Sigmund staggered, throwing up his arm as the intensity of all the flashes that he had sent Skylar's way came back to him at once. The blinding light was enough to drive him to his knees, where he rubbed his eyes and shook his head rapidly from side to side, trying to get his vision to clear.
"Well. That was... impressive." he groaned.
"Are you alright?" Skylar asked. There was hardly any celebration, just concern, despite doing what her mentor had told her to do. Of course, she was being foolish, hurting - no killing - was part of her life now and she'd better accept it.
"Of course. In fact, I'm thrilled!" Sigmund added, only a little sarcastically. However, when Skylar took a few, tentative steps forward, he suddenly lashed out. All he did was raise a single finger, and tap the empty air like a drum, and yet a sound wave, so thick an powerful emanated from his fingertip, that she found herself flat on her back the wind taken out of her.
"I think it's time we increased the volume..." he said, getting to his feet and wiping water from his eyes one more time. From his robes he drew out three more bombs. This time, instead of throwing them one at a time, even in quick succession, he lit all three fuses at once and hurled them at Skylar.
Well this was hardly fair! As soon as Skylar got back up there were not one, not two, but three of the damn things coming at her! This was getting tiresome. She was getting the hang of absorbing the light, sure, but there still was trepidation. Her body was still hellbent on shutting those eyes of hers rather than leaving them open and absorbing the flash of light. It was a battle to overcome that urge.
Thankfully, Skylar didn't need to stand there like an idiot with her fingers stretching her eyelids open. She stood there and took the light out of the flash bombs. In Skylar's frustrated state, it was easy enough to let loose another barrage of the light she had absorbed. It would be far more effective than just yelling at Sigmund anyway.
"Is that all for today?" Skylar asked afterwards, panting.
This time, Sigmund was ready. Just as the surge of light was about to be thrown back at him, he evaporated, and reappeared at Skylar's side, his suffering minimal through avoiding the area of peak intensity.
"You think the outside world will go easy on you?" He challenged her "I thought you'd have learned better by now. We keep going until you embrace your potential!"
With that, he threw another bomb, before vanishing and reappearing on the opposite side, to throw a second, forcing her to deal with two different trajectories at once.
With that, Skylar was caught off-caught. Her head spun around, eyeing the first flash bomb then the second. Unfortunately, she was caught up in keeping track of the two bombs and the different directions they were in. They both exploded, leaving in their wake a very dazed Skylar.
"Will you stand a helpless child before the City Watch?" Sigmund goaded her sternly. "Before the Order of Victory, or the Chantry's Paladins?!"
He was standing in front of her again now, rolling another bomb across the floor to her feet. Before it reached her, Sigmund vanished, appearing for the split second in the air above her, dropping a second down towards her head, before transporting himself again.
Skylar shook her head, clearing it, "No."
She was giving into his taunts and she knew it. There was no point in repeating the same mistake as before - she didn't need to stay still! A sigh of frustration left her mouth, she'd been standing there like a lemon this whole time! Skylar moved over to the side with a quick side step. While not as fancy as Sigmund's teleportation, it did the job.
With both flash bombs in sight, Skylar absorbed the light and with a twist of the neck directed it back at Sigmund.
Caught once more by Skylar's attack, Sigmund stumbled, though he recovered far more quickly than last time.
"Excellent!" he exclaimed "You're beginning to understand. Power is nothing if you're willing to give the enemy the advantage."
With that, Sigmund extended his arm an clicked his fingers. A high pitched, whining sound filled Skylar's ears, so intense her skull rattled and her vision blurred. At the same time, he tossed yet another flash bomb before teleporting again.
The noise inside her head was infuriating and almost drowned the hissing of the flash bomb. She rubbed her eyes, trying to get her vision back to normal. However, as long as that as damn noise was stuck in Skylar's head, her vision would remain blurry. She tried to power through the racket, gritting her teeth as she searched for the blurred shape of the flash bomb. However, Skylar made the same mistake: taking too long with spotting the bombs. Again, she was dazed by the bomb's flash.
"Think, Skylar. Think!" Sigmund willed her on, as he bounced around the room, showing no sign of running out of bombs anytime soon.
"I have the advantage. How might you take it from me?"
Things were getting a little crazy. There was the obvious solution but Skylar couldn't get a bead on where Sigmund was, with him bouncing all over the place, and thinking was quite hard with the goddamn noise. Not to mention the bombs been dropped. It was all too easy to give up, despite Sigmund's encouragement.
"I... I don't know." She sighed.
"Not good enough!" he snapped. "Become the hunter, Skylar!"
