" Embodiment of the Arts
A Being who Danced in Two Worlds
The Resounding Echo of a Bygone Era
Silent Bearer of Pink"
The worlds left Veronica's mouth calmly, and in that moment, unknown to her, a shockwave went through the world.
...
For a second, the colors of the Ethereal Plain went into disarray, like a wave moved through them.
The creatures, both old and new, looked towards the sky, towards the Soul Plain, which resided above the Ethereal, but the wave didn't come from there.
They turned towards the ground, to the strange rendition of the Physical World. The colors seemed to dance to an unknown rhythm, one that hasn't been heard for at least five millennia.
The forgotten bodies of past gods screamed in rage, remembering who that rhythm belonged to.
...
In the everlasting purple shadows, hidden within the Soul Plain, a female voice echoed... It was the sound of laughter, of amusement...
A form moved in the shadows. The humanoid wore an armor, like a medieval knight. It was in constant change, sometimes new and shiny, other times old and rusty.
On Her sides She had four arms, each holding a unique item.
One of them contained a large hourglass. The number of sand inside always changing. Each particle had a small face on it, and every time someone died, it fell down within the hourglass.
In Her other hand was a book with the face of a watch. The watch's hands moved unnaturally, not following the actual passage of time. Like they were counting towards something.
The third hand held a small cage full of the same purple shadows. They were leaking out onto the sides. The cage seemed to hold the darkest secrets of the world within.
The fourth and last hand held the key to the cage, but no one must ever use it. The secrets hidden within would Corrupt even the Gods and Outer Beings!
The female form took one more step, and looked down on the Physical World, right into a specific apartment building where a woman knelt in front of an altar.
The hidden face of the female smiled to Herself, and sent out a wave of invisible shadows, hiding the woman from every unwanted eye.
...
At somewhere else in the Soul Plain, other beings tried to find the origin of the shockwave, but even their godly prying eyes couldn't find it.
A gray, blindfolded humanoid. The being had both male and female features, both in perfect balance. They held a sword in one hand and a scale in the other.
They grumbled to Themselves, then sent out a command to all of Their blessed. Their job was to find the source of the disturbance.
Something similar happened with someone else. This was a man with green vines growing both around him and from his skin.
Flowers grew from his long, green hair. Around him, animals and other unnatural creatures moved, always keeping close by.
He sent out a similar command...
...
Farther away, three more Beings did similar actions.
One was the most beautiful woman who ever existed. Her form constantly changed into someone else's deepest desire.
Close to her was a man. Behind his back were two sets of wings made of blood. His eyes were red from constant rage. His gigantic great sword was made out of bone, with a human skull at its pommel.
At another place was the third person. He was a man, too. His presence exuded pure tranquility and peace. Around him, light blue clouds moved, or at least they looked like clouds.
Upon closer inspection, one would see peaceful faces in the clouds, as they went to eternal rest.
These three stood near one another. They were all in war, but not directly. They couldn't even influence the battles their countries and churches fought.
They sent out commands to their blessed as well...
...
Many more Beings turned their eyes towards the once forgotten planet, where the shockwave originated from.
Beings older than the planet itself began their long journey. They each had their respective cults, but none of them cared about their human worshippers... Until now...
Unlike the Gods on the planet, they knew exactly who the shockwave belong to. They suffered long enough from that person and they didn't want Him to return.
All kinds of monstrosities moved through the emptiness of Outer space. They were old, older than most of the Universe.
They were the remnants of a long forgotten Era, one full of war, death and Gods. They were the survivors, the victors.
In the past millions of years, they went insane, or maybe they always were. Now they made their way to a place they never want to see again, the origin of their banishment...
...
As the shockwave moved along the Universe, it reached its edge.
In three separate corners of the Universe, the invisible chains of reality rattled. In the shadows of space, where light will never fall, three Entities moved.
They were still in deep sleep, but from the shockwave their bodies stirred, causing the nearby galaxies to transform.
One caused a hundred galaxies to combine, turning it into a giant supermassive black hole.
The second caused the nearby galaxies to destabilize. They fell apart until only small sub-atomic particles remained.
The third caused the galaxies to change from their natural state... To Corrupt...
A few slight movements were all it took to destroy everything near them.
They then went back to their eternal slumber...
...
In the apartment living room, Veronica just sat there calmly, not even realizing how big of an impact her Unique Name had on the Universe.
After the saying the name came the last part of the ritual.
She placed Retribution down before the candles and chanted in Ancient Rener...
"I, Veronica Navarro!
I, sacrifice this Ethereal Item!
I, pray for a blessing!
I, beg for the Item's Properties!
I, want them transferred to the Earring of Dissociation!"
As she finished, the flames burned brighter. It was still mostly pink, but a few other undertones appeared as well. There was a bit of brown, dark blue, and red inside it.
Retribution floated in the air, then dissolved into sparks of light. The tiny sparks travelled to Veronica's ears, and landed on her earrings.
They were turning hot, and soon the smell of burning skin spread around the room.
Veronica gasped in pain, and soon the gasp became a scream. The earrings turned white hot, but they didn't melt and neither did Veronica's ear.
The skin near the ear bubbled and scarred, the blood flowed from the wound and it instantly boiled.
Michael was already there, holding her body. Even he couldn't get near her head, since there was so much heat radiating from her ears.
He managed to go grab onto her long hair and keep it away from the hot metal, so it wouldn't catch on fire.
They expected something similar, but that didn't make it any easier. The complete process lasted for ten endless minutes. Veronica screamed through half of it, then passed out for the other half.
Her whole body was sweaty, while her face was full of scar tissue. The wounds were healing nicely, but Michael poured a healing potion in her mouth, anyway.
In a few seconds, she awoke. Her body healed, but still weak.
"Well... That was fucking awful..." she said in a meek voice, causing both of them to laugh.
Although still red-hot, the Relic contained the heat radiation. It was still impossible to touch, but it got colder with each second.
Michael gave her a long kiss, which soon got interrupted...
"Could you not do that in front of me?" said a voice inside both Michael's and Veronica's head.
They went apart with confused expressions... "Did you hear that too?" asked Veronica, and with a disturbed face, Michael nodded.
"Well, that's unexpected... It seems like since both of you were present in the ritual, now both of you can hear my voice... Or the earrings transmit my voice to everyone in its proximity... We have to do a few tests with it!"
Unlike Michael, Veronica recognized the voice immediately. Her eyes turned teary as she heard her brother's voice. It was much clearer than before, and it brought back all the memories of her childhood.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry for everything..."
Veronica tried to say more, but she was weeping too hard for that. In that moment, Michael realized what was happening.
He pulled Veronica into a hug, letting her cry on his shoulder for as long as she needed.
"I forgive you." Believe me, this is a much better outcome than I had hoped for. I can at least be with my little sister!"
Tom's voice seemed actually happy, which was a bit weird in Michael's opinion, but it caused Veronica to chuckle to herself. Her joy wasn't long lasting though...
"But... You are still dead... And because of me..."
"Yeah, but don't forget that I kind of planned all that... And you seem to forget that you died two times already!... One of them by my hand, so if I can put the past behind me, so can you!"
His argument was solid, and in a few seconds, Veronica stopped her self-hate. She still felt quite weak, but as she smelt the air, a realization came to her...
"I need a bath... I smell disgusting! Also, we should probably open a window or something..."
Seeing her mouth turn into a small smile, she leaned in for another kiss, which caused Tom to grumble again.
He then helped Veronica onto the couch and went to prepare a bath.