Returning to my senses, I stand grounded.
"Ha!"
Like waking up from a dream.
Did I lose consciousness?
No, not at all.
I really was flying through a space of nothingness.
"So this is... Perugius's teleportation magic."
What a strange sensation.
But, I have experienced something similar once before.
The Metastasis Event.
Back then, it felt like flying in the air as well.
Well, there's one difference from then.
A sense of assurance.
If the Metastasis Event is jumping out of a speeding car, then this is like riding a taxi.
A feeling of safe travels.
"... This feels familiar."
Sylphy murmurs softly.
Ah, she felt it as well.
"Yeah."
I look around as I replied.
Ariel, Luke, Zanoba, Cliff, Elinalise, and Nanahoshi.
Everyone but Nanahoshi and Elinalise look baffled.
Regardless, everyone arrived safely.
"What an incredibly large magic circle..."
Cliff, speaking to himself.
Finally I noticed my surroundings.
We stand above a giant magic circle.
Maybe 10 meters radius.
Carved directly from a marble-like floor, with water gushing throughout.
Faint light shone from the water. Some kind of magic.
The water aside, I have seen these lights before, exactly the same as when we teleported to the Begaritto Continent.
In other words, another type of Teleport Magic Circle.
This baton and that water magic circle. Looks like teleportation magic requires all sort of preparations.
"Wow..."
Stealing my attention, far behind the magic circle...
Sits a gigantic castle.
Taller than a 50 floor skyscraper.
Wide too, not lanky, but full-frame and sturdy.
Not unlike a movie backdrop without going in to check.
Even with memory from my past life, I can't recall a building of this size.
Like building a castle atop of the Tokyo Dome.
This is the castle in the sky?
Although I saw it from the ground before... to think it's in reality that huge.
No, of course, considering the presence of it just from a distance.
"Incredible, it's even bigger than the Asura palace!"
Hearing Sylphy's voice, I looked down.
In front of the castle is an equally large garden.
Trees of all kinds and flowers of all colors planted everywhere like a maze.
Before the garden a small river shining under the sun.
Even from afar, it's easy to see how manicured the garden is.
"R-Rudi... Look back."
"Oh?"
I turn back as Sylphy instructed.
Out of the magic circle, behind a golden fence.
A sea of clouds extends in every direction.
"Clouds..."
In my past life, I rode an airplane once during elementary school.
What lies before us looks just like that.
But, to see it with my own eyes, without a window obstructing us, that's a first for me too.
Why is watching the clouds from above such a moving experience?
This must be why mountaineers climb mountains.
"..."