Chapter 20: The Golden Lightning of Fate
( — 0.0.0.0.0 — )
The morning sun bathed the fields surrounding the Shiganshina District in a faint golden light. The air was peaceful, accompanied only by the distant sound of wagon wheels and the gentle movement of the grass swaying in the wind.
A dirt road stretched from the enormous walls toward the more distant areas of the district. Walking along that path were two figures: a father and his son.
The first was a man in his thirties, with a serious yet kind appearance. Grisha Jeager wore his characteristic dark brown, slightly disheveled hair, and a pair of round glasses resting on his nose.
His face showed signs of exhaustion, not only from the long hours he spent working as a doctor, but also from the weight of the memories and responsibilities he carried.
He wore a white shirt beneath a dark vest, simple trousers, and carried a worn leather medical bag containing his tools.
Despite his reserved expression, Grisha had a calm presence. He was someone who inspired trust; the kind of person the district's inhabitants turned to whenever they needed help. To many, he was simply a doctor, but to some families, he was someone much more important.
Beside him walked a red-brown-haired boy, his eyes filled with curiosity and energy.
Eren Yeager, nine years old, walked along kicking small stones from the road while observing the fields and the enormous walls rising in the distance. His hair was slightly disheveled by the wind, and his green eyes shone with a mixture of innocence and determination.
He wore simple clothing typical of the era: a light-colored shirt, a brown jacket accompanied by a red scarf, dark trousers, and shoes that already showed signs of wear from his constant adventures outside the house.
Unlike his father, who walked calmly and patiently, Eren had a restless personality. He looked at everything around him as if the world were simply too vast to remain still in one place.
"Father..." Eren asked as he looked ahead. "Do the Ackermans live very far away?"
Grisha turned his head slightly toward his son.
"Not too far. If we keep following this road, we'll get there soon."
Eren remained silent for a few seconds before looking at the medical bag his father was carrying.
"Are you going to examine the whole family?"
"Yes."
Grisha adjusted his glasses as he continued walking.
"The Ackermans are a family I've known for years. I've always been their trusted doctor, so it's my responsibility to make sure everyone is doing well."
Eren raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Are they different from the other families?"
Grisha took a moment to answer.
The question seemed simple, but the Ackermans were a family with a particular history. There were rumors, old stories, and things that very few people truly knew.
"They're a strong family," the man finally replied. "But just like everyone else, they need care too."
Eren nodded, although his curiosity did not disappear.
As they continued along the dirt road, the Shiganshina District gradually began to fall behind.
The great gates in the wall appeared smaller and smaller behind them, while the landscape opened into a quieter area surrounded by trees and nature.
Farther ahead stood a house belonging to a family that, although they lived apart from most others, was respected by those who knew their true worth.
The Ackerman family.
Grisha tightened his grip on the medical bag.
The dirt road continued stretching out before them as father and son moved farther and farther away from the Shiganshina District.
The sound of their footsteps was the only thing breaking the tranquility of the area. Eren walked a few meters ahead of his father, observing his surroundings with the curiosity that always characterized him.
However, that calm did not last long.
Suddenly...
BOOOOOOM.
A distant thunderous boom shook the air.
Eren stopped dead in his tracks.
"What was that?"
The boy looked up in confusion, searching for the source of the sound. Then, in the distance, something appeared in the sky.
A lightning bolt.
But it wasn't an ordinary bolt of lightning.
It was an enormous column of golden light that descended from the clouds to the ground, illuminating the horizon for several seconds. The flash was so intense that they could see it clearly even from that distance.
Eren's eyes widened in surprise.
"Lightning...?" he murmured.
He had never seen anything like it.
It didn't look like a storm. There were no dark clouds, no rain, nor any signs that the weather was changing.
It was as if the sky itself had cast that light down upon the earth.
"Father... what was that?"
But Grisha didn't answer immediately. The doctor had become completely motionless.
His eyes, hidden behind his glasses, were wide open as he stared at the place where the lightning had struck. Because he knew exactly what he had just seen. It wasn't a natural phenomenon. It wasn't an ordinary lightning strike.
It was something he had seen before. Something that could only mean one thing: a Titan transformation.
Grisha slightly tightened his grip on the medical bag in his hand.
For years, he had known the secrets of the Titan shifters. He knew how transformations occurred, knew the flash of energy that accompanied the process, and could recognize it even from a distance.
But this made no sense.
"It can't be..." the doctor's voice came out as a whisper.
Eren looked at his father with concern.
"Father?"
Grisha didn't answer. His mind was filled with questions. As far as he knew, there were only two Titan shifters on Paradis Island.
The Founding Titan, hidden within the Reiss family. And the Attack Titan, the power he himself possessed.
The other Titan powers remained in Marley's hands, far beyond the island's reach. All of them were under the enemy's control.
It couldn't be the royal family, as they were far too cautious about such matters, which was why they kept the Founding Titan hidden.
And since he himself was another Titan holder, he couldn't be the cause either.
Then... what was that? Who had just transformed?
Grisha felt a chill run through his body. It wasn't just the lightning. It was something more. Something he had felt that very morning, before leaving home.
A strange sensation. As if an unknown and powerful presence had appeared on the island.
At the time, he had thought it was simply exhaustion. Perhaps too many sleepless nights, too many memories of the past returning to his mind.
But now... now he was beginning to wonder if the two things were connected.
