"This is for you. Please take them all." Azaa put a plate with a dozen small, black pills on the table. Slowly Marcus walked to the table and gave the Alchemist pills a good look. "What do they do?" He asked and started to eat one after the other. "They will improve your overall well being, but most importantly enhance your body's ability to produce blood. This is vital for the ritual," Azaa said and offered him a cup with water.

While he was drinking Azaa continued to explain, "The ritual is a process with the goal to completely remove the corruption from my father's body. The infected parts are going to be cut out and then need to be regenerated. The removal will be done by my father and the regeneration is up to the two of us. The difficult part is that we can not miss even the smallest part of the corruption or it will grow back to full size in no time." That sounded a lot like cancer treatment to Marcus.

"Why did my blood need to be stronger?" Her explanation did not seem to cover that point. "The strength of your blood compared to the strength of my father limits what you can ultimately heal. To make sure we could remove and restore any part of my fathers body you had to reach a minimum strength." Marcus nodded and once again wondered what level Shen had. Azaa smiled and continued her earlier point. "To achieve our goal we will repeat the cleansing many times over. In between, you will be able to rest while we try to identify new infected areas," she said and gently touched his face. "All of this will take many hours, but we have to finish it completely. If we need to abort, we will have to start over on another day."

Marcus understood what the message was, all or nothing. Even an abort at 99% meant failure; only a perfect ritual would be a success. He took a deep breath and nodded "Okay, I'm ready."

Azaa gave him one last kiss and then they walked to the palace. The sky was overcast and a slight drizzle made everybody miserable. On the way Marcus unmuted Xeen. Do you want to stay with me at the ritual?

Of course. If I understand it correctly you will have a lot of time at your hands, so we can talk. Waiting for time to pass can drain the mind and erode the will.

Marcus agreed and quickly filled Xeen into the details of the procedure.

Ugh. Their lack of technology really shows here, but there is no other way to solve this problem. A strong enough Priest would also be able to eliminate the corruption but that is far beyond the means of this community or Earth.

Good to know.

They entered the palace and for the first time they went down to the underground level. Reinforced walls and heavy doors marked their progress until they entered a room prepared for the ritual. Shen was already here, naked down to some shorts, together with a few ginghi Marcus did not know.

Marcus greeted the ancient ginghi and he replied with a bright smile, but Marcus could see tension in his face. There was not much more talking after this and the actual procedure was simple enough. Marcus and Shen stood in a special circle made out of blood and only Azaa joined them inside. The duties of the other ginghi were not apparent to Marcus but they did not seem to be part of the process.

They might be here in case things go badly.

That was a possibility.

Without much of a ceremony they started, Shen used his fingers to touch his body on several points. Blood and tissue emerged from the areas and dripped down his body. The removed matter suddenly burst into flames and burned into nothingness, and Marcus could see that one of the ginghi was the cause of this.

They burn the infected body tissue.

That is a good policy, the corruption of a dragon can linger for a long time, even outside a body.

Okay, I think it is my turn next. As predicted Azaa stepped to him and used her special knife to draw some of his blood. It was only a small amount, less than Marcus had expected. Maybe this won't be so bad.

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I think your hope is a bit premature. The wounds on Shen's body closed and the process started again.

Every cycle took about 15 minutes and hours went by without much change in the ritual.

How are you holding up?

It starts to get difficult. I can feel the loss of blood in the reaction of my body. His problems were most likely less significant to the suffering Shen went through. Over and over his body was destroyed, and they even started to break out pieces of his bones. Marcus had to stay strong to make the suffering of Azaa's father worth it.

Three more hours passed and Marcus was feeling cold and dizzy. He had stopped talking with Xeen because he could no longer concentrate well enough. He could see in Azaa's eyes how much she suffered with him, how hard it was for her to take even more of his blood. Shen's body was drenched in sweat and he was breathing hard too. The only thing that gave Marcus hope right now was that it took longer and longer for them to find new infected parts. Some corruption had lay hidden next to Shen's heart and Marcus watched him cut open his chest and thick blood dripped from the wound only to be burned away seconds later. Azaa pulled even more blood from Marcus and he could no longer stand and fell to his knees. "We are nearly done my love. Please hold on," Azaa said with tears in her eyes.

