Forgotten Potential |9,700 PCS|

shops, catching fragments of laughter and conversation floating through the air. Each person—human, lizardfolk, and the occasional velociraptor—moved with purpose, their lives organized into clean, predictable routines. It envied them. The dreams it once had of joining them, of clawing its way into a better life, had faded, buried under years of struggle and disappointment.

When it was young, there had been potential. A spark of intellect that teachers whispered about in halls and caretakers boasted about to strangers. But life had other plans. Hard streets had weathered that spark, turning it into a dim ember just bright enough to survive by scavenging or the odd job at the edge of legality. Today, it was just a ghost in its own city, sidestepping glances and ducking through alleys.

Then it spotted something: a crowd gathered around an open-air speech, where a politician promised reform, support for the downtrodden. It felt an old urge rise, the long-buried spark. Maybe… it could make itself seen, heard.