The Ryoshi Family And It's History

<10 Years later>

*huff huff huff*

Panting sounds could be heard as a young boy of the age of 10 can be seen running on an uneven surface while being followed from behind by an aged man in his late 50's

The young boy and the elder looked alike as they shared similarities such as their short blonde hair and violet eyes the only difference being the old man having a thick long mustache and beard as well as some deep wrinkles on his forehead while the young man had a smooth youthful face.

It was quite the odd scene for this very young and old duo was running on the uneven mountain trail at a very fast pace despite their age.

"Huff huff Grandpa... Can... I...Take... A... Break...Now? huff huff" The young boy struggled to pronounce each word as he continued running on the trail.

"What!? How could you want to take a break already?! We're running at the most optimal running pace!" The old man barked at his grandson as he looked at him with an angry look.

"I..huff..can..huff..hardly..call..huff..running..huff..at..huff..the..huff..speed..huff..of..huff.. ..huff..dashing..huff..horse..huff..optimal..huff..speed..huff..not..too..mention..we've..been.. running..for..hours..now..and..it's...noon!" And with that the young boy's legs finally gave in as he fell to the ground.

The old man frowned and said, "Heishi, you need to control your breathing. Optimal pacing is useless if a person is out of breath. Look at you, we've barely run 45 kilometers and you can't continue already. Tsk tsk if you aren't able to even run 50 kilometers in 5 hours, you'll be the first to be eaten by a pure titan."

'I'm a 10-year-old kid who is being trained to run almost 14 meters per second on uneven ground. Am I really being trained to become a soldier or a ninja?!' Heishi thought but not daring to say it out loud in front of his grandpa.

Heishi recalled the past 10 years of his life. He met this grandfather of his when he was 1 year old for the old man lived deep in the mountains most of the time. He was 6 when his grandfather began training him to supposedly be a good soldier.

The training comprised of various activities such as running for 5 straight hours at gradually increasing speed, Tree branch and rugged terrain jump-dashing in absolute silence for 1 hour, tight rope sprinting for 10 minutes, flamingo standing on top of poles for 15 minutes, vine-swinging for 15 minutes, and unarmed & armed close combat as well as honing his mastery of varied weapons for 3 hours each.

He had to do the training every day of the week except for weekends making him seriously hate Mondays and love Fridays. He used to and was still wondering how a lot of those things would be useful for when he'll become a soldier. He was living in hell for 4 years though he gradually got used to it and his stamina increased by quantitative leaps.

"Alright get up, let's go back. I think you're ready to learn about our family history. Your coming of age test ceremony will be next week so it's time for you to have more awareness of our family." The old man, Nasuko Ryoshi said as he started walking back up the mountain to his cottage.

Heishi was intrigued and happy, His grandfather always refused to talk about their family history saying he was still too young and not yet ready. He stood up and followed behind his grandfather, his stamina seemingly suddenly got back to a full bar.

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(His grandfather calls his home a simple cottage but from other's perspective, it was basically a medium-sized mansion embedded into the earth.)

Inside a room deep within the manor, is a library filled with books both old and new. In this room, Heishi was sitting on a chair in front of a table with a lantern while waiting as his grandfather took a very old thick book on the very last shelf at the back of the library.

Nasuko laid down the book in front of Heishi as he sat on a chair next to him before opening the book. The book was very old, clearly seen by how yellow the book's pages were and its smell, the unique scent of aged books.

"This here is the book that tells the tale, the history of our family since our very first ancestors, Hakai and Heiwa Ryoshi nearly 2,000 years ago." Nasuko introduced to his grandson before continuing.

"Our ancestors once lived in a village in the country of Sovier, they were good friends with a young girl named Ymir whom they later found out to have fallen for ancestor Hakai.

Our ancestors went to the mountains one day collecting wild herbs when they found a cave which they were sure was not there for all the time they've gone to and fro that mountain. Curiosity got the better of them and they decided to venture inside it. There they found a large creature that resembles a demon, with ram horns on its head, a tail, and sharp teeth as well as pitch-black eyes with snake-like red slits underneath a hooded cloak behind tree roots. The creature was hungry at that time and our ancestor Heiwa offered it a fruit to relieve its hunger. The monstrosity thanked her for the fruit and introduced itself to them as The Devil of All Earth and asked her what her wish was.

During this time, the devil turned to face the entrance and our ancestors found a person hiding. It was a young man who had taken a liking to ancestor Heiwa and upon finding his cover blown, the man fled and they later found out that he moved to a country called Marley wherein he told the story of what he saw but hid the name of our ancestor and called her Krista in his story.

Anyways, Our ancestor Heiwa wished for her, ancestor Hakai and their best friend Ymir to have the power to protect themselves and the ones they love. The devil then gave them 3 mysterious spine-like creatures 1 to assimilate to each of them. Our ancestors accepted the creatures and the devil thought them how to use it, manipulate the otherworldly sand to form the body of their titan, what their abilities are and how to pass the power of their titan to someone else properly after warning them that the age upon which they'll die will be the maximum lifespan of all who shall inherit their abilities before the creatures merged with their bodies and turned them into the first 2 titans in existence.

They later returned to their village only to find it attacked by warriors of Eldia and their fellow villagers enslaved after cutting out their tongues, Ymir included. They wished to help but could not reveal their titan form for they have yet to master it, fearing that they might end up killing their loved ones in the process.

In the following months, they looked for an opportunity to give Ymir the spine-like creature in secret and help free the slaves and this they found when the slaves gave her up after a pig was freed, afraid of being the one's to be punished. This incident allowed them the chance to give her the creature but it also changed their mind and they decided to no longer free the slaves after they realized their selfishness.

They hid the creature inside a pool of water underneath a tree which they hollowed out to create the hole as they knew she would hide in it after being hunted by Fritz's group for sport.

Their plan worked and Ymir's tongue regenerated allowing her to speak again after which they were finally able to unite once more.

After Ymir found that our ancestors were about to get married, she didn't come with them and decided to return to the Eldians not wanting to be a third wheel that could ruin their relationship but our ancestors did not figure it out yet back then so they let her go and due to their sadness, they forgot to teach her what the devil taught them.

Due to the depression, Ymir let herself be enslaved by Fritz, forcing herself to love him instead to forget about Ancestor Hakai, and let him used her powers however he wanted. Years later, news came to our ancestors of Ymir becoming one of Fritz's concubines and was killed in an assassination attempt on Fritz.

Our ancestors were furious upon learning that the assassins were sent by a country through the secret manipulations of the Sovier government and unleashed their fury on their country, destroying all the cities, towns, and villages before sinking the continent where Sovier was once located in deep in the sea except for a small part of it which is now known as Paradis island, our family moved deep in the mountains away from humanity.

Our ancestor Heiwa could bring Ymir back to life through one of her abilities but for that, they needed to find her spirit which they were unable to. Ancestors Heiwa and Hakai both lived a ripe old age of 120 before dying and their only regret being that they were unable to find their friend's spirit.

That my boy is why we, as their descendants, are obligated to continue on their steps and help fulfill their life's greatest regret. Now go prepare. Once you pass your coming of age trial, the ceremony will be held wherein your mother will pass on the Life Titan to you and it will be your turn to try and find Ymir's spirit and revive her. Your father's Combustion Titan is just an added bonus to help you in your mission."

With that, Nasuko closed the book as he led his grandson out to go and think about what he just learned.