A/N: I'm impressed with how dark I imagined the second chapter. I wonder how dark can I get as we go forward? Enjoy! And don't kill me, Aqua!
Conquering the Demons
Chapter 2
The rain poured down hard on the empty school grounds of Hexley Hall. One hooded figure who stood at the entrance was waiting patiently for his two guests to arrive. He was hoping the duo who he had invited would join him in his 'little' endeavor.
After many years of working and planning the man had decided he had been waiting long enough to see it through. It was time for action! If they denied his offer he was just going have to kill them. Either way, the man knew the meeting would go his way.
Feeling his faithful familiar tug on his hood to get his attention the man could see the flying carriage headed their way. This was it! His plan would be in motion soon enough.
Once the carriage had landed two other hood figures stepped out. While one had nothing but himself under the hood the other had a raven perched on his shoulder. "Cedric, Greylock, I'm glad to see you got my letters. Come inside, we have much to discuss."
Not saying a word, both wizards followed the headmaster inside the building as the two stone statues held the door for them.
While walking through the halls and passing many rooms brought back both good and bad memories, the two friends decided to focus on the present mission at hand. The past was the past, after all. Even if it held a memory of a long gone friend of theirs they would still focus.
Reaching the the enchanted portrait room Grimtrix invited for them to sit down. Each one pushed down their hoods while the two familiars landed on the table. "Now, about why I have invited you both here..." Grimtrix spoke as he used his scepter to conjured a map of the Ever Realm with Enchancia circled in black ink. "I plan on taking over the Ever Realm and I want you both to help me."
Both men were a little surprised the old man got straight to the point. He didn't start breaking into song, nor complained or discuss as to why he hated serving royalty. Just a plain old statement. They needed to get him to talk.
"Why do want us to help you?" Cedric asked as he laid his arms down on the table. "We can't do this for no reason."
"Ah, but you do have motives, my dear friends." Grimtrix said as he stood up to walk to his two former students. Lowering to Greylock's side, Grimtrix gave the monocled man a synthetic look. "Magnus may have praised you greatly but he secretly mistreated you, Slickwell and the other staff behind closed doors, didn't he?"
Greylock somnly closed his eyes as he remembered all that abuse. But deep down he wasn't really going to let Grimtrix get his way. Cedric was going to be harder though.
Knowing he had Greylock he turned to the very man he had his eye on the most. "And you, Cedric was mistreated and bullied your whole life after one spell gone wrong; despite fixing it. They believed you to be the laughing stock of the kingdom." Grimtrix reminded as he used a single finger to lift the two-toned man's head.
To his statisfaction he saw hatred rising up in Cedric's brown eyes. "See there. You can't say you wouldn't be doing this for nothing, Cedric. Don't you want to get your revenge on all those who mistreated you and gave you those mental scars?"
Removing his finger from the younger sorcerer's head they both saw Cedric had let his head fall low as he began to breathe hard. Had he been having a mental flashback? Perhaps, Cedric wasn't really mentally fit for this mission as he believed.
After having returned from stopping the magician Boswell . Cedric and Greylock met with Merlin and a young sorcerer by the name of Conroy the Consistent, who was sent by the Conjoures Board on coming up with a plan to take down Grimtrix in thier next mission.
"The plan is to have Grimtrix use Cedric to get his way into Enchncia, take the Amulet of Avalor and have him dethrone King Roland. But secretly Cedric will make sure he has the real amulet before Grimtrix does." Conroy began explaining to the group. "Greylock, you will be behind the scenes leaking the full plans to us. And when it's time to go through with it on the night it should all go down we will catch him in the act whether it is by having him sitting on Roland's throne or some other way. We'll figure out the rest once we get the full plan."
While Merlin was in agreement to the plan he could see that Cedric was having a hard time coming to grips with the idea of returning home once again. He couldn't blame the younger sorcerer for having some sort of breakdown, since he was being forced to return to the place that mistreated him while also trying to take down a former teacher of theirs. Whether he liked it or not, it had to be done and Cedric was the only one in the organization that had connections to Enchancia.
Seeing that his partner was not taking this well Greylock stood, slapped his hands on Merlin's desk and glared. "Cedric is not mentally fit for this mission. The plan will go up in smoke if he goes through with this."
"I agree with you, Greylock but I'm afraid we have no choice in the matter. We have no one else for this role." Merlin sympithised with the agent.
"But-"
"It's okay,Greylock. I'll do just fine. I'll see to it that we have Grimtrix behind bars one way or another." Cedric reassured thier leader a the other sorcerer.
