An unseen vortex of mana swirled about in the meadow, dancing about a statue. The statue was of a young maiden who held hands with a young lad. Rather than gazing lovingly at each other, which was what similar statues in human cities would depict, this pair gazed forwards, with a grim determination no artist would depict on a young lad or lass. Unlike most, however, this statue was not made by an artist, but instead by magic. The statue could be the source of the mana, or the mana spring could be the source of the statue. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The meadow itself was vibrant, filled with life, but everything near the statue was different. Enhanced in various ways by the excessive mana, plants grew taller, stronger, smarter and faster. Animals and monsters experienced growth too, whether in the form of armor-plating, sharper claws, a larger mana core, intelligence, or abilities. As such, the stronger monsters, beasts and plants hoarded the area by the vortex, and jealously guarded their territory to the best of their ability. A lizard, with claws that could ignore typical armor and a hide that camoflauged itself from normal and magical detection. A deer, with legs so powerful it could run and jump incomprehensibly fast, and antlers sharp enough to pierce mithril, the strongest metal. An innocuous rabbit, with a mana core larger than its brain, and magic abilities aplenty. These were some of the monsters that lived by the vortex. Of course, monsters existed elsewhere in the world, too, and so did other natural mana sources.

However, no other mana source was so strong or constant; some sources only had an excess of mana every few days, while other sources only had an excess every few months. The source in the meadow, however, had an excess at all times, an unheard-of phenomenon. As such, the beasts, plants and monsters were much stronger and their parts of much higher quality. However, there was one last creature wrapped around the statue itself, at the place where the mana was the most pure. This creature was no mere beast. It was a dragon, and not just any dragon. After all, only the strongest dragon would live there, and jealously guarded its mana source. This dragon was commonly referred to as an elder dragon in most places. However, this wasn't your standard mountain-sized elder dragon. No, this was a pocket-sized elder dragon. It had found the mana source while young, and developed on a unique evolutionary path- the path of the tiny dragon.

Stolen story; please report.

Yet, it was not to be underestimated. Scales with strength comparable to mithril, claws and teeth that could pierce it, and a number of magical abilities; underestimating the strength of this dragon had been the downfall of many beasts and monsters, but the others had learned to be wary. None dared disturb the tiny dragon wrapped around the neck of the young lady, and none dared approach the statues when the dragon was gone. The dragon would hunt down anything that dared approach within 10 meters of the statues, which the monsters and beasts learned after a number of lives lost.

The mana spring, while one of the strongest, was also one of the smallest, with the excess mana never going further than 100 meters from the statue. Other mana springs might be a few acres in size, but were not active all the time, likely due to the larger size. As this mana spring was small, it was also undiscovered by any of the sentient humanoid races. The humans, elves, and dwarves fell into this category for obvious reasons, but were not the only sentient & sapient humanoids, nor the only sentient life forms to be found. Any monster, beast or plant that gained enough mana, and lived long enough, would eventually form greater sentience. Of course, this did not automatically let them speak, but made them much more dangerous since they could make plans and traps instead of relying solely on their instincts.