After the battle with Vorgulremik, Alptraum, Tulani and Arkold find themselves sharing a dream, courtesy of Kaira and the residual magic left from the fight.

Thinking it will help them on their quest for the Light of Nala, the dragon shows them the memory of a Hekoye mage who served in the army of Prince Akahazam and his consort, Amenlichtli, at their final battle against the Olympian forces in Tizhar over a thousand years in the past.

The mages of Akahazam raise an army of the undead, fueled by the powerful Shadow of Amena that Amenlichtli controls. But as the army moves on the hidden Olympian forces, a blinding white light begins to strike them down – it is the Light of Nala. In shock and desperation, Amenlichtli sends the Shadow directly against the Light, and the two powerful forces combine into pillar of chaotic energy that literally rips the sky open. The backlash reduces the landscape to a barren wasteland populated by the angry spirits of the 'Shadow-Blessed'.

The trio take to heart the lesson that the Light cannot be used directly against the Shadow, which has seeped into the very soil of Sylvania since the Necromancer Wars, and may be anchored to the stone sarcophagus deep within Vorgulremik's castle.

The group debates strategies on how to deal with the Shadow and the sorcerer Dack who also seeks it, finally agreeing on a stop-gap measure of sealing it off until they can arrange a more permanent solution.