Arc 1 - Sand and Steel
CHAPTER 3 (The Tyrant)
The city bazaar was loud, chaotic, and packed with people.
Heat, metal, and sweat hung thick in the air.
Stalls overflowed with dried food, scrap tech, mechanical parts, water rations—everything Titan's survivors needed to stay alive one more day.
Eren and Avelin moved shoulder to shoulder through the crowd.
Suddenly, Eren stopped and gripped Avelin's arm.
"Why are we here?" he asked, eyes narrowing.
Avelin blinked.
Then blinked again.
Her face slowly shifted as realization dawned.
"…Shopping?" she said weakly.
Eren stared at her.
She coughed and looked away.
"Supplies. Clothes. Food. You know. Normal people stuff."
Before he could reply—
Something snapped inside Eren's skull.
Not a thought.
Not a voice.
Danger. Now.
He didn't hesitate.
Eren wrapped an arm around Avelin's waist, lifted her clean off the ground, and cut sideways into a narrow alley. The crowd blurred past, bodies frozen mid-step as if the world itself had stalled.
He set her down hard against the wall and leaned out just enough to see the street.
The bazaar had gone silent.
A man walked down the center of the street.
Armored guards surrounded him, their boots striking stone in perfect synchronization. Civilians bowed, backed away, or pressed themselves flat against stalls.
Black armor.
A cloak threaded with red metal.
One eye watched the world.
The other was hidden behind a leather eyepatch.
Eren's gaze locked onto him.
Behind him, Avelin sat frozen,
"…Great him," she muttered.
Eren glanced back. "Who is that?"
She peeked from behind Eren.
"Balor, He owns this city. The walls. The gates. The guards. If you breathe here, it's because he allows it."
Eren turned back toward the street.
The man stopped.
His visible eye drifted slowly across the crowd.
A guard shoved a man to his knees for failing to bow fast enough.
No words were spoken.
Eren felt it again—deeper this time.
Not danger.
Attention.
Avelin stood abruptly, survival instincts snapping into place.
"This is Rhea-Hold," she whispered. "No one enters or leaves without his approval."
"And you brought us here to buy snacks?"
Eren said
She elbowed him hard.
"I thought we could go through the the town by the sewers, but they're blocked. We need to get to opposite side of the town into the sewers"
The man's gaze lingered.
Not on them.
But close enough.
People didn't speak his name aloud.
They didn't have to.
Eren and Avelin exchanged a glance.
They couldn't stay.
Not with cybernetics hidden beneath their skin.
Not with Balor watching everything.
And if they didn't leave soon—
They wouldn't get the choice.