Blessed Combat

1 - An odd little conversation

“Don’t look so moody. That face right there could turn any milk sour” Zatch said with no hint of comfort under his tongue. If there was any comfort in his annoying voice he had disguised it well. All Arma could sense was something that irritated him to no end.

“Oh thank you my dear friend, your comforting words have touched my soul. Whatever should I do to pay back my gratitude?”Arma asked sarcastically, throwing a pillow towards the holographic video conference screen that hovered above his bed in which he lay.

Unfortunately the pillow passed through the screen, as if the screen wasn’t there to begin with. On the contrary common sense said the holograph had the ability of phasing, in which the flightless pillow landed limply on the floor, failing to create any real damage. Zatch simply clicked his tongue and shook his head in disbelief from the holographic screen.

“That aside you’ll have to come to school today or Phoenix won’t let you off her hook” Arma raised an eyebrow questioningly at Zatch while he tried recalling what he did the last few days that would have grinded Phoenix’s nerves the wrong way. She was his second childhood friend, though he could hardly call her a friend. There was never a day they met without crossing swords which had happened since the first time they met.

Though despite their brawls which Phoenix usually the first one to start, they do have their mutual respect towards each other. It was a complicated friendship between them, the kind people dubbed love/hate long ago.

“Why? What did I do now?”Arma asked when he didn’t succeed to recall anything other than skipping a few classes here and there, which could be the reason why she was enraged that day. Then again, it might be something entirely different. He never quite figured how the hot tempered girl’s mind worked.

“I don’t know but she burned the breakfast today. She’s been cranky since morning. You know the drill” Arma couldn’t help but wince slightly and feel reluctance inside at that. For her to burn their breakfast was the first sign of danger of the day approaching, the calm before the storm.

“All right I’ll drop by at school. She can slaughter me later at lunch.” Arma spoke gloomily, his mood getting testier by the minute. Before Zatch had even a second to respond, Arma reached out his index finger and pressed the log out button on the left bottom corner of the screen. The screen faded into black leaving only a brief white spark glistening right at the center.

Sighing, Arma lifted himself from his bed, grinding his teeth as he did so. Last nights’ duel made his body sore all over. It was thanks to the medics that he could even move.  The NPC’s potions had healed his fractured head from most of the life threatening danger and increased the pain absorption in his body but that didn’t stop the formation of the bruises, the slight headaches and feeling of being beaten down.

Nonetheless, Arma forced himself up. Once he was up, he checked his injuries. The pain was still there – muted, but there. Like a troll under the bridge, ready to pounce if he moved too quickly. After several minutes of basic breathing and blinking, Arma decided to put his limbs to the test.

He rested his feet on the cold hard marble floor and cautiously stood up, testing the ground like a swimmer testing arctic waters. His knee twinged, but that was all. Nevertheless, his head was a different matter. Every movement, no matter how slight it was, sent a steel nail of pain hammering through his skull. For a while he felt dizzy yet, gritting his teeth, Arma began walking. After a while, the headache seemed to cease and it became more tolerable to walk. Soon, he was walking through the vacant rooms of the large house.

He didn’t live in such an extravagant house before; he used to rent into a small uncomfortable apartment with water leaking from the ceiling as his home. He had got the luxurious house by winning in the battle of ‘tag’ several months ago.