Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women

Then, the voice returned. Deep. Resonant. Unforgiving.

"You are not ready."

Jude tried to speak, but the words didn't come. He tried to move, but movement didn't exist. It was as if the very concept of his body had been unraveled, and all that remained was consciousness hanging in the void.

He didn't need to ask who ,or what ,was speaking. He felt it.

Something ancient. Something vast. Something that had seen the rise and fall of countless realities.

He struggled to hold onto himself, to not let the nothingness consume him. "Where am I?"

The voice hummed, a soundless vibration that rattled through his being. "Between."

"Between what?"

The void pulsed.

"Everything."

A presence emerged, shifting in the darkness. Not light, not shape ,just awareness. It pressed against Jude's mind, neither hostile nor welcoming, but simply there.

"You are not meant to be here," the voice continued. "Not yet."

Jude clenched his nonexistent jaw, forcing himself to focus. "I didn't choose to come here."

"You did."

Something stirred inside him, an aching recognition buried deep within his consciousness. This wasn't just an accident. This wasn't just a mistake.

He had been reaching for something.

And something had answered.

A ripple spread through the void, and suddenly, sensation returned. Jude felt the weight of his body again, the slow pull of gravity, the rhythmic pulse of his heartbeat.

The darkness began to thin.

Light ,soft, pale, and endless ,bloomed around him.

And then ,

He was falling.

The void shattered like glass, and Jude crashed into existence once more.

Wind roared past his ears. His stomach lurched. He was plummeting, the sky above a fractured swirl of colors, the ground rushing to meet him. His instincts screamed at him to brace, to do something, but before he could react ,

The world twisted.

And he landed.

Not with a bone-breaking impact, not with the violence of falling from an impossible height, but with a shift.

One moment he was falling. The next ,

He was standing.

His knees buckled. The ground beneath him felt real ,solid stone, smooth and cold against his hands. He exhaled sharply, his breath visible in the dim, unnatural light surrounding him.

He wasn't outside. He wasn't in the void.

He was in a place that shouldn't exist.

A vast chamber stretched before him, lined with towering pillars that disappeared into the darkness above. The air was thick with something old , something that carried the weight of forgotten centuries. The stone beneath him was carved with symbols he didn't recognize, intricate patterns spiraling outward like veins of an ancient, slumbering beast.

And then ,

Footsteps.

Slow. Measured.

Jude's pulse hammered.

He pushed himself up, his fingers twitching for a weapon he didn't have.

A figure emerged from the shadows, their face obscured by the dim glow of unseen light sources.

Not one of the Architects.

Not a copy of himself.

Something else entirely.

"You've wandered too far, Jude Carter."

The voice was deep, yet smooth. A voice that didn't just speak , but resonated, as if it carried weight beyond mere sound.

Jude's hands curled into fists. "Who are you?"

The figure stepped forward, and at last, Jude could see him.

Tall. Wrapped in a dark, flowing coat that rippled like liquid shadow. His features were sharp, but not unnatural ,eyes the color of storm-touched steel, hair dark enough to blend into the void itself.

But it was the feeling that made Jude's breath hitch.

The presence rolling off this man wasn't normal.

It was like standing in the eye of a storm that had no end.

The man studied him, unreadable. "You weren't supposed to come here."

Jude forced himself to stand straighter, ignoring the unsteady beat of his heart. "Then send me back."

The man's lips quirked slightly, not quite a smile. "It doesn't work that way."

"Then how does it work?"

The man exhaled, a sound more thoughtful than frustrated. "You weren't pulled here by accident. Something called you."

Jude's fingers twitched. "I didn't ,"

"You did."

The words echoed the ones spoken in the void.

Jude's mind reeled. "What the hell does that even mean?"

The man tilted his head slightly. "It means that you've already made the choice. Whether you understand it or not."

A shiver ran down Jude's spine. "What choice?"

The man didn't answer immediately. Instead, he took a slow step closer, his gaze never wavering.

"You've been running," he said. "Jumping from place to place. Searching."

Jude didn't respond.

"You think you're chasing answers." The man's voice was steady, too steady. "But the truth is, something has been chasing you. "

Jude stiffened. "What?"

The man's expression didn't change. "You feel it, don't you? The way reality bends around you. The way the spaces between things shift when you're near."

Jude's breath hitched.

Because he did feel it.

Always had.

Since the night it all started.

Since the moment his life had been rewritten.

"You're not like them," the man continued. "Not like the ones who move within the cracks of the world. You weren't meant to be just another piece on the board."

Jude's mind spun, pieces of a puzzle he hadn't realized existed clicking into place.

This wasn't just about running.

This wasn't just about survival.

It never had been.

His entire existence had been shifting toward something ,something he hadn't been able to see until now.

His pulse pounded in his ears. "Who are you?"

The man finally smiled. A real smile, but one that held no warmth.

"I am the one who stands at the threshold," he said. "The one who watches when the doors begin to open."

Jude swallowed. "And what door is opening?"

The man's gaze darkened.

"The one that should have never been touched."

Silence stretched between them, thick with something neither of them spoke aloud.

Then ,

A sound.

Low. Trembling.

The ground beneath them vibrated. The pillars groaned.

And something , something ,shifted in the darkness beyond.

The man exhaled, his eyes sharp.

"It's waking up."

Jude's blood ran cold. "What is?"