The first thing Daniel Cross learned about surviving in a world full of man-eating giants was that running away was considerably more difficult when you had no idea where you were running to.
The second thing he learned was that the people in this world were almost as terrifying as the monsters.
Sometimes, considerably more.
"You're slowing down," Arlen said.
Daniel shot him an incredulous look while they sprinted through the narrow passage.
"Really? I thought I was auditioning for the Survey Corps!"
"What's that?"
"Never mind. Keep running!"
Behind them, something scraped against the stone.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Whatever was following them wasn't in a hurry.
That was the part Daniel hated most.
Predators chased their prey.
But the thing behind them behaved as though it already knew how this would end.
And Daniel had absolutely no intention of becoming the punchline to its little joke.
They rounded a corner, nearly collided with a wooden support beam, and stumbled into a wider chamber.
Arlen stopped first.
Daniel nearly crashed into him.
"What—"
"Quiet."
Arlen raised one hand.
Daniel shut his mouth.
For once, the boy's expression contained something other than suspicion or irritation.
Fear.
Real fear.
Daniel followed his gaze.
The chamber was filled with bodies.
Men and women lay scattered across the floor, some dressed in tattered military uniforms, others wearing ordinary civilian clothes. Several wooden crates had been smashed open, spilling rusted tools and strange metal components across the ground.
A lantern burned beside a collapsed table.
Its flame flickered despite the absence of wind.
Daniel swallowed.
"Please tell me they're sleeping."
Arlen didn't answer.
He approached the nearest body cautiously, keeping his knife raised.
Daniel followed, every instinct screaming at him to turn around.
The man was lying facedown.
His clothes were soaked in blood.
Arlen crouched and carefully rolled him over.
Daniel immediately regretted looking.
The man's chest had been torn open.
But that wasn't what made Daniel's stomach tighten.
It was the expression on his face.
The dead man's eyes were wide, his mouth frozen in a silent scream.
And carved into his forehead were three deep lines.
Daniel recognized them.
He had seen those same markings on the iron door.
Three vertical lines.
One horizontal cut.
A symbol that looked disturbingly like a crude representation of a Titan's nape.
"What happened here?" Arlen whispered.
Daniel stared at the body.
"I don't know."
It was the truth.
And he hated it.
He hated not knowing what was happening.
He hated the mysterious doors, the impossible voices, and the feeling that someone had taken the world he remembered and rearranged the pieces while he wasn't looking.
Most of all, he hated the growing suspicion that his arrival in this world hadn't been an accident.
A faint electronic chime sounded inside his head.
Daniel stiffened.
[DEVOURER SYSTEM]
[Environmental anomaly detected.]
[Analyzing biological residue...]
[Analysis complete.]
[WARNING: Foreign biological signature detected.]
[Classification: Unknown.]
[Compatibility with host: 3.7%.]
[Recommendation: Avoid direct contact.]
Daniel stared at the message.
Three-point-seven percent?
That was reassuring.
Apparently, whatever this thing was, his body had about as much chance of getting along with it as a match had of getting along with a barrel of gunpowder.
Another message appeared.
[SECONDARY OBSERVATION]
[The detected signature exhibits characteristics associated with Titan biology.]
[Additional classification required.]
Daniel's heart began to pound.
Titan biology.
He looked at the dead man again.
Then at the strange markings on his forehead.
"Arlen."
The boy glanced at him.
"Have you ever seen these symbols before?"
Arlen's eyes narrowed.
For a moment, Daniel thought he would deny everything.
Instead, Arlen slowly nodded.
"Once."
"Where?"
"On a man who was supposed to be dead."
Daniel waited.
Arlen looked toward the passage they had entered through.
"He was brought into our district years ago. Soldiers said he'd been found outside the Walls. He was alive, but barely."
"People don't survive outside the Walls."
"I know."
"Then how did he?"
"I don't know that either."
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
Fantastic.
Another mystery.
Because apparently, one mysterious teenage boy wasn't enough.
The universe had decided to throw in a suspicious corpse and a biological anomaly for good measure.
"Did the man have these markings?" Daniel asked.
Arlen shook his head.
"No. But he had something worse."
"What could possibly be worse than having creepy symbols carved into your forehead?"
"He was eating a person."
Daniel stared at him.
For several seconds, neither boy spoke.
Then Daniel slowly turned toward the passage behind them.
"Nope."
Arlen grabbed his arm.
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere else."
"We don't know where else to go!"
"Then we'll figure it out somewhere else!"
Before Arlen could respond, the lantern went out.
Darkness swallowed the chamber.
Daniel froze.
A soft sound came from the far side of the room.
Footsteps.
One.
Two.
Three.
Someone was walking toward them.
Daniel's enhanced sense of smell activated almost involuntarily.
Blood.
Damp stone.
Rotting flesh.
And something else.
