Dota: Dragon's Blood/B1:E1

What the Thunder Said is the first episode of the first book of Dota: Dragon's Blood.

Intro
This episode does not use the opening used by the following episodes. Instead, it features very briefly explaining the core story of the Dota lore.

"In the beginning, there was only the Primordial Mind. From this mind sprang the whole of creation. The stars, the planets, life and death. But in time, the Mind was divided against itself. Two fragments, the Radiant and the Dire, thought and action, warred over creation with irreconcilable ferocity. The Chaos of the Infinite followed.

''Kings, queens. Gods. Monsters. They all sought wisdom in the shattered Primordial Mind and power from its ineffable madness. But in his prison in Foulfell, the demon Terrorblade gazed into the chaos and found Truth. Terrorblade found the idea. Fuse thought and action. Remake creation in his own infernal image.''"

Short Summary
Davion and Bram help out group of fighters defeat a dragon. After finishing the fight underground, they discover a dragon's nest, and an Eldwyrm slumbering deep within the tunnel system. Davion decides to let it sleep, and return to the village, much to the fighter's captain's disapproval. While celebrating the defeat of the dragon, Davion and the princess meet for the first time, briefly interacting at first. The princess and her companion, Marci, met with an hooded named Gwanwyn, who tells them where they can get their Lotuses. A little skirmish with a drunkard at the inn lead to the hooded man to be revealed as an elf, which are hated amongst the humans. To save the elf from being beat up by the tavern people, Davion took him outside to "deal with him" himself, in order to get the elf out of there to rescue him. The princess followed them outside and was surprised by Davion's action. Later that night, while griefing over his lost men, captain Frühling got possessed by a demon, which prompted him to return to the sleeping Eldwyrm to slay it.

In the next morning Davion got wind of captain Frühling's actions and moved out to stop him, while sending Bram back to Dragon Hold to report the issue to the Fathers. After arriving at the Edlwyrm's hole, Davion finds captain Frühling stabbing the body of the now dead Eldwyrm, Uldorak. After questioning what is happening, Davion notices that Captain Frühling is not himself, with the distorted voice and geen glowing eyes. The demon then tries to possess Davion the same way he possessed the captain previously, but cannot quite break Davion as easily. During this, Slyrak emerges from the ground and obliterates the captain's body. The demon escapes and then enters the dead body of the Eldwyrm, Uldorak and starts fighting with Slyrak. Uldorak has the upper hand in the fight and fataly wounds Slyrak. However, Slyrak manages to bite Uldorak's chest, exposing a weak point, which Davion thrusts his sword in, and thus defeating Uldorak. The demon flees into its hell home, and takes Uldorak's soul with him, wich is now lost. Davion and Slyrak exchange a few words and honor each other for their actions. Davion lifts his sword to put Slyrak to rest, but before he can apply the blow, Slyrak slits open his throat with his claws, which leaves Davion consciousness.

Later, the princess and Marci find Davion drunk and naked on the grass floor in the forest and decide to help him.

Fighting the earth dragon
A group of fighters are in a losing battle against an earth dragon, losing man after man. Davion and Bram arrive on their horses from which the former quickly dives onto the dragon, diverting its attention away from the other fighters. Davion slice along the dragon's body with his sword, but with no effect, breaking the sword in the process. The dragon then demonstrates its ability to very quickly dive into the earth and move through the ground effortlessly. Bram then tosses Davion a coil of barbed wire with a hook. As soon as the dragon's head emerges from the ground, Davion throws the hook in its mouth, which pierces and attaches onto the dragon. Davion quickly starts moving around the dragon, avoiding its attacks and at the same time lacing up the barbed wire around it. However, the dragon manages to get a direkt hit on Davion, hurling him back quite a bit. Meanwhile, the fighters and Bram are observing the fight from a safe distance. The captain of the fighters doesn't quite follow what Davion is doing and unnervingly asks why Davion isn't killing it, to which Bram replies to be quiet and watch. Davion runs back towards the dragon and continues wrapping the barbed wire around its legs and arms, pulling them together. The dragon then dives back into the ground, unwinding the entire coil of barbed wire. Davion pulls out his broken sword and prepares to strike as soon as the dragon emerges. However, once the coil is entirely unwound and dragged into the ground, the scene went silent and the dragon did not emerge. Bram then yells towards Davion that the dragon is not coming out, but then turns to the fighter's captain and remarks that they always come out.

