Jude blinked - and found himself in a different place entirely. The same island. But not. He stood at the edge of a field. In the distance, a single figure knelt beside a tree. Alara.
She looked up at him and smiled. "You came."
He walked toward her. The world around them was golden, dreamlike, as if suspended in time.
"You knew I would."
She stood, her body glowing, her eyes deep pools of starlight. "You're not just the pulse anymore, Jude. You're the memory. The future. The link."
"To what?"
She turned and gestured. Jude followed her gaze.
Dozens of glowing figures stood on the hills. Some he recognized - Tarek. Alara. Even versions of himself, holding different women, touching them with the same devotion he felt now.
"You are all echoes of the same choice," Alara said. "To love without fear. To surrender without losing yourself. To become more."
Jude swallowed. "Why me?"
