Chapter 1230

He saw each of his wives - what they had become, what they could become. Their strength, their stories, their shadows. Their love.

He saw himself.

And in that moment, he understood.

They were no longer surviving the island.

They were the island.

The stone dimmed slowly, the light returning to the glyphs, leaving only silence.

Then, from the edge of the clearing, something moved.

Not a monster.

Not a creature.

But a shape.

Tall. Humanoid. Shimmering, made entirely of spiraling glyphs, shifting like windblown smoke.

It stepped forward.

They didn't flinch.

The figure bowed its head, once.

We have watched.

The voice spoke without sound, directly into their minds.

We have feared. We have punished. We have abandoned. You burned what we made. You sang new names.

Jude stepped forward. "We survived."

The being nodded. And now, you lead.

Rose tilted her head. "What are you?"