The Beginning

"'The Zodiac Gems are 12 jewels the 4 Godly Mystics used to retain the peace of their world. When a war broke out and Drakonia was destroyed, these 12 items were sent to Earth along with Elizabeth and other Mystics.'"

~Dr. Harrison Wells explains the origin of the Zodiac Gems.

"The Beginning" is the first episode of Birth of the Drakonian and its pilot episode. The 1st act premiered on April 1, 2017 and the 2nd act premiered on April 8, 2017.

Synopsis
Detective Elizabeth Mendel is paired with her new partner, Lorelai Snart and while the two are on their first case together, Elizabeth discovers she is not like your average human being and is later thrown into a literal whirlwind when she has to use her new powers against a familiar criminal who later obtains mystical powers of his own.

Plot
The episode starts out with a prologue 25 years prior to the events which show Drakonia falling into ruins. The queen entrusts her guardian with her last surviving egg that will hatch into the destined future ruler of New Drakonia. The guardian, Thomas, takes the baby to the city of Detroit on planet Earth where he reunites with a fairy named Chloe. There, they raise their baby purple-colored Drakonian until she grows up into a grown, human woman.

Years later, in 2013, Elizabeth Mendel is a first year detective who gets paired up with another youn woman, Lorelai Snart who is a transfer. The two work together to solve a bank robbery and homicide case that leads them to a barn where they are confronted by criminals Clyde and Mark Mardon. After Lorelai Snart is shot, Elizabeth breathes fire for the first time, but it fails to phase the brothers as they get away in their plane.

For the next few days, Elizabeth visits Lorelai at the hospital often until one day, the patient is intoduced to Elizabeth's best friend and roommate, Cisco Ramon who is revealed to work at S.T.A.R. Labs. The three have a quick chat, before Elizabeth decides to get something at C.C. Jitters. After she leaves, she sees thick fog envelope the city and saves a little girl from getting hit by a car. The girl is revealed to actually be Bianca Lawrence, teenage daughter of the famous scientist and owner of S.T.A.R. Labs, Harrison Wells. When Elizabeth returns Bianca to the lab and meets Dr. Wells, he and Cisco tell her it is possible that she is a Drakonian, a powerful type of mythical creature called a Mystic. Elizabeth denies this and leaves.

She confides in Lorelai about this, where the latter tells her she may have cold powers to which Elizabeth rethinks what the scientists said and returns to the lab and finds out more in depth information about her, Drakonia, and Mystics. Cisco also shows her footage of the bank robbery that occurred that afternoon and Elizabeth reunites with Lorelai at the police station. The two decide to take it upon themselves to track down the criminal who could also be the cause of the strange weather phenomenon due to a magic rod he was holding in the footage. The girls later drive to a familier barn, where they are once again confronted by Clyde Mardon who explains to them that the storm became worse, causing his plane to crash and when he came to, he only had minor bruises and was beside the rainbow colored gem that he attached to a staff to make it look like a weapon. The girls also notice that Clyde has a horn, similiar to a unicorn's, on his head and is possibly from the stone turning him into a Mystic. Clyde creates a tornado, threatening to destroy the city, but the duo of magical detectives work together to stop him and then finally arrest him.

When they return to S.T.A.R. Labs, Elizabeth gives the jewel to Harrison who then tells them of the Zodiac Gems, 12 jewels created by the 4 Godly Mystics to give imense power to 12 Mystics that were the basis for the Chinese and other Zodiacs. Harrison also reveals that he and Cisco know where 3 of them currently are, while it is Elizabeth and Lorelai's mission to track down the remaining 9 to which the girls agree but not before Cisco makes them special protective gear.

The episode ends with a scene later that not where Harrison Wells is still at the lab when a man named Nicholas walks in and admires the Zodiac gem and the news that the 'princess' has been found much to Harrison's obvious dismay.

Starring

 * Michelle Trachtenberg as Det. Elizabeth Mendel
 * Troian Bellisario as Det. Lorelai Snart
 * Diana Agron as Dr. Claire Daniels
 * Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon
 * Tom Cavanagh as Dr. Harrison Wells
 * Sabrina Carpenter as Bianca Lawrence
 * Andy Mientus as Dr. Hartley Rathaway
 * Scott Michael Foster as Dr. Nicholas Vermillion

Guest Starring

 * Grant Gustin as Barry Allen
 * Jesse L. Martin as Sgt. Joe West
 * Al Sapienza as Capt. Fred Chyre
 * Rick Cosnett as Det. Eddie Thawne
 * Liam McIntyre as Mark Mardon
 * Chad Rook as Clyde Mardon

Special Guest Starring

 * TBA as Queen of Drakonia
 * TBA as Thomas Mendel (younger)
 * TBA as Chloe Sullivan-Mendel (younger)

Trivia

 * There are various references to Spyro the Dragon throughout this series and Trial of the Elements:
 * The beginning prologue is based on the prologue of The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning.
 * Elizabeth as a baby looks like Spry from Skylanders only with blue eyes. It is unknown if she has scales on her body or if she shed them as she grew.
 * Tom and Chloe raising Elizabeth is based on Flash and Nina the dragonflies from The Legend of Spyro being intrusted to raise Spyro.
 * Elizabeth's first element she discovers is fire while attempting to protect Lorelai. This is similar to Spyro learning he can breathe fire while protecting Sparx the dragonfly from apes.
 * Clyde Mardon as a Mystic is based on the unicorn/dragon Skylander, Whirlwind including his ability to create storms and control a rainbow.
 * It is revealed that the story takes place in December of 2013, exactly 1 year before Trial of the Elements later takes place after the Particle Accelerator explosion. This is because it takes place in conjunction with Wolf's Moon season 2 instead of season 3 like with Arrow.
 * Elizabeth being brought up in Detroit, Michigan is a reference to her friendship with Cisco who is Vibe in the comics and a member of the Detroit Justice League. It also references the setting of the DCEU film, Mystic Misfits.
 * Elizabeth mentions the show Once Upon a Time.
 * Lorelai mentions My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Allusions to / Major Differences between Trial of the Elements

 * Elizabeth enjoys skating similar to her Arrowverse counterpart who was known in her childhood as 'The Daredevil' who robbed banks and other places while rollarskating.
 * Elizabeth is a detective similar to her Arrowverse counterpart, except she still retains her job by the episode's end.
 * Elizabeth is not pregnant.
 * Elizabeth has had the Dragon Heart since birth, albeit only half of it while her counterpart later obtains the full necklace from Harrison Wells in 1x09.
 * Lorelai jokes about Elizabeth dating Mark Mardon after noticing he flirted with her while Elizabeth mentions she'd get fired. In the Arrowverse, this ironically happens after the CCPD find out she has been dating Mark.
 * Bianca doesn't exist in the Arrowverse.
 * Elizabeth doesn't find out she's a Drakonian in the Arrowverse until 1x22.
 * Clyde Mardon doesn't die.
 * The computer image that Harrison and Nicholas look at is the same image of a Drakonian Eobard Thawne shows Elizabeth in 1x22 of the Arrowverse.
 * Nicholas Vermillion doesn't appear until Mystic Uprising.