The Mechanical Era

Mia, the blonde housewife of Richard Dietrichson, was walking along the streets of Hoverdam in a reed flower green hemp gown, holding a wooden basket she uses to carry groceries. Accompanying her trip to the city, was her son Marco.

Marco had blonde hair, inherited by his mother while possessing brown eyes. He wore a bog myrtle yellow hemp tunic, paired with nettle leaf gray pants, with calf-skin shoes. After begging his mother to accompany him to the city, she finally gave in and allowed him to come

Marco, with glittering curiosity in his eyes, looked around in awe. From the distance, he can see the largest building in the city, the palace housing the royal family. Coming in second place, was the church, which had a pointy roof on its tower.

He found himself surrounded by wooden and stone buildings, with people going business as usual. Separating them were tiny alleyways, which often were exposed to sunlight, and was a place children played, or people entered their homes. Although he did pick up some nasty smells, he managed to easily tolerate it.

"This place is amazing," he muttered under his breath. Mia, his mother, managed to hear his statement. She made a lot of trips to the city multiple times and knew a little better. Although, it wasn't his fault, considering she had never brought him over to the city.

"Calm down my boy. This is just middletown. The downtown would be much more exciting."

"Middletown?" Marco asked his mother.

"It's what the locals call this general area. It's what separates the center from the outskirts of the city."

"Is there anything different about the downtown?" Marco asked.

"From my previous visit when I was your age, the downtown has painted buildings, mostly made of stone, and houses many knights," she replied.

"Damn, I got to visit that place one day," he whispered under his breath. This time his mother didn't hear anything, sparing him a slap for saying a naughty word.

As they walk along the paved streets of Hoverdam in Middletown, Marco's eye spotted a unique building, unlike anything else he has seen before. Although he tried to walk over to see what it was, Mia grabs her son's ear, preventing him from doing so.

"Oh no, you don't mister! You came to help me with my groceries. Remember?" she reminded her teenage son.

"But mother! I want to see what that building is!" He said. Mia takes her eyes away and to the streets.

"What building?" she asks. Marco pointed at the building with his finger. Her eye spotted the strange structure, but it did not spark the curiosity it did in Marco.

"Can I go take a look?" Marco asked.

"What is the word?" Mia asked.

"Please?" he replied. His mother seemed displeased.

"Now use it in the sentence."

"Can I please go take a look?" he finally said. Mia sighed, then released his ear, which was glowing a little red.

"Make sure you don't take too much time," she said. Marco nodded at her request and jogged over to the strange building.

The building was 3 stories tall, painted daisy-white with plaster. It featured wooden shutter windows with a sleek and geometric design, resembling a Y shape, with one large upside-down Y in the middle, and smaller 4 upside-down Y shapes on the inside of the walls of the larger Y shape

Separating the windows were columns of walls that nearly made it to the flat roof of the building. Between the space that separates a bottom window from the top window, along with the top part of the column, there was a shape of a large upside-down Y inside the square box engrained into the building, painted yellow.

The front door to the building was in the middle. It was made of dark oak and had an upside-down Y shape pattern engrained in it. Just like the windows and the side of the building. On the very top of the building, were a bunch of letters, combined into words that Marco could not understand.

As Marco's eyes fixated on the building, a man walks right behind him without him noticing. With two of his fingers, he taps Marco's shoulder, causing him to turn around quickly. There was a man, wearing a long-sleeved gray tunic, along with black pants and brown leather shoes.

"What are you looking at?" he asked with a deep masculine voice. His lips had formed a thin line, hinting at aggression. Whatever it was, it succeeded in intimidating Marco, who was 5'6 but was a bit intimidated by the man, who was 4 inches taller.

"Oh! I am so sorry! I was just... interested in this place. It looks so much different than the rest of the buildings here," Marco told the intimidating man. Just then, his cold expression turned into a smile.

"I see. Do you perhaps know what this place is?" he asked.

"No sir. I don't."

"Well, this place was built to help people to read and write," he said.

"Oh? I see. But why is it here?" Marco asked.

"It's because his highness wants the people around this area to be able to read and write."

"How expensive is it?"

"Oh no, there is no entrance fee. You can register for the school and they will happily teach anyone for free if they want to learn that is. I am pretty sure some people have already joined." As soon as Marco heard that the place teaches a person how to read and write, something Marco couldn't learn, he asks the stranger how he can get in.

"Well, what you need to do is just go inside, and find a classroom with a teacher that will accept you. He or she will give you a date and a specific time to come by, and all you have to do is just be there. They already have the materials for you."

"How old do I need to be?" Marco asked.

"How old are you?" the man replied with a question. Marco answered quickly, without hesitation.

"14."

"Can you at least get a day off a week from your parents?"

"Oh yes! Very! I get every other day off, so I should be good." he replied.

"Then you should be good! Go on, register!" he said. Marco, taking his advice, walked up to the door, took a deep breath, and entered the building. Inside, he found the floor made out of wooden planks, with the design of an arrowhead.

The walls, although painted the same color of daisy white on the outside, the bottom part of the wall, it appears to be painted black, with an upside-down Y repeating pattern to it, with the top of the black paint a yellow outline separating the white paint from the black paint.

He entered and knocked on the first classroom door he came across. After he heard the soft voice of a woman permitting him, he entered the room. The room was held with a bunch of columns and was fully furnished with wooden chairs and desks, made with the same design concept as the building; Sleek, and geometrical with detailing.

The tables themselves were sleek, with two large rectangular lines engraved on the edges of the table, giving it a sense of fashion while not causing possible disturbance to the students. The tables were arranged with 4 columns and 3 rows, equating to 12 tables and chairs.

Marco approached the teacher, who was a short woman with short curly brown hair, wearing black glasses over her emerld-green eyes. As for her outfit, she was wearing an expensive white down, with yellow floral patterns threaded all over it. With her left hand holding her head while she looked at the paper, Marco had to excuse himself once again to get her attention.

She took her eyes off the papers for a second and looked at Marco. She places the papers down and sat straighter on her chair. After coughing twice, she asked Marco a question.

"How may I help you?" she asked.

"Hello, ma'am. I am here to register for the school," he said.

"What is your name?"

"Marco. Marco Dietrichson."

"When are you free next week?"

"I am free on the 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th," he said. The teacher looked at another set of papers on the side. After a minute, she places the papers down and looks him in the eye.

"Can you come in on the 7th?"

"Yes."

"Then congrats, you are in. Make sure to come on the 7th, by 9 AM."