - it might as well be on another planet. Which, I suppose, it is.

I look down at my hands, calloused from hours of pipetting and microscope work. What use are they here? What use is my knowledge of DNA replication and protein synthesis in this alien hellscape?

A sob rises in my throat, but I choke it back. I can't break down. Not here, not now. I have to stay strong, stay focused. Maybe... maybe I can use what I know. Maybe understanding this world, its biology, its ecosystems, could be the key to surviving it.

I force myself to look up again, to really see the alien world around me. The double moons hang in the sky like watchful eyes, casting an eerie glow over the landscape. In the distance, I can see what looks like a herd of... something. Six-legged creatures with long, sinuous necks and skin that seems to change color as they move.

"Adaptive camouflage," I whisper, my scientific mind latching onto this puzzle. "But how? What's the mechanism?"

It's a pitiful attempt at normalcy, I know. Trying to apply Earth science to this impossible place. But it's all I have. It's the only thing keeping me from screaming, from curling up in a ball and giving in to the terror that threatens to overwhelm me.

I was going to change the world with my research. Now, I'm just trying to survive in a world I don't understand. The irony would be funny if it wasn't so devastating.