Technology had fallen by the wayside, which left the trouble of lighting such a house as the Court Mansion to the servants. As the night truly began to crawl across the sky, taking away the constantly overcast wane light of day, Shade moved through the house with a lantern. Her shadow whispered at her from the floor, reaching out with the matches she had given it to light the sconces as the pair moved. Occasionally she would mouth words to the companion only she could hear. At times, there were even words she spoke, but without knowing what the shadows said to her, it was hard to make sense of her babble. She had been made uncertain by the actions of the King. Something troubled him. Something troubled the Master of all.

To one who meant about as much as a pebble caught in his shoe, such a thing could be terrifying. Soft steps moved her from the hallway and into the main foyer area of the mansion. There were two staircases and she would eventually have to travel them both to bring the light of fire to the house. Her shadow flickered, moving as the light from her lantern wavered before a breeze. Unthinking, Shade reached up to protect the flame. The grand doors had been opened. In all the silence, it was obvious, not because the doors squealed but simply because their presence moved. The Queen would have oiled them with someone's blood should they ever squeal in her hearing. Not something Shade wished to know anything about.

Reaching out to the shadow of the doors, she forced them closed once again. No verbal admonition was given to the one who left them open. It was not unusual for such behavior to occur. Few if anyone cared for the mansion itself as she did. Though that might simply be because since she had been brought there by the King, she had not truly left it. She left the building itself, but would go no further than the rotted and destroyed gate at the end of the property. Once there had been a formidable fence surrounding the property. Now all that truly remained of the fence was the metal fence. It did not matter, no fence could have withstood the forces currently unleashed upon the world.

Her motions no longer interrupted by the doors and their state of being, she moved once again. Still lighting the candles in their settings along the walls. They would bring light. Why not use the demon light so available? Because Shade would not ask the King for such a thing. Most could see without the light. Those who could not were of the lowest echelon of the house. They did not merit the expenditure of such power even if it was freely available.

Flames lit her hollow eyes changing the green to a color more like burnished brass for a moment. Then the match went out. The curl of smoke moved along her cheek as if in a caress. There was one who caressed her skin so featherlight, but it had been some time (at least to her) since he had seen fit to do so. The doors were opening again and she turned her face toward them, not because she could see the person in question, but because it was an automatic reaction. Why so many entering when darkness was falling?

The Inferno came. There are many alive who remember the encroachment of the Inferno on the human world and the heroes that rose to bring it to an end. They failed. Darkness fell across the earth. Humans and mutants alike were culled when they tried to stand against the reformation of the world as it spread. At the apex, a red-haired woman stood beside a corpse of a king. They spared few, choosing instead to rebuild the world as they saw fit. The evil brought forth warped even those of good heart, drawing together what is now called the Court. Beneath the Court are the Riders who move like locusts among the population, fear in their wake.

There have been attempts at organized resistance, those that withstand the heat of the Summer Prince find themselves cracking against the frozen demeanor of the Winter Prince, the leaders of the Riders. Yet hope is said to spring eternal. It will certainly return again. The question is: nurture the hope however futile or crush it beneath an iron fist. Chose your side in Sinister Kingdom.

This is a group PSL based in the X-men Universe. Thread tag [sinister kingdom].

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