UNKNOWN | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 4)

[ 32 ]

So, why..? Why did you leave this behind?

He lifted the top lid and an inaudible gasp left Elliot when he saw the artefact. It was just as mesmerising as it was the first time when he saw Aris wearing it. No words could be used to describe how enchanting it looked, and even though decades have passed, it was still as beautiful as it was. The lustre fabric twinkled under the light, and it looked like it was woven with metal and stardust, it was as if someone had torn a part of the starry skies to create the relic. At certain angles, it had such an intense black colour that it felt like you were being pulled into it. Yet, from another angle, it had sparkled. His fingers trailed over the fabric, feeling its silkiness. For a moment, he thought that the artefact had disappeared as it had vanished from his hands. But perhaps he was just imagining it, "It must be the alcohol..." he mumbles. 

What felt soft and light like a veil surprisingly had held such a weight in his grasp and his brows contorted at the strange feeling. Was this the weight Aris had to bear when she was chosen? And to know that his daughter had to be the one enduring this weight next made Elliot's heart hurt and ache. How would she react when the truth prevails?

A note caught his attention when he stroked the artefact and he placed the soft fabric back into the box and seized the little parchment. His eyes move as he reads it:

'In time, I hope you understand why I had to leave. The gift bestowed down to me that I have passed onto you was no blessing but a curse. And I vow to seek the cure that could destroy these chains that binds this misery to you, even if it costs me. 

But even so, I pray, I pray that perhaps one day, this misfortune could be of help to you. Just like how it had protected me once, I pray that there is still hope in this forsaken curse.

 Forgive me.'

There was a scoff from Elliot, feeling his suppressed rage resurfacing once more. He crumpled the paper in his hands and it dropped back into the box. This was the exact reason why she had left? 

No.

He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it. He could still remember the look on her face when she had left, all hope was lost and there was nothing but hatred swirling in her eyes when she walked out of the door with little Aion by her side, reluctant to leave but he was too young to say anything but follow. He could recall the memory of Aris glaring coldly at the child she had abandoned and left behind with him, visions of the past flickered past Elliot's eyes as he remembered what had happened. The sharp blade that ought to be stabbed through the wrapped being if he hadn't interfered, the screams and cries he had heard that night were so gut-wrenching that he wanted to erase it from his memories so he wouldn't hear it again.

The darkening of Aris's gaze as it fell into a soulless lour where her once beautiful eyes lost all of their shine and saturation. A child who should have been loved by her mother was rejected and cast aside.

Aris had left that day. And the love that he had for her shattered like it never mattered in the first place, the woman he had loved with all of his heart was like a different person. Elliot could never recover from that day when it felt like his world had crumbled apart into a million pieces and he could only wonder how worse it was going to be if he had told his daughter the story.

The knock on his door made him snap back to his senses, immediately sobering himself up from the alcohol.

"Dad?" he hears his daughter's voice on the other side of the room and he quickly covers back the box, shoving it back under the hidden compartment before he adjusts the mirror to make sure it was exactly in the right place. He hurriedly recomposes himself, almost knocking over the candle because he was still feeling a little tipsy.