Page 3 of Her Immortal Love

"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 Istand 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?"

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