I woke up in my bed at the sound of some voices outside of my room. I look to me left and, sure enough, Nexa was gone, which means that today is the day I go outside to get some firewood with Nexa. Today will be very busy as Mother will be preparing a huge feast while Father will continue fixing up the house while the both of us get firewood for the feast.
I'm pretty sure I woke up earlier than usual, so if I try hard enough, I may be able to convince Nexa to play the Elements Game with the rest of us. I got up from my bed and walked to the door and, once I opened it, saw a scene that I never thought I would be able to see with my own eyes.
I saw my family gathered around the table and playing a small board game. The amazing thing here was the prominent lack of shouting and the fact that everyone was so civilised.
"Oh, good morning, Zen."
"Huh!?"
D-did Nexa just greet me normally?! She didn't remind me to do anything and she looks so calm that it is like she is an entirely different person!
"W-who are you? What did you do the usual Nexa?!"
"Oh, come on! Are you really THAT used to me being mad at you?I'm just in a good mood right now because Turner invited me to play a nice and relaxing Game of Elements before I go outside to gather firewood."
I looked past Nexa and saw Father give me a thumbs up. Thank you so much for doing all of the work again, Father! I will eternally feel grateful towards you! Wait, I'm starting to sound a bit like Mother...
"Okay, sorry. Anyway, can I play with all of you as well?"
"Sure."
"Just make sure you are ready to enter a competition where players will be fighting all the way to the end!"
I usually ignore Mother's comments, but in a situation like this, it really is a fight to the death. After all, this is the final game of the year and I MUST become the grand champion, no matter the cost! I will maintain my pride as the Game Champion of the family or else I won't have any other niche to occupy!
"Alright, let's restart."
"Okay."
"Fine by me."
"So, Zen, you want me to explain all of the rules?"
"Sure."
Even someone as great as me can't win a game without even knowing the rules. But, judging by the way the board looks and the fact that there is a die and some cards, I am guessing that we will need to roll the die until we reach the end, though I am a bit confused as to how the cards will figure into this.
"We will all take turns to roll the die and after we do that, we take a card. There will be a question on that card that will have us do what it describes. If we, in any way, aren't able to fulfill it, we will only be able to move half of the number of spaces we could have moved. To win, you must roll an exact number to reach the end or else you'll just move back. Is everything clear now?"
"Yes."
He didn't answer my only question, but I assume that whatever the cards say will be related to what Mother told me to memorise yesterday. It was a good thing Father and Nexa took a long time to come home as I was able to memorise all of the basic information of every element listed there.
"Let's start now. Since we will go in a counter-clockwise direction, Nexa, go first."
"Alright."
-----------------------------
"How many elements of the Periodic Table can there be?"
"Easy. There can only be 137 because if, hypothetically, a 138th element, it wouldn't be able to exist because electrons of element 137 would already be moving at the speed of light, a speed which can't be overcome."
"Correct! 6 spaces forward!"
"Heh."
I'm pretty sure your answers are the ones that are exceeding the speed of light here, Mother. This was sounded much more clam when I heard it in bed but, right now, it is exactly as Mother described it as. 'A fight to the finish'. However, I'm not going down that easily.
"Alright, 3 spaces!"
I grabbed the card and gave it to Mother so that she can read it. In this game, you let one of the other players read the question on your card. If you answer, you move the same amount of spaces as the number on your die. However, if you fail to answer within 15 seconds, someone else will be given the chance to answer and, if they answer correctly, they move an extra half of the number on their die on their next turn while the one who couldn't answer will only move half.
"What element can form the most amount of chemical compounds? Name the exact amount."
"Car-"
"Carbon is able to form almost 10 million chemical compounds, which is large majority of all existing compounds. In addition, all life on the planet is based on carbon as well."
"Correct!"
Frick!
Nexa!!!
I can tell that she is looking very pleased with herself. This is very bad for me now. Since I got an odd number, I can only move 1 and a half spaces, which is fraction and not a whole number. I'll need to somehow either lose on purpose when I get an odd number or answer someone else's question and hope I get an odd number. Since I will never allow myself to lose, I just need to steal someone else's win.
"My turn. 2 spaces. Not that good. Here, Zen."
I get a card from the board for Father's turn and read the question.
"Name all of the noble gases. Oh, this one is definitely much easier."
"They are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. Though, oganesson could be another noble gas, but it breaks the trend of being unreactive as it is highly radioactive and was only produced through synthesis, as far as I can remember."
"Yeah, I think that counts."
I move Father's piece 2 spaces forward and now, it is Nexa's turn. I should get revenge for what she did to me earlier. Nexa rolled her dice and got 5. This is my perfect opportunity!
"Is it possible for a person to set diamonds on fire?"
"Though diamonds are the hardest natural substance-"
"They are composed of carbon and the most common form of burning in our life is carbon combustion, so yes, diamonds can be burned."
"Hey! I was going to say that!"
"Well, aren't you a bit too late."
I was able to move my piece 2 and a half spaces, which brought me ever closer to the end, which was only 7 spaces away now. My only concern is Mother, who is the next one after Nexa and is also the closest to the goal, with only 3 more for her.
"Alright, my turn!"
I roll the dice and, as if everything was in slow motion, I watched as it landed on the worst possible number: 6.
Frick!
"What chemical element is produced solely through cosmic ray spallation and supernovae?"
Mayday, mayday!
Captain, we have a problem! This is a sort of situation that none of us could have anticipated or prepared for. Quite frankly, it exceeds our comprehension!
No, there is hope. Our memory should be coming back soon. We just need to pull out that memory faster!
"It... the name rhymed with moron!"
...
"Haha!"
"Wow. Amazing way of remembering."
"This is a bit sad though."
"While I do feel bad about doing this to you, Zen, I won't regret winning. The element is called boron. Make sure you don't accidentally call it moron the next time, all right?"
Welp, I lost that one.
However, I did learn one thing. Mother is basically the Chemical Queen in this family. I don't know where she even learned any of this, but what I DO know is that she committed all of it to her memory.
I look up and see everyone laughing. I smile a bit as this sort of scene hasn't happened in a very long time. It almost feels like a dream. It's like a reliving a surreal memory of the past, yet it is going on in the present.
Everyone looks so different as well. I don't know anything at all about Father and Mother's families, but I do know that we inherited their crazy looks. Nexa looks like a perfect mix of Mother and Father while I only have Mother's hair color, which is white, which is the weirdest color out of palettes.
Such a nice image should never be forgotten, ever.