In the Court of Shadows

Posted on Thu Feb 27th, 2025 @ 3:23am by Nathaniel Essex & Aurora Summers

2,698 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Location: Limbo
Timeline: Three Years After Arrival

"It's good to be queen, isn't it?" Lord Sinister gave a mocking laugh as if entertained by a child's tantrum.

Aurora’s anger flared as she stormed across the chamber, her every step reverberating with the fiery energy coursing through her veins. The oppressive air of Limbo seemed to crackle and warp around her, her aura burning brighter with each stride. Her fiery blue eyes locked onto Sinister, who remained seated, unnervingly composed in his high-backed chair. His crimson eyes followed her approach with an air of detached amusement.

With a flick of his wrist, Aurora’s flames extinguished, and her body was yanked backward, forcing her into a chair that had slid across the room at Sinister's command. The force of the motion left her breathless, her wrists and ankles pinned as if invisible manacles held her in place.

"You will sit, Aurora," Sinister said, his voice silky with menace. "And you will attend me."

Aurora's words caught in her throat as her body jerked unnaturally, frozen in mid-stride. Her limbs moved against her will, her arms flinging outward as though guided by invisible strings. Her flames guttered and dimmed as she was pulled forward, her feet skimming across the cold stone floor as though weightless.

"Such drama," Sinister drawled, leaning forward in his chair with a glimmer of amusement in his glowing eyes. "And such raw power wasted on insolence. You're no queen—merely a marionette who has forgotten her strings."

Another flick of his wrist sent a chair sliding from the shadows, its ornate design twisted and cruel, with high spiked edges and gleaming dark metal that seemed to shimmer in the dim light. Aurora's body followed Sinister's command, her movements fluid yet devoid of autonomy, as though an unseen hand guided her like a doll.

Her back collided with the chair with a heavy thud, and she gasped as unseen forces bound her in place. Her arms rested stiffly on the armrests, her legs crossed elegantly though she had made no such choice herself. Even the angle of her chin was adjusted, forcing her to hold her head high, as if Sinister were arranging a display.

Sinister rose from his chair, his movements as deliberate as a conductor guiding an orchestra. "Now, this is much better," he said, his voice rich with mockery. "Much better, indeed. And with such regal poise. You almost look the part, my scurrilous spawn." He snapped his fingers twice, demanding her to reply. "Come now. You're ready to listen to Father, aren't you?"

"Father? Seriously!?" Aurora sneered as she looked at Sinister. "I may have believed that once Sinister, but we both know you are not my father! At least not in the real sense. You may have created me in some misguided attempt to breed your dream mutant warrior, but that's all I am, your creation!! However... you've given me this, not that it's much of a Kingdom, how is a Queen supposed to rule a universe that's already ruled over?" She gave Sinister a more curious look. "Unless you have something better in mind? In which case there's no need to bind me here, I will listen to what you have to propose."

Sinister's expression twisted into something between amusement and condescension, his sharp features made even more diabolical by the cold glow of his crimson eyes. He stepped toward her leisurely, the dark fabric of his coat billowing in a wind that was not there.

"Oh, my poor, misguided fool," he purred, his voice smooth as silk but razor-sharp in its cruelty. "You speak of what I gave you, yet here you stand with nothing. A queen? Of what? Wretched, mewling goblins who would sooner devour each other than serve you with any true fealty? A kingdom? This scrap of Limbo, which you hold only because Belasco deigns to allow it?"

He tutted, shaking his head. "You speak as though you have been wronged, as though I have failed you." His smile curled at the edges, revealing something cruel beneath its veneer. "But hear me now—the failure is yours. I gave you everything. Power. Knowledge. A lineage worth more than any peasant could dream of. And what have you done with it? Squandered it. Just as Xavier trained you to do. How very predictable." With an abruptness that made Aurora stiffen, he rose again, brushing an invisible speck of dust from his immaculate sleeve. "You may pretend at sovereignty, little whelp, but I did not come for you."

He stepped past her, not even sparing her another glance, as his attention shifted entirely to the Alaricus Tantus. The child, sensing the shift, instinctively clung to Aurora's robes, his tiny fingers curling into the fabric. He gestured toward the child without looking back at her. "I came to examine him. To see whether my predictions were correct."

Sinister summoned the boy into the air where he slowly rotated like the moon in orbit. Examining him with an intense stare, Sinister's gaze traveled over the developing horns, the glint of sharp little teeth, the faint but promising flicker of latent power resting beneath youthful innocence. "Hmm..." he mused. "Yes. Yes, this is the one."

