Chapter 14 : Some Fresh Air

Adventurer’s Log,

Well I’m off on another adventure! This time I decided to go to China! It’s an absolutely gorgeous country and my breath was taken away as I flew over it on my way to the base camp where I would be staying for six whole days. That’s right, you heard me, six days! I had impressed someone or something because even though my visa is level zero here (I guess it’s different for every country), they offered me a special where I can stay longer than normal. I think they know that I want to become a famous explorer and some higher ups just wanted to help me out with it. That’s fine by me, as my experience in France taught me, I could never have too long of a trip.

I wasted no time here. As soon as I landed I looked through the adventure board to find an adventure that talked about exploring something. I found one that seemed like it might be an exploration quest so I ran off to find the lady who had posted it. She seems really nice, but I didn’t want to waste time just talking to her, so I brought up the fact that I was there for the adventure right away. She said that I needed to go to the Forbidden City and explore the palace there. She wouldn’t say exactly what I was looking for, but said that I’d know once I found it.

I ran to the palace, barely noticing the landscape and architecture. It was really pretty in China, but in a different way from the aesthetic of France. France was more of a graceful, classic beauty, while China was more of a fierce, fighting beauty.

It took me a while, but I was able to find the hidden stairs on the ground floor of the palace and they led me down to a locked door. Luckily, when I was given this quest, the lady also gave me the keystone that unlocks the door. It’s a good thing these aren’t too heavy, I had to keep it in my pocket and I don’t want them weighing me down.

When I got in I instantly remembered just how much I enjoyed this. Time had dulled my memories slightly. I wish that I could just live in another country and spend my whole life exploring everywhere, but I know that I cannot. Dad has been feeling more and more alienated from us, but was getting better, and Mom hasn’t been helping much. I think that if I left, the whole family would fall apart.

This tomb was a little more complicated then the one in France. There were plenty of puzzles that I didn’t need to solve, but doing so would lead me to lots of treasure. I wanted to make sure that this trip was worthwhile not just in completing my dream, but also for bringing money back to my family so that we can expand our house, it’s getting very crowded with eight of us there.

There were also a lot more dive wells here. I remember having only one in France, but here they were everywhere. It was so much fun exploring them. Sometimes when I got to the bottom I’d find treasure, keystones, or even a tunnel that would lead me to secret rooms that could only be gotten to by the tunnel. The only downside to the dive wells was that I’d be soaked for hours after diving into one of them. It’s hard to get dry when you’re underground.

Sure enough, once I got to almost the last room in the tomb I found a chest that was glowing. I guess she was right that I’d know what I was looking for when I found it. I almost wish that the chest wasn’t glowing, it would have made the experience just a little harder, which would have been fantastic!

Anyway, when I left I had to grab my bicycle again, they don’t have mopeds in China, and race back to the lady I had talked to. This time I was underground only until mid afternoon, which is awesome because that means that I can start another adventure right away.

When I gave her what she wanted she informed that she had another adventure for me. Once again I needed to explore a tomb. I listened to her carefully as she explained that I needed to find some papers or something like that for her.

The tomb I had to explore looked very imposing at first. It was called the Dragon’s Maw and it really looked like it’s namesake, with smoke spewing out of it and everything. It’s a good thing that I don’t believe in superstitions. I know that it’s just a hunk of rock and can’t hurt me in the slightest.

While I was down there I found a library, but it was no ordinary library. The bookshelves were all neat and orderly except in one corner. I immediately was drawn to that corner and started looking for a hidden door.

Eventually I found it and discovered a whole room filled with treasure! This was probably my greatest find so far, even though I haven’t had many yet. However, this room was not all that I found following the path.

I also found a room full of sarcophagi that were made of a strange wood material. I couldn’t resist, I had to search them all to see if they had hidden treasures. Unfortunately was not as lucky as I had hoped to be. A few of them grabbed a hold of me and tried to lock me inside. Thankfully I was able to escape with few scratches from my close encounter.

After all the excitement of the sarcophagi, I realized that I was thoroughly exhausted and needed to sleep. I had not yet had time to purchase a tent, so I had to run back to the base camp to get some sleep. When I emerged from the stairs I was surprised to see that it was light out, and very sunny. At first I thought that exploring just made me more tired more quickly, but then I found out that I had actually been down there for an entire night and day. When I got to my bed, I collapsed from exhaustion, with plans forming in my mind for when I returned to the cave.

