While the enemy general (I really needed to get out of the habit of using that term if I really wanted to remain impartial) wasn't the most active of tour-guides, I was still glad that I had chosen to follow her. It wasn't so much because of the great and fascinating places that she had lead me to, it was more due to the other locals. As I walked, all of them who saw me would stop what they were doing and look to me with cold, distrustful eyes. I didn't believe that I was in any real danger, nor did I think that I would have been even were I on my own, either. There was no hate or violence behind those looks, rather a general aversion, bordering on fear.

The more of those strange mice that I had seen, the more their augmentations, even the subtle ones, had become obvious. There were visible plates under their clothing where a heavy brace was fused to their back. There were strange sockets and nodes which the fur had partially covered, but didn't quite hide. Then there were the scars, too clean and precise to be caused by anything but delicate surgical tools and a steady, deliberate hand. Even when I couldn't directly see these implants, or the evidence that they left behind, I could almost sense them, portions of their flesh completely missing with strange, mysterious machines humming and working in their place.

I actively contemplated the idea of whether they saw me as the one who was 'missing' something, when suddenly everything went red. I froze in place. While this enclosed city had a pretty impressive facsimile of a blue sky, it, of course, lacked a sun, instead lit up by a series of broad floodlights at each upper corner. These were bright, left nary a shadow and while quite effective, still had a distinctly unnatural feeling to them. They were just a little bit too 'white'. Of course that unnatural look was nothing compared to what I was witnessing now.

The citizens, who naturally kept their distance from me, all looked nervous. As for my cybernetic guide, she just shook her head in annoyance before turning and walking at a brisk pace in another direction. While not specifically bid to follow, I did so anyways, having no idea what was going on. I followed her into a small building, walled in at three sides by metal plating, the fourth left entirely open. There was hardly space to stand within it, the walls and floor covered in cables, panels and unknown devices, all feeding into a mysterious, central machine.

"Report." she said in a gruff tone to another mouse, this one garbed in grease stained, padded attire, clearly designed for mechanical labor. They sat at a strange terminal, repeatedly striking at seemingly random buttons and switches from the dozens laid out before them, none of which were labeled in any way.

"A uniformed human is approaching." they said in an anxious voice . "What are your orders?"

"You know the drill." the general sighed, not mirroring the concerns of the worker in the slightest, treating the matter more like an irritating chore. "Full stop."

As another series of switches were flipped, I felt a strange sensation beneath my feet. "Wait, 'stop'?" I asked, "Were we moving all this time?"

I immediately regretted speaking up, but thankfully when the half-mechanical mouse looked back over her shoulder at me, it wasn't with an expression of anger or even annoyance. "I'll explain later. For now, just sit tight. This shouldn't take long."

I nodded and quietly observed the situation. Both mice turned to their upper left, where a large box was suspended in place. To my surprise, the plain black screen lit up, showing a fuzzy, monochrome image within it. Not just a single, still image, either, but rather a series of moving ones. This technology wasn't unheard of, at least its existence among the Makers, even if few of our kind had gotten any opportunities to witness it up close. I had little time to gawk at the device itself, as I was immediately more concerned with the scene that the machine was displaying.

It showed a human sitting within a plastic looking framework. Even I could tell that it was one of those open spaces where the Makers piloted their terrifying, massive machines which posed a significant threat to any who dared walk across the flats. Although it wasn't a human. I could have been forgiven for making the mistake, as the image was grainy and constantly flickering. Instead, it was a pile of assorted parts and clothing roughly shaped like a human. It had two arms, at a glance of similar design to Gwendolynne's, but far larger and more simplistic, which were raised and strapped by the 'hands' to a wheel built into the front of the chamber. Its face was a pure white plastic, frozen in an empty expression. Just above its right ear, or at least its crude imitation of an ear, a strange vertical metallic disk spun in a slow circle.

The image depicted a point over its shoulder, looking out the side window, and that's when the other approached. Even through the grainy video, this one was unmistakably a Maker. While the fake might have had all the basic elements, this one was clearly made of flesh, large of body, leaning in from the outside. I nearly jumped when I heard the voice, deep and guttural, completely unintelligible, echoing in from another small box within the terminal.

What followed was a soft whirring sound, as a stream of paper slowly worked its way from a tiny opening in the device, which Gwendolynne rapidly tore away.

"He said, 'my radar has you clocked at zero miles per hour. I guess it rounds down. I certainly can't ticket you for speeding, but it is awfully suspicious. Is there a problem here?'" the mouse woman read. I simply stood stunned. Could these mice translate the speech of the Makers in real time, when we could barely even understand their text?

This was met with a lot of downright frantic hammering of the many keys and buttons by the worker mouse. There was, of course, a bit of a delay between the paper being printed off and read, during which the two Makers, well one really, had been staring at one another in awkward silence.