Something he couldn't identify.
It smelled almost human.
Almost.
A pale light appeared at the far end of the chamber.
A figure stepped into it.
A man.
Tall, thin, and dressed in a military uniform that had gone out of fashion decades ago.
His face was perfectly ordinary.
Brown hair.
Narrow nose.
A small scar beneath his left eye.
He could have been any soldier returning from a routine patrol.
Except for his eyes.
They were completely white.
No pupils.
No irises.
Just two pale, empty surfaces staring directly at Daniel.
The man smiled.
"Daniel Cross."
Arlen raised his knife.
Daniel didn't move.
He was too busy trying to understand how a complete stranger had learned his name.
The man tilted his head.
"You've grown."
Daniel's mouth went dry.
"What?"
The smile widened.
"Not physically, of course. Although that is an interesting possibility."
He took another step forward.
"The last time I saw you, you were much smaller."
Daniel felt something cold crawl down his spine.
"I've never seen you before."
"Of course you haven't."
The man chuckled.
"That would rather defeat the purpose of what we did to you."
The words struck Daniel like a physical blow.
What we did to you.
A memory flashed through his mind.
White walls.
Bright lights.
A metallic taste in his mouth.
Someone screaming.
Then darkness.
It vanished before he could grasp it.
Daniel stumbled backward.
His head throbbed.
"Who are you?"
The man stopped smiling.
For the first time, something resembling genuine disappointment crossed his face.
"You really don't remember."
It wasn't a question.
Daniel pressed a hand against his temple.
Fragments flickered through his consciousness.
A table.
Straps around his wrists.
A voice speaking through a speaker.
And a phrase he couldn't quite understand.
Subject Cross demonstrates abnormal cellular adaptation...
The memory disappeared.
Daniel gasped.
Arlen caught his shoulder.
"What's wrong with you?"
"I don't know!"
The man watched them with detached interest.
"Remarkable. The system is functioning, but the memories remain inaccessible."
Daniel's head snapped up.
"The system?"
The man's smile returned.
"There it is."
He took another step forward.
"That familiar expression. The moment when a person begins to realize that his entire existence might be a lie."
Daniel's fear began to transform into anger.
He didn't know who this man was.
He didn't know what he wanted.
But he was getting tired of strangers speaking about his life as though they owned it.
"Listen carefully, you discount nightmare," Daniel said. "I don't know who you are, and I don't care how much you think you know about me. But if you take another step toward us, I'm going to make you regret it."
Arlen stared at him.
The strange man stared at him.
Then the man burst out laughing.
Not a quiet chuckle.
Not a polite laugh.
He laughed so hard that he bent forward and clutched his stomach.
"Oh, that's wonderful!"
He wiped an imaginary tear from beneath one white eye.
"You haven't changed at all."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Arlen, when I say run, run."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to do something incredibly stupid."
"That's your plan?"
"It's the only one I've got!"
The man suddenly stopped laughing.
His face became completely blank.
"Unfortunately, Daniel, you cannot leave yet."
The temperature in the chamber seemed to drop.
Daniel felt a pressure building behind his eyes.
His heartbeat accelerated.
Something inside his chest responded to the man's presence.
Not fear.
Recognition.
The same sensation he experienced immediately before his first transformation.
His fingers curled.
His teeth clenched.
The familiar burning sensation spread through his limbs.
The system chimed.
[WARNING!]
[Host is experiencing an involuntary transformation response.]
[Foreign biological signature detected within immediate proximity.]
[Evolutionary pathways destabilizing.]
[Transformation temporarily restricted.]
Daniel's eyes widened.
Restricted?
He couldn't transform?
Now?
Of all the possible moments for his new supernatural ability to develop stage fright, it had chosen the exact moment when he needed it most.
He tried to force the transformation anyway.
Pain exploded through his body.
Daniel dropped to one knee.
Arlen caught him before he hit the ground.
"Daniel!"
The strange man watched without intervening.
"Interesting."
Daniel struggled to breathe.
The burning sensation spread through his chest, but something was holding it back.
Something was pressing down on the power inside him.
The man crouched in front of him.
"Tell me, Daniel. Do you know why your little system is so eager to consume living creatures?"
Daniel glared at him.
"Because it's a hungry bastard?"
The man smiled.
"Because it remembers."
Daniel stopped breathing for a moment.
"What?"
"It remembers what you were made to do."
The man's white eyes shifted toward Arlen.
"And what you were made to become."
Arlen tightened his grip on Daniel's shoulder.
"Stop talking in riddles!"
The man looked amused.
"Ah. The boy with the knife."
Arlen raised his weapon.
"Come closer and I'll show you what I can do with it."
The man sighed.
"Such confidence. Such ignorance."
Then he reached out.
Arlen slashed at his hand.
The blade passed through it.
Not through flesh.
Through empty air.
