The corpses of the rogues were already decomposing even though they were dead not long ago which was the reason for the strange smell. She was used to seeing dead bodies but she was a little bit uncomfortable because the flesh was like being eaten and it was the reason for the strange smell.
She did not hesitate to contact Zayier through the mind link and told him to bring some pack warriors to the southern border of Lurea Woods. Zayier followed the Alpha's order without asking questions and they reached the southern border in less than an hour.
The moment they stepped inside they the open field, the stench of death has gotten stronger and they found their Alpha staring at a certain direction so all of their attention was focused on that area. The warriors scattered and peered inside the forbidden woods only to see the bodies of the rogues that had almost turned to bones with all of their flesh disappearing slowly.
"These corpses have pretty much decayed but we did not find nor detect any sort of injury or indications of a fight based on our observation of the area. We might be able to gleam more information if we can get near the bodies." Zayier relayed what they were able to find out in a short while. He wanted to take a closer look at the corpses while they were not completely decayed but he still needed the Alpha's permission.
"You can't. Before you came, those corpses were fairly recognizable and I watched them decay after a few minutes to its current state right now," Amber said without looking at them. "Why don't you take a look at it again?"
Zayier looked back and saw what the Alpha meant, "it seems that something is eating the flesh though I can't see any kind of insect or anything that might be causing it."
"This 'darkness' is eating the flesh," the wolf's head raised as she tried to see what was really inside the forest, "this place is indeed cursed and the 'darkness' intends to leave nothing behind." Amber stood on fours and turned around, "let it be, place some warriors in this area because this might not be the last time that rogues will try to enter the Lurea Woods."
She let Zayier handle the rest as she returned to the pack house with some clues and more questions than she had before. Amber turned back to her human form and met with Zael who was buried in several documents inside his own office.
"Do you have any information about the Lurea Woods?" she asked as she ignored the mess inside the room which she will usually notice and Zael would hear a handful from her.
Zael was surprised but he immediately got back to himself at the Alpha's question, "I don't have but the library might have or the elders might know something about it, why do you need it Alpha?"
"Nothing, I'm just a little bit curious about it. Don't mind me, continue with your work." She left the room with her beta confused as to what had happened.
If she wanted to know more about the woods, she might really need to ask the elders about it since the information she knew about the place was not enough. Her father had records of the woods but there were not any usable things written on them and all of them were pretty much the same in content. The Lurea Woods might hold the answer to what was currently happening but in order to confirm her hunch, she needed a lot of information which were not necessarily available because the incident about the woods happened long time ago.
"Wake up princess," a deep but cool voice echoed through the room that was full of large teddy bears and dolls. The room was also decorated with blues and greens combined with the earth toned book shelves that were full of different kinds of books.
A soft groan came from the bed at the center of the room and two small hands peeked from inside the blanket. The man who was leaning on the door sill chuckled and walked towards the bed. He slowly pried away the blanket that was covering the child who refused to wake up.
"Come on, you still have to go to school or you'll be late. You'll also miss the ice cream and new dress if you continue to stay in bed." Xander carefully pulled the child up who still refused to open her eyes.
The child woke up after hearing her brother's words as she looked at him with sparkling eyes. "Are you treating me to ice cream today?" the excitement overshadowed the sleepiness as she gave his brother a hug.
Xander returned the hug with a smile on his handsome face, "Yes I will treat you if you do well today and if you won't be late to school."
Xerra left his brother's embrace and ran towards the bathroom but before she closed the door she peeked outside once again, "You promise?"
Xander once again laughed at his sister's cuteness, "Yes, so make it fast and let's be early today."
He returned to the kitchen to prepare the food he cooked and placed it all on the table. Xerra dressed herself after taking a quick shower and entered the kitchen with a smile on her face at the smell of her favorite food. She sat down and waited for her brother to fill her plate with rice and savory chicken adobo so Xander did not disappoint.
Both of them enjoyed the food before Xander drove her to her school. "I'll pick you up this afternoon so wait for me, okay?"
"See you later brother," she waved at him then turned around to enter the school campus. She was humming while and the smile on her face did not disappear until the classes had started.
He waited until she entered the school building before he finally left for work. ENIGMA was an engineering and architectural firm that their parents had founded and now it was Xander who was currently running it. The building was one of the uniquely designed infrastructures in Hive City. It was also well known because of the many successful projects they had participated in ever since the firm's establishment.
The lobby fell into silence once Xander stepped inside and a series of greetings were directed at him. He gave the employees a smile and also returned their greetings which made the employees hearts felt warm. The employees even considered themselves lucky to be able to work in ENIGMA because the CEO was kind and the pay was above the average.
He was not only known as the CEO of one of the largest firms in the city and he was also known as an eligible bachelor that every woman wanted to get to know or even better marry but to the dismay of many, it seems that he has no interest in tying the knot anytime soon.
He greeted his secretary who signaled that someone was waiting for him inside his office. Xander already had an idea on who it was and he thanked the secretary before he went to open his office's door. The sound alerted the person inside that the owner of the office had finally arrived.
"You are unusually early today, did something happen?" Xander asked after he closed the door. He walked towards his table and placed his bag on the table while waiting for his friend's response.
"I got dumped." The statement made Xander stop for a moment before he sighed and took a step back.
Instead of starting his work, he decided to take a seat on the empty space on the other side of the table to listen to his friend's problem. It was rare for him to be this distressed so the matter might have been really difficult for him to accept.
"She's going to another country so she broke up with me, said that since we are going to be apart and because I was not willing to go with her, it's better for us to break-up." He tilted his head to look at the white ceiling of the room. He looked forlorn which made Xander sympathetic of him even though he had no experience on the field of love.
"Have you tried talking to her?" he had no ability to advise him but he would at least hear him out as his friend.
"I have but she was determined. She said that she wanted to experience something new and live a different life but I could not go with her because my life and career is here." They met up and talked about it but no matter how he tried to convince her, she just shook her head and didn't listen to him. After he had exhausted his energy to convince her, he gave up. He did not want to force her since she was determined to leave and that was the end of it.