Another desert again. Yago walked through this vast expanse of white sand. Above his head seemed to be a deep blue night sky, brilliant and bright. He did not know the direction, nor the path. He walked and walked, for a very, very long time.
Suddenly, Yago saw a pillar of light shooting straight into the sky. That beam of light seemed to draw Yago toward it. Unconsciously, Yago walked toward the pillar. As he walked, the distance remained just as far. Disliking how slow he was, Yago switched to running, then broke into a full sprint.
After sprinting tirelessly, he finally drew close to the pillar of light.
Within the pillar, eight rays of light gathered at the top, appearing and disappearing faintly.
Yago could not help but stretch out his hand. Bang! It was as if an invisible barrier blocked him from the pillar of light.
Inside the light pillar, a vague human figure slowly emerged. Yago desperately struck the invisible barrier, trying to get closer to that figure.
...
With a whoosh, the scene changed. In a pitch-dark room, Yago was locked to a chair, heavy chains tightly coiling around his arms and legs.
Yago struggled desperately, but it was useless. With a creak, the door of the sealed chamber opened, and blinding light seized the opportunity to pour in, making it almost impossible for Yago to open his eyes. In his hazy vision, a tall figure stood before him.
"You are different! You are special! Save him! Do not submit to fate!"
"Save him! Save him! Save him! ..."
Nightmare-like voices echoed endlessly in Yago's head.
The buzzing continued. In his daze, a grotesque, twisted creature like a monstrous centipede crawled toward Yago.
"Do not accept it! My child!"
"Ah!"
...
Yago suddenly sat up and opened his eyes. A thin layer of cold sweat had formed on his back, and his heart was still pounding violently.
"Huff—another strange dream. Too bizarre. Who am I supposed to save?" Yago quickly put on his clothes.
Year 848. Three years had already passed since Wall Maria was breached.
In three years, a child's body develops rapidly. At thirteen years old, the once small Yago had shot up to nearly one meter seventy in height, which was quite tall among children his age.
Rushing downstairs, Yago realized he was the last one up. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were already sitting at the dining table. Carla and Lucia were busy serving breakfast.
Actually, thinking about the current situation, Yago still felt somewhat gloomy. When Shiganshina fell, Doctor Grisha happened to be out on an emergency visit and luckily escaped disaster. Later, he reunited with his family in the Trost District. A year ago, Eren went out with Doctor Grisha, and there was no news for several days. Then, a few days later, Hannes brought back a confused Eren.
As for Doctor Grisha, he was very likely already...
Eren attributed his father's disappearance to himself, because he remembered nothing. There were only some very strange memories in his mind. In those memories, his father told him that he must return to the basement inside Wall Maria, where the truth lay. At the same time, Eren hated the Titans even more. If it were not for the Titans, their family might still be living happily together.
Carla's legs had been seriously injured back then, so Yago and his mother Lucia (the adoption procedures had already been formally completed, so Lucia was officially Yago's mother now) discussed it, and the two families moved in together so they could look after one another.
As for Armin, he had only his grandfather as family. Last year, the royal government launched the Wall Maria reclamation operation. In truth, everyone knew very well that it was mainly to relieve the pressure of overpopulation and food shortages.
Most areas within Wall Maria were agricultural regions. Losing Wall Maria meant humanity inside the walls lost nearly half of its living space. The enormous population pressure caused severe shortages in food reserves.
Thus, to ease this pressure, the government forcibly conscripted 250,000 civilians to participate in the Wall Maria reclamation operation. Unfortunately, fewer than two hundred survived. Armin's grandfather was among them. After losing his grandfather, Armin became somewhat absent-minded and hollow.
So Yago and the others brought Armin over to live with them.
Perhaps due to the shock of losing his grandfather, the originally timid Armin made up his mind to join the Training Corps together with Eren and the others. Today was the day to sign up.
Eren appeared extremely eager. After taking a few bites of breakfast, he lost interest and kept urging Yago, since Yago was the slowest eater.
The moment Yago finished his last bite, Eren immediately grabbed him and ran outside.
"I say, Eren! At least let me drink some water first!"
"There's no time! Mikasa, Armin, hurry and keep up!"
Watching the children run off, Carla's eyes could not help but grow moist, clearly unwilling to part with them. Seeing this, Lucia comforted her, saying,
"The children have grown up. We shouldn't bind them anymore. Let them fly freely."
Carla said, "I know, but Eren, he's still too young. I just can't put my mind at ease."
The four arrived at the Trost District. The marketplace was crowded with people, but there were also many refugees who were sallow and emaciated. The population pressure was still far too great.
Yago and Eren's family situations were relatively fine. One was the family of a fallen hero, with government assistance, and the other had once been a middle-class household. At the very least, food and clothing were not a problem.
Looking at those refugees, Yago felt somewhat distressed in his heart.
Soon, the four arrived at the Training Corps registration site.
Needless to say, there were truly many people signing up. Relying on brute strength, Yago forcefully pushed his way through the crowded crowd, carved out a path, and obtained several registration forms to hand to Eren and the others.
"Wow, Yago, that's amazing! You actually managed to squeeze in!" Armin exclaimed. Yago's strength was simply abnormally large, and over the past few years, Yago had also learned some combat techniques from Mikasa. In short, he was very strong.
"Piece of cake, piece of cake!" Yago said smugly as he rubbed his nose. Over the years, not only his strength had grown. Using excuses to go out, Yago had secretly conducted many experiments—Titan transformation experiments. He had done this very covertly and told no one. Yago had not revealed it to anyone, including his mother. Now, Yago could barely achieve a complete Titan transformation.
This power existed to protect his loved ones. If possible, Yago hoped he would never have to use it.
A chill suddenly ran down Yago's back. He quickly turned around, but behind him was nothing but people. He could not see anything unusual at all.
Ever since mastering Titan transformation, Yago had gained many strange abilities. For example, his strength had increased tremendously, and there was also what just happened—if someone was spying on him, Yago would feel a strong sense of warning.
Seeing no one suspicious, Yago could only let it go. At that moment, the instructor at the registration site called their names, and Yago quickly led Eren and the others over.
"Name? Age?"
"Yago Norman! Thirteen!"
The interview ended quickly. As expected, the group successfully joined the Training Corps. Even Armin, whose physical condition was the weakest, successfully joined the Training Corps.
They received the uniforms of the Training Corps. Unlike the insignias of the other three branches, the emblem of the Training Corps was two sharp long swords crossed.
There was still one day before the assembly time. The trainees had one day to prepare. One day later, they would officially join the Training Corps and begin training.
Eren and his group excitedly carried their uniforms back home.
Within the crowd, a faint blue light flashed past.