They walked for another hour before Aarav's body started giving out on him.
His steps just got heavier, his thoughts a little slower, the road in front of him slightly less focused than it should have been. Blood loss, exhaustion, cold — all of it adding up quietly. He had been running on adrenaline since midnight and it was gone now.
He made it another ten minutes before his legs stopped cooperating. He sat down on the edge of the road heavily. Meera sat down beside him immediately, her shoulder pressed against him.
The cold came in fast once he stopped moving. He was aware of Meera pulling at him, saying his name quietly, her small hands on his face. He heard her voice from somewhere that felt further away.
'Still alive.' he thought faintly. 'Still moving.'
Then darkness.
Meera started pulling at Aarav. " Av ?"
No response.
"Av?!!!"
"Wake!Av?!!Wake!!Pwease!"
Meera had started to panic. Tears streaming down her eyes. Her heart felt as if pressed by something, a feeling she had felt for the first time.
From the time she remembers, Aarav has been the only one closest to her. The world hadn't been kind to her but Aarav was the only one who had taken care of her. In her little mind she had declared that Aarav is her property.
But it feels like she is about to lose him.
She held onto him tightly and tried to move along the road desperately in the hope that there will someone who will save him.
But with cold and tiredness, how long can her malnourished little body, which have been abused for a long time can hold on.
Her legs are tired, mind felt like fog, but she still held on unyieldingly. Relentlessly dragging Aarav no matter how little her steps became.
But in the end she couldn't hold on anymore and fainted.
__________________
Rayan was a kind, middle aged low rank patrol officer of the Internal security Division who had been recently transferred to Ashvara city after he lost his wife and children in a beast rampage.
His strength is about level 15, not too strong or too weak for a low rank patrol officer. He had been trying to deal with his grief in this seemingly peaceful city.
Few days ago there were reports from a village that people have been gone missing and it is suspected to be an escaped mutated beast.
He was deployed to investigate and solve the issue along with few other low rank officers.
After they investigated, they suspected that it was a mutated wolf so they went to search the mountain quickly to capture the beast.
After searching for a long time he found two fainted kids, one of them was even heavily injured. Both were about the same age as his kids so he got a little emotional.
After taking them both to the infirmary, it was confirmed that both were out of danger. They also discovered the corpse of mutated wolf.
He felt that the matter was little strange. It seems kid was injured by the wolf, but how did the wolf die ? He didn't think that a kid could kill a mutated lv 9 wolf but he also had an intuition that the kids were special.
After the kids woke up he tried to talk with them, was surprised by their adorable and sensible behaviour. This also made him remember his own kids.
From their little broken words he concluded that they were saved by a passing Urja master.
But when asked about parents and family, they didn't answer anything.
Rayan felt a little sad for two children having no parents from childhood. They felt so similar to his own children. So he began to visit them regularly gradually growing attached to them.
_______________________
A neat white ceiling.
That was the first thing Aarav saw when he woke up.
He tried to move and the pain from his injury came crashing down immediately.
'I am Alive.'
Seeing Meera in his side bed he let out a sigh of relief.
He checked her condition, she seems to doing well.
After some time two officers came to check on them.
They tried asking him about situation. Aarav in his baby language ( to hide his capability of speaking too well ) made them understand that they were lost in the woods and attacked by the wolf but saved by a passing Urja master.
The officers didn't have any choice but to believe the little child.
Although Aarav was cautious he was still grateful to the officer who saved him when he heard about it. He also felt the officer kind. He often came to play with them and bought them food and toys.
As a person who is mentally adult, it felt a little awkward to act and be treated like a child but it didn't stop him from feeling the kindness of the officer towards him.
He also heard other nurses talking that his name was Rayan. He was a kind person who lost his family and probably relates them with his lost children.
Few days passed, Rayan came to visit them everyday, and play with them. They stayed in infirmary for those days as they weren't completely healed yet.
But Aarav didn't have any idea where to go after this yet. He doesn't know where his parents are, system also shut down. He doesn't have a single reliance in this world.
When the day of discharge came Rayan gave them the proposition to adopt them. At first they were hesitant but at this moment they don't have any other good option and Aarav had observed Rayan's genuine kindness over these days and decided he was trustworthy enough. So Aarav choose to be decisive and agreed. Which was actually turned out to be a good decision.
After that Rayan formally adopted them. Though they still called him uncle.
Rayan took care of them like his own family. Also began to teach them.
Rayan observed that although Meera was physically older than Aarav, usually he was the one who takes care of Meera like a big brother.
He was amused by their antics.
Although his salary was low, foods and clothes were cheap, they were a warm family of three.