I wasn’t welcomed into the world of magic in any of the ways you’ve come to expect. No giants knocked down my cabin door in the dead of night; no pre-algebra teachers were vaporized in a surge of my deific power; I wasn’t resurrected into a new world with vast cosmic power and an implausibly doting entourage. Instead, my magical initiation came while sitting on a toilet.
The employee restroom at Brownbag Groceries was a small, uninspiring room, barely large enough to turn around without bumping into something. The walls were a dull, industrial gray; the air slightly tinged with the scent of bleach and whatever the bleach was trying to clean. It was here, in this unremarkable setting, that my life took an extraordinary turn.
I had ducked into the restroom to take an unscheduled break. It’s a trick most people learn from an early age. No one is going to call you out on it, even if you’re slacking off on work they’ll have to cover for; the fact is, someday soon they’ll “have to use the bathroom” too, and they need your good will banked for when they do. I took advantage of this unspoken truce among retail workers more often than most.
On this particular pee break, I was halfway through a listicle on the best mods for a video game I didn’t even own when I heard a musical trill that was unmistakably a notification chime. It wasn’t the sound notifications made on my own phone, but it was too close to have come from anywhere else. In fact, the sound seemed even closer than that. It almost sounded like it came from inside my head.
I didn’t have time to wonder about that. Suddenly, a translucent screen popped to life about a foot and a half in front of my face.
You have unlocked a new power: Quest!
“AH!” I jumped, dropping my phone in surprise. When my head moved, the screen followed, seeming to glow but casting no light.
My eyes darted over the words. As they did, I noticed that the screen didn’t move with my eyes. Only my head.
In movies, when people saw something unbelievable, they would always rub their eyes or clean their glasses. Somehow, I doubted cleaning my glasses would explain away this floating screen. I resisted the urge to do it anyway and focused on the text.
“I’ve unlocked a new power?” I read aloud; eyes wide. Ever since monsters began appearing a few months ago, odd things had been happening. People had started developing strange abilities. Those who used their powers to fight the monsters were making excellent money in the city, either as private defense contractors or working for the government.
I ran my fingers through my messy, blonde hair, wondering for a moment if that could be me. Could I use this new power to escape Ashton Ridge and live a life of comfort and leisure? I’d have to fight a monster or two every so often, but surely that would be simple now that I had a power of my own. Honestly, I didn’t have a particularly strong desire to “escape” the small town I lived in, but that was all most people my age talked about. Regardless, the idea of comfort and leisure certainly had an appeal.
At this point, you may have noticed that I didn’t yet know what my power could do. I had noticed this too and tried to figure out how to call up a description. There weren’t any buttons to click, but once I thought about my new power, a description appeared in a window similar to the first:
Power
Quest
Allows the user to receive Quests.
On completion, Quests will grant the user various rewards.
Rewards are commensurate to the difficulty of the Quest and the level of the Quest power.
Mana Cost: None
Oh. So maybe I wouldn’t be making money as a professional monster hunter. I felt a wave of disappointment wash over me, but I let it pass and shook it off. I couldn’t throw fireballs or summon thunderstorms, but I still had a superpower! That already put me in a better place than I had been five minutes ago. All I needed to do was pay attention and figure out what these “rewards” were that the power description had promised.
As I pondered this, I heard another chime.
New Quest!
Get to Work
Objective: Complete your shift at Brownbag Groceries.
Bonus Objective: Service with a Smile
Improve the mood of 5 customers before your shift is over.
Moods improved: 0/5
“My Quest is to do my job?” I wondered, reading the Quest description again. What, did my boss give me this power? I would have expected something more...challenging? Epic, maybe? Then again, the Quest had appeared when I was quite deliberately not doing my job. Maybe all the Quests would be this easy and I could get extra rewards for doing things I should be doing anyway. Wouldn’t that be better than Quests to go off saving princesses or whatever?