Whether Cedric was acting or really showing that hatred after having a real mental flashback, Greylock couldn't tell. What mattered though was that Grimtrix was buying the act as real pain.
"Do you get it now, Cedric?"Grimtrix asked the purple clad sorcerer. "How about teaming up?"
Raising his head, Cedric's brown eyes had turned cold. It was almost like they were children again. "Sign me up."
Once their meeting with Grimtrix was over, the two of them walked outside the school to part ways. With Greylock needing to stay at Grimtrix's side to obtain the plans, the dark-robed sorcerer became worried about parting with Cedric.
While they had to part ways on missions before, this mission in paticular had the fun loving sorcerer worried about his friend. "Cedric, what happened back there. Were you really acting or were you feeling real hatred and having a mental break down back there?"
Stopping in his tracks with Wormwood on his shoulder, Cedric didn't face Greylock when he answered. "I guess I ended up doing both. Whether you realize it or not, Grimtrix still has the power to persuade people."
"Yes, that may be true," Greylock said as he walked up to his friend, placed a hand on his free shoulder and gave him a stern yet gentle look. "make sure you don't lose yourself to him. I know you are stronger than Grimtrix is. You can defeat him and your past."
"Okay, who are you and what have you done with the real Greylock?" Cedric gave his friend a confused look. "Did Grimtrix replace you with a double or something?"
"No...no." Greylock laughed at Cedric's statement. "Can I not have a serious side too, Bedsick? he joked back then turned serious again. "I just don't want you to loose your way. Julianna would be disappointed if you did."
Cedric sighed at the mention of their friend. "It's hard to believe after all these years we still don't know who really murdered her that fateful night. I wonder if we will ever learn the truth."
"We will one day but for now you got focus on not turning evil on us. The organization and the Conjures Board would really come down on you hard."
"Yeah, they would." Cedric agreed as he opened the door to the carriage, magically floated Greylock's bag to him and shut the door behind him. "You make sure Grimtrix doesn't kill you. I can't have a dead partner on me. Merlin knows I can't work with anyone else."
"You do care!" Greylock stated after giving a gasp of surprise but then gave his partner in crime a cheeky grin.
Not too amused at his friend attempt at picking at him Cedric just rolled his eyes. "You better better take this mission seriously. Greylock. If you don't we'll both fail."
Before the purple clad sorcerer could let the man make any sort retort the carriage flew off, leaving pouting Greylock behind, He may have won that battle but Greylock was planning to win the war.
"Thanks for helping me get a room ready for Uncle Cedric, Sofia." Calista stated as they worked on organizing the guest room. While they would originally have let Violet and other staff to do the chore there wasn't much time to inform the staff the man's arrival so the red clad decided to do herself with a little bit of help.
"It's no problem." Sofia said as she finished dusting the room. "What's your uncle like?"
Becoming surprised at the question, the teen smiled as she thought of the only man in her life besides her grandfather. While she did have a father, the man was currently in prison; serving time for his crimes. To her, Cedric was like the best father figure she could have ever had. He had stepped in to help raise her even though she didn't get to see him often. But he had made sure birthdays and Wassillias were special. He had even come to the special events at school she had taken part in.
Despite all the great things her uncle did for her and her mother she wished Cedric could be happier in the castle he grew up in and wasn't always at odds with her grandfather and King Roland. From she had heard from her mother, the two men came down hard on her uncle after one accident with her hair. And while Cedric did change her hair back to the way it was shortly after the incident, they never trusted him with any sort spell casting ever again. Goodwyn had even ended breaking their family tradition by giving Cordelia the family wand even though Cordelia had vouched for her brother, saying that Cedric deserved to receive it instead.
Giving a sigh, Calista gave her long-time friend a smile. "He's complicated. Don't get me wrong. He's nice and caring but when he has to face your father and my grandfather he puts up a wall and a mask to hide what he's really like."
Before auburn haired girl could ask what she meant Cordelia came running into the room in excitement. "He's here, Calista! I saw the carriage headed this way! "
Seeing the two-toned girl's face light up quickly she followed her mother out of the room, leaving Sofia to wonder about the mysterious man that had the two sorceress's excited.
"Cedric the Sorcerer..." the princess muttered the name to herself as she left the room to go join the two women and her family outside. From what she had just heard she was interested to see what this man was like.
A/N: I changed the ending of this chapter because I wasn't too happy with. I also added a Sofia scene because I forgot to add one. I hope this chapter is a lot better than I originally had it.