The Magic Factory

“Good, then let’s begin,” Professor Amethyst said. He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knobby knees. “Firstly, I want to apologize.”

“Apologize for what?” Oliver asked, blinking with confusion.

“For the death of your guide. Inventor Illstrom, wasn’t it?”

Oliver felt a horrible sinking feeling in his chest at the mention of Armando’s name. He’d not given anywhere near enough thought to his deceased hero since coming to the school; he’d let the factory fade into the back of his focus. He felt awful about that now, about letting Armando’s murder take second fiddle to his adventure at the school.

But then another thought struck him. Why was Professor Amethyst apologizing for that?

“Armando’s death wasn’t your fault,” Oliver said.

“No,” Professor Amethyst replied. “But as the headmaster at the school, it’s my responsibility to assign all Seers a guide. He was perfect for you but the timing was unfortunate. I’ve checked all the timelines, Oliver, pulled on a lot of dimensional threads. Those few days you had with him were the best I could manage.”

He looked downcast, as though it were a personal failure that Armando had died so soon after coming into Oliver’s life. Oliver wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to comfort the old professor, so ended up just sitting there in the awkward silence.

Finally, he spoke.

“Was Armando supposed to tell me about my destiny?” Oliver asked. “Because he didn’t get the chance, really. It was all so fast, my time in the factory, I mean.”

Professor Amethyst nodded. “His role was to start you on your journey. Becoming a Seer is psychologically taxing. I’m sure you’re aware of that. It’s not easy to accept the fact that the physical world can be bent and manipulated, or to experience time travel and contrasting versions of events. These things are beyond usual human comprehension. The guide is there to help you onto the first step, so to speak. To give you parts of the puzzle that won’t make your brain melt.”

Oliver nodded solemnly. Clearly, things were more complex than he’d ever anticipated.

“Can you tell me?” he asked. “Now that I’m here at the school? Because people keep saying things about specialisms. And my powers seem to come when I don’t mean them to, and not when I want them. Then I have these visions…”

“Oliver,” Professor Amethyst said gently, interrupting his tirade. “No brain can take everything in at once. Trust that you are learning everything at the pace you can handle. If we tell the wrong person the wrong thing at the wrong time, things implode. Whole timelines can collapse when mistakes are made. If I told you everything I knew, for example, your head would pop like a balloon. It’s taken me centuries to absorb all the knowledge I have. Everything must be taken slowly and steadily.”

Centuries, Oliver thought. Did that mean the headmaster had been alive for hundreds of years? How old was he really?

He was about to ask when Professor Amethyst spoke again. “Let’s start at the beginning. What we can do right here, right now, is find out your specialism.”

“The test!” Oliver exclaimed.

In all the drama, he’d forgotten about the test that would tell him his specialism and eer type, whether he would be cobalt or bromine. When he’d gone to sleep last night the thoughts had been consuming him. But throughout the day, he hadn’t thought much about it at all. He’d even forgotten about his timetable telling him where to be and when. He checked it now and realized he was in the exact place and time for his test. This was where it was meant to take place all along.

“You’ve probably heard the names of the nine specialisms by now,” Professor Amethyst began. “Biological, sonar, chemical, molecular, magnetic, electrical, elemental, nuclear. Then there’s the most powerful specialism: atomic.”

“From what I’ve seen of my classmates, all Seers have great powers,” Oliver said. “Everyone’s been able to manipulate the environment to their advantage in one way or another.”

Professor Amethyst smiled. “Wise beyond your years. A telltale sign of an atomic specialism.”

Oliver felt his cheeks warm. He was excited by the prospect of having atomic powers, but at the same time he felt like it would be something of a burden, as though there’d be some kind of expectation he’d have to live up to. He didn’t want there to be any bad blood between him and his new friends, and he’d already witnessed Ralph’s upset at not being able to do something a Seer with a biological specialism ought to, and Walter complaining that his magnetic specialism was weak. It didn’t seem to matter that they were all amazing, they still had hang-ups. Oliver hated the idea of adding to that in any way.

And what if his type was cobalt? What would an atomic specialism mean in the hands of a cobalt Seer? Was the combination potentially more dangerous? Oliver felt his nerves increase.

“I’ve heard that there’s more to being a Seer than just the specialism,” he said, timidly. He swallowed. “That there are also two types.”

