Olly Briggs
They had a spare the next morning so Olly grabbed Sarah and headed to the library to get a head start on some of their assignments. However, they quickly became sidetracked by chatting.
“What type of schooling did you have before you came here?” he asked.
“Hmmm, it was fairly basic. My family couldn’t afford to put me or my sister in any fancy prep schools. But there’s a few Labourers in my family so I guess a bit of knowledge just got passed along down to me.”
“You said your sister was one, right?” he hazarded a guess.
“Yup, she was,” she responded neutrally.
He wanted to ask. He wanted to ask so badly. He knew it was in poor taste but the curiosity was killing him. If she wasn’t a Labourer anymore, where was she?
He cocked his head. “Why did you want to become a Conductor?” he switched tactics slightly but he was genuinely curious.
“Good question! I felt like it would put me in a better position to achieve some of my goals compared to being a Labourer. No disrespect ever intended to them, I love my Labourer family,” she explained.
“I’m sure they don’t hold it against you,” he smirked.
“I mean, my dad was actually pretty against it, but my sister was all for it,” she admitted.
“Why was he against it?” he asked, feeling like he was getting somewhere.
“Well, after the first collapse, he felt like the level of disrespect that the Conductors were showing the Labourers was inexcusable. And it was, they have been secretly blaming the Labourers for the collapse when in reality they had a useless lump of a Conductor onsite. But I guess I just wanted to start showing that Conductors could be better. There's so much room for improvement and for starters, I wouldn’t look down on people around me,” she frowned, chewing on her pencil thoughtfully.
“Okay, so on that note,” he dropped his voice, looking around, “Don’t you think it’s beyond weird that not one person here has mentioned either collapse? A tunnel quite literally collapsed in my home city a week before I came here and it’s less than an afterthought here. Nobody seems bothered at all, it's so strange. I also haven’t noticed any news coverage whatsoever.”
She nodded. “You’re not alone, it bothers me too. They keep touting collaboration but they’re acting as if they’re not the biggest offenders. Not to mention, all they did after the first collapse was protect that idiot Conductor by hiding him here.”
“Wait, what?” he did a double take. “Who is it?”
“I shouldn’t say, it might get someone into trouble if I’m wrong,” she shrugged.
“Ugh, come on. You can’t dangle that in front of me and leave it,” he whined.
She smirked. “I just did. And don’t worry about it, if I learn anything interesting I’ll let you know.”
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Tunnel Construction was their first class of the afternoon. His World History lecturer wasn’t wrong, they were hearing a lot about astraium and chrononium. The yellow bricks that formed the tunnel gates were a very stable combination of astraium and chrononium. It gave the Conductors a stable surface to punch through, and since the Conductors could provide the energy needed to actually break through the space-time fabric the bricks stretched to form the second loci without any person being required to see it first.
To his chagrin, they already had a quiz coming up on the composition of the bricks in their next scheduled class. He added it to his ever-growing list of schoolwork to catch up on.
At the very least, it was starting to come together for Olly. There were obviously mechanics still beyond his understanding, but he could at least see how history had brought them to this point. He was particularly excited for his Mythology class. He was looking forward to seeing how it tied into the real world.
He exited the classroom with Sarah. “Did you want to go to dinner now?” she asked.
“Sorry, I’ve got to run to Brandon’s lab, he’s going to run some tests on me. Grandmaster’s orders,” he said with a small smile, shrugging.
“Gotcha, I’m sure I’ll catch up with you later. Unless they just turn you into a test subject, in which case you’re on your own,” she said with a flick of her hair.
“Thanks buddy,” he said sardonically.
They parted ways and he made his way to the lab alone. The door was ajar but he heard voices coming from within so he waited outside. He didn’t intend to eavesdrop this time but as the conversation became increasingly heated it was hard to ignore their words amongst the subsequent rise in volume.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“You’ve got to drop it, Steven, no one wants to hear it!" Brandon hissed at Steven, apparently.
“But I need to tell the Headmaster. At the very least, Grandmaster Abigail would want to know!” Steven said, panic evident in his voice.
“Enough. They put you in my lab so you will follow my directions, and I’m telling you to drop it.” Brandon ordered.
“But the collapse…” Steven whined.
“Forget about the collapses!” Brandon barked.