I ended up sleeping through the rest of the day and leaving the base camp in the early evening. This suited me just fine because I was sure that I would spend the whole night exploring the cave and could report back to the lady in the morning once she had gotten up.

However, I found the chest soon after re-entering the cave. I guess that the library was really close to the end of it. Actually, there was still more of the tomb to explore, but I was not able to because the way was blocked by a locked door that I needed a special keystone for. Disgruntled, I returned to the lady and gave her the papers she was looking for.

I decided to take a quick nap to catch me back up the normal sleep schedule and continue my adventuring in the morning. As the morning sun rose, so did I. I rushed to the adventure board and looked for something to do with tombs. Nothing jumped out at me at first, but then I noticed a post talking about a statue, with out looking at it too closely, I ran to meet the lady in question. She was at the local martial arts dojo. There, she explained that she needed me to fetch her some stones so that she could build a statue. I was disappointed that it wasn’t finding a statue, but I guess that’s what I get for not reading what I’m getting into.

It took me a long time to find everything that I needed to bring back to her and before I knew it, it was getting dark. The twilight air reminded me of home and I got an unusual feeling of slight homesickness. I tried calling my family, to check up on them, but of course no one answered. They are all just too busy doing their own thing or are too young to even answer the phone. I started to get sad, but then remembered a guy in my class who told me that if I ever needed anything, I should just give him a call. So I entered Jose’s, that’s his name by the way, number into the cell phone and heard it ring a few times, I almost hung up strangely sad that he hadn’t answered, but then I heard his voice on the other end. We ended up just talking for an hour or two and I had to walk back to the dojo in the full dark.

When I gave the lady the stones, she said that she wanted me to do something more for her, learn the martial arts skill, but I politely declined, saying that I would like to help later, but right now I wanted to do something else first. She was very understanding and even directed me to the local market so that I could get some food and souvenirs for my family.

After buying some books, both for skills and pleasure, I went to the relic shop. It’s not as exciting buying your relics as finding them yourself, but Dad had asked me to look for some very specific parts that might be here in China for him, and how could I resist? Unfortunately, she did not have any of the things that he wanted at this time. I’m not sure why he even wanted the stuff. When I talked to him last, he said that he had given up on the idea of leaving us, but maybe part of him still wants to rebuild the airship, just to see if he could do it.

I spent the next few days on various collecting quests where I was asked to bring someone some metals, or rocks in exchange for some visa points. None of these quests led to me exploring a tomb, which was rather disappointing, but they did lead me to gaining a visa level two here. So it was not all for naught. I only had a little time left here, so I approached the lady with the statue again and said that I was interested in continuing in her adventure, after all it was the closest to exploring as I could find, not that I told her that.

She recommended that I leach myself the skill at the dojo because then I’d be able to use the real equipment rather than just reading a book about. I took her advice, which may not have the smartest thing to do. Those practice dummies are really hard! It was really difficult to get started and then once I thought I was getting the hang of it, I would get whacked in the face. But I couldn’t just let some piece of wood get in my way so I kept at it until I earned my first point in the skill and a really cool belt to go with it.

I went back to her to let her know and she said that she was amazed that I had gotten the first skill so fast. She thought that I might not have learned everything that I should have and wanted me to go spar with some guy. I accepted the quest, but decided that since I only had about a day left of my vacation, to just try and randomly explore a few tombs of my own instead of waiting for the quests to do them.

However I soon discovered that it was all for naught. The places I visited had keystone locks on the entrances and I was unable to gain entry to them. I will have to return at some later date and explore these places, but my time here is up and I have to return home. I love it here in China and hope to be able to return here soon so that I can crack these tombs open and explore every nook and cranny of them.

Chapter 13 : Daily Life

Captain’s Log,

Leila has become the real mother of this family, not Ruby. I don’t know what Ruby’s problem is. She barely even acknowledges her children’s presences any more. All she does all day is garden, she starts out front then escapes to the community garden once someone comes home from work or school to take care of the youngest girls. Leila spends all her time playing with Darryl, feeding both Darryl and Arylon, and making sure that they have everything they need, especially attention. She loves playing with Darryl the best. I don’t know what it is about those two, but they are constantly wanting to spend time with each other and goof around even though their age differences are so great.

