A chilling aura covered the forest and with fog hanging low like dry ice. Everyone looked around frantically. They had no idea which figure was the real one. With hair trigger reflexes, Oga shot a bow into one and it dispersed with a chilling laugh. “Quick!” She shouted. “Let us escape, my orc comrades.”

“Sharp shooting there, kid,” Antonio shouted as everyone ran. “I think I can forgive you for messing up my cabeza.”

“Less vanity, more running!” Van shouted.

As they made their way through the opening, Cyrus surveyed around him. He saw more masked figures popping up between every tree. In front of them, a large hollow log lay. It had fallen, seemingly from a lightening strike and mold and mildew devoured it. Everyone ran around it, heading deeper into the woods. Cyrus’ heart pounded as more and more illusions appeared. “Run faster! They’re gaining on us!” Van shouted.

“Ugh,” Cyrus cried. “I wish I had your stamina.”

Everyone pumped their legs and arms faster and harder, cutting through the forest at an alarming rate. Cyrus looked back. They were leaving the army of clones behind them. His anxiety eased when he saw them fading deeper into the darkness, but his heart quickly jumped when he realized where they were. They were at the same hollowed out log. “How is this possible?” Cyrus exclaimed, panting really hard.

“As I figured,” Archibald said. “This fiend has trapped us in his own illusion. And it’s only strengthened by this forest’s aura.”

“Great,” Cyrus cursed. “Now we’re going to be trapped here until we starve to death.”

“Hold up,” Archibald said putting his hand forward. “Let’s not get gloomy yet! After all, we’ve got our ugly little friend here. She knows this place better than we do.”

“Of course,” Oga shouted. “I may be ugly but I’m not stupid. The elf village is just past this stump! We just need to get out of this illusion.”

“How do we do that?” Cyrus asked.

“No clue,” Oga responded earnestly.

“Uggghhh,” the prince whined.

“How about…” Antonio began. “We all head in different directions around this stump. At least one of us will find the village and we can shoot off a flair or something. I’m sure the jesters got one in his briefcase.”

“Plenty!” Archibald said. “That’s surprisingly astute of you, pretty boy.”

“Hey,” Antonio said with a playful wink. “My mind works overtime when it comes to reaching a town of hot elf babes.”

Vanessa groaned and rolled her eyes. “Letting this lout in the village seems like the worst idea ever.”

“As long as he plunders it like a good orc, he’s fine by me!” Oga responded.

The five adventurers decided that they’d go north, west, east and south in order to cover more distance. Cyrus was feeling tired and anxious, not to mention hungry, but much to his relief, Van decided to come with him. She always comforted him with how matter of fact she was.

“What do you think of this, “orc”?” Cyrus asked as they walked through the tall grass.

“I think she’s got some issues,” Van responded. “Something clearly happened to her that’s making her act this way. But I can understand since I’ve spent my life acting like something I’m not.”

“True that,” Cyrus responded before he heard his stomach rumble. “Aww man, my stomach’s telling me it’s time for a midnight snack.”

“I don’t think there’s any fast-taverns out here in the woods,” Van responded and she patted him on the shoulder with a warm smile. “But you never know. I’m hungry too.”

The two friends walked for what seemed like a mile, but much to their dismay, it lead them right back to the stump. Cyrus moaned and slumped to his knees. “I’m soooooo hungry,” he cried. “I could eat…”

Cyrus looked at a rainbow leaved plant that grew around the stump. “Rhubarb!” He shouted. “Rainbow rhubarb!”

He quickly snatched it up with a hungry, drooling expression. “My chef used to bake rhubarb into pies and it tasted sooooo good! Eating it raw probably isn’t as tasty but at least we know it’s edible.”

Van sighed. “Thank the creator for that. I’m tired too. Do you know why it’s rainbow?”

“Uhhhhh…I think Archibald mentioned something about rainbow rhubarb, but I don’t remember. My mind doesn’t work when it’s hungry. Bottoms up!”

Cyrus grabbed the plant by its stem and chomped on it. It tasted bitter and leafy but still edible. He handed Van some and she followed suit. Cyrus felt his hunger pains cease and he rubbed his tummy. Even gross food was still food for a growing boy. He closed his eyes and when he opened them he screamed. “Van…your eyes…they’re rainbow!”

His friend stood there with a spaced out expression, and much to his horror, she no longer had any pupils. Her eyes were now filled with rainbow swirls. “It’s not just my eyes,” she said with her arms outstretched. “I AM the rainbow!”

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Cyrus felt the world melt away around him, blurring itself into a whole splotch of melting water colors. He had never felt an experience quite like this. It was like he was inside a dissolving painting where all the colors dripped and splattered around him. It wasn’t a bad feeling. He just felt confused yet strangely calm.

Dizzy, he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he found himself standing on top of an enormous rainbow palm tree. The sky surrounding them was a beautiful bright blue and filled with slow-moving puffy clouds. There were even higher trees above them, and some that reached places they couldn’t even fathom. The air was warm and tropical and it beckoned them to bask in the sunshine. Wherever they were, it was beautiful yet baffling.

“Hey Van…uh, are you ok?”

“Rainbow rainbow,” she responded as she twirled around. “Red, yellow, blue, green, purple and indigo! Join as one together in my mind!”

“Uh…ok?!” Cyrus said laughing nervously.

“Look,” Van exclaimed happily “Even my beard is rainbow!”

Sure enough, an actual rainbow beard sprouted from her face. “Taste it,” she demanded. “It’s cotton candy.”

Cyrus hesitated but quickly tore off her whole beard and put it in his mouth. He spit it out immediately. “Uh…no this is just a regular beard.”