A strange, deeply digitized voice rang out from the screen. More paper followed.

"Sorry ossifer." Gwendolynne once again read aloud. "We were just enjoying night drive. Listen to local sport ball we are." she sighed, grumbling to the operator, "That doesn't sound right. Are you sure the translation is accurate?" To which the worker mouse could only shrug.

Another natural voice followed, at least as natural as one could expect a voice coming from those gigantic creatures to be. Another short yet seemingly eternal delay, followed by another long, thin strip of paper being ejected from the nearby machine.

"Heh, they're doing terrible this season. There are minimum speed requirements, but I figure it's late, so it's not as though you're blocking traffic or anything. I don't think I need to write you a ticket." She read, "You have a good night."

A rapid clattering of keys. "Yes. Thanks you, ossifer."

The image held for a little while as the human walked away and a white vehicle sped past the open window. A few moments later, everyone, myself included, gave an active sigh of relief. The red light was once again replaced by white, the tense, eerie hellscape turned idyllic once more.

"I can't believe that worked." I said, shaking my head. I knew little when it came to the Makers, but even I know a bad performance when I see one. Not that I could honestly claim to have been able to do any better myself.

"Humans tend to see what they want to see." Gwendolynne said. "For as much as your kind worships them, they are rather simple creatures who don't adapt well to the unknown, and thus, more often than not, choose to ignore it." she paused, "Well, usually. I must say, our dealings with these uniformed offers have gone a lot more smoothly ever since we pained the mannequin a lighter skin tone, for some reason."

I nodded, still more than a little bit confused. That's when an idea had occurred to me. "Uh, what would have happened if it didn't work? If they kept asking questions... or worse?"

The cyborg mouse simply smiled. "It wouldn't be the first time."

She said nothing more, and I didn't press the matter, a bit afraid to hear any further explanation. I didn't want to believe that these people were capable of killing a Maker, either in terms of technological ability or sheer will to commit such a sacrilege, so I simply chose to think of other things. Maybe we weren't so different from the Makers, who could also be known to ignore the obvious, after all. That said, in spite of my best efforts, my mind constantly returned to the plate of strange meats which had greeted me in my prison cell. Probably a silly thing to worry about, as it could have come from any number of places, but still, the idea remained,

I looked around, not just this small room, but out through the open wall, scanning the entire city. "Are we inside one of their vehicles?" I asked.

The woman nodded. "Yes. Although I object to the term 'theirs'. It is very much our own, heavily modified to suit our needs."

"And you've been moving all this time? Why are you advancing so slowly then?"

"There are a lot of people and delicate mechanisms here. Keeping everything in order would be difficult while moving at any sort of speed. Then there are the power concerns. Much of the resources generated by this machine are being used to power more vital sections of the base, and we are running at a significant deficit. The battery is expected to wear out within a few days. We also, admittedly, have rather limited visual range and control over this... vehicle." she continued, seemingly objecting to that term as well. "Most importantly, of course, we are in no hurry. Even as we speak, we are constantly developing new weapons and augmentations, as well as training more soldiers. It may not be the quickest method of locomotion, but we can travel with all of our supplies, keep our troops well fed, rested and equipped, and once we finally do reach that kingdom of yours, occupying it will be all the easier with all of our resources so immediately accessible."

I couldn't help furrowing a little. Obviously, it was no secret that this was a hostile military force, but still, I was hoping to ignore that fact for as long as I could. It made it awfully difficult to try to relate to these mice, knowing what they intended to do. There were still an awful lot of questions I had in that regard, as well, but I figured they could wait. It wasn't as though I could expect unbiased and objective answers from the general when it came to the nature of this conflict, after all. If necessary I would ask outright, but I would prefer put the pieces together on my own, and this strange place had no shortage of varied pieces to be observed.

The 'tour' continued, this general vicinity along the lower wall clearly designed with more military function, compared to the residential districts. Most of the homes appeared to built up on the higher levels, although it was unclear whether this was due to ease of transporting heavy materials among the more industrial structures, or that the mice here simply enjoyed living higher up where they had a better view of their surroundings. This was generally reversed back home, where structures at ground level were seen as significantly more desirable, even if no small number of people chose to live up in the overcity, as well.

The many structures lining the walls were large, metallic, windowless and foreboding in appearance. There was no sign of armed guard, but most structures only had a single fortified looking entrance. Even through the thick metal barriers, the sounds of heavy machinery, constantly whirring and grinding could clearly be heard. It seemed like the noise would be quite unpleasant for the locals, but then, I imagined one would get used to it quickly enough. The constant maintenance of the overcity of the kingdom was also known for being quite noisy, after all. Then again, for more reasons than the two listed above, the general consensus was that the mice of the overcity were also rather strange.