I closed the screen with a mental effort and picked up my phone. I looked down at it for a second, then decided to place it in my locker before heading back out to the store. If I was going to complete the bonus Quest, I didn’t want my phone distracting me.
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Stepping out of the break room, I adjusted my apron and grabbed my label-making gun, walking purposefully down each aisle. In canned goods, I spotted an old lady struggling to reach a can of soup on the top shelf.
“Need a hand with that?” I asked, reaching up to grab the can and handing it to her.
“Thank you, young man,” she said, smiling faintly.
I nodded and moved on, glancing at the translucent screen hovering in front of me:
Moods improved: 0/5
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
The bonus objective hadn’t updated. Frowning, I wondered what I needed to do to actually improve someone’s mood.
As I turned a corner, I saw a man in his thirties looking frustrated, staring at a shelf of pasta sauces. I approached with a friendly smile.
“Hi there, can I help you find something?” I asked.
The man sighed. “Yeah, I can't find the marinara sauce my wife likes. It’s the one with the stupid cartoon dolphin on the label.”
I took a moment to scan the shelf, spotting the sauce hidden behind a few others. “Here you go,” I said, handing it over.
“Thanks,” the man said, taking the sauce and walking away.
Once the man was gone, I pulled the Quest back up. Still no update.
“I guess the Quest does say to improve their mood. Maybe that takes more than just helping them find things.”
I decided to try a different approach: being likable.
“Just like that?” you say?
Yes.
Listen, most people know how to be charming and likable. You know how to be charming and likable. It’s just a lot of work so you don’t bother. I don’t blame you; it’s too much of a hassle for me too.
That said, I wanted to complete my bonus objective, I’d have to accept that hassle. All I needed to do was be overwhelmingly positive, ask Questions, and not be a jerk. I could do that. Well...I could do that for five people.
The next customer I saw was a young mother with a fussy toddler. She looked frazzled, her cart filled with baby supplies and groceries.
“Hey there!” I greeted warmly. “Looks like you've got your hands full. Anything I can do to help?”
The woman looked grateful. “Actually, yes. Do you have any of those teething rings? My son’s been chewing on everything lately.”
I grinned, “I’ve got a nephew like that. Follow me, I’ll show you where they are.” As we walked, I made small talk, asking about her day and sharing a story about my nephew. By the time we reached the baby aisle, she was laughing.
“You've been really helpful. Thank you,” she said, her mood visibly lifted.
“No problem, it was great to meet you,” I said with a smile.
I pulled up my Quest.
Moods improved: 1/5
I felt a rush of satisfaction. My boss was always saying I needed to apply myself more. Who knew a progress tracker was all it took?
I continued throughout the store, making a conscious effort to engage with customers on a more personal level. I complimented a kid’s band t-shirt and discussed her favorite songs, helped an old man save a dollar on his favorite cereal while sharing a joke, and helped a young couple choose the best ingredients for their dinner, all while listening as best I could.
By the time I had finished my fourth successful interaction, my friend Nathan, who was stocking shelves nearby, noticed the change in my demeanor.
“Hey, Li,” Nathan called out, smirking. “What’s gotten into you today? You’re like Mr. Customer Service all of a sudden.”
I laughed, rubbing the back of my neck. “Just trying to make the day go by faster, you know?”
Nathan smiled, “I’m glad to see you trying. I feel like you’re so competent when you want to be. You just...never want to be.”
From anyone else, that would have sounded like a dig, but I knew Nate wasn’t like that. He was a hard worker who tried to see the best in people. It was part of why we were such good friends. Nathan wanted good things for me, and because of that, sometimes got frustrated at my general apathy and laziness.
Looking at his warm smile, I considered telling Nate about my new power but decided against it. For now, it was my secret to explore. I’d see how far I could go with it before bringing anyone else into the loop. For the first time in a long while, I felt a sense of purpose, a direction that was more than just surviving another shift at Brownbag Groceries. I was ready to see where this journey would take me.