“Next time you’ll think twice when someone offers you a beard!” Van scolded and whacked him on the head. “Kids, should never do beards!”

All Cyrus knew was the world they were in no longer had any logic. Literally anything could happen. The vast impossibilities overwhelmed his mind with existential dread. “How do we get out of here?” Cyrus asked.

“We don’t!” Van shouted. “I’ve found my calling as a rainbow in the sky.”

She bounced on the edge of the tree, tipping the leaf over. It launched her like a springboard. She jumped super high and ascended to the next palm tree. “Van,” Cyrus exclaimed and he bounced after her.

He felt himself flying through the sky and quickly reached the next palm tree. He watched as Van ran across the next one and bounced on the edge of the leaf again, rocketing into even higher into the sky. He followed her and soared after her. “Van! Please stop!” Cyrus cried as the wind buffeted the fat in his cheeks. “We have to get out of here. There was something wrong with that rhubarb.”

As Cyrus reached the top of the highest tree, he found Van sitting stationary, much to his relief. She crossed her legs on a large rainbow blanket and meditated quietly next to an outrageous looking man. He looked like a wizard with a large white whispy beard, a big red nose, a tall green pointed hat, and a large rainbow coat. He had closed his eyes and was meditating along with her. “Alright,” Cyrus shouted. “What’s the meaning of this?”

The man opened his eyes and spoke with a high-pitched, warbly voice. “Hee hee hee! There is no meaning to this! You’ve reached the higher plane, man”

“Who are you and why’s my friend like this?” Cyrus yelled at the man.

“Why am I and who’s happened to your friend? Hoo Hoo Hoo,” The man asked back with a mischievous grin. “Why I am here is to guide travelers who get lost in a higher conscience of illusions.”

“Great!” Cyrus exclaimed. “We’re trapped in an illusion. Actually it seems we’re trapped in two illusions at once. Get us out.”

“I can’t get you out,” the wizard said as he blew into a bubbling pipe. “When you’re trapped in an illusion, you’re really just trapped in your own mind. Just because you see something in front of you, doesn’t mean it’s truly there but your mind fools you into thinking it is.”

“Ugh!” Cyrus exclaimed “Why must you talk in riddles?”

“Taking so much rainbow rhubarb moved my brain to a higher plane and now its so mixed up that I only speak in riddles!” The man laughed and pointed to Van who was now humming and holding her fingers up like a monk.“By the way, round boy. You must have a truly magical mind if the rainbow rhubarb doesn't blind you like this unfortunate young lass.”

“Well to be fair,” Cyrus responded. “I'm a lot larger than her.”

“Ha ha ha! So you do have a sense of humor," the wizard remarked.

“I don't have it when my friends are in trouble,”Cyrus yelled at the wizard. “Tell me how I can break it?!"

“You must have a childish, yet open mind to realize the truth," the wizard said raising his robed hand. “You know my father told me that I would never grow up with a childish mind, but here I am. 57 years old, a little taller and I understand more than he will ever know with my childish mind.”

Cyrus was beginning to get really mad the wizard and his anecdotes. “Look Mr. Wizard. If you're not going to tell us the truth we're leaving.”

Cyrus grabbed Van by her hand. He lead her away in a daze from the wizard. He looked into her eyes; they were still completely clouded over with rainbows. Cyrus’ heart sank. He was upset about what happened to his friend and realized that it was his fault why she was like that. That fact made him even more upset.

“Don't worry,”Cyrus said with a look of determination in his eyes. “I am going to get you out of here and I am going to get you back to normal.”

“I am normal!” Van said, giggling. “At least in this place!”

Cyrus lead Van to the edge of the palm tree. “Perhaps we can break the illusion by...”Cyrus held his breath and jumped off the tree with Van's hand in his.

They screamed as they fell through the sky. They passed thousands of trees, clouds and skies as they fell but they just kept on falling. There seemed to be no bottom to it. It was endless.

Cyrus closed his eyes and prayed he'd be free and suddenly he found he was no longer falling. He opened his eyes and realize he was standing on the wizards tarp. “Why hello again,”the wizard said with a toothy smile.

“Arghhh!”Cyrus exclaimed. “I just want to be free!””Wouldn't we all like to be free,” The wizard said. “Let me tell you some wisdom about illusions. A perfect illusion is just a delusion. There's always a hole in it.”

The wizard paced back and forth and continued to ramble. “A hole in the plot, a hole in the lie, a hole in the cheese. Where do those holes in cheese come, from by the way? Do invisible mice eat through it while we're sleeping?”

“Wait a minute...”Cyrus said as his eyes illuminated. “A hole in the illusion! Like that?”

Cyrus pointed to a swirling purple void that had opened up on the wizard's pants.

“Exactly,”the wizard responded. “Sometimes they're hard to find and sometimes they're a hole in my pocket! No wonder I lose all my change.”

“Looks like we can finally leave,” Cyrus said with relief on his face as the void began to suck them in.

“Are we really going inside a wizard’s pants?” Van asked and Cyrus smiled. It was the most coherent thing she had said all day, even if her eyes were still rainbow.

“It’s a shame you won’t stay and reap the benefits of an open mind,” the wizard said with a sad look on his face. “When your mind is open, it is open to the beautiful mystery that nothing is endless. Even the land of the dead and Everbloods aren’t unlimited. All things must pass.”

Cyrus’ eyes widened. “Wait a minute, you’re the one who knows the weakness of the Everbloods.”

“Hoo hoo hoo, that is for another time,” the wizard said. “Say hello to Archibald for me!”

Cyrus’ mouth dropped as he flew through the void in the wizards pants and found himself and Van standing by the same old stump they were before. But this time, they had knowledge to break the imperfect illusion.