In the old days, life was neither easy nor hard. It was just different, but its main feature was a slow pace. However, for Ymir the usual boring life was everything she knew. She would wake up early and draw water from the well. That was her whole meaning. Yet, deep inside, she always thought that there were things way more important than her own self. A whole new world of possibilities. Nobody ever explained it to the girl, and she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so she was just trying to live her life in peace.

That was until her village was conquered.

Ymir never expected that she would miss the boredom that ruled her life in the past. But after she was enslaved, she finally understood what was that greater thing that she always dreamt of.

"Watch where you're going!" A group of soldiers yelled at her, after she fell to the ground, dropping the bucket.

It was their fault. They collided with her on purpose. They were the ones to blame.

They were the ones who destroyed her peaceful life.

Ymir watched as the soldiers walked away, laughing at the slave girl. Oh, how bad did she wish that her tongue hadn't been cut off. She would give them a piece of her mind.

When she turned around to pick up the bucket, she noticed that a young man was standing before her.

"Let me help…" he said as he reached out to her.

Ymir noticed that the man was holding her bucket. She also noticed how handsome he was.

The girl hesitantly took his hand and let him help her up.

"That's yours, right?" He said, handing her the bucket "I'm sorry about them. Most of the soldiers are good men, they just… need a little more discipline."

Ymir looked him up and down. He was a tall man with blue eyes and blonde hair. It looked like the two of them were matching, at least in case of appearance. He couldn't be much older than her, probably a year or two.

"My name is Lothar" he introduced himself "what is yours?"

She just rolled her eyes at that.

"Oh" Lothar said as he looked down in embarrassment "right. You can't tell me. I never liked this custom to be honest. Makes us look like some kind of barbarians or something…"

Ymir chuckled at that. The action made the man look up in surprise.

"You have a pretty laugh…"

She averted his gaze, hoping that the man wouldn't see the blush that formed on her cheeks.

That was the first time she met Lothar Fritz. As it turned out later, he was a younger brother of Karl, the chief of the tribe that conquered her village. Despite that, he seemed to be quite the positive thinker. He would always come by her well and tell her all about his life and adventures, about the war with Marley and everything else that he came up with.

"You know" he said one day, when they were sitting on grass, watching the sunset "it's amazing that you even understand what I'm saying…"

Ymir looked at Lothar with a puzzled expression.

"I mean" he elaborated "not all people on this world speak the same language. The Marleyans, for example are difficult to understand. But the townsmen here, speak just like us. There are many more places like this."

She still didn't get what he was trying to communicate.

"It makes me feel that in reality, all of us who speak the same language are indeed a single nation. I have a dream, that one day, we'll be able to protect ourselves from our enemies under one banner. And all of our people would live together."

It sounded very interesting. Ymir never thought about it like this before.

Lothar looked at her with a warm smile.

"I'm sure that no enemy nations would dare to cross our path if we all came together. And slavery wouldn't need to be a thing, too…"

The girl felt her heart warm up to the thought. Lothar was truly a wonderful man.

"Yeah" he spoke with a sly smile "all slaves would be free, except for you. I would take you as my personal slave and make you listen to all my theories…"

Ymir pouted at that. He always had a way to make her feel this weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. But what was even more inspiring, was his ability to make her think for herself.

And one day, she made the first sovereign decision in her life.

Something came over her when she was watching a few pigs playing in the mud. Their whole purpose was to be slaughtered. And they would never spare a moment to think about their grim fate. She felt obliged to do something in that instance.

So, she freed them.

"One of you released some pigs" Karl Fritz exclaimed upon rounding up all slaves "if you don't show me who did it, I'll have your eyes gouged…"

It didn't take much time for them to point her out.

"Alright" the chief spoke as he stood up and took hold of his sword "you are free…"

He started walking up to her.

"Wait" a voice suddenly cried out.

As Ymir turned to face the newcomer, she saw that it was Lothar.

"She is my slave!" he shouted out "don't lay a hand on her!"

"Oh" Karl responded, looking at him "so you'd rather join her in the punishment."

"Brother" Lothar started slowly, as he walked over to them "I'll pay for the pigs. Just leave her alone…"

"I will do what must be done" Karl spoke, holding his sword up "you can have the girl, after I'm done with her."

The blade slowly descended down.

However, after Ymir closed her eyes and cringed away, she could only hear a clang of metal hitting metal.

It turned out that Lothar took out his own sword, to protect her.

"Run!"

And so, she ran. From behind, she could hear the shouts of the hunters and the barking of their dogs. She only noticed the tears in her eyes, after her vision became blurry.

