Chap­ter 4 – Prophe­cy and Ful­fill­ment begins with Tarzan embody­ing a pow­er­ful blend of jun­gle instinct and the lin­ger­ing refine­ment from his time among civ­i­lized soci­ety. After defeat­ing Numa the lion—not out of com­pas­sion, but vengeance for a pre­vi­ous wrong—he encoun­ters a dying witch-doc­tor. Though he feels no love for the old man, some­thing with­in him com­pels a rare moment of pity. He aids the witch-doc­tor, reveal­ing his iden­ti­ty as Tarzan of the Apes, a name he utters with pride despite his pri­mal regres­sion. The old man, sens­ing Tarzan’s deep­er nature, hails him as the for­est god and issues a grim warn­ing. He pre­dicts hard­ship ahead, urg­ing Tarzan to turn back from the path he now walks. But Tarzan, unmoved by omens, push­es onward, con­fi­dent in his strength and fate.

As he rejoins his Waziri war­riors, Tarzan reflects briefly on the prophe­cy but refus­es to let it affect his mis­sion. He is focused on his goal: retriev­ing the trea­sure from the ancient city of Opar. Mean­while, Wer­p­er, con­sumed by greed and haunt­ed by the threat of his cru­el mas­ter Achmet Zek, secret­ly fol­lows. Hop­ing to steal the trea­sure for him­self, Wer­p­er is wary of con­fronting Tarzan direct­ly. Instead, he choos­es the shad­ows, hid­ing and observ­ing, wait­ing for the right moment. Tarzan remains unaware of Werper’s pres­ence, his thoughts more occu­pied with logis­ti­cal plans and faint con­cerns about La, the priest­ess of Opar. Her mem­o­ry still lingers in his mind, though he brush­es it aside, con­vinced she pos­es no imme­di­ate dan­ger.

Tarzan reach­es the hid­den vaults of Opar with prac­ticed ease, slip­ping into the trea­sure cham­ber beneath the city under cov­er of night. As he gazes at the unchang­ing piles of gold and gems, he feels both sat­is­fac­tion and unease. His past con­fronta­tions here remind him of the thin line between wealth and ruin. He begins mov­ing the ingots, prepar­ing for his war­riors to help car­ry the for­tune out. Each trip brings with it flash­es of memory—La’s devo­tion, the city’s eerie silence, and the secrets buried with­in Opar’s stone cor­ri­dors. These thoughts do not slow him, but they hint at unre­solved ten­sions that may soon sur­face. As Tarzan orga­nizes the trans­port, his focus is prac­ti­cal, root­ed in ensur­ing the wealth ben­e­fits his peo­ple, not him­self.

Wer­p­er remains hid­den near­by, watch­ing greed­i­ly as Tarzan and the Waziri load the trea­sure. His pulse quick­ens as he notes the entrance route and inter­nal lay­out of the vault. Though he has no imme­di­ate plan, he believes the infor­ma­tion will lat­er allow him to return and steal what remains. Tarzan, unaware of the spy, takes a moment to rest and reflect with­in the vault. Sur­round­ed by ancient rich­es, he feels no attach­ment to their gleam. To him, gold is mere­ly a tool—valuable to oth­ers, but mean­ing­less in the wild. His sense of hon­or and duty to his peo­ple keeps him ground­ed, even when stand­ing in the heart of untold wealth.

As Tarzan gives the sig­nal for his war­riors to con­tin­ue, his focus remains fixed on com­plet­ing the trea­sure trans­fer. He doesn’t sense Wer­p­er in the shad­ows, nor sus­pect that betray­al lurks so close. To Tarzan, the mis­sion is sim­ple: secure the trea­sure for future use, pro­tect his tribe, and avoid unnec­es­sary con­flict. Yet all the while, the witch-doctor’s prophe­cy echoes qui­et­ly in the back­ground. The fore­shad­ow­ing is thick, hang­ing over every action and deci­sion. While Tarzan moves with strength and con­fi­dence, the read­er sens­es that the bal­ance may soon tip.

The chap­ter ends with a com­pelling contrast—Tarzan’s noble intent ver­sus Werper’s creep­ing treach­ery. Tarzan, moved by a sense of lega­cy and loy­al­ty, acts out of pur­pose, while Wer­p­er, dri­ven by greed and fear, seeks only per­son­al gain. Their paths, though par­al­lel for now, are set on a col­li­sion course. Sus­pense builds as both men unknow­ing­ly pre­pare for a reck­on­ing that could deter­mine the fate of the trea­sure and their lives. The prophe­cy lingers, as does the weight of deci­sions not yet made, sug­gest­ing that ful­fill­ment is near—and it may not be in the way any­one expects.