Basileus_Komnenos
Imperator Romanorum Βασιλεύς των Ρωμαίων
Prologue
c.840
Paradis Island, The Kingdom of Eldia
Weissman Manor, The City of Mitras
Lord Rudolph Weissman POV
“Hurry, now load everything into the carriage quickly! We are running out of time before they get here and kill us all!” a frantic Lord Rudolph shouted.
Rudolph knew his position was precarious, but he never expected that it would come to this where he the head of the illustrious Weissman family was now in direct opposition to the King which his family had served for over two millennia since the birth of the Eldian Empire when Ymir Fritz first harnessed the power of the Titan. The Power through which the once great Eldian Empire that ruled over almost the entire known world was forged. But all that glory came crashing down with the ascension of King Karl Fritz the first King of the Walls.
Rudolph’s face darkened when thought of the 145th King. In his cowardice and misbegotten sense of pacifism, brought the end of their once Great Empire during the Second Great Titan War. The King cowardly conspired with the treacherous Tyburs to deliberately undermine foundations of the Empire abandoning his people shirking away his responsibilities as a leader while their enemies pounced on those poor souls unfortunate enough to be left in the mainland where they were forced under a cruel regime that oppressed dominated them as chattel.
Of course his family like much of the old nobility stayed loyal to their King who they trusted to lead them in times of both prosperity and strife. The cowardly King of course rewarded that trust by erecting a walled City to trap his remaining subjects creating a sea of titans to prevent them from escaping to the outside world. The King then used the powers of the Founding Titans to wipe the memories and collective knowledge of his people feeding them the lie that the rest of mankind had been wiped out by the Titans outside the Walls. Of course he had among the cursed few that knew the truth.
The Weissman Family much like the Ackermans, the Oriental Clan, among a few others were immune to the effects of the Founding Titan’s power to alter memory. Of course the Ackermans and the Oriental Clan were the first to turn their backs on the King for his cowardice and his vile act of stripping his people of their memories trapping them in this pen like cattle awaiting the slaughter. Of course the Ackermans and Orientals having such dangerous information that would jeopardize the peace within the walls.
As a result the persecutions of two formerly respected noble houses began underway. They Ackermans were mercilessly hunted down by the Military Police and the King’s other lackeys until a few remained hiding in the shadows. The Oriental Clan of the nation of Hizuru which had once been a steadfast ally of Eldia, had some of its own royalty invited to settle within the walls as a fellow noble family. Now they were being persecuted. They’ve all been all but wiped out in the main cities with the few remaining survivors from what he heard likely fleeing to the outskirts of the walled city near the edge of Wall Maria. His family like the rest of its fellow Eldian Noble Houses simply looked on as the King trapped his people in his false and perverse idea of peace.
Rudolph laughed bitterly when he thought of the King’s supposed vow of pacifism. After all he still had the blood on his hands from all the people he left behind to die in the mainland, and the many poor souls who grew too curious for their own good. He remembered the case of a simple school teacher being killed for mere speculation about the outside world. While his father and grandfather simply looked on as this false utopia the King had built carried on, he was a man of sterner convictions and couldn’t stomach the thought of such a disgusting reality.
He had regained hope for the better when the current King of the Walls: Uri Reiss took the throne. He had held such high hopes for the King as he had known the King and his brother Rod Reiss in their youth. They had all initially wanted to reform the Kingdom to help liberate and free their people from the Titan Yoke that confined them within the walls. But Uri being a mere mortal was all but consumed by the accursed 145th King and his vile ideology.
As King Uri was someone he saw as a friend, and someone he respected, he deluded himself into thinking that there was some hope that a fragment of his old self that survived taking the Founding Titan. When the King had pardoned the Ackermans and ceased their persecutions welcoming the mongrel that was Kenny Ackerman or Kenny the Ripper who slit the throats of many MP’s all throughout the capital, he held hope that a new paradigm had been set for their people. He was a fool. He had tried to dumbly negotiate with the King and petition him to build a true Paradise for his people by using his power to end the Titan threat once and for all. The King rejected him out of hand.
“Pacifism, what a disgusting word,” he thought to himself.
“We...we left them behind to suffer a fate worse than death,” Rudolph said to himself.