Predicting Aurora's maternal instinct rising up again, Sinister cut her off at the pass. "Don't be so surprised," he said, chuckling darkly. "Did you come to believe I sent you here to be a mere pawn in Belasco's endless, tiresome game? No, no, my dear, you can fritter away your existence however you see fit. Keep yourself busy ruling over this desolation, if that gives you purpose. But the child—he is the key, or rather perhaps his future offspring may be."

His gaze finally descended to meet hers again, now sharper, colder. "Though I must admit, matters in Genosha may complicate things." He stepped away, pacing leisurely, as though he were contemplating a puzzle. "A certain relic. A shift in the balance of power. If Belasco were to learn that such an artifact was to... disappear, well, one might say the entire structure of Limbo’s delicate order could be upset."

He paused, then turned to face her fully, grinning as if savoring her confusion. "Whoever holds that relic holds leverage in this wretched hellscape. And yet, rather than secure it for myself, I am quite content to allow my vassals to squabble over it, should it come to that." His voice dropped to a whisper, his amusement all the more infuriating. "It will be... curious to see who prevails."

Seeing the flicker of defiance in her, he sighed dramatically, shaking his head. "But all of this is, I suspect, far above your comprehension. So let me simplify." His tone dripped with mock kindness. "Watch. Wait. And if Limbo ever becomes… inconvenient for your son, summon me from the Black Flame Altar by which you came to this place. I will extract the child to safety."

Aurora gave Sinister a curious look. “This... matter in Genosha, the relic that you mentioned. Why have mere vessels squabble over it when you can retrieve it, and have reign over Limbo yourself? Given a choice between Belasco, or you, I know who I’d choose, and if you don’t wish to reign over Limbo then who better than the Queen of Limbo?” Aurora gave Sinister a wry smile. “Release me, and allow us..” She motioned to Christopher, “..to leave this wretched place, and I’ll retrieve the relic for you.”

Sinister's laughter erupted, booming through the chamber like the crack of a splitting glacier, cold and merciless. His crimson eyes burned with cruel amusement as he stepped closer, towering over Aurora where she sat in his invisible grasp.

"Genosha?" he repeated, voice dripping with contempt. "That festering dung heap is a shithole second only to Limbo itself. Both are wretched places, stagnant and rotten, useful only for what I incubate through them." He sneered, his lip curling in disgust. "I would let either one be destroyed except that their destruction would create setbacks I have no interest in rectifying."

Aurora clenched her jaw, her nails digging into the arms of the chair, but Sinister only smirked at her resistance, reveling in the power imbalance between them.

"As for you," he continued, his voice lowering to a silken, mocking whisper, "you are precisely where you belong. You mistake survival for victory, Aurora. Yet here you are, begging favors from the only true power that has ever shown you any degree of indulgence." His smirk widened, sharp and gleaming. "No, my spawn. You will stay in this wretched hellscape, just as I intended. The child remains where I left him, aging as per my design."

His expression darkened, his amusement fading into something far more menacing. "You will summon me only if the child is in danger. Only then will I intervene. If I discover that you have wasted my time for anything else…" He let the threat hang, the weight of his words settling like an anvil in the space between them.

Then, just as suddenly, the sinister grin returned, wicked and taunting. "Unless, of course, you're in need of more… immediate comforts. Is that what this is about?" His tone was faux-sympathetic, his eyes gleaming with malice. "Oh, Aurora, perhaps I have misjudged your plight. Trapped in Limbo, so very alone… Do you long for something more?" His smirk twisted into something even crueler. "Maybe one of your goblins can warm your bed at night.

For a moment there was silence before Aurora burst into laughter. “As if you’d know anything about that, Sinister! The only way you have offspring is by test tube!!” She gazed up at him her eyes meeting his. “You can throw all the insults you like, but at least I have had a chance at life, you couldn’t even breed the child you wanted, instead you have to create others to do that for you. Good luck with that!!”

Aurora's laughter had barely subsided before Sinister's own filled the chamber, a layered, hollow cackle that reverberated like the shrieks of a thousand mocking phantoms. His grin widened into something skeletal, something cruel, and as he slowly shook his head, it was with the weary amusement of a scholar disappointed by a failing student.

"Oh, dear, dear child," he mused, his voice laced with saccharine condescension. "The Lady Jessica was brilliant—so very nearly my equal. And your mother, being a perfect clone, carried the same potential. And yet…" He tilted his head as if studying a particularly disappointing specimen under a microscope. "And yet, you—A degradation so profound that I am genuinely tempted to peel apart your brain like the layers of an onion, just to see where it all went so... dreadfully... wrong."

