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I came across the Ethereal Plane quite by accident.

For several years, I had been searching for the cause of the demon portals
that plagued the lands of Serin. I had traveled great distances, searching
high and low for clues and exploring the furthest corners of the lands along
the way. Even guidance from the gods did not seem to be getting me closer
to solving this riddle. After a particularly exhaustive journey, I stopped
back in a familiar town at an old magic shop.

"You look like you could use a restful item," the shopkeeper said.

"Oh indeed," I answered softly.

"How about a Portal to the Ethereal Plane?" He replied. I smiled at his
jest.

"Certainly," I played along. "One Portal to the Ethereal Plane, please."
The shopkeeper then held up one finger as if asking for my patience and
disappeared into a back room. He was gone for a longer moment than I
expected before he finally returned with a strange cube, pulsating with a
soft bluish light.

"What is this?" I asked.

"I told you, a portal," he insisted. I continued to smile, wondering still
if this joke had merely taken on elaborate pomp and circumstance.

"Okay then, thank you," I said, accepting the cube. We said our goodbyes
and I took the cube back to the Temple of Serenity for study. I examined
the cube closely, holding it up in the amber torchlight of the chamber.

"Hmm," was all I could manage. I set it down on the ground. Then, I heard
a soft rumbling. The noise quickly grew louder and the floor vibrated with
energy. Suddenly, the cube sprung open and a blue-green circular doorway,
gleaming with magical energy stood before me.

"Well then," I expertly articulated. I had not expected the evening to go
this direction. But now that it was here, the chance to travel to another
plane, I simply could not resist. I grabbed several supplies from around
the temple and stood before the doorway. Taking a deep breath, in one swift
motion, I climbed through.

My first observation upon arriving in this place was a general sense of
disorientation. Everything was a shadowy gray and it was not apparent where
I stood at all. A smoky mist coiled around my form, blocking any sight
after just a few feet. I chose a direction and began to walk. With
confident strides, I ran directly into a wall. After recovering my
bearings, I noticed the wall felt oddly familiar. I retraced my steps and
tried a new direction. Another wall. Slowly I began to create a visual of
my surroundings in my mind through a rather clumsy but effective trial and
error. This picture was a perfect match to the Temple of Serenity! It was
then that I realized I had not actually traversed anywhere new. Somehow I
was still inside the temple. The Ethereal Plane appeared to be a precise
overlay of Serin itself.

I walked out the door of the temple and began searching for anything that
would lead to clues about the Serin portals. I found what appeared to be a
town, based on inhabitants that seemed to bustle about from place to place.
However, I immediately noticed these people appeared to me as strange
ghostly forms. I approached them and attempted to ask for assistance. It
was then I discovered that I could not speak! I searched my sack for a
portal catalyst so I could show the townsfolk what I was looking for. Wait,
where was my sack? Where was anything!? It appeared I could not interact
with any of my corporeal items from Serin. I waved my hands in front of a
merchant to get his attention. Nothing. Ah, they cannot see me. This
journey was going to present a greater challenge than I initially thought.

My form, hovering in this ghostly mist, was clearly different. It was
presenting increasingly greater challenges to interacting with Serin. The
lack of sight and ability to perceive normal objects was particularly
grating. And more importantly, as interesting as the experience of existing
on another plane was, I was no closer to the mysteries of the demon portals.
It was time to head home.

I carefully trod back to where I originally entered the plane. The portal
to the Ethereal Plane, once a source of great incomprehensible mystery,
would now be a sight of solace leading me to the realm I knew. I opened the
temple door, stepped inside the chambers and okay it's gone. I searched.
There was no sign of the portal anywhere. Not a single whispering hum or
flickering glow. A wave of feeling overcame me. There was no way around
the realization that I was trapped.

There had to be another way home. I set out again from the temple, this
time determined to travel as far as necessary to find a way back. I did not
wish to be known as another scholar who had gone too far in his experiments
and was lost to them. I visited places I once knew and their beauty was
cruelly occluded by the mist. Similarly, the darkest corners of Serin
seemed not so foreboding as all was lost in the neutral gray of the ether.
In what was once a particularly dangerous cave, I descended, believing
perhaps the great magics trapped inside would provide a way to tear through
my ethereal nature. What I found was far worse.

A demon, his eyes a glowing smoky red, peering directly at me with a fury I
could feel. He could see me! He reached forward with a claw and slashed
into my arm. Okay that's a lot of blood. I tried to bolster my defense and
strike back but it was no use! It seemed this monster could eviscerate my
form but I could not manage to scratch it in return. And no, it wasn't
because of my training. Granted combat was not my foremost skill, but this
was different, mind you. There seemed to be no method to harm this demon in
return. Time to go. I rushed away from the scene, repairing my wounds
through prayer (at least this was possible in this place!) And found a spot
where I hoped the demon would not follow. This adventure had gone even
further off course and the dangers were mounting. Getting home was now
paramount.

I walked and walked. Weeks passed. Every corner of this place seemed
the same. Still no sign of a portal home. I tried prayers of desperation
that called upon every incantation that I knew. Nothing helped. Despite
this, I soldiered on.

In my head, I reviewed all the works I had read on the subject of planar
travel. There were certainly instances of Serins traveling across the
planes, and even the Ethereal Plane was given several mentions.
Unfortunately, documenting how to return from such a place was not
prioritized. Suddenly, I stopped. I realized I was truly lost. I didn't
recognize the walls or the surrounding hints at all. I was not even certain
I could ever find my way back to the temple. Not that it mattered because
there didnt seem to be anything there that could return me. It was at this
moment of what seemed to be hopeless, I had a vision.

A small wisp appeared, floating in the air in front of me. Small sparks of
magical energy cascaded gently down from its form and it whirled around in
the air several times as if beckoning me to follow. I did. Moving in one
direction, then another. Almost as if in a trance, I continued to step
forward, guided by the small creature that seemed as unnatural as the place
I was in. Then, there was another light before me. A familiar bluish green
circle. A portal. I looked to the wisp which promptly fluttered around the
glowing circle and disappeared. Whatever it was... However I saw it... It
guided me home. I stepped through the portal and in a flash of blue light,
I appeared in a field. I knew not where I was but one thing was clear.
This was Serin and I was home.

I returned to the temple, eager to jot down the notes of the journey.
During the trip, I thought about what I would say. Would anyone even
believe such a story? Would this all be passed off as an elaborate tale
from the mind of an imaginative Herald? Or perhaps my propensity for
visions would lead some to believe it was just another lucid dream? Every
one of these thoughts crossed my mind before I placed quill to parchment.

Even I had doubts about what really occurred. But at its heart, this was a
story of adventure that deserved to be told. What truly happened during my
time there...who could say? But I for one have gained new respect for the
powerful magic and ominous mystery of extraplanar travel.