Chapter 14
The Prophecy's Heart
Anya finally understands her role. She is not just a witness, but the catalyst for the Kaciu Dynasty, destined to rise from Jurbarkas's forgotten depths.
Anya traced the cool, smooth surface of the beads around her neck, each one a tiny, silent storyteller. The red lenses of her spectacles, usually a vibrant shield against Jurbarkas’s perpetual grime, seemed to dim slightly, as if absorbing the weight of the revelation that had settled upon her. It wasn’t just a whisper anymore; it was a roar in the quiet chambers of her heart. The prophecy. It wasn’t a story for someone else, a legend of a distant future. It was *her* story.
She stood on the precipice of the old filtration plant, the air thick with the metallic tang of decay and the faint, sweet scent of something growing—something resilient. Below, the city sprawled like a wounded beast, its rusted arteries of pipes and conduits snaking through the shadowed