Aurora clenched her jaw, fingers curling into fists, but Sinister merely chuckled again, shaking his head as though scolding an errant child.

"You assume, in your charming ignorance, that my pursuit of engineered perfection is born of some lack of virility within myself." He scoffed. "I do not seek to breed, Aurora—I seek to create. To forge something greater than the crude happenstance of natural selection, to sculpt destiny with my own hands and unlock the key to eternity. But I wonder now... are you even capable of grasping that?"

His crimson gaze burned with scorn as he leaned in, his presence eclipsing hers. "A moment ago, you so confidently offered to retrieve a relic for me—a relic of which you know nothing, with no understanding of its significance, its power, its consequences." His smirk curled like a blade at her throat. "Tell me, dear spawn... was that arrogance or simple stupidity?"

Aurora's lips pressed into a thin line, but Sinister did not wait for an answer. Instead, he stepped back with a small, satisfied chuckle, as if amused by the futility of her existence.

"But no matter," he continued lightly. "You will serve your purpose, whether you comprehend it or not. You are the fulcrum upon which I will bring Belasco to heel, and in that, at least, you have some value."

His gloved hand reached out with measured slowness, fingers brushing against her cheek in a mockery of tenderness before delivering a firm, patronizing pat.

"Now," he drawled, "do you understand your assignment as dictated to you, or shall I explain it again in simpler terms for your delicate little mind?"

Aurora glared at Sinister, she would wipe that smirk off his face one day, but for now she nodded. “I know what I have to do, Sinister! Now how’s about you run along before Lord Belasco decides he doesn’t want to entertain your presence here any longer. As for my son...he’s just that MY son, he’s not your plaything, and he never will be.”

Sinister’s hand shot out, seizing Aurora’s jaw in an iron grip. His fingers dug into her skin, forcing her head still as a sharp, unnatural pressure bloomed deep in her jaw. The pain was instant, like a dagger twisting through the roots of her rear molar, sending a shockwave of agony through her skull. Then, with a sickening pop, the molar wrenched free, blood filling her mouth as the tooth drifted effortlessly into Sinister’s waiting fingers. He held it up to the dim light, examining it with the same cold detachment as a scientist studying a specimen on a slide.

Aurora swallowed down the coppery taste of blood, her breaths coming fast and sharp through clenched teeth. Rage simmered beneath the pain, but her body betrayed her, shaking from the sheer shock of the forced extraction.

Sinister twirled the molar between his fingers, his smirk widening. "You fail to grasp the simple truth, Aurora," he said, voice low and smooth, as if lecturing a particularly dim student. "I do not keep playthings. I have tools. Instruments of progress. Instruments that shape the very foundation of tomorrow." He lifted the tooth higher, admiring it as if it were a priceless artifact. "And if those tools prove defective, well... a true scientist isolates the error, refines it, and builds something better."

His eyes gleamed with dark and cruel intent as he let his words settle in the sickly sweet tone they were spoken. "Perhaps this will yield something useful. I wonder—if I grow a clone from this, if I take only the brain, will I find where the fault lies? The defect that made you so…" His grin sharpened. "Insufferably inferior?"

Sinister only leaned in closer, his whisper cool against her skin. "If you ever think to give me orders again, my spawn, rest assured..." He rolled the bloodied tooth between his fingers before slipping it into the folds of his coat. "My samples will become much more... creative."

Releasing her chin with a sharp flick, he stepped back, straightening his coat with casual elegance as if nothing had happened. His smirk returned, indulgent and amused. "Now then," he mused, eyes dancing with cruel delight. "Be a good girl. Do as you're told. And perhaps, just perhaps, I won’t decide to take more."

With that, Sinister turned on his heel, the echo of his footsteps ringing through the chamber as he strode toward the shadows, his laughter trailing behind him like the final notes of a dirge.

Aurora watched Sinister go, glad to see him leaving. Her gum was healing fast thankfully, but it was painful nonetheless, not that she was going to let her son see her distressing over it. She offered Christopher her hand giving him the best smile she could muster, it would appear he was the one keeping her alive, her usefulness classed only as the mother of the chosen child both Sinister and Belasco wanted. “Come on, let’s go... home.” She smiled a wry smile, a deep routed longing somewhere inside wished she was back at the mansion, not that she would be back there again anytime soon.

END

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