The Bloom Titan (1/2)

CH.69: Dream

ROUGHLY A YEAR AFTER THE ATTACK ON TROST DISTRICT---

The sound of hooves against dirt resonated in the atmosphere. The smell of fresh air wafting through my nose. Excitement bubbling up inside of me, yet a sense of dread remained at the pit of my stomach.

We're doing it. We are past Wall Maria for the first time in six years. Today's goal is to locate the ocean.

I was galloping across the lands Charlie, Else and I once dreamed of setting our feet upon, and I'm doing it for them. Rather, I'm doing it with them as they're in my heart.

"It's just like you thought, Hanji." Levi starts. "The Titans inside Wall Maria were pretty much all of them. We thinned out the majority in just a single year." I hum in agreement.

"In that case, let's head straight to our target as planned." Hanji reply's. Bird's fly overhead, bird's I've never seen before. The noises they make are unique, different from the geece that nest at the rivers back home.

We gallop over a hill to find something we didn't want to come across at all. I grit my teeth and fumble in my satchel for a red flare. My fingers wrap round the red coil and I load it into the gun, lifting it up in the air and pulling the trigger.

The Titan was at least a six-to-seven-meter-class but it's body was uneven and it wasn't standing. It's legs were tiny and so was it's arms. The head was massive and half of it was showing as the other half was in the ground.

There was a trail behind it where it crawled here. Not even a few meters behind it there was baby trees sprouting from the ground. It had blonde hair and blue eyes, with a look of sadness in them.

I pull the reins back and Gypsy halts. I swing my leg over the saddle and slide off it. I walk up to it slowly. It didn't move an inch.

I lift my hand and lightly sit it on the Titans forehead. Poor person...

Eren suddenly comes up to me and also sits his hand on the Titans forehead.   "H-Hey!" Floch stammers, drawing both of his swords and getting into a stance.

"It was shipped to paradise. It's a fellow compatriot." Eren says in a dead tone. His eyes had a hint of pity lingering around his teal orbs. He lifts up his hand and walks over to his horse. "Let's go. We're close."

I nod in agreement and run over to Gypsy, sitting one foot in a stirrup and bouncing my knee then launching myself upon the saddle. I slide my other foot into the other stirrup and grab my reins, adjusting them to their original length.

I nudge Gypsy in the ribs and she takes off in a fast gallop, catching up with Hanji and Levi, who didn't stop to inspect the Titan.

--

The lands seemed to start changing as time went on. At least an hour later we were in sand dune biome instead of a plains.

Gypsy was still at the same speed as she was a little while ago, still on par with Levi's horse. You could smell salt in the air, making a feeling I've not felt in a whle bubble up inside of me. Exhilaration.

We pass a massive sand dune and a giant wall appears. A familiar one at that. The one from Mama's memories. The one where thousands of Eldian's got turned into Titans.

I swallow a lump in my throat and look ahead. I pull the reins a bit and fall back behind the superiors and ride beside Sasha, Connie and Jean. I glance over at Sasha who also turns to me.

"Is... Is this the place... you saw in your mothers memories?" She asks, a excited look on her face.

"Y-Yeah. On the other side of this is the... the ocean." I stutter, feeling the need to cry.  No Ezlyn, don't cry yet...