Humanity's Future

The End of an Era

Some time later...

   Waves lap gently at a sanded shore, pushed by the waxing and waning of a turbulent tide.  A woman sits at the edge of the water, clad in a loose white shirt and comfortable brown trousers.  Her bare feet rest outstretched, toes curling languidly in the sand.  She stretches out on her back, completely at piece with the world.

   "Momma!  He did it again!"

   She turns and sits up, smiling softly at two children running up to her.

   "No I didn't, you tripped on air!"

   "Now now, settle down."  The woman chides, smiling as the kids approach her from different sides.  "Elize, can you please tell me what happened?"

   "Ollie tripped me!"  The little girl pouts, crossing her arms with a pout on her face.  A strand of sandy brown hair is stuck to the corner of her mouth, and the mother reaches up to tuck it behind her daughter's ear.  She then turns to the boy, Oliver, and stares intently into his watering blue eyes.

   "And Oliver?"  She asks patiently, raising an eyebrow.

   "I didn't!  We were just having a race and she tripped!"

   "Is that the truth?"  She asks, fighting a smile as the boy drops his gaze and toes the sand.

   "Yeah..."

   "Oliver."  She warns, and the boy gives up as he plops himself down and nestles into her side.  Elize does the same on her opposite side, looking decidedly smug.  "She said something mean!"

   "Unkind words are no reason to take action against someone else."  The mother gently states, combing a hand through his hair.  He sighs in contentment as Elize speaks up from her other side.

   "You should tell us the story again, momma."  She pleads, watching her mother's face.  Her eyes lose their focus as she slows her hand running through Oliver's hair, gaining a distant longing in her features.  Elize cocks her head.  "Tell is about the past, momma!"

   "It was years ago."  She begins eventually, the ghost of a smile whispering against her skin.  "Years before you two were even born.  How old are you, Oliver?"

   "I'm eight!"  The boy answers confidently, and the woman laughs softly in response.

   "And what about you, Elize?"

   "Six!"

   "Very good."  She ruffles Oliver's hair and pulls Elize into a short hug.  "And since Oliver is older, imagine his age, but doubled."

   "Wow!"

   "Mm-hm."  The woman nods secretively at the children beside her.  "It was that long ago!"

   A pause.

   "The end of story was, at least.  Even much longer before that, a girl lived in the walls that protected humanity from the Titans."  Oliver and Elize shudder from the mention of the man-eating Giants.  "She was roughly your age when she was taken from her home, spirited away by those with intent to do great harm to all of humankind."  Elize gasps, just as Oliver whines,

   "No!"

   The woman smiles at her children.  They get so involved each time I tell them the story.

   "Yes.  She underwent terrible torture, living every day of her life in fear and darkness.  She made a friend whom she considered to be family– a boy who felt the need to protect her."