As we walked, my eyes looking everywhere but in front of me, and never at any given spot for long, my attention was drawn by a series of loud bangs. Not explosions, I didn't think, rather intense impacts against metal, each of which made me tense. From the sheer sound alone, I would have thought that the walls themselves, no matter how heavily reinforced, were on the verge of being smashed straight through. Clearly this wasn't the case, as the general was unconcerned, even if she did stop in her path to turn towards the large nearby building. I'd have liked to give it a more vivid description, but so many of the structures were functionally identical: Plain metal boxes of exceptional construction but minimal creative flair. In truth, even the homes up above, while somewhat more unique were still sparsely decorated, and largely unpainted. Not that we had an abundance of proper 'paint' back home, either, but many of the materials we used were already brightly colored, giving certain portions of the city a more vibrant look.

The gateway of this larger structure slid open with a whoosh, followed by a particularly intense bang, which was muffled halfway through it once the door sealed shut behind the exiting mouse. This one looked to be significantly more augmented than most, even if still far less so than Gwendolynne, but that was hardly a surprise as she seemed to be rather exceptional in that regard. A portion of his hands were completely intact, but each and every finger was replaced with an extremely long and heavily jointed digit, at the end of which an assorted tool was set, most of which I couldn't have even guessed the purpose of. The pale mouse wore a pair of green goggles, although they could well have been an implant in themselves for how nearly they covered the upper portion of his face. A series of thick wires extended from the sides of this headpiece, running into the open neck of their white coat, where they seemed to plug into an area near his spine.

"Status?" Gwendolynne asked in a commanding voice, arms crossed at her chest.

"I regret that we're making little progress on project delta." he said nervously, "Our tools just aren't capable of cutting into the flesh."

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the notion of flesh cutting, but of course said nothing.

"We must have something that will work. What about the heavy saws?" the general replied, brow furrowed, wearing a small frown.

"We naturally do have a few items which are capable of breaking through the hide, but all of those would cause excessive damage to the bodies." he continued, looking away, keeping his distance, clearly anxious about having to deliver bad news. "We have nothing that will offer the precision required for such delicate work."

The cyborg woman sighed and shook her head, gathering her thoughts before finally speaking. "Disappointing. But not unexpected. We'll need to go with our alternative plan. I trust preparations are underway?"

At those words, the pensive mood of the other mouse faded as he excitedly replied. "Yes, General! Most of the components are already constructed, with the remainder well underway. We should be able to run the first set of tests within a matter of days."

"Good. Although if at all possible, I'd prefer you remove that plural." She said. "I am, of course, well aware that advancement requires time, and trust that you and your team are working hard, but I would like to see these tools in operation as quickly as possible."

The other mouse frowned a little, similarly in deep thought and going through some mental calculations before looking back up at her and nodding his head. "Yes, of course. We will redouble our efforts. I cannot promise an exact schedule, as there is always the possibility of unexpected complications and delays, but I am confident that the finished product will not only be fully operational within a timely manner, but also exceed all projected parameters."

"Excellent. Regardless of the outcome, I know that you and your engineers have been working hard, and even if your jobs are less glorious than those of the front-line soldiers, you represent the foundation of our military strength. I'll report the same to our great leader." Gwendolynne smiled warmly to him, nodding her head.

As for the strange engineer, his expression was clearly one of restrained exuberance. "Yes, general! We will not disappoint!" as he gave a rather stiff and awkward salute with his extended paws before rushing back to the large structure, clearly eager to resume work on his mysterious project. During this entire conversation, he didn't acknowledge, or perhaps even notice my presence at all.

The half mechanical mouse saw my confused expression. "Weapons development." She said plainly. "A soldier is nothing without the proper tools at their disposal."

I simply nodded in agreement, thinking back to how poorly geared the troops on my own side were. I'd been making a point to avoid thinking of them, and to instead focus on what was in front of me, both to avoid distraction and to remain impartial. It hadn't been easy, however.

We continued past a training yard, where I managed to see a few of the elite soldiers without their cloaks. I was rather surprised. I had expected them to more fully resemble the general, being almost entirely mechanical, but they were not. Sure, there were the occasional fully replaced limbs, but most of them had what were essentially mouse bodies, with a metal framework set overtop of them, like a sort of armor. These had beams which ran along each limb and bent at joints, with a brace and metal ribs curving around torso and back. More than just a reinforcing suit, however, it was clear that these frames were directly fused to their flesh at certain points.

"Steel exoskeletons." Gwendolynne said, noticing my stares. "For the partially augmented, simple limb replacements aren't enough. If you replace an arm, sure, it's stronger, but you can't strike harder or lift more without also reinforcing the back, legs and hips. This isn't to say that a single replaced limb doesn't have a multitude of advantages over your crude flesh ones, but it isn't enough to become a truly superior being, and transcend mouse limitations."

"I guess you don't need one, since most of your body was already replaced?" I asked. She gave a proud smile and a nod in return.

