Alter

Swing and Ring. . .

It's dark, no wait, it's bright. Where is he? He's sinking. He can't breathe, he can’t think. His strength is being sapped.

Click.

He can breathe. His strength is returning. He feels invincible, nothing can stop him, he must destroy. Destroy. Dest—

“The Wheel of Adaptation is quite a force. Created by Isabel Fritz, granddaughter of Ymir Fritz, it adapts to any and all phenomena. Those within her isolated bloodline have been either blessed or cursed to carry this burden. It transcends the confines of space, time, gravity, and matter. Once anyone with this wheel has adapted to everything, there is nothing that can stop them. Isn't that right, Siegfried?”

What?

Who are you? Wait. Er—!

— — — — —

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Siegfried Anpassen takes this saying to the quite literal sense. Any phenomena that he endures, it is a meaningless endeavor by the world to hold him down. For he was blessed, cursed with an ability unique to his family. The Wheel of Adaptation. It is believed that his ancestor Isabel Fritz became the lover of a deity, Mahoraga. Through that union, the Anpassen family, which are loyal guards to the King of Eldia beside the Ackerman, were brought upon this world.

A familiar ceiling. “Again?” Siegfried could not help but question. This was a recurring issue. After every experiment, he would commonly have nightmares, and yet he would not remember anything except the helplessness he felt. This was the eleventh time. His body was sweating all over—or was that just water from the river in Orvud—and his breathing ragged. Just as he sat up, the door to his room opened.

“Honestly Siegfried, if you're going to wake up like this every time, we might have to find you a doctor to see what's wrong.” Ulklin stated. Ulklin is the younger brother of the one whom he must protect. The king. The Founder, Frieda Reiss. He was taken in by the Reiss after his family was killed by bandits. With his family no longer there to teach him his rightful duty, it was up to the Reiss to start from scratch. He learned how his family was created to help the king enforce his beautiful paradise. He learned of the sins that his blood and the blood of every person in the wall carried.

Staring at Ulklin, Sieg felt an overwhelming sadness that he could not understand. “Ulklin. Where am I? Where’s Florian?” The question came out before he could even process what he was saying. Ulklin looked concerned, walking up to the bed where Sieg lay.

Siegfried was enveloped in a hug by Ulklin. “It’s okay. I understand our family puts a lot of pressure on you.” Sieg wanted to deny that claim but it was true. The pressure placed upon him was immense. “I promise that if I ever feel an experiment will end in failure, I won't force you to do it.” That was comforting. Ulklin had always been the big brother that he always needed. “So you don't have to cry, okay?”

That confused the young boy. As Ulklin separated from the hug, Siegfried placed a hand under his eye. Tears. They were fresh, he was crying and he didn't know why he was. Was it the dream he had? The dream itself did seem to go on for a while. “Ah. Okay…” He didn't know how else to respond. He couldn't just say: ‘I don't know why I was crying but thanks.’ That wouldn't make any sense.

Ulklin sat there for a minute. But ultimately decided against saying anything else. He stood up and headed for the door. “Get ready, we're heading back to the chapel. Mother said that's where everyone would be today.” Nodding to confirm he heard him, Siegfried sat on the bed with his feet off the edge, he would need to bathe before he left. Ulklin had a small smile on his face as he left. He hadn't brought up the fact that Siegfried mentioned Florian, after all, he could save that as ammo for when they got to the chapel.