God of Earth

4. Armin's Memories

As I saved more and more villages, the rumor of Alex the God of Earth and Protector of Humankind began to spread. 

The rumor says that the God of Earth protects the villages from the titans, sending the monsters far away from sight, and creating a great stone guardian to fight and protect them. Once a village is blessed by Alex's protection, they will have a statue standing in the middle of the village, overlooking the entire village like a great guardian. The villages addressed Alex as their God and Saviour; they addressed themselves as the Disciples of Alex and their village as Sacred Villages. 

Over time, this information traveled through the villages across the empty lands, reaching the Survey Corps. The commander Erwin became curious about this newly appeared God, he had led many expeditions, and never once had he heard about Alex. He had every reason to question just where and when did the Reign of Alex begin. And as the commander of the Survey Corps, the organization that explores the outside world and protects the people from the titans, he was very interested in how this God protects the villages from the titans. 

Erwin decided that they would aim to find one of the Sacred Villages and learn more about this god in their next expedition. Hange is probably the most excited about their next expedition, she was just itching to find out more. A whole new being, supernatural powers, religion and beliefs, a new way to fight against the titans, a possible ally; everything about this god interests her. She was as excited as when she got to learn about Eren's titan-shifting powers. Many of the soldiers were curious about Alex, but most remained skeptical of the idea of a god, but nevertheless, they wanted to find out more. 

Not only did the rumors reach Erwin and Hange, but they also reached Armin. A young boy who had a grandpa that told him many stories about the world. When Armin heard the rumors, he remembered a tale his grandpa told him once when he was younger, about the elements of the world.

... 

"Everything in this world is alive in its own way. Some can move and some cannot; some have intelligence while some don't; some have functioning organic systems while some don't; some are consciously aware of their surroundings and actions while some aren't. The air, the water, the plants, and the animals; are all alive. The very land we live upon is alive. While we are built by cells and organs, the living Earth is made by the elements."

"Legend has it that over centuries, the elements may gather together to form a conscious mind of its own. Once the conscious mind is formed, it'll exist as its own living entity. It can think and move like any other creature we know, it can manipulate and control the elements they were formed from, but we cannot see them with our human eyes. They can affect the world around us, and we can acknowledge their existence, but we cannot interact with them unless they make the first move."

"Maybe some of these elemental consciousness has already formed and they are observing our lives right now, but we would never know. However, it is believed that once one is formed, a god will be born, and great changes will arrive upon this world."

... 

Remembering this story, Armin immediately connects the dots. He thinks this God is the conscious mind formed by the elements of Earth, hence why they are known as the God of Earth. 

When he told the story to Mikasa and Eren, they thought it was a possible answer, since this whole thing seemed to have suddenly began, so maybe the elements only just recently formed its consciousness. But rumors are still rumors, they haven't seen anything for themselves to be sure yet, maybe this whole thing is just some made-up story. 

Armin is also very excited to learn more about this newly-born god, his excitement for it has almost reached the same level as his wish to see the ocean. 

Soon enough, came the time of the expedition. Erwin leads the troupes toward the open lands, aiming to find a village under the protection of Alex. They rode their horses in formation, tearing through the empty lands and killing off the titans that they couldn't avoid. Slowly but surely, made their way across the lands, seeking a village.