CHAPTER 26 FINALE
ZEALOT, OUR HOPPER
The Starwood Crystal unhinged itself from the cradle of incandescent bubble and flew straight into Hopper’s waiting paws. Like it was always his. The moment it touched fur, the countdown died down.
And then the roof of the cavern shuddered.
The lush canopy of the Apple Tree splayed open like hands in devotion. The catacombs gasped. The walls groaned and granulated in powdery snow all around them as they found themselves standing in the glade. The tree had shed its camouflage.
Cold night air revived them with a fragrance of freshly fallen dew and victory.
Papa Koala was hobbling. No nod this time. No benediction. He trudged painfully crossing the distance between them and wrapped his great arms around Hopper. Held him warmly like a son refusing to let go. A lifetime of grief was going to be theirs…
And Hopper closed his eyes against his shoulders, fat tears dropping unbidden and leaned in.
He turned to look at Goldwynn. He didn’t speak. The light was already smiling brightly in his eyes.He walked over to her, gallant. Ruined and whole at the same time, and blinked once.
A soldier’s nod.
A brother’s nod.
A goodbye that had no words because words would break them both.
“Goldwynn, what’s happening? Dapper’s voice cracked. He wasn’t bouncing now.
“Look at the moon, lads,” she said vaguely. Already grieving. “What do you see?”
Chipper squinted, fist slipping from his knight’s salute. “It’s the moon. What else...”
And then the words died in a daze. Above them, the full moon was flawless…or was it? Unblinking and blind without its iris. A silver samovar tossed by heaven.
Dapper flinched. Chipper went pale.
The moon was empty. Hopper…the moon…he was…The Rabbit! He was down here with them!
And they remembered.
Every snigger behind his back. Every laugh when he missed a jump. Every clumsy footfall and hop that made them jeer at him. Every time they left him isolated...
Rabid cottontail
Traitor
Mangy mongrel
Con Artist
The names now rose in their throats like bile. Before they could speak, before they could kneel or regret, the moon answered.
Papa Koala rushed over to gather him in his arms one last time before a benevolent glittering beam showered down on Hopper. It lovingly took Hopper from Papa’s arms like he weighed nothing, like he meant everything.
Hopper was ascending home where he would be royally celebrated. The Starwood Crystal was held to his wee chest serving his mission and purpose on earth. It would stay safe where no mortal could misuse it.
He was no traitor. He was the moon’s beloved. Commander of the Celestial.
***
Uri Celeste was a solemn spectator, arms outstretched to hail Hopper.
The sky above Mistwood tilted. The septagon crown broke down, and one shaft of blazing starlight lit up the glade in salute to the brave heart cottontail. It wrapped him like a mother’s arms, an answer to a prayer that was inevitable.
He was beamed upwards.
No wings. No struggle. Just a rabbit who had been star-touched since birth returning to what was always his home.
Goldwynn’s knees hit the earth. “Hopper...” she sobbed. It was all in her at that time.
For one heartbeat, he hung there, suspended between worlds, Crystal cradled fondly to his chest like a second heart. His eyes found hers as he turned back though he had willed himself not to. And he smiled. That crescent shaped, impish, infuriating smile that had led them through darkness and given them innumerable moments of lightheartedness.
He undid the scarf on his neck and tossed the tasseled silk to land in her palms. It was warm. It smelled like him. Tinkling laughter woven in them and stories that would never be heard again.
Her fingers closed around it and her heart shattered silently. Hot tears burned like starfire because zealots like Hopper don’t get mourned. They get honored.
Hopper, Our Zealot !
Hopper...Our Knight!
He ascended on the beam past the treetops. Higher than the clouds. Past the place where air ends and myth begins.
And before their very eyes, without warning, the beam snapped shut! And two rodent Knights fell to their knees in remorse and shame. Papa Koala and Goldwynn craned their necks upwards, holding onto each other... anguish racking them uncontrollably.
****
The sky kept its oldest promise.
The seven furious stars of Uri Celeste ignited and unleashed its wrath once Hopper had made it to his homeland.
The execution was a stealth cosmic event witnessed only by the Guardians of the Mistwood Shadow Glade.
The Seven shafts of cold starlight lanced south compounded with the weight of 700 years of verdict. They torched Xaringmere Cragg Rise in silence. There was no explosion. No blasts. No chance to run.
With a single white-hot fiery breath of a Dragon, a kingdom built on blasphemy and greed was a great pile of cinder and burning coal.
The Beast who had spent seven centuries in demonic reign deserved no grave.No memory. Only a barren wasteland that would reflect in the stars for a thousand years more and tell nothing of what it had erased. Ash spiraled downward, sucked through cracks that weren’t there before.
The ground sealed itself smooth. As if Xaringmere Cragg Rise never was.
Mistwood Shadow Glade rejoiced. The hurrah and jubilation was a fading echo as Goldwynn woke up to the blaring alarm.
Her room smelled of rain, dewdrops and yesterday. A cockerel screamed at the dawn she had left only a day ago, though her bones carried more.
She found herself clutching at the scarf and a fresh wave of grief consumed her.
Stained with faded spots of rhubarb juice and honey oat mush, it was damp with tears that weren’t hers. Warm with a heat that had left the world, it smelled of the moonlight and the glade and the kind of goodbye that carves you hollow.
Hopper.... you're real...thank you Hopper..
She pressed it to her face and felt him. One last time.
Outside, the sky was just blue and merciful.
No septagon crown hailed it. No jury stood with a vengeance. No road to the moon.
The others would call it a dream. They would laugh when she said “a rabbit came down from the moon to save this world and then he flew back”.
But at night, when the world was dark, she would go outside. She would tie the scarf tight around her throat and look up.
And somewhere, impossibly far and exactly where he promised, a rabbit would be staring down at her. At the world below.
She’d found the cost of saving the world.
Some doors open to let you in
Some heroes open it to let the light out
We win some…
We lose…a lot !
***THE END***
Image Courtesy:Pinterest
This post is part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.
https://www.theblogchatter.com/blogrolls/zealot-our-hopper-day-26-letter-z
This was a lovely tale Sangeetha!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much 🙏🏻😊
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