Professor Amethyst looked a little disappointed. “You’ve been told,” he said, sighing. “I prefer my first-years not to get terrified about types but these things can’t be avoided. Whispers spread.” He shook his head, then continued. “Yes. Bromine and cobalt. Try not to get bogged down by the terms. At the end of the day it’s what you do with your powers that makes the difference. All Seers have the potential to be the greatest. And all Seers have the same mission; to protect the universe and the innocent humans that inhabit her.”

His words took root in Oliver’s mind. There was a mission, a collective one to protect the universe. Ralph had told him as much when they’d looked through the library book but Oliver hadn’t fully understood it. Now he realized he had a duty to protect mankind.

“Who are we protecting the universe from exactly?” he asked.

Professor Amethyst’s expression turned grave. “In every moment in history, in every dimension, there are villains intent on causing destruction and imbalance. Some are aided by rogue Seers. We view them as our enemies.”

“But why?” Oliver asked. “Why would people want to cause destruction?”

“Power?” the headmaster mused. “Human nature? We may not know why, all we know for certain is what they do. Hitler. Genghis Khan. Jack the Ripper. History is littered with these people. Rogue Seers are drawn to them and their destructiveness, their lust for chaos. They team up to wreak havoc on timelines, to try and twist the events of history. You can spot rogue Seers by their very peculiar shimmering blue eyes. It is imperceptible to all but a Seer. We can see them for what they are. And our mission, here at the School for Seers, is to follow the universe’s guidance to keep the timelines in order, preventing their destructive actions, rewriting those that have slipped past our detection, and minimizing the destruction of those that cannot be eradicated.”

Oliver could hardly believe what he was hearing. He had a destiny to keep mankind safe from the most awful people who ever existed.

“But…” he began, “the fact that I know who those people are and know what they’ve done, doesn’t that mean they’ve already succeeded and we’ve already failed?”

He was drawing on the information Ralph had imparted on him, about how all time already existed, and how all events that could happen had happened.

Professor Amethyst smiled at Oliver with an impressed look. “Au contraire, Oliver. What you know of those people is just a fraction of what they could have done. Indeed, what they have done in other timelines. If there weren’t Seers stopping them at every turn, their actions would have been far greater.”

Oliver pondered this for a moment. The thought of a Hitler who’d done things even worse than what he knew of was quite terrifying.

Then a new thought struck him.

“It’s an endless task, isn’t it?” he asked. “With all these timelines all happening at once. It’s like a game of chess. We move and they countermove. They change history and we try to change it back. When does it ever end?”

Professor Amethyst looked at him earnestly. “It doesn’t end, Oliver. And that’s why it is so hard to be a Seer. So challenging. It is a huge responsibility, one that you will have to bear for the rest of your days. You must work hard here and hone your skills. You have the potential to become one of the absolute strongest, greatest, most powerful Seers that ever lived. You must train, and concentrate, and never give up. Whatever you do, resist the dark side, because its lures are strong.” He glanced away, troubled, as though there was something on his mind that he wasn’t telling Oliver. “The fate of the world will soon rest upon your shoulders.”

Oliver swallowed hard. There was no doubt in his mind now that some difficult, terrifying mission awaited him, one that Professor Amethyst had seen played out before, but one that, when the time came, Oliver would have to face on his own.

“We’re getting sidetracked,” the headmaster said. “The test. Shall we begin?”

After what he’d just heard, Oliver didn’t feel as though he was in the best frame of mind for a test. But he nodded. It was time to find out what he really was.

The headmaster waved his hand in front of his face. Suddenly, a white orb materialized, floating just in front of his nose. It emitted a soft, warm glow.

“Whoa,” Oliver murmured in appreciation.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” the headmaster said. “We call this a pearl.”

Oliver looked at him curiously. “A pearl?”

Professor Amethyst moved his hands so that the pearl danced and swayed in time to his movements. “She’s a brand new world. A parallel dimension. Formed by a diversion in the fabric of the universe. Not yet complete. An infant.”

“Whoa,” Oliver repeated again.

“She’s extremely fragile,” the headmaster continued, the light from the baby dimension reflected in his pupils. “So much potential. So many possibilities.”

Suddenly, Professor Amethyst threw the orb upward. Unlike the ball in switchit that traveled in a normal trajectory, the orb just kept going, flying off quickly.

“NO!” Oliver cried instinctively, reaching for it.