Davion approaches the entry hole the dragon left behind from its dive into the ground. Before jumping into the hole, Davion remarks himself that this action is crazy and stupid. Using his glowing blade within his bracer as a light source, Davion starts exploring the tunnel the dragon created. Not long after, the tunnel starts shaking and bits crumbling of its walls, before the dragon shows itself, bursting through the side onto the Dragon Knight. Davion manages to grab onto the barbed wire that is still wrapped around the entire dragon. He pulls on the wire while the dragon continues digging, which causes it to rip into the dragon's neck and through, creating a gashing wound. The dragon loses control and bursts through the side of a tunnel breaking into another one, and then slides downwards on its back. Davion, now on its belly side, starts aggressively stabbing the dragon's chest with his glowing blade multiple times. Once the dragon stops sliding, Davion jumps towards its throat and delivers the final stab there, killing the dragon.

The sleeping Eldwyrm
Bram and the fighters have entered the hole after the fight, and start decapitating the killed dragon. The captain of the fighters kicks the dead dragon's hell and calls it a "piece of shit", to which Bram and Davion react dismissingly. Davion threatens the captain, telling him that if he dishonors his kill again, he will be next. The captain, baffled by Davion's response, angrily tells him that the dragon killed four of his men, and injured at least five more. Before the scene can escalate further, one of the fighters makes a frightening discovery within the tunnel system: He discovers another dragon. Upon investigating, Davion finds out that there was a nest of dragons under the ground. However, the nest is full of dead hatchlings and wyrms. Davion concludes that the dragons went all crazy and tore each other apart, like they all lost their minds and turned onto each other all at once. Bram tries to play it off that it's all fine. Davion then discovers that the nest has an opening on the other end. They enter the opening and discover a very deep tunnel that goes straight downwards, so deep that the torch Bram threw in compeletly disappeared from sight, without a sign of reaching the bottom. Bram quickly concludes that an Eldwyrm has dug that tunnel. Davion adds to this that the Eldwyrm is asleep. The captain of the fighters asks how Davion knows that it is asleep, to which Davion sternly responses "We aren't dead". The captain, happy with the fact that the wyrm sleeps, then audaciously suggests using this chance to kill the wyrm. Davion, clearly knowing how dangerous an Eldwyrm is, then turns around and says they should rather pray that it doesn't wake up, and starts moving back again. The captain is unhappy with that decision and stares down the hole with a disapproving look.

Returning to the village
Davion, Bram, the captain and the fighters have left the tunnels and are packing up. The captain asks Davion when they return to kill the "big one", refering to the Eldwyrm. Incensed with what he just heard, Bram retaliates the captain's question with whether he knows how many living Dragon Knights have ever seen an Eldwyrm, then telling him that only one Dragon Knight ever did so. The captain then foolishly remarks that Davion and Bram are too afraid then, refusing to understand how futile it would be trying to fight the Eldwyrm, let alone kill it. Davion interrupts the dispute and dictates for them to ride for Dragon Hold in the morning, to get advice and find help, and that tonight he celebrates that he is still living, and imposes on the captain that especially he should do that too. After Davion rides of, the captain then scoffs and calls Davion a coward.

