Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women

The ruins remained eerily silent as Jude and Lyara stood before the hooded figure, the weight of the vision pressing heavily on them. The past was not just a story carved into forgotten stones; it was a living force, stretching across time, clawing at the present. The air around them pulsed with unseen energy, remnants of the gateway's power still lingering like an open wound in the fabric of reality.

Jude tightened his grip on the hilt of his dagger. "If the darkness still waits, then it means someone has to stop it."

The figure's shadowy form shifted, the movement unsettlingly fluid, as if it was not bound by the same physical laws as they were. "You assume it can be stopped."

Lyara narrowed her eyes. "Everything can be stopped. It's just a matter of knowing how."

The whispers around them grew louder, voices swirling through the ruins like a storm just on the edge of breaking. The figure did not move, yet its presence loomed over them, vast and unknowable. "The last who tried failed. He became the very thing he fought against."

Jude felt a cold shiver run down his spine. The man in silver and black. He had tried to seal the darkness, but something had gone wrong. The vision had been clear, he had opened the gate with purpose, but he had been consumed by what lay beyond it.

Jude took a step forward. "That doesn't mean we'll make the same mistake."

The hooded figure remained still. "Bravery and ignorance are often mistaken for one another."

Lyara let out a sharp breath. "We don't have time for riddles. If you know how to stop it, tell us."

For the first time, the figure moved, its hand slowly rising. The shadows that surrounded it seemed to coil around its fingers before stretching outward. The ruins trembled, and the ground beneath them shifted. The air felt heavier, pressing against their skin, as if the very fabric of the world was bending under an unseen force.

And then, the vision came again.

This time, it was different.

Jude and Lyara were no longer standing in the ruins. They were elsewhere, somewhere vast and dark, the air thick with something unseen. It was not a memory of the past but something else, something neither of them could fully understand.

They stood at the edge of an abyss, a chasm so deep that no bottom could be seen. The air rippled with energy, tendrils of darkness shifting like living things. In the distance, faint figures moved, their shapes indistinct, yet there was an undeniable presence to them.

Lyara's voice was tight. "Where are we?"

The hooded figure's voice did not come from behind them but from all around. "You stand on the precipice of what was left behind. The place between worlds."

Jude's throat felt dry. "This is what's beyond the gate."

The air hummed with something ancient. A whispering force that felt as though it had been waiting for them, watching them. The darkness moved again, and this time, something emerged from it.

A shape, indistinct but growing clearer with every second. A figure, tall, clad in armor that seemed almost part of the shadows themselves. The same figure Jude had seen in every vision. The man in silver and black.

But something was different.

The figure turned its head toward them, and for the first time, Jude could see his face. Or rather, what was left of it.

The features were fractured, like cracked glass reflecting a thousand different versions of itself. His eyes burned with something not entirely human, and when he opened his mouth to speak, the sound that came forth was not one voice but many.

"You should not be here."

The darkness around them trembled as if responding to his words. Lyara stepped forward, her grip tight on her weapon. "We didn't come here by choice."

The figure tilted its head slightly. "No one ever does."

Jude forced himself to meet the figure's gaze. "Who are you?"

The answer came not in words but in a wave of memory that crashed into him like a flood. Images flashed through his mind, battles fought in the name of salvation, sacrifices made in desperation, a man who had once stood on the side of light but had fallen into the abyss he sought to destroy.

The man in silver and black had not merely opened the gate. He had become its guardian. Or its prisoner.

Jude staggered back, the weight of the revelation pressing down on him. Lyara caught his arm, steadying him.

The figure's voice softened, but it carried an unshakable finality. "There is no escape from this place."

Lyara's jaw clenched. "Then we'll find one."

The air around them twisted, the vision beginning to fracture. The hooded figure's voice returned, distant yet omnipresent. "The gate will open again. And when it does, you will have a choice."

The world around them shattered, and they were back in the ruins.

Jude's heart pounded against his ribs, his breath coming fast. The hooded figure stood before them once more, unmoving.

Lyara spoke first. "What do you mean, a choice?"

The figure did not answer immediately. Instead, it simply lifted a hand, and for the first time, the shadows that surrounded it seemed to withdraw slightly. "The darkness is not the only thing that waits beyond the gate. There is something else. A force long forgotten, buried with the ruins of this city."

Jude's mind raced. "Then the gate wasn't just a door to something terrible. It was meant to keep something else hidden."

The figure's voice was barely above a whisper now. "The key was lost. But perhaps… it can be found."

A heavy silence stretched between them.

Jude exhaled slowly, his hands clenched into fists. "Where do we start?"

For the first time, the hooded figure's presence seemed to lessen, the weight of its gaze lifting just slightly. It did not answer in words, but in action. The shadows at its feet parted, revealing something half-buried in the ruins.