The Shining Throne

"It's about to start." Someone whispered. All work stopped as the workers who milled around stopped to stare up at the sky. A shimmering light took form against the black sky, moving swiftly from one hue into the next, its form twisting as it moved. It faded, then appeared again elsewhere nearby, some long and swirling maelstorms of color, others little more than sparks. The waves of light almost reminded Lily of the ripple on a pond if you dropped a rock it.
Around them, the mute stiffs all begun to groan and shout, as if bidden by the lights. That was probably not a good sign.

The Shining Throne is a recently discovered celestial phenomena, a multicolored field similar to the northern light. It appears seemingly at random, though some intelligence officers and magicians are notcing a troubling pattern, with no particular trigger. Whenever it appears, all undead who witness fall victim to an infectious screaming disease, known now as the Screaming Dirge. For most, it is an interesting if unnerving phenomena, and around the world people are racing to figure out where this came from all the sudden.
The Crucible are not most people. Mad cultists who view struggle and war as a forge where men and women are reforged, stronger and better, they view the Shining Throne as a herald of some apocalyptic threat. A war so devastating, so horrific, that humanity has no choice but to ascend or perish. To them, every instance is a wild revelry, suddenly unleashed. These parties mix elements of a vigil and a muster, waiting for.. Whatever it is that will bring ruin upon the world, so they might try and shoot it.
And they're half-right, for once.
The Shining Thrones are the claws of the Occultarum, scratching against the walls of reality, searching for a way in. The lights are the sparks and wounds left in their wake, and as they burrow closer to a breakthrough, the lights shine brighter.

by Unsplash