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Attack On Titan - The Harsh Mistress of The City, Part 2
Attack On Titan - The Harsh Mistress of The City, Part 2
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A tepid wind blew over Rita’s skin.
She was standing on the balcony outside the windows. A broad wooden
platform had been assembled at the end, reaching out towards the circular
plaza.
The platform was a gallows.
Below, a great crowd of civilians filled the plaza to capacity. They could
be seen even in the windows of the buildings enclosing the space. The air was
alive with a low, thrumming excitement. Only the space in front of the
district hall remained empty, in a gaping semicircle.
In the center was a Titan.
Presently it sat like a baby, with its haunches on the ground and its legs
thrust out. At a glance it approximated a chubby, middle-aged man, but it was
over five meters tall. Its straight hair fell around its jawline in a sort of bob.
Its flattish features were marked with a melancholic look.
Of course, a Titan’s expressions signified nothing. The creatures had no
capacity for thought or emotion.
All they had was their craving to feed on people.
The Titan’s neck, waist, and limbs were weighed down with dense
chains that snaked off into the surrounding area. There were dozens in total.
Each fed into a powerful winding mechanism, contraptions as large as a bull
originally used to open and close the wall gates. Numerous stakes secured
them into the cobblestones.
***
“What the...?”
Gabriele crouched in the shadow of the undergrowth and squinted into
the dark, cocking his head to one side. Several men and women were moving
around under the moonlight. There were no torches or other forms of light.
They seemed to be picking fruit from the trees, grabbing carelessly; none of
them looked like farmers.
Gabriele could just about make out their whispered voices.
“Hurry it up. Be done in two hours.”
“I’m kind of tired…”
“Just shape up, okay?”
The atmosphere didn’t seem particularly cordial.
Wall Maria had fallen to a Titan attack half a year earlier. As a result,
mankind had been forced to abandon all territory outside of Wall Rose. While
The sharp-eyed man introduced himself as Klaus. Taking the lead, he wove a
path through the trees. He seemed to be aiming for another group.
The short woman had volunteered to join them and puffed up her cheeks
when Klaus told her he’d be fine by himself. In the end she’d been convinced
to stay and carry on picking fruit with the others.
Klaus walked along briskly. The dark seemed to give him no anxiety
whatsoever.
After a while they drew closer to multiple voices and figures. Here, too,
they were engaged in harvesting, but in comparison to Klaus’ group their
movements were sluggish. They exuded a sense of fear and panic. Constantly
monitoring their surroundings, they seemed to be jumping at every little
noise.
In fact, it was their behavior that was normal.
“Any runaways?” Klaus called out to a man nearby.
He left a tree where most of the fruit had been picked and shook his
head. “No, not tonight. Everyone here’s married. I doubt anyone’s thinking of
escaping by themselves.”
“I see, thanks.”
Klaus began to walk, keeping up the same brisk pace. Not once did he
turn to look at Gabriele.
No runaways. Everyone here’s married. Did that mean they all had
***
***
For half a year, Rita’s thoughts had been drifting back to one of two scenes.
The first was the instant of Duccio’s murder. His head being blown
apart, his body rising into the air, his falling slowly backwards.
Try as she might, she was unable to forget it.
***
It was night, two days after Gabriele’s addition to the organization, and
Mathias was walking through downtown with Nikki. They were on their way
to visit Rita’s mother, Doris.
Although she still lived in the same house, word was that she was like an
empty shell.
It was only to be expected.
Her husband Henning, Rita’s father, had been executed only a few
months ago on charges of selling potions to help people kill themselves.
Specifically, his torso had been devoured by “the plaza Titan” as per his
daughter’s directive.
Faced with such circumstances, no wife or mother could remain her
After crossing the woods and climbing a low hill, they reached an area where
small huts huddled next to each other.
It was an abandoned settlement. There were no corpses, and no signs
that there had ever been any. The residents must have evacuated as soon as
they’d heard of Wall Maria’s fate.
“Not too shabby, right?”
Bernhardt led them to an open space, the settlement’s square. There, a
single chair was set up next to a well.
“If you’d allow me a moment.”
Bernhardt entered a nearby hut and came back out with two similar
chairs.
***
***
THE END
The tale called Attack on Titan has many essences, but I believe one of them
is the idea of resisting.
Today, in the so-called postmodern era, we are all equally exposed to
the raging waves of the times.
Ours differ from the Cold War era of the twentieth century. Everyone
understood it as an era of nuclear war but turned a blind eye in order to enjoy
a modicum of peace.
The kind of ruin that we face now isn’t “the certain destruction of
nukes” but rather uncertainties that strangle us slowly, be they economic,
environmental, or terrorist.
Confronted with ruin, are we not exposed to the heavy pressure of
having to choose between “resisting it” and “getting slaughtered”?
Naturally, no matter the region or place, having to resist the times is a
universal. The fact that it’s not just contemporary but universal─isn’t that
why Attack on Titan became so widely loved?
***
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