Chapter 6
SIX
NAVIRA
Pink oceans stretched to the horizon, their surface catching the light of twin suns—one blazing yellow, the other a deep, blood orange.
Purple forests swayed in an alien breeze, their canopies painted in shades of violet and lavender she’d never seen in nature.
Mountains rose in the distance, their peaks touched with gold, and pale yellow sand bordered the impossible pink waters.
It was beautiful. It was terrifying. It was completely, utterly real.
Gerri turned to face her, and in the blue glow of the portal, she looked almost ethereal—like some sort of benevolent fairy godmother.
“Are you ready to step through to your new adventure?”
Navira stared at the portal, at the alien world waiting just a few feet away.
Her rational mind screamed warnings—this is insane, you don’t know anything about this place, what if you can’t get back—but something deeper, something that had been dormant for five long years, whispered a different truth.
This is what you’ve been waiting for.
The restlessness that had plagued her for so long, the sense that she was living half a life, the bone-deep certainty that she was meant for something more—it all crystallized in this moment. Whatever lay beyond that shimmering threshold, it was hers to claim.
“I’m ready for a change,” Navira heard herself say, and the words felt like a key turning in a lock she hadn’t even known existed.
She took a deep breath, grabbed her suitcases, and stepped forward.
Then the world dissolved.
There was no other way to describe it. One moment she was standing in a sterile office beneath an Indiana power plant, and the next she was weightless, suspended in an ocean of blue light that seemed to sing against her skin.
Time became elastic—seconds stretched into hours or compressed into heartbeats, she couldn’t tell which.
She was walking, but also floating, being pulled forward by some invisible current that felt like destiny itself.
The sensation was unlike anything she’d ever experienced.
Not frightening, exactly, but so far beyond normal human experience that her brain simply gave up trying to categorize it.
Instead, she surrendered to the impossibility of it all, letting the blue light carry her toward whatever waited on the other side.
When solid ground materialized beneath her feet, she gasped—not from shock, but from the sudden rush of vitality that flooded through her system.
Every cell in her body seemed to hum with renewed energy.
The exhaustion from her sleepless night vanished, replaced by a clarity and alertness that made her feel more awake than she had in years.
Restorative properties, she thought, remembering Gerri’s words. She wasn’t kidding.
But it was more than just physical rejuvenation. Something deeper had shifted during that journey through blue light—something that had been restless and unsettled for five long years suddenly felt... not peaceful, exactly, but aligned. Like a compass needle finally finding true north.
The first thing she noticed was the air. It tasted different here—cleaner, with a hint of salt and something floral she couldn’t identify. The second thing was the warmth, a gentle heat that seemed to emanate from the twin suns hanging in the alien sky.
And then she saw the ocean.
Pink. Impossibly, brilliantly pink, stretching to the horizon in all directions. This was pink like the inside of a seashell, shifting and shimmering with depths that seemed to hold secrets older than time itself.
Her suitcases slipped from numb fingers, forgotten in an instant. Her feet moved without conscious direction, carrying her toward the water with the inevitability of gravity. This wasn’t just an ocean—it was a living thing, and it was calling to her with a voice she felt in her bones.
This is where you belong, it seemed to whisper. This is what you’ve been searching for.
Every instinct she possessed screamed at her to run toward those impossible waters, to dive beneath the surface and discover what secrets lay hidden in those depths.
Just one touch, she thought, her feet already carrying her forward. Just to see if it feels as alive as it looks.
The yearning hit her like a physical ache, spreading from her chest outward until her entire body thrummed with need. This wasn’t just curiosity—it was recognition. As if the ocean itself was calling her home to a place she’d never known she belonged.
But Gerri’s voice cut through the spell.
“Navira, darling, come meet your guide.”
The words pulled her back to herself with jarring suddenness.
Navira blinked, surprised to find she’d walked nearly twenty feet from where she’d left her suitcases, drawn by the water’s magnetic pull without even realizing it.
Heat flushed her cheeks as she turned, embarrassed by how completely the ocean had captured her attention.
Standing beside Gerri was a woman who seemed to embody the same serene energy as the alien landscape around them.
Tall and gracefully built, with deep black hair that caught the twin suns’ light in waves of midnight silk.
Her skin held a warm olive tone that seemed to glow softly in the unusual lighting, and when she smiled, it was with the kind of genuine warmth that immediately put Navira at ease.
“You must be Navira.” The woman’s voice carried a musical quality. “I’m Alira Crestwyn, the estate attendant. I’ll be looking after you during your stay.”
Navira walked back toward them, trying to shake off the lingering pull of the ocean. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Alira. I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be doing here yet.”
Alira’s silver-blue eyes sparkled with something that might’ve been amusement. “Alpha Thalric will explain everything once we reach the estate.”
Alpha Thalric.
The name sent an unexpected shiver down Navira’s spine—not of fear, exactly, but of anticipation. Something about the way Alira said it, with a mixture of respect and fondness, suggested this wasn’t just any ordinary leader.
“He’s the one providing my accommodations, right?” Navira asked, bending to grab the handles of her suitcases. The wheels caught slightly on the stone pathway, and she had to adjust her grip to get them rolling smoothly.
“Among other things.” Gerri’s tone held that familiar note of mischief, as if she knew something the rest of them didn’t. “Thalric is... well, let’s just say he’s very invested in making sure your stay here is everything it should be.”
Alira shot Gerri a look that was part warning, part exasperation.
“What Gerri means is that the Alpha takes his responsibilities as host very seriously. He wants to ensure you have everything you need to succeed here.” Alira paused for a moment.
“We should hurry though. Alpha Thalric doesn’t particularly enjoy being kept waiting, and he’s been.
.. anticipating your arrival all morning. ”
The way she said ‘anticipating’ made Navira’s pulse quicken. There was something loaded in that word, a weight of meaning she couldn’t quite decipher. But the urgency in Alira’s voice was clear enough.
“Of course.” Navira fell into step beside them, her suitcases bumping along the smooth stones. “I definitely don’t want to keep my host waiting, especially when he’s being generous enough to let me stay at his estate.”
As they walked, Navira couldn’t help but drink in the landscape around them.
Purple forests stretched in all directions, their canopies painted in shades she’d never seen in nature—deep violet, soft lavender, rich plum.
The trees swayed in a gentle breeze that carried the scent of something exotic, mixing with the salt tang from the pink ocean behind them.
It was beautiful beyond description. But more than that, it felt... right.
You’re being ridiculous, she told herself. You’ve been here for less than ten minutes. You can’t possibly feel at home in a place you’ve never seen before.
But the feeling persisted, growing stronger with each step.
“The landscape is incredible,” she said aloud, partly to distract herself from the intensity of her own reaction. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Nova Aurora has that effect on people,” Alira replied, her voice warm with understanding.
Gerri glanced back, her eyes flashing gold now. “Oh, darling, you haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until you meet the Alpha himself.”
The promise in those words made Navira’s stomach flutter with anticipation. Whatever lay ahead at this estate, whoever this Alpha Thalric was, she had the strangest feeling that her life was about to change in ways she couldn’t even begin to imagine.