I had another question in mind, but before I could say it, another mouse, a small girl, excitedly ran up. "Aunty Gwen!" she called, at which point the eyes, (well, eye) of the general completely lit up, and she smiled wide, crouching down, taking the child in her mechanical arms. Her smile quickly fell away, however, taking on a more stern expression.

"Have you been playing with your ear again?" the general asked. I was confused about what she meant, but looking closer, it was fairly obvious. There was a metal device bolted to the inside of the child's large, round ear, with a thin antenna poking straight up along the side of her head.

"Noooo..." she said, looking away. She couldn't hide from the disapproval of the adult woman for long, however. "Um, maybe just a little. I just wanted to see how it worked."

"And?" Gwendolynne asked, her expression softening a little, but still looking rather stern.

"It's... kind of echoing a little now." the child said, her tone one of deep remorse. "I'm sorry! I know you told me to leave it alone..."

The cyborg mouse laughed, shaking her head, even the laughter having a little hint of a digitized noise to it. "I understand how hard it can be to resist the temptation, but you need to be careful. These are delicate machines. Still, it would hardly be fair of me to criticize you. It's not as though I'd never done the same with my own parts, and often been 'rewarded' with far worse than a little bit of an echo for my efforts!"

The child smiled wide as the older woman raised a hand to the ear, a small tool extending from a single finger which she used to adjust a tiny knob within the implanted device. "Is that better?" the general asked. The child excitedly nodded in return. "In the future, try to avoid doing that on your own. Myself or another of the adults will be happy to show you how it works and how to modify it yourself, and in time, even how to build one. Eventually I'm sure you'll be able to make yourself a lot more than just a better ear, too."

"Can I get some new legs? I promise I'll take care of them!" she beamed, excitedly.

Gwendolynne simply shook her head, however, setting the child back down. "Not yet, I'm afraid. You're still growing, which can make the process rather difficult once you start to get too big for them."

The girl frowned, clearly disappointed, but her spirits were quickly revitalized. "So, does that mean I can get some when I'm a bit bigger?" she grinned.

"Of course, little one." The general smiled. "In fact, when you're ready, I'll make you some myself."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

This was enough to placate the child, as she hopped up to give the woman a quick kiss and ran off. Well, not before casting a dirty look in my direction. Then she went off to enjoy her now properly functioning ear.

"Cute kid." I said, admittedly a little bit annoyed by the look she had given me.

"She was born deaf. With her ear implant, however, not only can she hear, but she can also take in a variety of different frequencies, both natural and otherwise. It can even be used to talk to others with similar devices." the general said, "In most mouse communities, her condition would be a severe drawback, and greatly diminish her overall quality of life, if she were able to survive at all. But here? Here, it becomes her greatest strength."

I watched as the girl ran over to another group of children. I couldn't hear them speaking from here, but could see her excitedly pointing to her ear as she spoke, and the other kids were clearly quite impressed. I couldn't help smile a little. As wary as I was of the idea of replacing ones limbs, especially for the sake of warfare, it was good to see those developments used to genuinely improve the lives of others. Still, something was bothering me a little as I looked about, seeing not only the children but adults as well.

"You seem to think quite highly of these... augmentations." I said. "But I can't help notice that most of the mice around aren't nearly as heavily modified as I would have expected."

"Make no mistake, there are an abundance of improvements which can be made to our bodies." The general said, looking to the group of children as well. "But no truly good things come without pain. The process is difficult, especially for significant implants, and not without risk. Even with our best efforts, infections, rejections and even death is not uncommon. Beyond that, there are limits to available materials, along with surgeons with the proper expertise."

This shouldn't have come as a shock to me. Perhaps it wasn't the idea in itself which was so surprising, rather how candid the woman was in regards to the matter. "Wait, it's that dangerous? Then why do it? Is it really worth having stronger arms or legs if you could die in the process?"

She smiled again. "What's life without risk? And don't underestimate the sheer variety of modifications which can be made. It isn't only strength and speed, but we can enhance the stomach to improve digestion, requiring less food. We can dull pain sensors, making even the most chronic of pain more endurable. We can heighten reflexes, and improve balance." the mouse then tapped on the red glass frame of her replaced her eye. "Then there is sight. This eye of mine can see multiple spectrums of light and color, far beyond what you could even hope to comprehend. It allows me to see beyond the meager perspectives of our kind, and take in a much larger world."

"That still doesn't sound like it's worth dying over."

"Mice die all the time. I don't need to tell you that. These augmentations are not only for personal benefit, either. I can say, without hyperbole, that every single operation we do enhances our knowledge and refines our techniques, making them better and safer. When we willingly go under the knife, we do it not only based on the promise of enhancing ourselves, but enhancing the world as a whole. We know that even if we are unlucky, and even if we end up crippled or worse, that the knowledge gained from the failure will help the mice of tomorrow, until we reach our ultimate goal."

