Mandrill's Voicemail

Doc Gibbons

Good morning, @everyone.

Demon shared a recording with me that I think you will all find rather enlightening.

Hearing a voice I had not heard for so many years was a somewhat jarring experience for me, and I must admit I am still processing it.

Please listen as soon as you have a moment. Thank you, friends and colleagues.

8MB

Doc-Memo-082124.mp3

Audio Transcript

Mega Demon

Hey, Abbott.

I found something I think you're going to want to hear.

I wasn't sure if I even still had it, but I guess it's not such a bad thing that I never have time to declutter my phone.

Mandrill left me this voicemail shortly after he stopped showing up to our class. It's kind of what started the next chapter of my work with him.

The one no one else knew about until now.

Mandrill

Leonard, I wanted to tell you more about what I mentioned the other day outside the hospital. I prefer not to discuss this in person as this information is sensitive and I can never be sure who may be listening on campus or out in public. Please make sure you are alone before continuing to listen.

Alright. This energy source, I've been researching, Veil, as you might've surmised it is the reason my interests have shifted in the direction of the supernatural. It's unexplainable by modern science. So discovering it unmoored me from everything I thought was true about the world, the very rules which I based my life's work. But I cannot deny what I have personally witnessed. You see, despite having been rushed off as utter a nonsense by virtually every reputable science of past century, I have evidenced that the alchemists of ancient times knew important truths about the universe, truths that have largely been lost to time and changing beliefs.

We are all familiar with the law of conservation of energy. That energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change forms. But I am certain I have discovered proof that the ancient alchemists actually discovered a process by which to create energy from nothing. It defies all logic. But I'm sure if someone from their era ever saw a computer, they would think it defied all logic. We are all biased in favor of the time in which we live. I believe that the most advanced practitioners of alchemy in the days of old, figured out multiple ways to create energy. The one that interests me the most for reasons that will become clear soon is a certain type of energy that was created by the early experts in luminescent magic.

Every time those highly skilled, albeit morally questionable individuals cast a particularly complicated smell. A new form of energy began to amass in the metaverse. That energy was more of a byproduct rather than an intended effect. So it took them some time to recognize that the energy was growing so strong that it had amalgamated into a massive singular entity that was nebulous, yet sentient. When the elite luminescent, magic practitioners discovered this byproduct, they named it Veil as they noticed dark shadows appearing whenever more energy was added to it. By the time they realized this phenomenon and began attempting to harness Veil's energy to achieve their own goals, alchemy had begun to fall out of favor and the remaining practitioners had to go underground. Speaking of underground, in case of an emergency, I wanted to let you know how to access my hidden workshop in the woods where all of my experiments and archives are stored. I slipped a paper with directions to the location in your backpack at the end of class yesterday.

I will talk to you more soon about how exactly I believe Veil could be the key to achieving what has now become my only goal in life. I appreciate your help immensely, Leonard, goodbye.

Mega Demon

So that's the first time I heard about Veil.

Doc Gibbons

Well, that was a multitude of unexpected new information. I think I need some time to process this.

Mega Demon

Take all the time you need.

I don't know why he chose me to be the only one entrusted with this. Maybe his lectures on magic were a sort of litmus test. He'd see how we responded and select a confidant accordingly. And I was obviously the most open to those teachings at the time.

But now, I often wonder how things would be different if I didn't know any of this.