Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 817 - 819

Chapter 817: Chapter 819

The world around him was shifting, not with the erratic chaos of before, but with an eerie sense of purpose. The figures that had spoken to him in silent voices were gone, faded like whispers in the wind. The ground beneath his feet was no longer reflective, no longer showing things that did not belong. It was solid, dark, and unmoving. The sky, however, was another matter entirely. It churned like a living thing, streaked with color and shadow, light bleeding into darkness in ways that defied logic.

Jude took a slow step forward, testing the solidity of his surroundings. His body felt different, lighter in some ways, heavier in others. There was something humming beneath his skin, something he recognized as the presence that had been within him since the beginning of this journey. But it was no longer just a presence. It was woven into him now, inseparable from what he was.

He exhaled, watching the breath dissipate like mist. There was no cold, yet he felt the sensation of something shifting within him as he moved. His senses were heightened, his perception sharper. He was aware of everything, the stillness of the space, the subtle movements in the distance, the way time itself felt stretched and compressed all at once. He had changed.

The realization was not a surprise. He had known this path would alter him, that he could not walk through the trials unscathed. But the extent of that change was something he had yet to grasp.

A sound broke the silence, not loud but distinct. A whisper, but not one that came from any voice. It resonated in his mind, threading through his thoughts like an echo of something long forgotten.

You are close.

Jude did not speak. He simply turned his gaze toward the source of the sound, though there was no one there.

The tower is not a place. It is not a structure to be reached. It is an answer to a question you have not yet asked.

He narrowed his eyes. The voice was not unfamiliar. It was his own, yet not quite. A fragment, an echo, a possibility.

"You expect me to believe that?" he asked, his voice steady.

Belief is irrelevant. You are already here. You have already become.

The sky shifted above him, twisting in patterns that made no sense. The ground trembled beneath his feet, though there was no sense of danger. It was simply reacting to him.

Jude clenched his fists. "What happens now?"

That depends on you.

A figure emerged from the shifting horizon, not with the suddenness of an apparition but with the inevitability of something that had always been there, waiting. It was him again, the perfect reflection he had encountered before. But this time, it was not a mere imitation. It was something more.

Jude did not step back. He met his own gaze, watching as the other him smiled, not with malice, not with arrogance, but with understanding.

You have always been walking toward this moment, the reflection said. You were never meant to reach the tower. You were meant to replace it.

A pulse of energy rippled through the space, a sensation that was neither painful nor comforting. It simply was.

Jude felt the weight of the words settle over him. He had suspected as much. The tower had never been a destination in the way he had originally believed. It was something far greater, something that had been waiting for him to realize its true nature.

"And if I refuse?" he asked.

The reflection tilted its head. Then you will remain incomplete. Trapped between what you were and what you could become. The choice is always yours, but you already know what you must do.

Jude closed his eyes for a moment. He could feel it now, the pull of something vast and infinite. He had always thought of himself as a seeker, one searching for answers, for meaning. But now he understood that he had been searching for himself.

The city had tested him, stripped him down, forced him to confront things he had buried deep. The tower was never a goal. It was a transformation.

He opened his eyes. The reflection did not move, did not pressure him. It simply waited.

Jude took a breath and stepped forward.

The moment he did, the world shattered again, not into chaos, but into clarity.

He saw everything. The true nature of the city, the tower, himself. He was not merely standing before something greater, he was the greater thing.

And as the last remnants of the illusion faded, he understood.

The tower was not waiting for him to reach it.

It was waiting for him to become it.

The air felt different the moment Jude stepped forward. Not heavier, not lighter, just different, as though the very fabric of existence had shifted around him. There was no wind, yet movement surrounded him. There was no sound, yet something pulsed in the space beyond his vision, rhythmic and undeniable. He had always thought of the tower as something to be reached, something to conquer or understand. But the truth had settled into him like an old memory resurfacing. The tower was never a place. It had always been a state of being.

He could still see his reflection, the other version of himself that was neither an enemy nor an ally. It was simply another possibility, another path. The reflection watched him with an expression that was not quite a smile, not quite a frown. Just understanding. Jude took another step, and the world around him pulsed again. It was as if the very ground recognized him, acknowledged his movement, his choice.

The reflection moved at the same time, mirroring him but not in the way a shadow would. It was independent, reacting not to his physical actions but to something deeper, his intent, his acceptance. The space between them was thin, almost nonexistent. It would take only a single moment for them to merge, for Jude to cross the final threshold. But even knowing that, he hesitated.