Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1617

Chapter 1617: Chapter 1617

Zoey joined her, squinting. "I see it too. Not land. Not exactly. More like... a shimmer."

The platform responded to their awareness. It picked up speed - not violently, but steadily.

Jude could feel the momentum deep in his chest, like a heartbeat growing stronger. As they advanced, the shimmer took shape - a massive archway made of two great stone arms rising from the sea, wreathed in clouds, each etched with the same kind of glowing runes they’d seen in the flower.

Sophie clutched Jude’s arm, her skin warm with tension. "It’s a gate."

Rose’s voice was firm. "And it was meant for us."

As they neared, the air thickened. The platform slowed to a crawl. The archway loomed, its surface pulsing with symbols - some familiar, others shifting too quickly to grasp. They passed beneath it, and the moment they did, the world changed.

There was no transition.

No warning.

Just light .

Blinding.

Total.

And then darkness.

Total.

Then breath.

One heartbeat.

Then another.

Then everything returned - sound, scent, sensation - but they were no longer above the sea.

The platform had stopped.

And they were standing in a vast field of grass the color of starlight.

The sky above them stretched endless and strange, constellations shifting in slow spirals. Trees unlike any they had seen before lined the edges of this new land - tall and silver, with roots that hovered above the ground like the breath of a great creature. Flowers floated in midair, drifting lazily in the breeze without ever touching the earth.

"Where are we?" Susan asked, breathless.

Emma turned in a slow circle. "Not a different island. A different world ."

Lucy dropped to her knees and touched the grass. "It feels like home, though. Like we were meant to find this."

Jude looked around. The land stretched in all directions, softly glowing, warm, and humming with energy.

Then the sky cracked open.

A single shaft of blue-white light descended in front of them, and from within it, a figure emerged - fluid, radiant, taller than anyone they had seen, with skin that shimmered like pearl and eyes that held galaxies.

"Welcome," she said, her voice a chord of harmony, notes and language layered in perfect unity. "You are the first to pass the gate since Alara."

Rose stepped forward, her chin high, her body still glowing with the remnants of island light. "Are you a guardian?"

The figure shook her head. "No. I am an echo. A guide. A memory. I am what is left of those who came before."

Sophie looked around at the surreal beauty. "What is this place?"

"This is the Archive," the figure said. "Not of books. Of lives. Of unions. Of every breath taken by those who crossed the threshold with hearts unguarded."

Jude stepped closer, the others gathering behind him. "Why us?"

The figure’s eyes rested on him. "Because you chose love over power. Surrender over control. Unity over dominance. The seed responded to that. The island recognized your bond and allowed you to awaken it."

"And now?" Zoey asked, arms folded. "What happens next?"

"You may stay here, in this place," the figure said. "And add your story to the Archive. Or you may return and plant more seeds, awaken more lands. You may open gates. You may guide others."

"Others?" Stella whispered.

"There are many," the figure said. "Hidden across waters and time. Sleeping. Forgotten. Waiting for souls like yours."

Grace placed a hand on Emma’s. "Do we get to choose?"

The figure smiled. "Always."

Lucy looked up at Jude. "What do you want?"

He glanced at each of them. Rose. Sophie. Zoey. Emma. Natalie. Stella. Lucy. Grace. Scarlet. Susan. Layla. Scarlet. His wives. His heartbeat.

"I want to keep moving," he said softly. "To find what’s next. To grow more than even this."

The figure nodded. "Then kneel."

They all did - without hesitation - forming a circle in the field.

The figure stepped forward, her hands raised.

From her palms, light poured outward - twelve threads of radiant gold, one for each wife, and a thirteenth, deeper and bluer, for Jude. The threads entered their chests like silk drawn through a needle, smooth and warm.

The instant they connected, the ground pulsed.

The sky shifted.

The field bloomed.

And in the center of them, a new seed formed - not like the first. This one was faceted, sharp-edged, crystalline. It hovered in the air between them, rotating slowly.

"This is yours," the guide said. "A key. A new beginning. Wherever it is planted, the world will respond to your bond. You may use it once. Or twelve times. Or never. Its power will not fade, only wait."

They rose slowly, staring at the seed.

Sophie reached for it, but Jude placed a hand gently on her wrist. "No," he said. "We decide together."

They stood in silence a long moment. The stars above wheeled softly. The field swayed in dreamlike rhythm.

Rose took Jude’s hand and kissed his knuckles. "Let’s walk," she said. "We’ll know when we’re ready."

And so they walked, across the Archive of light and memory, through fields and floating blooms, hand in hand, heart to heart. Not searching anymore.

Becoming.

Each other.

Forever.

They walked until their shadows vanished into the golden grass and the stars above began to ripple like reflections in water. The sky bent overhead, not with weight but with promise, the kind of promise that lived in every glance they exchanged, in every fingertip brushed, in every breath they shared. The land didn’t resist them. It seemed to rise beneath their feet with every step, embracing them like an old lover rediscovered. The crystalline seed floated gently between them, following their path like a second moon, glowing faintly with the color of their bond.

No one asked where they were going. There was no need. The land answered their movement with unfolding beauty. Trees parted. Flowers turned to face them. Small pools of silver light sprang to life in their path, mirroring their faces and the flickering pulse of their skin.