The past (part one)

The light flowed and blurred before my eyes. The bizarre and fantastical space shattered into countless fragments, passing by Yago. I felt a strong sense of weightlessness, which made me dizzy and disoriented.

After what seemed like an eternity, when his feet finally felt solid ground beneath them again, Yago almost burst into tears of emotion. The feeling of having his feet firmly planted on the ground was wonderful.

The surrounding environment was no longer a road filled with stars, but a row of houses, bustling streets, countless horse-drawn carriages carrying all kinds of goods, and vendors on both sides of the street loudly promoting their products to passers-by. It was a lively scene. Of course, the most eye-catching thing was the endless, fifty-meter-high city wall in the distance.

However, this scene seemed strangely familiar to Yago. Where was he?

"Shiganshina! This is Shiganshina!" Eren shouted. Having spent his entire childhood in Shiganshina, Eren recognized the familiar streets at a glance. The prosperity of Shiganshina brought back heartfelt memories of the past for Eren.

Even though the Titan on Paradis Island have been cleared out, Shiganshina, ravaged by the Titan, can never return to its former prosperity.

"Wait! Why are we in Shiganshina?" Eren realized the blind spot. They were standing in the middle of the street with their Great-Grandmother when a huge horse-drawn carriage loaded with goods drove towards them. Instinctively, they tried to dodge it.

But the Great-Grandmother didn't move, Yago and the others' legs seemed to have grown roots, unable to move an inch. When the carriage rushed in front of them, they instinctively closed their eyes in fright, but there was none of the expected impact.

Opening his eyes in confusion, he found the carriage passing right through them like a phantom. "Fake, fake?" Eren murmured.

At that moment, Yago's pupils contracted, because he saw a mother and son in the crowd in front of him. Lucia, with a gentle smile, was carrying a vegetable basket in her left hand and holding the hand of a little black-haired boy in her right.

"Aunt Lucia, let me help you with the shopping basket!" The little boy snatched the basket from Lucia's hands and jumped up and ran ahead.

Lucia watched the little boy's retreating figure with a mix of helplessness and joy, and reminded him, "Yago, slow down, be careful not to fall."

Yago stared blankly as his younger self and Lucia's Mother walked past him.

Eren clearly recognized Yago as a child, and the way he looked at Yago now was quite strange.

How could he be seeing himself as a child? Had they traveled back in time? Yago immediately guessed that they might have been taken to the past by their Great-Grandmother. The scene just now was indeed in his memory. Wait! If he remembered correctly, then today was...

Yago and Eren simultaneously raised their heads in unison. Today was the day! The Colossal Titan had appeared, shattering a century of peace for humanity and kicking down the walls that had protected humankind for a hundred years.

Accompanied by a thunderous Lightning Column, the enormous head of Colossal Titan slowly emerged from outside the city walls. Like a muscular head stripped of its skin, it emitted billowing steam, and a pair of equally bare, bright red muscles suddenly gripped the walls of Shiganshina.

In 845, the Colossal Titan attacked the city walls, Shiganshina fell.

Upon seeing the familiar Colossal Titan head, Zeke easily recognized it and said with a smile, "Bertholdt, huh? I didn't expect him to look so handsome at this moment."

What followed was exactly what Eren Yago Eren: Titan invaded Shiganshina District, countless humans were slaughtered by Titan, and within a few hours, the once prosperous Shiganshina was turned into hell.

"Founding Titan, why did you bring us here?" Eren questioned his Great-Grandmother with a grim expression; this memory was far from pleasant.

Great-Grandmother gently shook her head, then waved her hand, and the group of people flashed to another place. The house in front of them was all too familiar to Eren, because this was his home.

Eren immediately spotted his mother, Carla, buried under the rubble. Even though what he saw might just be an illusion, it didn't stop Eren from worrying about his mother. If he could move, Eren would have rushed over to her long ago.

But now he can only watch helplessly as his younger self and Mikasa are carried away by Uncle Hannes, who fears the Titan.

Before long, a Blonde Titan with a strange, wide grin appeared, swaying as it approached. Upon seeing the Titan, Zeke, who had been calm, was stunned; he felt a strong sense of familiarity with Titan.

The Smiling Titan staggered over to Carla and grabbed the immobilized Carla in its hand, causing Eren to panic.

"What's going on!? Why is that Titan grabbing my mother! No! Let her go!" Eren's face contorted with rage as he watched the Smiling Titan grip Carla's hands. He had no idea his mother would be captured by Titan.

In this anxious state, Eren forgot that this was the past; he was now only worried about his mother. Just as Eren was about to mutate from anxiety, a Golden Thunder rose from the ground not far away.

With a hiss, accompanied by a large amount of steam, a half- Titan appeared. The Titan's body was quite rudimentary, with almost every bone exposed to the air. Broken, scarlet flesh hung on the skeleton, and the head was even more gruesome, with an eyeball sliding directly out of its skeletal socket.

Although the Titan was damaged, the half- Titan easily defeated the big-nosed Titan in front of him and rescued the unconscious Carla from the Smiling Titan.

When young Yago carried the unconscious Lucia from the skeleton Titan's body towards Carla, Eren was shocked. He never expected that Yago had saved his mother. He had never heard Yago mention this before, let alone that Yago already possessed the Titan Power at that time. Eren looked at Yago with gratitude in his eyes.

But Yago had no time to accept Eren's gratitude. His gaze was fixed on a direction not far away, where a figure had just flashed by.

When the Smiling Titan grabbed Carla, the Smiling Titan, who was holding Lucia's hands, stiffened for a moment as it was about to stuff the giant's mouth into its own. It was this moment of stiffness that gave young Yago the opportunity to rescue Carla from the Titan's mouth.

Was it a coincidence? Yago didn't think so. In the instant the Smiling Titan's body stiffened, he sensed a figure flash across the ruins not far away.

After witnessing several Garrison Soldiers rescue the young Yago, Lucia, and Carla, Eren finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, in an instant, they found themselves in a new place filled with dazzling Hardened Crystal, as if they had entered a world of Crystal.