Things have changed for Atticus Higginbottom. After the near catastrophe in the Fourth Reality, Tick is being home schooled in the fields of science, trying to master the mysterious Chikarda. But just as he begins to make progress, Mistress Jane reappears, now hideously scarred and much more powerful. She has tapped into the universes darkest secret to create the Blade of Shattered Hope, and in her quest to attain a Utopian Reality for the future of mankind, she is ready to risk billions of lives, including those of Ticks parents and sisters, to set her plan in motion. Her vengeance knows no bounds and when rumours begin to circulate about the secret scientific experiments taking place at the Factory, Tick and his friends Sato, Sofia, and Paul, are faced with their most dangerous task yet. And they must not fail; for if they do, the entire universe could cease to exist
