Two Things To Focus On

There are two things that come to play here:

In Media Res : In the middle of the action
What Is Your Actual Story?

In Media Res

As I'm sure you know, In Media Res is the idea that to draw the reader in you must start right in the middle of the action.

Readers don't want to sit through 50 pages of backstory to get to the story. That leads us directly to the 2nd -- and most important point -- the summary of your story.

What Is Your Story?

If you flashing back to show why the world is so dark, it is likely the reader doesn't really care until later anyways. Really consider your story at hand and tell that story.

Darth Vader Is A Great Example

When Star Wars : A New Hope was originally released Darth Vader showed up on the screen within the first 15 minutes of the movie (I think less actually. Viewers did not know his name, his purpose, his backstory, nothing. And we didn't care. We knew he was the bad guy (he was scary looking and dressed in all black).

We did care about the story though. We wanted to know what his part in the story we were watching would be. But we absolutely didn't care about his back-story.

Only later, after 20-odd years did they make a movie about his back-story.

Tell Your Story As It Happens

I suggest you put the character in the middle of the trouble and start telling the story that the character is going through right now.

If there is plot point that needs back-story then explain it at that moment.
Here's a melodramatic example:

Alvin paused and stared down at the lever. This lever would turn the
lights back on. After 10 years of the overlords forcing darkness upon
the world, flipping this one lever would change it all. It would
liberate the people!

Back-Story Can Be Like Grandpa Talking About Good Old Days

The back-story can occur along the way of the main story. A salient point might even be to consider how often a story becomes boring and how disinterested readers become when an author descends into detailed back-story.

"Back in the day when the overlords forced us into darkness, we had to
walk five miles in the snow..."
Yes, yes, grandpa.

:)

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