The city didn't just breathe — it roared.
Every corner, every stone, every shuttered window had become an eye, silently stalking his faltering steps, as though the world itself was a predator, savoring the slow hunt of its prey.
Eren stopped, bracing himself against a cracked wall, gasping for air.
But the heat burning inside him only grew, swelling with every heartbeat — as if something inside was clawing its way out.
And then... he heard it.
A whisper.
Soft. Female. Born from the void.
"You are not alone, Marked One..."
His head snapped around, but there was no one.
Only the lingering echo, haunting his skull like a siren's song.
Moments later, she emerged.
From the folds of shadow, a woman slid forth — her tall, slender form wrapped in black robes that blended seamlessly with the darkness.
Her face was half-concealed behind a gleaming metal mask, and her eyes pulsed with a blood-red glow.
She didn't walk.
She glided, soundless and graceful, like a phantom born from night.
"Who... are you?" Eren asked, his voice cracking beneath the weight of fear and confusion.
The woman drifted closer, stopping just one step away.
She tilted her head slightly, offering a cold, amused smile.
"I am your first lesson in this new world."
Before the words could sink in, she moved.
Inhumanly fast.
Her hand locked around his throat, lifting him off the ground like a rag doll. Her glowing eyes traced the burning sigil etched into his chest.
"This mark..." she whispered. "It's the most beautiful gift one could offer to the Devil."
A searing pain surged from the mark, flooding his veins with fire.
And amid the agony, visions burst behind his eyes — fragmented images of unknown faces, voices chanting dark rituals, and laughter that could never belong to any human throat.
Then, something inside him snapped.
His eyes gleamed with a fierce light, and his frail body shifted, transforming.
His arm shot upward with unexplainable strength, gripping the woman's wrist and forcing her to release him.
He hit the ground — but there was no pain.
Only power.
A raw, undeniable sensation of control.
The woman let out a cold, short laugh.
"Oh... it seems the mark is finally showing its true face."
Before he could catch his breath, she vanished, leaving only the ghost of her voice behind:
"This is only the beginning, little one..."
Eren sat in the darkness, his body trembling, his mind ablaze with questions no answer could tame.
But one truth was clear.
He was no longer ordinary.