As Eirlathion was finishing up on cleaning us, he suddenly had another coughing fit and spat up more blood. It looked like that arrow head had sliced open his lung again. Tia seemed quite worried about that.

[Hey, Ether.] She said. [Umm… you know, Asa said that you needed to do surgery to take out that arrow head, but I think I can take care of it without that.]

Eirlathion though, upon hearing her words, just frowned and eyed her suspiciously. [Really?] He asked in a somewhat disapproving tone. One which Tia seemed to pick up on.

[Uhh… yeah.] She said, now apparently a lot more nervous to continue.

[And how exactly would that work?] He asked.

[Uhh… well, those dark elves had kinda weak spirits, and blood they had was also weak. If Asa, Levin, or Rolwen were to let me use some of blood from them, umm… it would be a lot stronger. Only a little bit could probably take care of something like an object inside your wound.] She explained nervously.

Eirlathion just looked down at her with a complicated but harsh expression. Personally though, I was actually Ok with the idea.

[I… uhh… for Eirlathion, I would be fine with helping.] I said.

[And how much is a little bit?] Eirlathion demanded as though he was ignoring my words.

[Well… it has to mix in my mouth before it will have any effect, so it can’t just be a drop because I don’t think I can get that little back out of my mouth. But… if it’s Asa’s blood, then as long as there's even a drop left after I spit it back out, that much would be able to both heal Asa and still have enough left over to completely heal you as well.]

[I see.] He said, still watching her harshly. However, his attempt at being imposing and intimidating was quickly ruined by another coughing fit. His breathing was starting to become difficult again as well. It really hadn’t taken long at all for that arrow head to worsen his condition. His lungs must be gradually filling with his own blood as we speak, paralyzing the alvioli as they fill with fluid. It won’t be deadly as quickly as the chest wound, but he probably had a week at most in this condition without any form of treatment.

He breathed out a wheeze and wiped the blood from his mouth again as he tried to regain his composure. Taking on that intimidating visage again, he turned to look down at me now. [And Asa, you really wish to let your sister take some of your blood for this?]

[Yes.] I answered.

He gave me a suspicious stair for a long moment, and then returned that harsh gaze to Tia. [Very well.] He finally said. [After this, I have something I need to talk to you girls about.]

With these words, he carefully lowered himself into a sitting position on the floor. Then, I reached for the floor myself and had Nymph produce a small bowl for Tia’s use. We both walked over to Eirlathion’s side, opposite to where his arrow wound had been. We positioned ourselves so that Tia was standing at the perfect position just a little bit in front of him, while I was slightly behind his shoulder.

After this, I handed Tia the bowl and offered her my arm. Without hesitation, she grabbed the back of my hand and brought my wrist to her mouth like she was eating a piece of fruit. I winced in pain and whimpered. I actually felt some tears come to my eyes as I experienced the feeling of one of her canines puncturing a hole in my skin. It was clear she was being careful not to make an overly large hole, but it still hurt on an entirely different level from the blood donner needles from my previous life.

As Tia’s mouth turned to a seal over my wound and she began sucking, Eirlathion’s hand even came up and began stroking the back of my head. It seemed a little embarrassing being treated like a child. Well, I guess I was only 2 years old in this world, but still…

Tia spit the bloody contents of her mouth into the bowl, and then ran her finger over her lips in order to sweep up the last bits of my blood sticking to them.

As I looked in the bowl, the contents looked more like spit that had a lot of blood in it. She really didn’t bleed me much at all there, huh?

She offered me her finger and Eirlathion the bowl. The wound on my arm seemed to still be weeping a little bit of blood, but it was not really an active bleed anymore. Perhaps Tia had stopped when she noticed the blood tapering off?

It was a little gross, but I decided to just go ahead and lick her finger. Her saliva was that of a divine leech and all that right? It probably had fairly strong pathogen-cleansing properties.

As soon as I liked her finger, my small wound closed immediately. Of course, Tia decided the best way to clean my now closed wound was to lick it. Greedy sister.

Eirlathion meanwhile was eyeing the concoction in the bowl with a very unpleasant look like he was trying to muster his courage. He wrinkled his nose and decided to quickly up-end the contents of the bowl into his mouth. [Gahh!] He growled as soon as he had swallowed. The unpleasant look did not leave his face.

