Liriel's training began in silence.
No provocation. No display of power. Just the elven guild master standing before her, watching as if he were observing something that did not belong in that place.
"You are an anomaly," he finally said.
Liriel smirked. "I've heard that before."
"Usually as a compliment," he replied. "Here, it is not."
She tilted her head slightly. "Then be direct."
The master nodded. "Your power is vast. Unstable. Too dependent on its own nature."
"I am my nature," Liriel replied.
"That is the problem."
I watched in silence. Elara sat nearby, still recovering from the previous day. Vespera leaned against a stone, arms crossed, curious.
"Today's training is not to expand power," the elf continued. "It is to restrict it."
Liriel frowned. "Restrict?"
"You will fight without accessing your full source."
Her smile vanished.
"That makes no sense," she said. "It's like asking a human to fight without breathing."
"Generals do not face deities in their full form," he replied. "They face broken versions."
Liriel fell silent for a few seconds. The air around her seemed heavier.
"If I accept this," she said, "I will be weakening myself."
"You will be learning how to survive," he answered.
She took a deep breath. "Then begin."
The exercise was cruel in its simplicity. Liriel had to keep her presence sealed, accessing only fragments of her own power. Something she was clearly not used to doing.
At first, it worked. She moved well, reacted quickly, used technique instead of force.
But it didn't last.
At the first mistake, energy leaked like a crack. The ground vibrated slightly.
"Control," the master said.
"I am controlling it," she replied, irritated.
"No. You are suppressing it."
The difference became clear far too quickly. Every attempt to act without resorting to her full power left Liriel uncomfortable. As if she were fighting herself.
"She's not used to limits," Vespera commented.
"She's never needed them," Elara added.
Liriel heard them.
"You talk as if I were a weapon," she said, turning toward us.
"Sometimes you act like one," I replied.
She stared at me. For a moment, I thought she might explode.
But she didn't.
The training continued. The master began to apply more pressure, forcing rapid responses. Liriel failed whenever she tried to compensate with raw power.
"You trust too much in what you are," he said. "And too little in what you do."
"I've won battles like this," she shot back.
"Against smaller enemies."
She fell for the first time when she tried to advance with too much force. The seal partially failed, and the impact threw her to the ground.
I stood immediately. "Enough."
"No," Liriel replied before the master could speak. "Continue."
There was something different in her tone. Not pride. Need.
The next exercise was worse. Liriel had to react to illusory attacks without activating automatic power reflexes. She failed several times.
"This is humiliating," she said between heavy breaths.
"Yes," the master replied. "And necessary."
At a critical moment, Liriel completely lost control. Energy exploded outward, forcing everyone to retreat.
The silence that followed was heavy.
Liriel was kneeling, hands trembling.
"I don't know how to fight like this," she said quietly. "Without being… me."
I approached slowly. "You're not stopping being who you are."
She looked up. "Then what am I doing?"
"Learning not to depend only on that," I answered.
Elara stepped closer as well. "Raw power doesn't beat strategy. Or endurance."
Vespera nodded. "And generals don't fight fair."
The master ended the training there.
On the way back, Liriel walked in silence. Her posture was still confident, but something had changed.
"I was always a goddess without needing to prove it," she said suddenly. "Today I felt empty."
"Not empty," I replied. "Limited."
She laughed without humor. "I hate limits."
"You'll have to learn how to use them," Elara said.
That night, Liriel stayed awake for hours. Not training. Thinking.
For the first time since I met her, she didn't seem like an entity above everything.
She seemed like someone who needed to learn how to fight for real.
Without a throne.
Without guarantees.
Only choice.