After Bela rescues Kendrick and commits to defending Anchor, he explains that he knew this reckoning was coming. When Anchor declared independence, he made his way there because he recognized the spark that would set events in motion.
Theo asks Bela how he knew.
Bela replies, "I was born inside the corpse of a long-dead empire. Born into a family certain that their precious kingdom was not only still alive, but that any day now, it would lift itself back up and regain all its former vitality. They flew old flags outside our home and hung maps with defunct borders on our walls. They sang songs that celebrated a time that was never as simple as the songs would have you believe.
"I was surrounded by people clinging to what little they could find that did not yet appear rotten. We flew supplies to Anchor and eventually helped build the first ring and the second, a ring that made oil and gas obsolete. We melted the borders that had defined us and finally admitted our own empire's lifeblood was nothing more than the fermented remains of countless empires that had died before our own.
"How did I see this coming? Honestly, I can't understand how so many people didn't."
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