Ch 0: The day the glass shattered

Count Reinhardt’s estate was vast and magnificent, a world entirely alien to the small, humble home Elias was used to in the city of "Nyceria." Although three weeks had passed since his parents sent him here, Elias still felt a deep sense of alienation amidst this obscene wealth and the gold-adorned walls.

Elias, barely seven years old, dashed through the long corridors lined with plush carpets. He wore a soft silk shirt and carefully tailored trousers—lavish clothes that his "sister" Charlotte insisted he wear. She had showered him with gifts and attention from the moment he arrived, as if trying to compensate for his parents' absence in every possible way.

Clutched tightly against his chest was a sheet of white paper—a drawing he had just finished with crayons. It was a childish, crude depiction of his home, his father Daniel, his mother Misa, and himself standing between them, smiling. He wanted to show it to Charlotte so she could mail it to them.

Charlotte wasn't his blood sister, of course. She was the daughter of a noble Count, and he was the son of a simple soldier. Yet, the young noblewoman had insisted he call her that for years, out of deep gratitude to his father, Daniel, who had saved her life in the past. Since that day, Elias had become something of a pampered little brother within this palace.

Elias stopped abruptly when he saw a young maid exiting the East Wing, carrying a silver tray.

"Annie!" Elias called out with an innocent smile. "Where is big sister Charlotte? I looked for her in the garden, but I couldn't find her."

The maid stopped and looked at him warmly. Neither Annie nor the other servants knew the exact truth about this child, or why he was here without his family, but they all loved him. He was polite and sweet, a stark contrast to the arrogant noble children who usually visited the estate.

Annie crouched down to his eye level and whispered, "Miss Charlotte is in the Master Count's office, little one. They are... in a closed meeting. The atmosphere is very tense today, and the Master is not in his usual mood, so it is best not to disturb them right now."

"A meeting? Did the postman arrive?" Elias’s eyes sparkled with hope, completely ignoring her warning about the Count's mood. He bolted past her toward the office. "Maybe a letter from Papa arrived!"

"Wait, Elias! Don't—"

He didn't listen. His small heart danced with joy at the possibility of his parents coming to take him back. He reached the massive door made of dark oak wood. He raised his small hand to knock, but the raised voices from inside froze his hand in mid-air.

Count Reinhardt’s voice was not calm and composed as usual. It carried the weight of a collapsing mountain.

"Everyone must understand that this was not our choice, Charlotte! The Kingdom... has signed the document of surrender."

Elias’s hand froze. Surrender? Did that mean the war was over? Would his father come home? His heart raced with naive joy, and he pressed his ear against the crack of the door to listen closely.

Charlotte’s voice came from inside, trembling and choked with tears: "We surrendered? That... that is good, Father, isn't it? It means the fighting has stopped... it means Daniel and Misa are safe, right? We can bring them here now!"

A heavy silence hung over the room for several seconds—a silence that seemed to suck the air out of the hallway where Elias stood.

Then the Count answered in a faint tone, the tone of a defeated, broken man:

"No, my daughter... You do not understand the Empire’s malice. The King only surrendered after what happened yesterday."

"What happened?"

"The secret attack. The Empire did not attack the fortified capital. Their army secretly flanked our defenses... and they burned Nyceria."

Elias felt the chill of the floor tiles seep through his shoes and into his very bones. Nyceria? His city?

The Count continued, his voice dripping with pain, as if every word were a sharp blade:

"They wanted to break the army's spirit by wiping the primary agricultural city off the map. The report arrived this morning, Charlotte. There was no resistance. There are no buildings left... there are no survivors."

"No..." Charlotte gasped.

"The Kingdom's search teams arrived too late. They only found the mass graves the villagers dug for themselves before they died... They found Misa’s body. She is dead."

Elias heard the sound of something hitting the floor inside, followed by the sound of Charlotte’s hysterical weeping.

"And Daniel?" Charlotte screamed through her sobs. "Please, Father... tell me Daniel survived!"

"Daniel and Carl's battalion was the first line of defense against that flood. They are missing. No bodies, no prisoners, no trace. They vanished as if the earth swallowed them whole."

Elias staggered back a step.

His fingers went slack, and the drawing slipped from his hand slowly. The white paper, upon which he had drawn his smiling family, settled on the cold floor before the closed door.

The Kingdom sold them for its safety.

The Empire burned them to prove its power.

His mother was under the dirt. His father was just a memory.

Elias didn't scream. He didn't burst into the room crying as a child would.

He felt something break in his chest, a very faint sound like thin glass shattering, and then... silence fell.

He turned slowly. His honey-colored eyes, which had been sparkling with life a minute ago, turned into two empty glass beads, cold as death. He walked back down the long, dark corridor, leaving his childhood lying there like a discarded drawing at the doorstep.