A Bored Lich

Elero let out a long sigh and picked up her sword. \'I just need to focus.\'

...

"So what\'s the drawback of Flow?" Frey asked, suppressing the urge at look at Elero. "You said there was always a cost to strength."

Alexander frowned: "You two just asked about it, hopelessness. I even said it. Are you dense?" Frey nodded while Thomas tried not to laugh. Alexander sighed and continued: "A humble one, aren\'t you? The Flow is a strong tide. Yesterday, your body failed to act in line with its will, putting your mind and body at odds. You incurred the cost of going against the Flow. Even though you had energy left, everything slowed as if you were thrown into the tide\'s murky depths. The more momentum you have, the greater the cost."

…

\'Strike,\' Elero grunted and lurched forward but her arms refused to move. The sword fell out of her grasp, clattering to the ground. Her legs returned to mush. Pain rocked through her face, which smacked into the tree.

Minutes passed. She couldn\'t even get up, not with her arms shaking as they did nor with the excruciating pain in her legs. The bone fragments had torn through her muscles and without the life essence to regenerate them, she could only wait with her face in the dirt. \'I\'m never going to avenge my brother like this.\'

…

"I see," Thomas said. "So the whole point of training is to practice using Flow and train up our instincts. We\'re not getting physically stronger, but rather training our minds with experience."

Alexander shrugged. "If only it were that easy. Flow is a process, an ocean one dives into. At the greater depths, the backlash can be deadly. The world may turn black and white or you may become paralyzed. You\'ll lose focus. Training with Flow is ill advised. You\'ll learn and become a master of technique. Your body, however, will suffer, weaken."

…

Hot tears streaked by Elero\'s cheeks but she didn\'t cry out, just like every other training session before that. She just stared down at the dirt, unable to turn her neck.

"I see that you\'re still stubborn." Alexander\'s voice carried a hint of pity in the cold night air. "I warned of your death. You can\'t train like this anymore."

"I was trying to resist it." Elero cursed.

"And you failed." Alexander responded. "How do you expect to kill Jackal like that?"

"Jackal?" Elero tried to move her neck to get a better look at the general but she couldn\'t move her neck. "I never told you that I wanted to kill him."

"I\'m sure that general Alexander can infer." the voice said. Gentle hands pushed Elero into her wheelchair. She kept trying to move but her shaking only intensified. "If only I didn\'t have eyes on me, I wouldn\'t have to rely on passing notes like I\'m at a playground. Make your way to the demon pit as soon as you can. The key to your true salvation lies somewhere in the ruins."

"W-who are you?" Elero asked, fighting just to stay conscious. "You\'re the one who helped us? Mr. Lich? Doevm?"

The man chuckled. "I\'m just a failed parent trying to save what\'s left of my child."

…

"Training with Flow is terrible," Alexander continued. "So instead I\'m going to teach you how to fight like yourselves, not with some spear that was forced upon you. You both don\'t have the bodies nor the fighting mentality to fully adopt a style for it."

Thomas gasped. "So this Flow can let us use any weapon, like the gun?"

"No," Alexander said. "It\'s an instinct you develop, not some premade source of knowledge. Flow only happens with weapons you know how to use."

"So what weapons are we fit for?" Frey asked.

Alexander shrugged: "Figure it out. How the hell should I know?" He let servants take away their plates and clapped his hands together. "Now let\'s get to training." The group headed outside.

So began the most intense training that any of the three disciples had ever endured.

It started immediately after leaving the premises. Alexander picked Thomas up by the collar and chucked him off the side of the mountain. "Run back up!" He had called as the noble flew through the sea of clouds.

Alexander turned to the other two, or rather just to Elero, for Frey had taken off in a full sprint towards the training grounds. "What\'s the matter?" The general called. "Don\'t like heights?"

In a flash of golden life essence, Alexander and Frey were inside of the cavern. "You didn\'t think you could run from me, did you?" The general grabbed a spatial barrel and emptied the contents. Hundreds of wooden training weapons filled the ground.

"I was just doing a warmup." Frey responded.

"In a full sprint?" Alexander raised an eyebrow. "Don\'t worry though, your training is going to be a little different." The general pointed at the mass of weapons at his feet. "Pick a weapon and master it. I don\'t care how long it takes; you are not fit for the spear which you wield." Frey went to argue but in the blink of an eye, the man was gone. Frey cursed, picked up a random weapon from the pile, and looked over at the dummies in the corner. "Am I just supposed to teach myself?"

...

In another flash, Elero found herself at the foot of the oasis\'s lake, staring into its calm, clear surface. "What am I supposed to do with water?" She asked just as Alexander tossed her into the lake.

"Do you know how to swim?"

Elero emerged from under the water and cursed. "You should have asked that before you chucked me into a freezing cold lake. Yes, I know how to swim. Unfortunately, I am hindered by the fact that I am a cripple."

"Shut up." Alexander smirked. He walked around the area collecting pebbles and rocks. "Stay in the water. I\'ll be with you in just a second. First I want…need to chuck these at Thomas." He vanished.