Within a distant shrine, completely unknown to the mice of the walled city, a fairly ordinary human sat down on his tattered sofa, opened his newspaper, and idly skimmed through it, whistling a random tune which he couldn't quite place, and seeking more to kill time than to legitimately inform himself. He stopped abruptly, cringing at the awful snapping sound, which he had long since grown to recognize. He really hated having to do this, but mice had become a growing nuisance around his home. It wouldn't have been so bad if there was just one of them, but there was never just one. Well, now, there would be one less, anyways. The man sighed, rose to his feet and moved to dispose of the body.

Much to his surprise, there was indeed a body, but it was still moving, and not simply moving with those awful pained twitches where the only humane option was to end the suffering of the poor creature. it appeared to completely fine, even if rather unhappy, simply pinned beneath the metal bar which was meant to snap the neck of the creature, a bar which was now visibly warped. Its unusual level of endurance wasn't the only strange thing about the mouse, which he saw as he lifted the rodent up by the tail.

The small creature appeared to be made out of metal. Not entirely, he realized, looking closer, but all four limbs were some sort of metallic clockwork devices, none of which quite matching one another, along with the hips and wire-like tail. The bulk of its torso and head were covered in pale, translucent fur, but every little while there would be a tube running from a limb to some sort of unnatural socket set within the body, a piece armor plating, or, most notably, one of the eyes which were covered over with a strange parallelogram shaped red screen and framed by metal and wiring which looked to have been bored straight into the skull.

As he stared, stunned at the bizarre wriggling creature, it let out a digitized squeak, it's unnatural eye glowing bright, firing a narrow beam of red light straight into the human's fingers, forcing him to drop the strange mechanical mouse.

The fall didn't seem to harm the creature, and while it did flee, it didn't exactly run away, at least not with its legs. A pair of metal cylinders emerged from the rodents hips, and it instead rocketed away to shelter, leaving twin plumes of smoke in its wake.

The human suckled at his burnt finger, which wasn't badly hurt, but still stung a great deal and thought to himself, "Huh, that was weird", before shrugging, returning to his seat, going back to reading to his morning newspaper once more and resuming his happy whistling.

<3~ <3~

Three months had passed.

Jerin looked about, the gates of the city behind her, as she stepped towards the entrance to the Maker's tunnels. Everything wasn't quite dark, but distinctly shaded. Even though it was still the middle of the day, the sun wasn't really shining, as it hadn't for a long while now, leaving many to wonder if it ever truly would again. The air was cooler these days, but not problematically so, at least not yet. Still, it was readily apparent to all but the most optimistic that both colder and darker days were still to come. The city behind her looked rather tattered, as mice had less need for such fortifications. Everything was unpleasantly quiet, the land not quite abandoned, but growing closer to it with each passing day. A world with fewer and fewer active dangers to her kind, which should have been a paradise, but instead felt emptier and colder than the permanently chilled air.

Her battles against the dark lords had denoted an end to what historians deemed 'the age of adventures', a time when mice spread out across the land in search of treasure, artifacts and new lands to discover. The subsequent defeat of the first dark lords set off the so-called 'age of heroes', a rather poor name, many felt, as things had turned decidedly unheroic in a hurry.

Jerin rubbed her scarred paws together, cupping them to her snout, breathing into them. Faint, white vapors leaked out from between her fingers. The mouse let out a sigh of relief. Sure, it may have been naturally colder these days, but not this cold. It was clear that this unnatural chill came from another source, in this case the large creature standing directly behind her. Her expression in no way soured as she turned to face the massive beast.

"Well, well, little mouse... how unfortunate for you, to encounter-" it said in a low, throaty voice.

"Hi there!" she said, a wide smile upon her face, happy to see anyone within these increasingly lonely lands.

"Um, yes, hi. As I was saying, how unfortunate for you to encounter I, Glacius the Tempest, most fearsome of the great elemental emperors. Worry not, child, your end shall be swift, and the first of many."

