Chapter 1016

Jude woke before dawn, the orchard's mist hanging like a veil between life and dream. His skin still tingled from last night's vigil beneath the watchers' glow, seeds planted and vows made under pale luminescence. He rose quietly, leaving bodies sleeping in their woven nests, and stepped beneath the mist-laced trees. Soft pulses of watcher light shimmered overhead, their rhythm steady and slow, like a heartbeat shared between earth and sky. Jude closed his eyes and felt the orchard breathe around him, the soil, the saplings, the ribbons and seedlings all humming in harmony. He stretched arms wide and whispered a vow: to remain as long as the watcher's light remained.