EIGHTEEN

The "uni" in "universe" suggests that there is only one verse. For starters, let's throw away that archaic term. We exist not in a universe, but a multiverse. This is an idea that theoretical physicists have scratched the surface of for centuries. Now that the Black Veil has been discovered, though, they have begun to knock on that surface.

As the theory goes, each universe within the multiverse is densely packed, side-to-side, in a dimension that we cannot perceive. By nature, there are places in the walls between worlds that have worn thin. These result in strange radio signals, gravitational disturbances, and spatial anomalies. The wall that we're discussing now has grown so thin that it has earned the name the "Black Veil." It is a slim boundary that divides our universe from some, strange other.

Just like a bridal veil, we can catch glimpses of what lie on the other side. Those glimpses are brief, distorted, and often baffling, but they are there. At first, those flickers of knowledge only revealed a cosmos governed by completely different laws of physics from our own. Stars burned with unknown elements. Light moved faster. The vacuum of space itself was full of charged particles. I mentioned earlier that scientists have already begun to knock on that door. Recently, something has knocked back.

We don't know who they are, but we are aware of a few things. From our perspective, they appear to by synthetic, almost machine like. I often wonder if we look the same to them. That is, if they're aware of us at all.

Now, as with everything else we've discussed here today, as with Eden, the chip she carries, and the powers we think she has, they possess technology that is vastly superior to our own. Of course, the promise of such technology makes humans act like moths chasing a flame.

There has been an incredible amount of effort put forth into penetrating the veil to allow the two worlds to interact—why anyone would want to take a risk like that is completely beyond me. I personally think it's fortunate that they have not succeeded, yet. However, just because intentional travel between both realms hasn't been accomplished, doesn't mean that there haven't been… accidents.

This brings me to Bennett Tech. They had to start somewhere, correct? There must have been a point in the history of this tech giant's past when they were the same as any other research division, so what gave them their breakthrough?

Well, the theory goes: their breakthrough came from something that literally 'broke through' the Veil. It wouldn't take much. Even if a single piece of debris found its way through the Veil and to our side of the multiverse, a company like Bennett Tech could build an empire on what they learned. As far as I'm concerned, it's the only way they could possibly have become what they are today.

The Veil has more to offer than mere stray pieces of free-floating technology, though. If one were to rub their hands together quickly, it would generate heat. Another word for heat? Energy. Now, move that act to a larger scale. Larger. Enormous to an inconceivable degree. Imagine, if you will, the power that could be produced by two universes rubbing together.

That is the Black Veil.