The man's arm dissolved into a cloud of black particles before reforming on the other side of the knife.
Arlen stumbled backward.
Daniel's stomach dropped.
That wasn't a Titan ability.
At least, not one he recognized.
The system chimed again.
[ANOMALOUS ENTITY ANALYSIS]
[Physical composition: Inconclusive.]
[Biological status: Unconfirmed.]
[Human classification: Rejected.]
[Titan classification: Rejected.]
[Threat assessment: SEVERE.]
[Warning: Current host capabilities insufficient.]
The man looked directly at Daniel.
"Now you understand."
He leaned closer.
"You aren't the only thing in this world that can evolve."
For one terrible moment, Daniel couldn't move.
Then the man stood and stepped aside.
Behind him, a second figure emerged from the darkness.
A little girl.
She appeared to be around eight years old.
Her dark hair hung loosely around her shoulders, and she wore a simple white dress stained with dirt.
She was barefoot.
Her expression was calm.
Too calm.
Daniel stared at her.
Something about her felt familiar.
Not in the way the man did.
This was different.
Deeper.
As though some part of his body recognized her even if his mind did not.
The girl looked at him.
Then she spoke.
"Daniel?"
His throat tightened.
"Do I know you?"
The girl nodded.
"You promised you'd come back."
Daniel felt his stomach twist.
The man watched them silently.
The girl took a step forward.
"You said you wouldn't leave me alone again."
Daniel's mind filled with fragments.
A small hand gripping his fingers.
The smell of antiseptic.
A child's laughter.
A door closing.
Then a scream.
He clutched his head.
"Stop!"
The girl froze.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
For the first time, her calm expression cracked.
"You forgot me."
Daniel couldn't answer.
Because he didn't know whether she was telling the truth.
Or whether someone had found a way to reach into his mind and manufacture memories that had never existed.
The system displayed another message.
[CRITICAL ANOMALY DETECTED]
[Unknown individual attempting to establish neural synchronization.]
[Rejecting connection...]
[Connection rejected.]
[Warning: Unauthorized access attempt detected.]
[Host memories may have been externally modified.]
Daniel stared at the words.
Externally modified.
His memories.
His entire understanding of himself.
The girl reached toward him.
The man suddenly seized her wrist.
"Enough."
She flinched.
For a brief instant, her face changed.
Her eyes became dark and hollow.
And beneath the skin of her neck, something moved.
Something long.
Something segmented.
Daniel recoiled.
The man tightened his grip.
"Not yet."
The girl looked at Daniel one last time.
"I'm sorry."
Then the man pulled her backward.
Both figures disappeared into the darkness.
No footsteps.
No fading silhouettes.
They were simply gone.
The pressure in Daniel's head vanished.
He collapsed against the stone floor, gasping.
For several seconds, he could hear nothing but his own heartbeat.
Then Arlen spoke.
"Daniel."
He sounded shaken.
Daniel turned toward him.
"What?"
Arlen swallowed.
"Who was that little girl?"
Daniel stared at the empty passage.
"I don't know."
It was becoming his most frequently used sentence.
Arlen looked down at his knife.
His hands were trembling.
"She said you promised to come back."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I heard her."
"Was she telling the truth?"
Daniel opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because the worst part wasn't that he couldn't remember the girl.
It was that, somewhere deep inside him, he believed her.
The system chimed.
A new notification appeared.
[QUEST UPDATED]
Primary Objective: Investigate the origin of the Devourer System.
Secondary Objective: Identify the anomalous individuals operating beneath the Walls.
New Objective: Recover missing memories.
Reward: Unknown.
Failure Condition: Unknown.
Daniel stared at the final line.
"Wonderful," he whispered.
Arlen looked at him.
"What?"
Daniel forced himself to stand.
"Nothing. Just thinking that my life could use fewer mysterious children and considerably more normal problems."
Arlen frowned.
"What's a normal problem?"
Daniel looked at him.
Then at the bodies.
Then at the dark passage where the two figures had vanished.
He sighed.
"Honestly? At this point, I'd settle for being chased by a regular Titan."
Far above them, beyond layers of stone and earth, the world continued as though nothing had happened.
People ate dinner.
Children played in the streets.
Soldiers drank themselves into stupors.
And somewhere inside the Walls, a bell rang to mark the passing of another ordinary evening.
But deep beneath the city, behind a door that no longer appeared on any official map, a machine began to hum.
A screen flickered to life.
Lines of unfamiliar symbols appeared.
Then a single message.
SUBJECT CROSS HAS REGAINED PARTIAL ACCESS TO MEMORY.
A second message followed.
THE DEVOURER SYSTEM IS ACTIVE.
A third appeared several seconds later.
CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL FAILURE: IMMINENT.
The screen went black.
In the darkness, something opened its eyes.
And smiled.
END OF CHAPTER 16