Chapter Text
The first thing that came to him was the pain in his neck, every movement came with another jolt of pain, and for some reason there was a lot of movement. He was moving, but not him, the thing he was in. He was in some sort of cart, chin resting against his chest, mouth gagged and wrists chained to the top of the dark enclosure. His legs were folded uncomfortably beneath him and he tried to shift out of the position only to find his body no cooperating like he wanted. He felt almost drunk, but that wasn't possible he hadn't been drinking that wasn't it, was it? He couldn't remember clearly, everything was hazy as he tried again to lift his chin and look around.
Despite the blurry haze he was able to see another body beside him and it was only because of his close proximity and their history together he was able to see who it was. His name was Varic and he was one of the Vanguards Erend could actually call friend. They knew each other as children, Erend being several years younger, Varic was more Ersa's age and her friend. Then when they got older they rebelled together, fought in the Red Raids together, survived together, and now lived in Meridian together. There were only a few in the city he could say that about and it seemed that number was decreasing too quickly.
Erend tried to speak to his friend, but the aftereffects of whatever had happened to him prevented him from forming words and the gag prevented him from vocalizing anything. He tried harder, he needed to make contact, he was getting scared. The last thing he remembered was leading a convoy back from a neighboring settlement containing medicine and food. What happened?
He clenched his teeth against the gag as he thrashed his body best he could in the chains, pain shot through every inch of him, and the heavy metal clanged together loudly. However, there was still no response from his friend. Was he dead? Or just passed out?
The cart suddenly came to a sudden stop, and he heard distant voices outside. After only a few seconds the back of it opened up revealing the very too bright sun. Erend shielded his sensitive eyes as best he could and shut them tightly. There was a foul chuckle from the entrance and the sound made his stomach drop. He sure was in trouble this time.
“Well, well..”
Erend tried to open his eyes and face his presumed captor, but his vison swam from the brightness and he had to shut them.
“Awake are we? You're a stubborn one, I'll give you that. You're friend's been polite enough to keep quiet, we still have a bit of a ride so I need you to keep it down. They said not to do it twice but he's a big one, you know?" The blurry outline of a man turned to another formless voice. "Besides, I don't think you can make an Oseram stupider." He laughed and Erend could hear the second formless person join in behind him. The man reached out to him holding something in his hand, and Erend's vision doubled the closer the hand got. Before he realized what was happening the disgusting smelling rag was placed against his nose and still gaged mouth, he had no choice but to inhale since his body was still working on weak autopilot from his previous dosing of whatever this was. The world around him faded into black again, as he quickly lost consciousness.