The first rule of surviving a nightmare was simple.
Wake up.
Unfortunately, Daniel Cross had begun to suspect that his entire existence was one long, exceptionally cruel exception to that rule.
He was standing in an underground chamber filled with dead bodies, accompanied by a teenage boy who trusted him about as much as a starving dog trusted a butcher, after meeting a pale-eyed man who apparently knew things about his past that Daniel himself couldn't remember.
And somewhere in the middle of all that nonsense, a little girl had appeared, called him a liar, and vanished into thin air.
All things considered, Daniel was having a terrible evening.
"Are you going to keep staring at that wall?" Arlen asked.
Daniel blinked.
"I was hoping it would open up and reveal a staircase leading to a nice little cottage. Maybe a warm bath. Some food. A beautiful woman who doesn't know anything about mysterious biological experiments."
Arlen stared at him.
"You're insane."
"Probably."
Daniel turned away from the wall.
"Let's go."
"Where?"
"Up."
"That's not a direction."
"It's the direction that doesn't involve dead people, creepy children, or whatever the hell that white-eyed bastard was."
Arlen considered this.
Then he nodded.
For once, they agreed on something.
They crossed the chamber carefully, stepping around the bodies and scattered equipment.
Daniel forced himself not to look too closely at the dead.
He had seen enough blood to last him several lifetimes.
Besides, he had a more immediate problem.
His body still felt wrong.
There was a strange heaviness in his chest, as though something had settled inside him and refused to move.
He concentrated on the system.
"Status."
Nothing happened.
Daniel frowned.
"System?"
A familiar blue interface flickered into existence.
[DEVOURER SYSTEM]
HOST: Daniel Cross
CURRENT FORM: Human
EVOLUTION STAGE: 0
EVOLUTION POINTS: 0
AVAILABLE TRAITS: None
TRANSFORMATION STATUS: Restricted
BIOLOGICAL STABILITY: 71%
ACTIVE CONDITIONS:
- Neurological Disturbance
- Foreign Signature Interference
- Incomplete Memory Access
Daniel stared at the last three entries.
"Seventy-one percent?"
Arlen glanced at him.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Daniel read the display again.
Seventy-one percent biological stability.
Whatever that meant, it didn't sound like something a person wanted to have less of.
He focused on the transformation restriction.
A new notification appeared.
[RESTRICTION ANALYSIS]
The host's transformation pathway has been disrupted by an unidentified external influence.
Estimated recovery time: Unknown.
Warning: Forced transformation attempts may result in severe cellular damage.
Daniel exhaled slowly.
"So much for my emergency exit."
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing you need to worry about."
"You're doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"Talking to yourself and pretending you're not."
Daniel gave him a tired smile.
"Give it a few years. You'll discover that talking to yourself is sometimes the only way to have an intelligent conversation."
Arlen rolled his eyes.
They reached the far end of the chamber, where a narrow staircase climbed toward a wooden door.
Daniel tested the handle.
Locked.
Of course.
He pulled once.
Then twice.
On the third attempt, the ancient wood groaned.
Arlen raised an eyebrow.
"Subtle."
Daniel kicked the door.
The lock snapped.
"Subtlety is for people with working keys."
The door swung inward.
A stale draft swept down the staircase.
Beyond it lay a narrow corridor lined with stone walls and rusty pipes.
Somewhere above them, people were talking.
Daniel froze.
He could hear them clearly.
Two men arguing.
A woman complaining about the price of bread.
Someone laughing.
Ordinary sounds.
Beautiful sounds.
For the first time since entering the underground complex, Daniel felt something approaching relief.
They weren't trapped beneath the earth forever.
There were people up there.
People who might know where they were.
People who might help them.
Then he remembered the pale-eyed man.
And the dead bodies.
And the fact that somebody had apparently conducted experiments involving his missing memories.
His relief became considerably less enthusiastic.
"Before we go up," Daniel whispered, "we need to agree on something."
Arlen looked suspicious.
"What?"
"We don't tell anyone about what happened down here."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know who to trust."
"You don't trust anybody."
"Excellent. You're learning."
Arlen folded his arms.
"And if someone asks about the bodies?"
"Tell them the truth."
Arlen blinked.
Daniel shrugged.
"What? I'm not asking you to lie. I'm asking you not to volunteer a detailed account of our evening to the first uniform we see."
"That's still lying."
"No. It's strategic silence."
"That's what liars call lying."
Daniel stared at him.
"You are going to be a very irritating adult."
"And you're going to be a very irritating corpse if you keep arguing."
Daniel almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he heard something.
A faint vibration traveled through the stone beneath his boots.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
He crouched and pressed his palm against the floor.
