AOT SI-Ch.3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3

FREIDA REISS

Freida Reiss was born a noble girl. The eldest of her father’s four children, she had always known her duty, always known of the fate she would have, the weight that rested on her shoulders.

She smiled and laughed even as the weight continued to grow. Uncertainty continued to gnash at her as the expectations to overpower a curse that had lasted for over a hundred years weighed her down.

Yet she must do so. She must eradicate the Titans, that had been her father’s dream, her uncle’s dream and now it was her dream, their wills lost to the powers of King Fritz’s last vow. Yet she would not lose, or so she had thought until she had met him.

He was a distant cousin of hers, a boy near her own age. Though her family was quite reclusive, she was still the scion of the true Royal family and must mingle with her own sort.

She would often hate all those play dates, as she was forced to mingle with unruly and unbearable children, born and raised with privilege they did not understand. Yet he was not like them.

His red eyes had always glinted in an all too familiar way as he would simply stand there, often observing, rarely participating in those meetings. Only now did she realize why those eyes had felt so familiar, for she had grown up gazing into a pair of similar eyes. Her uncle Uri’s eyes, eyes that were burdened beyond their years, a burden that would soon be hers.

And he had known that, even all those years ago. He had known of the burden that she was to bear one day.

“You will lose,” he had said when they had become close friends, and she had grown angry with him, furious that her own best friend had chosen not to believe in her. And that would be the last she would see of him, as news of his death would rock the Noble.

A bright, young scion gone like that, her best friend and only faithful companion dead by what many believed her uncle’s hands.

She confronted him about it yet received no answers until one day, a letter arrived, delivered to the window of her room by a white dove.

And it was him. Orion. He was alive.

It was only then that she learned of his resolve and beliefs. They would meet again in secret, of course, with him dressed as nothing but a roadside beggar, his eyes now long gone to a crusade outside those walls.

~

“It has been quite some time,” he would begin, giving her the same smile as always.

For some reason, tears would bubble up in her eyes as she found her arms wrapping around him.

“It is truly you. You are alive,” she would say, and he would nod.

“I am,” and then they would talk for hours and hours. Their meetings would grow more frequent, and the fateful day would grow closer until one day, she would gather up her courage and ask him once more.

“Do you truly believe that I will fail? That the King’s vow of renouncing war will overcome my own will,” and he would halt for a moment before sighing.

“I wish for all of humanity’s sake that such a thing does not happen, for if it does, I believe the people of this island will be slaughtered,” and he spoke with pain and conviction.

“How do you know that?” she asked, and he gazed into her eyes as he answered.

“Your uncle is not the only one burdened with knowledge,” he answered tiredly.

“You speak as though you have given up.”

“Maybe I have,” he added with a sigh.

“But you cannot. You cannot give up,” she spoke vehemently, remembering her family, the little Historia from the village.

“The world outside has advanced by a hundred years, and though I could push our own advancements and use our resources, I would need time, a lot of time,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Yet every time I do something. I try something, all of it. All that progress is made moot by one command! ONE COMMAND!” and it was then that the truth dawned on her.

“The memory manipulation,” she gasped out, and he nodded.

“Yes.”

“Then that means,” her mind raced as she thought of the number of years that had passed since his proverbial death.

“Yes, all these years I have spent trying to break that damned curse,” and he had vanished when he was less than ten. And now he must be in his late teens if not even his twenties. Then, all this time, more than a decade, she could not imagine the courage it would have taken to do something like this.

“I thousands die. I did unspeakable things, yet all in vain. Everything I did, it all became moot,” he said as he stared into his hands. And suddenly, she realized how the world weighed onto him, how he alone carried the burden of their fates on his shoulders.

“I am sorry,” she could only apologize for the part her own blood had paid in it.

“I am so sorry,” she uttered again as she grasped his hands and felt all the callouses and wounds on them.

“I will break that curse. I promise! You will not have to carry this burden all alone,” she said, and he scoffed, as he raised her chin and looked her in the eye, his face had a helpless look on his face.

“Do not make a promise that you cannot keep,” he added, and it broke her heart that he did not believe in her.

“King Fritz’s vow is too powerful,” and her mind raced as she tried to think of another solution, and she would find it.

“Then I will make a new vow!” she declared suddenly, plopping to her feet as she hardened her heart.

“You may be right; alone, I might not be able to save the people of this island. Yet I am not alone,” she uttered as she looked him in the eye.

“The Blood of Fritz runs through my own veins. If that old coot’s vow can last to this day, then what is to stop me from making a new vow?” she declared, but he did not seem to get her plan.

“When I inherit my uncle’s powers, I shall make a new vow, one that will give you enough time to save us all.”

“I will vow...”

~

“...to not alter humanity’s memories as long as I hold the Founding Titan!” she whispered as she found herself standing in that accursed cave with her uncle bound on chains on the platform infront.

Her own family had long left the cave, leaving her alone with him.

“I know what you did. Of how you altered the memories of the people,” she added as she took out the syringe from the box.

“I only did what was right. We must pay for our sins!”

“I am afraid I do not agree with you, Uncle,” she said angrily as she looked him in the eye. Though he was not here, she could feel Orion’s presence behind her, powering her own and giving her courage.

“You shall see the truth for yourself soon enough, my dear niece...” he spoke tiredly.

“...just as I once did.”

“But unlike you. I am prepared for it,” she said as she thrust the needle into her arm and felt her consciousness fade, shouting the very vow.

“I SHALL NOT ALTER HUMANITY’S MEMORIE........”

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She opened her eyes and found herself standing on a beach, her feet touching sand and as she tried to move she found herself shackled, her arms and legs bound by thick chains as all ELdian life converged along the proverbial ‘paths’ right infront of her eyes.

And she realised those chains for what they were. They were the vow, King Fritz’s vow and indeed it was too powerful.

“AGHHHH!” Yet she would not give up as she began to struggle against them.

“Give up, child!” an older voice cut in.

“NEVER!” she shouted as she felt her wrists crack open.

“Give up, child!”

“NEVER!” she roared as she recalled all those scars on Orion’s body and tried to imagine the pains he had gone through. Compared to that. This was nothing!

“GIVE UP!”

“NEVER!!!” she roared, and finally, her efforts paid off. A chain cracked, and she felt an old man gasp as she lay there on the sand.

“What have you done?”

And she huffed in laboured breaths as pain rocked her body.

“I have given humanity a chance!”

“A chance at survival!”

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