ORIGIN

The terms of "not smashing with the blade's edge" had also been requested by his last sparring partner, and so this request, at least, wasn't much of a surprise. And the other--well, Giggle had made it clear that she didn't very much like the void. Her threat was... unwelcome, but it sparked no emotion in him.

"It will not strike her with the bladed edge. And it will not send her to the void." As for injury, its sparring partners in the Chaos Forge hadn't often really held back.

"It wishes her to attack as powerfully as she can. It wishes to learn," he told her.

Then he took up his fighting stance, halberd lifted and ready.

He clutched the butt of the halberd strongly in one hand, holding the haft at its middle or upper third, or so, more loosely. He'd been taught, and learned himself, that this allowed quick adjustments--that the bottom hand could perform a nasty thrust through the loose front hand, or that it could be turned to block, and so on, in this way.

He eyed Giggle, for a moment. She'd put some distance between them, but if he were quick he could get to her before a spellcast. He wasn't sure what her magic could do very quickly, though she had mentioned a fungus that could strip away his flesh.

Well, time to find out. He was here for experience, not for guessing.

He tensed, then rushed in, a charge made as fast as he could, claws scraping at the mud for purchase.

He bore down on her, the halberd coming up, calculating a good strike without the blade hitting her-... and then faltered.

Why am I fighting? She is-... friend. His thoughts buzzed, confused; he saw Giggle suddenly as he imagined she truly was: friendly, kind, helpful. His ally and friend. She was helping him, despite his missteps. Why were they fighting..?

Confusion struck him, and he lowered his halberd, hesitating in bewilderment. It was difficult to think, let alone to reason out what had just happened, and he found himself not only baffled but outright distressed. Why could he not remember-? What was wrong with his mind..?

He shook his head and pulled back, confused, lifting his halberd and turning this way and that--as if to protect himself, or Giggle, from some unknown, unseen threat.

There was confusion, in him--rising, swirling chaotically, like some baffling maelstrom of incoherent emotion and thought. The cordyceps was already fading, by the hyena's will and the withdrawal of her magicka, but it would take time for him to return to fully normal.

Already, however, the gravity of the situation--or rather, the strength of her magic--was dawning on him. From a distance, with no visible movement, she'd rendered him harmless. Helpless, even, really. Even her command--'spar'--he was obeying without thought before he realized it, charging in again with halberd raised.

He noticed the black goop before any impact, and adjusted accordingly; instead of a thwack for flank or chest, he aimed for her limbs, instead, in a sweeping strike intended to perhaps trip her off her feet. Maybe if she were rolling or midair, she'd have a little more trouble focusing on magic. He wanted to know what the fungus could do, certainly--what the hyena could do--but he wanted to know, too, how effective his own brute-rush style would be against such things.

One moment, there was a hyena lying beneath him, ready for his halberd to come smashing down.

The next, there was a pit, deep and black and so close that he nearly fell. He reeled back, and found the air filled with Fairyflies, trailing thick pink dust behind them.

He sneezed and stumbled, and then they had teeth: teeth, and there were flying flowers coming for him. A hiss of confusion, of frustration, escaped him. He lifted the halberd, stumbling back, wondering how Giggle had hidden this assault from him so well. To spring such an ambush, to hide that deep pit, without him ever realizing-! He began to swing his halberd wildly, stepping back--he didn't know where Giggle had gone, and he didn't want to let her get too close.

Nor did he want these packs of ravening Fairyflies near him.

Who knew what those teeth could do-?

Wait-... Were they bats, now?