The vibration returned.
Three rapid pulses.
Daniel's expression changed.
The sensation was unmistakable.
Something was moving beneath them.
Something large.
The system chimed.
[PASSIVE SENSORY RESPONSE ACTIVATED]
[Abnormal ground vibration detected.]
[Source: Unknown.]
[Estimated distance: 34 meters.]
[Biological classification: Inconclusive.]
Daniel immediately stood.
"Arlen."
"I felt it."
"Good. Then you understand why we're leaving."
They hurried up the stairs.
At the top, Daniel pushed through the wooden door and emerged into a cramped storage room.
Dusty barrels lined the walls.
A broken chair lay beneath a small window.
Someone had abandoned a half-eaten loaf of bread on a table.
Daniel stared at it.
Then at Arlen.
"We've been underground for hours, and somebody left food unattended."
Arlen looked at him with genuine disgust.
"Don't."
"I'm just saying—"
"Daniel."
"Fine."
Daniel turned away from the bread with the expression of a man making the greatest sacrifice of his life.
They slipped through another door and entered a narrow alley.
Night had settled over the city.
Gas lamps illuminated the cobblestone streets, casting long shadows against old buildings.
The air smelled of smoke, horse manure, damp wood, and cooking oil.
Daniel breathed deeply.
Fresh air.
Actual fresh air.
He had never appreciated it so much.
The district looked unfamiliar, but the architecture was unmistakable.
Stone buildings.
Narrow streets.
Military patrols.
The heavy, oppressive atmosphere of a civilization living beneath the shadow of extinction.
They were still inside the Walls.
That much was obvious.
What wasn't obvious was where.
Daniel approached a wooden sign mounted above a nearby building.
The lettering was faded, but he could read it.
He stopped breathing.
TROST DISTRICT.
For several seconds, the world seemed to tilt.
Trost.
He knew that name.
He knew it far too well.
In the original story, Trost was where humanity's fragile peace collapsed.
Where the Colossal Titan appeared.
Where the outer gate was breached.
Where Eren Yeager supposedly died.
And where the truth about Titan shifters began to emerge.
Daniel slowly lowered his hand.
"That's impossible."
Arlen glanced at the sign.
"What is?"
"Nothing."
Daniel looked up at the sky.
The stars were unfamiliar, but that didn't matter.
He knew the world he was in.
He knew what was supposed to happen here.
Or at least, he thought he did.
The problem was that everything he had experienced since arriving in this world suggested that his memories were incomplete.
Time didn't seem to behave properly.
People knew things they shouldn't know.
And something beneath the Walls was interfering with his system.
He couldn't even be certain that the events he remembered would happen in the same order.
Still, one possibility stood above the rest.
If this was Trost, and if the timeline was anywhere near the one he remembered, then the Colossal Titan might appear soon.
And when it did, thousands of people would die.
Daniel looked at Arlen.
"How long have you lived here?"
"Three years."
"Do you know when the next military inspection is scheduled?"
Arlen frowned.
"Why?"
"Just answer."
"Tomorrow morning."
Daniel's stomach tightened.
Tomorrow.
He needed information.
He needed food.
He needed to understand why his transformation had been restricted.
And above all, he needed to figure out whether the future he remembered was still waiting for him.
A group of soldiers marched past the end of the alley.
Their uniforms were worn, and their expressions were exhausted.
One of them carried a bottle of liquor.
Another complained loudly about being assigned to guard duty.
Daniel watched them disappear around the corner.
Then he noticed the posters pasted against a nearby wall.
Most advertised cheap rooms, missing livestock, or military recruitment.
One poster, however, caught his attention.
It showed a group of young recruits standing in formation.
The paper was new.
The photograph was unmistakable.
Daniel approached it.
His eyes moved across the faces.
Young men and women in military training uniforms.
Some looked confident.
Others looked terrified.
And standing near the center was a familiar boy with unruly dark hair and an expression that suggested he was personally offended by the existence of the world.
Eren Yeager.
Daniel's throat tightened.
Beside him stood Mikasa Ackerman.
Her face was calm, her posture composed, and her eyes carried the quiet intensity of someone who had already decided which people mattered enough to protect.
Armin Arlert stood a short distance away.
Blond hair.
Blue eyes.
A thoughtful expression.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
For a moment, everything else disappeared.
These were real people.
Not drawings.
Not characters on a screen.
Real human beings who would bleed, suffer, and die.
He had known their story once.
But knowing a story was not the same as living through it.
He looked at the date printed beneath the photograph.
His expression changed.
The recruits had been photographed several months earlier.
The timeline wasn't exactly where he expected it to be.
It was close.
Dangerously close.
But not identical.