One last try, she could surely manage that right? All she needed was one good shot anyway. As more of the flash bombs rained down, Skylar absorbed what she could of the light, as her eyes become more accustomed to seeing the world as a series of blurs. Of course, the harsh, screeching, noise hadn't lost any of its bite. Skylar waited for the black blur of Sigmund to appear nearby and unleash a beam of light. She didn't even cared if it hit or not, she just wanted to stop.
"That was lazy!" Sigmund scolded, dancing away and vanishing almost effortlessly "If you so not learn to mind your surroundings, they will only be turned against you!"
What good were her surroundings if she couldn't perceive that properly?! Skylar begrudgingly scanned them anyway, spotting streaks of light from the torches on the walls. In a flash, the image of the hunters with torches from her vision came back as well as an idea. Skylar almost kicked herself as she saw wisdom in Sigmund's words. One by one, the torches on the walls went out, snuffed out by Skylar's power.
As Skylar finally began to expand her imagination to match her potential, the room was plunged into a darkness so think that it almost seemed viscous. Sigmund's energetic display was suddenly halted. Unable to see, he could not longer plot a path throughout the space by which to outmanoeuvre his opponent; and, unable to focus in on her, his manipulation of her hearing stopped. Standing completely still, he listened, to the scuffing of footsteps and to expectant whisperings of their spectators. There were too many. Sigmund could guess as to which footsteps might belong to Skylar. For a moment, he was vulnerable.
It was gone, the noise was finally gone! It was good to be rid of it. Skylar blinked, finding that she could see in spite of the lack of light. She spotted Sigmund, he was just standing still. It was strange to see where one would normally be blind, however, it wasn't the time to dwell on such things.
Skylar approached Sigmund cautiously, then let loose.
Waiting just a few moments longer than he might otherwise have done. Sigmund closed his eyes and clicked his tongue. The short burst of sound radiated outwards across the space, echoing back at intervals and painting a picture inside his mind...
A picture that told him he was beaten.
Too late, Sigmund tried to dance away from Skylar's attack, but she had already set upon him, The light burned through his closed eyelids, and he reeled, unsure for several seconds what was up and what was down. Staggering back, Sigmund sunk against a pillar, as the torches around the walls and hanging from the ceiling began to flicker back into life on their own.
"Well done!" He conceded to her, smiling, though he did not try to open his eyes just yet. "You can relax now."
"Well. That was... impressive." he groaned.
"Are you alright?" Skylar asked. There was hardly any celebration, just concern, despite doing what her mentor had told her to do. Of course, she was being foolish, hurting - no killing - was part of her life now and she'd better accept it.
"Of course. In fact, I'm thrilled!" Sigmund added, only a little sarcastically. However, when Skylar took a few, tentative steps forward, he suddenly lashed out. All he did was raise a single finger, and tap the empty air like a drum, and yet a sound wave, so thick an powerful emanated from his fingertip, that she found herself flat on her back the wind taken out of her.
"I think it's time we increased the volume..." he said, getting to his feet and wiping water from his eyes one more time. From his robes he drew out three more bombs. This time, instead of throwing them one at a time, even in quick succession, he lit all three fuses at once and hurled them at Skylar.
Well this was hardly fair! As soon as Skylar got back up there were not one, not two, but three of the damn things coming at her! This was getting tiresome. She was getting the hang of absorbing the light, sure, but there still was trepidation. Her body was still hellbent on shutting those eyes of hers rather than leaving them open and absorbing the flash of light. It was a battle to overcome that urge.
Thankfully, Skylar didn't need to stand there like an idiot with her fingers stretching her eyelids open. She stood there and took the light out of the flash bombs. In Skylar's frustrated state, it was easy enough to let loose another barrage of the light she had absorbed. It would be far more effective than just yelling at Sigmund anyway.
"Is that all for today?" Skylar asked afterwards, panting.
This time, Sigmund was ready. Just as the surge of light was about to be thrown back at him, he evaporated, and reappeared at Skylar's side, his suffering minimal through avoiding the area of peak intensity.
"You think the outside world will go easy on you?" He challenged her "I thought you'd have learned better by now. We keep going until you embrace your potential!"
With that, he threw another bomb, before vanishing and reappearing on the opposite side, to throw a second, forcing her to deal with two different trajectories at once.
With that, Skylar was caught off-caught. Her head spun around, eyeing the first flash bomb then the second. Unfortunately, she was caught up in keeping track of the two bombs and the different directions they were in. They both exploded, leaving in their wake a very dazed Skylar.
