Luz found herself falling into what felt like an empty and dark abyss. She almost felt like she was underwater, with the difference that now she wasn't floating up thanks to the wood she was made of, but she was sliding towards the bottom as if she were tied to a chain. Assuming that that place had a bottom, of course, which is by no means a given.

She felt more and more... apathetic. All her emotions seemed to have calmed down, or rather, dormant. It was as if she no longer existed, and everything she was feeling was a reflection of what she felt before.

Was that what dying meant...?

She wanted so much to close her eyes and sleep, and disappear into that empty and silent abyss. She wanted to stop feeling everything. A part of her... a tiny part of her that was no bigger than a tiny spark of light in the depths of her mind... wanted to stay awake, but it was really hard to listen to it...

Maybe she should have let herself go.

Maybe it wasn't worth fighting for.

But she had to do it... for... for what?

For... Amity?

Who was Amity? She no longer remembered it. She had forgotten about it.

What was outside the abyss?

Was there anyone?

What was 'anyone'?

Did it matter...?

Everything was so peaceful there... why did she have to fight for something she didn't even remember...?

Maybe... she could sleep...

She could... die...?

"LUZ!"

It was as if an electric shock had just hit her, reactivating her brain; Luz suddenly took a deep breath as if she had been without air for decades, and she could feel her strength returning again. Without any warning her memory seemed to spark, and a flood of good and bad, wonderful and terrifying, lovely and sad memories made its way into her mind, reminding her of who she was, why she was there, what was happening, who those people were. people and what the outside looked like. She looked up and saw Stringbean in front of her, who however had become ethereal and almost incorporeal. "You... managed to come and wake me up...!"

"Yes, we did" another voice said, and the ethereal image of the Collector appeared next to Stringbean. "Having chosen you as her master, this Snakeshifter is bound to your soul. Through her I was able to track you down"

A wide smile spread across Luz's face: "Yes! I knew you wouldn't disappoint me, Stringbean! You knew exactly what you had to do!"

"So you really had this all planned out from the beginning?" Stringbean asked her in a stern tone. "How did you know I could track your soul?"

"Well... I guessed it a bit based on what I know about magic wands and flying brooms, and then... I decided to try my luck" Luz answered her. "I figured the world's most powerful and ancient magical scepter would have some way of finding me!"

"First of all, I'm not the most powerful or oldest Snakeshifter, although I'm definitely at least in the top ten" Stringbean told her while flicking her head with her tail. "And anyway you just admitted that you weren't sure if I could come and wake you up! You were irresponsible!"

"This time I have to agree with her" the Collector said with some insecurity. "Luz, what you did was crazy to say the least!"

The puppet turned red. "I didn't have time to think about every detail, okay? If I had lingered too long Belos would have broken mom's back, or Amity, or Eda, or Vee, or..."

"Okay, okay, you're excused" Stringbean interrupted her by flying around her. "Rather, I hope you have at least planned the part of the plan that comes after being possessed by a super-powered monster. I hope you have something good in mind, because now that Belos has your body there is nothing left that can stop it. If you fail, you will be the one who doomed the world"

"The universe" the Collector corrected her.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement, I really needed to feel some pressure right now!" Luz told them with a lot of irritation in her voice. "Anyway, yes, I have a plan. It's a crazy move, but it's the only one we have left"

"What is it about?" Stringbean asked her. "Do you have a way to break the contract?"

"Of course not, I don't want to break the contract! If I did it Belos would just come out of my body" Luz replied to her. "I want him to stay here. My only obligation was to let him enter into my body, and I already did so; I'm the one in charge now. Kind of like what happened to Amity's parents... you don't have to formulate a contract that is too vague, or the winning party gets total control... or almost so"

Stringbean and the Collector didn't know that story, but they didn't care. "Don't think you can use the contract to keep Belos on a leash. He'll tear you to pieces" the divine child warned her.

"And I don't want it in fact" Luz replied shaking her head. "All I want is for Belos to not be able to attack anyone while I'm here... exactly where I wanted to go"

Stringbean raised an eyebrow. "You wanted to get here? You mean... have direct access to his soul? Why?"

