Rebels Vow

Echoes Of The Past

The women's scream tore through the empty dull stone walls, each plea was more frantic than the last, as if the very act of begging was her only hope. Every punch was a raw, silent scream of hatred, anger, and betrayal. Every punch felt like the world was rejecting, as if the walls were closing in on her. 

Ophelia presses herself harder against the wall, heart pounding in her ears as if it might burst out of her chest. She wants to call out, to scream back, but she can't. Her throat feels tight, constricted, as though the walls themselves are squeezing the air from her lungs.

'Don't come for me. Don't come for me.'

Ophelia's eyes sting, her own breath caught in her chest as she watches. Every movement her father makes feels calculated, deliberate, a man who had once been the image of control, now a monster she couldn't comprehend. The way he hovers over her mother, his shadow swallowing every ounce of light in the room, makes her feel small, like caught in the hands of a titan.

Her mother's body slumps to the floor, and Ophelia flinches, her eyes wide in horror, but she doesn't move. She can't. She never has. She knows better than to make a sound, better than to try to be seen. If she does, it will only make things worse.

His family, his wife Saline, and young Ophelia—each person, despite their distance from his fevered pursuit, kept pulling at him like invisible threads. And in the thick of it all, Saline—weak, quiet, lost in her own struggles—had begun to notice things. The constant presence of Victor's research, the cryptic papers he left scattered, the books she'd never seen before. She had always known that Victor's obsession with the Titans, the Walls, and the hidden truths of the world was consuming him. But as the days turned into months, it became harder to ignore the growing strain. Saline, exhausted and emotionally drained, couldn't help herself. She had tried to stay out of it, burying herself in the routines of their broken life. She had tried to protect Ophelia, tried to keep some semblance of peace in the house, but the secrets Victor kept, the lies he spun, and the isolation he forced upon them were too heavy. She knew she was risking everything, but the quiet whispers of suspicion had already begun to take root in her mind. One night, while he was gone—lost to his studies—Saline ventured into his study, she sifted through the piles of research, the disorganized collection of books, and then she found them—papers that described the Eldians, the Marleyans, the cursed history of the Titans, and the mysteries behind the Walls. Her breath caught in her throat. She had always known Victor was different, obsessed with something beyond power, something deeper. But she never thought it would lead to this. As she read the words, her heart sank. Her worst fears were coming true. The life she thought she had been building, the family she thought they were meant to have, was built on lies, on secrets too dangerous to even acknowledge.

But Victor found out.

---

"Why?" was all he asked. His voice was flat, so emotionless. His voice, devoid of warmth, reverberated through the empty stone walls. Saline didn't answer. She couldn't. The weight of his gaze crushed her. Her lips parted, but words failed her. The fear, the shame, the confusion—it paralyzed her. His words were sharp, his gaze colder than ice. He didn't wait for a response from Saline—there was no need. The silence stretched between them like a suffocating web, trapping them both in this moment of dread. Saline's lips quivered, but she couldn't speak. The weight of his stare pinned her down, rendering her mute. Her heart pounded in her chest, the shame burning her from the inside out. She had never thought it would come to this—to be standing before him like this, in this house, with this terror crawling through her veins. Her hands were trembling, but she didn't dare reach out for him, for fear that it might make it worse. But before she could collect herself, Victor's gaze snapped to the door, where a figure stood frozen in the shadows.