The Castle’s design was irregular to say the least. Clearly, more emphasis had been put on defense than comfort.

I turned to Amber and asked, “What’s up with the design of Castle Bosporus?”

“Well, you see,” Amber said, raising a finger like a lecturing schoolteacher, “Castle Bosporus is split into five keeps. They are the Central Keep, South Keep, East Keep, North Keep, and West Keep. We are currently in the Central Keep, and we are looking at the West Keep.”

“If we went left,” I pointed down the long gas-lit bridge toward an adjoining structure, “where would we be?”

“That’s the way to the South Keep,” Amber said helpfully.

“So,” I said, trying to visualize the layout of Castle Bosporus, “the Central Keep is between the West Keep and the South Keep. Let me guess, the only way to enter the Castle is through the West Keep?”

“Wow, how did you know?” Amber said with legitimate astonishment in her voice.

“Game design,” I said.

Amber responded with a statement of confusion, but I was too deep in thought to hear her. Castle Bosporus was clearly designed to be a dungeon. Perhaps this was meant to be the Revenant’s final dungeon before they reached GM. I could visualize the planned progression of the conflict between the Revenants and the Dark Apostles. Once most of the Dark Apostles had been killed and their keys had been secured by the Revenants, the remaining Apostles would flee to Castle Bosporus and have their final stand here. Over the course of several hours, the Revenants would move through the Castle room by room, killing Deluvians and Dark Apostles as they found them. Dozens, if not hundreds, of Revenants would die, but they would eventually reach the final room. Then, in the Great Hall, the last two Dark Apostles would hold off the attacking Revenants for a while until they were killed themselves.

This potential future shone brightly in my mind. Everything GM had set up was pushing us - the Dark Apostles and the Revenants - in that direction. I didn’t know how to avert that future. Perhaps some of the Apostles could go into hiding or perhaps we could find some other kingdom to defend.

Looking upward at the spires and battlements rising above the Central Keep, I saw pale marble talons reaching up toward the stars. The sheer size of the structure, and Castle Bosporus as a whole, seemed to me an exercise in hubris. Each one of the five keeps was large enough to be a castle in its own right, and the Castle as a whole was big enough to be a city. In that moment, the spires rising up into the sky seemed to be grasping at the tapestry of stars above as if it could tear open the domain of God through its labor.

A strange impulse took hold of me as I looked upward. I bounced on the balls of my feet a few times, testing my newly enhanced muscles. Even with the smallest amount of effort, my body bounced a few inches into the air. I took a rough estimate of the distance between the ground and the nearest ledge. It must have been less than thirty feet. The jump would be absolutely impossible for any mortal human, but I could tell in that instant that I could make it.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I bent my knees into a low crouch and swung my arms back. Then, I rocketed upward like an industrial spring that had been unlatched from its housing. I heard the sound of the masonry crack underneath me as I flew upward.

Just as I had intended, my body flew to the ledge, and I clamped my fingers against its lip. I had jumped thirty feet into the air from a standing position, and I had only used a fraction of my total strength. If I wanted, I could have probably jumped three or four times as high.

I pulled myself up to the ledge with one hand. Doing a pull-up had been completely outside of my capability in the Old World. Here, a one-handed pull-up was as easy as lifting a suitcase. I repeated the process a few times until I had reached the tallest tower above the Central Keep.

The highest tower above the Central Keep rose into a point. I managed to find a place to stand by putting my back against the slanted roof and bracing my foot against the top of an outwardly jutting window frame.

From there, I could perceive all of Castle Bosporus and even further beyond. The Castle naturally herded entrants in an upward corkscrew pattern. One would travel in a huge half-mile circle while also ascending in terms of elevation. Thinking about it, a Dark Apostle - or someone with equivalent strength - could probably jump from the Central Keep to the West Keep, but not vice versa.

By the nature of the lighting, I couldn’t tell what occupied the space between the keeps. The five brightly lit structures of Castle Bosporus were ships floating within a vast sea of black. Their brightness caused the surrounding area to be completely imperceptible.

Looking further outward, I saw lights populating the horizon of my vision. To my north and west were thousands of electric lights clumped together like a swarm of fireflies. There must be a large settlement of people in that direction, I thought.

To my south was a single solitary light. As I looked at it for a few more seconds, I saw that two rotating beams of light were emanating from a single source. I saw a strange glint on the horizon, and I realized that I was looking at the light from a lighthouse glinting off of a sea of water. Now perceiving the elevation of sea level, I could tell that Castle Bosporus was high up in the air. Even the West Keep must have been hundreds of feet in the air. The Castle must have been built atop a mountain, I realized.

I felt a faint breeze against my skin and heard the sound of an unnatural gust of wind. I turned toward the sound and saw Amber floating toward me. Her arms were outstretched, and her knees were slightly bent as if to maximize her surface area for the wind to push.

The sound of rushing air increased until Amber was floating a few feet away from my perch. Whatever spell she was using must have condensed the air significantly. Despite being a few feet from a wind of sufficient velocity to lift an adult woman, I barely felt any wind at all.

Amber opened her mouth to speak, but I could not hear her over the sound of the wind. She may have had control over the wind itself, but she didn’t have control over the sound it made. It sounded like I was inside of a wind tunnel being that close to me.

I cupped a hand to my ear in order to hear her. Amber’s face strained as she shouted at the top of her lungs, but I could still hear nothing. Even with my enhanced hearing, I couldn’t perceive soundwaves that were completely destroyed before they reached me.