Eren's heart had initially leaped for the second time, filling him with shock and a glimmer of hope as he stumbled upon what appeared to be another living soul in the midst of the desolate wasteland. The prospect of not being alone in a realm dominated by massive, abandoned towers and lurking dangers overwhelmed him with joy. At that instant, his foremost concern wasn't potential threats; it was the profound relief of finding another human being in this forsaken place.
However, as the seconds continued to slip away, the initial elation that had filled Eren's heart began to wane, replaced by an unsettling sense of unease. The stranger, whom he had found standing beneath a bridge-like structure connecting two buildings on opposite sides of the decaying "sidewalk," remained concealed in the shadowy cloak cast by this architecture. This shroud transformed the figure into little more than a distorted silhouette, yet as Eren scrutinized the outline, he began to discern something profoundly unsettling about the stranger. His brow furrowed as he stood still, trying to observe the person.
Its upper body possessed a sharp, almost geometric roundness, tapering down to form a trapezoidal upper torso. The arms extended from the area where a neck should have been, something the figure seemed to be devoid of, resembling a child's crude attempt at drawing a human form.
The figure's lower arms loomed large in contrast to its upper arms, creating a noticeable size disparity near the point where the elbow joints should be. The limbs culminated in imposing, angular digits that bore a resemblance to oversized gauntlets or claws.
Its legs appeared as a series of elongated, jointed segments that bent at the knees in an unnaturally awkward form. The lower extremities ended in massive broad, angular feet that projected outwards. The stranger's head was shaped in a smooth oval-like form, leaving no other noticeable feature of it aside from the vivid, crimson eyes that bore into Eren with unwavering intensity.
"What the hell?" Eren whispered to himself, his voice quivering with unease as he stood several feet away from the thing.
'Is that someone?'
'Is it a Titan?'
'Is it even someone?'
As Eren fixated on the enigmatic figure before him, doubt and perplexity swirled through his mind. He found himself compelled to rub his eyes roughly with his hand, checking to see if it was some kind of illusion or hallucination. The figure's macabre appearance defied any logical explanation, plunging him into a maelstrom of uncertainty. He wondered if it was a figment of his overactive imagination, a manifestation of his weary mind. He contemplated the possibility that this entire landscape, with all its strangeness and surreal horrors that made no sense, was nothing more than a night terror, a product of the unrelenting stress that had gripped him in recent days.
The revelation of everything, from Annie's true identity as the Female Titan to the recent news that Wall Rose may have been breached, all within less than a week, had left him mentally frayed. He hadn't slept at all for the past two days ever since fighting Annie, and was only able to power through the tiredness thanks to the adrenaline rushing through him. He yearned for this to be a mere nightmare, to be a horrific dream that he could escape from.
The tension in the air was so palpable that it could almost be sliced with a knife. It wrapped around Eren like a suffocating shroud, turning every breath into a laborious struggle. His heart pounded relentlessly, the sound nearly deafening in the silence that surrounded him.
As the seconds stretched into what felt like hours, it was as though the very world held its breath, with only the slight rustling of the air breaking the abode of complete silence. Eren, with his apprehension growing with each passing moment, started to inch backward, yearning to create distance between himself and the figure.
He had already moved back a couple of feet and was eyeing a spacing on his right side between the abandoned towers that he could use to get away in case he needed to flee when it happened.
The figure moved.
At first, Eren remained oblivious to any movement in the darkness that cloaked the enigmatic figure. The sole indicator of its motion was the occasional, swaying silhouette, barely discernible against the obscurity. It was only when the relentless sun's rays began to touch upon its form that Eren gradually realized what the figure was doing. As the harsh sunlight painted the figure with its brilliant hues, the truth behind its appearance began to materialize before him, leaving Eren utterly speechless.
Before him stood a creation of seemingly ancient metal, its surface bearing the marks of countless years of use and wear. The being, shrouded in metalwork, left Eren grappling for a way to describe it in terms that would be familiar to someone who just came across something that not even the most imaginative of minds could conjure, with no frame of reference for this thing.
