Yet another problem...

The night passed by peacefully...

Cheep Cheep Cheep

Ceres woke up early in the morning due to two small birds that were chirping.

She was very curious about where those birds came from, so she immediately stood up after stretching her body...

As she was moving, the birds felt her and flew swiftly towards a hole near the area where she placed the bags yesterday.

Ceres followed them two slowly...

When she reached there, she saw a nest. Both of them were trying to protect their eggs.

Those birds were called Swallows, these birds were thought to be extinct already...

Before the said apocalypse, people hadn't managed to keep even a pair of them because all of them were excellent flyers and very fast-moving birds!

They lost their patience to them as the end of the world was already approaching, so they just left the birds be.

"Weird, I am sure I haven't seen any of them before. I can't also see them here in this book. Are they haven't been discovered yet?"

After thinking of what kind of birds they were, she suddenly opened the book about mutated animals and plants. But still, she couldn't also see them there.

Well, she was right...

But the correct word is rediscovered. The birds strived hard in order to survive and due to the fact that these jungles or forests have numerous predators, they evolved to be extremely nimble.

They were supposed to be blue-green in color, but they evolved to become a midnight blue feathered small birds!

They only go to the dark places in the area where they can camouflage.

They are not nocturnal, just hiding and hunting small insects or even fruits in the shadows to survive.

Yesterday, when Ceres created the door and locked the cave up...

The two were already inside taking good care of their eggs, so comes the morning...

They freaked out when they saw that there was something covering the place.

Ceres suddenly took an apple, sliced it to pieces with a dagger, and tried to feed them.

"Come on, eat these. Don't worry, I won't poison or do any harm to you guys..."

The birds seemed to understand what she told them, as they slowly became a bit friendly...

They took some bite from those apple slices and flew happily around her!

After a short while playing with them, she set herself, took one of the daggers, headed to the spring to drink some water with the mug that she saw inside of one of the bags yesterday, and washed her face.

"What to do now? Hmm, I think I have to explore for a bit? It will really be boring staying here alone without doing anything."

"Alright! I will check for a river nearby, see if I can catch some fish."

While walking, she was charmed by the lush trees and extremely beautiful wildflowers around.

She picked some along the way, as she was approaching a small river.

It was not that wide, there were even some pink, yellow, red, and blue lilies that bloomed.

Colorful butterflies could also be seen!

They were enjoying their meals, as they move from a flower to another.

There were also big dragonflies that often flew up and down on the water's surface to soak their tails, every time the floor flew down...

The water was crystal clear!

It was to a point that, its enough to see everything underneath.

"Wow! I only see this kind of view from some of the storybooks that I have read. It's weird though, I can't see any animals living here, no big fish as well."

As she was standing near the river bank thinking of things, she suddenly heard the grass rustled...

Kssssssssshhh

It stopped and continued.

Riiiiiiissssssssssss

She looked around, wondering.

It seemed like something was running around encircling her.

Then immediately, she was hearing a different sound next.

Hissssssss hiss hiss hiss

She held the dagger tightly.

From what she knew...

It was coming from a snake. It could also be a big one at that, from what she was sensing around!

She moved slowly while leaving the area, and unexpectedly...

She saw a very big snake, it's head was even larger than hers...

"Ahhhhhhhh! Go away! Don't come any closer!"

It was a huge yellow reticulated python! She then frantically ran as fast as she could in order to avoid it!

After moving about five meters away from the huge scary reptile, she suddenly felt a cold thing that instantly held her feet, and pulled her back...

"No! Let go of me! Please!..."

She was screaming while having some cut all over her body came from some sharp twigs and branches where she hurtled.

She could no longer think properly then, all she could do was to cry.

The python's tail moved her upward. It was slowly opening its mouth, expanded widely, and immediately swallowed her, from her toes to her head.

The snake closed its mouth afterward...

It was feeling satisfied as it slowly moved to look for a quiet place to rest while having a very big belly bulge.

'Am I gonna die now? But I don't want to. Mom, dad... I miss you so much! Is this really the end?'

The young girl could only cry as her consciousness was slowly fading...

Ceres was just nine years old, she hadn't even enjoyed her life half to the fullest yet.

She was very heartbroken, and could only do sobs in silence...

Ceres was about to give up when suddenly, she saw an illusion of her family trying to reach out to her.

"Sweetie, no matter what you have to stay strong. We love you so much dear, we could no longer wait for the day that our family will be together once again..." Her mom told her.

'But mom...'

"No buts dear, we love you so much! We will be together soon, so wait for us!" Her dad interrupted her, and after uttering those words they slowly faded into the light.

'Mom! Dad! Don't leave me here!' *sobs*

"You have to live dear, your fate is in your hands..." Both of them finally disappeared.

In your hands...

In your hands...

In your hand...

Those words echoed inside her mind.

'My fate is in my hand...'

Out of nowhere she unconsciously clenched her fists!

Inside the big snake, she felt that her entire body was heating. But when she closed her hands tightly, Ceres felt a cold sensation on her right hand that abruptly sent electricity on her head waking her up.....

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