The mighty freezer vanquished, and its frozen treasure claimed, Scott was briefly at a loss as to what he should do next. He remained hungry, but decided to try to make a sandwich. The result was interesting. White bread was not meant for clawed hands. At any rate, he spent a good bit of time cleaning his counter-top to remove the mustard stains and the bits of left over sandwich that managed to escape his tiny maw during dinner.

Not long after he finished eating, his phone rang again. Annoyed beyond words, Scott hopped down from the counter then waddled into his room. He took hold of his phone and checked to be sure that it really was work calling him.

"Yeah, definitely Archers." Scott checked the date briefly then snorted. "Still my day off."

Several messages were left for him, but upon making the attempt to check them he discovered a curious issue. The phone would not detect his claws. He could not swipe!

"So annoying." He did not want to change forms at the moment. There was something fulfilling about performing simple life tasks as a dragon that he normally did not experience. Even nuking a burrito proved to be quite the adventure.

He tried to use his knuckle, but that didn't work. His tongue proved ineffective, and the taste was sort of gross, as well.

"Do I have a stylus?" he asked himself curiously. He was certain that he used to have one.

"Stylus..." he said thoughtfully while trying to recall the truth of the matter.

"Stylus..." he said again.

It was then that something caught his eye. He tilted his head and then squinted slightly. Slowly, his eyes widened and he curiously took hold of one of his tail tips. Curious, he brought it over and lightly tapped the text message alert with the tip of his tail. A pleased and toothsome grin split his face. "Stylus!"

In truth, it would be better to metamorphose into human form, but it was still off the table due to his lingering injuries and general lack of interest. Plus, the thought of using his new tail to check text messages was too fun. "Ashton..."

He huffed loudly then shook his head. In a moment of silliness he remarked, "Girl be blowin' up my phone all day, yo."

The thirty-six text messages and twenty-three voice messages all more or less came from Ashton. She super needed him to come into work.

"Well, I super need to figure my life out and try to escape an underground cave." Scott turned off his phone then chuckled. "I'm a little young for a mid-life crises, but I'm going through a few changes right now."

Reminded that he needed to escape the underground world, he thought about his options. "I can transfer stuff over to the dream, but it costs money."

When he thought of money, he also idly wondered what would happen to his clothes or Jerin when he changed forms in the other world. "Something to test here, at least once my wounds have healed enough to regenerate my life force."

Time was a cruel mistress. He checked his status then sighed. "At least another hour. I better try transferring food over once I'm done testing things."

The hour passed slowly, but inevitably. He spent his time researching the dream and in making attempts to navigate his home as a dragon. At one point he tried to watch television. After a bit of struggle he conceded the fact that his draconic forepaws, while similar in design, were not quite the same as human hands. He sat on his coffee table, his remote duct taped to the surface to prevent it from moving around, and tapped buttons gently with his claw.

Before the great burrito campaign he had mused about his disinterest in becoming human at the moment, but in truth that disinterest was not the only reason he had so much trouble finding dinner. The wounds that transferred with him kept him from acquiring the life force needed to change shape.

Eventually, his wounds healed to the extent that he finally regained a point of life force. After that, his injuries healed completely and he was soon at full health once again.

"As much as I wanted to just Dragonflix and chill..." Scott took a deep breath then focused on his memories as a man. It took time, longer than he expected in truth, but soon his body began to expand. It cracked open as the force rising inside was unable to be contained by his frame any longer. The remnants of his draconic body dissipated even as a gout of black mist began to form into an all-too-familiar shape.

Scott's human eyes opened after a few minutes passed. "Ah, still working."

His choice to keep his ability to sense and manipulate mana allowed him to see the rainbow fire of life force given off by his surroundings. He sat up and winced. "Man. That takes a lot out of me."

He rose up in all of his mostly naked glory, he did wear a certain ruby ring upon his finger, then slid off the bed. He wobbled a bit, as though he had forgotten how to stand properly for a moment then nodded. "Right, time to get started."

Scott dressed himself in simple clothing and made certain to stick his wallet in his pocket. Once he was ready, he took a deep breath then allowed himself to remember the dragon. Unlike his transformation into human form, the reverse granted him a feeling of release. In many ways there was a hint of tension in his body while human, like he constantly tensed some invisible muscle.

"Ok. I am certainly not wearing pants..." he said. Scott craned his neck around and checked his surroundings. "Can't see my clothes, either."

He stepped away from his current position just to be certain they were not invisible, then nodded when they did not reappear. After a brief few minutes passed to allow his life force to regenerate, he became the man once more.

Scott the man reappeared with all of the clothing that he wore previously, wallet included. He patted himself lightly for verification. "Yeah, seems it's all here..."

Now that he was completely healed, it was time to finally check his other form. What did that even look or feel like? What was a Midnight Shadow anyway?