Maria and Hilda are of no use at all. They just spend their time doing their respective interests, music and logic/running. I don’t see them really interact with other parts of the family at all and I wonder if they even care about us at all. I can’t blame them if they don’t though. Ruby and I haven’t been the best role models in that aspect. I’ve been trying to be better about it in hopes that it would show them how they should be behaving around their family, after all I remember how they used to love hanging out with each other and Leila, but maybe the damage I caused is just too great for that.

Hilda has found one person that she cares about though. His name is Bronson and they met in high school. They have a class or together or something. When the girls first became teens I was afraid of them meeting boys and stuff happening, but now I kind of want them to meet people. If they find men to love, then maybe they will bring some of that caring back to their own family and even start families of their own. I’ve really started looking forward to becoming a grandpa. Maybe it would be my second chance to show my family that I really do care about them.

I still go out fishing a lot. I need to to get the last promotion for my job. However, instead of never being home, I try and go home after work and help the kids with homework, take care of Darryl and Arylon, and then in the evening head off for some quiet time and fish. It’s really relaxing and helps me deal with seven (six when Ruby’s not around, which is often) females in one household. I still get some uneasy feelings about it all, but fishing helps me calm down and reflect to put it all in perspective.

Now that Nelly is old enough to use the kitchen she has taken to it like a natural. She seemed to not like that our diet had been mostly cake for so long. Insisting that we needed a vegetable and fruit rich diet instead, she has taken the task of cooking meals and leaving them in the fridge for us. This reminded me of when Ruby and I started out life together and at first didn’t even have a stove, but once we did how much she loved cooking us food. It was a bitter sweet memory. I almost wish that Ruby and I could fall back in love and everything would end up being alright. But I’m afraid that that isn’t possible anymore.

Since sending Leila to France improved her attitude towards her family, even though it was already very good, I decided that maybe I could motivate Maria and Hilda to care about their siblings the same way. Maria had been wanting to learn the charisma skill for a long time now. She loved talking to people and wanted to know how to make more friends and keep them longer and thought that learning how to have charisma would help. We are still barely getting by, but I was able to save enough money to send her to the city hall to take a class in charisma. Hopefully she’ll want to help with the family more now and ease some of Leila’s burden.

It was Arylon’s birthday today. I showed up to cheer for her because I can’t wait to see how she grows up, but Ruby glared at me the whole time. I know that when Arylon was born, I was pretty messed up and didn’t even want to see her, I just wish that Ruby could see that I’ve changed and want to be a part of our children’s lives.

Arylon grew up well, I don’t think that it’s possible for a baby to not grow up well, and she’s a really adorable little thing.

Today happened to also be Darryl’s birthday. We were all pretty excited, but I think that Ruby may have been more excited that it was one more birthday away from her getting her lifetime dream and closer to not having to have as active role in caring for the girls. Leila kept her eyes on me, making sure that I was celebrating properly. I know that she said that the burnt bridges could be mended, but I don’t think that it can happen that quickly and she doesn’t trust me completely just yet.

Darryl was really excited. And is actually really cute. I hadn’t really noticed that before.

She also grew up well, which is kind of surprising because of the way that Ruby and I treated her. Now that she is a child I think that I might be able to relate to her better and I’m going to try and get to know her better.

We had enough money saved up, so Leila asked if she could go on a trip again. She still really wants to become a famous explorer. I agreed, after all it’s the least I can do for her because she has given so much to this family.

Chapter 12 : Change of Heart

Captain’s Log,

Ruby went into labor tonight. I don’t know if I should be happy and excited or not, but a cloud of uncaring has come over me recently.

It doesn’t really matter anyway, it was another girl. Ruby decided to name her Arylon. I just went to sleep.

No one really pays any attention to Darryl. I should feel bad about that. I know that I should take time to play with her and teach her her skills, but I no longer care. She mostly just sits and plays with her toys now.

I think that all four of the older girls were old enough to feel the tension in the air. The oldest three girls entertained themselves by reading, and doing their homework, just trying to stay out of the way as much as possible. It’s the weekend, but they were still studious which I guess is good. At least they aren’t acting up and causing me problems.

