"Wonderful! I had no idea we would already be at the edge!" Winters said, his voice raising with his optimism.

Taking a moment to look at his new surroundings, Zan saw an unusual environment. Part-forest and part-jungle, oaks and vines grew within one another like a cross-over tango. Trees, their images, earth, even creatures and water at the edge of their consciousness, fritted in and out of existence, like a shutter frame in existence itself. If he looked too long at the weird earth Zan got a headache. He tried his best to avert his eyes of something he literally could not ignore but through his luck of not lacking his sight.

"What is this place?" someone asked.

To answer their question, an assistant came forward, just as the previous assistant had said would happen when they arrived on the tower's edge.

"Welcome to Side D! I have been prepped on your situation by my superior, who've you've already met. Let me check the status of the area you were assigned. Please hold," the assistant said, before vanishing behind and into a gated enclosure holding several desks.

More than the desks, however, what took Zan's attention inside the cage was the placement of a strange contraption. It looked a lot like a pipe organ, a device Zan had once seen while on pilgrimage to a nearby village when he was younger. What made this device different from a pipe organ, however, was a number of glowing glyphs on the would-be 'pipes.' As the clerk touched the pipes, the symbols changed color. Pipes moved up and down and even twisted into new configurations; while glyph touching, odd sounds came from the machine. And even an odder scent. Zan wondered more than ever what that machine was -- so he asked.

The clerk, unfortunately, disregarded his question.

Crossing his arms and asking again, Zan found himself again ignored. Seriously! He told himself. What is with everyone here being so rude?!

Coming back, the clerk said, "I have confirmed your labors. I have also arranged the pathway for you. Follow the signage to the next tower. It will take you to your next labor assignment. Any questions?"

"Yeah. Where is the food?" Zan asked, wondering if the clerk would answer that question.

She did: "Behind you and to your left." She spoke.

People turned and saw the table filled with already picked over munching foods. Clearly, other workers had arrived before them. Winters took command and evenly divided the partly sum of food among the group. Everyone got a couple of small bites before it was time to move out.

Following the path, Zan and Company were taken along a wide trail. To their sides, beyond deep ditches, and up jagged ridges, were iron fence segments set in an intricate design; within the body of this fence were strategically placed precious mana-stones, which glowed and flickered as it processed magical residue from the land. We're sealed in, Zan thought, once he got a good look at where they were. No escape if an enemy attacks us...

Was Zan worried about an attack? Not exactly... but Winters told him to remain on guard. And though he saw no enemy airship in the sky, at the present moment, he was sure it wasn't far behind. There was something about it, the ship, being too inconspicuous to consider it gone.

Walking forward, however, Zan could not help but worry over every noise. 'What's that?' 'What's this?' 'Is a monster nearby?' Cables ran the length of the trail. Cables, along with strange machines which performed a number of tasks Zan couldn't even begin to guess at. Uneventful as their trek had been, when they arrived at a circular gate, everyone worried. Beyond the gate was nothing. No more trail extended. If they couldn't find a way to activate this device, they were screwed.

"Everyone remain calm while we figure out the way ahead!" Winters yelled, ordering everyone into a calmed state.

Zan investigated along with Winters and his underlings. Although there were a lot of machines which sparked a lot, suggesting to Zan powerful electro-magic within, nothing had been clearly delineated for an audience unversed in the function of the tower. The assistant had said everything was ready for them, but this clearly was not ready for them! Zan grew frustrated.

Taking a break from searching, Zan talked to Jiehong and Whiskey. "What is with this crap?"

"Calm, buddy. I know it's frustrating," Jiehong said.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who is having your requests denied and ignored. The people here, crap on a cracker is all I will say!"

Letting his words linger in the humid air like flies buzzing, Whiskey said, "I can't believe this is the shorter path. I am so tired. And out of this. This place is really weirding me out."

"I know what you mean," Zan replied. "Inside, I was doing my thing and I felt something weird. The stone feels like it has weird pulsations in it, I don't know if you guys noticed. And outside? One wrong move and we are lost. I am not positive what this Deep Woods thing is all about, but it sounds like certain death if we get lost in it."

"I didn't notice anything about the insides," Whiskey said. "You said you felt an energy? In the stone?"

"Yeah. In the stone. Why? Can't you guys feel it? Or at least the energy in general?"

Both of his friends shrugged or made a little bodily gesture which told Zan no one other than him had felt what he felt.

