Old Version Shatter Pieces

Chapter 87: Journey to the Past

Carter

I trudged through the dark forest not with no idea what I was looking for. All I knew was that I might find something that would help me understand my mate. Tell me about her parents and might even tell me why her eyes glowed the way they did. Hopefully this wasn't just a wild goose chase to amuse that demon hiding in Elinn's skin.

I hoped that this would be a fairly quick trip wanting to get back to the house before Elinn awoke. I felt as though she was constantly waking up by herself leading to even worse attachment issues. I needed to be back before she was up so that she wouldn't feel the need to go searching the woods for me.

As I walked I let my instincts guide me to wherever they felt like taking me. My wolf seemed to be drawn to something in these woods, but he wasn't able to tell me what it was. As I reached the edge of my territory I began to realize where I was headed.

On the western border to my pack lay the Archaios Woods. They were the woods where the first pack had been organized. Legend said that the woods were cursed and any pack that tried to settle there who did not have an one of the first or second generation wolves with them would be punished. No one went into the woods and now I was being pulled towards them.

At this point I didn't care if I got cursed as long as I found answers. I needed to know how to help my mate and if the answers were inside the Archaios then that was where I was going. I took a breath and stepped off my territory into the woods.

"Alpha is everything okay, the pack just felt you leave the territory. I know you don't want to be disturbed, but I just wanted to check and make sure everything is fine." Nathan mind linked me sounded slightly stressed.

"I'm fine Nate, just going on a bit of a hunt. I need to kill something to take the edge off you know how it is." It wasn't entirely a lie, I was hunting. However, instead of searching for some deer or stuff like that I was looking for salvation.

Nathan's presence in my mind left and I continued walking through the woods. Luca was growing more and more restless inside me wanting to get to where we were going faster. I stripped down and shifted letting him take over until we got to our final destination.

After about an hour of running Luca began to slow down and I was getting ready to take us back to the house so we would be back before the sun began to rise. Then I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A few hundred feet into the woods was a large shadow that resembled a house.

As I walked closer I began to notice details about the house. There was furniatre strewn about the lawn as if it had been tossed out the door. Windows were shattered and there was broken glass and carnage covering the wrap around porch. The door was hanging from a single set of hinges as though it had been kicked in. I was sure that whoever had lived in this house had been attacked.

Cautiously I took the broken steps up to the house that seemed about ready to collapse. It had obviously been abandoned for sometime, but I hoped that I would be able to find some clues as to what had happened. I had no idea if this had anything to do with Elinn, but I was so curious that I really didn't care anymore. I just wanted to understand the mess that I had witnessed.

The entrance was large and covered in leaves and plants. Whoever had been here hadn't come back to get anything that much was obvious by the belongings left in the house. There were still pictures hanging on the wall to the stairs that led upstairs. I wiped dust at the one closest to the bottom and examined the picture inside.

There was a tall man with light brown hair and striking blue eyes standing on the edge of a cliff. He had his hands outstretched and the sun was rising behind him and fit perfectly in his arms. It was as though he was summoning the sunrise and it made me smile.

The next one was of the same man standing next to a thin woman with long blonde hair and green eyes. She was so pale I would think her skin had never seen the sun, which I found kinda ironic considering the last photo. She was smiling up at the man with the most loving adoring gaze I had ever seen. They seemed so familiar, but I had never seen them before.

There was a picture of the couple sitting on a park bench kissing. Another of the two of them hanging upside down in a tree like bats. In very picture they were connected in some way as if it physically hurt them to fall apart. It was sweet and the next picture broke my heart.

A little girl was bundled up and being held in the man's arms. He was looking down at her as if she was his whole world. The next was of the woman sitting in a bed of flowers with the baby girl snuggled into her chest. It was sweet, but looked around at the mess around me I knew how this story was going to end.

When I reached the top of the stairs I noticed that all the doors were blown in. They had all been ransacked by whoever had been here. Nothing was clean and everything was thrown around as if the intruders had been looking for something in particular.

The nursery was the worst to look at, the most damaged. The wall paper covered in little butterflies had been torn from the walls. The cradle had been smashed and broken into a million pieces as though it was an embarrassment. The dresser drawers were piled on the floor with what seemed to be a ton of baby clothes thrown around the room. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen and it made me feel sick.

As I continued searching I found an office that didn't seem to have been disturbed. It was tucked into the back corner hidden in plain sight. I had to kick the door in to get in because the lock had rusted shut. I was astonished to find the room untouched and papers stacked neatly on top of the desk.

I picked up the fairly large stack of paper and read the title written on the front.

How it all began

By Ecstan Vansesor

I nearly dropped the book, Ecstan that was the name of the man, the one the golden eyed thing had told me his name. He was Elinn's father.