Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women

Jude opened his eyes slowly, his head resting against Grace's chest, her heartbeat thudding like a slow drum beneath his cheek. Around them, the womb had dimmed into a soft amber glow, the pulsing veins in the chamber walls calming to a steady rhythm. The pool had quieted, but its warmth still held them, cradled them, like the arms of something eternal.

Sophie brushed a hand through his hair, her voice a whisper by his ear. "You saw it, didn't you?"

He nodded, unable to speak at first. The vision had been too vast, too complete. Not like the flickers they'd seen before. This time it had been a flood - a full tapestry of time. What they were. What they would become.

Natalie wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, pressing her cheek to his back. "You went farther than we did."

Rose stepped close, water gliding down the curves of her body. "Because he's the one who connects us."

"No," Jude finally said, pulling himself upright, though every inch of him trembled. "Because we connect each other. That's the difference now. The island isn't watching us anymore. It's listening."

Lucy met his gaze, kneeling before him, her hands resting on his thighs. "And what did it hear?"

Jude reached for her, cupped her cheek. "That we're ready."

A low vibration stirred through the chamber, like a deep breath taken in the bones of the earth. It wasn't violent. It wasn't even loud. But it was powerful - like the island had shifted again, made room for something it had kept locked away.

Emma turned her head toward the source. "That voice… the one we heard before. It wasn't the island."

"No," Rose said. "It was something older."

Scarlet stood then, rising from the pool and dripping with light. "Then we need to follow it."

"Where?" Stella asked, moving to her side.

Jude looked up at the chamber wall where the voice had come from. There was no opening, no door. But the wall pulsed softly, as if there was something waiting just beyond it. "There."

Zoey smiled, that fire in her eyes returning. "You think we can walk through stone now?"

He stood. "We don't have to."

As they watched, he raised his hand and placed his palm flat against the root-laced wall. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the wall began to breathe.

Veins glowed, roots shifted, and with a groan that felt like the moan of the planet itself, the vines unwound. Slowly. Reverently. They pulled back to reveal a narrow tunnel, dark and pulsing with veins of gold.

The women rose around him, quiet now, reverent.

Rose touched his shoulder. "You don't have to go first this time."

But he shook his head. "I think I do."

He stepped into the passage, the ground beneath his feet soft and warm. The walls shimmered with veins like those beneath the tree, only now they pulsed in time with his heart. As the others followed, the tunnel seemed to widen just enough, like it had been waiting for them.

There was no sound but breath.

And heartbeat.

And something deeper.

They walked for what felt like both minutes and eternities. The tunnel descended, spiraling into the belly of the island, the heat growing with each step. But it wasn't uncomfortable. It was like being inside a body. Inside a pulse.

Finally, they emerged into a vast chamber, unlike anything they had seen before.

It was round, like the womb, but open at the top. A shaft of golden light poured down from somewhere high above, illuminating a massive structure at the center - a spiral of stone and crystal, rising from the floor like a tower of petrified light. It pulsed faintly with each beat of their hearts.

Alara stood at its base.

She was barefoot, wrapped in a robe of vines and mist, her eyes brighter than ever. She turned when they entered, smiling softly.

"You came," she said.

Rose stepped forward. "You knew we would."

Alara nodded. "But you had to choose."

Jude's gaze locked with hers. "What is this place?"

Alara stepped aside, revealing a stairway that wound up around the central pillar. "The Axis."

Lucy stepped beside him. "Axis of what?"

"Of everything," Alara said. "The old dreamers called it the Navel. The others called it the Pulse. But it is the core of the island. The bridge between its spirit… and yours."

Sophie crossed her arms, wary. "And what do we do with it?"

Alara's smile turned mysterious. "You climb it."

Zoey gave a soft, disbelieving laugh. "What happens at the top?"

Alara looked at Jude. "He'll show you."

He didn't hesitate. He stepped toward the base of the stairs, the rest of them falling into step behind him. The stone was warm beneath their feet, and as they climbed, they could feel it - the pulse growing louder. Brighter. With every step, their bodies seemed to glow more brightly, their minds filling with ancient whispers that weren't in words, but in emotion.

When they reached the top, they stood on a wide platform open to the sky. The shaft of light that had illuminated the Axis streamed up from the chamber below, bathing them in gold.

At the center of the platform was a circle etched into the stone.

Jude stepped into it.

The moment he did, the circle flared.

The light pierced the sky.

And the island roared.

All around them, the trees sang, the ocean surged, the very mountain they stood in vibrated with power. The platform beneath them glowed with runes that hadn't been visible before. They spun slowly, patterns of light and language lost to time.

Each woman stepped into the circle, forming a ring around Jude.

Lucy, Rose, Sophie, Emma, Zoey, Grace, Stella, Natalie, Susan, Scarlet, and Layla.

The moment the circle was complete, the light intensified.

And then it poured upward into the heavens.

For a heartbeat, everything went still.

And then the sky opened.

It wasn't clouds.