The Kingdom of Broken Glass

Araysa Brekken

(Amon's Point of View)

The lights were dim in Eleazar's small cabin in the woods. He preferred to live secluded from everyone else, it made Amon wonder how Violet had even met him. She had said that he had come up to her in the market but that made no sense. They lived in such a small village, they would have seen him before.

His cabin was made of wood and looked like nothing important from the outside, but you also couldn't see it from the outside. Violet had to push Amon through the force field surrounding the cabin for the cabin to appear. Eleazar had set this up so perfectly. Nobody could see past his force field and nothing could track you while you were inside it.

Raysa was known for being able to get inside people's heads and Eleazar had crafted this so that he would be protected against her. For the past couple years, she had no idea he was even still in the Kingdoms. For all she knew, he could have dropped off the map entirely. It was odd that he had chosen now to reveal himself.

Eleazar sat in front of his fireplace, Violet and Amon beside him. He was big on defensive magic and they had just finished a lesson on counter-magic. Violet had wanted to know how to prevent Julian from getting into her mind again. Eleazar had only shown them how to prevent it while it was actually happening, but it was still useful.

If Amon was being honest, it felt like everything Eleazar taught them would become obsolete when they were actually fighting. How were you ever supposed to win a fight if you had no form of offense? The only reason that Julian had even stopped the other day was because Amon had choked him, and he learned that from Raysa. Violet had none of the skills needed to defend herself. Amon pictured her fighting Micah or Maxwell, it would be an instant defeat. He cringed at the thought.

Violet leaned forward in her chair, poking at the fire with a stick. The flames cracked as a piece of wood fell over. "Eleazar, can I ask you a question?"

Eleazar turned to her with his eyebrows raised. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "You can ask, but I might not answer it."

"What happened between you and Raysa?" She bit her lip nervously, "You said that she had something against you but you never said what it was." Amon hadn't heard him say that, it must have been while he was still living at the castle. He never even considered that Raysa and Eleazar had crossed paths before.

Eleazar sighed, turning back to the fire. "I guess I'll have to tell you that story eventually anyways. It was a long time ago, you both were probably still babies." He paused, staring into the flames. "It's a long story."

Amon shrugged, "We have time." It wasn't like he was going anywhere. Violet nodded eagerly, obviously also really wanting to hear the story.

Eleazar folded his hands in front of him as he started. "About 18 years ago, we both lived in the Kingdom of Graza. I was a couple years older than Araysa-"

"Araysa?" Violet cut him off, shocked at his use of her full name. "I didn't know that was her real name."

"It was," Eleazar nodded. "She hasn't gone by that in years. However, that was the person that I knew. Araysa was kind and sweet to those around her. She was the light in an otherwise dark Kingdom. Even back then, Graza was not known for rich people. Most of the common folk were very poor, including myself. I only knew Araysa because of Nathaniel." He glanced at Amon, "Did you ever meet Nathaniel?"

Amon pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth, "I've met Nathaniel." That was all he wanted to say on the topic. Nathaniel was never really Amon's favourite person to start.

Eleazar chuckled, "Not a friend?"

"He was not my friend, no." Amon crossed his arms, "He's close with Julian, though."