Olly felt like he shouldn’t be there. He got as far as around the corner in the hallway when he heard the door slam. Willing his heart to stop pounding he turned back around and walked back, pretending as if he was only just walking up to the lab.
As he turned the corner once again he passed Steven. He was the same nervous man that they had encountered on Orientation Day. Only he looked beyond flustered now, like he was on the verge of tears.
Olly felt like something was wrong and the way Brandon warmly greeted him as if he hadn’t just been brow-beating someone right beforehand didn’t sit well with him.
“Hey mate, come on in!” he opened the door widely. Olly accepted his invitation but had reservations.
He sat down on a lab stool, inviting Olly to do the same. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We want to get to the bottom of every time you’ve wielded magic to try and sort out some patterns, and then we can run a few tests that are more appropriate for what might work for you.”
Olly felt nervous after the scene he had just witnessed, but Brandon already would have heard Olly’s situation from the Grandmaster so he had no option but to be truthful now.
“Alright, what do you want to know?” he asked hesitantly.
“What happened the first time you experienced magic?” Brandon looked expectantly at him.
Olly realized how little he wanted to talk about it but forced himself onwards. “I was threatened by my first tutor, he was going to strike me.”
Brandon scarcely reacted “And where were you? What did you feel?”
“I was at home, he was telling me how I wouldn’t amount to anything. I guess I felt small, like he was threatening not just me but insulting me and my home as well.”
“Okay, what about the next time?”
Olly shook his head. “It wasn’t until the Aptitude Test, and I assume you know how that went. I guess I felt desperate but there was a pull to action. I pictured someone calling to me from the other side and I couldn’t stop the rush of magic.” He withheld the fact that it was his uncle’s voice that called to him, something told him it was better to keep him out of this.
Brandon took fervent notes. “Okay, any other times?”
Olly paused. “I passed a group of neighbours who threatened to cause harm while I was away. They, I suspect it was them anyway, had thrown a brick through our front door a few nights prior and they suggested they’d do it again once I was gone. I never had any magic come to me when the brick went through our window but when they taunted me the second time I felt furious. I could actually feel the magic come on; I was able to aim it so I made a brick on their house explode.” He felt the fury coming clearly back to him as he recounted the story.
Brandon stared at his notes. “Wow, Olly, I’m so sorry you’ve gone through all that.” He placed a hand on his mouth, looking thoughtful. “I have some theories, but I may need to sit on them for a bit and make my own connections.”
“I can always come back if that’s easier,” Olly offered.
“There’s one we can do tonight. You said you made a brick explode. And during the aptitude test you obliterated a door. What happened the first time?”
“I… I broke the ruler in half. And left a fractal pattern on the table,” he confessed. He had tried to avoid thinking about how destructive his magic was, and speaking about it out loud gave it a power that he didn’t want to acknowledge.
“Very curious,” Brandon said, “Give me a minute!”
He left and came back with one of the small stones from yesterday’s practicum experiment. “Place this in your palm and keep your hand open and face up,” he instructed.
Olly obeyed, wondering where this was going.
“Picture someone getting between you and someone you care deeply about. They have a weapon pointed at you and tell you that you have a choice between them attacking you or the person you care about. How do you respond?” he asked.
That was a horrifying question. “Me,” Olly immediately answered. There was no question.
“They turn the weapon on the person you care about and kill them, what do you -”
Before he could finish the statement the stone exploded into dust in Olly's hand.
“Fascinating,” he said simply.
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Olly was returning to his dorm, thoroughly shaken up, when Sarah intercepted him.
As she saw the expression on his face she pulled him into her room. “How did it go?” she asked, sounding concerned.
He relayed the experiment. She nodded, looking as troubled as he felt.
“Man, I’m sorry. That doesn’t sound great. I hope he can at least help you out after all that.”
“Not only that, but it was also really weird. Right before I went in I overheard him arguing with that Steven guy. He was telling him off for wanting to tell the Grandmasters something about the collapse.”
She seemed to pull back. “Are you sure? You’re certain?”
“Yeah, why? What’s up?” he asked, feeling his panic rising.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Olly… That guy, Steven, he’s the Conductor who was there for the first collapse. My sister was one of the Labourers onsite that day. He pulled her from the tunnel right before it happened, so she's alive but... unwell. I’m not here because I have a passion for being a Conductor, I’m here to get even with him.”
A long pause hung between them.
“Oh fuck,” was all Olly could manage to say.