Chapter 24 - Cleric of Yuima

In a small clinic on the east edge of Noga, Hakuya sat on a bench outside of the patient rooms with his chin propped against his hand. His eyelids were heavy as he wracked his brain for solutions, occasionally drifting off to sleep before jerking awake and continuing his contemplation.

The thin Dr. Jensen Ilec with an unkempt doctor’s jacket and dark curly hair lay on the bench opposite him, fast asleep.

The hallway was plain and clean, with several potted plants and paintings as decoration. At the far end the closed double doors led to the front waiting area. The doors in the hallway led to four patient examination rooms, two offices, a filing room, two washrooms and a storage room. In addition, there were two shared long term rooms that had beds for three patients, and four private rooms.

On the second floor was a small studio apartment where Dr. Ilec lived alone. The nurses lived in a small duplex attached to the side of the clinic. They were sisters, Josie and Rosalie, who took shifts and cared for the patients around the clock. Dr. Jensen was the sole doctor of this clinic, which primarily served working class families that lived and worked at the edge of the forest.

A sudden bang from the front entrance jerked Hakuya to alertness.

“Doctor! Is there a doctor here?” A rough, strained voice called through the double doors.

Hakuya burst into the front waiting room moments later, with a scrambling Dr. Ilec behind him. A soaked man carrying a girl in his arms was standing in the center of the lit room, a puddle of water and blood pooling at his feet. His cloak shifted strangely in the light. His hood was down and his rain soaked hawk-like face was calm and serious.

The girl in his arms was not moving. Her clothes were soaked in blood. Her face was bloody and her eyes were hidden by her matted hair.

“It’s you!” Hakuya and Reid both exclaimed in unison as they caught sight of each other.

“Come inside quickly. Tell us what happened.” Dr. Ilec didn’t waste any time as he held open the doors and beckoned urgently to Reid.

“I came across her in the forest, being attacked by wolves.” Reid said succinctly.

Dr. Ilec led Reid into one of the larger examination rooms as Hakuya followed behind. His spiritual intuition told him that the girl was still alive, but fading fast. They lay the girl on the bed and quickly pulled off her outer clothes. Hakuya and Ilec both gasped under their breath as they saw a vicious gouge of a wolf bite in her arm. Their eyes darkened as they pulled off the cloak, revealing the grisly holes that pierced completely through her stomach and left arm.

“These aren’t wolf bites.” Dr. Ilec said under his breath.

Reid shot Hakuya a look. Hakuya interpreted it correctly as he replied, “It’s okay. The doctor is aware of unnatural events that are occurring in the woods.”

“A monster that I was hunting caused these wounds.” Reid said simply. “She was speared through the body.”

“It’s a miracle that she’s still alive.” Hakuya said quietly as he didn’t hesitate to pull out a conical vial out of his robe. It was filled with a milky translucent green liquid. “Dr. Ilec, please treat the wolf bite. I’ll handle the others.”

Dr. Ilec had a dark look in his eyes as he felt that the chance of saving the girl was slim. The wound had clearly punctured several of her internal organs. The loss of blood was enormous, and her skin was already deathly pale and cold. As a professional, though, he knew better than to give up before the end.

With practiced efficiency, Dr. Ilec grabbed a pair of shears off a tray and cut away the matted, bloody arm of the girl’s clothes. This revealed several deep, jagged cuts that had penetrated down to the bone near her elbow. The spear wound to her arm had torn off a large portion of her bicep.

“Rosalie, please clean her a bit and prepare the bandages while I clean the wound.” He called out to a brown haired nurse who had appeared in the doorway with a quiet knock. They quickly went to work with grim looks on their faces.

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Reid stood back against the wall as he watched Hakuya uncork the lid of the vial and hold it to the girl’s lips. She moaned quietly as Hakuya forced her mouth open and poured the green liquid in. He held his other hand over the gruesome wound on her abdomen, pressing down on it hard.

Dark liquid gushed out initially as the girl groaned in pain, but as Hakuya held his hand on top of the wound, the liquid began to get sucked back into her body.

This was a special disciple power of the Cleric of Yuima path, Rewind! Char Char cried out suddenly, her whole body tensing up as she relived the pain of getting stabbed. Looks of astonishment appeared on everyone else’s faces as the girl, who had been near death, showed a sudden renewed vitality.

Fresh blood began gushing out of the wound on her arm as her heart began pumping vigorously. Hakuya removed his hand from the girl’s stomach, revealing a blood stained but whole and unscarred abdomen. Hakuya finished emptying the vial’s contents with his right hand and set it down, then held the hand over the loose flesh of her bicep.

