The bell was still ringing when they started to climb.
The steps were wide and shallow and slick with mist, and the higher they went, the stranger it got. Somewhere around the hundredth step Jin felt his stomach turn over. The staircase was bending, curving up and over, and his body knew before his eyes did that up and down were trading places. He kept climbing. The ground stayed under his feet, but the black water that had been above them was slowly turning into a ceiling at his back, and the hanging temple was turning into a temple sitting on solid stone in front of him.
By the time they reached the top, it was right side up.
