transcendental ° a.o.t

CHAPTER I: TO YOU, A REALITY AWAY

Chapter 1: To You, A Reality Away

I press my hand down on the soft, cushy foam mattress that I resided on the edge of. It was the most familiar subject in sight as the doctors scuttled about and around me, flickering lights on and off, red and blue and pink and purple, sounds vibrating through me as I continued the rhythmic breathing that was pounded into me since the first day of training. The room, unlike most old sci-fi and futuristic films tended to portray in these kind of scenarios, though no one could have ever guessed humanity would obtain the transcendental ability of reality shifting, or jumping, or–

Whatever I've gotten off track, what was I telling you again? Right, I was describing the room I'm currently trapped in, well it was actually pretty dark. There was not a speck of white anywhere, not even the concentration pod was light in color, as it was designed to relax and captivate the attention of the shifter within, with its galaxy inspired color palette.

Eventually something other than an object catches my scrutiny as my personal doctor strides into the room, stopping first when one of the other doctors– or are they scientists? – protrudes their hand out in front of her to whisper something. Once she nods at them she again sets her sights on me and continues on until she's standing directly in front of me.

"Are you ready?" She questions as she begins double checking and testing my body for any irregularities just as she did before, during the multiple experiments, but this wasn't just an experiment now.

"Of course Doc, you know me" I flashed her my signature grin that was most definitely intended to be a smirk.

"Don't be too cocky just because you're making history today. You may be the youngest shifter but luckily you aren't the first." She efficiently finishes up her tests and abruptly grips my shoulders, staring into my eyes with such intensity I start to sweat a little. "The reality you're about to enter is dangerous, if you have trouble don't hesitate to ask your predecessors for help, what are their names and regiments again."

"Maria Hollandale and Miche Zacharius, their regiments are Military Police and the Scouts respectively. When I shift I will hide within the Underground for a year while I train with Ms. Hollandale."

"Always going above and beyond" She snickered. "But good, now, how do we leave again"

"What can I say? I'm as reliable as ever. And I pinch between my thumb and pointer finger."

"Good, now..." She looks over her shoulders to check in with the other doctor scientists who seemingly signal that everything is perfect and ready. "Alright, you can lay down. Remember, just like every other session we've been through, stay calm and concentrate."

At her jurisdiction I turned my body around to lay fully inside the concentration pod, while it was as comfy as it can be, there was nothing else around me besides the slowly closing encasement within the pod. This was to ensure there would be nothing to distract me from concentrating on the targeted reality even when my eyes start to close. Soon enough I could feel every inch of my body begin to heat up until I couldn't feel anything besides the scorch. My limbs begin to shake and twitch from the unfamiliar feeling but I remain concentrated on my imagination.

Eventually I feel someone pushing and pulling at my arm, I continue keeping up with my breathing and concentration until I start hearing someone call out for me to wake up. Then suddenly my eyes are forced open and the sight of an older woman towering over me appears.

"Finally you're awake, I've been waiting forever! To continue on, what's your origin point number?" The grinning woman, who is more than likely to be Maria Hollandale, asks to reaffirm my presence.

"Number #76EUS04. My name is Orelia Pflanz" I seemingly creak as I sit up from, I guess a bed? I rub at my eyes and try to stretch out the drowsiness. Throwing off the thin sheet I was supposedly using as a blanket, I stood up.

"Well hello then Orelia. My name is Maria Hollandale but you've probably already been informed on who i am and what we're to do." Maria sticks out her hand for a hand shake and I reciprocate, trying to conceal my nerves.

"Come, we have much to do but first I have to show you around! We'll start with the Underground obviously and if we have time I'll also show you around the city of Mitras!" She swiftly makes her way around the tiny apartment room, grabbing at whatever she needs, along with a cloak for some reason before finally putting on her boots.

"What's with the cloak?" I ask while bent over to put on my shoes.

"You know I'm with the Military Police right?"

"Yeah?" I answered as Maria held open the door for me to walk out and immediately the sight before me rendered me speechless. I've always liked the night scene, the moon, stars, the way the light from lamp posts paints everything in its golden glow, and the melody of every night critter singing together in harmony.

"Haha! Pretty isn't it, I like it as well! But to answer your question, people down here don't tend to like the Military Police. Especially some people." She whispers that last part but I don't say anything about hearing it, not thinking it was all that important.

"Ooh so this is the crime center is it" I hop down the steps leading to the apartment and onto the road, there wasn't much around. Honestly the people that were walking about either looked bad or worse, some weren't even walking because of leg issues if the bandages covering them were any indicator.

"It is a concern, but it definitely isn't the biggest concern in the world" Maria couldn't help but chuckle, but also couldn't do anything to stop the sweatdrop as she itches at her cheek.

"Ri~ight the giant people terrorizing humanity leading them to create the walls around this place in the first place, gotcha" We move out of the way for a cart stacked with a bunch of boxes and Maria nods at one the people leading the cart as they nod back. "So, I'll be joining the Garrison since you're in the Military Police and Miche is in the Scouts, correct? What do they do exactly?"

"The Garrison guards the walls and the peace within them, However..." Maria suddenly stops with a conflicted look on her face as she rubs at the back of her neck. "If it wasn't for the attack on Shiganshina 5 years ago you'd be correct."

"What? What happened 5 years ago, in Shiganshina?" I turned to look straight at her with my eyes unknowingly wide with curiosity.

Maria sighed and pulled me into an alley off the main road. "5 years ago a titan called the Colossal Titan appeared, unlike any other known titan, it was over 50 meters tall. With it being just taller than the walls it easily kicked a hole in it for other titans to enter. And as if God passed out at the wheel and the Devil took over, Another titan covered in armor, known as the Armored Titan came rearing through and busted into Wall Maria. It forced a lot of people into Wall Rose as Wall Maria became infested with titans and was closed off."

"Woah..." I stood there thunderstruck with my eyes and mouth wide open when a thought popped into my head "Why, wasn't I informed of this?"

"Huh? You weren't? I mean I couldn't stay at the origin point for long but I told them as much as I knew at the time, which was basically everything I just told you."

"That's weird?" I rubbed at my chin in thought for a moment as Maria crocked her head in confusion when eventually I chuckled and looked back at Maria with my signature smirking grin. "Wall Maria, huh?"

"Oh my god, don't even start! My buddies are always telling me that I should watch out for the Armored Titan because it won't even eat me, it will just run right through me!" Me and Maria laughed from the simple, silly joke until Maria decided it was finally time for us to continue the tour around the Underground.

Despite there not being a lot to see in the dark and dreary cavern, Maria and I still enjoyed getting lost in the labyrinth of alleyways, skirting our way out of trouble, and finding our way out. Eventually we make to a staircase Maria says is the entrance to the surface, she finally removes her cloak to reveal her identity to the guards and they let us pass without having to pay a fee most Underground citizen do, as Maria says, which surprises me especially when she tells me that they even have to pay for citizenship on the surface.

When we finally reach the top of the stairway I stop and take in the view of the beautiful cobble and red bricked buildings of olden times, it was so different from what I was used to in my origin point, of course there are still places that attend to their old architecture. However seeing it right in front of me made me feel as if I was suddenly a different person with a different purpose in life, and I was more than ready for anything that might test my will.