Luz took a deep breath. "It is not possible to hurt Belos from the outside... but we can do it from the inside. Right now he is using the light magic within me to balance his dark magic and keep himself stable. But what if we altered this balance in favor of light magic, for him my body would be like poison"

Both Stringbean and the Collector looked at her in amazement. "Light magic is stronger and destroys dark magic..." Stringbean muttered to himself. "If we could increase its power enough..."

"... it would be possible to erase Belos" the Collector anticipated, but then added: "But he would definitely notice. He will intervene to stop you. And the light magic you would need is enormous. The chances of success are almost zero"

"Almost zero is already a big enough number for me. Even the circumstances that allowed me to be born had an almost zero chance of occurring, and yet here I am! As long as there is a possibility, there is hope" Luz answered them. "We must at least try! It's the only way to truly stop this monster!"

The Collector and Stringbean looked at each other. Both had unconvinced and doubtful faces, and rightly so. If Belos had noticed such an attempt at sabotage from within, he would almost certainly have torn Luz's soul apart or imprisoned her in some hell of torture and torment for all eternity. It also had to be said, however, that in fact they hadn't managed to defeat him in any other way, and that could have been a real possibility...

Luz let out a long sigh. "Look, I know this isn't a plan that takes all contingencies into account, but we're here now and we can't go back! So do you want to keep scolding me for being too impulsive, or would you rather start doing something?"

"Even if we decide to let you carry out this crazy plan, how do you think you can increase the power of the light magic within you?" Stringbean asked her. "There aren't many sources here. We're inside Belos, in case you forgot! There's just a lot of dark magic around us, and there is a lot of it"

"No, instead, there is something else. I told you, Belos possessing me sent me exactly where I wanted to go" Luz answered her. "That monster keeps the souls of all his victims imprisoned within himself, and I believe that now they are not far away. We can take advantage of his own cruelty and get help from them. Collector, can you sense them?"

The divine child closed his eyes and seemed to listen deeply to his surroundings, and not with his ears but with his own spirit. "It's true. They're all around us. But how can they help us?"

"They can help me if they believe in me" Luz replied. "King explained to me that light magic absorbs positive emotions and converts them into power. This is how Amity managed to balance even the essence of Grometheus. And now there are millions, maybe even billions of souls around us! Even if each of them could provide a tiny spark of trust and hope, now that Belos and I are one it would be like someone had just injected something toxic into his veins!"

"Luz, the souls I sense are broken inside" the Collector told her. "I doubt if any of them are still capable of feeling anything other than despair and suffering"

"But it's worth a try" Luz replied. "Wake them up, like you woke me up. Let me talk to them"

"This is definitely the craziest plan I've ever heard. You're really weird" Stringbean commented, but then she added: "If you can actually do what you say, I swear you'll be my mistress for life"

Luz's eyes lit up. "Really!?"

"Yes! But in case you haven't noticed, I was rhetorical!" Stringbean answered her by visually blushing. "I really don't think you'll make it, so the problem doesn't arise!"

Despite those last words, Luz didn't lose her smile, and instead she took the snake and hugged her to her chest. "Thank you so much! I'll be a good mistress, I promise!"

"Urgh... you don't even know if you'll still be alive in ten minutes!" Stringbena replied, although she didn't seem to dislike the hug too much.

"Instead I know. I'm sure we'll make it, all together!" Luz answered her, and then she took on determined eyes: "Collector... wake up everyone. Free these souls from their sleep!"

The divine child nodded, and he clapped his hands loudly: even if in that astral form his powers were somewhat limited, it was still enough to create an impulse that seemed to shake every soul contained in that dark abyss. When they all woke up, millions of voices immediately started screaming.

"What happens!?"

"Why did we wake up!?"

"Is this a new torture!?"

Seeing that the situation was rapidly deteriorating, Luz quickly introduced herself: "Um... hello! Sorry for the rude awakening, but I needed your help!"

The voices around her fell silent for a moment, and then they began again even more intensely than before.

"Help?"

"What is she talking about?"

"What help do you hope to receive here?"

"There's no help in here, girl"

"Surrender now, like we did"

"It is useless to hope for a miracle"

"The sooner you'll accept your fate, the less you'll despair over something impossible"

Luz bit her lip. The Collector hadn't exaggerated: the desperation and suffering of those souls was almost palpable. It was clear that all of them had given up all hope. They probably no longer remembered what it meant to feel joy, love, happiness, or even any non-negative emotion.