I couldn't help feeling uncomfortable at how downright excited she sounded to be when she spoke, even when talking about the prospect of dying just so that, maybe, those who killed her could potentially learn from their mistakes. "And what is that ultimate goal?" I asked.

"Complete replacement. The ability to replace any bit of flesh or organ with a superior, artificial component." she said simply.

"What, you want to turn yourselves into machines?"

She raised her head, tilting it towards the small girl and her circle of friends. "Do you see her as part machine? As a lesser mouse?" she asked. "I don't think that you do. I can tell you're wary about a lot of this, and I could even see you squirm a little at the prospect of her replacing her legs even though she has perfectly healthy ones. But not the ear, though. You recognized that as correcting a natural flaw, and in doing so, improving her life."

I nodded. I wasn't really in any position to disagree.

"You fail to grasp the truth that exists right in front of your eyes, however: That we're all born flawed. Quite severely so. You feel pity for an openly disabled mouse, but the reality? In the grand sense, we're all crippled. We're small. We're weak. Maybe relative to other mice her legs are perfectly fine and healthy, but how much is that worth? Are they strong enough to outrun a so-called dark lord? To jump to heights which the humans can effortlessly reach? And even putting all of that aside, suppose that she never finds herself too slow or too weak in a given situation, and lives to a ripe old age. It's still a short and feeble lifespan compared to so many other creatures." Gwendolynne turned back to me.

"Healthy is just a relative term, and worse, a temporary one. Everything breaks down with time. Every single piece of us is no exception. But imagine, if you will, that we could replace organs, muscle tissue, even skin just as easily as we can now replace a destroyed limb." She extended a cybernetic arm and wriggled her mechanical fingers. "And as our bodies components fail, we could simply whip up some new ones. Even better, should the implants themselves fail, and they do sometimes, well, they can just be replaced as well! What awaits is us a world without sickness, a world without weakness, invariably a world without old age and death! And sure, even as optimistic as I am, I'll admit that it's a long ways away, but every single time someone volunteers to be augmented, no matter the results, brings us just a little bit closer to that ultimate goal."

I couldn't deny that it sounded impressive. I couldn't even deny that it sounded plausible, given a long enough timeframe. Still, I felt a sickness in the pit of my stomach. Like my mind wanted to believe it, all of it, but my heart was setting off warning bells.

"Understand that more significant procedures are a lot more dangerous than others, too." She continued, having given me an opening to speak, but honestly, I had no idea what to say. "There are plenty of minor improvements which pose little danger, yet can still enhance our lives. For instance," she smiled. "I'll bet you'd like to be taller."

"Really? You could do that?" I asked. I wasn't entirely sensitive about my small stature, and hadn't really thought about it that much, but I still couldn't help but perk up at the prospect.

"Of course. Easily. You wouldn't need limb replacements, either. A few simple shunts in the bones of the arms and legs, as well as some vertebrae extenders and you'll continue to gradually grow to... well, as tall as you want!" she grinned.

"I... see." I said, looking down at my feet for a moment before meeting her gaze once again. "Does it hurt?"

"I can promise you, looking back in the future, you wouldn't regret the decision."

I blinked. "You didn't answer the question."

She frowned a little, looking away. "Yeah. It hurts. A lot." before she smiled back my way. "But then, as I said, all good things do."

I couldn't say that I necessarily agree with that last statement, but I nodded diplomatically, nonetheless.

"I can see that you aren't fully convinced. Not that I fault you for it. You've been living in a very small world, and this is an awful lot to take in all at once, I know." general Gwendolynne said. "There's just one more thing I'd like to show you. After that, you can go wherever you wish, including back to your own kingdom, should you so desire."

For some reason, the statement felt a lot more believable to me this time than it had when I first arrived. "Alright." I said. "Lead the way."

The woman was a strange one. She was capable of expressing a great deal of warmth and softness, yet I also knew full well just how cold and cruel she could be. Still, I couldn't deny that even over this short period of time, I'd found it easier and easier to ignore the bizarre machines which made up a significant portion of her body. I saw her more and more as a mouse rather than a monster. This wasn't a bad thing, of course. A part of growing up is realizing that there are no actual monsters out there. Or maybe there are, and we're all a little bit monstrous. In the end, no matter how different we may be, in size, strength or lifespan, all of us, every one of us, are just scared and trying to get by any way that we can.

I was a little wary as she approached a large, gathered crowd, but not one of the citizens present cast a single eye in my direction. They all looked straight forward in anticipation. Gwendolynne appeared to be caught off guard by this as well.

"Oh, how careless of me. It seems I completely lost track of the time." She said, actually looking a little bit embarrassed by her apparent error. "I know I told you that we just had one stop, but this is important, and I'm sure it will be quite helpful to you."

