The mouse nibbled and licked the hand proffered to her, holding the finger with her little paws.

Gorren chuckled. “Thank you, Magda. Is my hand clean now?”

In all answer, the mouse switched to another finger, making him chuckle again.

The archmage sat at his writing desk, a big, ponderous thing that occupied much of his study room. He was currently busy trying to write a new schedule for the Gremlins. The keyword was trying. Between the judicious mouse mom that thought his fingers needed cleaning, and the bunch of young mice excitedly exploring his desk, he wasn’t getting much done.

Still, he felt in great spirits. He greatly enjoyed his pets’ antics.

“Ops, here it goes again.” He said, watching two of the mice get into a wrestling match.

It looked very intense, with lots of squeaking and tumbling about, but Gorren knew that it was all scene. The bigger of the two was just trying to get the smaller one to submit by pinning her down. Too bad that said smaller one was stubborn as heck and refused to stand still.

“Now now, Siska. Don’t bully your sister so much.” Gorren commented with amusement, but didn’t step in to separate them. They were at that age when they had to estabilish their peaking order, after all. Stepping in would only lenghten the process and make them more nervous.

And talking of nervous, a smaller mouse, scared by all the fuss, ran to him. He jumped on his arm and started to climb.

“Teron! That tickles!” Gorren half-laughed, while the mouse scurried to his neck. He hid in the crook of it just as he reached to grab him.

“Why deal with all this fuss, am i right?” The mage chuckled, putting the mouse close to his mother. “Better run and hide, or not?”

In all answer, the little mouse buried himself against his mother’s fur, making him chuckle again.

“Off with you now.” Gorren gently reprimanded. “Daddy has to work.”

Scooping up the mice one by one, and eliciting some annoyed squeak, he walked to a large cage and put them inside, once again one by one, careful as not to hurt them.

The mice nosed around for a moment, then ran back to their occupations.

Gorren watched them with a smile.

“You are so cute.” He said, fondly. But then, he frowned. “Where is Argus?”

No answer came from the mice, too busy who to take a drink who to explore. Frowning, Gorren started searching around for the missing one.

His rising alarm gave way to relief when he found it, some moments later. The mouse was in the room of the Crucible, staring at the strange wall.

“There you are, you rascal.” Gorren grumbled, picking him up. While his brothers and sisters were normal size, Argus was a true giant. He was larger than a rat and just as bulky.

As Gorren grasped him, the mouse turned to watch him with large, intelligent eyes. A small gem, the size of a fingernail and polished to a sheen, was embedded in his forehead.

Gorren felt his grumpiness melt away. He stroked the animal’s gray fur.

“Told you had potential.” He murmured.

Magic was an innate gift. You were born with it, or don’t. Sometimes was a question of bloodlines, others depended by sheer chance, or more unpleasant means.

He wasn’t sure as why Argus had the gift. It wasn’t unheard of for a normal animal to develop magic abilities, but it usually happened under precise conditions, like the family dwelling in proximity of a Mana well. That barn where he found him, it didn’t have anything special from what he had seen; and even then, he was the only one to have developed like that.

“It is fate, i wonder?” He thought aloud.

The big mouse said nothing, just watching him.

“Don’t give me that look. I know that you’re far more intelligent that you let on.” Gorren smirked. Magical animals tended to develop higher intelligence. Not always, but one needed only a look to how the rascal opened the latch to his cage to see that he fitted the bill nicely.

What was more, Gorren could feel upon him something familiar. The same strange, indecipherable trasformation that he could feel happening in his own body.

It is the Crucible’s influence? Or something else?

He stood there thinking for some moments, before shrugging. He’d just continue to study it. Having Argus was a boon, in fact. He could analyse him as much as he analyzed himself.

“We’ll see.” He said, putting the rat on his shoulder.

In high spirits, he walked back to his desk, gave the last touches to the schedule and then exited the chamber.

On his way to the doors, he stopped by his forge.

Two large furnaces towered in the chamber, filling it with stifling heat. Anvils of various sizes gathered around it like supplicants around a king and queen. Hammers, pincers, bellows and a myriad of other tools hung to the walls.

Argus fidgeted, annoyed by the sudden heat. Gorren gave him one of the snacks he carried just for such occasions, and the rat focused on it, becalmed for the moment.

The mage inspected the metals in the forge, then moved to a smaller, oven-like structure. Upon it, a big lump of metal cooked atop of a blue fire while being irradiated by the lights of three large crystals, focused by a series of mirrors.

“Good. Good.” He commented.

Moving quickly, he walked to the adjacent chamber. This one was much larger than the forge, with half-finished golems littering every meter. They ranged from child-sized dolls to massive sculptures two times as tall as a man. Still, they were all dwarfed by the mastodon that towered at the center of the room.

