No, this stranger wasn’t human at all. Caleb wasn’t sure what this new thing was, but it certainly wasn’t anything the boy has ever seen, read about or heard of. This new male (his tone of voice was [i]definitely[/i] masculine, despite how high-pitched it was) was maybe half as tall as the dog, with a bright lime green humanoid body and bright purple eyes. However, instead of hair, this guy had what looked like a little rabbit ear sticking up perfectly straight from his head. He also wore what looked like a purple jumpsuit, matching his eyes. He couldn’t have weighed more than 20 pounds, but yet he sounded older than Caleb by many years.

After a long pause, Caleb finally asked “wha…what are you?” 

“Nono, don’t ask for Ribbon’s name,” the little creature responded disdainfully, adding “that’s the dog, in case you didn't get that. Just...you know what, never mind.” The thing shook his head, “we don’t have time for this.” Shifting to a more matter-of-fact stance, he said “I’m Rainbow. I got shipwrecked on this weird place like you did and now these crazy dwarves-“

“Wait,” Caleb interrupted, “shipwrecked? My boat is fine! And I know these-“

“Ugh, we [i]really[/i] don’t have time for this,” the little guy, clearly disdainful of Caleb, butted in, “your current vision here is an illusion created by a magical mist based off of your memories blah blah blah dwarf cultists want to sacrifice us to their stupid fake god blah blah blah.” And with this, the green man made a little finger gun in the boy’s direction using his hands and shot a little bright purple speck of light - not any bigger than a fingernail - at him.

Caleb wasn’t hurt at all, but suddenly and immediately, his perspective changed - they were no longer at his favorite embankment, but on top of a dull brown rock. The wooden pier changed to a rocky shoreline, the Red Twig Orphanage changed into the (derelict looking) Temple of the Almighty Bear, and the mist that had been present disappeared.

Rainbow sighed, turning to a more conciliatory tone as he saw the surprise on Caleb’s face, “I know all of this is new and sudden to you. By sheer luck you found an okay hiding spot, but I’ve been hiding from these nuts for more than two years. We need to work together if we’re going to beat them. Look for yourself,” he said, making another finger gun that caused Caleb’s binoculars to momentarily flash purple as a way to draw attention to them.

Maybe it was the hunger. Maybe it was the newness of it all or maybe he was just dreaming, but the boy did as he was told and grabbed the binoculars and looked around the island. Thankfully they were in a good spot for it. He saw an older lady looking around nearby, but instead of Ms. Ardia it was an unknown elderly dwarf lady with a bear tattoo on her face. From this distance he couldn’t tell what she was saying, but he could tell that she was livid and yelling about something. And instead of his fellow orphans, Caleb saw a number of dwarves with bear tattoos on their faces setting up...something.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t back home, and that was kind of sad. But Caleb now had the change to be brave. To be strong! He knew he could get through this - whatever “this” was - and resume his search for a cure, but he had a question.

“Okay, Rainbow...so if you can make me see all this and can make stuff glow and stuff, why not just win yourself?”

This question caused Rainbow to become angry again, but this time it was at himself. “Because, kid, while it looks like I can do a lot, I’m really just a novice," he said with a sigh. "What I’ve shown you is the extent of my power. Unlike me, you look like you can actually fight.”

At this, Caleb’s sword flashed purple.

“Follow me,” Rainbow said, mounting onto Ribbon like a human would a horse, “we need to go somewhere safe where we can plan. And besides, I know where your bird is.”