I shrugged and gave a little grin. "Sure. I've got nowhere better to be." I said, truthfully, looking around the crowd gathered before us. "What's going on?"

"Our great leader has come to speak."

I froze and looked up, beyond the crowd, and true to her words, there he was. Mollenoch, the shadow king himself. I, like everyone else from my home, knew little of the man beyond his reputation, both past and present. Since his sudden and mysterious departure from the kingdom, few had even seen the mouse and lived to tell the tale, and of those few that did, their descriptions of him were vague and often blatantly contradictory. A terrifying madman who ruled with an iron fist, and brought only death and destruction in his wake.

There were no monsters. We're all just mice. Words which I knew to be true, but for the moment, found difficult to believe. It wasn't his appearance, although that hardly helped. His face was entirely covered by a mask of glass and metal and cables snaking out from all directions. At least I had hoped that it was a mask. The shape was still largely that of a mouse face, but the red glass eyes gleamed unnaturally, and the cables ran under his heavy dark cloak, making the body beneath look bloated and distorted. None of his flesh, not so much as a single strand of fur was visible, each hand donned in a heavy, mechanical gauntlet, shoulders wide from the pauldrons, with only the occasional glint of metal or hint of wiring, bolts or mechanical sockets which could be seen within the encompassing cloth.

In the end, of course, appearance mattered little. In the old days, sure, it was an easy way to judge, but now? Even the smallest of mice could look formidable with the proper armor or accessories. All the more so in a place like this. Based on sheer size and muscle mass, Gwendolynne herself wouldn't have looked even vaguely intimidating without her many mechanical bits. It wasn't the appearance, it was everything else. All of the old baggage which my rational mind knew full well could have just been prejudice inspired by propaganda. This was the man whose crusade had lead to the deaths of countless mice in the past, and who knew how many more in the future. The former brave hero, turned self defined villain and enemy of the world. The self appointed king of the shadows. No longer a terrifying bedtime story or a vague myth, but standing, in the flesh, not a dozen lengths away, atop an elevated metal framework, looking down upon us all. Down upon me. At any moment I had expected him to raise an armored hand and point a single finger straight at me, identifying me as an intruder, an impostor, an inferior. Something which didn't belong, and then swooping down to rectify the matter personally.

All of this was both irrational and unreasonable, I had tried to tell myself. Like Gwendolynne or myself, once again, in the end he was a mouse like any other. A mantra I kept repeating in order to force myself to remain calm, for all the good that it did. Thankfully, nobody around seemed privy to my obvious anxiety, not even Gwendolynne. Her eyes, like all of the others, only saw their great leader.

Silence followed. None of the citizens dared say a single word to one another. None dared cough or sneeze or do so much as shuffle their feet. Not because they were afraid, of course, but out of a worry that in doing so they might miss even a single second of what their ruler had to say. I seemed to be the only one who found the silence to be uncomfortable. Everyone else stood at attention in patient anticipation, and I had the strong suspicion that, were it demanded of them, they could and would have eagerly done so all day long.

"My friends." he finally spoke, his voice booming, reaching even the furthest ears of the crowd, clearly enhanced by technology but I'd be a fool to pretend that it deserved all of the credit. Even with the added noise, even with the digitized edge to it, with just those two simple words, there was a power to the voice which no mere machine could have hoped to replicate. "Another day has come. Take pride in your work, as I have, and know that you are the stronger than you were yesterday."

At this point there were some brief, proud murmurings among the crowd. They were short lived, as they sensed that the brief pause in the speech had come to an end.

"But today, now, is a petty and trivial concept. Fleeting, gone the moment we recognize it. There is only tomorrow. There is always tomorrow, and we will, we must be ready to face it. After all, tomorrow is always looking back at us, and sees us, all of us, as unwelcome intruders. Time is, in the end, necessary to grow, but make no mistake. It is also a bitter and hateful enemy, which will steal away everything you hold dear, if you so allow it. I have no intention of letting it do so, however. It is easy to look about at this paradise we have created, and see how much easier things have become, how much better. But that is just an illusion. Things never get easier. They only get harder, and they will continue to do so. The more you have, the more that can be taken away. The more this cruel world seeks to take it away. The more obstacles it will throw in your path. The more enemies you must face until, in the end, this entire world, this world which has always hated and looked down on you, but saw you as too insignificant to take action, will lash out at you, once it begins to recognize us as what we truly are: A threat to all that it holds dear.