Lothar was in danger. He saved her and she couldn't do anything about the fate he would face because of that.

Finally, she reached a deeper, older part of the forest. Before her, stood a giant, ancient tree. It was growing over a cave.

"She's here!" Ymir suddenly heard from behind.

She had no other way, than to jump down. And so, she did.

Ymir screamed as she was sliding down the slippery wall. Just how deep was that cave?

After a few moments, she fell into a flooded chamber. There didn't seem to be any exit, nor bank. She was below the groundwater level. It was ironic. During her life, she drew water from under the ground and now, she would spend the rest of her time in the very place where all that water came from.

So, this was her end. Ymir didn't even manage to properly get away. And Lothar would be killed. In this dark moment, she bit on her lips, trying to focus on the only thing that could ease her the pains of suffocating to death.

Freedom.

Suddenly, she felt something funny. That weird feeling was centred around her spine. What was that?

A giant wave of energy erupted from her spot. In that moment, Ymir felt what she could only describe as infinite power.

She emerged from below the ground and stood tall over the giant trees. Ymir could see her perpetrators, looking at her with fear. She didn't spare a single moment to get rid of them.

As she crushed the hunters under her soles, she remembered about the man who saved her.

'I need to get out of this thing!' Ymir thought and momentarily, her real body emerged from the titan form.

And she ran as fast as she could. She felt immense strength within her. Ymir didn't understand it yet, but she was sure that Lothar could definitely use her help as of right now.

She finally reached the hall. As she opened the door she saw that all of the chief's soldiers were there. Fritz was sitting on the throne and looked quite surprised to see her again.

"What are you doing here?!" He cried out.

But she didn't care for him. She was only looking for his brother. After a few moments, she saw that he was laying in the corner of the room, with chains around him.

Ymir quickly ran up to Lothar. He looked weakly at her.

"You…"

"Step away!" a few soldiers surrounded the two of them.

Her beloved seemed pretty beat up. Ymir couldn't bear to see him in such a state, but she was glad that he was alive.

"Fear not" she spoke, much to Lothar's surprise "I got this…"

The girl turned to face their oppressor.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Fritz yelled with anger "weren't you supposed to bring me her head?"

"We sent out a lot of hunters after her!" The captain spoke with fear "there was no way that she could've gotten away!"

Suddenly, she held out her hand and focused on the spot where Fritz was standing.

As she closed the fist, a giant spike erupted from the ground, severing the chief's head.

Everyone looked with shock as it rolled over to her feet.

The girl crouched down and took the iron crown from the bleeding head.

Then, she turned around and walked over to the man who changed her life, forever.

"Unchain him" Ymir spoke, and soon, the captain ran up to them with a set of keys.

When Lothar was finally free, he looked at her with wide eyes. She stood up and put the crown on the top of his head.

"Now" she started slowly "you can fulfil that dream you were always talking about…"

Her power proved to be exceptionally helpful in that. Soon, Lothar took her along, to travel around the lands inhabited by their people. Conquering became a thing of the past as the countrymen willingly joined them upon seeing the wonders Ymir was capable of. She would fertilize the wasteland, build bridges and protect them from any enemies.

Eventually she married Lothar and became the queen of this new nation. The empire of greater Eldia became powerful, all thanks to her.

One evening, they were sitting in a room together. Lothar looked at the map that his scribe drew for him.

"How are you doing?" he asked her, after drawing some lines.

"Fine…"

"How is the baby?"

The heavens decided to bless them with a child. She was several months pregnant already, yet she couldn't stop worrying about something. Due to the pregnancy, her powers were out of commission, or else she would risk something horrible happening.

"The same…"

"Ymir."

The woman looked at her husband. He seemed extremely worried.

"Is something bothering you, my love?" Lothar asked calmly.

She averted his gaze.

"We've taken all of our native lands" Ymir started "we freed every last one of the enslaved. But our enemies are plotting to destroy this peace, more than ever…"

The king sighed at that.

"It's always going to be like this" he explained "we have our differences and that's alright. Marleyans have already stopped raiding our villages. Don't you think that's good enough?"

Ymir looked at him with an unnerved expression.

"Scholars say" she started "that some of the lands that are currently inhabited by our enemies, were populated by our brothers and sisters in the past."

"So, you want me to start a war?"

Ymir knew the true meaning of war. But she would never shun away from it, when it was necessary.

"This peace won't last forever" she stated "I won't be here forever…"

"Maybe you should just build giant walls around us then…" Lothar said with a slight smile.