The iron statue was held in place by wooden scaffoldings that would have been able to sustain a building. It was clearly unfinished: plates lacked in many places, showing the empty interior. A leg was still just a stocky pilon, while the head showed only partial signs of proper molding. Still, it loomed threateningly over the chamber, casting its shadow over its smaller brethren.

Gorren patted Argus when the mouse tried to hide behind his neck, smirking widely.

“This will be my finest creation yet.” He said, already imagining what the final product would be, the raw, savage majesty of it. It had costed him a mountain of work, and it was going to cost him even more, but it would be all worth in the end. He could already imagine it, an iron giant, making the earth tremble with every step.

Magnificent!, he thought, caressing the half-finished foot. You will be the king of my golems.

Whistling a cheerful tone, he strode out of the room. Argus was instantly happy to be away from both heat and iron, and Gorren rewarded him with another snack. He deserved it, poor little guy.

The doors swung without a sound at his mental prompting, letting him out of his inner sanctum.

As he walked down the corridor, the power of the glyph carved on the doors prickled his nape, only adding to his cheerfulness.

All in order, just as i like it.

His good humour took a small dive when, at the junction of the three corridors, he met a group of golems escorting five Gremlins in heavy leather aprons.

To his chagrin, the creatures almost jumped at seeing him, and scampered to greet him. He entertained the idea of have the golems grab them back, or just try and sidestep them, but before he could act on either on them, two of the five had already reached him.

“Greetings, Master! How are you today?” They said almost in unison, and immediately threw each other a hard glare.

Gorren rolled his eyes, while Argus watched with curiosity from his shoulder.

“Hey, Trich and Krik. I am very good, thanks.” He nodded to the other three, of which one looked as resigned to the antics of the two as much as him. “Hey, Luk and Ub. Good morning, Reng.”

Reng, old and wizened, nodded with exasperation.

“Master! Master!” Trich and Krik shrieked excitedly. Gorren flinched at his poor ears’ abuse, and nodded with irritation.

“I have…!” The two started in unison, and stopped. They glared at each other, looking both surprised and appalled, then tried again. “I have made…!” They said in unison, again, and again stopped to glare, lookign ready to just give up and start to bash each other.

Gorren massaged his temple, previous good humour rapidly draining away.

“You two, together.” He offered. “What have you done?”

The two Gremlins thought about the compromise for a moment before deciding it was good enough.

“We have made a new crystal!” Trich screeched, immediately recovering all ounces of enthusiasm.

“Yes, Master! We made!” Krik echoed, making sure to emphasize the we.

“I did more, though.”

“No! I did!”

“No! I did!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

Beng! Bong!

After having brought peace through heavy blunt trauma, Gorren had the less idiotic of the five explain to him what the deal was. It turned out that the two morons had come out with a semi-decent crystal. Good for them. Goddammit. That wasn’t worthy his good humour being spoiled.

“Good work everybody. Now go back to work. I have stuff to do. Shoo! Shoo!”

Following his not too subtle promptings, the Gremlins trotted away and disappeared in the branching corridors together with the golems, Trich and Krik looking all smiles and sunshine.

Gorren mumbled something bad about bootlickers, while Argus chittered a bit, only to immediately stop when the mage glared at him.

Still, Gorren quickly found his good humour back. Really, stupid Gremlins apart, everything was just going to perfection.

On his way down the corridor, he crossed path with a patrol of golems. A massive Guardians stomped methodically forward, big eyes scanning the area. All around it, Snatchers and Jaws prowled and marched. Amongst the formation, a Magician tip-toed gracefully.

To his mind’s eye, they appeared as compact blocks of instructions and intent. As he brushed over them with his thoughts, a spark of aknowledgement flashed.

The group stopped as one, letting him space to pass. He walked past with satisfaction, giving the cold half-sentiences a mental pat, and then listening with pleasure at their stomping steps as they resumed their patrol.

Like a well-oiled mechanism. Beautiful.

Gorren patted Argus. Poor little guy was trembling, scared by the brush with the coldness of the golems. He didn’t give him anymore snacks, though. He had to make sure he didn’t get too fat, after all.

Taking a turn, he passed a couple of golems and entered into the Gremlin quarters.

To his slight irritation, he immediately started to encounter the creatures. Moving stuff around or chattering with each other, they all invariably stopped to greet him with enthusiasm.

He replied with nods and vague gestures. Ah, after all it felt good to see how those brutish creatures had advanced. By his hand, of course.

