[Location: Eastern Forest, beyond the River Duhkhagraha]
"अनुग्रहेणैव नः पश्यन्ति साधवः।""It is only through grace that the wise see us, even when we cannot see ourselves."
He had crossed the river hours ago, feet numb, thoughts blank.The path beyond the Gate of Shame had dissolved into wild, unmarked terrain — gnarled roots, whispering trees, and a silence that swallowed even breath.
The forest had swallowed him whole.
Since the trial, Aarav had not spoken to another soul — not even to himself. His thoughts wandered like ghosts through the hollow spaces of his shame, unable to take form.
He walked until his legs trembled and the ache in his chest became background noise.
In a quiet clearing ahead, two deer cubs stood beside a small pool — fragile, wide-eyed, unafraid. Their presence felt unreal, like a dream not meant to be disturbed.
Aarav crouched low and watched them from behind a tree, his cracked lips parting.
"Do you… know what I did?" he whispered, voice barely audible. "Do you… run from shame, too? Or do you carry it in your bones like I do?"
The cubs blinked. One tilted its head as if listening.
"You're lucky," he said softly, "you don't have a name to ruin."
The wind stirred. The cubs turned suddenly, ears alert.
Rustling.
Aarav stiffened. Something was moving through the brush — heavy, limping steps, crunching branches.
And then —
He appeared.
A man — tall but broken — stumbled into the clearing.
Blood smeared across his shoulder and chest. His robes were torn and muddied. Strange, arcane markings — burnt, inked, or scarred — coiled along his arms and across his exposed torso. One eye was swollen shut, his face gaunt, drained of color.
The deer scattered instantly.
The man took two more steps, swayed, then collapsed beneath the massive banyan tree at the heart of the clearing.
He said nothing.
Only the sound of his breathing — shallow, labored — remained.
Aarav didn't move at first. His instincts screamed for caution. But something about the man's arrival, his condition, the symbols on his skin… it felt guided. Like the forest had delivered something ancient and wounded at his feet.
He approached slowly.
No weapons. No threat. Only blood and silence.
Kneeling beside the stranger, Aarav checked his pulse. Weak, but there. He looked around — no path, no supplies. Whoever this man was, he hadn't just wandered here. He'd been sent. Or exiled. Or both.
Without thinking, Aarav began to move.
He gathered dry branches from beneath the roots and shrubs. Leaves, bark, and twigs. Then, a handful of wild berries — some he recognized from his weeks in the forest — and a few tender shoots he knew to be edible.
He returned and built a small fireplace ring with stones, arranging the wood carefully. He struck flint against his blade, again and again, until at last a flame caught.
The fire crackled. Its light danced across the man's bloodied face.
Aarav tore strips from his robe and gently cleaned the worst of the wounds. He packed some leaves against the deeper gashes, tying them with rough bandage wraps.
As night approached, the air cooled.
Aarav leaned the man against the trunk of the banyan, its vast roots forming a natural alcove — like the womb of the earth itself. Then he sat beside him, eating a few berries in silence, offering some nearby just in case the man woke.
He stared into the flames.
He didn't know why he was doing this.
Maybe because this man looked more broken than him.
Maybe because he wanted someone — anyone — to need him again.
Or maybe... this was the forest's answer to the question he'd asked the deer.
Hours passed.
The moon had risen. Crickets sang softly beneath the roots.
A crackle stirred beside him. The man shifted slightly, his fingers curling, lips twitching in sleep.
Then — a low groan. The first sound from him since he arrived.
His eyes fluttered open. Bloodshot. Ancient. Heavy with something unspoken.
He looked at Aarav — really looked at him — and for a long moment, said nothing.
And then, in a rasping whisper, the man spoke:
"You… stayed."
Aarav said nothing. He only nodded once.
The man's eyes closed again. Sleep took him.
But the silence between them had changed.
🌌 [End of Chapter]