The Immortal Stargazer

Introducing! The Entire Multiverse!

While Sumi and Omission assessed the situation with the strangers, Lumen contacted his brother, Umbra. He prepared himself for a cascade of questions, then clicked the 'contact' button on his phone. The phone buzzed a few times before Umbra answered, his deep voice grumbling out a greeting.

"This had better be important, brother," Umbra hissed, cursing as sounds of combat and shouts echoed through the phone receiver. Lumen breathed a silent breath.

"We found the outcodes," he began, holding his phone away from his head when Umbra shouted in his nonexistent ear. "That was unnecessary, Umbra."

"Where are they?!" Umbra demanded. "What have you told them?!"

Lumen growled lowly. "That is not the concern, right now. My main reason for contacting you is to tell you we've found them, and to invite you to meet them. So stop being paranoid and gather your Judges. I'll be waiting in the Multi-Void."

With that, he stood up and ended the call. He could understand his brother's point of view, the fear of the Sun Kingdom acquiring more allies and outnumbering Umbra; after all, it used to be imperative that Lumen had a larger army than Umbra in order to stop his advance on the battlefield. He could sometimes get by with a few tactically gifted and battle-ready troops, but for the most part, the war was won by sheer force. Umbra knew he couldn't win, but he was too proud to surrender. Lumen had conceded to signing a truce if only to avoid more bloodshed, and he was grateful he could spare his brother from what he was sure would be outrage over the crimes Umbra and his followers had committed in the war.

Nevertheless, it was now his duty to maintain the peace and prosperity that had fallen on the multiverse. This new AU, as well as its wayward inhabitants, wouldn't interfere with the truce if he could help it, and with that in mind, he opened a portal to the Multi-Void. He sent a text to his subjects' Judges, then knocked on the door to the Multi-Void's only building. Geno, the sole inhabitant of the Multi-Void, answered with a relaxed smile.

"Hey, Lumen," he stepped aside for the king to enter. "What brings you here?"

Lumen turned a tired look to Geno. "We've got an explosive situation on our hands, Geno. It's nothing too serious, but a new AU has formed, and-"

"And you wanna use my house as a meeting place, right?" Geno laughed at Lumen's expression, then shrugged. "Go ahead. Just don't destroy anything, and no fighting!"

Lumen nodded. "Of course. You have my word we will keep things civil."

A few minutes later, Judges started arriving. Snips and Neon, the Judges of Storyshift and Underfresh respectively, arrived first. Snips dumped the armload of chocolate bars and popato chisps on one of the three lawn tables in Geno's backyard, swiping a chocolate bar for himself.

"If anybody's hungry, I've got the snacks covered," he said loftily, taking a bite out of his chocolate. Lumen nodded gratefully to him.

"I'm sure the others will thank you. Neon, I need you to make certain everyone is unarmed as they come in. I promised Geno we wouldn't start any fights."

"Ya can count on mah radical self, your majesty!" Neon saluted, then skated away on his heelies.

Lumen turned as the sound of a portal opened. He tried to suppress his smile as Stitch, Xtale Sans, stepped out with the rest of Umbra's gang. Umbra himself led them, his tendrils twitching in agitation, but his expression remained calm as he stepped up to greet his brother.

"A pleasure to see you, Umbra," Lumen extended his hand to his brother, a warm smile on his face. Umbra shook his hand as a strained, almost awkward smile decorated his own face.