Luz saw everything black for a moment, and then suddenly there was light; she half closed her eyes and realized that the sun and a clear sky had appeared above her, dotted here and there with a few white clouds. How was that possible? Until a few seconds ago she had been in Belos' gut, and even if she had come out, it should still have been night...

She sat up, and a light pleasant breeze ruffled her hair a little. She realized she was on a huge grassy meadow, full of flowers and butterflies and other insects. There were also trees, from large pines to mighty oaks, casting shadows that cooled the air around them making the temperature very mild and rewarding. In the trees there were several birds chirping, of all varieties; and at the base of the trunks there were many animals resting, from mighty lions to gentle elephants, from bison to wolves, from snakes to mice. In the center of that landscape there was a stream of crystalline water, which created lakes in which salmon, pike, trout, and any variety of fish swam; frogs, toads, newts and salamanders crowded the shore croaking and exchanging effusions.

Everything was so… quiet, placid. It seemed to be in some sort of earthly paradise.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" a familiar voice said behind her.

Luz turned and saw Belos standing next to her. He looked the same again as when he had come to offer them to come to his amusement park... when he had still used his old name, Philip, to hide his identity. Luz remembered that he had said that that body had been destroyed, so she immediately understood everything. "This isn't real, is it?"

Belos nodded. "You're in my mind now... or rather, in a tiny space of my mind that I created just for you"

Just as Luz had suspected. Her physical body was probably still in Belos' gut; what she was experiencing was just some sort of gigantic illusion. "What place is this?" she asked. "A place you knew before you became a sea monster?"

"Oh, no, not at all. There is no place like this in the real world. This is just a utopia" Belos answered her, but before he could speak again his attention seemed to be caught by something else: "Uh... look"

Luz looked down and saw a beautiful bee covered in pollen flying from flower to flower. It was so sweet and peaceful that even in that situation she couldn't stop herself from saying: "Oh... how cute...!"

"Bees are a true miracle" Belos commented. "They are very important for any ecosystem, you know? It is thanks to their pollination work that most plants survive and thrive"

"Yes, I learned it in school" Luz confirmed. "It's called... symbiosis, if I remember correctly"

"Yeah. You know, when I still was your age, no one had yet figured out how bees could fly" Belos continued talking. "The disproportion of their bodies was... absurd. No scientist understood it. The bees themselves weren't able to explain it to us. The flight of bees... should have been impossible"

"But it's possible" Luz protested. "I mean... look at it. It's flying"

"Yeah. Truly... miraculous, don't you think?" Belos told her, and then he nodded to her. "Pick up a flower"

Luz didn't understand what he wanted, but she did as she was told anyway. She picked up a beautiful gardenia bud and held it close to her nose, fully smelling it. "It's good..."

"Nothing more than an odor production system that continuously recombines, creating the scent you smell. If just one odor was a little more or less intense than the others, the result would be completely different. Yet, by pure chance, all odors are arranged on purpose to form that specific perfume" Belos said. "Isn't this also... miraculous?"

Luz looked at the flower in her hands and caressed it. "Yes, it is..."

"Like this whole world. Everything is so wonderful... everything is so... miraculous" Belos said, but suddenly the light in his eyes changed: "But this miracle... it's just a pathetic illusion, which hides what there really is behind it"

Luz jerked her head away from the flower, which had begun to dry rapidly. "Bees fly thanks to an aerodynamic system different from all others, based on the movement of air as propulsion, generating more speed. They have evolved this system to get to the flowers first, and have supplanted any other pollinator thanks to this" Belos continued to say, and his voice became more sibilant. "The flower you hold in your hand... its scent is nothing more than a masterful deception, aimed at attracting as many insects as possible who fill themselves with its pollen and spread it, helping it to multiply more and more and conquer new territories. And this applies to everything in this world. This peace, this calm... is nothing but an illusion, a ridiculous utopia. This is how the world really is!"

And suddenly, all the animals stopped peacefully coexisting with each other: they threw themselves at each other in violence and hunger. Each of them continually tried to kill the other. The wolves attacked the buffalo, tearing their flesh and devouring them, and the buffalo charged the wolves and broke the rib cages of some of them; the lions roared and attacked the elephants, who trumpeted furiously and waved their tusks; the snakes hissed and lunged at the mice, trying to swallow them. The fish in the river began to furiously eat each other, and the amphibians in turn began their hunt. In the trees the birds pecked each other away, and the hawks and the buzzards and the eagles and the owls and the tawny owls attacked and devoured many of them. Even insects began to eat each other, and mantises used their monstrous legs to grab prey and devour them, and spiders jumped out of their hiding places and imprisoned their victims in their webs. The blood flowed with a river, wetting the earth. And not only between different species, but also between members of the same species, the fights began: each wolf attacked the other to become the alpha, each lion claimed to have an extra piece of the prey, each bison clashed with the others for the right to mate. The uneaten remains of the carcasses soon fell prey to the fungi, and then the plants turned them into food and grew through them.