The next cycle took a full hour and Marcus hoped it would be over, but eventually two more areas at Shen's head were found and had to be treated. Marcus felt cold and remembered the one time Azaa had drained him too much, it felt like that. Azaa had tears in her eyes as she took more of his blood, but her hands stayed calm and the blood healed the two holes in Shen's head. More time went by and Marcus started to recover somewhat, thanks to his strong body and the Alchemist pills from this morning. Two hours passed until they found another small area in one of Shen's small toes. Tricky bastard, Marcus thought.

If you can make jokes you must feel better.

A little bit, yes. But I do not have much more blood to give.

Once more the search for corrupted areas continued and for an hour nothing was found. Marcus did not understand how it exactly worked, but it had to do with Azaa's life sensing ability. His hopes that it would end now were crushed when Azaa found a deeply hidden infection in Shen's spine. Marcus watched them discuss and argue, until Azaa came to him "This is the last we found, but it is difficult to remove and heal. It will take more blood than normal. We will let you rest for an hour and then we try," she said and Marcus thought about it. "No, do it now. It might spread again and I will be able to endure it," he said and Azaa's jaw clenched and her lips turned into a thin line. She nodded and gave her father the signal.

Shen lay down on the ground with his back exposed and Azaa leaned over him with her dagger. The special weapon cut into the back of her father and Marcus looked at his own feet. He heard the burning of flesh twice until Azaa approached him and cut into his body. Marcus could feel his consciousness fade, how sounds, color, taste vanished from him. There was only a small window of light left in his view, and could feel his heart desperately trying to pump blood through his body, but there was not enough left. Time stopped for Marcus as his brain stopped working besides the most fundamental functions. Without him knowing he slipped into unconsciousness.

Warmth, that was his first sensation. Warmth, a hand gently stroking his back and Azaa's scent. She was with him, close. With some effort Marcus forced his eyes open and found himself in the embrace of Azaa. They were still in the same room but no longer in the blood circle. A heavy blanket was around his shoulders, but it was her warm body that filled him with life. "Success?" He whispered and Azaa moved to look him in the eyes. "Yes. Thanks to you, my father is fully healed. He can finally use his strength again." She smiled and kissed him while his addled mind tried to understand what she just said. Shen is healed, good. Marcus moved his arms around Azaa and allowed himself to enjoy her soft body, not caring who was watching or what they thought.

The soft humming of her voice lifted him out of his sleep and Marcus opened his eyes again. They had not moved, but they were alone right now. How much time had passed?

It should be morning by now. You have endured it well, but now you should mute me, I believe.

Thank you for staying with me Xeen, he thought and muted his stalwart companion to be all alone with Azaa. He was still weak and not all of his blood had returned, but kissing was very doable. They shared some passionate moments before Azaa said, "We should go and find you something to eat and drink. You need to recover your strength." And the way she looked at him made his heartbeat rise in spite of his exhaustion.

They left the room hand in hand, walking slowly until they reached the upper floors. There, Marcus realized he would not be able to spend some alone time with Azaa in the near future. The palace was buzzing, and outside the walls half the city cheered and celebrated. "We announced that my father has fully recovered from the corruption, and that it was only possible because of you. You are a hero to our people now." Azaa whispered into his ear.

Marcus groaned, "I would rather be alone with you instead of being a hero." Hearing that, she smiled and pulled him along. They left the palace through a back door. The whole city was in a festive mood, they avoided people as much as possible, and covering him with the heavy blanket helped a lot. Marcus and Azaa entered her home and finally he was alone with her. One last obstacle was on his path to happiness, and that was his own biology. After some very needed food and drink he found himself drowsy and dead tired. Azaa led him up the stairs and to her large bed. There, lying in her arms, Marcus fell asleep in seconds.

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