"When you say, 'energy in general,' what do you mean? I'm with Whiskey here. I'm curious," Jiehong said.

"I mean, like..." Zan said, taking a pause, a moment to think. "I mean do you ever sense the magical energy within an object?"

"No," both Whiskey and Jiehong said at the same time.

"Never? You've never, ever felt magical energy within an item or nature?" Zan asked, troubled.

Each shook their head. "You saying you can feel it, though? You can feel magic within things?" Whiskey asked, giving Zan an important look.

"Yeah. Not a ton. Mind you. I can't communicate with magic or anything like that, but I can sense magic in stuff. I thought everyone could..."

"No. Not everyone can do that, Zan. It is a rare gift."

"Oh... I guess I'm just a freak. What else is new?" Zan said, his humor hiding, he hoped, his confusion.

"We can discuss your freak-qualities later, my man. I think we should help get this gate activated," Jiehong said, pointing at the gate with his thumb.

The group broke off from their brief but awkward conversation. Zan wandered around the small, enclosed area, searching for anything which might look like a lever or activation switch. Per the norm, he found a lot of levers, as well as a lot of switches, but nothing which looked so natural as to belong to the gate naturally. Seeing cables on the ground lead from the gate to consoles nearby, Zan figured one of the consoles had to activate the gate. The question was, which one?

Thinking back on the conversation he just had with his friends, Zan closed his eyes. He had a radical idea; shifting his perspective, Zan concentrated and attempted to sense the magical energy within the console. Normally, he did not 'work' at sensing energy. It was something he simply could do, like it was another of his senses. No different from taste or smell.

Slowly moving around the space, Zan focused his attention not on the exterior of the many strange contraptions but on the inside. He attempted to understand what was moving on the inside. Did Zan know what was inside these machines worked? Not exactly, but he had guesses from the many people he met who talked of their encounters with these machines. Zan knew the inside had sedimented magic in the form of precious stones. That was it. Yet he felt that magic.

Coarse, smooth, dry, wet, chunky, slimy... different stones and different articulations of magic felt to Zan unique. Letting his mind waft outward, like he was intently thinking of a topic and its component parts without letting himself become distracted, Zan found the words coming to him as if to represent their true nature. Though they be refined and functioning inside a machine, Zan wondered if a part of their original form remained, trapped in some primordial essence? Maybe. Though Zan knew not what and how to think about magic, being uneducated in such matters.

"Here!" Zan said, surprising even himself. Standing before a console, Zan pressed a button.

Whirrr--kk--ing, the gate sounded as function returned to the gateway-looking device. Inside the arched gate, a swirling pattern appeared inside rotating inside the gate.

"What did you do?" Winters said. Zan told him of how he pressed the button. "I figured the flow of magic. After looking at all the consoles and cables, I ruminated on the logic of it all. Then I had my bright-burn moment, and this button made sense. So, I pressed it."

"Excellent. You are sensitive to magic?" Winters asked, holding his fist in the air to hold the others back from entering the gate before them.

"Yeah. Some, I guess. Apparently, to Jiehong and Whiskey, it is not a common trait."

"It is a rare talent, boy. Hardly unheard of. I wouldn't recommend giving this too much thought."

Hearing Winters casually talk of his magical sensitivity like it was nothing more than an allergy, made happy in Zan's heart. Ever since Jiehong and Whiskey had given him the second degree over his sensory abilities, he had become increasingly nervous to how he figured himself in relation to others. With Winters take on the issue, Zan felt back at ease.

Crossing to the portal's other side, Zan and the Rest found themselves in an area not unlike the zone they previously left; jungle and forest mixed in a strange, heat-induced haze, animals or monsters from some beyond yelled, and the muggy, hot air soaked their bones. Ahead, a road lined by deep ditches. To their left and right, iron-made fences adorned with magical stones. Much like previously, Zan wondered what the purpose of the stones were in a place like this. Walking ahead and keeping himself concentrated on the ground and the many cables and wires protruding from every angle and even rock, Zan gave as little thought as possible to what lay beyond the confines of this tower.

Their new tower loomed overall. Zan thanked the gods for its closeness to them. He did not like the idea of having to traverse more than the barest possible minimum of this wild outside. Zan's heartbeat here fluttered like a feather on the wind. Though he could not see the danger, Zan knew many deadly things lay inside whatever forlorn, monster-infested zone of the Deep Woods this tower -- by force of magic -- manifested as part of its normal operation.

Nearly to the new tower, only a final obstacle confronted them.