She probably wouldn't have achieved much by continuing to talk to all of them, so she decided to take the initiative with just one of them: she noticed a crab that was floating not far from her and tried to reach him, but she realized that even if it seemed being immersed in water she could hardly swim. Seeing her so in difficulty, Stringbean wrapped his arm around her and gave her a hand, dragging her to where she wanted to go. Luz smiled at her: even if the little snake continued to display skepticism and little trust, it was clear that she too wanted that plan to succeed. Luz then reached the crab and took him in her hands. "Hi. What's your name?"

The crab widened his eyes and seemed to recognize her only then. "Oh... but it's you! You're that puppet I brought here on the ship...!"

"What? Wait... you're Steve!? The helmsman!?" Luz exclaimed in amazement.

The crab nodded. "Matt... can you tell me if he's okay? Belos had captured him...!"

"He's fine, don't worry. But why do you care...?" Luz was asking him, but her eyes widened as she remembered what Matt had once told her. "Wait a minute... are you THAT Steve!? Matt's big brother!?"

"Yes, it's me" the crab confirmed. "And if you're here now too, Luz, it means Belos got what he wanted, which couldn't make me sadder. The monster won"

"No! Don't be sad! He still didn't win!" Luz told him, but she did it loudly for everyone to hear. "We have a chance to eliminate this monster forever, but I need you not to be sad! I need you to believe in me, to put your trust in me, to find hope again!"

"Hope?" Steve repeated with a sad laugh. "There is no hope here, Luz. I wish it were different, but it isn't"

And the other voices also said the same thing.

"None of us have any hope"

"There's no point in having it"

"Here desperation is what that reigns"

"You are not allowed to have hope"

"Abandon this dream of yours and let yourself go to the horrors of this place"

"Hoping will only make it harder to deal with them"

"I know you're afraid to put your hope in me" Luz told them. "You have no reason to, after all. I'm just a little girl, and I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. But this time I won't do it. If we all believe together we can do it..."

"It doesn't make sense" Steve told her. "Luz, we would all like to hope again, but it is not possible. We are now the slaves and entertainment of the cruel Belos. The only thing he allows us to experience is suffering; when we look into our memories and admire even the beautiful memories, we can only cry knowing that we will never experience that happiness again. This is the fate of all those who end up in this eternal prison. We wish it were otherwise, but it is not; and your sweet words have no power to move us and free us from our misery"

But Luz, contrary to his expectations, smiled at him. "If my words aren't enough, then let me show you!" she told him, and she took Stringbean and with a quick movement of the magical scepter several images appeared around her.

Her mother's beautiful smile.

Willow's proud eyes.

Gus laughing and doing one of his illusionist tricks.

The old Bump's happy, paternal expression.

The shrew and messy Eda, who however always managed to put a smile back on her face even in the most horrible moments.

Vee's tears of joy when she welcomed her into the family.

Masha and that adorable basilisk holding hands and then kissing.

Viney leaping from one ship's mast to another like a monkey, laughing as she chased Puddles.

Jerbo experimenting with his inventions.

Barcus having fun with his friend.

Captain Salty looking proudly at his crew and especially his first officer.

Matt, despite his constant annoyed appearance, showing that he cared a lot about others, especially Gus.

Lilith reuniting with Eda and acting like a kind aunt towards her.

The first meeting with King.

Boscha playing rugby.

Skara finally confessing her feelings to Boscha.

Cat and Amelia laughing at a joke.

Hunter putting away his soldier uniform for once and just caring about acting like a normal guy, and getting pretty close to Willow.

Raine playing music.

Darius doing something funny and embarrassing his friend.

Katya, Amber and Derwin rehearsing for their upcoming concert.

Edric teasing his sister.

Emira who very lovingly picked up her brother with pillows.

Amity showing all her courage and strength of mind, and then kissing her making such beautiful and wonderful love blossom.

