Chapter 1002

Jude awoke before the others again, though this time he had not been plagued by nightmares. Instead, something had stirred him gently from sleep, like a hand on his shoulder or a whispered name in his ear. He sat up in the dim early light and listened. The wind rustled the leaves beyond their walls. The breath of twelve women, steady and warm, filled the space behind him. All was still. Yet his heart beat with that old, persistent rhythm, the pulse of the unknown, of something waiting just beyond the veil.

He stepped outside. The morning air was cooler than usual, carrying a faint sweetness, almost floral. Not like the heavy perfume of the jungle blooms, but more delicate, ephemeral. He followed it.

His path led him toward the eastern cliffs, where the sea met the sky in jagged lines of foam and stone. The air sharpened as he climbed higher, the breeze picking up. And then he saw it.