Chapter 5
The sun was beginning to set, painting a warm orange glow over the Shiganshina district. Its golden light kissed the stone walls gently, while the leaves of the trees swayed softly in the evening breeze.
In a quiet corner just outside the market, four boys walked side by side. Their steps were slow, yet their enthusiasm burned like fire within their chests.
Eren Yeager led the group, with Rio Ackerman right behind him, followed by Armin and Mikasa, who remained silent as usual.
Eren's voice rang with excitement as he gazed up at the high sky:
"When I grow up… I'll join the Scout Regiment!"
His tone was confident, filled with determination.
"I'll get out of these walls… I'll fight the Titans in their own land… and discover what lies in this vast world!"
He paused for a moment, then turned toward Rio, as if waiting for confirmation.
Rio smiled quietly, looking down at the ground before meeting Eren's eyes.
"I have the same dream," he said.
"I won't stay here forever. I'll get out… I'll fight… and I will end these nightmares."
Armin raised his eyebrows in surprise and stopped walking, speaking nervously:
"What? You two?! Have you lost your minds?!"
He looked at them as if they were talking about suicide.
"Do you know how many joined the Scout Regiment and never came back? Do you know how many soldiers died there?"
His voice lowered as he stared at Rio's face.
"You… you lost your father because of this! So why do you want to walk the same path?"
He fell silent for a moment, then turned to Mikasa.
"Say something, Mikasa! Tell them this is madness!"
But Mikasa walked silently behind them, her face showing little expression, her gaze fixed on Eren as if trying to understand what stirred inside him.
Rio spoke quietly, as if he had been expecting this question all along.
"I'm not doing this just because my father died… but because his death opened my eyes."
"We live like cattle behind these walls, afraid that one day they might fall, and we'll die without resistance."
He paused briefly, then clenched his fist as he continued.
"If no one stands up to the Titans, they will swallow everything… our dreams… our families… even our memories."
Eren looked at him with admiration, as if seeing in Rio a mirror of his own wild dream, or perhaps something deeper.
Armin appeared troubled. His small heart also held ambitions, but he couldn't ignore the harsh reality he knew all too well.
In a softer voice, he said:
"But… don't you think about your mothers? Your fathers? What if you die? What if…"
Rio cut him off with a sad smile.
"I've thought about all that… many times."
He looked at the sky, where clouds had begun to veil the sun.
"But I don't want to grow up in a cage. I want to fight so we can live free. Even if I don't survive… at least I will have done something."
Eren shouted, as if his heart was screaming aloud.
"That's exactly what I wanted to say from the start!"
"The world outside… may be dangerous, but staying here and doing nothing is even worse!"
A heavy silence fell for a few moments. Even Mikasa looked at Eren and Rio before finally saying softly:
"Wherever you go… I will be there."
The other three smiled. Despite their differences, something united them in that moment: a desire for change… for freedom… for battle.
Maybe Armin wasn't completely convinced, but he felt surrounded by friends who didn't know fear—or at least didn't let it stop them.
Rio looked at them and said as they resumed walking:
"One day… we'll talk about this moment while looking at the sea."
Armin blinked in surprise.
"The sea?"
Eren laughed.
"Yes, the sea! The place where the land ends and freedom begins."
The four continued walking as the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving long shadows stretching before them like the road ahead.
---
The sunset slowly crept over the horizon, washing Shiganshina's alleys in warm orange-red light.
After a long stroll through the district filled with talks of dreams and the future, Rio, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin's steps grew heavy.
As they neared the corner leading to the Yeager household, Rio suddenly stopped, his gaze drawn sharply to an old wooden door slowly creaking open.
Out stepped a man in his mid-forties, tall and clad in a dark coat with a hat partially shading his face. Despite that, his stern features and deep, strange eyes were unmistakable. It was Grisha Yeager.
Grisha glanced around briefly before his eyes met Rio's. Something in that look made him pause for a moment. Rio's calm, his features... something familiar stirred inside him.
Grisha took a step forward and gently placed his hand on Rio's right shoulder.
"How are you, boy?" he said warmly despite his usual serious tone, then glanced at Eren behind him.
"Is Eren causing any trouble?"
Rio answered politely, raising his eyebrows slightly.
"Never. Eren is very kind… and always helps me."
Grisha smiled faintly, a rare sight on his lips.
"Well then… that's reassuring."
But he didn't move immediately. He kept staring into Rio's eyes for a few more seconds, as if something screamed inside him—something he couldn't understand.
"This boy… there's something familiar about him…"
He murmured to himself, scrutinizing Rio's face closely.
"That look… that aura… have I seen him before? No, that's impossible."
He patted Rio's shoulder once more and continued on his way, leaving Rio standing for a moment, looking back, trying to grasp the secret behind the strange tension in the well-known doctor's gaze.
After a few moments of silence, Rio said softly:
"I think it's late… my mother must be waiting for lunch."