His thoughts turned to his metamorphosis skill. How did he become the Midnight Shadow? The more he thought about the transformation, the more he began to sense certain sensations within himself. Soon, concepts and comprehension he never knew before began to flow through his mind. The transitional form between dragon and man was the key.

Scott started to become the man, but once he broke free of his dragon body he forced himself to hold back. Though he no longer had a corporal form, pain lanced throughout the core of his being. The black mist that comprised his essence began to roil and twist around. Little red arcs of red lightning skittered through his dark nature, visible to the naked eye.

The mist shifted once again. For a time he knew only profound blackness, a darkness so final that part of him thought that he had killed himself. However, soon the world exploded back into view.

"What... is this?" marveled the sentient cloud of darkness. Scott sensed everything around him in a strange beautiful manner. In all directions he could see and hear perfectly. He did not have eyes or ears, he saw things with far greater clarity and heard them with extreme crispness.

Strangely, the omnidirectional sight did not extend past his walls or closed door. His small window, however, showed him the view outside.

"I don't even..." How could he even? Even what? He did not know. He simply did not understand the profound nature of his current existence.

It took a little time to understand how to move. As it turned out, it was quite simple. He merely had to will himself in one direction or another. Weightless, he drifted through the air. Soon, he tried to open the door and during that attempt he realized that he could literally pass through it.

His time in the form would soon run out, as it was quite energy intensive. However, he wanted to try it just once. The sentient cloud of darkness pressed against the door, and though there was a strange sense of mild resistance, he soon passed through. By the time the entirety of his essence drift through the door a sense of weakness overtook his mentality. His vision lost clarity. Not long after, all went dark once more.

Sometime later he awoke as the dragon. His life force was largely regenerated, and thus he knew that several minutes had passed.

"That was intense," he said softly. The Midnight Shadow was a state of being that he could scarcely describe even to himself. Weightless, no definitive form aside from a ghostly mist, and yet in that form he could fully sense the world around him.

"Couldn't see life force, but then I did not add that function to the midnight shadow form." Scott tapped one of his teeth with a claw for a moment. "I can move through stuff in that form?"

"Doors, probably walls... maybe dirt..."

Scott's eyes narrowed slightly, but then a vaguely predatory smile creased his reptilian lips. "That... could work."

Not long after he hatched his little scheme, Blackthorne awoke within the dream. Curious, he scanned the area then nodded. "If anything popped up before this, it didn't bother me."

Completely healed and ready to be on his way, he put his plan into action. First, he shifted into his human form. Upon regaining that shape a small allotment of items fell to the ground. Jerin, food, simple clothing, and a few other things appeared before him.

"I'm poor as a church mouse on Earth now, but the transference was a success." Blackthorne looked as his glowing hands then set about gathering his stuff.

The transference fees for simple items, such as Earth food and clothing, amounted to roughly twenty dollars. It would be considerably more in Jerin, but such was life.

Once he got dressed and adjusted his belt, he snatched up the backpack that he sent along. Jerin and food stuffed inside, he grinned. "Alright, that takes care of that. None of the stuff has stats to speak of, but it all still counts as regular food and gear."

He took out his flashlight then chuckled. The beam of light was bright, but the cavern was utterly dark. Useful in some ways when he would be in human form, but for now it was limited. Besides that, he did not have extra batteries and the ones that he did have were well-used at this point.

"Alright, technology works... Good." Blackthorne pointed his light upward and checked the ceiling of the cave. "Still pretty far, but I doubt I'll get any closer to it."

He shut off his light, and packed it away. A short while later, he was fed and hydrated. His dream body felt better by the moment though there was no bonus to his regeneration.

A few minutes later he drew in a deep breath then slowly released it. The time to enact his plan had come. If what he attempted to do worked, he would be free of this place.

Blackthorne began shifting forms, but part way through he stopped himself. Soon, he became a cloud of impenetrable darkness that somehow managed to be even blacker than the lightless depths of the cavern.

He rose up as quickly as he could, despite the darkness. In his Midnight Shadow form he was able to see with perfect clarity. It might as well have been a well-lit room.

Inching upward in small increments, he could not help but sigh as time flew by. He managed to reach the cavern ceiling and pushed through into the rock and dirt beyond. Up he flew, up and up again. Like some dark effluvia of a forgotten hell he rose from beneath the earth. Pain lanced throughout the core of his being. Though he had neither lungs nor throat, he screamed into the dirt. Desperate, he flung himself upward with far more effort than he could manage before.

The morning sun touched down gently upon the barest hint of his mist as he broke through to the surface. The tiny fragment of his Midnight Shadow shrieked in agony as he continued to rise. Soon, enough of him existed in one place to allow his mind to be at peace. Despite the light of day, the darkness of oblivion took him.