Davion, Bram and the fighters reach the nearby village from which the fighters are from. The inhabitants welcome the group and cheer for them, as they ride on their horses, pulling the wagons of equipments, with one wagon carrying the bodies of the deceased. Bram commentates that all these people are cheering for Davion. Davion dismisses this, asserting that they cheer for "him", hinting towards the head of the dragon they took as a trophy. He exclaims that this morning they were terrified, and tonight they feel safe, and that all he is doing is delivering their trophy. They then catch that some of the villagers are cheering Davion's name, which prompts Bram to mock Davion, making Davion admit that some of them are indeed cheering for him.

Amongst the cheering, Davion notices a group of people griefing. Looking around, he sees them griefing at the wagon with the deceased fighters. He notices there is a child amongst them, quickly concluding that one of the deceased fighters with his father. He goes up to the child and tells him that his father was a militian and a brave man. To cheer the child up, he says that he looks very brave, too, like his father. He then gifts the child a dragon fang, and then shows the child that he has one just like it. He discloses to the child that, when he is off age, he shall take the fang to Dragon Hold, and they will know what it means. The child then confidently says that one day he will slay monsters, too, just like his father did.

The tavern
Davion and Bram went to the village's tavern, where they celebrate with the villagers. Bram excitedly and dramatically narrates Davion's fight against the dragon, while Davion and the others in the tavern listen attentively. After concluding the story, Bram and everyone in the tavern cheer together and meerymake. Davion gets up to go to the bar to order another round for everyone. While ordering, a woman wearing a tiara cuts him off, saying that she was waiting in line to order. Davion apologizes, saying that he is tipsy and didn't notice her there, and then lets her make her order. She orders two glasses of Icewrack White, chilled and not so sharp. The barkeeper gives her a questioning look and gives her two mugs of brew, charging two Crowns for them. The woman grabs a mug and remarks that it smells terrible and that it is warm. The barkeeper then reveals that it is beer, and that it is all they serve. According to him, it is wet, sour, and sharp enough to "cut the head off a hellbear". He then repeats his charge of two Crowns, with a raised voice, which the woman opposes. Davion then cuts in and takes the order on his tap. The barkeeper then exclaims that in that case, they are for free. The woman then questions him, if she orders they cost two Crowns, but if he orders, they cost nothing. The barkeeper then profoundly explains that he is Davion, the Dragon Knight who killed many dragons, pointing at the head of the dragon he brought as trophy, which is mounted at the corner of the bar's framework, so of course he gets his orders for free. The captain of the fighters overhears this, and throws in his remarks. He then talks about the Eldwyrm again and how they left that one alive in its hole, belittling Davion's actions. Davion dismisses him, saying that he is drunk. The captain pushes Davion to tell her about the Eldwyrm and how he "bravely ran away" from that wyrm. He then belittles him further, saying if all his stories were worth anything, he should go and kill that Eldwyrm. Davion, having enough of his talks, grabs the guy buy his collar and menacingly teaches him that one man alone cannot kill an Eldwyrm, nor ten, nor twenty, that it would be stupid to try. Waking that monster means death for everyone within miles from here, let the dragon sleep. Davion that turns around to return to the woman with the tiara, but finds out she already left the bar.

The woman moves with the two mugs to a table where her companion waits for her, while being gawked at by a drunkard in the tavern. She sits down at her table and gives one of the mugs to her companion, who takes a sip and puckers, to which the woman adds that it is supposed to be warm. At this point a mysterious man named in a hooded mantle named Gwanwyn approaches them. He scoffs that a human tavern is not exactly a neutral meeting point. The woman replies that she assumes he prefered a dark alley or the foothills so he can rob them better. Gwanwyn dismisses that assumption saying that it's more lucrative to locate precious things for the rich rather than stealing from them. The woman then demands for her Lotuses. The hooded man then carps that they are Selemen's Lotuses, the Lotuses of the usurper, to which the woman replies that she does not care and that she wants to make them hers. Gwanwyn then tells her that he does not have the Lotuses, but he does have a name and a place for her. He tells her to go to the Black Market in Haupstadt, and to ask for a man named Nikdo, who will arrange the rest. She then asserts that he promised her to bring her the Lotuses, to which he counters that he only promised find them. As he was about to negotiate about his payment, the woman interrupts him, exclaiming that he does not pay him for just a name. The man then gets up and says in that case, he will tell Nikdo that there is no bargain. As he was about to leave, the woman tells him to wait and explains that she has no money to pay him with, but has other items of value. The man first misunderstands, thinking that she was offering herself as a reward, which he declines, saying that although human women are pleasently soft, they are too easy to come by. She stops her companion who was ready to physically retaliate and clears up that that was not her offer, but instead a bracelet. Gwanwyn takes the bracelet, and points at her tiara, claiming that he knows who she is.

