CHAPTER 32: THE FOUNDER'S WHISPER
The days counted down.
Five weeks until the fleet arrived.
Sukuna trained. He waited. He watched.
But something was changing inside him.
The dreams came every night now.
Not of fire. Not of curses.
Of memories.
Eren's memories.
"Mom, look! A bird!"
"Be careful, Eren. Don't fall."
"I won't. I'm gonna be a soldier someday. I'm gonna kill all the Titans."
"You're too young to talk about killing."
"No, I'm not. I'm strong."
"Yes, you are. You're my strong boy."
Sukuna woke up with tears on his face.
"Eren," he whispered. "You're still here."
He found Mikasa at dawn.
"I saw him. In my dreams. Eren."
Mikasa's eyes widened.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing. He was a child. Playing with his mother."
"That was before. Before the wall fell. Before everything."
Mikasa was quiet.
"Do you think he knows? That we're here? That you're in his body?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think he's trapped?"
Sukuna looked at his hands.
"I think... he's waiting."
Armin noticed the change.
"You're different today."
"I saw Eren."
Armin stopped walking.
"What?"
"In my dreams. He was a child. Playing with his mother."
"That's... that's impossible."
"Is it? His body is still alive. His memories are still here."
Armin sat down.
"If he's still in there... what does he want?"
"I don't know. But I'm going to find out."
That night, Sukuna sat alone in his room.
He closed his eyes.
"Eren," he called. "If you can hear me... show me."
Silence.
Then darkness.
And then... light.
He was standing in a field.
Green grass. Blue sky. Flowers.
And a boy.
Brown hair. Green eyes.
Eren Yeager.
"You came," the boy said.
"You called."
"I've been calling for years. You just never listened."
Sukuna stepped closer.
"Where are we?"
"Inside my head. Inside my memories. Inside the place where I've been hiding."
"Hiding from what?"
"From the truth. From what I became. From what I was going to do."
Eren sat on the grass.
"I saw it, you know. The future. Before you came."
"The Rumbling. The death of millions. The end of everything."
"I was going to do it. I was going to destroy the world."
"But then you came. And the future changed."
Sukuna sat across from him.
"I'm not here to save the world."
"I know. You're here to save yourself."
"I don't need saving."
Eren smiled.
"Everyone needs saving, Sukuna. Even kings. Even curses."
"What do you want from me?" Sukuna asked.
"I want you to finish what I started. But differently."
"How?"
"Break the curse. Free the Titans. Not by killing everyone. By giving them a choice."
"That's not how power works."
"That's how you work now. You're not the same person who woke up in my body. You've changed."
Sukuna was quiet.
"Maybe."
Eren stood up.
"The Founding Titan is listening, Sukuna. It knows you're here. It knows what you want."
"If you reach out to it, it will answer."
"But once you touch that power, you can never go back."
"Are you ready?"
Sukuna stood up.
"I'm always ready."
Eren laughed.
"Liar."
Sukuna opened his eyes.
He was back in his room.
The candle had burned out.
But something was different.
He could feel it.
The Founding Titan.
Calling to him.
"I'm coming," he whispered.
The next morning, he told Mikasa.
"I'm going to do it. I'm going to use the Founding Titan."
"When?"
"Now."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"No."
She grabbed his arm.
"I'm coming with you."
"It's dangerous."
"I don't care."
They rode to the old castle.
The same castle where Zeke had waited.
The same castle where the map still hung on the wall.
Sukuna walked to the center of the courtyard.
"Stay back," he said.
Mikasa stepped away.
He closed his eyes.
And reached out.
"I am Sukuna. King of Curses. Wielder of the Founding Titan."
"I call upon the power that sleeps within these walls."
"I call upon the Titans who rest beneath my feet."
"Answer me."
The ground shook.
Light exploded from his body.
And for a moment, Sukuna saw everything.
The past. The present. The future.
All of it.
And then... silence.
He opened his eyes.
His hands were glowing.
"It worked," he whispered.
Mikasa ran to him.
"What happened?"
"I saw everything. The walls. The Titans. The curse. The cure."
"And I saw how to end it."
He looked at her.
"But I need your help."
"Anything."
"Even if it means letting me go?"
Mikasa's face went pale.
"What do you mean?"
"To end the curse, I have to become the curse. All of it. Every Titan. Every wall. Every memory."
"I have to become the Founding Titan completely."
"And if you do?"
"I might not come back."
END OF CHAPTER 32