How I Would Do DotA Lore - Part I: The Rift

 Note: This is being done in an abridged fashion. I'd spend much more time if I were making a full novel, but I also want this to be easily accessible to the gamer crowd.

The Three Prophets

Every being ponders its purpose in life.

There were just the three of them in all of existence. Tequoia (Furion), Krobelus, and Roshan. That's all there had been for hundreds of years. Emptiness occupied every direction. More than anything, the three were confused and, quite frankly, incredibly bored.

Every now and then there was something to make the ordinary passage of time interesting. A tingling sensation, a great sorrow, the feeling of fullness, a sharp pain, and so on. Feelings that seemed to arise from no particular source.

Tequoia and Krobelus had grown increasingly irritable as of recently. Both felt a void in their lives. Roshan, however, seemed to carry on just fine, even though all three felt the same seemingly randomly assigned feelings.

The most upsetting part for Tequoia and Krobelus was that their sense of purpose was teeming. The feeling continued to grow until it was unbearable. Even Roshan had shown symptoms of being affected. He had fallen into a deep depression.

It was at this point when the Rift appeared. As the feelings intensified, the Rift grew from a small slit in the emptiness, to a full doorway. While the three were terrified of the Rift, it was also becoming the lesser of two evils as the pain from their sourceless feelings became unbearable.

The Rift

"That's it, I'm going into the Rift," stated Tequoia. He staggered towards the Rift, clutching his forehead as though it would tame the headache that was overwhelming his being.

Roshan and Krobelus said nothing, but followed his movement with disconcerted faces.

"How long have we wanted to get out of here and figure out what our purpose is? And right now, with these intense headaches, how much worse could existence be?"

Tequoia stuck his hand into the doorway. "It feels... sticky. Not physically, though. I don't think it's dangerous. I feel as though I'm supposed to enter, and I think it wants me to enter as well." He attempted to turn back, facing his siblings once more before entering, but the Rift was stuck to his hand, following it like an aqueous glue.

Krobelus and Roshan reached out, mouths agape, but unable to produce sound as the Rift wrapped around their brother. Just before he vanished, they saw his face relax, as though he were in a state of bliss.

On the other side, Tequoia felt the stickiness fade. It was quickly replaced by a sensation of being pushed and prodded as though thousands of cilia were directing him. He glanced around at the dark and murky mix of blacks and purples. "Is this a mouth? Am I being swallowed by the doorway?" he wondered.

But then, he saw another doorway opening up. The force surrounding him pushed him toward the new doorway. He glanced inside to a dark greyish brown area that was hallow.

The Tree of Life

Without any choice, Tequoia was thrown through the doorway. He landed on a soft patch of grass. Tequoia drew himself to his feet, brushing off. Ahead of him was a bright light. He ventured toward it, feeling the tingling sensation of grass between his feet. The headache was slowly fading and his sense of purpose was skyrocketing.

He stepped into the light and found himself in a clearing upon a hill overlooking a forest. However, the forest appeared to be in decay. He turned around and discovered he had just exited a massive tree. "What is this place? What is this?" he thought. The tree was bigger than any in the forest, but had the same sickly look as the rest.

Tequoia laid his hand on the tree in attempt to better understand what it was. At the moment his hand made contact with the surface, the color of the tree began to change from a withered grey to a bold brown. This spread throughout the tree. Its wilting leaves and branches straightened out, the color in them returning as well.

He stood back and gasped. The tree was bursting with life. Tequoia looked at his hands, but nothing had changed. They were the same hands he always had. He touched his hands to his chest, where it felt as though a burden had been lifted from him.

Tequoia stood and admired the beauty while he tried to sort out what happened. But, his time to think was cut short when the ground began to shake. Out of the forest, a tree-like figure emerged.

"It is true what the roots have told me. The Tree of Life has been cured. But how?," said the tree being. He coughed, some of his wilting leaves detached and floated to the ground.

He looked down to see a creature like he had never seen before quizzically staring up at him.

"Are you referring to this thing behind me?" asked Tequoia. "I placed my hand on it and it changed. My apologies."

"Apologies? Ha! You have done a great thing. I have been searching for a remedy, but was fruitless in my efforts. Who are you? A great healer? A god?" asked the tree man.

"I am Tequoia, and I am not sure of much else."

"Greetings, I am Rooftrellen, the Treant Protector," said the tree man, extending a hand. Tequoia reciprocated, his touch sending a surge of life through the tree man.

Death and the Fight to Live

Krobelus and Roshan looked at one another. "I do not know what to do," said Roshan.

"We cannot just leave him to his own means," said Krobelus. She cautiously approached the doorway. "I am going after him."

Roshan nodded and together, they crossed into the Rift.

The force that had guided Tequoia reached out to Krobelus and Roshan. It brought them to a doorway and pushed them through.

On the other side was a sickly child and his lifeless mother. Roshan reached out to comfort the sobbing child. Upon touching the child, Roshan felt relief overcome him. The child stood up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and walked toward the village nearby.

"He was mourning, was he not?" asked Krobelus. Roshan nodded, though bewildered.

"Then why would he leave like that? Is it part of some ritual? Was it this being's doing?" she asked. Krobelus reached down and touched the corpse. The limp body's chest sprang forth as it exhaled a faint gaseous figure identical the the corpse.

The woman looked at her hands, then up at Roshan and Krobelus. She shrieked, "What are you?"

"I could ask the same of you," Krobelus replied.

"I must be dead," said the woman as she gazed at her hands again. "Are you the Reaper?"

"What is a Reaper?"

"You know, the Reaper. The Death Prophet. The one that deals with the soul after death."

"I don't rightly know," said Krobelus. She motioned toward the corpse, "I touched that and you appeared."

The woman appeared to be on the verge of tears upon hearing this. She then glanced around, her expression shifting from sorrow to terror. "My son, what did you do to my son?"

"That small creature next to you? I placed a hand on him and he stopped sobbing, then ran that way," said Roshan, his finger pointed at the village.

"Impossible. That boy was so sick he couldn't barely walk."

Enter the Elementals

"Calm yourself Darkness," said Light.

"No. Are you blind? Do you not see through the window that Life, Death, and Perseverance have entered the mortal realm?" fumed Darkness.

"We agreed long ago when Chaos ripped this window into existence that this would be it. The window is enough. We need not interfere with mortal lives more than we already do," said Light.

"We would be called if we were intended to enter the mortal realm," said Strength.

Darkness stormed off. Not after long, Chaos found Darkness.

"Don't fret Darkness, the others are just afraid to enter the Ethereal Plane," said Chaos.

"Perhaps, but they are also probably correct. After all, Ice entered the Ethereal Plane and has not been seen since," said Darkness.

"Does not not cross your mind that despite Ice's disappearance, there is still ice in the mortal realm?" said Chaos, smirking.

"What are you saying? He exists?" said Darkness.

"It took me some time to track him. In the mortal realm, they call him by Ancient Apparition, or Kaldr, depending on the tongue. He has had quite an impact on the Northern kingdom of the mortal plane of existence. Did you not notice how cold it became there?"

Chaos raised his hand and prodded the air. After a moment, he grinned, then slid his hand downward. A Rift appeared, growing longer as he moved his hand. "What are you waiting for my friend? Let's go," said Chaos.

Without hesitation, Darkness entered the Rift.