The gawking drunkard from earlier then slams on their table exclaiming that she is her future ex-wife. She once again holds back her clearly angry companion, to whom the drunkard gives the same remark. The woman with the diadem says that they should not step down from their throwns to adress a peasant, which angers the drunkard, who then turns his attention to Gwanwyn, threatening him. the hooded man tries to push him off mockingly telling him that he would never dare tread where he set foot. The angered drunkard then punches Gwanwyn in the stomach for the insult and grabs him by the cloak. As he pulled him up, the cloak's hood fell back revealing Gwanwyn's long and pointy ears. He is an Elf. Everyone in the tavern following the incidence is shocked by this, while the drunkard starts throwing racials slurs at him. He calls the elves "long-eared murderous animals", and then tells about a cousin of his who wandered into an elven enclave, where he left half-mad, with one arm and both testicles missing, and with a smile cut into his face from ear to ear. Davion then gets up and approaches the scene. The drunkard pulls out a knive and runs to attack Gwanwyn. Before he reaches him, Davion pulls Gwanwyn away and stops the drunkard in his tracks. He then exclaims that he will deal with the animal alone and drags him out of the tavern, while shouting out degrading words to make it seem like he is against the elves as well. The woman with the diadem and her companion follow him outside, expecting the worst. Gwanwyn, who did not see through Davion's intention, is frightened and covers his face as he approaches him. Davion then tells him to run, and leave as fast as he can. Gwanwyn immediately realizes Davion saved him from the situation and immediately puts on his hood again and starts turning away. Before he leaves, he turns his head to the woman, who he now calls princess, and repeats the name he gave before: Nikdo, in Hauptstadt.

Davion then turns to the woman. "Princess? You get more interesting by the minute", he says. The princess ignores that and says that most men would have left him to the mob, or even have joined it, to which Davion replies that he is not most men, before going back into the tavern and order another round.

All you have to do is let me in
Late in the night, the captain stands at a campfire outside the tavern with a mug of bear. Visions of how his men were killed by that dragon flash before his eyes, indicating that it has left him traumatized. Drunkenly, he then rumbles that he is not afraid of any dragon. He pulls out his sword and swings it around, yelling that he is not afraid. Once calming down a bit again, a voice appears in his head. The voice questions his words and says that he can still feel his fear and that everyone knows and laughs at him. The captain looks at his sword, which is engulfed in a yellowish-green light, and sees a reflection of a demon on it, the source of the voice. He tells the demon to shup up and throws the sword away. The demon takes a swipe at the captain, saying that he is the joke of the village, sad and pathetic, a coward. The captain gecomes enraged and yells at him to shut up. The demon is contented by his reaction, saying that rage is good and encourages the captain, claiming they can slay the Eldwyrm, both of them together. No one has to know about his terror, and his incompetence, the demon will do all the work. All he has to do is to let the demon in. The captain complies.

