A euphoric and shrill voice awakened Riccardo.

He stretched pleasantly relaxed, hadn't slept so well for a long time.

The voice he heard came from a well-known morning program broadcast on television on the second channel, very famous in Italy for its variety of interviews, discussions on current topics and games; but he didn't remember leaving it on before going to bed.

He let the coffee machine prepare a good dose of the fragrant blend while the program laughed at the witty jokes of the conductor. It was such a beautiful day that he decided to have breakfast on the balcony.

The saying "the morning has gold in its mouth" was really true, only in the early hours of the day the perfection of creation can be found, with that almost magical light that is a shame to ignore for something as frivolous as television. He enjoyed those elements while around him, slowly, the neighborhood began to come to life. A little while later he noticed the old lady neighbor, overlooking the balcony next to his, ready as every morning to water her glorious flower garden which boasted of daisies, climbing ivy and small roses ... but the woman was staring at him bewildered, the watering can that was slipping from her hand.

He gave her a good morning and she ran into the house as red as a tomato, stammering an angry "shameless".

Only when he looked at himself did he realize the reaction: he was completely naked.

> he exclaimed, as he rushed into the house.

Luckily the balconies of the building weren't grated, otherwise everyone from below would have seen the "merchandise".

He ran into the room to put something on, finding instead of clothes his Fear laughing out loud, bent to the ground unable to stop.

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Oh. Right. The night before he had had to work for Fear, harvesting the fruits of his garden. Wait, did he do it? He didn't remember anything about it. He pretended to remember so as not to pass for an idiot.

> he asked.

The creature struggled to keep its exaggerated smile to pretend it wasn't bothered by the question.

Ze stammered out words at random without coming to the conclusion of any sentence. Realizing ze wasn't explaining anything, ze adjusted hirs large hood and started over. Hirs feet melted into a black spot that filled the entire marble floor, silhouettes of men and women walking against backgrounds of cities and natural landscapes appeared shortly after.

Is it any wonder? No.

Humans has always been afraid of the world around them, thanks to us you have learned the concept of prudence and safety; and you have always been safe from what you considered dangerous. Those were the good times, when you believed that the Earth was flat, or that there were monsters in the depths of the sea ready to devour you. >>

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Yeah, too bad that when evolution and progress have opened your mind, facing the many taboos has made you more enterprising.

My siblings and I have suffered many times because of your cursed courage to want to explore the unknown. Once they realized that there was nothing more witchcraft, monstrous or evil around the corner, humans began to fear us no more. And over time ... many of Us have died. >>

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At those words, trees grew on the silhouettes of the people, their branches and their roots invaded all making them sink under their weight. The level of the shadow rose like tidal water until it touched the ankles so as to give the impression that the room had become a swimming pool. New tree silhouettes emerged one after another surrounding him. They whirled around him like paper-thin figures of a music box devoid of music. Riccardo was disturbed by those figures, it was like being on the stage of a theater with a painful scenography and he was the only actor.

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Fear seemed to scream for a moment, hirs face turned grim and clenched hirs fists.

Instead ze took a deep breath and settled back, keeping any thoughts that infuriated hirs to hirself.

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Fear, as in a sleight-of-hand, made the draft of a bee appear in one's hand: it was three times as large as to protrude from the palm, the small head was lost in the white and gray hairy body instead of black and yellow, the eyes were then a dull blue with pink hues that made one think it was blind.

The insect did not move, Fear moved its transparent serrated wings and exaggerated long legs ending in hooks, he did not dare imagine what harm they could do if they were stuck in his skin.

Oh yes, first everything went smooth as oil ... and then "puff"! Things are falling apart.

The animals get sick, die and so the transport of the dinner decreases more and more.

It happened like this, suddenly; without announcements or signs that would allow us to prevent disaster. We never understood the cause: a disease? Extinction?

In conclusion. We found ourselves in shit, using your terms. Without these insects, the end lay ahead for us. >>

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You have no idea how awful it is to have food on hand and not be able to touch it. It is a torture.

