Astral Chaos : Chapter 2 - The New Life

Barren lake, if someone hear this name, that person might think it is a lake that is forbidden due to harsh environment condition or other reason but this name was given to this place due to an incident that occurred many years ago. It is said that many year ago a powerful being on the continent fought a life and death battle with a beast that lived in that lake that led to current situated around this area and due to their power wildlife and vegetation around this area was destroyed. Now this place give sinister vibes with few hundred km of desert around this place and aura of death.

An old man with a stick in one hand and a big shabby bag on his back was passing by the barren lake. The man look quite old and was actually in his 50s but due to malnourishment, poverty and other factor anybody who saw him might guess his age to be around 70 years. He has wrinkles all over his face and a small white beard. He was walking with the help of a wooden stick that was randomly picked from a tree branches without caring about its shape. He wore a black shabby cloak that was torn and repaired many times.

By looking around this place can be said to a cursed place for every being even beasts don't roam around here but you can hear sounds of many birds who feed on the dead.

As the old man was passing by he didn't have any expression on his face looking like it was not new for him to go through this area. While walking he heard a cry that can be said to be of a small child. The old man when moved towards a stone placed next to a dead trunk of the tree. He saw a small child, at first look it can be said he might not be more than a month old. He was covered by a small cloth that was stained in blood. He was like a small flower that have grown in a barren land, all the energy of that area was moving around that child. When a person see the face of that child he/she might sea of drown in cuteness and holy aura of the child. Currently that child was slightly covered in dust but his glow was not slightly decreased.

That child was crying at the very best of its voice. He had a deep black eyes which didn't seem to have any end and his face was slightly covered with sand but it didn't affect his appearance at all.

"A child?", old man said with his shaky old voice.

Old man was astonished by this scene as to find a small child in this place where even adults normally don't dare to enter, he looked around the area for some clues to know, why this child was in this state at this place but he didn't found anything suspicious, after thinking for sometime, the old man decided to first take the child with him and later find a way to look for this child's parents.

He pick the child up with one hand and feed some milk to the child which he was carrying during his journey in a metal pot. He thought he might be crying due to hunger, which was correct to some extent. After drinking the little boy fall asleep and it looked like he haven't slept for some days.

Then old man noticed a pendant in the neck of the child, which by single look could be told to be very expensive as it possess a diamond piece on it which was blood red in color and metal with which this pendant was forged is also very expensive. He quickly understood that this child belong to one of the rich families that he might not have even seen them .

Old man knew this child was rich but he didn't know the metal and diamond of that pendant when if you want to converted it to money it will be a priceless treasure even the whole continent in front of it is like dust.

After giving a little thought about it, the old man continued his journey while holding the child with one hand, who fall asleep after drinking the milk. He was walking with the help of the stick and have that big bag on his back which from first look a little shabby.

He as usual didn't have any expression while walking towards his destination which was barren city. (It is named after the barren land which was near city).

While walking he had a problem which he cannot solve, he was regularly thinking about it,

"How can this child be alive after spending a large amount of time in those harsh condition, as looking to his previous condition he must have been here for more than 5 days. "

"At least, god blessed him and he is still alive, so there is still hope for him to meet his parents."

Then he continued his journey with the child while thinking about miracle that might have happened to make him survive.

When he reached the city, the city doesn't look like some big city with high rise building but instead it was a medium size city with population of around 60 lakhs.

Barren city was also considered a big village many years ago but its geographical location help it change these things. As due to barren lake, this city became a mid-point of travel from many urban cities. That helped in increase in business and infrastructure, so does the population of the city increase.

In term of area it is around 5000 km2, it have a stone wall all around the city for protection from any threat. Despite it only being Medium city it consist of many organization's branches that are quite popular around the continent, which include branches of primary education academy, auction houses, restaurants and etc. The city was formed around a big mansion in between ,which is quite popular tourist destination as mayor of the city lives there with his family.

"After so many days of travel, it feels so good to return!" , the old man said in his shaky voice with a small smile on his face.

When he walked past the main gate of the city many voices of solider from around came,

"Old doc…", "Old doc…","Old doc…" . Then a person who seem to be the captain of the group stationed on the gate and said,

"Old doc you have returned?, did you find what you were looking for.", Captain seem to be quite happy after seeing this old man , who is revealed to be a doctor. His real name was actually not know to anybody they use to address him as old doc.

"Yes, it took some efforts but I found the herbs.", the old doc replied.

Captain then suddenly noticed a child in hands of the old man and said, "Old doc, where did you find this child. He is quite cute and possess a kind of aura in him."

