The Core's Origin

Only a few days passed between when Aaron had met with the dragon on the fourth level of the Savaren Empire dungeon and when a new guest arrived.

This individual arrived outside the entrance to the dungeon in a shocking fashion. There was a burst of flames, and then a shrouded figure stood there. None had seen how the figure had arrived, not even the core. There had been some sort of twist in reality that had spouted out flames, and then the figure had stood there. That was all.

It was clear that this individual was not human, but interestingly enough, the core could also determine that there was not even the slightest trace of divinity to this being. There was clearly a tremendous amount of mana involved, as well as a hint of something that the core could only interpret as a Concept or two that it had not yet touched upon, but there was no divinity.

What sort of being other than the gods could possess so much power?

The figure stepped forward, but hesitated the moment that it entered the dungeon proper. The moment it moved within the core’s claimed territory, the being stopped, and examined its surroundings. “Not only Concepts, but also Authority? No divinity, and yet this place has clearly been claimed by a being.”

The figure then flickered, and moved to the first section of the dungeon. This shift was not accompanied by the weird twisting of reality that had occurred before, but was instead something accomplished by pure speed.

Once again, the creature stopped and observed, but did not seem to have any particular reaction to the rainforest spreading out before it. With a step forward, flames surrounded the figure, and it proceeded to calmly walk through the dungeon, incinerating all that came within three paces.

For the first time, some of the core’s plants were actually killed, and a few glowing orbs started to appear.

At the sight of the first orb, the shrouded figure stopped once again. A hand stretched out, but instead of transforming into a stream of light, the orb remained intact as it moved towards the figure’s hand. “Mana that can transform a creature’s physical abilities? How does that…”

The orb transformed into a stream of light that shot into the figure, but it was clear to the core that this was being allowed to happen, rather than the normal, automatic process.

After the first orb was absorbed, the figure slowly started moving again, though each orb was examined carefully before being absorbed. The being seemed to be studying the orbs.

Despite the slow pace, the figure did not stop again, and it walked straight for the tunnel to the exit tunnel, which meant that it did not take long for the first level of the dungeon to be crossed.

A similar passage occurred on the second level, though there was a bit of hesitation when the figure first saw the unicorn guardian. A hand waved, and the beast was brushed aside instead of being killed, and the figure proceeded into the tunnel.

Once the figure arrived on the third level, there was a burst of gentle energy that swept out from the figure, and it spread across the entire level of the dungeon. There was a gentle scoff from the figure. “How could such a creature be misconstrued as a dragon? The gods know better.”

The figure did not walk forward, but instead rose into the air and flew across the underground chamber towards the wyvern’s lair.

Within mere minutes, the figure covered a distance that the human priests had needed days to pass over. The figure landed in front of the wyvern’s lair and peered into the depths. “Child, come out.”

The wyvern’s head hesitantly poked out. While all of the dungeon’s creatures were under its control and subject to the restrictions it had placed on them, they still retained all of their natural faculties. Thus, the wyvern could feel the superiority of the creature before it, and knew that it could do nothing to this being.

“Can you speak, child?”

The wyvern stared, responding with a negative in the manner of dragons. The figure seemed ready to respond, but then froze.

For the first time, the being seemed to be genuinely shocked. “Anba was right?”

There was a small burst of flames, and the wyvern blinked in shock to see that the shrouded figure had disappeared.

As for the core, it watched the figure shoot through the tunnel and into the sky of the fourth level of the dungeon. Once there, the figure transformed. Gone was the shrouded figure that had a form that had vaguely resembled a human, and in its place flew a dragon.

The dragon was wreathed in flames, and was the largest, most majestic creature the core had ever observed. It was transfixed by the movements of the mana as the creature flew through the air, their aura suppressing and pushing back all of the wyverns, griffins, and other creatures that might have tried to approach the dragon.

A streak of flames passed through the underground valley, and dropped to the ground in front of the core’s dragon, nearly squashing Aaron in the process.

“Child, why are you here?”

The much, much smaller dragon looked up at the much larger creature. The young dragon could easily be consumed in just a few chomps of the massive jaws that hung above it, and yet there was no fear to be seen in the smaller eyes.