"Make no mistake, this world hates us. It wants us to grow old and feeble. It wants our bodies to be broken under the feet of larger creatures. It wants us to be food. Even worse, it wants nothing more than for us to continue this miserable cycle for all of eternity. Worst of all, it thinks we are too small and weak to say 'no' to this injustice. No, my friends, this world hasn't become softer or gentler or easier. It cannot do so. It is not in the nature of this world of cruelty and malice. Quite the opposite. It has steadily pushed back against us, as we tried to move forward. It isn't through natural kindness or justice that our lives are improving. It is through hard work, determination and our own personal growth which works in spite of that pushback. It is because we fight back, because as cruel and merciless as this world may be, we can be even more terrifying. Make no mistake, my people, this isn't going to stop. Not until we've reached a level where we are no longer pawns to the whims of fate, rather we are strong enough to write the rules of reality ourselves."

I'm not sure a single mouse in the crowd had blinked even once since the man started speaking, clearly enraptured. Well, except for me, of course. None of this sounded inspiring to me in the least.

"You have all been doing your part, and shall continue to in the future, as we continue to build. Today, we build new hands and feet, but tomorrow cities, and in time? We shall rebuild this entire cruel world in our own image. Yes, we shall, in fact, rebuild. But before we can rebuild, we must destroy. Just as we break down larger plates of metal to form unique and essential tools, regrettably, the same must be done with lives. And you all know the lives of which I speak."

More soft murmurs of agreement within the crowd.

"In a perfect world, of course, we could all stand as brothers and sisters." the masked mouse said, looking up to the heavens, wistfully, before returning his attentions to the crowd, his booming voice speeding up, fueled by anger. "But we know full well that this world is not perfect. It is as far from perfect as anything could possibly be. On its own, it will not improve. It will never improve. It is, instead, up to us to make it improve, to beat down this world, to grow stronger and braver until even the very forces of existence itself, in a united front against us are but a petty inconvenience compared to our might!"

The citizens actively cheered, but as loud as they are, they did nothing to drown out the voice of Mollenoch, whose tone grew even louder, even angrier still.

"We will no longer be tools of this world! No matter how grand and terrifying it may seem, it is nothing but pieces for us to use, which are to be broken down and reforged, whether these pieces are made of metal or wood or flesh and bone! We shall show no mercy, and destroy all which stands against us, and in the end, once we stand alone above this broken and bloodied world... it will thank us. Because, deep down, it knows that it needs us! It needs us far, far more than we need it!"

The grand chorus of applause continued to be dwarfed by the words.

"But do not grow complacent and overconfident. For today? Today we are weak. Today, we still suffer, and we still die. Today we still need to kill. Today will be difficult and painful. So painful that we might want to give up. But we will not. We cannot. And why not? Because pain is what makes us strong! Because there is always tomorrow! Tomorrow, when we will not be indestructible, but we will be stronger. We will be smarter. We will be better. And this seemingly massive and invincible world will be gradually battered and broken down. We will still suffer, but there will always be another tomorrow. Each and every one of us must continue to grow. To develop both our bodies and our wills, until one day? The pains of today are just a distant memory, and tomorrow is not some distant dream. Where tomorrow is the life we get to live, every day.

"We will continue forward. We will destroy any obstacles in our path, and transform them into tools to tunnel a path ahead! Whether they are humans, dark lords or even other mice, all will be crushed beneath the force of our might and determination!"

At that word, he began to laugh, stating with simple, quick chuckles before they grew into wild, braying, maniacal laughter, his masked face turned to the skies, arms outstretched. As he laughed, the audience clapped and cheered, the two seemingly feeding one another in a terrible symphony which made my stomach churn as I stared, blankly up at him. He was still laughing as he turned away from the crowd, and of course, they were still applauding as he stepped away from the platform where, no longer standing above the masses, no longer a larger than life figure, he simply vanished from my view, exiting into a large metallic building at the far end of the city. The crowd gradually dispersed, everyone excitedly chatting with one another, not the least bit demotivated by the talk of pain and suffering, all clearly convinced that it was a petty inconvenience in service of their precious 'tomorrow'. Their confidence wavered a little as they noticed my presence, and I briefly worried that they might turn violent towards me after all that talk of blood and enemies, but instead they shrunk away, looking more nervous than angry. As though I were some sort of impurity that they risked being infected by.

"So... what did you think?" Gwendolynne smiled.

"It was... great!" I said,

The general chuckled in response. "Be honest. Don't worry, I won't judge."

"He sounds... insane." I answered, annoyed with myself as I struggled to find the right word, only to come up with the completely wrong one.

To my surprise, she simply, calmly nodded. "Of course he does. The world is a mad place, after all. How can the truly sane hope to not only make sense of it, but to bend it to their will?"

We continued to walk. I couldn't exactly say that I was convinced, quite the contrary, but I did have to admit I was a little bit relieved that I wasn't the only one who noticed it. Then again, it was hard to say whether that was a good thing or a bad one.

"We're here. Come inside." The platinum angel said, "This won't take long."

