There was a core within the skeletal form, not tiny like a nail or fist-sized, but as big as a human head. It was completely dark, with a golden sceptre drilled into it, destroying its perfect state as thick, smoky dark essence oozed out. An isolating barrier surrounded the corpse, but it was unable to contain all the dark essence the core exerted.
From just a glance, he could tell the barrier wasn't there simply to block the dark essence; it was actually to weaken the core, isolate the dark essence from its control, and pump it outwards to disintegrate. However, even with that, the concentration of dark essence was so thick that it had completely changed the ambient nature of the essence of the place.
After scouting the area and finding no relative danger, he approached the barrier. Much of its script had eroded over time, and he could only imagine how many millennia had passed within this chamber—perhaps over a million years, given the time dilation in place.
