Foresight
Chapter 3
[Edit: Sorry if you got a double update. Just listened to the story on the app and found a couple of mistakes.]
Eren's eyes flew open to a night-sky filled with stars, twinkling pulses of light in the otherwise dark-indigo nothingness beyond the moon's corona, like snowfall in outer space.
Ribbons of green and blue swirled and twisted, dancing across the skies, casting a glow that was breathtaking. He'd never seen anything like it.
Beautiful…
The world was deathly silent. Nothing stirred. Nothing sounded. The stillness was almost tangible, like he'd stepped into another world entirely.
For a moment, he was content to simply stay there, enveloped in the peaceful stillness that surrounded him. This moment felt right. As if it existed outside of time itself. But no, he'd likely catch a cold if he fell asleep outside again. And that would only serve to make his mother worry.
Though, his body felt fine. There was no exhaustion. No pain. No hunger. In fact, he felt good. Well-rested. He hadn't felt this 'okay' since before the titans had attacked. Three days ago, now? Or was it four? The past couple of days were nothing more than a blur. Everything had happened so fast. In the span of just a few moments they'd lost everything. The place they'd called home was gone, taken from them by the titans.
The thought of them sent liquid rage rushing through Eren's veins.
They'd taken their freedom and forced humanity to cage themselves inside these cramped walls like frightened animals. And yet that hadn't been enough for the titans. No, they had to destroy humanity for good. The injustice of it. It was galling.
It took a moment for Eren to collect his thoughts. For his fury to subside. The view helped.
He inhaled deeply, savoring the crisp air, feeling it flow down into his lungs, cool and refreshing.
Then he sat up and blinked, hardly believing his eyes.
Sand.
He was surrounded by an unending plain of sand. There were dunes, some no larger than lapping waves on the beach, others as great as mountains.
"What is…?" He trailed off, before it struck him.
It can't be.
His heart started pounding like a war-drum in his chest. Armin had told him about this. From that book he'd gotten from his grandpa. Is this a desert?
The description given in the book fell utterly short of what lay before him. The book had described a desert as an unending brown wasteland, but here the dunes shone pale silver in the light of the moon. And above the sand hovered a hazy mist, ethereal.
And yet, all of that paled in comparison to what he'd see next.
When he swiveled his head to take it all in, his breath caught.
A tree of pure light. A towering obelisk that shot into the heavens. With branches that ran in every direction, as if warding the world from the pitch-black darkness beyond.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" said a deep voice.
Eren froze, nearly jumping out of his skin, and whipped around to find himself looking up at a strange man.
He was looking out into the distance. But soon the man turned to face Eren, their eyes meeting for the first time.
He had long, straight, dark-brown hair that reached down to his shoulders and framed a youthful face. A young man. With defined cheekbones and a concrete jaw. And even with the worn black coat he was wearing, Eren could see the strength that hid beneath.
The most defining feature, however, were the round, iridescent, malachite-green eyes, that seemed to almost glow in the dark.
Like mine.
Momentarily stunned, Eren just stared.
"Well?"
Bracing himself, Eren got up on his feet, keeping a wary eye on the stranger. "Who are you?" He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but the man made him feel… uneasy.
There was a long, awkward silence. "…Eren Yeager."
Eren blinked, taken aback once again. Surely he'd misheard. "Huh?"
"My name's Eren Yeager."
Eren sputtered. "B-but that's my name!"
The man, 'Eren', just nodded. His expression reminiscent of Mikasa's the way it seemed to be completely devoid of anything resembling emotion. "I'm you."
Eren gaped. "What are you talking about?! I'm me!"
"I'm you from the future." The man said, so nonchalantly he might as well have been talking about the weather.
"Bullshit!" Eren snapped. Did the guy think he was an idiot? There was no way he was buying this crap. Eren shook his head. Maybe he was crazy? "Where are we, anyways?" He asked, eyeing his surroundings with a curious eye.
"…This is the coordinate… where all paths converge."
Eren frowned, "Coordinate?"
The man grunted. "The descendants of Ymir, our people, are all bound to this place."
Eren was about to ask who Ymir was, when he noticed something in the distance. A small, dark silhouette at the foot of the tree. He squinted, trying to make out the figure. "I think I see someone over there. A girl."
He blinked as a shadow fell over him. He hadn't noticed the man approaching until he was already kneeling before him, hands clasping his shoulders. Eren's eyes widened, and he tried to pull back, surprised at the sudden closeness, but the guy had a firm grasp on him.
"What are you-?!"
Their foreheads met.
