The dawn of the second day found Eren already at the boulder, his hands pressed against its unyielding surface. He had slept little, his mind consud by the challenge before him. The first rays of sunlight caught the determination etched into his features as he pushed, muscles straining with renewed vigor after his brief rest.
"Move," he commanded through clenched teeth, as if the stone might respond to his will alone.
The boulder remained motionless.
Hours passed. The sun climbed higher, beating down on Eren’s bare shoulders, turning them a painful red. Still, he pushed, adjusting his stance, seeking leverage where none existed. The ground beneath his feet continued to crack and compress, the earth itself yielding while the stone did not.
By midday, his hands were blistered, his arms trembling with exhaustion. Yet each ti his strength began to flag, he thought of Naia—her face, her voice, the faith she had placed in him—and found reserves he didn’t know existed.
As dusk settled over the training grounds, Viva appeared with food and water. "You need to maintain your strength," she said, placing the simple al on a flat stone nearby.
Eren didn’t look away from the boulder. "I’m not hungry."
"Starving yourself won’t move the stone."
"Neither will stopping to eat," he countered, pressing his shoulder against the rough surface, seeking a new angle of attack.
Viva sighed but didn’t press the issue. "The body needs fuel to perform. When you’re ready to acknowledge that, food will be here." She retreated to the edge of the training ground, where she maintained her vigil until night fell once more.
The third day dawned cold and clear. Eren’s lips were cracked, his eyes sunken from lack of sleep and nourishnt. The food Viva had left remained untouched. He had spent the night in ditation, seeking insight, connection to whatever power might help him overco this impossible task.
’How am I supposed to unite the seven kingdoms,’ he thought bitterly as he resud his position against the boulder, ’if I can’t even move a stone? How will I protect Naia from the dangers to co? The people who have placed their faith in —what must they think now?’
He pressed harder, his feet digging trenches in the earth as he pushed. "I’ve run my entire life," he growled, the words escaping through gritted teeth. "Always running, never achieving what matters most. Not this ti. Not again."
The boulder didn’t budge.
By the afternoon of the fourth day, a small crowd had gathered at a respectful distance to watch the Veilwalker’s ordeal. They spoke in hushed tones, so expressing admiration for his persistence, others wondering what purpose such a trial could serve.
Eren ignored them all. His world had narrowed to the feel of granite against his palms, the pressure in his muscles, the steady pattern of his breathing. He no longer counted the hours or noted the passage of the sun across the sky. Ti had beco aningless—there was only the task, the boulder, the need to prevail.
Viva continued to bring food and water, though she no longer urged him to eat. She simply placed fresh provisions nearby each evening and removed what remained untouched from the day before. Her quiet presence had beco a constant, a tether to the world beyond his struggle.
As twilight descended on the fourth day, Elena and Commander Maria approached the training grounds. Their conversation carried across the still evening air.
"Are you sure he will be able to pull this off?" Maria asked, her tone betraying rare uncertainty. "It’s been four days now."
Elena’s eyes never left Eren’s straining figure. "Watch and see."
They reached the periter of the training area just as Eren shifted his stance. Sothing had changed in his deanor—a subtle alteration that caused Elena to stiffen, her senses suddenly alert.
Eren turned slowly, his gaze eting the queen’s across the distance. Sweat beaded on Elena’s brow as those eyes locked onto hers—eyes that held knowledge they shouldn’t possess, insight that seed to pierce through pretense and protection alike.
"Can they push the boulder while I push?" Eren asked, his voice carrying a cold edge that sent shivers down the spines of those present. "You know what I an, don’t you?"
The aning was clear to everyone present. The Lens twins, masters of earth manipulation, had been maintaining the boulder’s immobility through their power. No amount of physical strength could overco their elental control.
Elena managed a smile, though it didn’t reach her eyes. "Yes."
"Then let us end this charade," Eren replied, his tone glacial.
At a nod from Elena, the Lens twins erged from the shadows where they had been concealed. They took positions on the opposite side of the boulder, their hands raised in preparation.
Eren returned to his place, setting his feet firmly, hands splayed against the stone’s surface. "Now," he commanded.
The twins began their push, their faces contorting with effort as they channeled their power through the earth and into the boulder. The resistance was imdiate and substantial—Eren could feel the stone becoming even more immovable, as if its weight had suddenly doubled.
He closed his eyes, centering himself in the mont. His breathing slowed, deepened. When his eyes opened again, they held a focus that hadn’t been there before—the clarity of one who has found the path forward after days of wandering.
Eren pushed.
"Nnnngh!" The guttural sound escaped his throat as he strained against the imnse resistance.
At first, nothing happened except the continued compression of earth beneath his feet. Then, almost imperceptibly, the boulder moved—a tremor, a fraction of an inch, but movent nonetheless.
"HAAAAA!" he bellowed, the primal sound tearing from his lungs as he felt the first sign of progress.
The Lens twins exchanged alard glances, their concentration intensifying. The veins in their foreheads bulged with effort as they poured more power into their opposition.
Eren responded by driving forward with renewed strength. "GRAAAAH!" he roared, the sound echoing across the training grounds. His feet dug channels in the earth as he advanced, pushing the massive stone before him one grueling inch at a ti. His face was a mask of determination, sweat flying from his brow with each explosive exhalation, eyes fixed on the distant circle of white stones that marked his goal.
The crowd that had gathered gasped collectively as they witnessed the impossible—a single man overcoming the combined might of the Lens twins, masters of earth manipulation. Even Commander Maria’s stoic expression cracked slightly, revealing surprise beneath.
The boulder’s progress was excruciatingly slow—each foot gained representing a monuntal expenditure of will and strength. Sweat poured down Eren’s body, his muscles quivering with the strain, but he did not relent. The twins pushed back with everything they had, their faces paling with the effort of maintaining their opposition.
Step by step, yard by yard, Eren drove the boulder toward its destination. The ground behind him was torn up, leaving trenches where his feet had fought for purchase. The air seed to thicken around them all, charged with the clash of wills made manifest.
With a final roar of effort that seed torn from the depths of his soul, Eren gave one last mighty push. "AAAAAAAAGH!" The sound was primal, almost inhuman in its intensity, rising to a crescendo as his muscles bulged with impossible strain. The boulder rolled forward, coming to rest perfectly centered within the circle of white stones.
Silence fell over the training grounds.
The Lens twins sagged to their knees, exhaustion evident in every line of their bodies. Eren remained standing, his chest heaving with exertion, eyes fixed on the boulder that had been his adversary for four days and nights.
Elena’s smile was genuine this ti, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes as she turned to Commander Maria. "Have him bathed and brought to my chamber. And inform the palace and city to maintain absolute silence tonight. The TUNA ritual will be perford."
Maria bowed slightly, her respect for the queen evident in the gesture. "As you command, my Queen."
As they departed, Elena cast one last glance at Eren, who stood victorious but spent beside the boulder. There was sothing new in her gaze—not just approval or satisfaction, but sothing deeper. Recognition, perhaps, of potential fully realized.
In the gathering twilight, Eren finally allowed himself to sink to his knees, the enormity of what he had accomplished washing over him. He had not rely moved a boulder—he had overco the direct opposition of two elental masters through sheer force of will.
’This is only the beginning,’ he thought, raising his eyes to the first stars appearing in the darkening sky. ’Only the first step toward what I must beco.’
The night air carried a sense of anticipation, as if the world itself waited to see what would erge from the TUNA ritual to co. Throughout Thornvale, silence fell like a shroud as word spread of the queen’s decree—a silence pregnant with possibility and the promise of transformation.
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