304 MEMORY OF THE PAST
The first thing that Zuri realized was; the fraction of images that overlapped with the reality in front of her became more and more vivid, the more she looked into it. Gradually, it became reality and she couldn’t see Chaos in front of her any longer.
She couldn’t feel his touch or even feel his lips on her skin that peppered her with small kisses, or even the coldness of his hand on her nape. All of that disappeared when she realized that she was no longer in this beautiful white garden that Chaos brought her to.
She was no longer in his realm.
In that case, where was she right now? This place felt so strange. She had never been here before, yet the most important question was; where is Chaos?
Zuri couldn’t see him anywhere and this made her feel restless.
From her quick observation, there was only one thing that Zuri realized; she was in a forest, where branches of trees entangled with one another while lush leaves canopied her, hiding her from the bright light of afternoon sun.
The sky was no longer the color of dusk and Zuri could hear birds chirping in the distance, along with the streaming water of a river.
Zuri closed her eyes, feeling the serenity of this place that brought her and helping her to be at ease, even though Chaos was nowhere to be seen.
She felt the wind that caressed her skin and played with her long, white hair, as it carried the smell of this forest, the smell of solid ground, the water, the trees and various flowers in the distance away.
.....
Where is she right now? Why did Chaos take her here?
After a moment, Zuri opened her eyes and that was when this scent hit her, as if this familiar scent just appeared out of nowhere and it came from behind her.
Zuri turned around, she was ready with a lot of questions, regarding why they were here and what Chaos wanted to show her in this kind of place.
However, her question was cut short when she saw Chaos.
It was indeed him, but there was something about this man that made Zuri halt in her place and swallow back her question.
He looked exactly the same, except the clothes that he was wearing right now, and there was something about him, which made Zuri feel reluctant to approach him. He gave off a very negative aura, which made everything, everyone that was close to him feel an urge to turn around and avoid him at all costs.
The look in his eyes showed her how much he despised everything that he saw, even though he didn’t particularly do anything harmful or awful, yet still, there was something not right with him.
“Chaos?” Zuri called him, she looked at him puzzled, while he continued to walk away, as if he didn’t see her at all. How could he not see her when she was right in front of him?
Zuri followed him, she walked beside him, while calling him again and again, but when she stepped in his path to block his way, he just walked through her.
Yes, he walked through her, as if Zuri was not a solid object, as if she was just smoke, something that was not real. Zuri tried it once again, only to end up with the same results.
At this point, Zuri was sure that Chaos did not randomly teleport her, but he wanted to show her a certain time in his memories. That was why he said that he couldn’t explain it, but he would show her...
At that, Zuri followed Chaos silently, she walked next to the man, occasionally glancing at him.
Chaos had this scary look when he was sporting his normal expression. Someone would mistake him for being angry if they looked at him for the first time when he had this kind of face. Fortunately, Zuri had gotten used to this.
“What do you want to show me?” Zuri mumbled, as she walked beside him, knowing he wouldn’t be able to listen to her or answer her question. “Is this something important to you?”
The sound of the streaming water was getting louder, which meant they were walking closer to the river.
Somehow, Zuri noticed this fact about Chaos that he always prefered to be close to a water source, like a river. He chose to be in the frozen river when he disappeared for years and every time they changed places, often they would appear next to a river.
Just now Zuri noticed this. However, there was no river in the realm that he created for himself.
“You always have this scary look on your face, as if you are going to kill anything that you see.” Zuri talked to herself when she witnessed how Chaos’ scary look softened gradually and this left her surprised. “Huh?”
Zuri followed Chaos’ line of sight and found a white wolf rushing toward him and the closer this creature got to him, the softer his expression became. His eyes filled with warmth and there was a small smile on the corners of his lips when the white creature circled around his feet.
Chaos bent his body and tousled the wolf’s head, he looked at this wolf indulgently, as it licked his hand.
For a moment, Zuri remembered the story that Anne told her a long time ago when she was only a little girl, when she would tell her various stories before she fell asleep.
The story of the man with his white companion.
As she grew up, she realized that the story was about Chaos and the white wolf that accompanied him. She knew the story didn’t end well.
The man lost his companion due to the way people in the village feared Chaos. Those people were afraid of him and when flash floods happened, they blamed Chaos for that, since he would always bring catastrophe wherever he went.
This unfortunate event only solidified the people of the village’s anger and their hatred toward Chaos, yet they feared him the same. That was why they vented out their acrimony and antagonism on his little companion.
From what Anne told her, the flash floods happened because it was a natural disaster and had nothing to do with Chaos.
However, when he found out the little white wolf died in the hands of the villagers, he wiped out the entire village, leaving no soul alive, as he mourned his loss.
When Chaos asked for his little companion’s soul to be reborn again in this realm, that was the time when he had to pay with his own soul. The reason as to why his soul got shattered. This was a form of punishment for Chaos as well for killing countless people out of spite.
The same thing happened when he killed people out of control. The dark creatures from the underworld. How he lost his ability to control the darkness inside of him. Losing his power for a long period of time. Those were his punishments...
“Don’t go there...” Chaos suddenly spoke softly, as he picked the white wolf, which was trying to go to the river, and put the creature on his lap, as he caressed its soft fur. His expression looked very serene.
However, the little wolf tried to escape and once again dashed toward the river, as it looked at its own reflection on the water, fascinated.
Chaos finally came to its side and stayed there, to keep the wolf safe, so this little creature wouldn’t slip and fall into the cold water.
It seemed Zuri’s assumption about how Chaos loved to be near the river was slightly wrong. It was not him, who liked to be near the water, but it was the little white wolf...
This little creature was very curious about its surroundings and Chaos looked exceptionally patient to feed its curiosity.
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“You can’t call me with the same excuse over and over again,” Darius said to Jasmine, as he fixed the shower in her bathroom. It was clear to see that she whacked this poor thing and told him that it was not working. “And you can’t destroy anything that you can reach.”
“I didn’t,” Jasmine said softly, as she leaned against the doorframe, watching how Darius fixed the mess that she made. “It’s broken.”
“You did it.” There was an accusatory note to his voice when he spoke curtly.
This time, Jasmine didn’t say anything, she just looked at Darius silently, while the man worked on the shower. He glanced briefly at her because she didn’t reply, but then he kept his focus on what he was doing and ignored the woman completely.
However, once he was done with the shower, he gathered all the tools and was about to leave when Jasmine closed the bathroom door behind her and stood there in silence. She looked at Darius closely.
“What do you want?” Darius asked, his voice hoarse.
“I just want to have someone to talk to,” Jasmine confessed. She lowered her head and stared at her bare feet, which made Darius ball his fists.
“Move away,” Darius said sternly.
“You know how it feels to be an outsider in a place that doesn’t want you.”
“I don’t know.”
Jasmine raised her head and then looked at Darius with eyes that filled with sadness, as she walked closer to him. “You don’t know, but your mate knows.”
“Don’t talk about my mate!” Darius snarled at her viciously.
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*Read my new book: KISSED BY THE DARK ALPHA*
Alpha Micah Donovan’s second chance mate.