The next morning
The next morning, Davion wakes up in one of the tavern's rooms, with a woman next to him. The woman asks if Davion wanted another go, which Davion declines. From outside the room, Bram can be heard yelling for Davion, and knocking on doors. Finally finding Davion's room, he slams the door open, entering the room breathless, almost dropping Davion's sword which was leaning against the wall next to the door, barely catching it. Without a break, he delivers bad news to Davion about the captain, named Frühling. He says that the captain went back to the foothills where they fought the dragon and found the Eldwyrm. With his intentions being obvious to Davion, he curses at him, calling him a moron, brainless and arrogant. Davion quickly puts on his clothes and armor and plans to go after Frühling to stop him, one way or another. Bram exlclaims that he is coming with him, which Davion quickly dismisses. He instead orders him to immediately return to Dragon Hold, because the Fathers need to know about this and they need to send everyone. Davion then immediately rides off without wasting a second. Bram remains in the room and rolls out a Town Portal Scroll on the floor. He takes out a small dagger and reluctantly cuts into his hand to draw blood for the teleport, the part which he hates the most. As soon as his blood touches the scroll, the glpyhs on it start to glow in a bright blue and expand outwards off the scroll and around Davion. As the teleportation builds up, Bram mumbles out his fears of the teleport, hoping that he arrives at Dragon Hold with a head and both arms, preferably his head and arms. A few seconds later, the teleport resolves and Bram disappears from the room. The woman looks stunned at the fading glyphs, not knowing what just happened.

Back at the Eldwyrm's lair
Davion has returned to the tunnel's opening, and deeply sighs before jumping in again. As he runs through the tunnel towards the Eldwyrm's hole, the entire tunnel system constantly shakes and groaning echoes through the chambers. After a while, he finds Frühling stabbing a huge green dragon that lies motionless on the ground. He slides down towards Frühling and the dead dragon. Frühling looks up with green glowing eyes and starts talking with a distorted voice. It is clear that the demon that possessed him is talking. He says that, with the act of slaying dragons, they (refering to him and Davion) do the work of gods here and that they should be friends. Davion not knowing what he is on about first questions him what he did down here, claiming that no man is capable of what he did, slaying an Eldwyrm alone. Frühling (or better, the demon) continues: "Uldorak was old. Sick. Yet even his powers at their height could not have saved him. Not from me" Uldorak was the name of the Eldwyrm he just had slain. Davion now notices the oddities of Frühling's distorted voice and glowing eyes. Frühling then gets completely engulfed in an unholy green glow and starts floating. He floats towards Davion and starts alluring Davion the same way he allured captain Frühling earlier. He digs in Davion's past, creating flash backs of when he was a child and his father was burned alive by an Eldwyrm that burned down his village. He asks if Davion wouldn't take the power to slay and Eldwyrm if he could. Davion retaliates saying that he could not have done anything else a child. The demon then says that his childhood has evaporated with his father's flesh, a boy made man by despair, full of rage, trapped in his own hell of regret. He asks him what wouldn't he do to escape. Davion fends him off again, saying that he knows nothing. The demon then returns the same way he did with captain Frühling earlier. He claims that together, they can slay every dragon, and all Davion has to do is let the demon in.

Right as he finishes his sentence, the ground starts shaking and another voice can be heared, commanding the demon that he will release Uldorak's soul, so that he may rejoin the Thunder and take new form. The ground then errupts like a fiery volcano and another Eldwyrm emerges: Slyrak, Father of Fire. The demon knows who he is and confidently exclaims that he will collect Slyrak's soul like how he collected Uldorak's. Slyrak declares that Uldorak was ready for death and that the madness and weakness was upon him, while he himself is not so disadvantaged, and then proceeds to spew a plume of fire towards Frühling and the demon he is possessed by. Davion, who was also in line of fire, quickly jumps to cover behind a rock. The beam of fire has molten the rocks in its path and completely charred up captain Frühling's body, killing him instantly. Thinking the fight as over, Slyrak approaches Davion and advices him to run and see himself fortunate, for he has no taste for human flesh today. Davion stays frozen place, presumably surprised by the Eldwyrm sparing his life. Suddenly, the demon's voice can be heard again. A green wisp leaves the charred body of captain Frühling and marks dragons as brutes with no imagination, no cunning, no guile, and weak. The demon then floats towards the dead body of Uldorak and possesses it. Both Eldwyrms now face against each other. They both release a deafening roar before moving in to attack. Davion quickly moves to safety and watches from a safe distance.

