With a mind-splitting headache, Veronica opened her eyes and looked at the weird sky she laid under.
It was like a deep pink fog, which didn't let her see through it. There might have been some light behind it, or maybe she just imagined that.
Veronica took heavy breaths, and with a groan, she sat up. Her eyes focused on her surroundings, which were both familiar and strange.
Next to her, the usual lamppost stood, brightening up the pink fog that seemed to permeate everything.
With the help of the lamp, she managed to climb to her feet, and after her vision turned back to normal, she looked around in awe.
She was still standing on the same street, but the strange pink fog was all around her, and she felt a bit of control over it. With a thought, she sent out a command and dispersed it in her proximity.
In a bubble around her, the fog has cleared, and she spent a few minutes observing it from up close.
Veronica lifted her right hand and curiously touched the small particles. They danced around her fingers, never settling, always in some movement. She began playing with them, but soon her interest went elsewhere.
With confusion, she turned around and found the Theater behind herself.
"That's weird... I thought the Theater always appeared in front of me... Wonder what else changed here!"
Staring at the Theater Veronica felt herself more in control, and with a wave of her hand, the Theater changed.
The bright Victorian Era walls became more medieval, while a few small tower-like outcroppings appearing on its top.
Veronica tried to change more, but no matter how hard she tried, the extent of her power ended with these slight changes.
She didn't approach the doors, instead she closed her eyes and teleported to the top of the auditorium. From there she looked down upon the stage, and just as she expected, a performance was already ongoing.
It was the formless creature again, but this time its shape was obviously resembling a human. From somewhere, a merry, fast-paced tune sounded, and the formless creature danced to the music.
The formless creature moved differently this time. Its movements were more erratic and aggressive. It was like there were invisible opponents it was fighting.
Veronica watched it for a while, then decided to try something. She closed her eyes and imagined herself down on the stage. When she opened them again, her position has changed.
She stood a few meters away from the formless creature. The humanoid looked at her once, with its head turned to the side unnaturally.
Without prompt, the thing attacked, delivering a clean punch to Veronica's stomach. She flew for a second before hitting the stage floor hard enough to bounce a few times.
She coughed a few times and spit blood on the floor. She then jumped back to her feet and dodged the next attack aimed at her head.
Veronica watched as the formless creature kicked at her chest, which she evaded by leaning back. But in that moment the creature seemed to fall over, and with its other leg, it kicked out Veronica's feet.
She toppled over yet again, but this time she managed to get one hand on the floor, and with a powerful push, she flipped in the air, landing back on her feet.
The creature didn't care at all, and attacked again. On Veronica's face, a small smile spread as she fought the thing.
With each move, she became more comfortable and with each evasion she was able to predict more. The creature moved like nothing else Veronica had ever seen, but it still had to obey the laws of physics.
She dodged the creature's fist, then took one step closer and locked the outreached arm below her armpit. She then twisted to the side and moved down into a crouch, delivering a strong kick to the back of the creature's knees.
For a moment, Veronica felt the creature's surprise as it hit the wooden floor with a loud bang.
Veronica was even more surprised than the creature. She did not know where that move came from. It felt like an instinct, like she had done it thousands of times and now it was ingrained in her muscles.
Of course, after thinking about it for a moment, she realized what it was. Each ascension gives the Ascended something like abilities, enhanced strength, spells, or knowledge.
Some even give martial arts techniques, which was where the move came from. It was a specifically designed martial arts for the flexibility of the Dancer path.
As the fight went on longer, she began to feel more comfortable and soon her moves were natural.
Veronica dodged another fist and kick, then grabbed the overextended arm of the formless creature, and threw it over her shoulder.
She turned around to continue her previous attack, but at that moment, another creature appeared behind her. It managed to kick her midsection, sending her flying to the side.
With outreached arms, she turned her falling into a cartwheel and landed back on her feet, facing her two opponents. The smile on her face widened, and she ran towards them.
They both moved with unnatural flexibility, bending from the waist, like they had no bones.
The new one punched towards her face, while the other kicked at her waist.
With a small chuckle, Veronica bent backwards and spun in the air. One of her legs hit the punching one square on its chest, while her other kicked the face of the kicking one.
They both went flying from her strength, but just as she was turning gleeful, a gunshot echoed in the Theater. As it hit Veronica's thigh, the music became faster, reaching its crescendo.
"Fuck, that hurts!" she mumbled to herself, and watched as blood poured out of the wound.
The bullet was a through and through. The wound began to heal visibly; however, a few more minutes were needed for it to return to normal. Next to her, the two formless creatures got up as well and ran towards her.
With another curse, Veronica tried her best to dodge their attacks, and by the time another gunshot sounded, she had prepared herself.
Her body moved with speeds previously unknown to her. She leaned to the side faster than the bullet moved, evading it with ease.
From here on out, she spent a lot of time fighting the formless creatures. At first, it was hard to fight two creatures, while occasionally dodging a bullet, and as time passed, it became easier.
Their numbers increased too. At some point, another creature appeared, then the frequency of the gunshots grew.
It became harder, but as more time passed, she adapted to the situation and after a few minutes; she was fighting without issues.
They then adjusted again, and after a long time, she was fighting 5 formless creatures, while evading a bullet every few seconds.
It was very hard at first, and she could feel that she was reaching her limit, but she held on as long as she could.
Veronica did not know how long she had been here, fighting, but she felt that the end of the exercise was close.
Just as this thought appeared in her head, the creatures stopped attacking, and the bullets stopped raining.
The five creatures stepped back, then they all dissolved into one being.
The humanoid stood a few meters in front of her. It was changing into something, but Veronica couldn't make sense of it.
It bowed to her with respect, and when he straightened, he had Tom's face. He was smiling at her with pride.
Veronica didn't even know how to react, and just as she was about to say something, her brother disappeared.
The music stopped. Veronica stood in the middle of the stage, staring at the place where her brother was.
With a deep, sad sigh, she looked down at herself, and just as she thought, there was nothing on her. No blood, no sweat. It was like the previous fight had never happened. The wooden floor had no bullet holes either.
Using her trembling hand, she crouched down and petted the wooden boards. The building rumbled like it was purring.
The gentle rumble caused her anxiety and sadness to dissipate slowly.
As her heart rate and breathing normalized, she spent a few more minutes on the floor, but then suddenly her heart became anxious again.
It was like a sudden life-threatening terror assaulted her. With desperation, she disappeared from the Theater and appeared back in her actual body.
It took her a very long second to get her mind back in order.
She was lying in the empty bathtub, in a soggy pink robe. Her skin was prickly as the usual thorns grew out of it, but there was one object she focused on.
The surroundings were quite dark. The only source of light was the glowing plants growing on the walls.
Even in the room's low-light, Veronica saw the gun right in front of her face. Someone aimed the gun right between her eyes, and she watched in horror as the inside of the barrel glowed…