The Grand Sorcerer 8 - (Sofia the First, Cedric!SI)

A grand spectacle, and also the greatest travesty of it all.

Such is the best way to address the last act of one Focalors de Fontaine. A punchline that demanded a lot of build up between unaware pawns and unwitting actors, the dream of any director as the best vision of a future was reached within a moment of pure and utter anomaly that defied the mightiest's expectations:

The death of a God and the rise of a new yet old Order.

That is how Focalors perished, by her own sword and fueled by years and years of justice - it was poetic and ironic. To die by her own reasons and her own means. To be felled by something expected and needed, for the moment was critical and fate demanded a sacrifice. The finale worthy of a woman of her pedigree and intellect... and yet, reality had one last joke to force upon her: reincarnation.

And what a reincarnation she got.

A feline, a cat - a little white furball with hardly any defining traits connecting to her past self. It was even more ironic that the one who summoned her through the shadow of death was also a fellow reincarnator. One that had a few years over her in the new lease on life, and yet one that was also aware of her backstory and helpful enough to not only assist her in adapting to her new situation but also tell her how well her play went.

Perfectly.

That was the word he used, and part of her, despite utter self-confidence being a quality of hers, thought of it as a kindness than the truth. But the way he never yielded from that single word ultimately won her over and, as the years went by and more occasions brought this up, she got a curious painting on how he knew. And with it, a new form of trust was born between the two.

A game, a crafted idea with complexities involving combat, puzzles and mysteries. And Fontaine, her beloved region, known to be the most adored of the regions. Ah yes, she was indeed most impressed and curious of the inner logic behind such 'video game', but 'Cedric' had either little time to explain it to her between being an apprentice, a warrior, and then a master magician or it was such a complexity that he lacked the right terms to explain it.

That was, of course, all happening through the years of knowing one another. And them working together as master and familiar.

How amusing that a familiar she was once more. First for her predecessor, Egeria, and now for someone that could have been a god too between magical potential, learned skills and wisdom, but that was ultimately unwilling to take that step.

Did she blame her master? No, for Focalors had been forced to godhood herself and, as much as he loved her home, she loathed having to take steps so radical that truly hurt her deep inside. She could bear the brunt of the loathing behind her cunning plan, for she had to truly hurt that slice of humanity she made as her mask to the world - Furina was her biggest victim, and for that she still felt shame for abusing to such level.

Years and years and years of having Furina serve as 'Focalors', the unaware poor girl that lacked true divinity and yet had the right spirit, and all of it was to ruin a prophecy meant to save a region cursed by the skies.

...

Ah right, to be self-loathing. Cedric had been keen to tell her off on those thoughts. That it wasn't her true fault, that while she had done all that damage it was all because someone else snapped at them for being humane and now...

Well, now she was a cat. A happy cat with biscuit and milk- and magic to make the food not meant for felines such as herself edible.

But what about... Cedric? Or John? Oh, what a complex figure he was. Differently from what most people would think, she didn't fault him for being so laidback. He had seen so much, done even more than it was due, and he was fair in demanding some proper rest from the chores of the past.

Obviously Focalors didn't fault the young princess herself. She meant well. She was, after all, a child. The issue was that this was the sort of 'tipping point' to something far more worrisome.

After all, she may have been a cat, but she was a magic one and... she did notice a strange shift in dynamics. Her master was now more active, coerced to become a teacher and to handle the shenanigans of the ruling family of the country he served. He had been prolific in securing his position of power and wealth, never once going too far but...

It was clear something was happening. Again. And that it was somewhat tied to the Heartless.

It made no sense to Focalors, for she had been able to determine that the threat had been either utterly eliminated within this specific area of the multiverse, or contained enough to never pose a threat within the next few centuries. And a resurgence felt... anomalous.

Yen Sid had been vocal too about it, same for Merlin. Whatever was occurring, it wasn't natural and someone was actually either expanding the Heartless' presence by allowing those to fester rapidly, or they were bringing them from other areas. Nonetheless, a worrisome development.

Not one that immediately troubled her, but still something that put her on high alert.

Knowing her luck, she may as well make plans involving giving her sword to John once again. One thing was to deprive him of it out of distrust and a lack of power to handle a divine blade, but he was still a skilled if not rusty fighter. One that needed all the help he needed to keep his- no, their peace whole.

She may be a little cat, but it wasn't like she planned to be nonchalant around those seeking to ruin her good time in this new life.

AN

As promised, a Focalors POV! And a little interlude to explain some things but leave more questions than answers.