Cardfight!! Vanguard: R

Episode One: About A Girl / Chapter 1

1 – The Once and Future

The forest of Broceliande has existed since before the establishment of the Zoo nation. The forest belongs to Zenon, the sage whom for years has existed outside and toyed with time and space – guiding the heroes of the planet Cray in the right direction. As the seasons of Cray now transitioned into Autumn the ground was layered with crisp leaves, varying in colours of brown and orange.

Before the forest was home to no one, but after the fall of the United Sanctuary Zenon allowed various high beasts to reside and replenish their numbers within the boundaries. Any wandering traveller could spot a pack of High Dogs or a team of Flame Stallions making their way to meet the ancient sage and his young apprentice.

Since losing his access to the space outside spaces, Zenon had begun to show his age.

Though it had only been a year since it happened, the man who had once looked as though he were as youthful and spry as a man in his twenties, had rapidly aged into his late seventies. He knew his time would soon be short, and so he spent his time secluded in his home teaching his apprentice everything he knew to his student.

Together, they enjoyed this peace. But in times such as these, peace is a half-life.

A great shadow, casted by the Dimension Rider Hanger consumed the edges of the forests. Twisted creatures of biological and mechanical design descended overhead, crashing into the ground or bounding from the tree to tree. Servants of an unnamed invader that took the Sanctuary with the aid of these foreign creatures. They would charge into the wood in search of Zenon; only to be met by the young mage Merlin and the lightly armoured warrior called Arthur.

Arthur clasped his blade in his hands, swinging it from his waist, cutting through several enemies at once. One of the creatures lunged forward and scraped across Arthur's brow, marking it with three light red streaks. He pushed his body into the creature knocking it prone on the ground before plunging his blade deep into its chest.

He attempted to lift it from the chest of the creature, but it was caught on something. As more and more of the creatures began to surround him, he stepped back closer to the tree to cover his back and called out, "Witch! One of your spells would be useful right about now!"

Merlin emerged from behind tree cover. She raised her arm to the sky and with a small snap of her fingers, produced a worn wooden staff which rested gently in the palm of her hand. At the top of the staff was a purple crystal which began to glow as soon as she grasped the staff.

She then began to recite the words aloud, "Zenon's Chapter of Destruction, Vermillion Strike!"

With the spell declared the crystal began to glow brighter, and in the clear sky a small collection of clouds emerged. There was a quiet rumble and then a bolt of lightening struck one of the creatures, electrifying it. She gestured with her staff and the lightening jumped from one creature. Merlin repeated this until all the creatures in the area we down.

Satisfied with the damage of her spell, she tapped her staff on the tree and as quick as the clouds came, they dispersed. Arthur planted his foot into the corpse of the creature he slew and was able to better retrieve his blade.

"You took way too long" he groaned, "damn witch... I could have been dead before you got here"

"Stop complaining, you're alive, aren't you?"

"Just barely- "

"Then shut up and let's go" Merlin knocked her staff against his chest plate producing a faint yellow glow across his body – the three cuts on his face began to heal. "Now let's go, Master Zenon will need our help to escape the forest."