Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 1720

Chapter 1720: Chapter 1720

He saw each one as a thread woven into his skin, into his chest, into his blood.

And then... he saw the island. Not just as it was. But as it could be.

A living tapestry of their dreams.

Of their unity.

Of their surrender.

He fell to his knees.

And the light wrapped around him.

Soft. Sacred. Complete.

He heard their voices.

All of them.

Not with his ears, but inside.

Rose whispering her certainty.

Lucy calling his name.

Sophie’s laugh like a bell.

Zoey’s fire.

Grace’s song.

Natalie’s vision.

Emma’s clarity.

Stella’s quiet strength.

Scarlet’s wildness.

Layla’s cleverness.

Susan’s yearning.

Each a note in a chord.

Each a flame.

Each a vow.

The island thrummed around him.

And then it pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

And the paths began to fade.

They had taken their steps.

They had seen what was needed.

And they were returning.

Together.

Jude opened his eyes as the golden light receded, and the world reassembled itself around him - not as it had been, but softer, clearer, as if someone had wiped the haze from a dream. He was standing in the clearing again, though the moss beneath him glowed with new life, humming with a deeper current. The pedestal at the center still pulsed, but the heartstone now shimmered with twelve hues, each one dancing with the memory of a different path, a different soul.

He turned slowly.

One by one, the others stepped from their paths.

First Rose, barefoot and radiant, her eyes burning with a knowledge she hadn’t carried before. Then Emma, her body damp with ocean mist and her hair tangled with small shells. Stella came next, silent but smiling, her arms wrapped around a tiny golden feather that twitched faintly in her palm.

Scarlet emerged with flowers woven into her braids, her gaze calm and deep. Grace moved with a serenity Jude had never seen in her before, her steps deliberate, like every inch of earth welcomed her home. Zoey stumbled slightly as she appeared, her chest rising with deep, fast breaths, her fingers slick with ash, but she was grinning, her teeth white and wild.

Natalie stepped into the light humming a song no one else recognized but all of them felt.

Layla followed, her face streaked with what looked like tears and laughter in equal parts. Susan came next, clutching something translucent and fragile - a wing, perhaps - her lips parted as if still mid-gasp.

Then Sophie, barefoot and fierce, her skin glowing faintly blue as though lit from within. She saw Jude and her eyes flooded, but she didn’t run to him. She just stared, nodding once.

Finally, Lucy.

She stepped out of her tunnel with the slow grace of someone reborn. Her eyes met Jude’s at once - full of ache, of longing, of absolute recognition - and then she ran to him.

He caught her, lifting her as she wrapped herself around him, arms and legs and breath and tears all colliding at once. Her lips found his, desperate and trembling, and when they parted, she pressed her forehead to his and whispered, "I never stopped hearing you."

"I never stopped calling you," he murmured, fingers buried in her hair.

Their circle formed again, instinctively.

No one needed to say it - each of them had been changed. Marked. Seen.

Jude looked to the pedestal. "It’s waiting."

Rose nodded. "It wants to hear us together."

Without instruction, they moved. Twelve women, one man. They circled the heartstone, each placing a hand to the pedestal, their skin illuminating where they touched it. The colors from the stone pulsed in time with their breathing, with their hearts. It wasn’t a stone anymore. It was them. Their memory. Their journey. Their rhythm.

Jude took a breath and pressed his palm to the top.

A sound filled the air - not music, not words, but essence. Like the forest had learned their names and was singing them back. Trees trembled. The sky pulsed. The moss brightened beneath their feet. Light swirled above them, forming ribbons of gold and crimson and sapphire, dancing in the canopy like northern lights.

Then the pedestal split open.

Inside it, nestled within the stone like a seed, was something small.

A sphere.

Smooth. Warm. Glowing with all their colors.

Jude reached for it. The moment he lifted it, every one of them gasped.

Visions surged again - but not chaotic. Not separate. Unified.

They saw the tree blooming under moonlight.

They saw the pool shimmering with energy.

They saw a second clearing - further into the forest, where a new kind of tree pulsed, different from the one they had known.

And they saw themselves.

Together.

Holding something.

Building something.

Loving.

Rose stepped forward. "It’s not just about merging anymore."

Emma nodded slowly. "It’s about becoming."

Lucy’s fingers laced through Jude’s again. "We’re meant to plant this."

"Where?" Susan asked.

Jude turned eastward, where the horizon glowed faintly with lavender and fire. "There. Beyond what we’ve known."

No one questioned it. The island didn’t resist. It never had, not when they moved with purpose, with union.

They walked as one - naked, glowing, fearless - deeper into the forest than they had ever dared to go. The trees grew taller here, ancient and wise, their trunks wide enough to cradle all of them. The air thickened, heady with sweetness and the faint scent of something floral and erotic. The vines hung low, curling as they passed. The moss kissed their ankles. The forest loved them now. Needed them.

They reached the second clearing at sunset.

And there it was.

A hollow in the earth.

Circular.

Waiting.

Rose looked at Jude. "Plant it."

He knelt and lowered the sphere into the soil. The moment it touched earth, golden vines erupted outward, spiraling into the dirt like veins. The air shimmered. The ground vibrated.

Then silence.

Sophie exhaled. "That’s it?"

"No," Natalie said, eyes wide. "That’s the beginning."

A low hum started, deep and steady, not from the island - but from them.

Their bodies responded. Heat spread again, not in frenzy this time but in ritual.