"I am fine, things will go better, the team is improving"

Staring at the reflective surface of the wall, AutoAxpert kept muttering those three sentences like a mantra, mostly to calm his nerves and not because he actually believed in it. His own reflection was not pretty: the dark circles under his eyes just kept growing thanks to the few hours of sleep he could muster every night, and he could swear that the white hairs just multiplied over the past few weeks. But the part of his face that looked less healthy were his eyes: aside from being completely bloodshot, which was to be expected, they scared him because he was starting to look completely insane. The fact that he could almost feel his sanity slip away every minute he stayed in that Sigmar-forsaken place just compounded that feeling: he was starting to lose control. He wondered if Tzeentch had hired him only to make him miserable, or if he had offended Nuffle in some inexplicable way.
Trying to distract his mind from those thoughts, he concentrated again towards his search for the ticking machine that was making his life a living hell.
He had searched every corner of his room - every one of those strange, strange corners - and checked every possible object that could produce that noise without success. He had then concluded that whatever that thing was must had been concealed somewhere in the walls, but finding the one where it was hidden happened to be more problematic that anticipated; the sound kept echoing in weird ways in the room, bouncing along the walls in ways that definitely weren't normal. Nevertheless, he had had some familiars bring him a big mace and now he was ready to crack some mirrors.
After deciding which one was the best candidate, he had started to hit it violently, but again the task was harder than it seemed: rather than being just covered by a mirror, the wall was actually entirely made of the cristalline substance, which coincidentally was really hard to break. Combined with the training session, which had become more frequent at his own request, he spent a whole day just doing that: hitting a wall with a mace, without doing much progress at all. His effort however was giving results, even though they weren't particularly pleasant: the ticking became more and more oppressive and loud as he escavated the wall. To avoid going over the edge, he decided that it was because it was getting closer, so he persevered until finally he actually found the font of his insomnia: the device looked like a complicated clockwork thingy, and was firmly embedded inside the wall some 20 centimetres below the surface. The coach carefully extracted it and put it on a table. The mechanism looked extremely complicated and well made: it would have probably costed some thousands gold pieces on any market in the Old World.
AutoAxpert placed it on a table and observed it for a couple of minutes, then he inhaled, picked it up, smashed the delicate item on the floor and then started jumping and down on the scattered gears, laughing like a maniac. He was interrupted in his glee by Huxkos, a familiar that looked like a porcelain doll with tentacles, who entered his room and announced with his nasal voice: "Mr AutoAxpert, you're desired on the pitch for training session, mm-yes.". The coach tidied himself up, made his way through the sinister corridors of the Hall without even thinking about where he was going, and got to the field with a big dumb grin on his face.

The grin disappeared istantly when he looked at the team: the Tzaangors were running around in an half-hearted manner, doing the dodging exercises he had taught them, listessly. The warriors were trying to wrestle each other around without much success. And the familiars... well the familiars were doing whatever they always did, not making any sense, being annoying and running in circles around their teammates so that they'd trip over them, then the diminutive creaturesran away, cackling and chirping insanely. But the thing that filled AutoAxpert with existential dread was the fact that the Harbinger was on the field to train along the other teammates. When the creature decided to play along the Coven he had hoped that it could add some much needed strength to the line of scrimmage. His hopes were instantly shattered after the daemon - in the shape of a troll - spent most of the game against the Nurgle team looking like a statue or throwing familiars around the pitch while looking confused. The frustration, and the sore throat resulting from about an hour of screaming, were soothed only by an entire barrell of Bloodweiser he was able to snatch from their stand after the game. The swirling shape came closer to him, followed by the whole team. The Harbinger spoke.
"What's today's schedule... coach?"
"Yeah. AH-uhm. Rigth. Sooo, you warriors keep doing what your doing, nice job Max and Eltrith"
The large man from Middenheim said "Thanks, coach!". Eltrith, has usual, didn't make any sound.
"Tzaangors, keep doing those dodging excercises, and look more convinced. Then passing training, and try some handovers."
The beastmen grunted.
"Familiars, egh... make pairs and kick each other"
One of the creature, Zathogghua, a bizzare creature that combined features of a snake, a monkey and a beetle, hissed gleefully and started kicking the other familiars around.
"And well, Dantalion, can I... can I talk with you for a second?"

The swirling figure condensed and got closer to the man. The air started to smell of ozone and smoke.
"What is it?"
"Well, to be frank, I wasn't expecting you to come back to training. After all during the game you looked a bit..."
AutoAxpert considered carefully the words
"...out of place on the field last time"
"I can see right through you mortal. No point in trying to be diplomatic."
The coach gulped. The usual cold and sinister demeanor the Harbinger kept prior to that was tinted with an anger he had never felt before.
"But actually, you're right. The last game I wasn't helpful to the team. I wasn't prepared to govern the mind of such a... stupid creature"
Again, the daemon expressed an emotion he didn't think it was capable off, except this time it was, surprisingly, fear.
"If it was up to me, I'd never be put in such a disgusting situation. Being on the field unable to understand the surroundings... gaaahhh."
The cloaked figured vibrated, as if it was shivering.
"But my decision doesn't matter, and neither does yours. The Master has a plan. I am here to be sure it gets executed. And YOU..."
The man backed one step.
"You better get this team going. Otherwise the Master might become displeased. Or I will. Who knows what I can do in these... bestial forms? Who knows what accident could happen to such a puny human?"
As it was saying that, the slim swirling pile of smoke condensated in something resembling a huge ogre, with a malevolent smile on his face.
AutoAxpert panicked, falling on his back as he tried to keep the distance. The ogre leaned closer to him:
"But don't worry, human. The Master isn't displeased with you, or you'd know it already. You're still on the right way. Just don't get on my wrong side"
The ogre grabbed one of his arm, getting him to forcefully stand up. The brute expression became really stolid, as if its intellect was fading away.
Still shaken, AutoAxpert whistled then stuttered some commands, his tone some octaves higher than he intended:
"A-a-alright guys, good job, n-n-now, l-l-let's try some s-s-schemes. D-d-do Galaad, scheme B. The warriors on the line against the ogre. The other split in two teams. I want to see effort!"
Everybody nodded, the changeling-ogre watched him intently one last time. Then the scrum began.

Covered in mud and exhausted, AutoAxpert got back to his room. A bad surprise awaited him: on the table, the clockwork thing was completely intact again, ticking louder than ever. Desperate, he covered it with a cushion, put some wax earplugs on and got into bed, trying to get what sleep he could. He stared at the ceiling, a perfect mirror like the rest of the room, where he could see himself in the soft light that always permeated his quarters.

"You are fine, things will go better, the team is improving", said the reflection.