Could there be another shifter on the island?
Someone who had remained hidden all this time?
Or perhaps something related to the Reiss family and the Founding Titan?
Grisha slowly lowered his gaze, looking once again toward the distant point where the golden lightning had struck.
He couldn't ignore it.
As a doctor, as someone who knew the true nature of the Titans, and as someone responsible for protecting his family, he needed to know what was happening.
Eren continued staring in that direction, still impressed by what he had just witnessed. Before looking back at his father, who was calmer this time, he asked again.
"Father, what was that?"
Grisha took a few seconds to answer. Finally, he adjusted his glasses and resumed walking.
"I don't know."
It was an obvious lie. It wasn't time for Eren to know about such things yet. Because for the first time in a long time, Grisha Yeager found himself facing a mystery that even his knowledge couldn't explain.
"But I'm going to find out."
Eren followed his father, though he never stopped looking toward the horizon.
Without either of them knowing it, that golden lightning had not only marked the beginning of a new transformation.
It had also announced the arrival of a power that would change the fate of humanity within the walls.
( --- Present --- )
Mikasa contemplated the silence and the calmness of the wind as she remained seated on the back of the Jaw Titan.
Shortly after Naruto returned to his Titan and began interacting with her, he decided to move a little farther away, looking for a suitable place where they could remain undisturbed.
Mikasa simply nodded before climbing onto him, with the Uzumaki's help as she settled onto his back.
They moved forward calmly, although she still had to hold onto the Titan's hair to keep herself from moving around too much or eventually falling.
During the journey, she watched as many things passed by her at a speed she had only witnessed on one occasion: when Naruto had been in danger.
As she remembered that moment, she still couldn't understand what it had been or why it had appeared right then.
She only knew what she had to do, but she never understood the reason. She didn't know how she had managed to react that way or where that instinct had come from.
As she thought about it, she remembered some of the stories her parents had told her. There had even been an occasion when her father had spoken to her about certain details regarding their family.
He explained that the Ackermans were an ancient bloodline that had suffered greatly throughout the years and that they had to remain hidden.
He also told her that her blood was special, although he never explained exactly how it was special.
Perhaps that was what made them different.
Perhaps that strength, that instinct that had awakened when she saw Naruto about to be attacked, was the true reason the Ackermans were considered special.
That strength she had felt, as well as the speed with which she had moved.
Everything she was deducing and all the questions arising in her mind had one thing in common: Naruto.
A strange boy and, at the same time, a fascinating one. From their very first encounter, the Uzumaki had displayed speed and strength that were completely absurd for someone his age.
He had taken one of them down with terrifying ease, without giving him any chance to react, while he had shattered the other's hand as if it required no effort at all.
But above all, there was that power.
The ability to transform into a Titan, one of the most feared and well-known creatures in the world she lived in.
According to everything she had heard about Titans, no one had ever mentioned that some of them possessed such unusual characteristics as Naruto's.
A Titan capable of moving like a four-legged animal, with sharp claws and those strange structures protruding from its elbows.
None of that matched what she knew about those creatures.
Mikasa had to hold on tightly when Naruto finally stopped at a suitable place to rest.
She remained on his back for a few moments, watching as the nape of the Titan slowly began to open.
A wave of hot steam enveloped her, striking her body as she watched Naruto emerge from inside.
The Uzumaki simply descended from the Titan, while it began releasing large amounts of steam from its entire body until it slowly disappeared.
"Well, looks like we found a good place," Naruto said as he observed the area and then turned his gaze toward Mikasa, who was still staring intently at him. "So, what now?"
Mikasa remained silent for a few seconds, observing Naruto with the same serious expression she always wore.
She had too many questions.
She wanted to know how it was possible for a child to possess so much strength, how he could transform into a Titan, or why she had reacted that way when he was in danger.
There were simply too many things that didn't make sense.
But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that trying to find an explanation for Naruto would only fill her head with even more questions.
After all, she wasn't completely normal either.
Her own strength, her abilities, and what she had felt at that moment had no clear answer either.
Perhaps Naruto was simply different.
Just like her.
And that was enough.
Mikasa let out a small sigh before looking away.
"Help me gather some firewood for the campfire," she simply asked.
Naruto blinked, somewhat surprised by the sudden change of subject, but eventually nodded.
"Okay."
The two of them began searching for branches around the area. Mikasa gathered the ones she found while Naruto did the same beside her.
However, a sound caught her attention.
Crack.
Mikasa immediately turned her head.
Naruto had a broken branch between his hands, staring at it with some confusion.
"What happened?" she asked.
Naruto looked at the broken branch and then at his own hands.
"Huh...? Nothing. I just picked it up and this happened."
Mikasa stared at the broken branch for a few seconds. Then she looked at Naruto's hands.
He didn't seem to be pretending or exaggerating. He genuinely didn't understand what had happened.
Curiosity got the better of her.
"Take another one."
Naruto looked at her strangely, but obeyed. He crouched down, picked up a nearby branch, and applied a little force to lift it.
Crack.
Once again, the branch snapped in his hands with barely any contact.
Mikasa stared at the scene in silence.
Confused, Naruto looked at the broken branch, not noticing anything strange. It was the same as always, something he had already grown accustomed to.
Mikasa didn't respond immediately. She simply confirmed something she had already begun to suspect.
Naruto really was someone different.
( — 0.0.0.0.0 — )