I do not own Brave Frontier. All characters, objects, and locations belong to gumi, unless I mention otherwise. For example, the large treehouse in this chapter is a random gimmick I thought up.

Enjoy!

The morning dawned cool and clear in the Blood Forests of Agni, named for their unnaturally red leaves and the strange occurrences of monster battles. A thin red mist covered everything, and for once the sounds of warring creatures was absent.

Exiting from a hole within a giant tree was an orange-haired boy wearing red clothes one would find on a high-ranking noble. Judging by the fact that the shirt was reduced to sleeves and the pants were shredded in several places, he had been in the woods for a long time; at least several months. He let out a rough howl that echoed into the distance, and in the distance several other howls could be heard. Within minutes a pack of monsters had shown up. Instead of attacking though, they simply stayed in a loose circle around him. The boy gave a low grunt, and two Cerberus detached themselves from the others, standing on either side of him. The rest of the monsters, a mixed group of Salamanders, Goblins, and Cereberus, awaited his orders.

CRACKOOM! A loud thunderclap sounded. The monsters gathered around the boy all jolted in suprise and looked in the direction of the sound. A series of bright flashes were going off in the distance, and as they watched several Thunderbirds flew away from the disturbance. Soon, streams of Mandagoras and Burny were running past them in fright, and some of the monsters in the group were growing fidgety as well.

The sounds and flashes continued, and as they did the boy frowned, long canine teeth poking out of his mouth. He twitched his fingers and a set of sharp claws materialized on the backs of his hands, looking for all the world as if they had always been there. He let out another wordless howl and took off on all fours, flanked on either side by the two Cerberus. The other monsters quickly followed and, within a few minutes, the boy was at the head of a large horde of monsters. Yet, although it was a problem, the massive disturbance was only part of the reason he was headed towards the source of lightning. The lightning had stirred a hidden feeling within his heart, one he couldn't quite describe. Several images of a map and a bearded man flashed through his head at the sight of the lightning. He wasn't quite sure how, but he could feel that the source of this, the wielder of this foreign power, would be a strong fighter. It was excitement, the thrill of the hunt, and the likelihood of this being a more powerful opponent than most, that spurred him on.

Of course, the disturbance was none other than Eze. He had managed to get lost and wander all the way over to the Agni border in several days, partially due to the fact he kept having to fight off streams of Mandragora. While the plantlike creatures weren't all that strong on their own they often came in huge packs of at least a dozen or more, making them more difficult. As he had crossed into the Blood Forest, monsters with fire-based attacks had also become more common. That was why, right now, as he fought off Mandragoras from one direction, several Salamanders were attempting to roast him from the other.

Eze slashed straight through two Mandragoras that had leapt at once, jumped out of the path of a fireball the size of his torso, deflected a stream of flame with his blade, and punched another Mandragora back with his fist. The monster fell back, injured but still alive, and opened its mouth, where a green light began to flash. "Oh, not agai-" A beam of green, swirling energy in the shape of a leaf hit him straight in the center of his chest. He flew backward several feet, straight into a fireball, and as he hit the ground another stream of flame seared the back of his neck.

Eze groaned loudly. It seemed as though he had been wandering in circles, and with both the endless red mist and never-ending monsters it was impossible to try to stop and figure out where on earth he was. He gripped his blade firmly and stood up, facing the Salamanders. He held up his blade, concentrating, and swung it down in a single motion. A wave of lightning appeared to materialize along the sword's length, detach itself, and flash outwards in the same movement as the sword, cutting through three Salamanders clustered together. When the blade hit the ground, however, a huge explosion of golden energy pulsed outward in the form of crisscrossing lightning bolts. They leapt from one monster to the next in an endless zigzag, catching four out of the five remaining Salamanders and destroying them in a heartbeat.

Eze took the moment to catch his breath; this attack was the only thing guaranteed to destroy and delay the monsters; and gasped in pain as two solar beams from the Mandragora hit him square in his back. He fell to the ground yet again, and as he did all the Mandragora leapt at once, covering him in a shifting mass of brown and green. More solar beams scorched his armor and clothing, thankfully missing his skin, and he could feel the monsters biting him in at least a dozen different spots.

