|Quest Link|


After having such an interesting time with Jay, Zaelith had found herself right back at the quest board, observing what her next quest would be.

"Welcome back Ms. Zaelith." The woman smiled as she shifted her attention on over to her. She could see that the pink haired woman looked more approachable and less shy than before, promoting a whole different atmosphere than before. "I see that you are having fun with these quests."

"Actually, I am. I thought these quests were going to be more.... troublesome if I am to be frank with you." Zaelith flushed as she pressed her index fingers together in a shy manner.

"A lot of people do, which tells me that you're more friendly than you let up." The woman chuckled. "But I'm sure you're not here for idle chit-chat, have you seen what you wanted to pick up next?" Zaelith once again found herself looking over the bulletin till her eyes landed on a mission called, "Checkmate". There was a picture of a little boy with large glasses, dark hair, and dark eyes staring back at her with the name, "Bart Decker", beneath it.

"How old do you have to be to post a mission?"

"We don't normally allow kids to post missions, but this one is... different." She stated. "Bart is a young boy who has a lot of troubles in his life. Most people tend to ignore him, so this is just him wanting to...talk for a bit. Just go to that location and see what he wants."

"Sure... thanks again. I'll be back!" Zaelith smiled and eagerly bounded off to the location she believed Bart was to be at.

She noted that the mission was taking place in the local park that was a huge attraction there and Zaelith couldn't be more than excited to check out that environment. Reaching her destination, the large trees that danced along the environment had excited her to her core. She could tell that the types of trees that littered here where closely related to the ones back what she's called "home" and some of the flowers that were there had bloomed to its full potential. She leaned down and pressed her fingertips onto the petals of those flowers and could feel the life behind them.

"Wow... so pretty." She commented till she heard a loud, bored sigh escape someone nearby. Standing to her full height, she turned her attention to the new person and spotted a young boy sitting at a small picnic table with a chess board  across from them with also an empty seat.

"I'm so bored!" He cried out, pressing his hands to his face and leaning down to rest his forehead against the table. Zaelith's eyebrows furrowed in concerned and she walked over to him.

"Uh... hey, are you okay?" she asked, causing the boy to turn his attention to her.

"Uh...." He seemed stunned for only a moment before he twisted in his seat to cross his arms over his small chest. "No." Zaelith hummed softly and sat down before him, messing with the small board in front of her. She could see that whatever was honestly bothering him had caused him to close himself off from others, and Zaelith couldn't help but feel for him. When she lost her adoptive parents, she herself were closed off with no one to talk to so she could, to an extent, relate to him.

"Okay... we don't' have to talk about that, but why not play a game!" She said excitedly, clasping her hands together. "Why not make a wager... If I win, you have to smile and If you win...uh... what would you want?" The little boy pressed a hand to his chin as he looked lost in thought. After a while, he smiled and began pulling out chess pieces as he said, "I know what I want. Why don't you just set your side up."

"Okay." She responded as she began laying out the pieces on her side of the board.

739/2365

Zaelith, albeit, was overlooking the board with a smile as she thought about what her first move would be. She knew, had she start off with a pawn, she would be able deflect his onslaught of future moves with her knight and Rook only. She hummed lightly, devious as always till she watched a small, balled up fist appear before her. Confused, she looked up at the boy who only stared at her with utter confidence.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who goes first." He announced. Confused, Zaelith also brought her hand out before her just as he had. As he shook his hand up and down a few times, with Zaelith hesitantly following behind him, he said, "Shoot" and suddenly, Zaelith found herself with a balled up fist while his hand was outstretched fully.

"Paper beats Rock! I win!" He smirked as he leaned back in his chair and said, "Guess I'll be going first!".

"Uh....sure. Uh, before we get started, what was that you just did?" She asked. The boy only looked confused for a few seconds before his eyes went wide and his cheeks glowed red as loud howls of laughter broke from his lips.

"You don't know what Rock, Paper, Scissors are?" At that, Zaelith's head turned down to her lap in embarrassment, her entire body screaming of discomfort at being made fun of. She didn't like the idea of being made fun of for something she clearly didn't understand. It hurt and only made her want to beat this kid at chess even more. So what if she found him frustrated in the woods, whatever happened to him prior had clearly been well deserved. "Alright, look. There's only three hand signals you need to do before you hear, "shoot". When you ball your hand up into a tight fist, you will then shake you hand up and down three times as you say, "Rock, Paper, Scissors. Shoot!" The first hand gesture is Rock and all you have to do is keep your hand the same tight ball formation like you had done in our first game. With Paper, you flex your hand to it's natural state with your palm facing downwards towards the ground. Finally, you have scissors and its hand gesture. All you have to do is extend you index and middle finger out while your thumb and its remaining fingers are folded into your palm. Kind of like a peace sign just tilted sideways and more towards your opponent." He explained while demonstrating each hand signal to Zaelith. "It's practically a game of chance but I've heard rumors that real people can predict their opponents and win every time!"

