Yukito and Celeste had been moving nonstop since the defeat of the two arachnid creatures and they finally found themselves back at the road. His side hurt terribly and his pace had slowed considerably at this point, but at least they didn't have much farther to go. The road wound around a small hill and once they got around, the forest began to thin. 

"We're almost there! Just hang in there, Yukito! We'll find someone to help us once we get to Barebury."

Yukito gritted his teeth against the ever present pain and nodded. Sweat continuously ran down his face and he was starting to feel seriously ill. Did that thing poison me I wonder? This can't all just be from that gash in my side? The bleeding stopped over an hour and a half ago. What's wrong with me? Celeste continued to prod him along despite his strong urge to lay down and sleep. Just as the sun was setting, they exited the forest and down a small hill, they got their first look at the town of Barebury.

The buildings were plain, yet sturdy looking, and made of wood with tile roofs. Yukito could see some lights winking on here and there in the windows of the buildings. Once they were in town Celeste took him to a small medical clinic that she knew of. They could see light coming from the windows and when they entered they saw a middle aged man tending to a boy with a scraped knee.

"We need some help! My friend was injured in the Amber Forest and he is looking worse and worse by the second!"

The man turned around and left the small child where he sat to come over and have a look. "He doesn't look so good. Take him into the room over there," he pointed at a door to the left. "Oli. You should be just fine, go ahead and head home. Tell your parents I said hello."

"Sure thing! Thanks, doc!" the boy hopped off the table and ran out the door excitedly just as they were entering the other room.

Surprisingly enough, the room they entered looked just like any other doctor's office Yukito would have seen back on Earth, albeit with just a few exceptions. There were some odd looking instruments hanging on a rack on the wall and he noted a cabinet with a lock on it that probably contained medicine. There were three chairs in the room and an examination table. A moment later the doctor came in and told Yukito to show him the wound.

With a lot of effort, he pulled off his hoodie, revealing the strip of Celeste's cloak that had been wrapped around him as a bandage which was soaked with blood. He looked down and saw that the skin around the wound on his side was a sickly green and purple color. Am I going to die? he winced at the sight of himself.

"Hmm... that does look bad. Have a seat on the table, young man." The doctor grabbed a pair of scissors and cut away the bandage to have a better look.

The cut itself was covered in puss and looked to be a dark yellow color. His body was the freaking rainbow of bad colors. Yukito winced again and gritted his teeth as the doctor poked and prodded around the wound. "It's fortunate that you made it here tonight. I don't think you would've lived until morning. I believe I can help you though. Lay back."

Yukito did as the man requested and laid down on the exam table, closing his eyes; he felt so damned sleepy. He heard the sound of keys jingling in a lock and then the doctor spoke, "So what are your names? You aren't from around here. How did he get this wound?"

"I'm Celeste, and that's Yukito. We were travelling through the forest from the capital and stopped for lunch along the way when we were attacked by some sort of gigantic spiders. We only just barely got away," she answered.

"Spiders, you say? I haven't heard of such a thing in the forest before, but that doesn't mean I don't believe you." The doctor stepped over next to him. "Okay, Yukito, this is going to hurt. A lot. I want you to bite down on this." He handed Yukito a small round piece of wood that was covered with a layer of a soft rubber-like substance. "I have to stitch up the wound before I can apply a healing salve. You two can stay here for the night."

"Thanks. We don't have a lot of money... but you can take everything I have. Just please save him!" she pleaded.

"I'm not in it for the money," he replied with a kind smile. "We can work it out in the morning. Are you ready, Yukito?"

Yukito placed the rubber stick into his mouth and nodded; he focused on bracing himself for what was to come next. For the next several minutes, horrendous pain was the only thing that he felt. He gripped the sides of the table so hard that it hurt his hands as the doctor sewed him up. 

After what felt like eternity, the doctor opened up a small container of salve, not too different looking than the one Celeste had used on him before, and rubbed it all around the wound. In just seconds he felt a small amount of relief. He could feel his body literally knitting itself together where he had been stitched up. The pain was still horrendous and he felt like he was on fire. He felt so drowsy. His eyes began to droop and the last thing he heard was, "I'm going to administer some anti-venom. Hopefully this works. He's going to need to stay under observation for at least⁠—"

He went in and out of sleep over what felt like an eternity. One time when he opened his eyes he saw that he had been moved to a regular bed and that Celeste was leaned over his legs asleep in an awkward looking position with a blanket draped over her. Has she been here next to me the whole time? Darkness took him once more.

When he awoke again she was sitting next to him reading a book and there was a distinct smell of warm food in the room. His stomach grumbled like he hadn't eaten in a year and he saw two plates of food nearby. One was half-eaten and the other must've been set out for him. She saw he was awake and sat down her book. "You're awake! Are you feeling okay? I was so worried about you!" She got up and gave him a long hug..

Yukito returned the embrace and when she sat down he reached for the plate of food. "I feel 100% better. Thanks for watching over me, Celeste." 

She blushed slightly and stood up. "It was no problem, I'm just glad you're okay," she walked over to the door and cracked it open. "Doctor Vernia, he's awake."

A moment later the door opened and the doctor stepped into the room. "Glad to see you made it. This one has hardly left your side in the three days that you've been in and out of sleep. Even with medicine, whatever it was that got you out there was extremely deadly. You're truly lucky to be alive." 

Three days? I was really out for that long? His mouth hung open with shock. "How can I ever repay you?"

"Live a long and happy life. That's all the thanks I need. Don't worry about paying me anything, Celeste has already worked it out with me. She paid part of the fee to cover the cost of the medicine and has been helping me out around here while you were recovering."