"Do you know these people?" Arlen asked.
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Then he pointed to Eren.
"That boy."
"What about him?"
"Have you ever met him?"
Arlen studied the photograph.
"No."
Daniel looked at the other two.
"And them?"
"No."
"Have you heard their names?"
Arlen shook his head.
Daniel stepped away from the poster.
He had no way of knowing whether Eren and the others were still alive, where they were stationed, or how much time remained before the events he remembered began.
But at least he had a starting point.
He needed to find them.
Not because he trusted them.
Not because he believed they could solve his problems.
But because they were the only people in this world who might help him understand what was happening.
And if the Colossal Titan really was going to appear soon, he needed to be somewhere he could make a difference.
The ground trembled again.
This time, the vibration was stronger.
A horse tied to a nearby post suddenly reared, whinnying in panic.
Several pedestrians stopped.
One man cursed and grabbed his hat.
Then the vibration ceased.
Daniel felt the hairs on his arms rise.
The system activated.
[PASSIVE SENSORY RESPONSE]
[Abnormal vibration detected.]
[Source distance: 31 meters.]
[Direction: Below.]
[Movement pattern: Irregular.]
[Warning: The source is approaching.]
Daniel slowly turned toward the street.
The vibration hadn't come from the surface.
It had come from beneath the city.
Whatever was moving underground was getting closer.
Arlen noticed his expression.
"What is it?"
Daniel backed away from the street.
"We need to find somewhere safe."
"Why?"
"Because something is moving under our feet."
Arlen looked at the ground.
Then at Daniel.
"That's impossible."
Daniel gave him a humorless smile.
"You're going to have to stop saying that."
A metallic bang echoed through the alley.
Both boys turned.
At the far end stood a soldier holding a lantern.
His uniform was stained with mud.
His face was pale.
And his eyes were fixed on Daniel.
"You."
Daniel froze.
The soldier took a step forward.
"You're the boy they were looking for."
Arlen immediately raised his knife.
Daniel's mind raced.
Who were they?
The military?
The men beneath the city?
The pale-eyed stranger?
The soldier glanced at Arlen's weapon and reached for his own.
"Put that down."
Arlen didn't move.
Daniel raised both hands.
"Let's all calm down."
The soldier ignored him.
"Daniel Cross, you're coming with me."
Daniel's blood ran cold.
The soldier knew his name.
Again.
"Who sent you?" Daniel asked.
The soldier hesitated.
That hesitation told Daniel more than an answer would have.
"You don't know who I am, do you?" Daniel asked.
The soldier's expression hardened.
"Stop talking."
"That's not an answer."
"Last warning."
Daniel studied him.
The man's uniform bore the insignia of the Garrison Regiment.
His boots were covered in fresh mud.
His right hand trembled slightly.
And beneath the smell of sweat and leather, Daniel detected something else.
Blood.
Not old blood.
Fresh blood.
The soldier had recently been injured.
Or had injured someone else.
The ground vibrated beneath them.
The soldier flinched.
For one brief instant, his composure shattered.
His eyes darted toward a storm drain near the wall.
Daniel followed his gaze.
The metal cover shifted.
Barely an inch.
Then settled again.
The soldier whispered something under his breath.
Daniel couldn't make out the words.
But he saw the terror on the man's face.
And he understood.
The soldier wasn't there to arrest him.
He was running from something.
Something beneath the city.
Something that had followed him.
The drain cover moved again.
This time, a thin line of dark liquid seeped through the gap.
Daniel's nose caught the scent.
Blood.
The soldier stumbled backward.
"No," he whispered.
The cover lifted.
A pale hand emerged from the darkness below.
Its fingers were too long.
Its nails were black.
And beneath its translucent skin, something moved like a nest of worms.
The soldier screamed.
The hand seized his ankle.
He hit the ground so hard that his lantern shattered.
Darkness swallowed the alley.
Daniel heard the soldier clawing at the cobblestones.
He heard Arlen shouting.
He heard something wet tearing beneath the street.
Then a voice rose from the drain.
A familiar voice.
Calm.
Amused.
Almost affectionate.
"Found you."
Daniel's entire body went rigid.
He recognized that voice.
Not because he had heard it before in the ordinary sense.
But because something deep inside his mind reacted to it with absolute certainty.
The same voice that had spoken in his dreams.
The same voice that seemed to exist somewhere between his memories and his nightmares.
The voice that had been waiting for him.
The system flooded his vision with warnings.
[CRITICAL ALERT]
[Foreign biological signature detected.]
[Classification: Unknown.]
[Host compatibility: 3.7%.]
[Transformation pathway: Restricted.]
[Emergency evolution unavailable.]
