SIXTY ONE

(Ceres POV)

The moment I touched my forehead with Zael, I was transported into this vast white space. I started walking. As I walk further from my last position, the white vast space started to get colors, now its turning gray.

I run towards the black thing I saw from the distance and there he is, Zael, a little boy curled up in a ball position, covering his ears with the parasite hovering above him, whispering to him.

I rush towards where they are and with my axe, I swing it towards the parasite and it is pushed so far away from us that I know it will give me plenty of time to talk and save Zael. The black cloud surrounding him earlier also disappeared with the parasite.

I touched him by the hair giving it a gentle touch and he was so shocked to see me here.

"Who are you? How did you get here"-Zael.

"I'm Ceres, I heard you calling out for help"-Ceres.

"You, you're the one who answered my call earlier?"-Zael.

"Yes"-Ceres.

He got up fast and started kneeling, what caught me off-guard was him suddenly hugging me while crying begging for help.

"Please save me from that monster, I didn't mean anything I did, especially hurting my mother, I tried fighting back but it keeps whispering scary things to me then I can't control my body anymore"-Zael.

"I will try my best to help you with the limited time we…"-Ceres.

I didn't get to finish what I was about to say because I saw the parasite getting nearer to us so I again swing my axe harder than earlier so that it flew farther away this time giving me more time.

"That parasite is fast"-Ceres

This will be my first time taming someone that I don't know where to start.

I sat beside Zael and placed my hand once again to his head.

"So, how can you help me?"-Zael.

"Well I have this ability called taming…"-Ceres

I didn't get to finish once again because Zael, angrily removed my hand away from him and now have the look of distrust written all over his face.

"No, you are the same as that thing, I should have not trust you, offering me something, that is how that parasite got to me, now he is completely eating me from the inside, controlling me"-Zael.

I remain calm and level myself to him, finding the right words to say to him.

"What I am offering you Zael is friendship, companionship, that is how my ability taming works, and my taming is also the only thing that is stronger against the parasite control over you, but if you don't want to,, I will not force you but I promise I will still find a way to save you with the limited time we have"-Ceres.

Zael just stared at me for a long time, maybe thinking if he really can trust me.

"Can I really trust you?"-Zael.

"Yes"-Ceres.

"Can I really?"-Zael.

"How about this, we make a pact, if I ever do something that will betray our friendship or I do something like what the parasite is doing to you, I will get eaten by you, how's that?-Ceres.

"I can work with that, okay, I trust you"-Ceres.

"Come here"-Ceres.

I hold out both of my hands to him, he still hesitated at first but in the end he hold onto it. I explained to him that we will touch our foreheads in order to complete the pact. He closed his eyes and I closed mine. Our whole body glows, the sign that the taming is complete. Now the last thing that I need to do is find the parasite before it explode.

I saw the parasite that was coming to us earlier was now running away, and I don't know how to find it with this vast place.

"Do you know where the parasite might be? We need to kill it so that it will not hurt you anymore"-Ceres.

"I think I know where it is, it's not far from here, come on, let's kill that thing"-Zael

Zael held onto my hand and we started walking.

"How about while we walk you tell me the story how that parasite got you, I would like to hear it so I will despise it so much too"-Ceres.

Ceres just nodded his head and started telling the story.

"Mother gotten so busy that I started to feel neglected, I started doing naughty things to caught her attention, it got her attention back but then she got back to getting busy again, then I started doing experiments, creating lifeforms like she did but again when I show it to her, she ignores it, that is when I started getting angry at her, that is also when the parasite started whispering to me, it just came out of nowhere…"-Zael.

Zael got silent for a few seconds, the crack on his voice is a sign that he feels guilty that he got angry at his mother.

"Mother, reach out to me after she's done with her work but because I am angry at her and the parasite whispering bad things at me, getting my hatred burn more, I ignored her, I should have not gotten angry at her because she apologizes always at the end of the day and make sure she spends time with me, but because of that parasite again I did not see it, it makes me believe that is the only thing that was there for me…"-Zael.

"Did it appear as a parasite when it talks to you at first"-Ceres.

"No it has the appearance of a caring mother, maybe that is how it get me, I am really sorry for hurting my mother"-Zael.

So that is how they did it. Its sick.

"Then you better make it up to her when you two see each other again, apologize to ther and hug her tightly"-Ceres.

"We're here, that is where it lives"-Zael.

I look up to where Zael is pointing at and the parasite is inside this black cocoon. I will make sure it pays for tricking this scared boy hurting his mother.