Chapter 17
'Why am I here?' The boy thought as he looked at the large door before him, ancient drawings scrawled all over it.
The door creaked loudly as it opened, a sudden rush of air passing through from the inside.
Chayim slowly walked forward and took a peek inside, but still he couldn't see what was inside. His head was half way when he heard two voices, talking to each other.
"We can't sacrifice more! There's no proof that it will happen!" the voice of a woman echoed dully on the cold walls of the room.
"Then what do you suggest?! What do you want me to do!?" a man answered angrily.
"Our world is dying! The people live in fear again," he paused, "I saved this nation, our home, against them-!"
"I know," the woman said calmly, "But that doesn't mean that we must sacrifice our loved ones, we must think of something else…" she paused and uttered a sentence, "My love."
The boy, backing away in fear, was about to walk away when another voice echoed throughout the whole room.
"If we continue to waste time, we'll be dead in no time," the voice of another man said plainly.
"General! What did you just-"
The man's voice was very calm, yet sinister enough to cut the woman's sentence.
"Some sacrifices are needed Your Majesty. Indeed it may involve his or her highness's blood pouring all over the roots to save our race, but he will be at peace and our race's longevity will continue-"
"ENOUGH!" the voice of the other man said, followed by a cough, "Enough…please…" the tone was sad and mournful.
"I don't want my children to end like this…"
"No one, even me, wants to see their children's fate to end like this." The man's footsteps reverberated as he walked towards the other.
"But it is needed…" he said harshly and plainly, "Now for your answer…Your Majesty…"
Chayim continued listening, and the man, who seemed to be a king, spoke.
"I can't decide…not yet, please give me more time, my friend…" he paused and said the name of the man whom he was talking.
"Give me more time, Levi."
"Ah!" Chayim suddenly sat bolt upright, hitting his head on some kind of a wooden beam. He was breathing heavily and erratically.
Another dream…he though, and looked around, only to shout in surprise after he saw an orange furball sitting like a human on a wooden chair, sipping at what seemed to be a hot concoction, its eyes looking back at him.
"WHAT THE FUC-"
"Bad words aren't tolerated in my place boy." The orange furball slid down from the chair and walked towards the boy. He stopped and extended his right hand.
"I am The Lorax, Guardian of the forest, I speak for the trees…which you destroyed." Chayim eyed him from his little head, down to his little feet, then back up.
"Ere-Chayim…Chayim Ackerman L. Jaeger-"
"What's your Guardian's name?" the Lorax asked, cutting the boy's introduction.
Chayim made a side-glance to the right, and slowly said,
"I am Atlas. A Titan and the 'so-called' Guardian of Will," Chayim said, plainly.
The Lorax looked at him from toe to head intently before he let out a sigh.
"Atlas," he said, then looked at him again, "What an ugly name, suitable for your….Titan side."
"Yeah it was." Chayim though what the orange furball said was true, he was slightly offended from what he said. He sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry if I destroyed your trees." He said.
"Sorry will not build a tree," The Lorax turned his back at him, walking towards a small round window.
Chayim raised his right eyebrow and then noticed something around him. The roof above him was made of wood, the floors underneath his feet were also wood. The chairs, table, cupboards and sinks and even the tea pot, were all made out of wood. It was like he was inside a tree.
"Am I inside a tree?"
"Yes, you are. You should be outside, but…" the Lorax then faced him, "You have injuries and I have to take care of you, good thing you have regenerating healing abilities." He moved closer to a wooden jar, opened it, and took out a cookie.
Chayim, who was about to snap because of the rudeness of the orange blob, calmly said, "I'll go out if you don't want me to be here…" Chayim walked passed him and approached the landing of a wooden staircase.
"I'm sorry if my Titan made a mess." He added and walked down the stairs.
The Lorax stared at his back, then looked at the 3D-MG, which was removed by the Guardians so they can treat his wound earlier. He shouted,
"You forgot your stupid, blast-radius-of-disaster, 3D-MG!"
Chayim, after he heard the orange Guardian, groaned and went back up.
'Who…is Levi?' Chayim thought as he stepped outside of the large, glowing blue tree.
He saw the whole forest in front of him. Then his eyes darted away and looked at Anya, who was standing on the muddy beach of the island.
Anya was observing the animals from her position with fascination. She watched Bunny, who was being chased by a small group of wolf cubs, who were shouting the word 'Senpai', and Jack Frost, who was laughing like a clown.
She also watched North, Sandy, and Tooth, who were observing a large bullfrog…with three eyes.
"Yo," she looked behind her and saw Chayim.