[Recommendation: FLEE IMMEDIATELY.]
Daniel stared into the darkness.
The soldier's screaming abruptly stopped.
Something began climbing out of the drain.
Daniel grabbed Arlen's arm.
"RUN!"
They turned and sprinted.
Behind them, the thing emerged into the alley.
Its limbs struck the cobblestones with a series of sharp, irregular impacts.
It moved like a human that had been assembled by someone who had never seen a human being.
Daniel risked one glance over his shoulder.
The creature's head emerged beneath the lantern light.
It had no eyes.
No nose.
Only a wide, vertical mouth stretching from its forehead to its chin.
And inside that mouth were rows of tiny human teeth.
Hundreds of them.
All chattering at once.
Daniel nearly stumbled.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"
Arlen was already sprinting ahead.
"WHAT IS THAT THING?"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
"YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT!"
"BECAUSE PEOPLE KEEP SHOWING ME THINGS I DON'T KNOW!"
They rounded a corner and burst into a crowded street.
People shouted as the boys shoved past them.
Daniel heard the creature behind them.
Then he heard something worse.
A bell.
One deep, metallic toll.
Then another.
Then a third.
The sound rolled across Trost District.
People stopped in the street.
Shopkeepers emerged from their stalls.
Soldiers turned toward the walls.
A distant voice shouted an order.
Then a fourth bell rang.
Daniel slowed.
His blood turned to ice.
He knew that sound.
Every person in Trost knew what it meant.
An emergency alarm.
A breach.
Somewhere along the outer defenses, something had gone terribly wrong.
A soldier ran past them, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"EVERYONE INSIDE! GET AWAY FROM THE STREETS!"
Another soldier followed.
"THE OUTER GATE! THE OUTER GATE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED!"
Panic erupted.
People screamed.
Children cried.
Merchants abandoned their stalls.
The entire district seemed to collapse into chaos.
Daniel stood motionless.
The Colossal Titan.
It was happening.
But the timing was wrong.
Everything was wrong.
He had expected a sequence of events.
A recognizable beginning.
A chance to prepare.
Instead, he had stumbled into a nightmare that was already unfolding around him.
Arlen grabbed his sleeve.
"Daniel! MOVE!"
Daniel turned.
At the far end of the street, rising above the rooftops, a gigantic shadow appeared against the night sky.
Steam billowed upward.
Stone cracked.
The distant silhouette of an enormous face emerged through the clouds of vapor.
Daniel felt his knees weaken.
The Colossal Titan.
For one terrible moment, he was no longer standing in Trost.
He was back in another life, staring at a screen, believing that the people in this world were nothing more than characters in a story.
Then the giant moved.
A thunderous impact shook the district.
Windows shattered.
People fell screaming to the ground.
And Daniel understood, with a clarity that hurt more than fear, that this was no longer a story he could observe from a safe distance.
He was here.
He was alive.
And whatever happened next would happen to him, too.
The system chimed.
[MAIN STORYLINE INTERSECTION DETECTED.]
[Historical event: Trost District emergency.]
[Timeline integrity: 82%.]
[Warning: Multiple deviations detected.]
[Primary objective updated.]
SURVIVE THE TROST INCIDENT.
[Optional objective unlocked.]
PREVENT AN UNNECESSARY DEATH.
[Reward: Evolution points.]
[Failure penalty: Unknown.]
Daniel stared at the final notification.
Then he looked toward the distant giant.
His transformation remained restricted.
His biological stability was dangerously low.
He had no reliable allies, no equipment, and no idea what the creature beneath the street wanted from him.
And now the city was falling apart.
He laughed.
It was a short, ugly sound.
Arlen stared at him as though he had finally lost his mind.
"What's so funny?"
Daniel wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Nothing."
He looked at the screaming crowd.
At the soldiers struggling to restore order.
At the distant wall where humanity's nightmare had just become reality.
Then he drew a breath.
"I'm just beginning to think the universe has a very specific problem with me."
A tremendous crash echoed across Trost.
The Colossal Titan had breached the gate.
And beneath Daniel's feet, something answered with a sound like a thousand fingernails scraping against stone.
The creature in the drain was still following them.
Worse, the system displayed one final message.
[UNKNOWN ENTITY HAS MARKED THE HOST.]
[TRACKING STATUS: ACTIVE.]
[WARNING: THE ENTITY IS NO LONGER PURSUING THE HOST'S LOCATION.]
[IT IS PURSUING THE HOST'S EVOLUTION.]
Daniel stared at the words.
Then, from somewhere beneath the screaming city, the familiar voice whispered again.
"Grow stronger, Daniel."
A pause.
"Next time, I want you to remember me."
END OF CHAPTER 17