Eren cheerfully replied:
"Yes, don't make her worry!"
---
Rio returned home, greeted by his mother's sad smile—the one that never left them since Fig's death. They ate lunch together in warm silence before he retreated to his room filled with books, most inherited from his father.
He spent long hours reading—books about terrain, farmland within the walls, gas technology and military equipment, lost maps, and ecosystems.
It was his nightly ritual, filling himself with knowledge.
But tonight… was different.
A strange feeling stirred within him—a mix of anxiety and excitement. Something in Grisha's words, in his glance, made Rio feel that the world he knew wasn't as it seemed.
He sat by the window, stars shining above, the night breeze tousling his black curls.
Then he whispered softly:
"I think the time has come…"
"I'm going to sneak… outside the wall."
It was a crazy idea, but Rio no longer thought like an ordinary child. He had matured all at once the day he saw his father's corpse lying in the cart.
He knew the danger well and that leaving without permission could cost him his life—or at least his freedom.
But he also knew something else: the wall doesn't protect them… it imprisons them.
He glanced at the 3D Maneuver Gear resting in a wooden box under his bed, then at the necklace that belonged to his father and never left him since Fig's death.
He made sure his mother was asleep—she usually went to bed early and didn't wake until dawn—then packed lightly, slipped out quietly, and took off.
Under the faint moonlight and behind the ruins of the small town, Rio ran. His heart pounded wildly, but his eyes were steady.
He carried a silent grudge… and endless curiosity.
A deadly mix… but perhaps what humanity needs.
The night was eerily still, as if even the wind held its breath out of respect for what Rio was about to do.
There were no sounds—no barking dogs, no footsteps, no drunken shouts—only his quiet, tense breaths and the scrape of his shoes against the ground with every calculated step.
He knew very well that what he was doing now was irreversible. On Paradis Island, escaping beyond the walls was one of the gravest taboos—a crime unforgivable to whoever commits it.
No one has the right to leave the wall without official permission from the high command—except the Scout Regiment, who cross under formal orders, not personal curiosity or madness.
That was why Rio's heart pounded madly as he neared the last wall—the Maria Wall—as if his chest couldn't hold the mounting anxiety with every step.
Despite this tension, he moved like a ghost. His steps made no sound, and his crouches between trees and rocks were carefully measured. He didn't want any guards or military patrols to catch him, because if they did… he would be immediately tried, possibly executed, or worse: thrown to the Titans outside as punishment for his betrayal!
Rio carried the 3D Maneuver Gear strapped to his waist, long metal blades, and the gas tank he made with his own hands—all weighing heavily on his slender frame, but he didn't feel it because fear and tension overwhelmed every other sensation.
When he reached the outer wall, he slowed down even more. He knew there were watchtowers, guards, and possibly trained dogs in the area. He hid behind a massive tree, then stealthily moved toward one of the small trees near the side gate—the small gate that only opened sometimes for missions or shipments.
There, he heard human voices.
He focused carefully, sitting low amid the thick branches of a tree near the huge stone wall.
The first voice was deep and dry, low in tone:
"Open the gate… the gang's shipment has arrived."
The second voice trembled nervously:
"Are you sure? This is against regulations… if we get caught…"
The first cut him off decisively:
"I heard they brought a huge share of 3D Maneuver Gear this time… the biggest shipment yet. It'll take a whole hour to unload. Open the gate, and keep your mouth shut if you want to keep your job."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Silence followed, then the faint metallic screech of the small stone gate opening, connected to the secret passage leading outside the wall.
Rio gasped silently.
"Fate…" he whispered to himself. "The gate is opening… and I'm here… in the dark… no one notices me."
He didn't need to think much. He knew such an opportunity wouldn't come again. This gang—known in the black market—had secret ties with some corrupt garrison soldiers, smuggling forbidden goods, including weapons, medical tools, and even stolen maneuver gear from Scout Regiment casualties.
If the mafia entered, there would be movement, distraction, and perhaps someone would occupy the guards with talk, negotiation, or bribes.
That's why Rio waited just one moment…
A moment of distraction…
And saw his chance.
One of the guards turned to scold his partner for being slow. Right then, Rio moved like an arrow, slipping silently from behind the trees toward the small archway wall next to the gate.
Then he slid through the shipping gap quietly, hiding among huge crates.
Only seconds later… he was outside the wall.
The air was different… fresher, freer… and far more terrifying.
---
Rio stood for a moment on the small hill, facing forward beyond the wall t
hat had imprisoned his dreams, with the sleeping city of Shiganshina behind him under the stars.
There was no turning back now. He had done it. He had escaped.
He lifted his head, his eyes sparkling in the moonlight.
To be continued...
( Starting tomorrow, I will be publishing one chapter every day. So, I hope you enjoyed these first five chapters that I've shared. Please let me know if you liked the beginning or not, because this story will be full of mystery, and I will explain everything in the upcoming chapters. )