“Anything? Well there is one way…but it’s too dangerous” Porter says as he starts to walk away.

“If there’s a way, I’m in! What is it?” Vardinn exclaims with stars in his eyes.

With a slight smile, Porter turns around and says “The Library. The Wanderer was vigilant in recording all his knowledge as well as collecting as much knowledge from everywhere he goes. The problem is that it can’t be accessed. It was made using the device. A kind of pocket world, so with the device not functioning we can’t get in.”

“I assume you have a plan to repair it then?” Vardinn says impatiently.

“I do indeed, my new friend. I need the devices that were stolen.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“The first is the dimensional energy cell. That is inside the massive metal head of the machine man that Zero One turned into a city but I haven’t seen or heard anything from them since they sealed the doors to the city.”

“The second is the temporal compass. That one is in the dead center of Infernos descendents castle/colosseum. Inferno placed it at the heart of their whole society. He went on to found a city of gladiator warriors that are obsessed with strength. Surprisingly welcoming and kind though, as long as you follow their laws. You passed through their land actually. The frozen fields, that is the effect the compass has at the edges of its influence. The rest is just ice and snow.”

“Lastly, the barrier generator. Tooth got maybe a few miles outside the castles’ land before he got attacked by thieves. The idiot dropped and cracked the device! It began to pull in the surrounding rock, plants, and all kinds of things until it formed a small planet. I’ve kept an eye on it but I can’t seem to see the surface. It’s like looking through a telescope that keeps getting further away. I have noticed that some people have built a sort of tsuin gate there.”

“Oh I see, you meant certain death. Why don’t you just build new ones?”

“I could! with the plans for the device. Which is with his journals. Which is in The wanderers study. Which is in the library.” Porter says with a mountain of sarcasm and dry wit.

“I had a hard enough time surviving out there. I got lucky and made a reliable friend who I left behind to be here. How do you suppose I do any of this?!” Vardinn says with his arms outstretched and eyes wide.

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t need you. But! Don’t worry, I’m not sending you out with no help. I have a good many gadgets in my workshop that will help.” Porter says with a not so convincing smile.

“Alright! Fine. I’ll do it. Hold on, So you don’t need the devices. You need the plans. What if I just photograph them?”

“I think I can do one better. You’ll still need to get your hands on the devices but you won’t have to bring them all the way back or fight anyone for them, if done right. Come on, let’s go to my workshop.” Porter says as he turns toward the hallway he arrived from, with Vardinn in tow.

After a few minutes of walking the winding halls of the castle, the pair arrive at large extremely detailed double doors. 

Carved along it are what seem to be a retelling of some amazing story about the wanderer talking to what look like scared people, then fighting a dragon, then befriending it, then fighting the people that sent him to harm the dragon, then shaking hands with both, then leaving the town and returning to the castle with the dragon.

“Quite the tale to depict on a door!” Vardinn says in wonder of the carving.

“Hmm? Oh! This used to be the room belonging to the dragon in the story. He has since left but he personally carved that. No magic, no tools beyond basic carving tools. It felt wrong to remove.” he says as he pushes open the large doors.

Opening to a massive workshop. Inventions in every phase of completion litter every surface and adorn every wall. 

Porter hurries in and begins sorting through every surface. “Okay hold on, ah! Here it is!” He rushes back to Vardinn and hands him a small gold circle with a clear stone in the center. It’s no bigger than an average coin. “This is a memory coin. You spin the ball in the middle and it begins recording the physical space around you. I made it to record events and such so you can relive them later but if you use it next to the device then it should fully remember how it’s made!”

“That is excellent Porter, really. It’ll work. You said something about having a few useful tools I can use around here.” Vardinn looks around at the piles of tools, scraps, inventions, and other odd things. “Can you find them in here?”

Looking truly offended “I’ll have you know, I know where everything is in here!”

“Mmmmhm” Looking unconvinced. 

“ like!” Porter walks over, in a huff, and pulls out a pair of boots. “This!”

“What is it”

“Boots”

“Are they special boots?”

“...these were made from the leaves of a living tree. Imbued with the ability to fall so light that not a sound is made nor does the wearer feel it. No matter the size of the wearer!”

“Hey! That’s pretty handy. Can I use them?”

“Say sorry.”

“I’m sorry I underestimated your organizing skills.”

Tossing the boots at Vardinn, “good enough, now this is the major one!” Porter pulls out a necklace with a memorable design. “This is a portable Tsuin gate. Anytime you need to return to the castle just hold the necklace and with a woosh, you’re here. There is also one more feature that is incredibly important.” he says as he tosses it to Vardinn.

“Notice anything familiar?”

After looking over the necklace for a moment or two, Vardinn notices the ridges on the back are identical to the memory coin. “There’s a slot for the coin? Why would that be there though?”

“It was a part of an earlier idea. Someone could go to another land, record a memory, then other people can use that to go to that new place. I realized that they could just go with the other person so it didn’t really matter in the end but it’s useful now!” Porter raises his hands as if saying woo with his body. “Oh and I can see and hear through the necklace.”

Vardinn hesitantly places the necklace around his neck and the boots on his feet. He also stashes away the coin inside his deepest pocket. “I suppose I’m ready to go. Should we head back to the tsuin gate out front?” Vardinn says as he steps toward the door.

“One last thing.” Porter grabs something off a table and heads over to Vardinn. 

“Here.” Porter hands Vardinn a special six barrel pistol.

“Oh no. I don’t use guns or any lethal weapons for that matter.” 

“I figured you would say that. This is a prototype non lethal pistol. A normal energy pistol uses six energy crystals that focus the gunmans’ energy into a lethal round. I changed it so each round does something different. All non-lethal. Each one is labeled.” 

handing him the gun, Vardinn reads each label. “Heat, cold, light. That makes sense. Food, drink, and shelter? Huh? How does a gun shoot ‘shelter’?”

“ you’ll see!” Porter calls back, now several feet ahead of Vardinn.

They walk, again, for a few minutes through winding halls until they find themselves back in the throne room. Porter Fires up the Tsuin gate, locked into the coordinates for the entrance to Zero Ones’ city. It swirls to life. Faster and faster until it is filled with swirling lights.

“Good luck! Don’t die!”

Vardinn leaps through the portal. On the other side, he is rendered speechless as he stands by the massive body of a machine man. As if the gods themselves had fell a titan onto the earth. 

Glancing to his east, up the mountain and built into the chest of the titan was a massive door unlike any Vardinn had ever seen. He walked for what seemed like hours until he finally reached the cold metal of the door. 

No handle but a hand print carved into a stand just before the door. Vardinn places his hand on the carving and like magic, words appear above the door. It reads ‘NO POWER’.