Luz had fallen to the ground while observing the massacre that was continually taking place before her eyes. She trembled with fear, fearing that one of the animals would come at any moment to tear her apart. Belos chuckled at that reaction of hers. "You see, Luz… this is the reality of the world where you live" he said. "The natural equilibrium is nothing other than every single individual of every single species continually trying to kill, consume and conquer as much as they can. The world is not a peaceful and idyllic place where everything has its place, but rather a continuous battlefield where everyone fights for themselves, slaughtering each other as much as they can, carrying out the most atrocious and brutal acts to survive. Even humans and other magical creatures are not immune, and are continually looking for more power, money, fame, position. They start wars by wiping out entire cities, they call cowards those who refuse to kill and heroes those who conquer kingdoms by massacring thousands of people, they do not hesitate to stab each other in order to get something more than what they have. This is the truth of this world. Nothing more than a repository of evil that follows the eternal anathema imposed since the dawn of the universe to kill, consume and conquer. A triad of words that identifies every lifeform in existence, without exception. You know, I'm personally not religious, but if there is a god I would really like to know them... they must be a really sadistic bastard to have generated a universe based on cruelty. They created a true masterpiece... even I couldn't have done better"

Luz remained paralyzed, not even daring to blink. She felt Belos' hands rest on her shoulders: "But... we can change all of this"

Luz looked at him confused. "Ho... How?"

"By becoming gods ourselves, and creating a new universe. One with rules that we will decide" Belos answered, taking her chin and turning her head, and forcing her to look him in the eyes: "Everyone always misunderstood me. When I ate, and I ate, and I ate... I didn't do it to make people suffer, but to save them. I kept all their souls in me"

"But you torture them" Luz told him.

"Only the unworthy, which unfortunately are the majority. I have spared the few pure of heart" Belos replied to her. "And when I'll free myself from this prison of water, and I'll devour the entire world and everything that exists... then I will be able to create a new universe, inside myself. A universe that will follow new laws, no longer based on the eternal competition but on balance and morality. And it will be there that I will give all those righteous souls a new home, and they will be able to live in peace and without ever having to worry about anything. Everything will have its place and nothing and no one will ever be able to hurt again someone else, and anyone who dares to break this law will be punished by me, the only god of this new world! There will be no more fairies fighting witches, no more basilisks exterminating other species, no more humans slaughtering each other in aimless war. They will live all in harmony and loving each other like brothers and sisters"

Luz bit her lip. "How can I know that is your intent?"

"Oh, come on, Luz! Don't you want to trust me?" Belos answered her. "I've always wanted just this. It's what I've wanted since I was still human and I was traveling with my brother Caleb. It was a mission of absolute importance, even if he and his fairy wife couldn't see it. I'm cleaning up the world from wickedness, and I'm creating one better than any other!"

Luz didn't trust Belos in the slightest; she seriously doubted that a monster who enjoyed making others suffer could have any good intent. "And all the kids you turned into donkeys? All the families you destroyed? All the people you tortured?"

But Belos only chuckled at those words. "Luz, Luz, that's your problem. You keep looking at me with the eyes of a mortal, but you have to change your point of view. Everything you see around you is... temporary; you and I are forever. We are beyond the common rules of morality, we are above this. We don't have to worry about making anyone suffer. People are nothing more than pathetic toys at our disposal; you and I, on the other hand, are gods. Well, in your case not yet... but you're different too". He made an annoyed noise. "Seriously, don't you realize how lucky you are? You have a wooden body, sure, which isn't beautiful... but you are immortal and ageless. You will never lose your hair, your skin will not become wrinkled, you will never become weak. You could spend the next thousand years studying every possible magic in this world, and when you were done you would be like a goddess come to earth"

"But that's not what I want!" Luz protested. "I want to be a real girl...!"

"Really? Well, then so be it!" Belos told her, and suddenly he grabbed her arm and shook her. Luz was taken aback and quickly freed herself from his grasp, but she stopped when she realized that her arm had changed. The wood it was made of was gone, and so were the joints: in its place was an arm made of flesh and skin. "This…this is a real hand…?" she whispered, unable to believe her words. "I have a real hand...!"

Belos chuckled, and then he snapped his fingers; in an instant, Luz's hand became made of wood again. "NO!" the puppet screamed, but it was all in vain as the hand didn't go back to the way it was before.

"It's useless. I can only make you a real girl in this world" Belos told her. "In the real one... you can't become one"

"T-That's not true!" Luz growled angrily; even if it had only been an illusion, for an instant she had felt real flesh, real blood, real skin... she had felt real, and as soon as Belos had snapped her fingers she was fake again. "Eda told me I can become one!"

"Ah, well, if Eda told you there's no doubt about it then" Belos said in a rather sarcastic tone. "But tell me... when did she tell you? At your first meeting... or at another time?"

Luz didn't understand where he was going with this. "She told me when I moved in with her... after you robbed me of my family"

"Really? Oh, it all seems so convenient!" Belos laughed. "You were so traumatized and broken and desperate, and suddenly your fairy godmother revealed a characteristic of yourself that gave you back the will to live!"