“The Titans: those monsters keeping us all hemmed in here were our own people that were forcefully transformed and left to terrorize and cannibalize their own kind,” Rudolph thought, while the move to abandon the rest of the mainland to the Marleyans doomed the empire, I never could have imagined the scale of the retribution and violence toward our fellow Eldians.”
Rudolph remembered how he had looked in his ancestors’ archives to confirm what the truth was. He was utterly shocked and disgusted with himself and his family for standing by and doing nothing while all this went on.
Of course in his naivete he decided to confront the King in private regarding this. The King then shocked him with his intentions. Rudolph still remembered the King’s words that the Eldians needed to die to atone for their past sins. Those words utterly ravaged him to his core. And it was there he truly understood the true horror of their world.
For opposing the King’s plan his eldest son Johan and his other sons were murdered by the MP’s. He knew that he and the rest of what remained of his family were next which was why he plotted to abandon everything and flee to the edge of the Walled City: in the Confines of Wall Maria far from the reach of his rivals and the King’s cronies.
“Lord Weissman we’ve loaded the last of the luggage into the carriage,” said one of his servants
“Good bring Lady Julia and my grandson Karl quickly,” said Rudolph, “it's time we best get a move on before they get here.”
“Yes my Lord,” he said.
Lord Rudolph then gestured towards another one of his servants to come forward and looking more closely at him, he realized it was his trusted confidant and longtime friend Jahn.
Rudolph then said to him, “make sure to raze this accursed place to the ground removing all evidence that we had fled.”
“Of course your Excellency, but what about the bodies of those other MP’s who tried to kill you earlier?” he questioned Lord Rudolph.
“Disguise them as members of the household and as members of the Weissman family,” said Rudolph. “Dress the female in one of Julia’s dresses and the others in servants’ clothing and some of my fine suits.”
“Yes my Lord,” his trusted servant said.
Lord Rudolph laughed bitterly saying, “after all it's not like any of us will have any use of such fine clothes and trinkets anymore.”
“Lord Rudolph please do not say such things, despite how bad things look now, things will become better, and your family will return to reclaim this land.” he said.
Lord Rudolph then smiled saying, “I do not expect to ever see this house again in my remaining years of life. But my grandson Karl will. He will be the future of this family reclaiming his birthright: legacy of my father and his father before him.”
“Yes my Lord,” Jahn said with deference.
Lord Rudolph then looked his most trusted servant and confidant in the eye saying, “Jahn you were the closest thing I had to a friend in my life. You served me with steadfast loyalty fulfilling your every duty to the utmost of your ability. I greatly admire you for that which is why when this is over I am releasing you from my service.”
“B..but my Lord!” said Jahn, stunned at his Lord’s statement.
“Go and live out your days in peace,” said Lord Rudolph, “go find a new purpose to serve out your remaining years instead of dying in the name of this miserable failure of a man.”
After what seemed like the longest few minutes in his life, his grandson and daughter in law were brought before him.
“Ah Julia..Karl,” he said, “it is finally time for us to leave this place.”
Rudolph’s grandson approached him saying, “Grandfather where are we going? Why are we leaving so soon?”
Of course Rudolph couldn’t bear to tell him the truth of their situation. Perhaps he would when he was old enough to handle it.
Instead he said, “My dear boy Karl we’re going on a trip!”
Rudolph watched as his grandson’s face lit up with childlike enthusiasm. He felt a pang of guilt in his chest as he knew this innocence of his grandson would never last and that he would have to eventually face the cruelty and injustices of this world just like he had to.
“Can I say goodbye to friends first Grandfather?” Karl asked.
“You can tell them later Karl after we come back here okay,” Rudolph said, building on to the white lie he had told to protect his grandson’s innocence.
“Now go on inside the carriage with your mother. If you’re good I’ll give you a special treat.”
“Yes Grandfather,” said Karl as he walked towards their carriage.
Rudolph took one last look at his ancient family manor: the house of his father and his father before him , the house he had lived in his entire life. So many memories were made here, and Rudolph knew he would never see this place again before he died. He shed a single tear as he stepped into the carriage upon seeing the fire and smoke begin to spread throughout his once beloved home slowly consuming it.
Author’s Note:
Here's the the first part of my Attack on Titan Fic which I hope you guys enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If you guys like this fic you should check out my other ASOIAF fics as well.
