A Queen and Her Kings

Mysterious Dreams and the King of the Mine

Looking down at the bow, surprisingly intricate gold pocket watch, and beige 10/6 card in her hand, Cassandra grinned at her new possessions. If this was all a dream or vision like she could infer it was given her slightly psychedelic surroundings, she hoped she could at least keep her spoils.

Sighing, the redhead looked around the dark forest she was in. That was too easy. There was always a 'climax' of some sort in her visions; someone dying or some grand new threat presenting itself. Nothing of the sort had happened yet, and since she wasn't starting to wake up, Cassandra assumed it was only a matter of time before something actually did happen

Sure enough, she was right.

The forest went pitch black, until she was in nothing but a never ending abyss of darkness, only being able to see due to her enhanced eyesight. Turning around slowly and cautiously, Cassandra took in her barren surroundings. As she did so, however, she heard the splashing of something she was stepping in underneath her feet. Kneeling down a bit, she reached her hand into the liquid and looked at the substance staining her fingers in shock. It was the same oily black ink Grumpy had secreted.

"What is this...?", she whispered to herself. She had barely registered it the last time she had seen it, but the ink seemed... malevolent, somehow; like it had a mind of its own. Cassandra took a step backwards, but gasped when she hit something. Looking behind her, she discovered it wasn't a something, but rather a someone.

Cassandra turned around quickly, and gasped at who she saw. It was Riddle, or more accurately, something wearing Riddle's face, because that was where the similarities ended.

The false Riddle was wearing a tattered red and black dress, his skin was deathly pale, and one of his insane gray eyes glowed red with a black lace pattern around it. He wore an unhinged expression to match his crazy eyes, but that wasn't the most glaring thing about his appearance; it was the black ink that dripped from every part of him and made up most of his clothes.

The doppelganger gave an unhinged, shrieking cackle that echoed through the inky black darkness. When it had calmed down a bit, it tilted its head and looked at her in manic glee.

"It's only a matter of time!", the creature cackled out excitedly. Cassandra growled at it.

"What's only a matter of time! Answer me!", she barked back, but the creature only kept grinning at her with that crazed grin. Sneering, Cassandra turned around to leave but was surprised to find the creature there again.

"It's almost time!", the creature yelled out excitedly, getting on the tip of its toes with its hands behind its back so it could get uncomfortably close to Cassandra's face.

"Tick tock, little Alice!", it whispered conspiringly, cackling loudly before turning into ink and melting into the ground. Cassandra watched the whole occurrence in apprehension, jumping away a bit when the creature abruptly melted, and looked around frantically when she began to hear the creature's maddening cackle echo loudly around her, the sound seeming to come from all over.

Cassandra saw white light begin to shine up from the ground, and looked down to find a large, glowing symbol the size of a house.

It was three triangles, one pointing up and two pointing sideways towards each other, forming a rhombus when they overlapped. The laughing got louder and louder, turning deafening to her sensitive ears, and as this happened and the light from the symbol got brighter, Cassandra wracked her brain for what the mark might mean. She found nothing in her mind, only the primal feeling she got from the sight of the mark.