Chapter 19: "The Binder, the Eyes, and the Blinking Goddess"
The Archives of Aggressive Stationery were located precisely six staircases, two magical elevators, and one sarcastic slide beneath Mortax's lair.
The air buzzed with static. Shelves stretched into oblivion. Scrolls glared. Pens whispered threats.
> "I feel like the entire Dewey Decimal System wants us dead," Arcanos muttered.
> "One of those filing cabinets just bit me," Grubnuk noted cheerfully.
> "That means it likes you," Petunia said.
Somewhere in the middle of all this chaos was the One Prophecy Binder. We followed the trail of glitter and scorch marks.
That's when we found her.
The Goddess of Too Many Eyes.
She wasn't... scary, exactly. Just unsettling in a cosmic way.
Dozens of blinking eyes rotated across her shimmering form. Some big, some small. One wore reading glasses. Another was painted like a disco ball.
> "I see you," she intoned.
> "We noticed," I replied.
> "Do you seek the Binder of Glittered Fate?" she asked, every eye blinking out of sync.
> "Yes. But preferably not cursed this time," Arcanos said.
> "Everything in here is cursed," she replied. "This is an archive, not a fairy tale."
She floated toward us. Eyes blinking in Morse code. The books rearranged themselves in a panic.
> "To take the binder, you must answer a riddle."
> "Of course we do," I groaned.
> "What begins with chaos, ends in glitter, and ruins brunch when read aloud?"
> "...Our entire journey?" Petunia guessed.
The goddess blinked in approval. A loud ding echoed through the archives. The binder descended from the ceiling, glowing and snarling like a caffeinated folder.
> "Take it," she said. "And may your destiny be marginally organized."
> "Wait," I asked. "What are you the goddess of, exactly?"
> "Information. Perspective. And unsolicited opinions."
She blinked all eyes at once. Then vanished in a puff of glittery post-it notes.
We held the binder. It growled. Kevin hissed back.
We were now in possession of fate. And fate... had tabs.
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End of Chapter 19 (The binder has been retrieved. The eyes are still watching.)