"Chayim, how are you?"
"Never better." Chayim smiled.
"How's your head?" Chayim touched the bandage wrapped around his head.
"It's all right."
"Why is it that whenever your Titan takes damage…the injury goes to you?" Anya asked as she looked at the water below her.
"Beats me. That's how my Titanization ability is. Whenever my Titan takes damage, I'm the one who will 'absorb' it." Chayim said and threw a small pebble on the water.
"By the way…Chayim…" Anya then told him that he already told the Guardians about his real name and identity. Then she added in the strange behavior of his Titan form, which puzzled the boy.
"That's weird." Chayim looked at Anya in slight disbelief, "Impossible."
"Why Chayim?" Anya asked, quizzically.
"Well…first of all you sound like my Titan has 'feelings' for you, but Titan's, including mine, back in my world, are biological weapons…they're not built to feel anything or, based on your story, to interact in body language…unless if the person can control it." Chayim picked up a small stone and threw it at the water.
"Can you control yours?" Anya asked, but he shook his head.
"No, I can't. It has its own mind...but-."
"Hey there!" Jack landed slowly beside Anya, ending the conversation between the two.
"Chayim…" Jack added, which caused the boy to groan.
"Yeah, yeah, I know…it sounds lame."
"No, of course not, it sounds…" Jack paused to choose his words carefully, "Old and unique!" he added.
Chayim raised his right eye brow, clearly offended from what the winter sprite said.
"But, man…'Eren' sounds better-"
"Then why don't you just call me that?" Chayim stretched his arms and then his neck. He fixed his key, which came out from underneath his white shirt, pendant on his chest.
Jack saw the golden key and asked.
"What's that?"
"This is something my father gave to me…" he said and put the key back underneath his shirt, "How long was I asleep?"
"Since yesterday…that blasted Pitch Black escaped by the way." Jack said disdainfully.
Chayim looked at Jack, interested from what he said, and asked,
"This Pitch Black…he's also a Guardian, right?"
"Yeah…a corrupted one," Jack said without looking at Chayim.
"Then let's take him down…what's his last known position?" Jack faced him, his eyes glittering from happiness, and answered.
"Don't know unfortunately." He said.
"Then this is going to be difficult…" Chayim looked down and thought, then he looked up and spoke.
"Looks like we have to wait for him to strike again, then we'll confront him." He said.
Jack and Anya looked at each other, unsure from what the boy had said.
Poveglia Island stood like a strange ocean liner in the Venetian islands. The lighthouse, old, decayed, and about to go down, stood proudly against the early evening sky.
"Just as you thought." Pitch spoke to the hooded man, whose back was faced to him.
"The boy…Eren, transformed into a giant. I heard the Guardians called him 'Titan'-"
The hooded man turned after the black specter said the word Titan.
"Titan? You mean like Gaia or…Prometheus?" he asked as he looked back to the glittering Venetian city
"Yes." The Boogeyman said.
The two stood for a while with only the sound of the wind, the waves hitting the rocky coast and the ship horns from the distance to fill the silence.
"So what's the plan?"
The Hooded man slowly turned and looked with his green, glowing eyes at the Boogeyman, and said,
"The foundation of this lighthouse was so strong, that even the harshest storm and machines designed for destroying buildings couldn't bring this down." Pitch Black was about to shout in protest, but the man continued.
"However there's another way for a strong tower to go down…and that is…" he paused and looked at the lantern that he was holding on his left hand, "To rip off the top first…then slowly the length of the body…then…"
His lantern began to emit a low green light, "The rest of it."
Pitch rolled his eyes, skeptical from what the hooded man said.
"So what's your point?" he said and was startled after he heard the hooded man chuckle.
"Don't you get it, my friend?" The lantern on his left hand increased its luminescence and emitted a green smoke.
"In order to defeat the Titan…we must destroy the things that he supports." The smoke began to spin slowly in the air.
"If we destroy everything that the 'foundation' supports, the foundation will be useless…" the smoke then stopped spinning and morphed slowly.
"It's not about, how strong a foundation is…it's all about the purpose of the 'foundation' itself." The man laughed lightly as the smoke finished morphing into an image.
Pitch smiled after he saw the image.
"In order to destroy the Titan…we must render him into uselessness… am I right?" the hooded man nodded then spoke.
"You're learning my friend..." he raised his right hand and touched the smoky image, which was an image of the old and leader of the Big 5 Guardians, North.
"First! We must remove the top, his leader!" he closed his right hand with such a force that the smoky image exploded.
Chapter is up! Special thanks to Sumi-sprite for beta-reading :)