Suddenly, a loud howl cut through the endless hissing of the creatures. They all stopped at once, looking at something out of Eze's line of sight, and began running off into the forest. The last of them, having just reached the treeline, started to turn around, but a fireball instantly shot over Eze's head, disintegrating it straight away. The rest of the monsters, now even more agitated, continued to run off, screeching wildly.

For a moment, all was quiet. The sound of Eze's breathing filled his ears, and he wondered what had had caused the monsters to run off. He decided not to get up quickly, and began to lift his head.

A rough hand forced his head back down, making him sputter as he swallowed the dirt. He raised his eyes, doing his best not to move his head, and could make out red pants and dark brown boots. After a moment, the hand let up, and a face entered his view.

It was a boy, younger than him, with fiery orange hair and dark skin. His eyes were dark black with hints of gold, and his clothing was torn and ripped in countless areas, revealing the scars that covered his chest. On his hands were golden claws, sharper than those of any animal, and he was hunched over like a monkey. More surprising, though, was the huge gathering of monsters behind him. Endless Goblins, Cerberus, and other fire-based monsters were gathered around the two of them in a large semicircle, and as he watched several Salamanders snarled at him.

After a moment, Eze decided to just come out and ask: "What's your name?" The boy stared at him, and for a long moment said nothing. Just as Eze was wondering if he should try to fight his way out, he spoke in a rough voice: "Zegar." His face was strangely twisted, as if he was trying to remember something.

"Ah, okay. So you can speak, then. Mind letting me up?" This time, the boy tilted his head strangely and didn't respond. Eze waited a few moments then sighed. "You... Let... Me... Up?" As he spoke, he gestured to himself and tried to motion with his hands. The boy stared for a few more seconds, then growled again. The two Cerberus closest to Zegar padded around to either side of Eze and took his arms in their jaws, dragging him to his feet as painfully as possible. The warrior dusted himself off, at a loss for what to do. The boy could only speak a few words, including his name, and he was in command of this large army of hostile beasts, as their king. What he said next- No wait, that wasn't quite right. Whatever he did could end up killing him, unless he did it right. So how was he supposed to get out of this?

After a moment, it hit him- All he had to do was teach the kid how to speak Artharvan! Do that, and he could have him get Eze out of this endless, godforsaken forest. He had seen his dad teaching other kids at the mine how to speak common Artharvan, and he figured it wasn't that hard to do the same.

He walked over to Zegar, and as all the creatures watched he knelt before him. "Me... Eze. E-zuh." He pointed at himself again, emphasizing the vowels as he spoke. "Take... Me... To... Your... Home?" He tried to make a gesture for sleep and food, unsure how to describe what he was saying, but Zegar seemed to understand. He let out several short, quick barks, and the entire gathering of creatures assembled behind the two humans. Zegar looked at Eze and slowly said, "Take... You... Home. Home." He gestured off into the distance, where a red tree larger than all the rest could be seen. Eze nodded, and the group set off.

Half an hour later, the group arrived at the large tree. Its roots where the size of large bushes, and the top branches were hidden by the other trees. A small hole about the size of a door was carved out of the tree. Zegar growled at the other monsters again, and they began to wander off in various directions. Only two Cerberus, the same two that had been at Zegar's side the whole time, stayed with them as they entered the structure.

Inside the tree, Eze looked around in suprise. The inside walls were bright red, and the floor was tidy. There were stairs leading up and out of sight, with several small doorways further up throwing light around the chamber. No objects like chairs or tables could be seen, but there was a blanket covering a small bed carved into the tree. Eze walked over to it. Up close, it was obvious that the blanket was fraying and the bed would have been uncomfortable to sleep in.

Hearing a growl from behind him, he turned around to see Zegar and the two Cerberus looking at him impatiently, their heads tilted to the side like dogs expecting a feast. He sighed and groaned, rubbing his head, and began to speak in Atharvan:

"Me... Eze. You, Zegar..."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note: So, if you're reading this then with the help of a friend I'll just call Malthael I've been trying to improve the first two chapters a little bit. It's not much, but I hope it helps. And if you've been impatiently waiting for chapter three and the end of Zegar's "arc", then it should be out within a week if all goes well. It probably won't, but I'm trying not to jinx myself any more than I already have.

An e-toast to the release of the next chapter!

If you have any opinions, criticisms, or ideas, write a review or PM me. Your opinions are more than appreciated.