Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women

"How do you know this?" Lyara asked, her voice sharp with suspicion.

The figure's expression didn't change. "Because I have seen it."

Jude frowned. "Seen it how?"

The answer came without hesitation. "Because I was there."

A heavy silence settled between them. Jude tried to process the meaning behind those words, but his mind kept circling back to the same impossibility. If they had truly died that day, if they had truly perished on that battlefield, then how could they be here now, claiming to have witnessed what was to come?

Lyara voiced what he was thinking. "You're saying you've been somewhere else. Somewhere… beyond death."

The figure inclined their head slightly. "If that is how you choose to see it."

Jude didn't know what to believe. But he knew one thing for certain, if they were right, if the storm had truly begun, then they were running out of time.

"Tell us what we're dealing with," he said, his voice firm. "No more riddles."

For the first time, the figure's gaze softened. "You already know part of the answer, Jude. You've felt it. The unease, the shifting currents, the way the world itself seems to be holding its breath."

Jude remained silent. He couldn't deny that.

"The balance has been broken," the figure continued. "Something has stirred from its slumber, something ancient and relentless. And now, the consequences are unfolding."

Jude's mind raced. He thought back to the strange occurrences, the whispers of unrest, the way the air itself had seemed heavier in recent weeks. He had dismissed it as paranoia, as coincidence. But now, he wasn't so sure.

"What exactly are we dealing with?" Lyara asked.

The figure's eyes darkened further. "Something that was never meant to return."

Jude didn't like the sound of that.

"And you want us to stop it?" Lyara asked.

A pause. Then, "I want you to be ready."

Jude exhaled through his nose. "And if we refuse?"

The figure didn't flinch. "Then you will fall with the rest of them."

A heavy silence stretched between them.

Jude had faced many choices in his life. Some had been simple. Some had been difficult. But this… this felt like a crossroads unlike any other. He could feel the weight of it in his bones, the way the air itself seemed to pulse with something unseen.

He turned to Lyara. Her expression was unreadable, but he knew what she was thinking. She was waiting for him to decide. Not because she couldn't make the choice herself, but because she trusted him.

Jude let out a slow breath before turning back to the figure. "Fine. We'll listen."

For the first time, the figure truly smiled.

"Then let us begin."

Jude took a slow breath, steadying himself as the figure's presence seemed to press down on him like a weight he couldn't shake. The air in the chamber was thick with something unseen, something that set his instincts on edge. Lyara hadn't relaxed either. If anything, her grip on her blade had tightened, though she remained still, waiting for a reason to strike. It wasn't that she lacked trust in Jude's judgment, he knew that much. But trust didn't mean blind faith. It didn't mean she would let her guard down just because someone from their past had returned under impossible circumstances.

The figure, no, the person who should have been long dead, watched them both with unreadable silver eyes. There was something about their gaze that sent a chill down Jude's spine. Not fear, exactly, but an awareness of something vast, something beyond comprehension.

"You said the balance is broken," Jude said finally, his voice steady. "What does that mean, exactly?"

The figure tilted their head slightly, considering the question. "The world was never meant to remain still. There have always been forces pushing and pulling, creation and destruction, light and shadow. But for the longest time, those forces existed in equilibrium. They followed a pattern, an order that kept everything from falling into chaos." They paused, their gaze sharpening. "That order has been disrupted."

Jude frowned. He had felt it, everyone had, in some way or another. The growing unease, the strange disturbances, the way the world itself seemed to shift in ways it shouldn't. But no one had been able to explain why.

"What caused it?" Lyara asked.

The figure hesitated, just for a moment. "Something that was buried long ago has begun to stir. Something that should have remained forgotten."

Jude felt his jaw tighten. "And you expect us to stop it?"

"I expect you to survive," the figure corrected. "Whether you choose to fight or flee is up to you. But understand this, there will be no neutral ground. No safe place to hide. When the storm arrives, it will consume everything in its path."

Jude exchanged a glance with Lyara. He could see the same questions in her eyes that ran through his own mind. They had fought battles before, had stood on the front lines against enemies that sought to tear everything apart. But this was different. This was something beyond war, beyond politics or conquest.

"What exactly are we dealing with?" Jude asked, his voice low.

The figure's gaze darkened. "An entity older than time itself. A being that was never meant to awaken again."

Silence filled the chamber, heavy and suffocating.

Jude wanted to deny it, to say it was impossible. But the weight in the air told him otherwise.

Lyara's voice was sharp. "You're talking about a god."

A slow nod. "A forgotten one."

Jude clenched his fists. He had heard the stories, the myths passed down through generations. Tales of beings who had existed before the first cities were built, before the first empires had risen and fallen. Beings who had shaped the world itself, only to be locked away, sealed in places no mortal should ever reach.

And now, one of them was waking up.

"How do we stop it?" Jude asked.

The figure studied him. "That depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice."