Veronica watched in terror as the colors dissolved around the room. She knew exactly what this meant. What she didn't understand was how it was happening.
McLean was still holding onto her arm with his right hand, while his left was clutching onto the colorful orb. Turning on her Mind's Eye she saw its high Ethereal Property, which meant it was an Item.
The orb glowed and after a few seconds; it brought both of them to the Ethereal Plain.
The entire building disappeared around her and McLean. With a powerful push, she got away from him, but as she stepped backwards, her body felt strange.
She looked down at herself and was very surprised. Her body had changed. The robe she previously wore had disappeared.
She wasn't naked, though. Her body was pink with a subtle glow, and all around her skin thorny vines grew. Some even blossomed with beautiful pink flowers. It was like she fell into a rosebush and it got stuck all over her skin.
The vines grew thick on her chest and waist, hiding her private parts.
As she looked down at herself, she saw the ground beneath her feet and realized why it was strange to walk.
All around her, the colors were moving in weird ways. It took her a second to figure out what it was.
The Physical World comprised the entire ground, and she observed people and objects moving around. It was like a 2D rendition of the whole inn.
Near her, a yellowish splotch moved, which was the rendition of Suze, since she wore a yellow dress and her hair was the color of straw. Next to her moved another color. It was gray with a bit of blue in it, which was probably James, since the color correlated with his clothing.
Below Veronica there was a pink splotch, but when she moved it stayed in place, which meant her robe stayed in the Physical World.
She sighed in annoyance, then remembered that she was supposed to be fighting since she got attacked.
Her eyes went to the man a few meters away. He seemed to be in some kind of trance.
McLean looked much worse in the Ethereal Plain. His body was brown and had many strange growths all over it. To be honest, he looked like a pile of shit, and he smelled like one too!
Veronica reached down to her left thigh to take out Lady Helper, but then she realized her weapon stayed in the Physical World too.
She should've been able to take physical items with her to the Ethereal Plain, but it seems like the orb McLean used somehow circumvented that.
Only the Earrings of Dissociation stayed on her, even Dancer's Roes got stuck on the other side.
The problem was, she did not know how to leave. If she would've come here on her own accord, she would need to keep Mind's Eye active constantly, and she could've left the Ethereal Plain by disabling it.
This wouldn't work now, since she wasn't here because of Mind's Eye, but because of an Item.
While thinking, Veronica spotted the strange orb in McLean's hand, and with a quick thought, she ran towards him.
She punched him in the face while he was still in a trance. The thin man flew several meters, then hit the ground hard. A wave of color went flying around him, leaving that area colorless.
It was inexplicable. Many people associate white or black or gray with colorlessness, but what she saw was something different... There was nothing, just the void.
Seeing it, Veronica's heart skipped a beat, and she felt a bit of fear.
The colors gradually moved back into place, which calmed her down a bit, and she continued to run towards McLean, still fallen body.
The orb stayed firmly in his hand, and his looks began to change, but Veronica payed no heed to that. Her eyes were on the prize, but by the time she reached him, it was already too late.
McLean got up from the ground, but upon closer inspection she realized it wasn't him... Or at least it wasn't him anymore.
It seemed that McLean had lost control and got Corrupted... The result was terrifying.
The thin man stood over three meters tall, with a crooked back. His legs were long tentacles, that were splashing color everywhere. His arms became the same length as his body, with a lot more elbows. There was also a lot more, and Veronica had no time to count them.
His face turned bird-like, with two eyes to the side and a large one in the middle. They slowly opened, and after a quick search, they focused on Veronica.
They were pure brown with no whites or pupils, and she could feel the insanity and animalistic instinct hidden beneath them.
The orb continued to glow in one of his hands. He raised it and stared at it for a moment. With his beak, he gave it a strong peck, then opened his mouth and swallowed it.
"Well, shit." said Veronica, then began sprinting away from the Corrupted.
Behind her, a giant screech shook her bones, and she felt the ground tremble beneath her feet as McLean ran after her.
Her body moved again without command, so it took her a few seconds to realize what was happening.
The colors changed beneath her feet as she ran through painted houses and streets. Only now did she have time to look around her, and in that moment, she really wanted to gawk at the sights.
The entire world was flat, but she saw outcroppings of buildings and ruins in the distance, or maybe nearby. It was hard to tell how far everything was. Distance seemed to work differently in the Ethereal Plain.
She also saw some movement in those ruins, so she used her better judgment and stayed the fuck away from them.
In front of her was nothing as far as she could see, so she continued that way.
Behind her, McLean was screeching more and more loudly as he got closer. To her better judgement, Veronica glanced behind her, just in time to see a large arm closing towards her, fast.
With quick reflexes, she rolled to the side and changed the direction of her run. McLean screamed in anger.
'What... The fuck... Do I do?!'
She tried to work out a plan of escape, but for that she needed the orb the bird-thing had swallowed.
It was impossible for her to get it. Fighting a Corrupted with no weapon was already insanity, but fighting one in the Ethereal Plain was much harder.
This creature she was running from wasn't how a Corrupted should look in the Physical World. In the Ethereal Plain, they can use their Ethereal Outlook to attack and fight, making them much stronger.
And since fighting against him was useless, she had no choice but to run and try to escape him, or figure out another way to escape.
Feeling the monster closing in, Veronica changed directions again. She quickly realized that the beast couldn't turn fast, so that was something that she could use against him for now.
Below her feet, the color of the ground changed to a deep blue, which meant she was above the Remote Sea. She didn't realize this, of course. Her attention was on McLean and his ever approaching hands.
She changed directions again, but this time she stumbled in her own feet. With one hand, she propelled herself forward and managed to escape the hand that was closing in on her leg.
'Come on! Think of something dammit!... I can't hold on much longer...'
Veronica felt herself tire. It was still very soon after her ascension, so her soul was still very weak and vulnerable.
As she dodged another hand, she felt a buzz in her earrings and soon a soft voice spoke in her mind... "The Theater"
This time, she recognized the voice instantly. It was her brother. His voice was weak, but she knew for sure it was his!
'The Theater... Can I enter the Theater even from here?... I might as well try it...'
Veronica began to concentrate and imagined herself in the Theater. She felt McLean's hand finally catch her at the waist, but she only felt it for less than a second.
When she opened her eyes, she stood on the street with the lamppost. The pink fog curled around her like a veil. It covered her still naked body.
With a quick teleport Veronica appeared on the stage where she seated herself, and take a bit of time to calm herself.
Her mind was empty and tranquil. The only thing she wanted to do was sleep.
After about a ten-minute break, Veronica stood up and was about to divine her destination when she left, when Tom spoke again.
"You will arrive back in the Physical World."
The voice was still very weak, and Veronica was sure it would stay that way until she made the ritual.
"Can you hear me?... Can we talk?" she asked, her eyes turning teary.
"Yes, and no. I can only talk for a few more seconds, then I have to stay silent for a very long time... Do the ritual, then we can speak normally!"
With that, she felt her brother's presence fade. She took a deep, sad breath, then said goodbye to the Theater and went back into the real world...
Veronica closed her eyes and felt her soul return to her physical body.
She felt the wind hitting her, and with confusion, she looked around. There was nothing around her, just darkness and air.
It took her a good few seconds to realize her situation. When she returned from the Ethereal Plain, it seemed that her height relative to the sea level changed. She was currently a hundred or so meters in the air and she was falling towards the open sea, fast!