"Thank you," She said begrudgingly, "For explaining Rock, Paper, Scissors to me. Would you mind playing the game with me one more time before we get into chess?"

"Sure." With that, both the boy and Zaelith outstretched their arms and formed their hands into tight fists. With a quick, "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!" Zaelith stretched out her fingers to form the "Scissors" in her hand while the boy stood proudly with his previous answer, paper. His eyes widened at her small victory and quickly said, "You didn't go with rock?"

"And you went with paper?" Zaelith questioned back smugly, causing the boy's face to flush in anger.
"Ugh, whatever! I just taught you how to play rock, paper, scissors. I'm sure I'll be excellent in our next game!" He vowed.

"Bring it on, cupcake." Zaelith smirked as she watched the boy angirly grasp at his pawn and moved it two spaces up. Zaelith picked up a single pawn not too far away from his pawn and also moved it two spaces up. They continued to move their pawns at a slow race till there were only four pawns on each side that have yet to move, where Zaelith had already began to see a line of victory from her knight's location. Humming triumphantly, she turned her attention to the boy who seemed conflicted and lost in his head space which only brought concern to the surface for the boy. Really not wanting to interact with him after his hurtful ways prior, she couldn't help but at least try.

"What's on your mind?"

"This kid named Dylan at school has been bothering me." He responded without hesitation. "He makes fun of me because my dad is part of Blue Pegasus.  Which is one of the "stupid" guilds as he likes to call it." Zaelith couldn't help but want to nod her head, agreeing with this Dylan kid, but her personal feelings for guilds shouldn't affect someone this much. Guilds were just fractions that people join to gain fame and money. They don't actually help people, otherwise... her own adoptive parents would have survived that weird train incident all those years ago. But, as much as she wanted to agree with Dylan, she knew that siding with a bully in front of the person being bullied would just be tasteless.

"So what?" She asked instead, causing the boy to look back at her in confusion.

"What?"

"So what that's what Dylan thinks of the guild. Does he have a dad or mom in a guild?" She asked curiously.

"Well no, but-"

"No buts. It was only a yes or no question and your answer was no right? Then Dylan can't possibly know how cool your dad is. Your dad risks his life everyday to make sure that you're safe, protected, and unharmed from the world around you. This Dylan may not know this, but towns can quite possibly call on your dad for help because he's the only one that can get the job done. A lot of people think that guilds are useless and meaningless, but they do the public a great service on protecting its people when called to help. Your dad is a hero and some snot nose brat shouldn't tell you anything differently." Zaelith looked down at the kid with a sense of proudness till her own eyes widened in shock. Were those just words to make this kid actually appreciate his father or were they words that she always knew deep down, that guilds were amazing. Her problems didn't matter at the moment so she forced those questioning thoughts right up as her eyes landed on the boy who now reeked of happiness and proudness.

"You think so?"

"I know so." She smiled. After a while, Zaelith and the boy just continued to chat and goof around till she realized her clear victory was about to partake. She smiled devilishly till she heard, "You know... this has been one of the best days of my life." Her eyes grew wide at the idea someone had fun with her and as she curiously peeked over to him as he had a small look of relaxation written over his own features. "I know you probably are just some person who read my flier and think I'm just some kid who's boring, but... you really helped me today." Confused, Zaelith thought back to what she originally came out to do and realized, her mission was to speak to some kid. Realization dawned on her as she leaned back in her chair, snapping her fingers together with a quick, "Oh wait, you're Bart Decker. You looked familiar and all but to be honest, I didn't realize it was you till you just now said something. I was originally on my way to you till, well, I stopped and saw there was a kid looking real frustrated with themselves and decided to help. I completely forgot about the mission to be honest, but in any case, this was a lot of fun!" She beamed. With that, Zaelith did the unthinkable and grabbed her queen and used it to take down a single pawn, allowing passage to her side of the board for his king to get a "checkmate". Like fly on shit, Bart took his King and moved it to its forbidden place on Zaelith's side of the board, successfully trapping Zaelith's king in the process.

"I win!" He laughed loudly causing Zaelith to laugh at his enthusiasm.

"You sure did. It is getting pretty late though, so I may go back home and rest for a bit. You should do the same, okay Bart." She smiled as she stood up from her spot.

"Sure... would you mind coming to play with me again... when you're not busy?" He asked. Zaelith hummed softly to herself as she placed a finger to her chin, pondering on what to do till a teasing smile made its way to her lips.

"Sure thing. See you around!" And with that, Zaelith made her way out of the forest with a wave of her hand to Bart. She may as well go grab her earnings before heading to bed for the evening, she's been quite the busy person these last few hours.


2365/2365