Chapter 1580
The light from the heartstone never dimmed now. It pulsed steadily through the nights and days, sending golden tendrils of warmth into the sky and through the soil. Moss bloomed faster. Flowers unfolded in seconds instead of hours. Even the water in the river shimmered with a strange, luminescent clarity. The island was no longer responding to them - it was moving with them. Breathing with them. And at its center, Jude could feel the rhythm deepening.
He stood at the edge of the Gate just before dawn, watching the forest beyond. The leaves rustled not with wind but anticipation. There were no footsteps this time. No breaking branches or sudden voices. Just stillness. Pregnant. Poised.
Then they came.
Six of them.
Four women, two men. All barefoot, all dressed in tattered cloth. All blinking like they were waking from the same long sleep. Jude took one step forward, and the trees parted behind them, revealing the path in full light.
Lucy appeared beside him, her hair braided with thin vines that shimmered golden. "They’re younger," she whispered. "Not in body. In spirit."
He nodded. "They’re afraid."
"We weren’t?" she said with a smile.
The new arrivals hesitated at the edge of the moss. One of the women, tall with sharp cheekbones and bruises on her arms, looked as though she might bolt. One of the men stared at the ground like he was trying to will it to disappear. But another woman stepped forward - small, compact, eyes like flint - and spoke.
"We were told we would know by the light."
"You found it," Jude said.