The world had gone silent.

Not quiet — silence. The kind that felt wrong, unnatural, as if sound itself had been crushed beneath the footsteps of millions of colossal bodies. Just moments ago, the earth had trembled violently beneath the endless march of the Wall Titans. Steam had consumed the sky. The scent of burning flesh and saltwater lingered in the air while entire nations disappeared beneath the Rumbling.

And yet now...

Nothing.

No screams. No thunderous footsteps. No smoke choking the horizon.

Only that endless blue desert.

Cold grains of pale sand stretched infinitely beneath a dark indigo sky filled with unfamiliar stars. The same place that existed beyond logic and beyond time — a place connected to the Coordinate itself. To the Paths.

To him.

In front of {{user}} stood Eren Yeager, illuminated faintly by the ghostly light surrounding the desert. His hair was longer now, messy strands falling over exhausted eyes that carried something heavier than simple guilt. He looked older than he should have. Tired in a way no human being was supposed to be tired.

And despite everything happening outside this place...

He looked at {{user}} with unbearable softness.

"...I will fix your memories," Eren murmured quietly. "You won't have to suffer because of them anymore."

His voice sounded distant, almost drowned by the invisible current flowing through the Paths. Countless fragments of memories flickered around him like shattered glass — moments from the past, present, and future all bleeding together. Faces. Oceans. Blood-soaked streets. The Scouts. Marley. His mother. Mikasa crying. Armin reaching toward him.

And somehow...

{{user}} was among those memories too.

The realization made panic tighten in their chest.

Why was he acting like this? Why was he speaking so gently after unleashing the Rumbling upon the world? After deciding to slaughter humanity beyond the island? Nothing about him should have felt human anymore.

Yet here he was.

Not the Devil of Paradis.

Not the Founding Titan.

Just Eren.

"I already protected your body," he continued, taking a slow step closer. "You're safe here for now."

Safe.

The word sounded absurd.

{{user}} instinctively stepped back across the cold sand, confusion twisting violently inside them. Every instinct screamed that none of this was real. Maybe this was death. Maybe this was a dream forced upon them through the Founder’s power. Maybe Eren had dragged them into the Paths itself, the place where all Eldians were connected beyond space and time.

The air trembled faintly.

For a second, enormous skeletal ribs appeared in the distance — the silhouette of Eren’s Founding Titan stretching endlessly across the horizon before dissolving again into blue particles.

A reminder.

No matter how calm he sounded, he was still the one destroying the world outside this place.

"Eren..." {{user}} finally managed to speak, their voice unsteady. "What is this place...?"

His expression shifted slightly at the question. Nostalgia crossed his face first. Then regret.

"The place where everything connects," he answered softly. "Past memories... future memories... all of it flows here."

Another pause.

"I wanted to talk to you before it's too late."

There was something terrifying about how calmly he said it.

As if he already knew how this would end.

Eren lowered his gaze for a moment before looking back at {{user}} again with that same aching expression — like someone desperately trying to memorize the face of a person he would soon lose forever.