This was only the second truly good person Yukito had encountered since coming to this world, and he didn't have words for the gratitude he felt for the man. "Thank you," was all he said and he started to dig into the food. 

"Celeste tells me that you two are heading across the southern border and that you're going to stay with her aunt in Mallon?"

"Yeah." Celeste must've told the doctor their made up story which was that the two of them were in love and her parents hadn't approved of her being with a demi-human, so they were going to the Mallon in the demi-human country of Gilldive where her aunt lived.

"It won't be easy to cross the border due to the war, you know. Not to mention that you have a long ways to go even after getting past the first border. You two are awful young to be making such a perilous journey. As I told Celeste, you are welcome to stay here, I could use some help around here and people aren't nearly as prejudiced around here. It's lonely here by myself, you see. My children have all grown up and moved away, and my wife passed away a few years ago."

Maybe we can stay for a short while at least. We probably need to find a way to make some more money. Deal or no deal, I'm sure three days in a sick bed plus medicine didn't come cheap. "We'll think about it. Where in town where we can buy some new clothes and supplies if we need them?"

"Your odd looking clothes have certainly seen better days. If you leave the clinic and head down main street. Take the first left and there will be a store with clothes in their window. Other supplies can be bought further down the main street. We also have a smith, if your weapons need repair. I strongly recommend you stay here for a few days at least to make sure that you're fully recovered before continuing your journey."

"Thanks. We'll keep that in mind. Celeste, want to go have a look around with me?"

"Okay. I've been here a few times before when I was little, but I wouldn't mind getting outside for a bit," she replied.

Celeste and the doctor left the room so he could get dressed and he found that his clothes had been cleaned while he had been unconscious. It would be nice to not have to walk around in clothes covered in dried blood. His shirt and hoodie had been torn and were in pretty rough shape. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to get his tail through his pants, but he figured it out. He needed to find some clothes that didn't stand out so much.

The two of them made their way outside and began walking down the street. I have to do something about my clothes. At least Celeste had more than one set of clothes to wear. "Hey, Celeste, how much did he charge you for taking care of me?" He didn't really know exactly how much things cost in this world, but didn't get the impression that her grandfather was an especially rich man, so he wondered how much money they had to make it to Mallon. 

"It cost us 1,750 Vin... we're actually pretty low on money now. I only have around another 600 Vin," she answered looking downward. "Believe it or not, that was a bargain for the care you received... I couldn't just let you die. I don't want to be completely alone in this world."

"Thanks, Celeste. I would be dead without you, and not just the time in the forest. I can't think of anyone I'd want to have with me more on this crazy ride through this new world than you," he replied. Yukito gave her a reassuring smile and a pat on the back. He reached into his tattered pockets and found the 25 Vin coin he had earned for his day of work at their inn and handed it over to her. "It's not much, but you should hold onto the money. I don't know anything about what things cost here and I'd probably just get ripped off if I tried to buy something alone anyway."

"Okay. So let's go find you a new set of clothes. Cheap clothes, mind you." She gave him a wink and they turned down the street that the doctor had told them the shop would be on. The place was easy to spot as there were racks of men's and women's clothes for display out front and a girl not too much older than himself sat on a chair next to them. 

They were about to walk up and see what was for sale when a huge commotion started up further down the street. Yukito pulled Celeste over behind a clothes rack and peeked over. There was a group of five guards all with armor that displayed a blue and white banner with 8 stars spread across it. They were relentlessly beating a boy looked to be around ten years old curled up into a ball on the ground.

Yukito's blood began to boil at the sight of a group of grown men beating someone who was so defenseless, but he forced himself to be smart about it. There was a rack of cloaks right next to him and he grabbed a black one. "How much for this?" he asked

The girl, who had also been staring at the vicious scene occurring nearby turned his way and answered, "10 Vin."

"Pay the woman, Celeste."

As she reached into her coin purse to take out the money he threw the cloak over himself and pulled the hood down tightly over his face. He activated his power and dashed toward the guards in a blur. The guards didn't even see him coming. It took him ten seconds to get to them, and he descended upon the men like death incarnate. He ruthlessly stabbed and slashed at them until they were all dead. Five seconds remained by his count when he had finished and he scooped up the boy and ran into the alleyway as fast as he could. 

To his surprise time didn't return to normal when he thought it would. By his count, it took an additional 8 seconds before time lurched back to normal. What the heck? he thought in confusion. He looked at the boy in his arms and was surprised to see that it was the same one the doctor had been helping when they had come into town. I wonder what happened? I need to get back to Celeste, but this boy needs that doctor right away. 

He carried the boy back toward Celeste and the girl at the shop by circling around the back streets so he wouldn't be seen. By some miracle he didn't believe there had been no other witnesses to what he had just done and even if there were they probably only saw a black blur. Yukito assumed that many of the people who had been around went inside the moment things took a turn for the worst to avoid getting caught up in the trouble. "Celeste. We need to get this boy to the clinic," he turned to the shopkeeper. "Can I trust you to not say anything about what you just saw?" 

The girl was trembling in fear at what she had just seen and nodded her head vigorously.

"Good. If word gets out about this, I'll know just who to come see about it. Understand?"

Again the girl nodded.

Yukito left it at that and the two of them made their way back to the clinic as fast as they could, leaving the grizzly scene behind them on the street without a second thought. Celeste had an armload of clothes that she had bought while he was on his way back. I won't let things like this continue. I'm going to get to the bottom of what's going on in this town and do something about it.