The building looked similar to most others, and as the automatic door slid open, I was surprised to see a fully furnished home. Naturally, it was a fair bit smaller than the more industrial structures, where weapons, body parts and who knows what else were constantly being built and manufactured, and on the outside, at least, it lacked any sort of personal touches. Inside, things were much different, with soft, well crafted furniture, amazingly rendered pictures lining the walls, and a plush, red floor surface.

Much to my surprise, we weren't alone, either. There was another mouse here, elderly, sitting in a wooden rocking chair, looking out through a square window cut into the wall (another detail which surprised me). I stole a quick glance through the opening as well, and, to my surprise, saw a bed of colorful wildflowers, although I suspected that they were no more natural than the grass of this place. As for the man, his fur was gray, and not the sort of gray that mice were born with, be rather dulled, faded and thinned. Thin like the rest of his body as he leaned forward, clad in a light robe, with a sort of vacant, sleepy expression in his eyes.

Gwendolynne seemed similarly surprised by his presence. "I didn't expect you to be up. You should be resting." she stepped up to him, crouching down to put herself at eye level with his seated position.

He smiled back to her, mouth twitching a bit, as though even curling up the corners of it were some great exertion which he could barely manage. "Oh, it's you. Is it time for dinner?" he asked, his voice raspy and weak.

"We just had lunch a little while ago." she said, also smiling, but hers seemed to require even more effort than his own.

"Oh, yes, of course. Now I remember." he slowly nodded. It felt unlikely that he truly remembered, either, as his dull eyes showed clear hints of confusion. He smiled a little wider, taking Gwendolynne's hand within his own frail one. "Thank you for taking care of me. You remind me of my daughter, Gwen."

"We've been over this many times." the cyborg mouse sighed, her smile not vanishing but all the more forced. "I am your daughter."

The old mouse laughed, at least he did until he was overcome by a mercifully short fit of coughing. "No, no, it's kind of you to humor an old fool, but I lost her a long time ago. I... I wasn't able to protect her. You are a kind woman, but your eyes... and your hands, they are so cold. Not like little Gwen." he lowered his own eyes for a moment before raising them once again. "Oh, it's you. Is it time for dinner?"

The woman could barely maintain her facade any longer, taking everything she could to keep smiling, even as her lip trembled and her one organic eye glistened with tears. "Not quite yet. In a little while." she said, her voice cracking, just a little as she spoke.

"Oh, that's good. That's good. I'll look forward to that." the old mouse said, his voice trailing off as his eyes returned to the open window. As for the mechanical mouse, she had already left his side, rushing into an adjoining room. I instinctively followed, although I wasn't certain that it was the wisest approach.

"I didn't want you to see that." she said, standing in the middle of the room, turning towards me. She was still smiling a little, and it felt significantly more genuine, those precious few seconds enough for her to regain her composure.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked, not even realizing how insensitive a question that was.

"Nothing too unusual. He's just another victim of time. It hits some of us more quickly and brutally than others." she sighed. "Unfortunately, fixing a broken mind isn't quite as easy as replacing a broken limb." she paused and smiled just a little wider. "But we'll get there. Eventually."

I nodded, and considered saying something more, but honestly, what was there to say? Maybe I should have expressed my sympathies, but I suspected that she wasn't the sort to take comfort in such things. Instead I looked around my new surroundings. Unlike the previous room which was a comfortable and furnished living quarters, this looked more like a museum, with assorted relics, mostly weapons on display. The objects were simple scavenged items, although of exceptional quality, this not being the sort of place where rubbish had any real value, unlike my own home. There were small metal shields with painted insignias, a huge ring suspended from the ceiling which could only have been designed to fit on the finger of a Maker, and even a set of four impressive green plastic statues, depicting humans holding weapons, each of which stood just over my own height atop broad, plastic bases. Then there were the weapons. Weapons which in no way matched the style of this place, being of far cruder construction. Weapons which looked far more like something you'd find within my own kingdom, and I had a pretty good idea of where she had gotten them from. More likely than not, all of their previous wielders were now dead.

"This is my private collection." she said. "You should feel honored. I've never taken anyone to this place. Some of these items I found in my youth. Others were earned through battle."

I looked to her, not really understanding why she would take me to a place like this. Did she honestly expect me to be impressed? That's when my eyes turned to a large display behind her. A wooden frame hanging on the wall, with a plush, red backing, and covered in a clear, glass surface. Within it, set upright, were several items which even I immediately recognized as bones. Mouse bones.

"And what is that?" I asked, unable to hide the disgust on my voice as I pointed a finger to them. "Another trophy of your past conquests?"

Even as I said the words, however, I knew they weren't accurate. I'm no doctor, nor an expert on anatomy, but I could tell, even at a glance, that they were unusual. Too small, too thin, too twisted, and not nearly enough of them. Certainly not your common mouse skeleton.

"In a manner of speaking." she said, smiling once more as she turned to the large glass case, lightly running a pointed, metallic finger along its surface. "They're mine."