Cedric frowned as he slowly scanned the barren field, his eyes searching for any sighn of movement. But when nothing presented itself to the man after a few minutes, he gave a shake of his head, and quietly slipped back into the dilapidated cabbin.
Closing the door, he gently placed his forehead against the cool wood as he clenched his eyes shut, trying despritly to calm his shaking hands and rapidly beating heart.
Stepping away from the door once he had calmed, Cedric adjusted his coat and turned his head to gaze up the stairs with a pained expression.
She's not going to like this, he thought with a sigh. Slowly, Cedric made his way up the Cree key steps, glancing every so often to read the headlines of several newspapers pinned to the wall, with verious headlines reading the end has come, or, are gods among us? It was a depressing sight to the old professor to see how easily humanity could fall.
Reaching the top of the stairs, he turned to the left and slowly made his way down the carpeted hallway, passing a wall of graffiti depicting a grey skull with glowing red eyes, beneath the iconography, was written in black spray paint, Technologie hat uns gescheitert, vertraue auf den Zauberstab.
Cedric gently closed his eyes as he shook his head, still trying to rationalize the absurd idea of such a thing was now possible. Leaning heavily against the opposite wall, he rubbed his temples to dispel a slowly growing headache.
"Don't think about it," he mutttered to himself. Running his hand down his face, he lightly pushed off the wall and continued his slow walk until he reached a door at the far end of the hall. Gripping the doorknob, he gave a momentary pause to consider what he was about to do. Then, after a second, he twisted the handle and allowed the door to swing inwards with a slight creek.
The room was well lit, and was moderately spacious, but only held a single bed that sat atop a young girl with long auburn hair who stared out the window that showed the ever present grey sky.
"Cedric, is that you?" she asked hesitantly. The professor let out a sigh as he made his way inside and took a seat behind the girl, who imediotly stiffened at the sensation of another person in her bed.
"Yes, Sofia, it's me," he said softly, staring down at the dirt covered floor with a dejected frown. Sofia's shoulders slumped in clear relief, and slowly shifted her body to face her friend with a concerned gaze.
"I heard the door open, and I thought..." she trailed off, Cedric watching as she gently fiddled with her hands in clear nervousness.
"You thought we were being attacked, weren't you." It was less of a question, and more of a stated fact. Sofia let out a sound of confirmation, before the two fell silent.
"Cedric, what happened?"
"Nothing, why?" he asked, giving a slight gulp as sweat began running down the back of his neck.
"Because you're not looking at me." Cedric sucked in a long breath through his teeth, before slowly looking up into his friend's blue, clouded, sightless eyes.
"I hate it when you do that," Cedric sighed, causing the young girl to give a small smile.
"I know." Her smile then quickly fell just as fast as it appeared. "Cedric, tell me, what happened?"
"They found us, the order of the wand. We're completely surrounded." Cedric took in a breath before finishing. "They're going to burn us to the ground."
Sofia didn't cry, nor did she imediotly scramble to her feet and began packing what little provisions they had left. She just sat there, calm as could be, and that deeply confused Cedric for some reason.
She sighed and turned back to face the window. "How long did they give us?"
"Five minutes, maybe less if they're impatient for long enough," the professor sighed as he shifted himself to sit beside his young friend.
For what felt like an eternity, the two were silent, unable on what exactly to say to one another, given their imminent demise that loomed just outside their home. Then, without warning, Cedric reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Giving the screen a couple of taps, he smiled as his photos filled his screen. Tapping on one particular photo, he felt his smile expand into a full on grin.
"Do you remember that day on the lake, the day I met you?" Cedric asked, glancing up at the image of him and Sofia smiling at the camera with huge grins on their faces, though Sofia had managed to sneak bunny ears without the older man noticing.
Sofia thought for a moment before her own grin found its way onto her face. "Oh, yeah, I found you trying to read your book when I splashed you after my cannonball."
"Yes, yes that was it. I was so furious with you that I nearly called the police." Sofia giggled.
"And, and my mom started hitting you with one of her shoes when she saw you yelling at me. God, I think I nearly drowned because of how much water I was snorting while laughing."
"Hell hath no fury like a mother's scorn," Cedric chuckled, before a wistful look came over his features as the two fell silent. "You know, I never did get to finish that book."
"What was the last thing you remember reading before... you know," she gestured with a wave at the room. Cedric leaned forwards as he thought, his phone loosely held in his hand.
"Hmm, any sufficiently advance technology is indistinguishable from magic," he recited, before turning to face Sofia with a breathy chuckle. "Kinda ironic, don't you think?"
"The only difference is that we found magic, instead of creating it," Sofia sighed, leaning against her friend for supporte.
"And look at where it got us, nothing but wars and a ton of bloodshed," Cedric grumbled, before releasing a tired sigh. "Why didn't I keep my mouth shut?"
"Cedric, it wasn't your fault. You found something science had never seen before and it trickled out from there."
"Because of one missing document I wrote. Face it, Sofia, all of this is my doing, and there's nothing we can do to change it."
"I know, but at least there's one good thing that came out of this."
"And what's that?"
"I got to meet you, and ever since yu shielded me from that blast that took out the entire city, I'd always known you'd be there for me."
"Yes, but if you recall, that blast costed your sight, and really messed up my b–" He was cut off when the young girl placed a finger against his lips, and gave him a soft smile.
"Cedric, please don't ruin this for me." Then, without another word, the young girl leaned Cedric's head slightly downwards and planted a soft kiss on his lips, before shyly retreating with a blush tinting her cheeks. "I always wanted to do that, and what better way then just before our painful execution."
Cedric opened his mouth to say something, but paused, suddenly realizing that this was the only time they had left to do things they always wanted to do. "I see. Well, if we're doing things we always wanted to do before our demise, I'm going to tell you a secret." At this, Sofia perked up in intrest.
"Really, what is it?" Cedric took in a deep breath, before letting it out in a long, tired sigh.
"I let you beat me in chess." Sofia couldn't help herself, she fell backwards in a heap of laughter at the confession.
"I knew I wasn't that good," she chuckled, sitting back up and wiping away non existent tears from her eyes. The two fell silent for what felt like forever, simply enjoying one anthers company, before it was interrupted by the sounds of shattering glass, and the room imediotly filled with smoke. Sofia wrapped her arms around Cedric's neck, and he returned the embrace.
"Patric, come on out old buddy!" called a painfully familiar voice from beyond the glass.
"I was hoping he was dead," Cedric muttered, coughing as he and Sofia rose from the bed and slowly made their way over to the window.
Cedric scowled down at the hundreds of people that stood before the house, each one holding a ball of burning flame in each hand with excited grins on their faces. However his eyes were focused on the three figures that stood a few feet ahead of the large army.
Jacob Graylock smiled as he leaned against a staff, watching with amused eyes as smoke began billowing from the bottom floor. Beside him, stood Roland and Meranda, who each held their own balls of fire in each hand. "Join us, and this'll all end."
Cedric rolled his eyes and did the only thing he could do in an appropriate time such as this, he raised his hand up to the glass and raised a single finger towards the group of magic wielders. With a shrug, Graylock pointed his staff towards the window, and the group cheered as they began flinging balls of fire towards the house.
Sofia gripped Cedric's neck tighter, and clenched her eyes shut before gently whispering into her friends ear. "Will it hurt?"
Cedric, too, tightened his grip as he closed his eyes as well. "Yes, but not for long."
A/N.
Hey everybody, I'm back, and am going to be posting more fics, starting with this one. please leave feedback.