It was as though a craftsman of a distant age had meticulously crafted a peculiar suit of armor, a living relic from an ancient time. His mind drew back to the memory of the knight armor worn by medieval-era soldiers during their battles centuries ago, something he had been taught about in history class while learning about the few scraps of history that remained before the arrival of the Titans. He had even used his knowledge of knight armor recently, having utilized it to fight the Armored Titan, targeting the exposed joints to incapacitate his former friend.
However, this enigmatic figure defied all conventional understanding. It was unlike anything he had ever encountered. Rather than the supposedly sleek and streamlined silver armor donned by knights from those ancient times, the metal-clad figure before him was encased in a suit that appeared too vast, too large with awkward proportions for even the strongest of individuals to manage effectively without tripping over their feet within a couple of steps.
Eren's thoughts were abruptly halted when the figure transitioned from its slow, deliberate approach toward the Survey Corps member to a sudden halt. For a brief moment, it seemed to fixate upon him, observing Eren as though it were attempting to discern the very thoughts coursing through his mind. Eren stood frozen in place during these fleeting moments, his gaze locked onto the mysterious presence's oval-shaped rusted helmet, which showed no discernible features aside from two holes bored on its face from which the red lights came, which Eren assumed were the 'eyes'. Eren took another step backward, attempting to get away from the thing's field of vision, when everything went to hell.
Without a warning, a deafening screech pierced the atmosphere, and the creature charged forward at a staggering pace, moving at a speed that defied Eren's expectations of its limited dexterity. The bulky, metallic exoskeleton appeared to bear the weight of its massive form with grace, while its movements exuded inhuman agility for something that size. As the creature closed in, an incomprehensible frenzy of screams and discordant sounds erupted from its form, rupturing the air with panic. Eren, despite his past experiences with near-death, found himself momentarily frozen in shock, unable to process the sudden turn of events unfolding before him.
It wasn't until the colossal fist of the creature hurtled toward him, having somehow bridged the gap between them in a matter of mere seconds, that Eren abruptly snapped out of his stupor. Drawing upon the instincts forged over years of his ODM training, he made a hasty backflip to evade the approaching blow. The force of the impact upon the ground shattered the asphalt of the ground where Eren had stood not just a second prior as though it were no more resilient than glass, sending fragments scattering in all directions.
Eren fell to the ground in an awkward form, having been unable to land his backflip properly due to how abruptly everything occurred, and felt a crack on his ankle, with sharp pain shooting up his leg shortly after, but the pain wasn't what Eren was thinking about at the moment. He shot his head up off the pavement to look at the figure standing a couple of feet before him.
It was taller than him, by at least an entire foot, easily towering over any person. But that wasn't what shook Eren the most. Within the exposed joints connecting the arms and legs to the torso, where Eren expected to see human limbs sticking out similar to the knight armor, he instead saw a network of intricate metal cables and tubes interwoven together. The joints connecting the limbs to the torso were also impossibly minuscule, offering no space for any human leg to fit. The realization struck him with profound clarity: there was no conceivable way for a human to be encased within that massive armor.
It wasn't a human.
'What the hell?!'
Eren's instincts kicked into overdrive, propelling him into rolling over to his side as the creature lunged again and stomped down on the ground right where Eren had laid, leaving a small crater in its wake. He propelled himself up from the ground, ignoring the throbbing pain in his ankle. With his heart pounding in his chest, he swiftly launched into a desperate sprint, desperate to get away from the relentless pursuit of the metal beast that had now made itself known as an undeniable threat to the Scout. Its screams echoed menacingly as it was chasing him down, every howl reverberating in close proximity behind Eren, serving as a terrifying encouragement to help him run even faster from the unexplainable terror that was now pursuing him.
As Eren's footsteps thundered across the dilapidated landscape, he found himself uttering the question that gripped his racing mind, a plea for understanding in the face of the unknown.
'What the hell is that thing?!'
He darted past endless rows of decaying towers that loomed ominously on either side, their once-majestic structures now reduced to grim, skeletal remnants of a forgotten civilization that the brunette had no knowledge of. Eren's wide-eyed gaze darted frantically across his surroundings as he sought refuge from the lumbering metallic behemoth that gave chase, his twisted ankle slowing him down. Each stride brought the nightmarish creature closer, its thundering approach serving as a relentless reminder of the peril that shadowed him. Desperation was etched on his face as he kept scourging the desolation for any place to evade the creature when he noticed something. There was a small opening in the gray concrete of one of the buildings he was running towards. It looked like it was large enough for him to fit through but not large enough for the creature to fit through.