“I am unable to understand thy speech,” the small dragon answered in the tongue of the men of the planet.

This took the eldar dragon aback, as language was an inherited memory. All dragons understood their own language. To not understand it was to not be dragon, and yet the resonance Azkthak felt in their blood belied that truth.

“Child, why are you here?”

“This is my place, tasked to me by mine creator.”

“Creator? You are a dragon. You have a sire, no creator.”

The smaller dragon denied this truth, which shocked the eldar dragon. There was a clear hierarchy within their species, as well as an innate arrogance. Dragons bowed to no other, aside from greater dragons. Even then, the subservience was reluctant, as the lesser dragon would always desire to surpass their better. To be refused by a mere fledgling was unconscionable to the eldar dragon. It should be impossible for such a young hatchling to deny them.

“Explain.”

“Mine creator formed me from the broken pieces that wert found in other, lesser creatures. I wast formed from the wreckage of our bastard progeny.”

The eldar dragon was more shocked than ever. None of their more promiscuous kin had been on the planet since before humans had been born. What sort of being could use their remnant traces among the myriad lesser beasts to form a true dragon?

For the first time, Azkthak felt a sense of inferiority, and that was infuriating.

None were greater than dragonkind.

And yet, what could have given rise to the hatchling? It was clearly pure dragon, as the bloodline resonance could never be faked.

“Who is your creator?”

“I know not.”

“Why are you here? What is this task you speak of?”

“My task is to protect mine creator’s dungeon, and thereby serve mine creator. The means of service are my own, so long as my tasks are accomplished.”

“What rewards are you granted?” Dragonkind could understand the concept of trade and payment for services, but the idea of a dragon willingly serving another was so foreign that Azkthak could not even consider such a thing.

“My reward is knowledge, growth, and mana. Mine creator supplies all that I desire.”

“Knowledge?”

The hatchling’s eyes went dull for a moment, startling the eldar dragon. It was clear that some sort of communication was taking place, but in this territory that was under the authority of another, their senses were impaired, and Azkthak could not sense anything transpiring.

“Here.”

With a wave of the hatchling’s claws, a wyvern approached. As soon as it landed and bowed its head in submission to the hatchling, somehow ignoring the eldar dragon, and the hatchling turned back to the larger beast. “Slay it.”

Intrigued, Azkthak struck the beast down. While it did possess traces of a dragon’s heritage, the amount of impurities prevented the dragon from feeling any remorse from striking down the lesser creature.

The swipe of the dragon’s claws instantly removed the wyvern’s head, and the beast collapsed to the ground. Azkthak looked back at the hatchling, waiting to see what would happen, but was ignored. The hatchling continued to stare at the cooling corpse, and so the eldar dragon did the same.

After a moment, bits and pieces of the wyvern started to disappear, fading into pure mana that rejoined the dungeon. As that happened, a glow could be seen, and a book appeared, floating just over the disintegrating body.

The larger dragon glanced at their smaller kin, and received a slight twitch of the head. The hatchling might not possess the inherited memories of dragonkind, but it clearly possessed their shared instincts.

Azkthak stretched a claw forward to grab the book, and stopped the transformation into a stream of mana for a short bit so that the ancient beast could examine the construct.

The book was not a physical item, but an illusion constructed so convincingly that it deceived all of the dragon’s senses, save for its mana sense.

It was a clever bit of work, and Azkthak was curious as to its purpose. After a few seconds, the transformation was allowed to proceed, and a stream of mana shot into the dragon’s head and heart simultaneously.

At that moment, Azkthak was more shocked than they had been for millenia. The book was a spell, and while the knowledge that the dragon received was nothing special and they likely could have created the same spell in a few moments, the process was memory transfer, which was an incredibly advanced and difficult technique, but even more importantly, the spell was perfect!

Every spell had flaws. Every use of mana was imperfect and allowed for wastage. It was a fact of nature as irrefutable as time and gravity. There was no way to bypass such a thing.

