Immortal

03. Immortals need healing too

First, I want to admit before judgements go flying that, This wasn't my idea.

And boy, was this a stupid idea.

I stood face to face with a woman who's features were curled into the ugliest death sneer I'd ever seen, that could probably freeze blood in its tracks. I imaged if she exhaled deeply I would see smoke flare out of her nostrils like some kind of dragon. She towered over me, her hair the color of human blood. Her burning lavender blue eyes seemed to see right through me. I shuttered for a second. Sweat trickled down my forehead, as I had intruded into the ring mid fight. She licked the blood spatter off her lips. Her knuckles battered and rubbed raw from the fights. Her eyes went into animalistic slits that reminded of a snake.
The rusted chain she had wrapped around one if her forearms ready to be used. Her muscle tone being the most obvious feature about her that told me 'get out now'. I ignored my flight response, which truly was the stupidest thing I did that night. A bloodied spike was found at the end of her chain whip that I had no doubt, had cut open the flesh of countless others.

The crowd screamed "Cut him to shreds!" Cheering for blood. I swallowed hard. "No interrupting fights!" Another woman yelled and threw something from the crowd. I had no fighting experience... okay that was a lie. I had some but it wasn't the kind that was needed to stand off to woman of this stature and experience. She only looked like she was just moving on to the next target. Her appetite for cutting people down by the knees only growing. Her sharp teeth gleaming in the light of the ring. "Sad mistake stepping into the ring." She hissed at me.

"The fight is over, your opponent is unconscious." I said to her.

I could see the scales in her face now that she stepped forward and got in my face. My lab partner was on the floor, sprawled out bleeding and covered in serious injuries that needed immediate treatment. I stood my ground between me and this reptilian woman. He had somehow learned about the fight ring through others, it was a way to gain resources that weren't easily available. If you fought and won you could score things like food supplies and medicine. Essentials that required more work and were harder to come by.

"Fight isn't over until deemed over by the judge." She said quietly and my stomach churned. Her claw like fingers reached out and grabbed me by the shirt. "Get out of the ring, weak boy." She warned. My legs stayed planted in place and I blinked irritated by her comment.

"Say it, don't spray it." I spit back, wiping off some of her saliva that had hit me in the cheek.
She looked less than amused, 'you and your stupid mouth' I could hear Eliam saying in my head. The first impact caught me by surprise since it was her chain whip. I had been slow to react and the end spikes created gashes across my chest and tore my shirt. The burn of the tear of my skin made me buckle forward.

"Disrespectful little shit." She said in heavy accent. I recognized she wasn't from our sector just by voice alone. "I'll find out if Immortals can actually die with you. Your new name will be mince meat." She roared.
She swung the whip back around ready to get me with a second hit. I couldn't focus completely with the pain of the initial surprise hit, but I was ready. I buckled and watched the whip fly right over my head. I jumped back onto my feet and took the stance Eliam taught me. She didn't look impressed, and I wondered if she could guess I was only a beginner. The same way I already knew I was outmatched.

The crowd roared louder. One of the people in the crowd had the sense to drag my partner out of the ring by his feet they let him hit the ground hard.
This was a stupid choice. I didn't have other options. I took a shallow breath as she took her own stance. The seconds between us felt like a miniature eternity. She swung the whip again I couldn't deflect it this time, it moved too fast like the first time, it hit me in the leg. The spike dug into my calf, she yanked on my leg and broke my stance then jumped forward to land a final blow with her sharp nails. She wanted the match with me to be quick. The pain surprised me, but I watched as she flew at me.

Out of sheer stupid luck, being on the floor worked to my advantage. She was going  to dig her sharp claw like fingers into my neck. I waited for the right moment, then out of reflex I landed a well placed kick to her abdomen. She was swung backward out of the ring just as she was about to dig her nails into my throat. She ripped the railing cords with the impact and landed harshly. There was a momentary silence of confusion as I rolled on my side and stood up. My black wings unfolding behind me in the dim lighting probably made me look an angel of death, but it was all luck.

I glared at her and she hissed and got to her feet and grabbed one of the cords doubling her whips and jumped forward lashing them at me. The only thing I had the sense to do was dodge, but I couldn't run. My exits were blocked, and my lab partner was barely regaining consciousness. All I could do is use the basic skills Eliam had taken the time to teach me out in the field. This fight wasn't like that, in the field  I knew he was taking it easy on me. He was playing on my weaknesses here I didn't have the luxury of a fair fight. All I had were my wits and a minimal skills, plus the snake woman looked pissed.

"Finish him, Temperance!" Someone in the crowd yelled. The whole crowd lit up as before suddenly. They started chanting her name. I blinked at the bad joke her name automatically became in my head.

I folded my back along my spine and grimaced at the impact of the whip. I managed to dodge one but got clipped with the other in the face. I didn't last much longer than that since she moved faster than before. Too fast for me to register and she hit me with a punch straight to the head. What did it wasn't her fist, it was the chain whip. She had wrapped it around her knuckles at the last second.

...

I came too looking up at a woman with silver blue curly hair tied up in a ponytail. She wasn't looking at me directly just her clipboard. "You're an idiot." She said not making eye contact. Thats when the sharp pain in my head made me groan in response.

"You're alive, anyway." She said it as if it was shockingly disappointing news. "Don't sound so disappointed." I grumbled. "I gave death my best shot." My tone changed to immediate sarcasm. The lights in the room made  my head spin. I could see the swirls and spirals in the light when she finally looked at me. My suicide joke didn't make her crack a smile at all. No sense of humor.

"Huh. I could always let you heal naturally." She said absentmindedly. "That could be payment for your clear stupidity." She smiled with a false sense of perkiness. I felt a knot form in my chest when I realized she wasn't joking.

"Lycoris!" She screamed out. I winced. A shy girl with lime green hair, having the same curls but with a little bit straighter hair poked her head out from behind a corner. "Y..yes." She whimpered. Her doe eyes almost looked like she wanted to run away. Her stature was awkward and lacked the confidence the blue haired woman had. "Patch up this moron and get him out of here." She demanded and walked out of the room in the same gust.

I blinked. She made eye contact with me and turned red in an embarrassed manner. "Uh okay, um. You just need badges .. since you can't get new ones .. to change them out you have to wash them a few times a week until the wounds heal. You have to remember to come back if it gets infected." She stammered nervously.

"Are you training to be a medic?" I asked. We didn't really have use for those except for treatments on wounds and healing complications.

She nodded slowly. "Maybe you should speak with a little more confidence, and stutter less." I automatically said without thinking. Her expression went blank, to surprise, to daggers.

"You talk and drool when you sleep." She said in a flat tone. "And I don't take advice from idiots." She snapped and shoved me out of the bed. "You can walk, so you can see yourself out." She huffed and walked out.