"Will you stand a helpless child before the City Watch?" Sigmund goaded her sternly. "Before the Order of Victory, or the Chantry's Paladins?!"
He was standing in front of her again now, rolling another bomb across the floor to her feet. Before it reached her, Sigmund vanished, appearing for the split second in the air above her, dropping a second down towards her head, before transporting himself again.
Skylar shook her head, clearing it, "No."
She was giving into his taunts and she knew it. There was no point in repeating the same mistake as before - she didn't need to stay still! A sigh of frustration left her mouth, she'd been standing there like a lemon this whole time! Skylar moved over to the side with a quick side step. While not as fancy as Sigmund's teleportation, it did the job.
With both flash bombs in sight, Skylar absorbed the light and with a twist of the neck directed it back at Sigmund.
Caught once more by Skylar's attack, Sigmund stumbled, though he recovered far more quickly than last time.
"Excellent!" he exclaimed "You're beginning to understand. Power is nothing if you're willing to give the enemy the advantage."
With that, Sigmund extended his arm an clicked his fingers. A high pitched, whining sound filled Skylar's ears, so intense her skull rattled and her vision blurred. At the same time, he tossed yet another flash bomb before teleporting again.
The noise inside her head was infuriating and almost drowned the hissing of the flash bomb. She rubbed her eyes, trying to get her vision back to normal. However, as long as that as damn noise was stuck in Skylar's head, her vision would remain blurry. She tried to power through the racket, gritting her teeth as she searched for the blurred shape of the flash bomb. However, Skylar made the same mistake: taking too long with spotting the bombs. Again, she was dazed by the bomb's flash.
"Think, Skylar. Think!" Sigmund willed her on, as he bounced around the room, showing no sign of running out of bombs anytime soon.
"I have the advantage. How might you take it from me?"
Things were getting a little crazy. There was the obvious solution but Skylar couldn't get a bead on where Sigmund was, with him bouncing all over the place, and thinking was quite hard with the goddamn noise. Not to mention the bombs been dropped. It was all too easy to give up, despite Sigmund's encouragement.
"I... I don't know." She sighed.
"Not good enough!" he snapped. "Become the hunter, Skylar!"
One last try, she could surely manage that right? All she needed was one good shot anyway. As more of the flash bombs rained down, Skylar absorbed what she could of the light, as her eyes become more accustomed to seeing the world as a series of blurs. Of course, the harsh, screeching, noise hadn't lost any of its bite. Skylar waited for the black blur of Sigmund to appear nearby and unleash a beam of light. She didn't even cared if it hit or not, she just wanted to stop.
"That was lazy!" Sigmund scolded, dancing away and vanishing almost effortlessly "If you so not learn to mind your surroundings, they will only be turned against you!"
What good were her surroundings if she couldn't perceive that properly?! Skylar begrudgingly scanned them anyway, spotting streaks of light from the torches on the walls. In a flash, the image of the hunters with torches from her vision came back as well as an idea. Skylar almost kicked herself as she saw wisdom in Sigmund's words. One by one, the torches on the walls went out, snuffed out by Skylar's power.
As Skylar finally began to expand her imagination to match her potential, the room was plunged into a darkness so think that it almost seemed viscous. Sigmund's energetic display was suddenly halted. Unable to see, he could not longer plot a path throughout the space by which to outmanoeuvre his opponent; and, unable to focus in on her, his manipulation of her hearing stopped. Standing completely still, he listened, to the scuffing of footsteps and to expectant whisperings of their spectators. There were too many. Sigmund could guess as to which footsteps might belong to Skylar. For a moment, he was vulnerable.
It was gone, the noise was finally gone! It was good to be rid of it. Skylar blinked, finding that she could see in spite of the lack of light. She spotted Sigmund, he was just standing still. It was strange to see where one would normally be blind, however, it wasn't the time to dwell on such things.
Skylar approached Sigmund cautiously, then let loose.
Waiting just a few moments longer than he might otherwise have done. Sigmund closed his eyes and clicked his tongue. The short burst of sound radiated outwards across the space, echoing back at intervals and painting a picture inside his mind...
A picture that told him he was beaten.
Too late, Sigmund tried to dance away from Skylar's attack, but she had already set upon him, The light burned through his closed eyelids, and he reeled, unsure for several seconds what was up and what was down. Staggering back, Sigmund sunk against a pillar, as the torches around the walls and hanging from the ceiling began to flicker back into life on their own.
"Well done!" He conceded to her, smiling, though he did not try to open his eyes just yet. "You can relax now."
