AutoAxpert shuddered, and it was not only because the room he was in was freezing cold. Since he had agreed to train this team he had been forced to live in the silvery tower, and the experience had not been kind on his sanity. The architecture itself was unnerving enough: shifting corridors, stairs that led to nowhere, rooms so vast that he couldn't see the exit, mirrors everywhere. In his chambers some kind of device had been ticking non-stop, and no matter his efforts he couldn't find the source of the noise. The result was that he had slept about four hours per night in the last two weeks, and he was getting jumpier and moodier a little more every day.The biggest problem however wasn't the Hall itself, oh no. The dwellers were far worse.

Pausing for a moment, he considered which hallway was most likely to bring him closer to his destination. As usual he was completely lost and, as usual, by picking at random a path (this was an extremely cramped corridor that smelled like vinegar, but was at least far more promising than the other one, from where loud thumping sounds and screams could be heard even from there) he found himself exactly where he wanted to go. He knocked on the large ebony door, that opened on its own with a loud creak.

Inside there was a barren and dusty room, one where the roof looked strangely skewed. The only object present was the extremely large mirror that stood in the middle of the room. In front of it was a massive figure, one that the coach immediately recognised: the Harbinger. "Ah, yesss. I expected you'd come here." AutoAxpert swallowed, as he tried to make sense of the swirling shape in front of him. "Y-yes, hello, I wanted to talk with you." The Harbinger condensed into something similar to a cloaked humanoid.

"Is it because of the familiars? Is Voonith bothering you again?"
The image of a grotesque cross between a toad and a snail covered in yellow dribble flashed for a moment before the coach's eyes.
"No, no. It's been fine. Even the one with the leathery wing, what's his name... Ibbi-tzet"
"Yibb-Tstll"
"Yeah, that thing. It even stopped cackling when I asked. They are all behaving... well, they're following my orders."
"Are you displeased with your room?"
"Yeah, but that's not what I'm here for"
"What is it, then?"
"W-well... the preseason is over. And it has been largely a disaster, I might say. We lost by a combined 7-0".
"Yes, I know. Did anybody die?"
"No, no, that's maybe the only positive thing... wait, do you know already?"
"Yeeessss"
"And it doesn't bother you?"
"Yesssss"
"Why not? Did you see how they played? We were pathetic! The adversaries just moved around like we were not even there! Even the warriors were on the ground most of the time! How are we going to make it this season?"
"Is that it?"
"Well, yeah, it's my job that's on the line. I must ask if you're already thinking about firing me" Or worse, he thought.

To his surprise, the nebulous monstrosity laughed. It wasn't a pleasant laugh. Then, it floated nearer him.
"Don't worry, your precious life isn't going to be changed significantly. At least, not for now. You can't see the big picture like I do, mortal. To you the game is self-contained in a match. To me, it spans across millennia. Everything is going according to plan. A couple of meaningless defeats are not a disaster, quite the contrary"
"What do you mean?"
"Everything will be clear in due time. For now, think that the poor showing you made may have been noticed by the other contestants - the one that worship other Gods in particular. This is positive. Lure them in a sense of false security. Hit them by surprise"
Unconvinced, the coach muttered: "I don't think that's how it works.."
"I'm not here to convince you of this. I'm here to be the mouth of the Master on this side of the Mirror. And trust me...
For a moment, something resembling a baleful grin flashed on the thing's head.
"...the Master is not displeased with you... yet."
Then the Harbinger laughed once more, this time even more maliciously, and swirled back to the mirror.

Even more creeped out than he was before, AutoAxpert mumbled some excuse and stumbled out of the door into an unfamiliar hallway, a warped passage covered in a black ooze that sizzled as he stepped on it. As he tried to go back inside, he realized that the door wasn't there anymore. He groaned.

"To think that I refused that Slaaneshi team because their uniform looked weird", he thought.