"Are you accusing Eda of telling me this just to entice me to move forward!?" Luz exclaimed.

"Your words, not mine. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that even if fairies boast that it's best not to lie, they're often the first to do so" Belos replied. "I mean, look at how the ones you know act! Didn't your dear aunt Lilith lie about her identity when she got hired as your girlfriend Amity's private teacher?"

"She only did it to protect her!" Luz answered, but for some strange reason she began to feel a bitter taste in her mouth.

"And giving your pupil a reason to live after an experience that traumatized them, isn't that also protecting someone?" Belos replied.

Luz continued to feel the taste in her mouth becoming more and more bitter, and in fact it even started to feel strange in her stomach, almost as if it were an infection. "If you're trying to convince me that Eda lied to me, know that you won't be able to convince me! I know it's true, I felt it when I understood what it meant to become a real girl!"

"Really? And can you say with certainty that it wasn't some magical mechanism put on you by your fairy to delude you into having achieved some success?" Belos asked her again.

Luz bit her tongue. "What… what you say makes no sense!"

"Maybe. But it's certainly more plausible than a puppet becoming a real person, which coincidentally isn't reported in any book, and which all the people who hear me talk about are amazed even though they live in a world where magic it's the order of the day" Belos replied sarcastically.

Luz's fists began to shake and she instinctively took a step back. She didn't have to listen to him... it was like Belos was getting into her head and messing everything up. "Stop putting these ideas in my head!"

"I'm not putting any ideas in your head. I'm just telling you my opinion" Belos said. "If you have these ideas in your head... it means that maybe you aren't really convinced of what your fairy godmother told you either"

"T-That's not true! I trust her!" Luz answered him by placing her hands over her ears. "She would never lie to me! She's good to me! She loves me!"

"So she would have had a very good reason to give you the will to live again after our little encounter" Belos replied. The tone of his voice became more and more amused.

Luz was starting to sweat. She shouldn't have thought about it. She shouldn't have listened to that monster! He was just trying to confuse her! He was definitely manipulating her! "I... I don't believe it! Stop talking!"

"Really, Luz?" Belos asked her, and his grin grew wider. "So can you say you're one hundred percent sure that Eda told you the truth, and that you will actually become a real girl instead of spending the rest of your life like a mere puppet?"

Luz swallowed. Damn it, why did that thought keep gnawing at her mind like a worm? She had to chase it away immediately! "Yes, okay!? I believe in Eda! And I'm sure that I can become a real girl, I am absolutely sure, I don't... NO!" she screamed as she saw her nose start to grow. "Stop! I'm not telling lies! I really believe I can become a real girl! Stop growing!"

But her nose soon became so long that she could no longer even touch the tip. Belos only laughed at the sight, and with a snap of his fingers a hundred woodpeckers flew at Luz and brought her nose back to normal in just a minute. "You shouldn't lie to yourself" he told her. "You're no longer so convinced that you can become a real girl, hm?"

Luz was turning red. "Stop it! I don't want to listen to you!" she shouted, putting her hands over her ears.

"Oh, come on, Luz. Don't act like a child" Belos told her as he gently but firmly grabbed her wrists. "Don't be upset just because your fairy godmother lied to you. After all, everyone has always lied to you, right? You're so easy to deceive..."

"I've been fooled many times... but not by Eda! She... she would never do that!" Luz said as a few tears began to flow down her face.

"You can keep denying it all you want, but deep down you know I'm right" Belos told her. "Your fairy was just feeling pity and made up a little story to keep you going. But the reality is that you are not a real girl and you never will be. Puppets are puppets forever"

Luz opened her mouth to reply, but her voice didn't leave her throat. She tried and tried to say something, but not even breath emerged from it, and what she wanted to say also disappeared from her mind. Belos's every word was like a dagger to her heart.

Seeing that he was having the desired success, Belos cupped her face with one hand and shook her in an almost loving manner. "But... this can be remedied. I, in particular... could remedy it, if only you were... kindly disposed towards me"

Luz knew she shouldn't listen to him, that monster was clearly getting into her head; it was like a parasite that was making her doubt about everything and everyone. She didn't have to listen to him, she had to continue to believe. Eda would never lie to her, and she trusted her... she shouldn't give in. Yet another part of her mind, the darker and more disheartened one, seemed to become more and more pressing. "What... what do you mean?"

Belos's grin widened, and he took her hand. "Come with me, Luz" he said, and a long country road appeared beneath their feet. "Let's walk the path together. Let's take a leisurely stroll... while I talk to you about some opportunities you have right now"

Luz swallowed, and a part of her still wanted to rebel, yet she found herself not listening to it and her feet moved almost on their own, following Belos down the path as he continued to lead her by the hand.

Belos: "With all due respect, sir, it still seems to me like there are subliminal messages here..."

Author: "I already told you no, do your part"

Belos: "Ok, but... the garden, the destroyed harmony, the guy who plays the part of the tempting devil... isn't that...?"

Author: "Do your part or I'll cut your holidays in half"

Belos: "Since when do we have holidays?"

Author: "Never, if you continue to ask questions! Go back to work!"