Waves of desperation coursed through his veins, his thoughts mixed in a whirlwind of uncertainty as he pondered his next move. The mysterious towers loomed menacingly, casting long shadows that concealed the secrets they hid within, yet he knew he couldn't stay out in the open, feeling the reverberations of the monster's footsteps getting louder behind him, getting closer with every moment.
In a heartbeat, he executed a sharp, breathless turn, his boots scraping across the cracked pavement at a steep angle, almost making him lose his balance and tumble onto the ground once more, but he managed to balance his footing. He sprinted through the narrow opening, fervently hoping that the metallic creature wouldn't possess the strength to tear through the concrete wall to continue giving chase.
As he hurtled through the decaying structure, Eren observed the interior, the limited illumination revealing a disturbing scene. Abandoned wooden desks, half-rotted and in disarray, were scattered haphazardly alongside strange-looking chairs made of a black woven material, equipped with small wheels. The floor beneath him was an intricate mosaic of gray tiles, some marred by gaps, revealing the dirt-ridden foundation below. The ceiling above, crafted from a porous, white material, was segmented into identical rectangles, with shattered beams of glass intermittently piercing the ceiling, appearing as if they had been designed to hold candles to provide light to the inside of the tower.
It was a completely alien sight to the young Soldier.
As Eren delved deeper into the darkness-shrouded interior of the structure, the faint light emanating from outside began diminishing until he could scarcely distinguish the outlines of objects right in front of him. His breakneck pace gradually waned into an unstable jog as he realized that the haunting howls of the pursuing monstrosity were no longer echoing through the confined space. An eerie silence enveloped him, punctuated only by the occasional droplet of water echoing throughout the building's stagnant atmosphere.
Eren's heart raced erratically, thudding like a deafening drumbeat in his chest as the adrenaline that had sustained him began to wane. His already awkward gait faltered, causing him to stumble, the ground feeling increasingly unsteady beneath him. He felt like was on the verge of having his knees give in on him and collapse at any given moment.
His vision blurred and took on a hazy, yellowish hue, and the adrenaline that had once pulsed through his veins was now replaced with a profound sense of exhaustion and terror.
As his eyesight began tunneling, the room's near-complete obscurity, which was already hard enough to see, became a sea of darkness for Eren's eyes. By sheer instinct, he felt the presence of a wall along his left side and leaned against it, causing his body to slump against the cold surface. His trembling legs slowly slid out from under him, and he descended to the frigid floor, each gasping breath becoming more labored than the last. Anxiety and desperation contorted his face as he struggled to draw air into his constricted lungs, cold sweat sliding down his forehead. But those weren't the only emotions Eren was experiencing at the moment.
'What was that thing?'
'It wasn't human, no human could make those screams nor move with that kind of suit.'
He also felt fear.
He felt fear of the unknown.
It wasn't like the fear he felt when he fought the Titans. He remembered everything that happened in the battle of Trost District. The horror of seeing his dead comrades inside the titan's stomach, the phantom pain of his missing limbs after losing them to a Titan. He felt the fear of death during that time all those months ago, but now, it felt different. It was a different kind of fear, something that was birthed by the sight of the unfathomably immense monoliths that seemingly went on for eternity alongside the monstrous metallic inhabitants that prowled within it. Things that shouldn't be possible, that shouldn't make sense. Something that ought to belong in a fever dream.
Yet they were here in existence.
'Where am I?'
'What is this place?'
Eren's anxiety swelled tenfold, mounting within him like a tempestuous wave, threatening to engulf him. Nausea once more churned within the pit of his stomach, the noxious sensation intensifying as his breathing quickened, each inhale and exhale reverberating with a frantic rhythm. His mind was a chaotic maelstrom of thoughts, an amalgamation of fear, confusion, and dread that surged through his consciousness.
