The dragon was dying. It had managed to return to its lair and its hoard, but it knew that that would make no difference at all: it was about to die.

The enormous beast crawled through the tight confines of the tunnel and entered its lair proper. It had hewn out a comfortable chamber within the center of the peak of the tallest mountain in the area, as befitted a creature of such magnificence.

Like so many creatures facing their demise, the dragon was unwilling to meet its end, but unlike the dark emotions that filled those who would ultimately be cursed to become wraiths, ghosts, or other such undead, the dragon simply felt an overpowering need to save and protect its treasure.

It knew there was no hope, yet the overwhelming need made the creature desperate. The unrelenting demand filled the dragon even as it released its final breath, and that need left the beast right along with its final bit of mana and life.

The dead beast’s emotions permeated the wisp of mana and vital energy, filling it and transforming it. Instead of dispersing, everything coalesced, and was then quickly drawn to a specific item buried within the dragon’s hoard.

Like all dragons, this one had long suffered the curse of greed, along with the compulsion to gather treasure and form a hoard. Within the pile of gold, precious gems, and priceless equipment, there was a single, unexceptional opal that the transformed mana was drawn to. Much like the mana that had become transformed and made impure, opals were gems that were not pure, but were instead mixtures that somehow became more than their core components of water and silica. In a similar manner, the mana and life force had become something with the push from the dying need of the dragon.

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The mana mixture entered the small, iridescent green and blue gem, and slowly merged with it. The two amorphous conglomerates further transformed into something far greater than either of them alone.

The dragon’s life force started to make the gem into something more than mere stone, and that only happened because the mana was able to provide the fuel and energy necessary to power the transformation. However, the dragon’s dying need became the guiding force for the entire process. The treasure needed to be protected, and as something awoke within the gemstone, the purpose to protect awoke as well.

Unfortunately, just what sort of abilities can a stone possibly possess? Even if it had been transformed by the dying will of an eldar dragon.

Additionally, while the dragon’s will had been successfully transferred into the stone, the dragon’s memories had not, so the stone awakened with a driving purpose to protect, but without any knowledge, power, memories, or even the slightest hint as to exactly what it was supposed to protect.

It awoke to the “sight” of the dragon’s hoard completely surrounding it. The transformed opal was surrounded on all sides, and even above and below, by the dragon’s trove. Naturally, the stone’s instinct was to protect what surrounded it, and to an even greater degree, protect itself.

Any creature that obtained sufficient mana and control of it would also gain the ability to sense their surroundings with that mana. In a certain manner, the awakened stone was a creature of mana, which led to it innately possessing this ability, albeit in limited form, at the very moment of its awakening.

This was the birth of the world’s first dungeon core.