Chapter 1382

The air the next morning was thick with warmth - not from heat, but from presence. Jude woke to the soft pressure of Lucy's head resting on his shoulder, her breath slow and steady. Around them, the others lay tangled together, golden skin against darker, shimmering reflections. The two spirals had not clashed. They had fused.

The dome that had once been their sanctuary had transformed overnight. Now it towered high above the forest canopy, its surface glassy and alive, shaped not by design but desire. The walls pulsed faintly with every shared breath inside. The spiral - now both gold and black - glowed from the center of the floor, slowly rotating beneath their sleeping forms.

Jude didn't move for a long time.

He simply listened.

The spiral hummed beneath him like a lullaby, soft and slow, like the island was finally at rest. But beneath that stillness, something stirred. A new rhythm. Not a warning. A call.

He sat up.