Desperate to regain control, Eren sought refuge in a momentary respite. He pressed the back of his head against the cool, unfamiliar surface of the wall, his quivering body propped up against it. Tears of fear welled up in Eren's eyes, shimmering like glistening pearls, their presence a testament to the profound terror that had seized his very soul. The precarious balance he had clung to teetered on the edge, threatening to crumble and reveal the overwhelming emotion that surged beneath the surface. As the tears threatened to overflow, he clenched his jaw, determined to suppress the torrent of emotions that threatened to engulf him.
Closing his eyes, he endeavored to calm the whirlwind of emotions within. He inhaled deeply, the air flowing into his lungs like a lifeline, as he attempted to steady the unrelenting cadence of his breaths. It was a struggle to find solace in the midst of the unknown, in a land that was alien and hostile to him, but he knew that panic would only render him more vulnerable in this perilous situation.
Eren's mind raced as he remembered the lessons he had learned during his time in the Cadet Corps and the Survey Corps. The advice imparted by Captain Levi, the captain of his squad, resonated in his thoughts. The mind, he recalled, had to be as resilient as the body itself in moments of peril, a defense against foolish actions that could result in consequences for you and others. Eren understood that he needed to channel this resilience now more than ever. He had to dissect the threat that had relentlessly pursued him, identify potential escape routes, and piece together what had happened to him and where he was.
He had to think like a soldier, for he was one.
Although he couldn't deny the shroud of fear that clung to him, Eren knew he had to push past it. He recognized that he was, in part, repeating these strategies to himself as a way to quell the mounting fear threatening to consume him, to cope with the terror of being trapped in a nightmarish uncharted land. The same way Captain Levi did when he saw the corpses of his squad being dumped out to free up the carriage's weight to escape the horde of Titans in the latest Expedition. The shock was evident in his eyes, but the rest of the Captain's face remained stern as he ordered all the troops to pull back from fighting the Titans
He remembered past experiences that proved the importance of keeping a level head. The memory of Krista's kidnapping while out on a Cadet Corps practice, and the eventual successful rescue mission that he had orchestrated with Jean came to mind. Personal feelings and animosity between the two of them had been set aside, serving as a stark reminder that teamwork and rationality were essential in times of crisis, such as Krista's life being at stake in that case.
With each passing moment, Eren's racing heart slowed to a steadier rhythm, and the fear that had gripped him with such intensity gradually relinquished its hold. It was as though a serenity had passed through, leaving in its wake a newfound sense of clarity. The suffocating tunnel vision, which had once confined his sight, began to recede, allowing the world to expand once more.
As the churning unease in his stomach abated, Eren's breathing found a calmer, more measured pace. His lungs, once constricted by panic, began to loosen, enabling him to draw in deep, nourishing breaths of air. With each inhale and exhale, he felt a renewed sense of focus and control returning to him. Eren knew that he needed to seize this calm interlude to assess his situation and plan his next moves with a clear mind.
With the initial wave of panic now in check, he closed his eyes for a moment, attempting to reconstruct his fragmented memories of the past few minutes.
Aside from the massive towers that pierced the desolation in all directions for as far as he could see, the remnants of the odd defunct carriages, and the metal monster itself, Eren struggled to recollect any other additional details about the environment.
'Those towers…'
'They can't be possible…'
'The amount of material, the very size of it… it's all impossible.'
He unconsciously licked his dry lips as his head leaned back against the cold, alien wall, seeking something to support the weight of everything. One knee was drawn up against his chest, while the other remained outstretched.
The reality he was grappling with was so inconceivable, so unimaginable, that a part of him yearned to reject it outright, to just accept that this must be some dream he was experiencing thanks to all the hits he took to his head while fighting Reiner. But as much as he yearned to reject the impossible, the overwhelming evidence he'd witnessed with his own eyes and hands left no room for denial. Eren couldn't deny the existence of this reality, especially when he had taken refuge within one of these giant structures.
A sudden, jarring noise disrupted the oppressive silence that surrounded Eren.
The sound was faint but distinct, bearing the weight of a solid, heavy object falling to the ground just a few feet from where he sat.
Eren remained frozen in place, his body and face remaining the same way it was, a tired and disheveled appearance, but his eyes, once dull with uncertainty, were now bearing fear within them.
'What was that?'