"I get the joke" she responded with a serious face "but nothing that I could possibly do will prevent our enemies from going after us."

The king sighed out, once again.

Soon they've started waging a war against Marley.

Their enemy was tough but couldn't stand a chance against the titan's might. During the war, Ymir bore three daughters to Lothar, Maria, Rose and Sina.

And finally, thirteen years after she gained her powers, Marleyans were defeated. The long war was killing their nation and they wanted peace by all means.

Instead of the hall, a palace was built. The band of brutes that was the force of Eldia once before, was now a grand army. The royal family stood around the throne, occupied by Lothar, the emperor.

But their enemies had one last ace up their sleeve. They have committed a treachery.

Just as the peace talks had concluded, one of the Marleyan diplomats suddenly picked up a spear, hidden in the sand.

Ymir didn't waste time and erected a crystal stake from beneath the attacker, impaling him on the spot. It took her a few moments to notice that he managed to fulfil his purpose.

After she looked to the side, she saw that the spear was sticking out of her king's chest.

"Lothar!" She screamed, running up to him.

In his last moment, the only thing he managed to do was to give her a warm smile, like he would always do in the past.

"My slave girl…" he said weakly, closing his eyes.

Ymir was broken. She didn't want to spend a single moment on this earth anymore. Soon after, she was dying of despair.

"My daughters" she spoke on her deathbed "I give you a mission. After I die, you will devour my spine. After the three of you die, your children will devour your spines as well. This is how my power will be preserved."

"I leave you a single task. Destroy the treacherous Marleyans. I won't truly rest, until every single one of them is killed. That is my will…"

"Now, do you understand what I meant?" The great mother asked Dina, after she showed her everything.

"You used your kids to fulfil your goal…"

"Just like you."

Dina couldn't believe what she had just heard. It made her sick to her stomach, yet she understood the pain of Ymir. The same kind of pain that haunted her, ever since she was born.

"Is this the freedom you want?" She asked her "to kill the entire world?"

"I care about my people" the great mother responded, "and no one else."

"You started a war that lasted for centuries."

"We wanted peace" Ymir affirmed "but the world was afraid of our power. They won't stop until we're dead."

Dina felt that she was up against an immovable object. It was no use, convincing her that Eren's doings were bad. She needed to adopt a new strategy.

"Alright" she exclaimed "but I've already destroyed Marley. Isn't this what you wanted?"

"I didn't want to destroy anybody" Ymir replied "that's why I allowed the vow to renounce the war. I thought this would end everything. Yet here we are, and it was the pacifist way that got us here."

The atmosphere around them darkened.

"I will not stop until my enemies are destroyed" the great mother exclaimed with malice "I will not leave this world until I can see a bright future for my people."

"Aren't you the goddess that brought prosperity to them?" Dina asked with one last bit of hope.

"This world doesn't deserve a god. It only deserves a devil."

The two females looked deep into each other's eyes.

"Therefore, I am."

It was no use. The last attempt to stop Eren has just failed.

"It was nice knowing you. Soon I'll be leaving this world."

"But right now, you are the one who needs to leave."

And with that, Dina woke up from the dreamy vision, just to have Eren's colossal titan blow hot steam right in her face. The force was so strong that she was launched in the air.

"Dina!" Erwin cried out.

Before she could fall, Levi swished with his vertical maneuvering gear and caught her.

"I failed" she spoke as the short captain laid her on Marcel's back.

The rest of the team watched her with despair.

"I will stop him" Erwin suddenly said as he stood up "take position right before Eren."

It was a plan which was doomed to fail, yet Marcel complied anyway.

The former scouts' commander jumped down and bit on his hand.

Before Eren's form, another colossal titan appeared. A titanic fight has started. A fight that Erwin was clearly losing. Years of experience in close combat taught Eren more than he needed to know, to beat the officer down.

"He's going to die!" Reiner cried out, seeing that the attack titan threw another powerful punch at his foe.

Erwin's titan wasn't fit to fight in hand-to-hand combat. Its inability was easy for Eren to exploit and soon, their enemy delivered a fast and devastating low kick to one of the commander's legs.

The colossal titan lost his balance.

"Levi!" Dina cried out "cut him out!"

It was the only way to save him. No matter how strong his titan form was, the wall titans wouldn't need to do much to trample him over.

The short captain quickly swished through the air.

When he brought Erwin back, they could see that the man was unconscious.

"We need to fall back" Dina said with tears in her eyes "we need to follow Eren from behind and regroup."

The team has been defeated. They all knew it, but the blonde woman didn't want to rub it in.

Because of their inability to do anything, the world has been doomed.