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I handed the customer their change and watched as they walked away with a smile. I heard a chime in my head and saw the translucent screen pop up again.
Quest
Get to Work
Objective: Complete your shift at Brownbag Groceries.
Bonus Objective: Service With a Smile
Improve the mood of 5 customers before your shift is over.
Moods improved: 5/5
Bonus objective complete!
Satisfied, I noticed that no rewards had appeared. I reasoned that the rewards must come only after completing the entire Quest, and I still had about two hours left on my shift. As I moved through the store, I found that actually trying with the customers didn’t just improve their mood. I was in a better mood myself.
I know this sounds like some propaganda piece your supervisor put out there to trick you into working harder. I do. Like you, I wish the truth were more cynical , but It turns out, people are more pleasant around pleasant people. It creates a kind of positivity echo chamber, and it made my shift pass, if not faster, then at least better.
As the last hours of my shift came to a close, I continued to engage more positively with customers. I was helping them find items, making small talk, and even sharing a few laughs. It was a bit of work, but it was worth it. I even managed to get a grumpy regular, Mr. Thompson, to crack a smile with a middling joke about the weather.
By the end of my shift, I felt a sense of accomplishment I hadn't felt in a long time. As I clocked out, the screen appeared once more with a triumphant chime.
Quest Completed!
Get to Work
Rewards:
3 Experience Points
$100
Bonus Objective Completed!
Service With a Smile
Rewards:
2 Experience Points
$50
1 Extra-Long Box Cutter
Suddenly, a bright orange object appeared in front of the notification window and clattered to the floor. I bent down to pick it up. It was, indeed, a box cutter like the ones we used to unpack boxes in the back. How did this work? Did it teleport from somewhere else? Did my power steal box cutters? If it wasn’t stolen, it was created. If it was created, where did the matter come from to make it? Sometimes I pretended to understand physics, and I was pretty sure this was impossible.
Well, possible or not, it was happening. I tucked the item into my pocket and pulled up my bank app to check my account balance. Sure enough, I was $150 richer.
“It’s a little sad that I can tell such a small difference,” I sighed. The income was listed as coming from “QUEST POWER.” Did I have to report this on my taxes? Would I have to launder it? Isn’t that what people did with money they got from spurious sources? They laundered it? How exactly does one launder money?
Those sounded like problems for future-me. At that moment, my shift was over, and I was ready to head home. Nathan was waiting for me as I made my way to the store entrance.
“You still good to drop me off at the school?” Nathan asked as we walked through the automatic doors.
“Yeah, no problem.”
“And you’re sure you don’t want to play? We’re ordering pizza.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“No thanks, Nate. Playing a card game with a bunch of high schoolers feels weird.”
“Dude, you just graduated, like, two months ago.”
“Yeah, but...I don’t know.” I realized Nathan had a point. Just because it felt weird didn’t mean it was weird. “You’re probably right and it’s just a stupid pride thing. Let me think about it. Maybe I’ll play next time.”
Nathan grinned triumphantly, “Great! I’ll let you borrow a deck and we can—” He stopped walking and his eyes went wide. “Liam, what is that?” All the blood had drained out of his face. He was pointing with a trembling hand at a strange creature perched on the hood of my car.
It looked a little like a raccoon, if raccoons had blood-colored fur, were the size of pit bulls, and had glowing red stripes along their tails.
The creature gave a tiny growl.
Nathan yelled in terror, stumbling backward and falling to the ground. He scurried away from the creature, panic in his eyes.
I heard a chime and a new notification window appeared before me:
New Quest!
Kill the Rage-Tail
A raccoon has evolved into a rage-tail in the parking lot of Brownbag Groceries. Its designation has changed from animal to monster.
Objective: Kill the rage-tail.
Bonus Objective: What are Friends For?
Keep Nathan Rivers alive.
My heart was pounding so hard I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. Well, that answered one Question: not all the Quests would be as easy as finishing a shift at work.