So we ran for cover: we went into hibernation in order to survive, but first we decided to establish a contact. >>

A new figure emerged in the middle of the drama: a man held out his hand to a kind of ghost, the two silhouettes merged together creating a sort of mutant. The black man then vaulted from tree to tree to collect what was hanging there, their silhouettes were the only ones to glow faintly with their own light, as if to emphasize that they were the most important protagonists, and it was not entirely wrong.

What madness! What a horror! It wasn't normal at all!

But what choice did we have? Let us starve?

So we did what was necessary: ​​for survival, nature adjusts.

We started some experiments and found that if one of us had established some kind of bond with a human - using the dominant fear as a assemblage point - we could have allowed them to become like us just enough to harvest the garden. And it worked. We weren't expecting it, but it worked. >>

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****

The last place Riccardo expected to end up was Giotto's Bell Tower.

Up there the view was breathtaking, he had only climbed it once as a child and all he remembered was the tiring climb up to the first terrace (even if done on his father's back), making his way through the people coming down from the opposite direction trough the claustrophobic ancient stone staircase. The bell tower paired beautifully with Santa Maria del Fiore, placed side by side to show off with tourists.

He sat down on the edge of one of the fenced-in windows, occasionally looking down at the square below, teeming with people. Florence was at his feet, he had the impression of dominating it all, he felt himself master of everything. Perhaps this was the experience of the lords of the Renaissance, pleased by the idea of ​​being the masters of the whole of Tuscany.

He turned to Fear, ze hadn't brought him there just to be a tourist.

> Riccardo asked hirs.

Fear aimed at the people walking below.

But I'm not that selfish, after all. I don't forget that my brothers and sisters are there too.

You only see greed in my actions ... but I'm just trying to survive. Everyone is struggling to keep living and we are no less. Do you understand this? >>

Yes, he understood.

As far as he knew, humanity had been trying to survive their own bullshit for years now, but in his opinion with little success. It was enough to look at the continuous wars, political scandals or serious episodes of racism to realize that the much vaunted "dominant species" did not yet have the right to call themselves more intelligent than animals, especially when they blamed each other. Fear, on the other hand, had only one problem and for this reason he envied hir, in hirs treacherous nature ze was also worried about hirs fellow family. And he, a man, would help zir.

Helping fear proliferate was not the right thing to do. But in return he would no longer be self-afraid of the dark and that alone was enough for him as a reason. He was emotionally free from it, but a prisoner with a figurative work contract.

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Riccardo didn't like bland answers, but he just had to trust hirs word.

And then he went to work, without the help of the demon he turned into a shadow and jumped off the bell tower, landing without damage in the midst of his fellow citizens.

People paraded in front of him in the company of their personal fears, it didn't take much to understand which were the easiest to grasp and then slowly, with one trick or another; the harvest began. He limited himself to small scares, just enough to train with his new powers and satisfy his boss's appetites. His actions weren't quite right, but who saw him anyway? No one would ever protest if not against fear.

Meanwhile, The Fear of the Dark; was very pleased to finally see hirs puppet work without protest.

Of course it had been difficult to convince him, ze had taken into consideration that a guy like him was too smart to manipulate, but luckily he had taken the succulent dish ze had put under his nose. The story ze had told him had been the best lie ze had ever told. When ze got home ze had to thank hirs sister, the Fear of Lies, for designing such a believable tale.

In reality some part of the truth was there, but just that little bit was enough.

For a moment ze was in danger of betraying zirself and ze had been incredibly good at holding back and continuing the drama. Ze would not have told the family this, otherwise they would have scolded hir. Now that ze was certain ze had the control and confidence of hir human, ze could sit back and wait for events to unfold.

The little bee waved in hirs hand, protesting heatedly to be free to fly again. Ze let it go, the little beast had been good at pretending to be dead; now it could rejoin the swarm and resume it work.

Riccardo returned after a few minutes, holding a large mass of fruit in his arms. Fear took an invitingly bizarre kiwi and gave it a big shake.

Ze groaned with pleasure, ze looked like a child who had just bitten some chocolate.