Quests pt.01

EVERLY POV:

"One minute" I yell at whoever was behind the door. Pretty impatient for an early knock. "Why so early?" I groan as I was met with an energetic Mark who was fully dressed. He smiled handing me a pastel blue envelope that was closed by a pink butterfly sticker. I look at him confused to which he smiled more widely. "Don't open it now. As soon as I leave, the game starts… you have till tonight to solve all the quests."

"What do you mean?"

"Everything will be explained in the envelope. Good luck." He ruffled my hair, hurrying out of the building. That was weird.

***You will have to solve 10 quests before the end of the day. Upon finishing 9 quests, the 10th and last quest will contain a location where you will receive your prize. Yet, upon receiving the price it will be up to you if you want to keep it or not. ;)***

What's with that weird smiley at the end?

It seems exciting. I guess he took inspiration from our talk yesterday about Aphrodite's festival, he even put a reward at the end. I noticed there is one more paper in the envelope, must be the first quest.

***QUEST 1: Solve the game found on the living room table at my apartment. The final result is a hint for the next location. They key is under the rug***

Without wasting more time, I went to change my clothes and dashed to his apartment. A torn paper? There were some sticky tape beside them too.

I scattered the paper pieces on the table and started to find the pieces that go well next to each other. Barely ten minutes have passed as I finished sticking the paper together. A blue butterfly…just like we saw the other day at the garden. Ah- how could I forget its name…? Come on Everly, think harder.

Adonis blue right!

Okay, now a location that's related? Adonis…. Adonis Café. A smile of triumph was plastered on my face after solving the first quest.

Adonis Café wasn't that far, just a few meters down the neighborhood so I walked on foot. As soon as I walked a female worker greeted me with a smile as she came closer to me. "You're Everly right?" I nodded in confusion looking at her. "Mark told us you will be coming here. Your task here is to serve two customers. Other than completing your task, Mark said to take it as a trial to see if you'll feel comfortable in this job. If you do, then you'll be welcomed as part of our team."

He's actually quite attentive and considerate. He remembers everything I say. He even remembered that I didn't want to get a job outside university because it's not comfortable. The woman led me to the behind the bar where she taught me a few instructions. Luckily, she asked me just to take two orders and give them to them without having to do the cafes and all since it'll take a lot of time to learn.

A bit more than half an hour later, I finished the quest and the woman gave me another envelope.

***Quest 3: Go to the class that you have to be the most creative in. The even numbered tables will lead the way. ***

Most creative class? I pondered over the quest for a good minute walking over to the most obvious part of the quest, university.

It must be art class. There is a total of ten tables, which makes 5 of them even. The 5 tables will lead the way? Upon reaching the class I searched for some clues on the tables but there were none. Just random scribbles from the students. What if I put the tables next to each other?

I started getting the even tables closer to each other. I tried many forms, putting 4 then 6, 2 then 6, 4 after 2 and many ways. Few minutes later, I was met with a drawing of a bus. I smiled remembering that the bus was where we first met. The scene flashed in my mind as I remembered how flustered I was at that time. I came closer to the drawing to see an arrow pointing towards the closet at the end of the class. I walked over to it, and found an envelope inside of it.

***Quest 4: The reason my mom makes pancakes ***

Pancakes.

I remembered when he made me pancakes when I had a nightmare.

"Let me cook you something delicious...my mother used to make it for me whenever I was sad. I would directly forget all my worries."

That's so vague for a quest? Does he mean sadness? So what?

I took out my phone as I searched a bit; Sad places around here.

I laughed at myself at the stupid question I just searched on the internet. How stupid of- Sad flowers…garden…

It turns out it's not that stupid. It's a ten minutes' walk from here, easy.

I walked over to the place. Weird enough I never heard of this place before, knowing that it isn't this far anyways. Even weirder that Mark knows about it even though it hasn't been a long time since he's been here. Sad flower garden… why did they call it like that?

***SAD FLOWER GARDEN

Welcome! This garden is full of purple hyacinth.

This flower symbolizes sorrow which explains the name of the garden.

No worries, being here won't cause you to be sad, so enjoy your walk! ***

I walked through the entrance, engulfed by the hundreds and hundreds of Hyacinth all around the place. They were neatly planted, rarely turning brown. It looks like they take good care of these flowers. I smiled walking around the place that I found pretty calming. Such a great place, I wish I knew about it before.

I squinted my eyes a bit coming closer to the front. There laid a flower that was obviously different that the others. It isn't even planted, still in its pot in the middle of the paths. It was pink colored, with very vibrant green leaves. I wonder who left it here.

Coming closer, I noticed an envelope. The same envelope that was used for my quests. So it was Mark. Chuckling I reached for the envelope.

***Quest 5: At the end of the garden, a little girl is accompanying her dad at work. ***

"Uncle, do you need some help?" I asked the dad as I arrived to the back of the garden. The little girl was sitting beside a small white dog, which looked like she was reading it a story. How cute. She looked at me, smiled, and then went back to reading.

"Ah-you don't have to, I still have these boxes to put inside and I'm done, Thank you for the offer young girl."

"Then I'll help you with the boxes." He smiled thanking me again.

I took a few boxes inside and soon enough we were done. "Young girl, may you live healthily. Thank you for your help today." He exclaimed as he caught his daughter that ran to him.

"Miss. I got something for you."