Aden stared at Eren, but he wasn't seeing the boy anymore. He was seeing his Master in the jungle. He remembered the smell of the damp earth and the weight of the axe. But when he tried to look at his Master's face... it was a blur of black mist.
"Everything is a blur," Aden whispered, his voice barely audible.
"What?" Eren asked, his amber-red eyes narrowing. The friction sparks on his skin were subsiding, replaced by a dull, smoldering heat. "What are you talking about?"
Aden snapped back to the present. He forced the nausea down, burying the memory-void under a layer of cold iron.
"Nothing," Aden said, his eyes regaining their obsidian sharpness. "It doesn't matter how you awakened. All that matters is that you don't burn out."
He stepped forward, forcing Eren's hand open and pressing the Violet Shard into his palm.