Fight of the Eldwyrms
Both Eldwyrms charge at each other, engaging in close combat first. Slyrak lifts off the ground and smacks Uldorak with his momentum with one arm then the other against the ground. Uldorak retaliates with a head butt and a swipe from the left against Slyrak's neck, however, Slyrak quickly flips around and whips Uldorak's head with his tail, and uses the opportunity to fly up again. From the sky, Slyrak prepares to launch another beam of fire. Uldorak sees this and prepares his own green beam of ownknown substance. Both beams collide mid-air and battle for a while. Slyrak's beam has proven to be stronger and pushed Uldorak's beam back, hitting him directly. Not to be pushed back, Uldorak slams the ground, splitting it apart and sending pillars of rocks upwards that hit Slyrak, who then falls to the ground. Uldorak then charges at Slyrak with his horns and impales him in the chest, ramming him against the rocks behind. Fatally wounded, Slyrak falls to the ground, almost squashing Davion, who manages to get out of the way in time. Uldorak approaches Slyrak with loud and thudding steps, who lies on the ground grasping for air. Davion notices the dire situation and prepares to make a move to help Slyrak, for reasons he himself doesn't know. Uldorak exlaims that he can "smell your fear", to which Slyrak answers "Only my hate" before getting back up and jumping onto Uldorak and biting directly into his chest. Davion continues running towards the fight jumping onto Slyrak and running up his back. Uldorak then slams Slyrak away from him, which results in Slyrak ripping off a big chunk from Uldorak's chest, revealing something glowing below the scales and flesh. Davion sees this and jumps over Slyrak's head, sword drawn, towards the big wound Slyrak just created. Uldorak notices this too late and cannot stop Davion, whose sword enters the center of the glowing point on his open chest. Slyrak shows recognition for Davion's actions and calls him a "brave little mouse". Uldorak screams and shakes in agony, sending Davion flying towards the ground, but Slyrak catches him with one of his wings. Green glowing cracks start to form on Uldorak's entire body, starting at the wound on his chest, which ultimate leads to him disintegrating in a huge blast, so that nothing is left of him. The demon has fled to the hell he calls home and Uldorak's soul is lost, according to the fatally wounded Slyrak. After finishing his sentence, Slyrak spews out blood, and falls to the ground again. Davion approaches Slyrak on the ground and says that he couldn't just let him (the demon), at which point Slyrak interrupts him, saying with a dying breath that he chose a side. Davion puts his hand on Slyrak's snout as he breaths raggedly, asking the dragon to die in piece. Slyrak proclaims that he wants nothing of piece, and that Davion knows the death he wants. Davion tells him that he fought well and both say that they honor each other, be fore Davion lifts his sword to put Slyrak to rest. Before Davion can finish his swing, Slyrak slashes through his throat with his claws. Blood gushes out of Davion's throat everywhere, as he falls to the ground. Slyrak asks him for forgiveness for all the suffering he will now endure, before Davion loses consciousness.

Found in the woods
The princess and her companion, named Marci, find Davion lying drunk and naked on the grass floor in the forest. The princess is not interested in helping him more than letting him sleep until he wakes, and then understand that he must make better life choices. She exclaims that it is not her responsibility to protect people from themselves, no matter what good and noble qualities they might possess. Marci gives the princess a disapproving look. The princess then says that you can't possibly know that he would come to her aid if the tables were turned, which they never would be. Marci, who is mute, gives the princess another look telling her to help him already. The princess then concedes and allows Marci to help him. She then bends down to Davion, telling him that we won't be happy when he awakens, but he will live.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Oracle
 * Davion
 * Captain Frühling
 * Bram
 * Mirana
 * Marci
 * Gwanwyn
 * Terrorblade
 * Uldorak
 * Slyrak