Prompt 8: The Scavenger Hunt
Destiny City is hosting an annual scavenger hunt during the Star Festival to encourage people to get out and explore their city. The prize for turning in a completed scavenger hunt is a coupon booklet and a few free tickets to upcoming city events. Even if you aren’t interested in the prize, the scavenger hunt is specifically designed to take you through the city to showcase a few historic buildings, some art installations, and some of the city’s greatest accomplishments. While many of the places are familiar, during your explorations you come across a building you’ve never seen before--something that feels out of time. You’ve been in the area countless times before, so how did you miss this place? When you lay eyes on the building, you feel a strange timelessness and have the distinct sensation of being a part of something bigger. Briefly, you may see flashes of some distant past--a flickering memory that you can’t quite place or fully form. It’s hard to make out, but at some point in time you have the distinct impression of a faded figure taking your hand and telling you to do something. They sound hopeful and encouraging, like they really believe in you. By the time you blink, the visions are gone, the building is gone. The only thing that remains is a beautiful little garden and a plaque so faded that you can’t make out the inscription.
Vaylin hummed happily as she searched across the city in her human disguise. She had heard about a scavenger hunt and was intrigued by the premise of it. Participants were to search all across the city looking for hidden items and clues. The winner of this event would receive a free ticket book, something Vaylin could definitely use given the sad state of her finances here on the Earth. But even if she did not win the tickets at the very least this gave her an excuse to travel across the city to see and learn more about it's historical buildings as the locals so dubbed them. She knew not what made these places significant after all at least as far as she could tell they were not Earthen Wonders nor were they particularly old even at her tender young age of 150 years she had outlived some of these buildings. But she supposed the humans did live significantly sorter lives so perhaps their architecture tended to as well, thus these building standing as long as they had were a marvel to them.
If nothing else Vaylin would give the Human's the building were aestically pleasing. The stone and brick fascades were nice to look at. And she was impressed by the human artistry on some of the scultures and statues. She enjoyed learning the histories of these places as well learning what humans valued and what they would make these places for in the not so distant past. She loved history and learning another world's cultural background brought a smile to her face. Then she came to an place that seemed weirdly familiar.
In her mind she could remember someone taking her hand, encouraging her to do something here. But what was that, who was that, when was that!? All these questions flooded her mind. Had she really been here before, no that was impossible it was not like she had been on the Planet long enough to forget something like that but then why was the memory so real. She blinked before she realized exactly what she was standing in front of, it was a small little garden, a plaque marked the entrance but the writing was too faded for Vaylin to make out what it said. Just what was that, the voice in the memory had sounded so hopeful what was this place. What was she supposed to do. It was too much, too many questions she needed more information. She turned from the garden and began to make her why back. She passed a market stall selling little stars. She wasn't sure why but she felt compelled by the stars and wanted to have one so she used what little cash she had on hand to purchase a pink star. It was a beautiful charm. She wondered if it would be against regulations to incorporate it into her uniform. She continued to appreciate it while she thought about the strange garden maybe she would reach out to the rest of the Vanguard she still had contact with and see if any of them knew anything about it. With that thought she continued on her hunt.