The best laid plans can fail to come to fruition. Similar can be said about plans that are only a generalization of an impending decision. Blackthorne Enterprises would have to hold off for a few more days once the platinum dump site had been discovered. Between the need to maintain a cover story for his income in order to avoid minor inconveniences, and the sheer size of the platinum dump area in the mine, more than two weeks passed in the game world.

Shara and Ashton understood that they would have to wait for a few days for Sonja and Blackthorne to arrive even after their ships reached port. The idea of having unrestricted access to platinum was too good to overlook. Many years had been spent working the wine, and there was an incredible amount of platinum ore to sift through. The dump site turned out to be a deep chasm filled to the top with ore.

Eventually, they found that other materials were dumped there as well. Some produced tiny gemstones such as spinels or peridot. The latter proved quite annoying for Blackthorne.

The amorphous cloud of darkness tried to pass through a pile of rocks but found it to be a difficult and painful process. Eventually, he stopped and transformed back into his draconic form to speed his life force recovery. His human form required a small amount of easily maintained life force and slowed regeneration because of it.

"I guess that's good to know," said Blackthorne. "It even makes sense. Peridot is associated with light on my world."

"Yes. Gemstones are used by craftsmen and alchemists for their mystical associations," said Sonja. "Maybe your weakness to light based magic is to blame?"

"That's what I was thinking. The synergized gems I made from the stuff don't seem to bother me, but there's traces of the stuff in all of these ores," said Blackthorne.

He chuckled softly then stretched like a cat before he said, "Kind of funny that my weakness would be a common green rock, though."

"Why is that funny?" Sonja finished separating the platinum ores by grade. They varied between nigh useless and almost decent in quality. The useless ones needed to be removed as they would take far too much effort to work with even with the pay off in the end.

"I dunno. I'm an orphaned visitor from another world, and green rocks both cause me pain and weaken my most useful power..." said Blackthorne.

"Ah... That doesn't really answer my question," said Sonja.

"Remind me to introduce you to Superman," he said lightly.

"Is he a relative?" she asked him curiously. "It might explain the weakness."

"I'd like to think so," he replied lightly.

Blackthorne began to sift through his ores once more. There were only minute traces of various gemstones found in some of the ores, but only one had a strong effect on him. Naturally occurring peridot seemed to weaken his ability to traverse through it in his amorphous form. There were no doubt connections with light based magical energies and that gemstone in this world as well. As a creature of the dark it made sense.

Once he discovered that some of the rocks in the dump site actually hurt him when he tried to pass through them he had spent time trying to study the effect. Once he was able to determine the cause, he looked it up online. He was the shadow of death, justice born on jet black wings. He was the terror of midnight, according to stuff he'd seen about his race back when he first made the switch. Peridot on Earth had a mystical connotation that caused it to ward off night terrors. Some of it was born from space, and formed after an ancient supernova. It was literally a piece of a dead star that had carried its legacy to earth as a streak of light in the endless void of space.

It was entirely possible that peridot of that type existed in this place in trace amounts. In a poetic sense it was a primordial piece of crystalized light, it was anathema to him. Starlight, a power as old as creation and the one thing truly capable of piercing the endless darkness of space in any meaningful way.

Strangely, the synergized peridot gemstones had a calming effect on him. On earth they were erroneously claimed to be able to cure depression, calm anger, and even make someone smarter. In the dream world, that actually seemed plausible.

It was a curious fact of his new life, but he filed it away after a while and got back to work. The rocks weren't going to synergize themselves.

Hours passed while they moved the rocks. Exhaustion inevitably set in and minor stress injuries began to appear on his status.

Blackthorne looked to Sonja and noted that the Valkyrie moved sluggishly. Even she was done for the day. Their minor issues would be healed by morning, so it was of no concern.

He spied a particularly large rock far out into the dump site. "That's a good finisher for the day..."

"Master?" asked Sonja, confused.

"I'm going to go get that big rock over there and we can call it a day," he replied.

"We haven't been that far out into the pile yet. There could be scorpions," said Sonja without much concern. It wasn't like the scorpions were particularly problematic. They were weak creatures with an even weaker venom.

"I'll be careful mother," said Blackthorne before he flashed her a toothy grin. He shifted into draconic form to make certain his foot was secure then he wandered off into the dump site.

Sonja rolled her eyes then released a tired sigh. A smile soon crossed her lips, however. Her little boy was growing up so fast.

The large rock was easily half the size of a normal man. Blackthorne considered how he would carry it for a moment, but then decided it would be best to transform back into human form. He had paws shaped slightly like hands, but he was not designed to carry things long term. It was one more thing that his human form was better at doing. Perhaps in the future he would rig up a load carrying system so he could haul things on his back as a dragon, but for now it was easier to change shape.

Blackthorne, still in dragon form, reached over and touched the rock. "The hell?" he asked when it shifted slightly.

"Is this even a ro—" he began, only for his words to be cut short as the big rock slid sideways and the ground gave way beneath him. The suspected chasm filled to the brim with ore was not uniform across its entirety. Beneath the surface there were layers hidden to the casual observer. Somewhere deep within the pile, a layer of rock and dirt had given way due to the shifting forces above it and an underground river below it that had continued to carve its way beneath it for thousands of years. This broken layer caused the rocks to drop further and another layer that barely held back the weight was suddenly hit from a different angle with great force. It too collapsed.

Blackthorne clawed desperately at the loose rocks as the chasm expanded downward having revealed that it was far deeper than even the miners originally realized.

"Master!" cried Sonja in fearful concern as the earth fell from beneath Blackthorne and the dragon fell down toward the depths of the underground world. The fall continued for such a space of time that he collected his thoughts and tried to shift into his midnight shadow form.

However, minute particles of peridot dust now permeated the air due to the shifting of the rocks. The last thing Sonja heard was Blackthorne's agonized cry few seconds before he disappeared completely down into the darkness below. The torch stone's light could reach now further. Where once a glorious landscape filled with dreams had stood, there was now only the yawning maw of an endlessly dark chasm.

Sonja dropped to her hands and knees then screamed out his name into the darkness below. It had all happened so fast, and then he was gone.