Nelly threw herself into baking. She’s not old enough to use the actual kitchen, but loves the little toy oven.

She got a call from one of her teachers that they wanted their students to get to know each other better and were pairing students off to become friends. I don’t really know how you can force someone to become friends with someone else, but Nelly decided to try anyway since it would help her in school and she needed all the help she could get.

The person that she randomly got paired up with the boy that she had met at her friends house a few days before.

She found out that his name was Clyde, and surprisingly ended up bonding really well with him after their first encounter. I think that the fact that they could both kind of tell what was happening inside the house helped them get closer. After just one day of hanging out they became good friends.

Leila had to step up to the plate once again. Ruby had disappeared, I don’t know where, and I escaped to the library. Leila ended up teaching Darryl all of her toddler skills over the weekend because she knew that once school started again Darryl would likely be ignored and not taught anything.

Hilda has a very logical mind and decided that she was going to throw herself into the pursuit of logic as she had at exercising. I think she finds cold logic appealing because it makes sense. She thinks that maybe if she can become good enough at it, then she’ll be able to solve all the problems around her.

Maria, meanwhile, wasn’t very interested in pursuing anything much right now, but decided that she wanted to change herself in hopes that it would help ease the family and make people like each other more. She’s a really friendly girl and just wanted everyone to get along.

Eventually she turned back to her music, hoping that the sweet melodies she played that soothed her so much, would be able to sooth her family as well.

When Nelly mastered the toy oven and was able to make cakes, she wandered around with nothing to do until she found the easel again.

She spent so much time working on her painting and proudly showed it to me. It wasn’t technically all that great of a painting, but the joy in her eyes as she looked at it reminded me of when I first fell in love with Ruby and had Leila. Those times back then were so much more happy. I don’t know what happened to me recently. Sure, times have been hard and I miss my family terribly, but at the same time I have a family here that stills loves me even after I’ve treated them so badly. I don’t really deserve their love, but I’m happy for it all the same.

She almost cried out of happiness when I suggested that we hang it up in the nursery. It doesn’t really match anything, but at the same time, it made her happy. That was enough for me since the painting reminded me that I could be happy, like I had been once before. And every time I see it I remember that I have been blessed with my family and need to let them know that I see it that way.

The other thing that helped me remember was reconnecting to Leila. There was just so much that felt like was dragging me down and I had no one else to turn to. Ruby and I barely spoke anymore, let alone interact as a married couple should. Leila is still my little savior. She’s looking after my family and after me as well. She sought me out made sure that I ate and slept and took care of myself even though I didn’t care too. She made me realize that I had put so much into my job, even neglecting my family for it at times, and was so close to that last promotion I needed that I shouldn’t give up right now. I told her that I was worried that I had burned too many bridges between myself and my family, but she reassured me that she and the others could understand and that everything would turn out ok.

In fact, that very next day I got promoted to Creature Robot Cross-Breeder. When I got home the girls were still at school so Ruby was the only one home. I really wanted to reconnect with her, so I gave her a huge hug as I told her that I had finally reached my dream. I think I’m still going to try and rebuild my airship, but I still want to stay with my family and make it all up to them. However, as I was hugging Ruby, I got the feeling that her heart wasn’t in it anymore. I hope things haven’t gotten so bad that it’s no longer fixable.

When Nelly came home, Leila helped her with her homework. She seemed a little frustrated at times because Nelly just seemed to not understand the most basic concepts. I’m beginning to worry about her, but I’m sure that Leila has everything under control.

Today was also Nelly’s birthday. She’s going to become a teen. Hopefully with the next stage of life, things will be just a little easier for her. She is a really sweet girl who never complains even though I’m sure she has had plenty happen to her that she could complain about.

She grew up into an absolutely gorgeous young woman. I worry that all the boys are going to be hanging around her every word. I need to take more interest in her so that she understands that life isn’t all about boys. She seems to have a rather level head on her shoulders though so I think she’ll turn out just fine.

I think that Nelly will join Leila in holding a special place in my heart. I was falling into a place that I don’t think I would have returned from and would have become a huge burden to my family if her sunny smile and painting as a child hadn’t reached me. I hope that as she ages her beautiful spirit will still remain strong.