The Mechanical Era

As the sun rise over the horizon, the little white bird sleeping inside its nest woke up. It hopped out of its cage, and immediately flew to the sky, to search for food for the day. It flew over a waterfall, and a small river, and flew away from the forest and to a small rural town.

As it descended downwards to the human settlement, a bullet struck through its wing, causing it to fall to the ground. With the bullet pulverizing and paralyzing its wing, causing lots of blood to leak to the ground, it remained there, waiting for someone to catch it and do as they desired.

"That is one hell of a shot, sir. You actually managed to get that bird!" a soldier remarked as Leroy looks onward at his FLM-18R rifle, specially made for him. Leroy had been using his weapon for some good old hunting, and just couldn't resist when he saw such a small and vulnerable target. He smiled, being proud of having such good aim, before moving on to train his soldiers to use their weapons.

As for the bird, it landed far outside the barracks, on a grass patch. It was picked up by a hooded figure, which felt pity and anger for the bird. He was horrified by the fact that those damn soldiers had little to no regard for life, animal or human. What was worse, was that the white bird was considered to be a spiritual animal, representing hope for the people.

"There, there, little one. You are lucky not to lose your head," the hooded figure spoke out to the bird. He first made sure to wash its would with a water spell first, before healing the bird's wing using a healing spell.

Almost immediately, it took back up into the sky and flew away. Though it developed a deep sense of trauma when visiting the city again, the animal was thankful for the human's compassion. The hooded figure, who smiled thinking that he had done something good today, moved back on the road and get on the caravan again.

"Hey, make sure you don't jump out like that again. I don't want to have to wait for one person."

"Sorry about that." the man apologize. The caravan went on to head out of the downtown and to the outskirts of the city, where he was dropped off. From there, he started walking further away from the rural town, and into the forest nearby.

As he penetrated deep into the forest, the trees appear to grow taller and thicker, with their leaves blocking the sunlight, and allowing the environment around him to go darker and darker. The hooded man, worried he may have lost himself, opened a map and looked around for landmarks.

After a few minutes of searching, he finds a small rock arranged in a zigzag pattern. This was no strange natural phenomenon, but a simple manmade structure. With his location pinned down, he continued walking a few steps before something comes into view.

There was an ordinary wooden shed with 2 stories, and about as large as 5 simple bedrooms, located in open grassland, with no trees to block out the sun. Besides the small shed, was a small farm filled with a variety of crops, featuring wheat, carrots, pumpkins, and other goods. Next to the farm, were a few larger wooden structures, featuring animals such as chickens, pigs, horses, and cattle.

The hooded man walks up to the small shed and knocks on their door. On the door, a small window was opened, allowing a pair of dark brown eyes to stare back at the hooded man, who took off his hood, revealing an average man with freckles on his face. The eyes continued to stare at him before the man on the other side spoke.

"What do you want?" the owner asks."May I see the stars once again?" the hooded man replies. The owner immediately closes the peephole door and allows the hooded man inside. The owner appeared to be a rather young man himself, looking to be in his mid-20s. He came here 2 years ago, away from his home in the deep south, to settle here and live a life of isolation with a few of his friends.

"I hope you all deal with your business here soon because I can't allow you all to set up here forever." the owner reminds the hooded man.

"Don't worry. We won't take long. Where are the others?" The owner pointed his finger upwards.

"Upstairs. They are in the first room you can encounter. It is the room where one would usually eat."

"I understand. Thank you and your friends for your kindness."

"Alright. Alright. Just go." The hooded man soon walked up the stairs and entered the first room. There, he saw that there were more hooded men, sitting around the table.

"Ah. We have been waiting for you. Sit down." The hooded man takes his stance. These other men were all from other small towns, located relatively closeby to the cabin. Communication is slow, and it took a few days to keep in contact and arrange this meeting.

"Gentlemen, it is an honor to meet you all. As you all know, the lords and the kings of our land had been seduced by the Empress of the Aceaton Empire, Rose Tippo Valline, into obeying her every command.

She has destroyed and disrupted our way of life which we have been practicing for millennia. Thousands of men, women, and children had all been put to death by those devilish soldiers and their strange weapons.

We have all gathered here, for a common goal; to oppose the tyrannical empress and her soldiers, and their attempt to undermine and crush our way of life! No matter what, we should all stay strong, and keep our spirits high!"

The men around started to clap for that little speech segment. Once the clapping eventually faded into silence, the man continued.

"Now, from what we all know, can we all agree that the people of our respective towns do not favor the empress? Please raise your hand if this is the case." All the men in the room raised their hands. Though they were not sure that everyone hated her, there was a large chunk of people who do seem to agree.

"Good. That would mean that we should not have had a hard time gathering information about the Empress and her cronies. Does anyone want to go first?" the man asked. One of them, the only one with the freckles raised his hand.

"Go on. What is it?"

"I have managed to get some information about the weapons that they are using," he claimed. Everyone in the room now listened carefully, wanting to know as much as they could about these weapons.

"They use this black powder to shoot a small metal ball at high speeds. From what I know, they are powerful enough to tear through iron armor, the ones that our noble knights wore."

"Is that so? Did you manage to get some of this black powder?" one of them asked. In response, he pulled out a small bag from his cloak pocket, and set it on the table. He then opened it up and revealed it to the men.

"I managed to pay a few men to gather that black powder. I still have lots left over at home. The people of my town appear to be very cooperative. I am not sure if I can gather more, but I will try." The men all examined the black powder. Some even separated a few and lit them up, causing a small smoke cloud to form.

"cough, cough. Well, it certainly seems to be the real deal. Where did this black powder come from?"

"I am not sure. From what I know, the ship that carried the weapons and gunpowder came in from the north. It could be from anywhere."

"What was the ship's flag like?" one of the asked.

"What do you mean?" Another asked.

"I am a vexillologist. I have the very rare job of studying flags. If you describe the flag Mr..."

"...Carlo." the one with the freckles spoke.

"...Mr. Carlo, I will be able to pinpoint the kingdom."

"Alright then. From what I remember, it was a navy blue flag with a black circle and two swords behind it. Is that information sufficient enough?" Carlo asked.

"Yes... It is Mr. Carlo. From what you described, I deduce that the shipment came from the Kingdom of Hoverdam. I believe that they were the ones who denounced the church, only."

"Hm... is that so?"

"Yes. We got a couple of our people fleeing their towns to Hoverdam. Although the amount is not a lot, as there are concerns that the king there might not be able to protect his own citizens."

"Sure, but it is also the only kingdom that is the most... friendly to our cause, considering god and all."

"Actually, I have to disagree. From what I heard in letters from a bunch of good friends I know, the place is going through... a rapid change. They are reports of a professional law enforcement agency, so I am not sure that we should head over there for our next meeting."

An argument soon flares up in the room, all discussing whether should relocate their operations in the kingdom somewhere. In the end, a compromise was made. They were to send some people in, and write back what they have seen before they make a decision.