Though he was already feeling completely exhausted from closing the first wound - Rewind, again!

Hakuya decisively gripped onto Char Char’s bicep and poured his spirituality into the wound. The half-bald monk’s teeth clenched tight and veins popped out of his forehead as he groaned heavily. The bed began shaking and rattling as his body trembled under the spiritual pressure of the technique. Underneath his palm, the bone and muscles reformed and bulged outward as they regained their wholeness.

Char Char shut her eyes tight as she took in sharp ragged breaths, tears budding and rolling down her cheeks. As her vitality recovered, she regained consciousness and felt the pain more sharply than when she first received the wound, as she no longer had adrenaline pumping through her veins. Still, she didn’t break down, but suffered through the pain as strongly as she could.

“Augh!” Hakuya’s left hand suddenly flung back as if he had been stabbed. He held his trembling left arm with his right as blood began to seep through the rough undyed cloth of his shirt. Clearing his throat several times, he sat back, his whole body shaking as he closed his eyes.

Reid stepped forward quickly, grabbing Hakuya’s arm. He pulled up the sleeve, revealing a large gash in the monk’s arm reminiscent of a spear wound. It was deep, though it had not penetrated to the bone.

Hakuya grinned, his lips twitching in pain as he muttered, “Backlash. I failed to hold onto it at the end.”

Dr. Ilec and Rosalie stared at the wound on Hakuya’s arm, eyes wide as they tried to comprehend the miracle they had witnessed. Reid clicked his tongue in annoyance and dropped Hakuya’s arm, at a loss for words.

“Thank you.” Char Char said softly, breaking the silence. She pushed herself up to sitting position, helped by the nurse. The wolf bite on her exposed left arm was still jagged and messy, but there was only a slight incision on her bicep from the spear thrust. The bleeding had nearly stopped.

“It’s nothing.” Hakuya muttered as he stood up, still holding onto his newly wounded arm. He smiled at her weakly. “I’m sorry, I don’t have enough strength to heal you completely, it’s likely that your wounds will scar.”

For Rewind, the longer the time since the injury, the more difficult it would be to heal. If too much time had passed, it would be impossible. As he looked over the healed wounds on the girl, he nodded to himself. Luckily, he also had the unused elixir on him. Without it, Rewind may have healed the wounds, but the blood loss throughout her body would have killed her.

Char Char looked down at her arm, drawing in a small breath through her nose as she bit her lip, her eyes running down the grisly bite marks. Then she turned to look at the wound on Hakuya’s arm.

“I’m sorry too.” She said at length.

He smiled at her warmly and stood up. “Get some rest for the night. I’ll come take a look at you in the morning.

Nodding firmly to Dr. Ilec and Rosalie, he left the room, leaving the doctor to tend to Char Char for the evening. Reid followed behind as he made his way to the empty examination room across the hall.

As soon as he shut the door, his face contorted in pain as he dropped his cool composure.

“Ah, that really really hurts!” He hissed as he held his arm up to look at it. “Pass me the bandages from the cabinet, will you?”

Hakuya sat in the doctor’s chair, removing his shirt as Reid opened the cabinets randomly.

“Ah, I found some pain killers. Want some?” He said, tossing them over to Hakuya.

“Thanks.” Hakuya said, popping the bottle open. He looked over to the Hunter who looked haggard and worn out. He was hiding his injuries well. “You need any?”

Reid made a face and shook his head, “Nah. I’ve had worse.”

He tossed a roll of bandages to Hakuya and then made his way to the sink. His whole body was damp and covered in blood and dirt. He took off his cloak and hung it up and started washing his hands and arms. His broken ribs ached. They’d probably take a few days to heal, but it wasn’t anything he was worried about. His leg was also stiffening up, and the jump from the cliff hadn’t been kind on his back. He lamented inwardly, feeling his age.

The sound of the running tap and splashing water filled the silence for several minutes as neither man spoke. Hakuya left the room wordlessly and returned with his bag, pulling out a small jar of ointment. He applied it to the gash before wrapping his arm with a bandage.

“So a monster really has appeared in the forest.” Hakuya said, finally breaking the silence.

“There were rumours.” Reid nodded, “Now I’ve confirmed it.”

“I wonder if it has anything to do with the problem I’ve been investigating.” Hakuya thought out loud. Reid shot him a questioning look.

“Tell me.” Reid said.

“When you finish washing up, I’ll show you directly.” Hakuya replied.