It was a beautiful morning in the kingdom of Enchancia, birds singing, flowers blooming, all peaceful and serene as both royalty and peasantry went about their duties like the William Tell Overture was playing in the background, that was until a loud explosion caught everyone within a 5 mile radius' attention. No one immediately guessed the epicenter would be Cedric's tower given the sheer power of the blast, but when smoke began rising out of the shattered windows, concern over what the sorcerer had been up to piqued. This wasn't one of his usual bungles.
"What in the world happened?!" King Roland demanded as he led a party of guards and curious staff toward the tower, only to stop at the stairs to see mortar crumbling and chunks of stone missing from the walls the higher up the stairs climbed. "…Summon the royal builder and evacuate everyone in the surrounding rooms! I don't want anyone going up there until the structural integrity is examined!"
"Yes, sire!" The guards responded and hurried to work.
"What have you done this time, Cedric?" Roland asked himself as he stared nervously up the staircase, a sinking feeling pitting in his chest. If something serious had happened to the sorcerer, time was of the essence.
He gave his remaining retainer instructions for the returning crew before rushing up the tower himself, finding the core of the structure relatively firm while the outer casing seemed to have taken the brunt of the blow.
Upon reaching the top of the tower and Cedric's workshop, he found the room in shambles, only the portrait of Goodwin and Winifred still intact on the wall, no doubt from some magical enchantment. The windows were blown out, along with much of the walls and roof, leaving the skeleton of the tower in tact at least, although Roland couldn't be sure how much longer it would hold the remaining weight.
"Cedric! Cedric!" A weak voice drew his attention to a small bit of movement to his left. Cedric's raven, Wormwood, had one wing trapped under a large chunk of stone and he was struggling in vein to fly free and find his master.
"Hang on," Roland knelt at the bird's side, easily lifting the stone off the wing, but one look at the mangled limb told him Wormwood wouldn't be flying any time soon.
"Cedric!" The bird cried with determination to locate his master, pulling himself up on his feet to crawl into the rubble if her had to, but Roland took off his jacket and carefully wrapped it around the creature to hopefully prevent further injury.
"Wormwood, please calm down!" Roland steadied the bird in a firm, but gentle hold. "What happened?"
"I don't know! Everything was going rather well until he added dryad dust to the gardener's pest repelling potion. The reaction was supposed to be immediate, but when it began taking longer, Cedric suddenly grabbed me and dove to the floor. Next thing I knew, BANG!" The raven explained before looking up at his majesty with the saddest eyes a carrion could make. "Sire, I beg of you, please find him!"
"I will, but you stay still. Cedric wouldn't want you hurting yourself anymore than you already are," Roland set him down on a stable bit of floor near the doorway, before carefully approaching his best guess at where Cedric would have been just before the blast.
He prepared himself for the worst as he dug into the debris, half of him in disbelief such an accident were possible. Cedric made mistakes, he wouldn't argue that, but because of that, he always took the proper safety precautions before any unstable or complicated spell. His tower was even enchanting to withstand explosions, but clearly not one of this magnitude. Before, at worst he got a face full of smoke, a singe, or a shock.
Roland had known Cedric since… forever. The sorcerer was only a year younger than him, raised in the castle at his side with the promise he'd one day be his own Royal Sorcerer. He could see the twinkle in young Cedric's eyes whenever he boasted about how great he'd be at the job while Roland, who had his obvious doubts, simply smiled hopefully.
This couldn't be happening, the king's mind repeated as he lifted Cedric's work bench out of the way, revealing the sorcerer's location, but not giving Roland any comfort with what he found.
The prince and princesses were none the wiser on their ride home from Royal Prep, although gossip tended to spread, word of an explosion at Cedric's tower was nothing news worry to make it out of kingdom just yet. As the carriage approached the castle with the damage to Cedric's tower plainly visible, all three looked to one another in concern and hurried the coachman to land.
Baileywick and Queen Miranda were waiting for the three upon their arrival, Sofia being the one to jump out of the carriage as soon as it halted and run to her mother. "Mom! What happened?! Is Mister Cedric alright?!"
Miranda bent down and caught her daughter in her arms, holding her tightly. "There was an accident today, Sofia. He didn't walk away from this one…"
"My word!" Amber gasped, splaying a hand to her bosom in honest, albeit dramatic surprise. "He actually got hurt this time?!"
"Princess Amber," Baileywick caught her to instill the severity of the accident before she continued. "The doctor's examining him at present, but he's yet to regain consciousness since being pulled from the rubble. That's not a good sign."
"But he's going to be okay, isn't he?" James asked. "We have the best healers, don't we?"
"We're doing everything we can," Miranda told the three, feeling her own daughter clutching her tighter and her bodice dampening with tears. "But it doesn't look good. His family's on the way."
"That… can't be… Cedric's not…" James lowered his head as Amber stepped next to him to squeeze her brother's hand.
"Don't say it! Mister Cedric can't die! He can't!" Sofia wailed.
Letting the initial shock of the news sink in, Miranda and Baileywick took the three inside to unpack from school and try and go about some normal schedule until there was any news. It took until Sofia calmed down for her to ask about the other occupant of the tower. "W-Where's Wormwood?"
"He's alright. He has a broken wing and was understandably hysterical, but he's resting in the hospital ward with his master," Miranda told her.
"And Dad?" James asked.
"Waiting right outside his door for the doctor's update. He's a bit shaken from this."