And yet, Azkthak was examining a truly perfect spell. The knowledge that had appeared in the dragon’s mind was of a spell that broke the known laws of magic and nature. It did not do so through power or Concepts, but through pure mana manipulation technique.

It was one of the most beautiful things Azkthak had ever seen.

However, why would such perfection be used on such a basic, simple spell?

The dragon had received the same fire manipulation spell that the core had first given to humans. This spell allowed for the creation and manipulation of flames in whatever manner the caster could imagine and control. With a week of practice, the first human had been able to create weapons and shields of flames.

As for the dragon, Azkthak knew that much, much more was capable with this spell, as they already knew a very similar spell, and still used it on occasion, due to the sheer utility of the spell.

Azkthak finally turned to look at the hatchling. “Why grant me this perfect spell? This knowledge is priceless.”

The hatchling tipped its head slightly in confusion. “Priceless? All spells art perfect. They art merely executed imperfectly.”

This answer was even more astounding to the eldar dragon. Was the creator of these dungeons really capable of perfecting any spell? That seemed beyond impossible. A single perfect spell should have been the life’s work of a master, not a standard that all spells were held to. The skill needed to manipulate the mana in such a refined manner was incomprehensible.

The dragon’s mind started to race at the implications being made. The creator of the dungeons was capable of comprehending Concepts, piecing together the shattered fragments of dragons’ bloodline to give life to a true dragon, and was also capable of perfecting any spell.

This being would surely overthrow the gods of this planet.

“Is your creator capable of resisting the gods?”

“The power of the gods is a mystery.”

This creature had such abilities and did not even know how strong the gods were? Nothing Azkthak was hearing made any sense. Still, it was best to be cautious.

“The concentration of mana in this place is more than adequate for this planet. Find me a place to rest. I will stay here for now.”

“Then, thou shouldst descend further, to the stronger regions.”

“There are more powerful guardians than you?”

The hatchling laughed for a long time before answering. “Without thy Concepts, thou art no match for the forces below.”

That sounded like a challenge.

***

While paying attention to the interactions between the two dragons in the fourth level of a dungeon, the core was continuing with other projects as well. It had become increasingly skilled at splitting its attention, and the addition of sub-cores clearly helped with the split focus.

Coincidentally, while the two dragons were speaking, the core’s westward push into Tamar to regain what had been lost in the past had encountered the odd dead section that the core had encountered before, and subsequently avoided.

This was a place in the mountains between the two kingdoms, and near the peak of one mountain, there had been almost no mana at all. Because of that, the core had gone around that area, due to the fact that without mana, the core had no perception of the place.

This time, there was a faint trace of mana present, which allowed the core to press through the region. Bits of the area seemed familiar, though most felt completely foreign to the core.

Finally, when the core’s perception spread to the peak of the mountain, it found a cave, and at that moment, the core recognized that this was the place it had been born.

In the cave was the intact corpse of Grthak. Due to the war between Tamar and Farun, neither kingdom had been given the slightest opportunity to harvest the dragon’s corpse, and so it had remained where it lay, even as soldiers from both nations had pillaged the dragon’s hoard.

The moment that the core’s perception enveloped the dragon, the massive pool of death and decay mana that had gathered within the beast during its life and then after its death instantly propelled the core through the threshold of its death affinity and into the Concept of death.

Upon gaining access to the Concept of death, the core could sense a few other presences already touching upon that Concept, though the vast majority seemed to be controlled by a single individual. Interestingly enough, that individual seemed to be weaker than one of the others touching the Concept in a minor capacity. It was like one was holding a handful of pebbles in an open hand, while the other had a single stone locked away in a vault.

Even so, the core could feel that the Concept of death very clearly complemented the Concept of life, and it was already able to sense a bit of a direction to proceed with the two.

In some ways, even more important was the fact that the core no longer needed to find a renewable source of death affinitied mana, as it could finally create its own.

In addition to that, it had obtained the Concept of death, which meant that it could restart its undead dungeon. At the same time, it had acquired a body of a dragon. There were times that coincidences looked simply too much like fate.

However, how was the core supposed to move Aaron to its new dungeon at the top of a mountain halfway across the continent?