The city was silent, but it was not the silence of peace. It resonated like a warning, the fragile calm before a storm. Twenty years had passed since the death of Eren Jaeger, yet the scars of the Great Rumbling still marked every stone, every wall, every wary gaze. The nations, once united by fear, had divided again, and the world had never been closer to the abyss.
In the narrow streets of Mahr-Elis, a lone figure moved cautiously. Morning mist cloaked his steps, hiding his face, but not the burden he carried. Lior Acker had been running for over fifteen years, fleeing eyes and laws, fleeing those who would have made him the weapon he was born to be. His body still bore the memory of the laboratories: invisible scars to the eye, but burning in flesh and mind. He had never known love. Never. Perhaps that was why he survived.
Memories returned in waves. Cold syringes, harsh lights, his father's commands—or what he had believed to be his father. Sold for a power he never asked for. Years of captivity and experiments, shaping his body and mind so that the ultimate heir of the Founding Titan would… obey. But Lior had escaped. And since then, he had lived in the shadows.
That morning, his body shook, not from cold, but from exhaustion. Every breath felt like an invisible chain, binding him to his past. Lior paused atop a ruined building, surveying the city. The first rays of the sun reflected the world's scars. And for the first time, he felt… ready to let go.
One step toward the void. One held breath. The end.
Then he saw her. A figure lying on the pavement, fragile, vulnerable. A young woman. Her clothing bore an ancient, almost forgotten symbol: the seal of the royal bloodline. Without understanding why, Lior felt an impulse beyond reason. His trembling hands brushed the ground near her, and at the touch of her blood—a shiver ran through him like lightning.
The world shifted around him. Ancient, forgotten energy surged within him. His body transformed, grew, unfolded—and through the morning mist, a Founding Titan awoke for the first time in decades. The city walls trembled. Birds took to the sky in panic. The ground itself seemed to hold its breath.
Lior was no longer merely human. He was the catalyst of the coming storm. But he was not ready. His heart, void of warmth, beat with a strange urgency. He quickly understood that this encounter was no accident: Aria Reiss held the key to fully activating his power. And behind this fragile connection, the shadows of the eight other Primordial Titan holders loomed. Tyrants, deceitful allies, mercenaries—all drawn to the power he could not yet control.
Looking at Aria, he understood the truth: the world would tremble once more. And this time, the weight of the decision rested entirely on his shoulders. Destroy or protect. Save or punish. The war was no longer just human. It raged among Titans… and in the heart of a young man who had never known love.
Lior drew a deep breath. The wind shook the ruins. And the world awakened with him.