"Daddy?" Amber tilted her head in confusion. "I thought the only reason we kept Cedric as the Royal Sorcerer was because it'd insult Mister Goodwin if we didn't."
Miranda sadly smiled knowing this was one of those tricky adult problems children might not understand as readily. She remained calm, trying to phrase her explanation in her head first before answering as honestly as she could. "…At times, that does seem to be the reason Rollie keeps him around, but Cedric's known your father since they were children. Regardless of how things currently are between them, Rollie'd notice the absence if Cedric were to die. He expects things to be a certain way, you know, and though it seems strange, having Cedric be his sorcerer is one of those things."
"Can we go see him?" Sofia asked. "Dad, and Mister Cedric?"
"Yeah, can we?" James reiterated.
Baileywick and Miranda exchanged a glance before deciding it might help the King to see his children, and so took the three down to the hospital ward where in front of closed door, Roland stood talking with Goodwin the Great and Winifred the Wise, the latter of whom had half her face hidden in a kerchief.
Cedric's parents must have teleported soon after the explosion, Sofia deduced, noting the empty painting propped up against one of the waiting chairs in the hallway. Goodwin looked uncertain and pained by the news while Winifred was beside herself, trying desperately not to fall to pieces against her husband's arm.
"Misses Winifred… Mister Goodwin…" Sofia caught the two's attention as they approached, running to the older woman to give her a hug she so desperately needed to keep herself together, or safely fall apart.
"Miranda, kids…" Roland softly acknowledged their arrival, catching Amber as she leapt into his arms and giving James a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Oh Princess," Winifred sniffled, hugging one arm around the girl in full knowledge the news must have been devastating to her as well. "The healers have done what they can. The rest is up to him now…"
"Did he ever wake up?" Miranda asked only for Goodwin and Roland to shake their heads.
"He's stable – breathing on his own, but we won't know what sort of permanent damage has been done until he regains consciousness," Roland sighed helplessly.
"I sent word out to every healer and magic user worth his salt, your majesty," Baileywick informed them. "We already heard back from Greylock the Grand in Rubistan. He'll be here in a few hours."
"Not much more magic can do for him," Goodwin told them, his eyes turning to the door. "Heal his broken bones perhaps, but the fight is all his…"
All words were somber and depressing in Sofia's ear with only the faintest glimmer of hope. No one seemed to believe Cedric could come back from such an ordeal, and admittedly, even Sofia questioned the likelihood given the severity of the sorcerer's condition, but she wasn't about to give up her faith in him now. She prayed relentlessly that night in bed, unable to sleep, hoping beyond hope that everything would be put right by morning.
She didn't go to school the next day, though James and Amber did, the twins knowing the best thing they could do at this time was try and keep some semblance of normalcy. Sofia was the only one with genuine attachment to Cedric anyway, and she knew his family, a far better task for her than it would haven been for them.
"They said Uncle Ceddy might never wake up…" Calista had been in tears since receiving the news and being unable to continuously cling to her mother given the bustle of people in and out of the room, stayed in the hall with Sofia, her head on the older girl's lap as she cried.
"I'm sure it'll be alright, Calista," Sofia assured her with light strokes to the little sorceress' black and white hair. "Mister Cedric's a lot stronger than everyone thinks. He probably just needs to rest a little longer before he can wake up."
"And if he doesn't…?"
"We shouldn't think about that. We need to stay strong too. Not only for Mister Cedric, but for your grandma, and grandpa, and mom, okay?"
Calista nodded into her lap, the two of them continuing to sit and wait through the morning until around lunch time when the last healer to have arrived stepped out, leaving only Cedric's family and Roland in the room.
"Girls," Roland held open the door before it could close. "He doesn't look his best, but would you like to see him?"
A ridiculous question as both Sofia and Calista hurried into the room and up to Cedric's bedside. Both were taken aback by the bruises and amount of bandages around him, add in the swelling and Cedric barely looked like himself at all.
"It's alright to talk to him," Cordelia told them, lifting her daughter to the bedside near Cedric's right hand which only had a few scratches on it. "They're encouraging us to in fact. Sometimes voices can reach those in a deep sleep."
"Uncle Ceddy…" Calista teared up again as she cradled her uncle's hand in both of hers. "Please get better… Please…"
Roland stepped behind Sofia, placing a hand on her shoulder since she seemed reluctant to approach the bedside any further.
"Is that really him, Dad?" Sofia had to ask.
"Yes, sweetie, it is."
Reality was sinking into the ten year old's mind, as until now she had the optimistic hope it wasn't as bad as everyone was saying, or that maybe this black and blue person lying in bed was not her dear friend, but some other unfortunate soul. The strength she needed in the insurmountable. She felt scared, and overwhelmed, simply unable to confront the situation with her usual youthful naivety resulting in her running out of the room.
"Sofia!" Roland called after her, ready to pursue when Winifred halted him.
"It's alright, your majesty," she told him, knowing the sort of strength required at times like these couldn't come easy to such a sweet and kind girl like Sofia who secluded herself in a room down the hall to sob.
Author's Note: When I was 13 going on 14, my dad was in a serious car crash that almost claimed his life. Me and my 3 younger siblings came home from school to my grandma and aunt telling us this and it was just... I don't want to say surreal, but definitely strange. The reality of how serious it was didn't hit until I actually saw him. When tragedy strikes, I usually remain calm so I can't say I remember breaking down and crying at any point, but my ma and siblings did. No doubt I'll be drawing on some of those memories, but I'm not out to make this super angsty or dramatic so I'll try not to make things too heavy.