Chapter 7: Ymir Fritz

[A/N Short chap coz not much goes on in this chapter]

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That night, Aiden lay in bed, staring up at the grand ceiling of his royal bedroom. The ornate designs above him, carved centuries ago by master artisans, seemed to mock the chaos churning in his mind.

His whole life, he had thought of himself as an ordinary guy, albeit one born into royalty. But now, with everything he had learned, nothing seemed ordinary anymore.

The Founding Titan, the Rumbling, the legacy of Paradis—it all felt so unreal. Yet, it wasn't some bedtime story. This was his life. His family's history.

And the worst part was that the same terrifying power that had once reshaped the world was sitting somewhere inside his own father.

"Could I really inherit something like that?" he whispered into the darkness. A shiver ran down his spine. He didn't know if he was more terrified of the power itself or of the idea that one day it might be his responsibility.

He shifted in bed, tugging the blanket up to his chin, but sleep didn't come easily. His mind kept replaying the images of colossal Titans trampling cities, the screams of people as the world crumbled around them.

How could anyone live with that kind of burden?

Eventually, exhaustion overtook him, and his eyelids grew heavy. Slowly, the whirling thoughts began to fade as he drifted off into a restless sleep.

---

Aiden woke suddenly, but not in his bed. He wasn't even in the palace anymore. The air around him was dry, the ground beneath him hot and cracked. He was standing in the middle of a vast desert-like world, the horizon stretching endlessly in every direction.

The sky was a strange shade of deep orange, and streaks of glowing light sliced through it, all converging onto a single point in the distance.

His heart raced as he recognised the sight: the Tree of Life. He had seen it in old tapestries and royal paintings. It represented the entire lineage of the Fritz family, a massive tree whose roots intertwined with the souls of their ancestors. But what was it doing here? And more importantly, what was he doing here?

Aiden took a cautious step forward, the crunch of sand under his feet the only sound in this eerie place. He felt drawn toward the tree, as if some invisible force was pulling him closer.

And then, in the distance, he saw her—a small figure kneeling in the sand, shaping something with her hands.

As he moved closer, his breath caught in his throat. The girl was molding a figure from the sand, delicate and precise, almost like she was creating something from nothing. She worked silently, her long, braided hair trailing down her back.

Her movements were steady, but there was something haunting about the way she crafted the figure, as if she had done this a thousand times before.

Aiden's steps faltered when he realised who she was.

*Ymir.

The name rang in his head like a bell. The first Founding Titan. The origin of the power that had shaped his world. And here she was, right in front of him, in this strange dreamlike desert, alone and quiet, endlessly crafting in the sand.

He hesitated before stepping closer. "Hey... Ymir, is that you?" he called out softly, unsure if she could hear him.

The girl didn't respond. She just kept shaping the sand, her hands moving rhythmically, creating another figure—a Titan.

Aiden tried again, his voice a bit louder. "Ymir... do you know where we are?"

Still no response. She continued working, as if he wasn't even there.

He crouched down beside her, watching as she molded the Titan's form. It was impressive, almost lifelike in its detail, but the longer he watched, the more unnerved he became.

She seemed completely disconnected from reality, her eyes dull, lost in some faraway world of her own.

"Why are you doing this?" Aiden asked, his voice tinged with desperation now. "Do you know who I am? Can you at least talk to me?"

Silence. Only the sound of the sand shifting beneath her hands.

Aiden sighed and sat back, feeling more lost than ever. This was the first time he had ever seen Ymir, and yet, it felt like she was trapped. Her hands moved mechanically, like they were following some ancient command that even she didn't fully understand.

"Is this… is this what it means to be tied to the Titans?" he whispered, glancing from Ymir to the figure she was molding. "Are we all just doomed to repeat the same cycles, over and over?"

The weight of his words hung in the air. For a moment, the desert was still, save for Ymir's quiet sculpting.

Aiden's chest tightened as an old fear surfaced. What if this was his fate too? What if, despite his father's reassurances, the power of the Titans was something he couldn't escape? Would he, too, be bound to some invisible chain, forced to carry a legacy that had already destroyed so much?

"I… I don't want this," he murmured, not sure if he was talking to Ymir or himself. 

Ymir's hands stilled for the first time, her fingers hovering over the sand. Aiden's breath caught in his throat. Did she hear him?

But she didn't turn. She didn't speak. She simply picked up another handful of sand and began crafting again, starting the process anew.

Aiden felt a cold dread creep over him. Was this his future? To be bound to this legacy, no matter how much he resisted?

Before he could dwell on it further, the desert around him began to blur. The sky darkened, the streaks of light twisting and warping as the world faded away. Aiden felt his body grow heavier, the pull of the waking world dragging him back.

---

He shot up in bed, drenched in sweat. His heart pounded in his chest as he looked around, realising he was back in his room. The cool night air did little to calm him as he tried to shake off the eerie dream.

Or had it even been a dream?

The image of Ymir, silently crafting in the sand, burned in his mind. Her hollow, emotionless eyes. The way she had ignored him, as if he didn't even exist. As if nothing existed.

Aiden swallowed hard and glanced out the window, the moonlight casting long shadows across the floor. The weight of the Titans' legacy, of his family's history, pressed down on him like never before.

And for the first time, he wondered if he would ever be able to escape it.

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