Arc - 1 Sands and Steel
CHAPTER 5 (To you from a millennia)
The streets of Rhea-Hold had gone quiet.
The bazaar was empty now, stalls abandoned beneath the dim afternoon haze. Dust hung in the air, unmoving. Avelin and Eren stepped out of the bar, the silence pressing down on them like a held breath.
Then Avelin faltered.
"Avelin?"
Eren caught her arm—but her body went slack, collapsing into him like a marionette with its strings cut.
Her breath hitched.
The cybernetics beneath her skin ignited.
Light surged along the implanted circuits in her back, veins of fire racing outward, pulsing brighter with every heartbeat. The glow bled through her clothes, harsh and wrong.
Eren froze.
"Avelin—!"
Her eyes rolled back.
And then—
Everything broke.
---
THE VISION
Light detonated behind Eren's eyes.
When his vision cleared, he wasn't on Titan anymore.
Gunfire thundered through a choking cloud of smoke. Explosions shook the ground. Flames clawed at broken structures in the distance. Screams cut through the chaos.
Eren stood alone.
No swords.
No weapons.
Nothing.
A massive, distorted voice boomed across the battlefield—words twisted and unfamiliar, yet heavy enough to rattle his bones. The air warped. Heat and cold slammed into him at once.
His chest tightened.
Pain split through his skull like something was being forced open. He dropped to one knee, gasping, vision fracturing—
And just as violently as it began, the world vanished.
---
BACK ON TITAN
Eren hit the stone alley hard.
His shoulder slammed first. Pain exploded up his side as dust scraped his lips and throat. He sucked in a breath that burned.
A voice echoed inside his head.
"Ani… save her… the… masked man…"
Eren's eyes snapped open.
Avelin lay beside him, unconscious. The cybernetic glow beneath her skin had dimmed, flickering faintly like dying embers. Her pulse fluttered, uneven.
Fear settled deep in his gut.
He gritted his teeth, ignoring the agony tearing through his body, and lifted her into his arms.
Each step down the alley felt heavier than the last. His legs shook. His vision swam. Pain stabbed his lungs every time he breathed.
At the end of the alley, the masked man waited.
Still.
Silent.
Watching.
Eren staggered. One hand slammed into the stone wall to keep himself upright. His chest heaved violently.
A wet cough tore free.
Blood splattered against the ground—dark, bitter.
The world tilted.
His knees buckled.
And then—
Darkness swallowed him whole.