My name is Renata Svoboda. I am a cadet of the 102nd trainee squad. We are the brave fools who – propelled by the incident at Shiganshina – dove headfirst into military enlistment. Humanity lost more than Wall Maria that day, but we traded her for something else: an awakening, a revival of the human spirit. The minds and hearts of men had grown complacent over their hundred years of peace. They had grown so dependent, so enamored by these three walls that they forgot about what they stood for. But we can no longer wait in silence to be devoured by the forces outside. We must devour them.
Rain poured mercilessly through the canopy above as chilling crosswinds battered the figures leaping through them. Visibility was at a zero with the sun struggling to penetrate the wall of clouds. It could only muster a dim gray haze. Every now and then, a flash of lightning would momentarily illuminate the forest enough to assess its bearings. On this day of inclement conditions, the 102nd trainee squad had begun their first field exercise utilizing three-dimensional gear, and so far, the outlook seemed grim. Four cadets had already broken a limb in the past two hours. Two others had been knocked unconscious, and there were still three hours left to this battery of the exercise. The remaining cadets continued to push onward despite the worsening conditions.
Despite all of this… I don't know if I have made the right decision. Joining the military was the last thing I've ever thought of, and yet her I am – frozen and exhausted chasing shadows in the rain. For a while, I thought the military was the vanguard of our war against the titans.
"10m class approaching at 8'oclock!" a voice called from the front of the formation. The limited visibility and strong crosswinds made signal flares useless. They were forced to rely heavily on vocal relay. At the order, three cadets from the left outer flank broke off towards the specified direction.
But I was wrong. They are just the left hand of the monarchy. They are the epitome of misguided hope. The monarchy chooses for them, and they obey willingly for the better or worse. In the beginning, I thought the one purpose we would always serve is protecting and one day saving mankind from its despair. That's the lie we all came to believe. But now I understand.
The three sped through the trees, searching for any signs of movement. Anxiety bore into their souls. This had been the first time they were allowed to equip their sabers in a training exercise. The raw potential of two blades burned beneath their grips. With these, they would carve out their names in humanity's history or fall into oblivion.
A large shadow bloomed into view. "Target approaching at 12'oclock in 20 meters!" the tiniest of the group yelled from the center.
"Prepare interception formation!" Renata ordered over the increasing downpour. "Anya, you and Marcel will be the anchors. I will go straight for the nape. Make the pull on my mark!"
Humanity needs their strength and abilities, but we do not need their ignorance. All these idiots can keep playing follow the leader until kingdom come, but as for me, only three things will always be true:
"Three… two… one… DISPERSE!"
Time stopped, and they drifted. Anya and Marcel broke off from the left and right flanks while Renata continued forward. Blood pounded at her ears as she increased speed. She angled her hips carefully before firing each grapple, trying to stay on course against the battering winds. They swung her to and fro, throwing her off balance and adding to the nausea growing within. But she remained resolute in her charge. There would be no stopping now. The target was in sight and the die had been cast.
"One, an object in constant uniform motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an external force, the law of inertia…"
Renata swung through two sets of trees and fired her final grapples before preparing for the kill maneuver. She shifted her weight to the right, aiming for a wide trunk that dwarfed the titan shadow below. Marcel and Anya had begun encircling the towering figure and aimed their grapples at what appeared to be its legs. They sank their blades in and swung back into the trees.
"Two, the net force acting upon an object is related to its mass and acceleration…"
Renata's body swung violently around the large trunk, but she maintained course. She had to maintain speed to deliver an impact strong enough to penetrate the neck. The next set of grapples aimed to the sharp left and pulled her above the kill zone. She positioned her blades high above her head just as she twisted her body and delivered the fatal blow.
"Great work, Ren!" Anya cheered from the right, but Renata never heard. She was deafened by her still increasing pulse and greatly disoriented from the last few maneuvers. The tree she had anchored on became a messy blur as the grapples pulled her at high speed. There was no time to slow down before she would crash. In panic, Renata retracted the right grapple and aimed for another nearby tree. The resulting force on the cables pulled her in opposite directions and jolted her body to a halt. The right cable snapped from the tension, sending Renata plummeting to the earth. The time that seemed to stop before came rushing forward while the ground rose to meet her with open arms.
"Three, for every action, there exists an equal and opposite reaction…"
Blackout.
I'll never know why I know those laws, but they've held up pretty well. And the man who told me them has yet to be proven wrong.
DISCLAIMER: I do not claim any rights to any creative and/or intellectual property belonging to Hajime Isayama. All source material is based from Shingeki no Kyojin and credit is given to the aforementioned author.