“Welcome back,” said a hazy voice. Victor saw a blur of short red curls and a brown coat. He tried to cover his ears. “My voice will seem very loud to you for a moment. Your senses are overloading. I’ll try and speak quietly for now. Try to avoid looking at lights, or fast moving objects.”
Victor sat up from the chair as if he had been in a long sleep, and had woken up from a very strange dream. “I saw colours that didn’t exist,” he moaned. “How is that possible? I felt like I was drifting through space, soaring at the speed of sound.”
“You are experiencing the etheric plane for the first time. Your mind doesn’t know how to perceive certain sensations so it substitutes them with others. Things are going to be a little weird from now on.”
“I can hear water rushing like a great stream. There are drums in the distance.”
“You are listening to the sound of your own heartbeat, and mine, and theirs,” he pointed over to Sam and the others, who were just waking up. “Until you get used to it you will probably be able to hear the blood rushing through your own veins, and perceive other small things that you were never aware of.”
“I feel like it will get annoying,” Victor sighed.
“Oh, it won’t last forever. Think of it as if you have been living in a cave for a very long time, and at last you step outside to find that the light stings your eyes. You will adapt in a day or two.”
Victor’s stomach groaned and he felt empty. “Man, I’m hungry!” A bemused smile curled on his lips. “If my senses are as heightened as you say they are, then bacon should taste ten times as good! Sam, we have to try this right now! Wait, we still have to eat, right?”
Rodrick nodded. “You won’t die of old age, but you can still die if you’re careless enough. Go and get something to eat, and we will discuss what comes next afterwards.”
ns 172.70.178.176da2