Old doc replied, "I found him in barren land. So, I decided to bring him back to find his parents."

"Don't worry about it ,I will go to city center to report about this child to help him find his parents. But it is quite abnormal for a child to be in that barren land.", captain replied.

After learning this, the old man thanked the captain and moved inside the city. While going towards east side of the city where he live, he was greeted by many people passing by as well as people that own shops around.

It is revealed that old man li is a doctor, who possess quite good knowledge of herbs. He lives in a rural area in the city far from the market area which is quite lively. He helps the people in town as well as solider around with their health issues that led to him having a good reputation in the city.

Old doc reached is house, which look more like a heritage passed on from ancestors and is not at all in a good condition. He use his medical skills to treat people but never ask for some fancy things, till this point if he have enough to eat it make him more than happy. It was due to another factor which was he didn't have any family to take care of as his wife died in her 30s and his children left him as they wanted to make money from his medical skills but old man didn't agree as doctor is not a profession to make money.

So, his children decided to leave him on its own and its been more than 10 years of him living on his own.

Now, when he is taking this little child in his home. He seem to remember his own children with whom he use to play when they were small.

His shabby looking house contain a cottage at corner of the land as well as a small courtyard in front, where we can see many different type of herbs are growing. It was made up completely of wood rather than stones and concrete used in other buildings or houses around the city. It can be said to be because of either poverty or his simplicity in living life, his house was in this condition.

After coming back he put the boy on the small bed in his house, who was still in a deep sleep. Looking inside his house, one can see his financial condition as he don't have many things in his house.

He have a corner in the cottage for medical treatment of people that come asking for help. Other than that he have a small area in corner where he cook food and the other area of cottage are empty. But due to being small, no one can say it look empty.

When he came back from the trip, the old man was tired and decided to rest for some days because his own medical condition was not quite good and even after being a respected and talented doctor himself. He was not able to find the cure for his own heart disease. So, this led to him in bad health and not able to do much labor work, but because of his kindness towards other city people, he was helped by others but at the same time made quite a lot of competitors who dislike him due to his service towards people which led to low business of their own. These people might be other doctors or pill houses etc.

After coming back from the trip, the old man's most time was spend taking care of the child or treating people who came for medical treatment to him. These people were extremely friendly and polite towards the old man. Many people saw the child but no one show any interest in it as their health was more important to them than thinking about some child.

Its been 3 days from when he came back, old man was picking some herbs from the garden in front which he has grown while the child was sleeping inside the house.

Old man heard a voice,

"Old doc, I think I have got some news about this child !", captain of the gate squad which he met when he first came back said with some nervousness.

Old man when saw the captain after hearing his words, a smile came on his old face.

"Oh, tell me. What did you find about him, its better to take him back to his parents as they might also be trying to meet him.", Old man replied.

"I was trying to find if somebody filled a complain about a small child went missing. There were few records of these kind of complain in city center but these were all kids lost in city.", captain replied with a nervousness on his face. It can be felt that he found an overbearing news about this child.

"So, what did you found about him.", old man asked with a series face after seeing expression of the captain.

"While I was investigating about this child, I heard a news about a women chased by many desert pirates and after some investigation about that matter, I found that it occurred outside left side gate of the city and while they were chasing this women they were also talking about a child she carried that was not with her now. I think this child was left by that women so that his life can be saved. So, I think it is better not to reveal about this child to other people as it might cause life thread to this child. And currently those pirates were not seen by anybody after this incident."

Old man was shocked after hearing explanation of the captain and his face show lines of tension he was going through. Old man than looked at the child that was asleep inside the cottage and said with a tone of thinking,

" Then, What should we do with the kid?"

"We can send him to a Orphan Home, they will look after him and he can also play with those children.", added the captain.

"No, it will not be needed i have been alone for quite a long time i will adopt him and he will live with me in my house.", said old doc with a rare smile on his face.

"But you can barely afford to live yourself can you afford him?"

"I don't know currently but i will definitely find a way to do so.", added old doc.

"So, you give him some name as we don't know his identity. ", captain said with a smile, he was quite surprised as he never saw old doc smile in his entire life but this child can make him forget about his pain and make him laugh.

"Hmm, I have indeed thought of a name Aarav, which will show his peaceful and calm aura.", old doc added.

Names are said to 2nd face of a person which depicts there thoughts as well there nature but it might not be always true. Aarav can depict a person is calm and peaceful by nature but it can also mean calmness before CHAOS.