The dark lord was covered in shimmering fur, closer to blue than white, and bearing a closer similarity to narrow crystals rather than hairs. It's eyes are bright lights of ocean blue, gleaming through a mist of snow and tiny pellets of ice which floated around the form, the sleet growing thicker with each breath, behind which transparent blue fangs were barely visible.

"Uh huh." Jerin said, calmly. She held a large sack of weapons, assorted tradeables, and, of course, well knit imitations of organs, flesh and other assorted body parts. While she did still have her fancy red and black outfit, even if it didn't looking quite as bright red or fancy anymore, it wasn't ideal for traveling in. Instead she had opted for a sort of plain, brown prospectors garb. "You're new here, right?" she said, still smiling. "Nice to meet you! I'm Jerin! Um, how should I put this... you should probably go home, and quickly."

The dark lord laughed. "Is that a threat? And what will happen if I refuse? Are you going to hurt me?"

Jerin shook her head. "Nah, I don't really like hurting people. Never have. Still, this place isn't safe. I see you've got a collar, so that means you probably have a family nearby? You should really get back to them."

"You are a fool." the creature snarled. "I'll destroy you, and that pitiful city of your will soon follow."

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Jerin sighed and shrugged her shoulders, removing the large metal hammer from her back, just as the dark lord lunged forward to swallow the lone mouse with a single bite.

He didn't see the attack coming. In an instant, the hammer smashed him between the eyes. The strike didn't hurt at all, at least not until it did, at which point the hurting just wouldn't stop. A tremble traveled through his entire body, from nose to tail, as he froze in place, no pun intended. His eyes welled up with tears, as her lowered his head, eyes squeezed shut, tiny cubes of ice tinkling onto the ground beneath him. He squeezed his paws tight over top his nose in a desperate yet useless effort to pressure the pain away. After what felt like an eternity, as moments of intense pain always do, relief finally came, albeit from an unexpected source.

"Ohm... ohm... ohm..." Jerin said, pressing her own hand over top the crossed paws, her own eyes shut.

"What-what are you doing?" It sniffled.

"I'm healing you. Does that feel better?"

The silvery blue dark lord was about to scoff, but then realized that, yes, it did indeed feel better. It gave a quick nod in response, still sniffling, head turned to the side, eyes still closed, avoiding the gaze of the small mouse.

"Good. Like I said, I'd hate to have to hurt you." she said.

Similar to in her youth, Jerin had a rather liberal definition of what exactly qualified as 'hurting'. Drawing blood, crippling or killing counted as hurting, of course. Virtually anything else, so long as the victim maintained its general body shape after being hit, was fair game.

"I get it, you're strong, and you think that mice are weak. Not long ago you would have been right, too." Jerin said, crouching down next to the creature, looking up into its large now opened eyes, "But, things are different now. People realized that your kind? Well, your kind may be strong, but you're not invincible. They made better weapons, came up with better strategies, and formed groups to defend against the dark lords. It wasn't long before attacks by dark lords basically stopped, and we just weren't considered worth the effort. People, though? They still wanted the glory, the sense of victory. They started actively hunting your kind down."

Glacius looked to her with wide eyes. "Are you saying that there are other mice around, like you?"

Jerin smiled and shook her head. "Oh, no, they aren't like me at all." she said with a soft chuckle. The large cat gave a sigh of relief, even if said relief proved to be short lived when the mouse clarified her position. "Unlike me, they don't hold back."

The dark lord stared at the mouse woman, looking for some sign, any sign that she might be bluffing, but if she were, she hid it remarkably well. "I... see."

"Like I said, you should go home. It's kind of cold out anyways, and I'll bet you've got lots of tasty food at home."

"Well, actually, my owner just got a new type. It's got fish, chicken and turkey in it, plus a nice gravy sauce..."