The silence following the abrupt noise was almost deafening, save for the relentless thudding of his own heart, the rhythm of dread that seemed ready to burst from his chest, constricting his breath once more. His bloodshot eyes slowly toward the source of the sound
Eren's breath caught in his throat as he stared in silent terror as his eyes fixated on a pair of red lights lurking beneath the vague outline of a nearby desk, unmoving. The lights stared at him from the shadows, mere feet away, fixated on his hunched form. The room seemed to close in around him, and the weight of the oppressive darkness bore down upon his soul again. The room, which had initially seemed to offer him a safe sanctuary to hide from the terrors of the outside, now pressed in around him, the fear bearing down on his soul like a vice grip.
From the shadows on the opposite side of the room, another fainter noise whispered through the air, a gentle thud. Eren's eyes darted instinctively in the direction of the new sound, and there, amidst the obscurity, another pair of barely visible red eyes were permeating the darkness around them. These eyes, like twisted constellations in the abyss, glimmered from a distance of a dozen or so feet, evoking a primal sense of terror within the young soldier.
With dread gnawing at his core, Eren snapped his gaze back to the initial pair of red lights underneath the desk, hearing a small click emanating from somewhere in that direction.
The sight that met his eyes nearly tore a scream from his throat.
In front of him, just a few inches away from his leg, there stood a silhouette, observing him with its red eyes, having somehow materialized right beside him without making a single noise. The entity's features remained a nightmarish blur, a grotesque and indistinct blot within the consuming darkness. It was as though the world had been plunged into another realm where time slowed to a nightmarish blur, an agonizing eternity. Eren was paralyzed by the sheer shock of the entity standing right next to him, unable to summon a rational response.
With a blood-curdling screech, the grotesque shadow lunged forward at Eren, its inhuman cries echoing through the room.
Terror gripped him, and with a desperate, frantic motion, he unleashed a kick at the approaching shadow, channeling every ounce of strength he could muster into the strike, ignoring the throbbing agony in his ankle. The abhorrent entity recoiled and flung across the floor several feet away, eventually slamming loudly against the wall opposite to where Eren was. With a surge of adrenaline, Eren scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping over himself as he struggled to flee the hellish apparitions that had manifested before him, his heart thundering with terror in his chest.
Behind him, the maddening sounds of pursuit echoed in the darkness. Initially, there was one, then two, then three, and soon a disorienting chorus of dozens of footsteps reverberated in the darkness behind him, high-pitched screams accompanying the stomps. As he sprinted through the labyrinthine darkness, he stumbled over unseen obstacles of various sizes lying about on the floor. But he kept running, his relentless pursuers closing in behind him, their frenzied screams growing ever louder.
In the desperate torment of his flight, Eren's frantic eyes scanned the dim interior of the building for a means of escape. As his breath grew ragged and his heart pounded with dread, he spotted something that made his heart jump slightly. It was a small, barely visible beam of light reflecting off a wall through a doorless threshold a few meters forward to his left
'It has to be a way out!'
He sprinted off in that direction, throwing aside any nearby obstacles such as the chairs strewn around in hopes of slowing down his pursuers. After running for a few more seconds, he stumbled through the threshold and saw his potential salvation: a medium-sized window on a grimy wall.
Time slowed as he approached it, and through the smudged and dirtied glass, he caught blurry glimpses of the outside world. The light permeated through the dark interior of the building surrounding the window, as if providing a literal and metaphorical gateway to escape from the dark hell he found himself in.
But he still had second thoughts gnawing within him, fears that restrained him to the dark abode. The harsh realities of his choices surged through his mind.
'If I jump through it, I could find that giant monster again or more of them. It was catching up to me. The fact I managed to get inside this tower was by sheer luck.'
'If I stay here, these things chasing me are gonna catch me.'
'Dammit.'
'Dammit!' His internal turmoil raged, his thoughts colliding with his instincts. And then, with a furious snarl of frustration, he made his decision in the blink of an eye, just as fast as he was running.
"GODDAMMIT!" Eren's roar filled the room as he charged toward the window. Without a moment's hesitation, he launched himself through the fragile pane of glass, his body crashing through with a loud shatter that echoed his resolve to escape at any cost.
Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews, I appreciate them. Until next time!
