The old, silent hall of the Chandelier Tree finally became noisy. It was the sound of life coming back.
Gracia stirred, then slowly opened her eyes. The curse was gone, and she felt the soft, healing leaves fall away. Flexo was up, too, breathing deep and strong again.
They watched Elios and Eliosa hugging. The forty-year pain was ending, and the relief made Flexo and Gracia feel a powerful, warm happiness.
But as the hug lasted, a cold feeling hit Flexo. Something important was missing.
He looked around the dim hall. He saw everyone who was there. But the one person who was always his center was gone.
He turned to Eliosa, his voice suddenly small and scared.
"Where's my mother?" he asked.
Eliosa's old face fell. The small joy he had just felt died.
"She's gone, Flexo," he said, his voice heavy with too much loss. "She's gone."
THE LAST WALL FALLS
Flexo didn't just feel sad; his world shattered. The hope he had just felt dissolved instantly.
He collapsed forward. Deep, painful sobs tore through his body. He cried hard and loud, like a child who had lost everything. No one looked away or judged him. They knew this was not a hero's son grieving; this was a boy losing his final comfort.
He had loved his mother, Mama Rubberon, more than anything.
After the terrible loss of his father and brother, she was his wall. She was his mother, his father, his lost brother, and his best friend.
He missed her terribly. The tree hall felt huge, empty, and cold without her quiet, strong presence.
Gracia quickly put a gentle hand on his shoulder. Flexo liked Gracia, but he couldn't stop looking at the empty space where his mother should have been. The terrible truth was clear: he had no one left.
They are all gone, he thought, the idea tasting like metal in his mouth.
Flexo Rubberon—the boy who was afraid of the cold and the fight—was now the last surviving member of the mighty Rubberon Clan.
MAMA RUBBERON: THE PRICE OF SURVIVAL
Eliosa gently moved Elios to give Flexo space for his grief. But Flexo's mind had already flown away, back to the dark, important moments that made him who he was—a boy crippled by fear.
"I remember the day we buried them", Flexo's memory screamed.
The day of the rebellion, when the toxic rain fell from the sky, Flexo and his mother watched Rubble die.
Hours later, after the deadly radiation stopped, people began the sad, quiet work of gathering the dead. They carried nearly forty lifeless bodies. This included many great clan members, and the two most important men in Flexo's life: Rubble and Tyber Rubberon.
Tyber's body was a nightmare. He was the first to be struck, and the radiation had horribly deformed him. Flexo, just a boy, cried loudly, seeing his strong older brother become nothing but a rotten husk.
His father, Rubble Rubberon, had died much earlier, giving his life force to save everyone.
They were buried together. Flexo, in silent grief, put his favorite wooden toy into Tyber's grave. It was a final gift, ending the small fight they used to have over it.
The old man, Eliosa, was there, too. His face was gray with sadness. He had lost too much: his brother Deliosa, his student Tyber, his lost family. He stood there, a statue of pure sorrow.
Weeks passed. A huge statue was built in Mynthara to honor Rubble Rubberon—the great hero.
That same day, the council quickly made Flexo Rubberon the next leader of the Rubberon Clan. He was too young to be a leader, but he had the name.
Until he grew up, Mama Rubberon handled everything. She was the acting chief, the planner, and the only true leader left.
THE QUESTION OF FEAR
One evening, Flexo couldn't hold the question back. He looked at the statue and then at his mother.
"Why did Father do that, when no one else was brave enough?" he asked, full of confusion.
She smiled faintly, a tired look that didn't reach her eyes. "Your father was Mynthara's true hero, Flexo. That's why his statue is there."
She added, her voice shaky, "Before he died, he promised me I would take care of you and live long. He wanted you to become a great fighter, just like him, to protect the clan."
But Flexo shook his head hard. "No! I don't want to fight! I won't be a warrior!"
Flexo hated fighting. The sickening sight of his brother and the invisible horror of his father's death had broken his desire for battle. He was terrified of sharp weapons—they meant violence and pain—and he was terrified of cold.
THE MOTHER'S FINAL SACRIFICE
The real reason for his fear of cold—the reason it was a physical terror—came a few months later.
One freezing Myntharan night, Mama heard strange, small cries from his room. She ran in and found him shaking violently. The Rubberon Clan were weak against the cold. Extreme cold could make them lose half their power, sometimes leading to death.
Flexo was gripped by physical terror.
Mama Rubberon didn't think about the danger. She took off the heavy sweater she was wearing, her only warmth, and quickly put it around Flexo. She lay next to him, using her own body as a shield against the freezing night.
She slept there, shivering with him, refusing to move until the morning sun finally rose.
By morning, she was very sick. She was coughing violently, and her body wouldn't stop shaking. She had caught the terrible Non-Elasto Deficiency, an illness where the Rubberon elastic powers completely shut down. Her strength, her very ability to fight, was damaged, maybe forever.
This was the memory that tormented Flexo. His weakness, his fear, had forced the strongest person left in his life to trade her health, her power, and her future for him.
That day, Flexo looked at his sick mother and saw not the clan leader, but the selfless woman who had exchanged her strength for his comfort. She had become his shield—a shield that now carried the scars of his own fear.
And that terrible, powerful thought, the weight of her absolute love, stayed with him forever. It was why he could never fight. He would never risk losing another person because of a battle.