Suddenly, I could feel something come off his body like an invisible wave. It was similar to the energy I always felt from Levin and Rolwen, and what I felt from everyone back on Earth. Come to think of it though, this is probably the first time I’ve felt anything like this from someone from this world.

[By Kingu!] He muttered with a horrified expression and then immediately turned and slapped both of his hands onto the floor like his life depended on it. [Hahhhhhh!] He screamed. [Ahhh! This is ridiculous!] His forehead was beginning to sweat.

“Tia! What’s going on?” I demanded.

“That… it… it looks like it might have been a bad idea to use your blood for this.” She muttered. “His body was too weak for it.”

“What do you mean? What’s going to happen?”

“Well… he’s doing the right thing right now! He’s trying to get rid of his mana. Uhh… I can help. I can absorb some of it as well. I can get some of the extra spirit energy too.” Tia said and then ran up to touch his shoulder.

Eirlathion almost immediately calmed down after Tia did whatever it was she was doing. He was still breathing heavily, and he looked with an aghast expression between me and Tia.

[Tiaren.] He muttered with a heavy expression. [NEVER use that magic with your sister’s blood again!] His tone was extremely heavy when he said this. [I’m serious. Both you girls would have your lives basically over if it was discovered that you could make something like this! Promise me! Do not make that potion ever again!]

[Ahh… ye… yes!] Tia stammered.

Eirlathion sighed and then removed Tia’s hand from his shoulder.

[Thank you, I think I can handle it from here.] He said and then stood up. [I still have something to talk to you two about, but I have to deal with the effects of that potion right now. While this energy is still in my system, I am not going to waste this opportunity. I will be back after I am done.]

And with that, he went down the stairs.

I was left thoroughly confused by his comments. “Uhh… Tia?”

“Hmm?” She answered with her head cocked to the side.

“What did he mean by that, uhh… [not waste this opportunity?]” I switched to the exact words he used in Elven mid sentence, my brain had a little trouble agilely translating the words to English on the spot.

“He probably wants to solidify the spirit energy he got into his own spirit.” She said, leaving me more confused than before. Tia sighed. “Look, not everyone can just turn their own spirit into some kind of energy syphon like you can. Your meditation is extremely special, I can’t even tell you how good it is. The amount of every kind of energy that you just channel through your spirit and then casually throw away into the void is probably on the level of what some of the strongest creatures in this world will struggle their entire lives just to accumulate.

“Ether just had that ridiculous amount of energy run through his physical body. Of course he’s going to want to integrate some of it into his spirit so that he can keep it and make himself stronger.”

“Oh…” I said. I still wasn’t quite clear on all this spirit stuff, but she sounded like she knew what she was talking about. But, well… it did sound like my meditation was really something special, although I didn’t really get the full details on why.

Then, suddenly something clicked. “Wait!” I said. “Is THAT why the elves want to kidnap humans?  To harvest this spirit energy stuff to make themselves stronger?”

“Well, it seems like that’s part of it.” Tia said. “It looked like it was somehow needed for babies to grow in the first place, although we’re different. You have your meditation and I can just get all I need from you. If Levin and Rolwen weren’t also from Earth like us, I don’t think they would even be worth looking at for their spirit energy in the first place.”

“You know, talk like that is what got Rolwen mad at you just now. It’s actually starting to upset me a little as well, stop talking about the boys that way.” I told her.

“Wait, what?” Tia said. She suddenly looked very distressed. “I… uhh… he was mad? I didn’t… are you sure?” After saying that, she suddenly ran over to where Rolwen was sitting. Did she seriously not notice?

She stepped in front of him with her head low and her hands clutched nervously in front of her. “Umm… Rolwen…” She said hesitantly. “Uhh… Asa just said you were mad at me just now, is that true? I’m sorry.”

Rolwen had a dumbfounded expression when he saw the way she was acting. He didn’t seem to know what to do in this situation at all.

“Uhh… hehe, well… I mean, yeah, I guess I was sorta.” He said.

“Mmm… I didn’t mean to make you mad. I’m sorry.” She said. “I… I don’t really understand what upset you though. How was Asa able to tell so easily when I didn’t even know at all?”

Rolwen sighed again and then stood up from the corner he had been sulking in. “Well, I guess it’s fine. Come here then.” He said and then pulled her into a hug.

Well, that’s good. Two problems were just dealt with. Who knows how many more we just created with Eirlathion though. I’m starting to feel like I’m moving 5 steps back for every 2 steps forward I take ever since this horrible night began.