A torrent of memories flooded his mind, overwhelming in their intensity. Disjointed fragments. None of them whole.
They flashed by dizzyingly, a tumultuous mix of foreign sights and sounds assaulting his psyche. The onslaught of pain that followed was like a thousand pieces of fractured glass cutting deep into his consciousness. And the feelings. The feelings were worst of all. Almost unbearable.
The crushing sense of loss that threatened to suffocate him. Seething hatred and rage that made his blood boil. Sadness. Regret. Guilt. Guilt weighing so heavily on his soul, that it felt like an anchor dragging him down into the depths of despair.
Through it all he could hear an echoing voice, haunting him with its words.
I still… can't do anything at all.
I've always hated you.
We need to keep moving forward to avenge them. Even if we die. Even after we die.
I'll destroy the entire world!
You've been waiting all this time… all this time… for someone… anyone…
This is… the story that you started…
I… am free…
Then it was over, and Eren ripped himself out of the man's hold, staggering backwards and tumbling onto his back.
He brought a hand up to clutch at his throbbing head, set ablaze by foreign thoughts and sensations. His vision was unfocused, and the dull, aching pain made it difficult to think, much less move. Slowly he brought his elbows up underneath his body and pushed himself upright, teeth gritted and face set in a grimace against the pain that lanced through his skull.
"Ugh, shit. What… what just happened?" Eren groaned, struggling to make sense of it all.
When his vision cleared, and he had regained enough composure to seek out the guy, he was already walking away. Towards the tree. Towards the girl.
Eren stumbled after him, but his movements were unsteady, and he had to fight to keep his balance.
"W-What was that! I just saw… memories?"
The man didn't break his stride. "You won't remember most of it. Not for a time, at least." He called back over his shoulder. "The memories… they'll guide you. Hopefully, to a better end than mine."
Finally, he came to a stop beside the girl, the tree shining piercingly bright behind them.
"It's a hard and merciless road, but you'll have to walk it if you want to save Mikasa, Armin, and everyone else."
Eren could barely make out their forms anymore, eyelids growing heavy, unconsciousness clawing at his mind. Though it seemed to him that as he heard those ominous words, a shadow fell over the man's eyes.
Eren jerked awake as if from a nightmare and flinched immediately, shielding his eyes from the blinding rays of sunlight that streamed through the high glass windows of the old warehouse. It'd been used as a storage facility for dry goods but had been repurposed to shelter refugees since there was such a lack of housing.
"Hey. It's okay. You were just dreaming." Came Mikasa's gentle voice.
Blinking away the spots in his vision, Eren sat up, rubbing his head.
She stood. "Come on. They're handing out food rations nearby."
Tucking the key around his neck into his shirt, he joined her. "Is that where mom went?"
Mikasa nodded.
Eren found his mother on the way there, escorted by Armin and his grandpa. Armin held a couple of loaves of bread close to his chest, cradled protectively.
Carla's face lit up with relief as she saw them, smiling tiredly. "You're awake. Good." She said, but her smile quickly faded as she crouched down to look him in the eyes. "Eren, where's your father? What happened last night?"
Eren didn't know what to say. "Huh? Dad? He came back?"
Carla's expression flickered with a mix of surprise and worry, before turning pensive. She took a deep breath. "Yes… he- he came back late last night," she said, her voice shaky. "He took you into the forest with him. I begged him not to go, but he wouldn't listen. There was something wrong. He'd been crying, I could tell. But he wouldn't tell me what."
Eren's heart raced as he tried to make sense of what his mother was saying. "Where is he now?" he demanded.
Carla shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know. I was worried, and with Mikasa still asleep, I asked Keith to search for you. He found you in the forest, unconscious."
Try as he might to piece together the events of last night, he came up short. "But I don't remember any of that." he said, frustrated.
His mother sighed, wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes. Eren felt a knot in his stomach at the sight of her, so drained.
The wind whipped through Eren's hair as they walked back to the shelter, adding to his sense of unease. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was deeply wrong. The sun beat down on his face, but Eren felt cold inside.
AN:
Yo, I'm back. Been a while, huh?
Personally, I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's a bit short, but quality over quantity and all that.
Also, for those of you who're interested, I've made a discord channel for my stories. Only a couple of people there currently, but if you have any questions about the story or just want to talk about anime/fanfictions, then you're welcome to join us. Link is below (and in my profile).
Discord server link: MGzs7GXDAD
~Zenix404~
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Word count (this chapter, not including AN): 1705
Date: 18th of April, 2023