Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1686

Chapter 1686: Chapter 1686

Jude reached out, his fingertips brushing the golden shimmer of the portal. It didn’t resist. It pulsed gently, like it recognized his touch - not as an intruder, but as a familiar echo. He glanced at Lucy beside him, her golden-flecked eyes steady, a soft smile tugging at her lips. She nodded once, fingers tightening around his. He turned, taking in the circle of his wives. Twelve faces he had come to know as deeply as his own soul. Each radiant in their own right. Each waiting.

Behind them, the dreamers watched, silent and breathless, as if sensing the weight of the moment.

"What do we become if we step through?" Emma asked, voice low but clear.

"Not something else," Rose answered, walking to the front of the group, her fingers grazing the arch. "Something more."

Sophie tilted her head. "And if we don’t?"

Lucy smiled. "Then we stay here and grow roots, until Elaria blooms again through someone else."

Jude looked to the sky above the trees. The clouds were still swirling with that strange golden light. He could hear the trees breathing. The island was awake - and still listening.

"Maybe this isn’t a choice between here and there," he murmured. "Maybe it’s both."

Zoey stepped forward, her bare feet soundless against the moss. "I don’t think the portal is a place. I think it’s a part of us. Like the pool. Like the flower. Like the song."

Natalie reached out and brushed her fingers along the edge of the doorway. "Then maybe it leads not away - but deeper."

There was a hush, the air heavy with potential.

Jude took a breath, then stepped forward, his chest nearly brushing the glowing surface. He didn’t move through it. He just stood there, sensing it. Feeling its pulse match his own.

"I don’t want to lose this," he said softly.

"You won’t," Lucy whispered. "We’ll take it with us."

"And if it’s just more of the same?" Grace asked gently.

Stella touched her hand. "Then we’ll make it more."

The portal shimmered, responding to the sound of their voices.

Jude turned back to his circle. "We started this together. We crossed that ocean. We built a home. We survived the dark, we faced the dream. We found love, and it changed everything."

He extended his hand to Rose. "If this is the next step... I won’t take it alone."

Rose stepped forward and placed her hand in his. "Then let’s go together."

The others came one by one. Lucy. Sophie. Emma. Zoey. Stella. Grace. Natalie. Susan. Layla. Scarlet.

And finally, Susan reached for his other hand, her touch warm, her smile soft.

They faced the portal in a complete circle now, hands linked, hearts steady.

Then they stepped in.

There was no tearing.

No rush of wind.

Just warmth.

And a sound, like the very first breath of a newborn world.

Light surrounded them - not blinding, but enfolding. The golden shimmer became something more. Not just color, but sensation. They weren’t walking anymore. They were floating. Drifting. Moving through something vast and unseen. Their hands remained linked. Their hearts open.

Jude could feel each of them around him, not just physically, but spiritually. Their love, their memories, their fears, their hopes. It all became one current, sweeping them forward.

Images passed in the golden haze.

A tree blooming under a silver moon.

Children running barefoot across glowing fields.

Stars spiraling over a lake that breathed with light.

Hands clasped. Bodies entwined. Eyes meeting.

Not visions of the past.

Possibilities.

"I can feel everything," Lucy whispered, her voice like a thread through the golden space.

"So can I," Zoey said, and Jude could hear the tears in her words.

Then it stopped.

Not abruptly. But gently. Like the tide pulling back from the shore.

Their feet touched earth again.

But it wasn’t the earth of Elaria.

It was new.

The moss beneath their feet was darker, richer, threaded with violet hues that shimmered in the light of twin suns overhead. The air was thick with flowers they didn’t know the names of. The trees were taller, broader, their leaves translucent and glowing faintly with inner fire.

And around them, the land waited. Untouched. Unshaped.

Jude turned slowly, taking in the horizon. No stone rings. No heartstone. No pool.

Just untouched wonder.

"It’s a beginning," Stella whispered.

Rose knelt and touched the ground. "It’s a gift."

Emma reached up, shielding her eyes from the warm light above. "What are we supposed to do here?"

"Anything," Sophie said, stepping beside her. "Everything."

Jude closed his eyes and reached inward. The island - Elaria - was still with him. Still singing, still pulsing in his veins. But it had quieted, content. This was no longer her voice.

This was their own.

He turned to his wives. "We get to create."

Lucy leaned in, brushing her lips against his cheek. "Then let’s begin."

They moved together, hand in hand, toward the trees. The forest welcomed them, its branches bending in greeting. The light rippled through the canopy in waves. And in the sky above, the twin suns began to arc higher, rising into a day that had never existed until now.

They explored for hours.

A river curved through the landscape like a silver ribbon. Giant stones stood in patterns that hummed when touched. Birds unlike anything they had seen before circled overhead, their calls blending into harmonies that tugged at memory.

They found a clearing near the river, sheltered by glowing trees. Flowers opened at their steps, vines curling gently up trunks to greet them.

"This," Susan said softly, "is where we stay."

Jude looked around and knew she was right. This was home.

They worked together, shaping the space. Not as labor, but as love. Trees grew to their requests. Stones shifted at a thought. The land responded, eager to become what they needed.

And when the sun dipped low, bathing the world in rose and violet, they built a fire that needed no flame. The logs glowed softly on their own, like the warmth came from memory.