"Wow, that sounds really good!" Jerin beamed, smiling wider still, still standing no more than a few inches from the face of the predator. The aura of intense cold emanating from it still bit into her fur, freezing the tips of her whiskers, but she didn't mind. The discomfort was a small price to pay to enjoy some new company, even briefly. She likewise had absolutely no idea what chicken or turkey was, but appreciated the cat's enthusiasm, regardless.

"It really is!" the dark lord said excitedly, before clearing his throat and taking on a more serious tone, remembering the current situation. "Ahem, Yes, I should probably head back. I am rather hungry, and you don't look particularly tasty."

"Good idea." Jerin said.

"And, um, that's the only reason I'm leaving. Because I''m hungry. It's not because I'm scared or anything."

"Of course not!"

"If anything, I'm doing you a favor! I could destroy you and every one of your kind in an instant! I just-I just don't feel like it."

Jerin nodded once again. "I never doubted that for a second."

"Well, now that that's clear, I suppose I'll be going."

"Bye!" Jerin said, waving a paw. "It was nice meeting you!"

"And you as well." Glacius said and grumbled. It wasn't nice meeting her at all. Still, that just felt like the sort of thing that one was expected to say. He looked about, and couldn't see anyone around, mouse or otherwise, yet he could still somehow sense the countless eyes upon him. Tiny cruel eyes, which looked to the elemental emperor with the sort of vicious hunger which would put even an apex predator to shame. Whether he was actually watched from the distance or overcome by paranoia was impossible to determine, and hardly mattered in the end. He walked away, slowly at first, rapidly quickening his pace until breaking into a full sprint back to his home.

Much to the surprise of his owners, he never again showed any interest in leaving the house. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Jerin chuckled to herself, putting the iron hammer, a weapon she had crafted herself, back in place across her back. Her tail had long since been replaced, the colorful yarn one now just a little too small, and in its place dangled an easily removable studded leather whip, which, sadly, she had yet to find an opportunity to put to use.

That was when she had heard the soft buzzing, looked up and smiled as the large fly landed on the tip of her upturned snout. She turned her head towards the mouse standing before her looking slightly ragged, his dark armor more than slightly so, but the long metal blade gleaming gold in his paw appearing as radiant as it ever had..

"Hey." She smiled to him.

Say something clever, Mathias thought to himself. "Hey", instead came out. That could have been worse, he figured. He felt a small sense of frustration there, feeling that he should have said something more significant, made their reconciliation after so long more memorable and important. There was just so much that he had wanted to say. Still, in spite of all of this, it was only a small sense. It was impossible to feel too tense as his own bright brown eyes met hers, and he knew that there was no urgent rush. He had all the time in the world to tell her how he felt. Today's failures and embarrassments were simply tomorrow's opportunities, after all.

There was a bit of a pause. Her feelings might not have entirely mirrored his own, but she shared the sense that something more should have been said. Strange, considering that she so rarely found herself at a loss for words. She ultimately came to the same conclusion, however. Whatever words needed to be said, they would come naturally with time.

"Feel like taking a walk down to the Maker's tunnels?" she asked him.

"Sure. Sounds like fun." he said, this time not lamenting his lack of words, vowing instead to simply enjoy the moment.

And so they walked, side by side, Jerin just a little taller than when last he had seen her, Mathias not having grown at all, yet still glad that she hadn't outgrown him, physically, at least. Neither he nor her were aware of when it had happened, much less who had initiated it, but each held the others paw, and seemed to realize it at the same time. The black furred mouse smiled a goofy smile, an expression that he was fully aware looked ridiculous, but he absolutely couldn't help it. As for Jerin, her white fur blushed bright, as she offered a shyer smile in return. Despite that moment of awkwardness, neither made any effort to withdraw their paw. Neither had even considered the idea.

"So, um, Is that Dondorion?" Jerin asked, feeling the need to say something, never being the sort to appreciate the quieter moments. "I didn't know that flies lived that long?"

"I didn't either, but I guess they must." Mathias said with a shrug and a continuing smile, "He's still around, after all."