“Has anyone ever told you,” Dee began, “that you talk too much?”

“No.” Virginia sounded genuinely surprised. “Do I? I guess I do.” Her voice changed, turning savage. “But only when I’m plunging through a leygate in the pitch-dark! Then I suppose I might have a few things to say.”

Their ears popped and a series of appalling scents wafted over them, as if they had just fallen through stinking clouds.

Suddenly all sense of movement stopped. They were still in a black void.

“Do you have a match?” Virginia asked.

“A match?” Dee asked, confused.

“I thought you magicians always carried matches with you. To light your candles. Aren’t magicians always lighting candles?”

“I’ve used electric light for the past century,” Dee muttered. “I don’t carry matches.”

“It’s very dark,” Virginia said, stating the obvious. “Scary.”

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark.”

“Not the dark, Doctor, but what lives in it.”

With a sigh, Dee reached under his coat and pulled out the stone sword. The moment his flesh touched the blade, it started to glow, gray first, then blue, and then blooming bright and white before it suddenly flamed red, filling their surroundings with a cold, stark light. Streamers of fire blazed off the sword, but it was a chilly fire that left speckles of ice spinning in the air.

“Hmm… not much to see,” Dee said, looking around.

Virginia Dare stood beside him, face ghastly in the light of the cold red flames. Then she slowly turned. “I think I preferred it when we could not see.”

A flat barren landscape stretched gray and unbroken in every direction. Beneath their feet, the only marks in the powdery dust were their footprints.

“Where are we?” Virginia asked.

Holding the sword high, Dee turned in a complete circle. “I’ve heard about these… though I’ve never seen one firsthand. It looks like an unmade Shadowrealm.”

“Unmade?”

“Started, but never finished.” He lowered the sword and the shadows clustered closer. “Elders create Shadowrealms using their auras, imaginations and memories. Sometimes a powerful individual can create an entire realm, but often groups will come together to shape their own world.” He gestured with the sword. “This one was never finished.”

“Why?” Dare wondered out loud.

“I have no idea…,” the Magician began, then caught Virginia by the arm, dragging her away. “Run!” he yelled.

She turned and looked up… and saw four cucubuths dropping out of the black sky.

“They must have fallen through before the leygate closed,” Dee said.

The four creatures settled lightly onto the ground, turned, obviously disoriented, then focused on the glowing light from the sword. With triumphant howls, the creatures raced toward Dee and Virginia.