Chapter 21: "Catch and Release (Mostly Catch)"
Mortax stood beneath the chandelier. The binder was mid-verse about a flaming baguette bringing forth a new age.
He raised the net. Paused. Sighed.
> "This is beneath me," he muttered.
He snapped his claws.
The binder froze. Hovered. Then dropped like a sack of dramatic glitter.
> THUMP.
We all just stared.
> "You could've done that the whole time?" I asked.
> "Obviously. I was enjoying the performance until the bread part," Mortax replied.
Grubnuk rushed forward and threw a blanket over the binder.
> "Quick! While it's stunned! Read something useful!"
Arcanos cautiously flipped it open with the edge of a spoon. It hissed but didn't bite.
Inside, the pages glowed. Scribbles danced. And then—a sentence emerged:
> "The adventurers must go to the Isle of Misplaced Ideas, where concepts long forgotten wait for their moment to ruin everything."
> "That sounds both vague and threatening," Petunia said.
> "Sounds like Tuesday," I muttered.
> "You are now officially tasked," Mortax said, dusting glitter off his scales. "Try not to make everything worse."
Kevin saluted. Clucksworth pecked the binder for good measure.
And so, with a prophecy that sounded like a mid-season filler arc, we set off again.
To the Isle of Misplaced Ideas. Where concepts go to die...
Or worse, to get implemented.
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End of Chapter 21 (Prophecies landed. Book grounded. Chaos rerouted.)