The Immortal Stargazer

The Hero

In the Doodlesphere....

Inky was bored. He had no inspiration, and he didn't feel like visiting Dream. There was always the option to see if Nightmare was causing trouble somewhere, make sure he didn't get carried away, or even join in the fun. He still hates Dream, but they weren't fighting constantly, anymore. Nightmare's a jerk, but he's a reasonable jerk. He convinced them there's some sort of... balance keeping the multiverse's emotional state stable. He claimed this "emotional balance" was a foil to bounce off Inky's own emotional state, something the creator hadn't considered. Though, he'd begun to wonder why, if his emotions affect how an AU turns out, he hadn't started creating AUs exclusively positive, or exclusively negative. He sees a little bit of both in every world, but thinks nothing of it, attributing it to the AU building on its own, like a child moving out of their parents' house.

The opposing sides reached an agreement of sorts, finally putting an end to the conflict. This agreement crudely stated that Dream would spread positivity and happiness to the AUs that needed it the most, while Nightmare would combat complacency and stagnation in places where it was too positive, toxically so. These AUs had a habit of developing cold wars, breaking long-respected trade deals and causing economic collapse. This happens because, while the AU is generally positive and content, there's always that small percentage of the population that's too greedy for its own good, and it starts to take advantage of the oblivious and naive individuals who feel fine with it. It's Nightmare's job, then, to disrupt this process using a method he likes to call, "creating a power vacuum."

Sometimes, these infiltrations into an unsuspecting civilisation were dangerous, which is where Nightmare's "gang" comes in. They helped him in his exploits, even before the arrangement was made. This led the majority of the multiverse who had heard about them to believe that Nightmare had brainwashed these "Dark Judges" to his side. Cross disproved this notion by immediately defecting to Dream's side when the peace treaty was signed and sealed. Yes, they had an official document. Cross went off to hang with his secret buddy, Epic, and the multiverse soon settled into a tenuous peace.

But enough about the past. Inky whipped out his trusty paintbrush to make a portal and find out if either of the guardian brothers were busy, when he saw it.

A paper torn to shreds, the pieces just disappearing.

He ran over to it, then noticed a rather long trail of paper leading away from him into the distance. His brows furrowed together as he straightened up. Someone, or something, was destroying AUs! He could practically feel the inhabitants crying out in fear and confusion as their homes were destroyed, and he wiped a tear away before it could trickle down his cheekbone. He had to stop this. And fast.

He made a portal and hopped through to Dreamtale. The AU had been left mostly the same after Nightmare left, only now there was a pretty decent-sized house on a hill overlooking the Tree of Feelings. Inky raced to the door and frantically knocked as loud as he could. A skeleton dressed in a lot of yellow and teal promptly answered it.

"Dream!" Inky started, pausing a moment to catch his breath. "Something's destroying AUs!"

"What?!" Dream cried. "What do you mean?!"

"AUs are being ripped to shreds! C'mon, I'll show you!" He grabbed Dream's hand and pulled him into a portal. In the Doodlesphere, more and more AUs had been destroyed, leaving quite the mess of paper. Though, it was starting to look less crowded.
"See?! I told you!"

"What do we do?" Dream replied, picking up a piece of paper only to watch as it vanished in his hand.
"You're the creator. What should we do?"

"We should check it out," Inky brandished his paintbrush and created a portal to an AU he could feel was in trouble. Maybe they could stop this threat by getting to its source?