Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1621

Chapter 1621: Chapter 1621

A low hum rolled through the chamber, vibrating through their bones. The light above twisted, revealing a swirling vortex of starlight that bloomed like a flower overhead. Within it, glimpses - fractured and incomplete - flashed like dreams. Cities made of crystal. Oceans that floated in the sky. Beings without faces, glowing with pure intent. And trees. Trees everywhere. Each one massive, unique, pulsing with different lights and lives.

Jude rose to his feet slowly, and as he did, the platform reshaped beneath him - rising into a smooth slope that led upward toward the light. The others followed instinctively, gathering around him as the tree gently ushered them forward.

Rose stood at his right. Lucy at his left. Behind them, the others formed a perfect circle, naked and radiant, their bodies smeared with golden dust, their expressions full of reverence. Together, they ascended the slope until they stood beneath the vortex.

And then it opened.

A single petal of light unfurled, and a figure stepped through.

Not Alara.

Not a woman.

But not a man either.

The being was tall, draped in robes of glimmering moss and woven starlight. Its skin shimmered like moonlit water, and where its face should’ve been was only a luminous void, as if its identity was still forming - or too vast to be seen.

When it spoke, it did so without sound, yet every syllable vibrated in their blood.

"You are the First of the Second Root."

Jude’s breath hitched. The words meant nothing. And yet they meant everything .

The being turned its faceless gaze toward Rose. "You are the spark."

Then to Lucy. "You are the fire."

Then to Sophie. "You are the question."

And then to Jude. "You are the vessel."

Jude stepped forward. "What do you mean? What is this place?"

The being extended a long, elegant hand toward him, and in it floated a shard - no bigger than a leaf. It pulsed with golden light, like a fragment of the seed they had planted.

"This is the gift you have created."

The shard floated toward Jude, hovered in front of his chest, then melted into him. A golden flame erupted in his veins - warm, consuming, perfect. He gasped, stumbling back slightly, caught by Rose and Lucy.

The being turned slowly to face them all. "The world you came from is a root. This place is a bloom. You are the bloomers. The lovers. The ones who made the island breathe."

"Are there others?" Emma asked softly.

The being nodded. "There will be. Now that you have opened the dream-gate."

Grace’s brow furrowed. "What does that mean for us?"

"You may return to your island. Or you may walk the dreamways. All is open to you. But beware - each bloom attracts wanderers. Not all seek to share what you have found."

Zoey’s jaw tightened. "We’ll protect it."

The being’s voice grew softer. "Or you’ll transform it. Either way, your roots run deep now."

It stepped back, dissolving slowly into light, and as it vanished, the vortex above shimmered closed. The chamber quieted again.

Jude stood in stunned silence.

A golden circle glowed beneath their feet. A portal, pulsing and waiting.

Rose whispered, "It’s letting us choose."

Lucy leaned into Jude. "Do we stay? Or do we bring it all back to the island?"

Jude looked at each of them. Their bodies. Their faces. Their hearts.

He smiled.

"We bring it home."

Together, they stepped into the circle.

The light consumed them again - but this time, it was theirs . Born of sweat and love and truth. A pulse of golden energy swept through space, racing outward, touching stars, opening doors.

And in the clearing where the first island’s tree once bloomed, a wind rose.

The heartstone pulsed.

And golden blossoms burst into bloom.

They had returned.

But they were no longer just survivors.

They were the seed-bearers.

And their world would never be the same.

The forest greeted them with silence - not emptiness, but reverence. The kind of quiet that follows thunder, that blooms in the space after prophecy is spoken aloud. Jude felt his feet sink into the familiar moss of the island’s heart, but it no longer felt the same. The moss now cradled him, warmed him, as though the island remembered him, welcomed him back not just as a man, but as something more.

The golden light followed them - trailing behind like a mist, curling around ankles and hips, kissing skin with lazy affection. Each step they took across the forest floor, the ground brightened briefly beneath their feet, like the earth itself remembered the press of their bodies. Lucy exhaled slowly, her hand finding Jude’s as she turned in a slow circle. "Everything’s blooming."

"It knows," Rose said, walking barefoot through a patch of moss now glittering like dew-lit gold. "It felt us change. So now it’s changing to match."

Sophie crouched near a flower that hadn’t been there before - its petals shaped like open mouths, breathing in time with her heartbeat. She didn’t touch it. Just stared. "What if it never stops?"

"What if we don’t want it to?" Zoey said, striding forward with Grace at her side. They both were still flushed, faintly glowing, their fingers still interlocked.

Jude looked toward the familiar river, now glistening not with the silver-blue it once held, but shimmering gold with streaks of violet. "The water... it’s changed too."

Emma knelt beside it, cupping her hands into the flow and drinking. Her eyes fluttered shut. She swallowed slowly. "It’s sweet."

"Everything is sweeter now," Susan whispered. "It’s like the island is in heat."

They all turned to her. She flushed. "I mean... you feel it, right? The way it hums through you?"

They did. The island no longer felt still. Or passive. It pulsed with need. A living, throbbing rhythm under their feet, in the air, in their breath. It wasn’t lust exactly - it was invitation . The very earth wanted to be touched. The trees longed to be climbed. The river wished to be swallowed. And each of them carried within them the golden pulse that harmonized with that ache.