"I can show you images that contain a lot of hope, love, friendship, fortitude, courage, ambition. And I can tell you many stories" Luz said aloud. "I can tell you about a stupid arrogant puppet who behaved like a bad girl, and because of this many misfortunes happened to her; and who experienced much suffering and many sorrows. But it was precisely through those misfortunes that that puppet grew up. She was deceived by thieves, but she treasured that experience and then took her revenge. Some bullies played a bad joke on her, but she then found the strength to forgive them, and those bullies became her great friends and one of them became the most important person of her life. She told many lies, and as punishment her nose grew until it came out of the window, but she learned the lesson and from then on she only loved the truth. She skipped school and became a donkey, but then she returned to normal. She lost her mother, her sister, and almost all her friends... but she found a fairy who became her second mother for her, and other friends who loved her as much as the old ones had loved her, and even someone that love her so much that became her girlfriend. And I could tell you so many stories that a whole day would not be enough to list them, and all of them have a nice happy ending"

All the souls of that abyss had calmed down, and were observing her with an almost maniacal interest; Steve himself had fallen silent and was observing her in admiration. All of them almost seemed to be trying to immerse themselves in the images they were shown. Luz smiled, and then she looked at them with a more determined look than ever. "But all the stories I told you had a happy ending because that stupid arrogant puppet never lost her hope. Even in the darkest moments, those moments when she just wanted to disappear and was convinced that the world would be better without her, she found the strength to carry on. Every time she chose to hope that she could be different, that things could be different. And every time, even if often with difficulty, even when life took something from her then gave something else back, almost like if it were a reward for her tenacity. Because this is hope"

Luz moved Stringbean, and in front of her appeared the image of all her friends, her family, and her girlfriend, together and happy. "And now, that puppet hopes that this will be the future that it will give to these people. Not a future where Belos wins, but one where peace can reign in the world again. That puppet is not a heroine, she does not have great abilities or supernatural powers; but still, she continues to hope. Even now, in the darkest moment the world has ever known, she hopes that she will stop this monster, that she will come home to the people she cares about, and that she will become a real girl! And no one can take this dream away from her, not even the cruel Belos!". He addressed all the souls present: "I know that you have lost hope, but please, regain it! Remember what it means to dream! Because I tell you, you have never actually lost hope; you have only been deluded of this. Because hope cannot die! Dreams can't die! Nothing can kill hope, not even Belos! He locked you up here because in his arrogance he thought he could defeat it, but in doing so he did nothing but lay the foundations for his own destruction! Now you are all here, and you can defeat him with that only thing that he cannot comprehend! So... have hope! Believe in something, anything! Choose a dream... and entrust it to me! Let the light magic within me shine with your hope, so that I can use it to burn Belos once and for all! Take this leap of faith! Believe again in something! Believe... in me!"

There was a long moment of silence, in which no one said anything. And then suddenly Steve exclaimed in a determined voice: "I hope you can save my brother, and bring him home, and that he can be happy with that spider friend of his!"

And immediately, millions upon millions of voices began to resonate again in the dark abyss; but what they said were no longer sentences of desperation and suffering, but rather courageous words full of dreams.

"I hope you eliminate this monster!"

"I hope you free the sea again!"

"I hope you allow the world to know peace again!"

"I hope you punish Belos for all his wickedness!"

"I hope you save all the people dear to you!"

"I hope you can relive all the beautiful things you showed us!"

"I hope you can live many more of them!"

And suddenly, the abyss was no longer dark; one after another, the souls contained in it shone, and were visible like many beautiful rising stars. An entire universe seemed to take shape around Luz, and the puppet was at the center of it; and it was as if that light converged towards her, making her brighter than a sun, which however did not darken all the other stars, but only made them brighter. "Then let's show Belos that he can't take away our hope!" Luz exclaimed, and her voice seemed to rumble throughout the abyss like thunder; and the light expanded and grew stronger and hotter, and drove out and burned away all the darkness around it, until it met what looked like a wall, as if it were surrounded by some sort of casing. But that certainly wasn't enough to stop her. "In your face, monster!" Luz screamed loudly, and the light grew stronger and violently cracked a piece of the wall, exploding outward.

Belos: "Let me get this straight, the way they defeat me is that the hero of the story will take a leap of faith by letting herself be possessed by me to destroy me from the inside?"

Author: "Exactly. What's wrong with that?"

Belos: "Do you even have the nerve to ask me? You took it from Matrix! That's basically how Neo defeats Agent Smith!"

Author: "Does Neo defeat Agent Smith by relying on people's hope?"

Belos: "It's not shown, but it's implied in the meaning of the film that..."

Author: "If it's not shown then we don't have a copyright problem. Come on! On set in five minutes!"