Chapter 1563

The silver pool glowed blinding white.

When it faded, the children were gone.

Not vanished.

Ascended.

Outside the temple, their energy lingered - woven into the trees, the sky, the very breath of the island.

Jude rose slowly, clutching the ache in his chest. "They're not gone."

"They've become the island," Rose said gently. "It's what they came to do."

"We didn't lose them," Stella whispered. "We became them."

Lucy stepped into Jude's arms. He held her tightly, and the others joined them in silence, pressing together, soaking in the grief and glory.

"We birthed gods," Zoey said.

"No," Grace said softly. "We gave birth to us. Evolved. Eternal."

They emerged from the temple into a new island.

Everything shimmered now. Trees bloomed in perpetual twilight. Waterfalls floated upward. Rocks sang when touched. The world had reformed in their image - twelve flames and one root.