It was as if his memories belonged to another person. Raoden slumped against it, thoughts numbed by the day’s events. THE ELANTRIS CITY gate boomed shut behind him with a shocking sound of finality. The mirrored face was covered in sickly black patches, like dark bruises. His hair, however, had changed from sandy brown to limp grey. His blue eyes were the same, though they were wide with terror. The dawn’s light had grown just strong enough for him to see the reflection that stared back at him. Raoden turned, throwing furniture out of his way as he stumbled to the tall mirror at the side of his chambers. What had been hidden in the shadows of his darkened room was now illuminated by the hallway’s flickering lantern. Raoden reached out, but the maid took a quivering step away, stumbling on a small melon in her haste to escape. “Merciful Domi!” Elao whispered, her eyes horrified and her hand trembling as she clutched at the Korathi pendant at her neck. Raoden froze, the tray’s metallic ring echoing through the silent morning hallway. The tray dropped to the ground with a crash, slipping from the stunned maid’s fingers even as Raoden reached out to accept it. Old Elao stood outside with a tray of fruit and warm bread. “Finally,” Raoden said, walking over to pull open the door. Elantris was an enormous, ebony block-not really a city anymore, just the corpse of one. Resting in the great city’s shadow, Kae seemed like an insignificant village by comparison. Raoden stood, and as he did, his eyes fell on Elantris again. Finally, he decided to send someone to see what was taking so long.

He had never liked large breakfasts, but this morning he found himself waiting impatiently for his meal to arrive.

It was unusually warm for such an early hour he didn’t feel even a bit chilly as he threw on his robe, then pulled the servants’ cord beside his bed, indicating that he wanted breakfast. Raoden shook his head, climbing out of bed. It was painful to remember the city’s beauty, to wonder how ten years ago the blessing of the Shaod had become a curse instead. The huge Elantrian walls were impossible to ignore, but the people of Kae tried very hard to do just that. Raoden stared at it for a moment, then glanced away. The abandoned city seemed darker than usual. Elantris’s walls were incredibly high, but Raoden could see the tops of black towers rising behind them, their broken spires a clue to the fallen majesty hidden within. Just outside his open balcony windows he could see the enormous city of Elantris in the distance, its stark walls looming over the smaller city of Kae, where Raoden lived. Still drowsy, Raoden sat up, blinking in the soft morning light. P RINCE Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity.

Brandon sanderson elantris series