The Titan's Son

Kyojin no Ko (巨人の子) is the 1st chapter of the 1st volume and the 1st chapter overall of Before the Fall manga, written by Ryo Suzukaze and illustrated by Satoshi Shiki. It was released on Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Sirius November issue on September 28.

Summary
The prologue opens with an object plummeting to the surface, revealed by those nearby who hear it to be a human head. Among the witnesses is Elena Munsell, recognizing the head as her husband Heath Munsell.

Two members of the Survey Corps, Sorum Humé and Carlo Pikale, are inside the ruins inside Wall Maria, but both of them are overwhelmed by the scenario, knowing that this is the result of an encounter with mankind’s natural enemy... Titans. A happenstance with a Titan is a circumstance that not even members of the Survey Corps have the courage to face. As such, the revelation of a Titan’s appearance in the Walls is immediately carved into the psyche of Mankind, despite the reality that such memories had faded away after thirty years...

There was a confrontation between the Garrison and a group wearing black robes. Sorum was among the group guarding the gate, who sighted a pregnant woman at the head of the robed group. The woman was Elena Munsell, who had recently lost her husband, Heath, a squad-leader of the Survey Corps. Sorum was unable to get through to Elena; it was as though she was "unconscious", simply unaware of Sorum’s presence right in front of her, deaf to anything Sorum was trying to say to her. Elena simply shouted "Open the gate!" leading to the black robes chanting her statement. Sorum proceeded to shout at Elena, but to no avail; Carlo came up beside him, reminding him that it was the way of this cult to prey upon those who had fallen apart, and even to convince personnel of the Survey Corps to join their ranks.

A government official was amidst everyone near the gate, kneeling, set to be executed by more black-robed individuals. Recalling that there was an uprising occurring within the Walls, Sorum and Carlo recognized this man, realizing that the cult had lured him into a trap via what was supposed to be a reception....not that they had pity for him; Carlo was detailed in pointing out that he had been able to bask in a "refined" lifestyle, something commoners couldn’t have. But immediately after that notion, the Liberty Bell rang, intensifying the cult’s chanting, simultaneous with the government official being decapitated. The gate was opening; everyone within the district could see it, and the Stationary Guard were powerless to stop it.

When the gate was fully opened, large fingers peered through the passageway. The Bell continued to ring as an enormous, bulbous, malformed humanoid face, expressed with squinted eyes and a grin partially overlapped with melted flesh, glanced through the passageway. The Bell’s ringing was drowned out as the entire populace was wrought in terror, as the Titan proceeded to ravage the district, crushing and consuming countless people around it. The district within Wall Maria was quickly ripped apart.

Sorum calls out to Carlo, breaking him from his traumatic recollection. Sorum inquires about why the Titan wasn’t within Wall Maria at present, to which Carlo is unable to answer effectively, recalling a rumor about civilians who managed to lure it out and subsequently close the gate, but to that Carlo believes more in the possibility that the Titan "had enough of eating". With that inquiry out of the way, they remember their orders to sanitize the ruins, to dispose of corpses so as to prevent the possibility of a contamination. A little further into the ruins, they discover a hill of bodies, covered in some sort of thick residue, something that Sorum and Carlo recognize as another characteristic of the Titans, that they vomit all who were consumed. While observing the mass, Carlo discovers that Elena is among the bodies. Soon, before they can call up the Stationary Guard to handle with recovery, Carlo hears something, which he soon hears coming from inside Elena’s body.

Sorum expresses fear of the possibility that Titans can give birth through way of vomiting those they ate, all the while knowing nothing about their physiological functions. After a brief thought about what might happen, Carlo ultimately draws his sword and Sorum readies his crossbow. Upon pulling on Elena’s blouse, something erupts out of her womb, which Carlo and Sorum see to be a human baby. They are startled to witness that it is alive; they can only guess that it was still alive within the mass of bodies which the Titan had regurgitated.

"Why are you the only Titan’s child?..."

Thirteen years pass after this event. The child, having grown, sits confined in a cage amongst other exotic animals.

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Before The Fall - Chapitre 1