The Mechanical Era

A man, holding a toasted cheese and chicken sandwich, stood on a balcony on top of a great stone tower, looking onward at the outside world. It was a beautiful sunny day today, with the people of the town down below going along their day. He can see them selling their wares, putting up clothes to dry, dragging caravans with their horses or cows, cutting down logs to make firewood, and so on.

He had the appearance of the average man, short black hair, dark brown eyes, an oval face shape, and was about 5ft 8 inches tall.  What was unique about him, was his attire and job. He wore a cotton white cloak, with black breeches, leather boots, and a pair of leather gloves with a rune attached, amplifying his magical power.

His job was very simple; A pigeon carrier operator. You see, over a thousand years ago, the kingdoms of the Aceaton continent had a problem. They wanted to communicate with each other as quickly as they can while delivering as much information as they can. This would allow them to respond to threats, like a demonic wave, rather quickly.

As a result, the kingdoms of the Aceaton continent, in an effort of cooperation that had never been seen before, built the towers.  The plan was adopted when a scientific breakthrough in magic occurred; mind control. From what they know, using a very complicated spell, and a lot of willpower, a person can command another being to do its bidding.

There were some conditions, however. Firstly, the intelligence of the being that is controlling the one that isn't, must be significantly smarter. They found out that, due to humans having similar levels of intelligence, mind control was rather ineffective. The best they could do is to move a slight muscle in the finger.

Secondly, the more intelligent a being is, the more mana is needed to control them. An ordinary magical user fitted with runic gloves that amplify their magical power is easily able to control a small animal, like a bird or a squirrel, rather easily. However, trying to control a human, even with mana-amplifying gauntlets, is a very difficult and fruitless endeavor that even a monarch cannot do. Currently, the only one theoretically capable of doing so is the Empress of the Aceaton Empire, Rose Tippo Valline herself.

Third and finally, the guilt that one has to bear when controlling a living being's mind is too much for ordinary people to handle. As a result, pigeon carrier operators have gone through extensive training to allow them to work effectively.

This coupled with the anti-aging spell, which prolongs the health span and lifespan of birds by up to 15%, allows new birds to have more time to be trained, while the old ones can be used for far longer.

As the man continued to eat his sandwich, he felt the hot sunny environment around him start to cool down. Although at first, it was welcoming, as most men in the towers and town had been profoundly sweating, sometimes even seen to faint due to a heat stroke.

He starts to notice that the once bright day was beginning to darken as the clouds gather around in the sky. The townfolks below, who were all going around their day, went back inside their homes, with some of them picking up the wet clothes they left outside to dry.

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ However, the further it went on, the more uncomfortably cold it got, and the man's suspicion rise. Before he could dwell further on his thoughts, to construct a proper explanation as to why, the door behind him opened, followed by a voice calling out his name.

"Joshua! Get back down here! Your break is up!" the supervisor called out.

"Alright, sir. I will be there in a minute. I need to finish my sandwich," Joshua replied. The supervisor nodded, closed the door then headed back to his office. Joshua immediately stuffed the sandwich in his mouth, bit all he can, and swallowed in it one swoop, before making his way back inside.

Inside the loud towers, was a large map of the Aceaton Continent, with all the pigeon towers marked on it. There were also cages, a lot of iron cages, stacked on top of each other holding 1 pigeon hostage. On their necks was a collar with a tag attached, to indicate which tower they came from.

Joshua rejoined his colleagues and went back to work. On top of a desk, there were a bunch of letters, all laying around, waiting to be sent off to the proper city. Joshua read the address of the letter and pinpointed it on a map.

If the letter is intended to be sent over that covers two or more towers, Joshua simply picked the closest tower to the tower that was intended for it to go, where it can be delivered. From there, the operators from that tower send it to the correct tower. To make the job a lot easier, he picked a pigeon that originally came from that tower.

It appeared to be in a state of distress, likely due to the spell finally wearing off. As it rattled and ruffled inside its cage, screaming to be let out of this artificial prison, Joshua after placing the letter inside a container, cast a spell.

"Queles dieuxme pardonnent, pendantqueje commetscegrave péché. S'il te plaît, tu dois rester avec moijusqu'àceque je t'ordonne de rentrerchez toiet tuseras à nouveauemmené à mort." he muttered, as he pointed his index finger at the bird.

The pigeon, which was moving all around the cage, wanting to escape, immediately calmed down. Joshua then opened the cage and took the bird into his arms. He kept the bird on his shoulder as he attached the container to its strong leather collar.

He then walked over to a window and tossed it out. The bird then flew away into the air, using its muscle memory to head back to its original tower. In a matter of hours, the bird will arrive to its destination, and be instructed where to go next.

While he and his fellow coworkers worked on delivering the letters to the correct towers, others worked on checking to see if the letters were meant to go to their own town or general area. They checked to see if the address on the envelope matched the town's or any nearby urban settlement's name.

Once it is identified to be the case, it is placed inside a tube, that went straight down to the bottom of the tower, where messengers could pick it up and deliver it to their correct destination. If the letter was supposed to be for a different urban area near the town, then it is placed in a different tube. This tube leads to a different room where letters are packed into crates and shipped off to their desired location.

Suddenly, as Joshua was busy working with his coworkers, a messenger comes through the door and screams at the men.

"STOP WHAT YOU ALL ARE DOING! SEND THESE MESSAGES TO ALL PIGEON TOWERS NOW!" he yelled, as he handed over envelopes to all the men. The sound eventually reached the supervisor's office, making him come down to see what was going on.

"What the hell are you here for? Get out of here and stop disturbing the operators. Who even let you in?"

"No time, sir! We need to send these messengers to every city right now! This is an order by the town lord!" the man claimed.

"The town lord? Why did he authorize that? What is so important that needs to be spread around?"

"Demons, sir! Demons! The demonic wave is here! A knight has spotted demons corrupting the animals of the forest and came back to warn us!" the man replied. Immediately, Joshua and the rest understood why the day got cloudy real quick, and why the messenger was in great distress. The supervisor, upon hearing the news, turned to the operators.

"You heard him? Drop whatever you are doing and send those messages now!"