The chamber in which he entered, small herd of curious Gremlins hot on his heels, had been set aside for communal gatherings and announcements. A large desk faced rows of simple chairs, while a large bulletin board covered half of a wall. Just aside of it towered a strange contraption of clockwork and gears, centered around a large quadrant provided with lancets.

Really, the need to set a communal timeframe had almost took him by surprise. Until then, he had articulated the time around his experiments.

Walking to the board, he took a thumbtack and sticked the new schedule to it.

“Alright, lads.” He said, turning to address the crowd. He clapped his hands, the obedient Gremlins quickly making silence for him to talk.

“This is going to be your new schedule from now on.” He said gruffly. “Study it with attention and follow it, gotcha?”

The Gremlins exploded into an approving roar, and Gorren got out of the way, leaving them free to swarm the board to look at the new schedule.

“Ack, new lessons? Cool!”

“What is gonna be? Let me see!”

“Me first!”

Gorren shook his head with a chuckle, reaching to pat Argus. Meditation, Mana release, biology, metallurgy, architecture, technomancy, that schedule was crammed full. He planned to give his little helpers a good round of instruction, so that they could work as alchemists, trap, weapon and golem-makers for him. Maybe he could teach them to produce magical objects also, but that remained to be seen.

He was stroking his beard in thought, when a sound attracted his attention. Turning, he saw a cowering Gremlin. He - no, she - seemed hesitant about something.

“What?” He asked with a frown.

The Gremlin fidgeted, eyes looking everywhere but at him. “M-Master…” She squeaked. “Th-the tests you b-bade us to d-do…”

Gorren raised an eyebrow, interest peaking. “Yes?”

“I-i think i have… ehm… yes… i c-can!” She blurted out.

Gorren’s expression brightened. Oh-oh! Now, that was interesting. He had given the Gremlins some cantrips to test if anyone of them was magic-sensitive, little things that were supposed to react at a mage’s Mana charge. He didn’t expect a mage to come out before at least the third generation, but he felt it was worthy the shot. That one had checked positive was a fine surprise indeed.

“Give me your hand.” He ordered.

The Gremlin watched him for a moment, before scrambling to obey.

Gorren grasped the wrinkled hand and focused briefly. Yes, there was a spark there, but… he grimaced, and let go.

“You’re not a mage.” He said, crossing his arms before his chest.

The Gremlin’s ears slumped down. “O-oh! I-i thought…”

“You’re a cleric.”

The Gremlin’s expression turned to surprise. “A…”

“Ye, a cleric.” Gorren kept down the irritation with the ease of a veteran. That… was something he didn’t expect, and a whole new can of worms.

But it can be bent to my aims all the same.

He gave her a quick glance. “Report to me before first class, tomorrow. We shall set you a new schedule.”

The Gremlin watched him for a moment, perplexed, then her expression melted into a large smile.

Ugh. Gorren rolled his eyes.

The gremlin thanked and bowed profusely before scampering away to join her brethren to the board.

Gorren watched her go, absented-mindedly stroking Argus.

“This is interesting.” He murmured. There was an old adage that said: the arm of the Gods is long. It looked like the adage was true. He had to decide how to address that issue as soon as possible.

“Well, all in due time. Am i right, little guy?” He smiled, gently scratching at Argus’s cheek. The rodent had his eyes closed in appreciation.

Now, for the first time, he felt he was due a break. Everything was just dandy, after all. His defences were up to speed - two assaults from the creature had been stopped from just his Sentinels -, his workforce was solid and ready to be promoted, his warehouses were nice and full, and there were only improvements in the close future.

Leaving the Gremlins to their chatter, he walked out of the chamber. As he made his way deeper into the compound, he left satisfaction soffuse him. He was going to take the afternoon for himself. A bottle of wine and maybe some cigars to smoke sounded just the right thing for it. He was going to take out some of the good ones. He’d love some music too, but that needed a musician. Oh, well. In time, he would build a golem that could play something. For now, what he had sounded just the right thing to relax.

Brimming with anticipation, he didn’t notice the first tremors.

But then, a stronger one hit, making the walls tremble. He stumbled, ripped away from his thoughts.

“What the hell…?” He grumbled. Down the corridor, a patrol had stopped, the golems scanning the area for the source of the disturbance.

The walls trembled again, and Gorren had to lean against the wall to keep his balance while Argus held to his shoulder. The mage held a hand over the rat to keep him from falling, mind trying to shake away the surprise.

It comes from the inner sanctum?

Another tremor, followed by a far away blast erased his hesitation. Whatever it was happening, it came from his own chambers.

Eyes wide, he dashed down the corridor, already launching alarm signals all over the compound. The golems moved aside to let him pass, then rushed to follow.

Just my luck! What the heck is happening now?