Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age in any way shape or form.

/Chapter 2\

I wasn't sure when exactly I became aware that I was thinking. It felt like I kept forgetting everything that I did. Like short-term memory loss that lasts for a lesser amount of time, which was already weird in and of itself.

What I found weird was that when I 'woke up' again from this weird coma thing I was going through, was that I woke up in a cave. I wasn't exactly sure but I was surrounded by rock caverns and... I don't know, it looked like a cave at least. It was dark too, did I mention that. Really dark, though my eyes adjusted well enough.

Also, it smelled damp. It had that weird stale air smell.

None of my observations really made sense to me at the time and I had no idea what to do with it anyway so I just settled where I was and waited. It wasn't until a long time had passed, enough to be a day(or two) I think, that I realized my wrists were strapped onto a wooden chair and that I was seated in the middle of a lab-like cavern room.

I had a brief what the fuck moment where I wondered how I didn't notice it earlier.

Right after that, I immediately tried to move. Nothing happened. I think I just about overloaded my brain trying to concentrate on it moving my body. It was eventual but I could eventually feel twitches and ghost sensations which my body briefly reacted to. That was the thing though. Ghost sensations. I wasn't entirely sure I was moving at all.

It was days worth of mind-numbing weariness and sluggishness that I went through before I could move an entire arm and a leg. I tried not to think, or cry, about how much longer it would be to try walking, let alone running.

It took a while but eventually I started asking myself: how on earth did I get bound onto the chair?

Honestly, I was stumped.

I thought that I had somehow strapped myself but that would be impossible considering how securely I was stuck there. It was more likely that someone else had tied me there. Well, there's a thought.

And then, lo and behold, a few hours later and a cosplayer walks in. A really good cosplayer. A cosplayer who must have some screws loose if he thinks he can just kidnap someone who just woke up and knows nothing into somewhere dark, dank and clammy.

I have to say though, he has a taste for drama, with how he holds up that torch (a legit torch, this guy must be the real deal) that illuminated half his face and concealed the other half in darkness, all while stalking quietly on cloth shoes with his robe gently billowing in an imaginary wind.

I squinted at him. He was wearing one of those weird mage robes thing from that game I used to play ages ago. Something about dragons and eras, I think? Dragon Era? Dragon Time just sounds like it could be something from a music video parody or a children's cartoon. Dragon Age, maybe was the name. I wasn't really updated on the latest games these days since I am currently hooked up on...well, what game was I hooked up on?

Before I began panicking over my lost memories, again, the odd cosplayer speaks.

In gibberish.

I blink and force my throat to work and croak out, "What?"

He nears me then and crouches in front of me. He places the torch right between us and I get a good look at his face.

He doesn't...look so bad. I mean, if you ignored the gaunt cheeks and the emaciated look he pulls off expertly, he could be jumped by anyone. Oh, he also needs a bath or two. Or three. Maybe even four, considering that I can't tell anymore if he's naturally a brunette or if those were legit blonde locks I could spy under the dirt.

He opens his mouth to speak and I twitch in brief horror when I catch a glimpse of yellowed cracked and missing teeth. Either way, I still don't understand what he's saying. It was evident that he realized our communication dilemma when I direct my best deadpan face at him and answer him with another flat-toned 'what'.

He huffs and places the torch on a stand on a nearby table (how did that table get there?!) before dragging a chair over and sitting on it right in front of me.

He leans forward a bit and unsheathes a tiny jagged dagger from somewhere behind his back and I had a brief moment of fear when he places it close to my face. Of course, that was before I realize he was actually examining the blade under the torch fire. Whew.

Then before I could react, he slices it deep across his other hand and blood spurts out and—ohmygod he's blood bending what the fuck.

I will admit to a few seconds of bafflement and bewilderment—a few precious seconds where he forces his bleeding hand down my throat, causing me to choke in reflex. I register shrieking in outrage and revulsion late enough that he's already retracting his hand and wiping a disgusting trail of saliva and blood down the side of his already-dirtied robe.

"Now," he suddenly rasps, "do you understand me?"

I gawk.

Then I open my mouth to answer—

And vomit instead.

I mean, what the fuck just happened?!

I'll give you three guesses as to how he did that, and the first two don't count. Should be pretty obvious, I mean, blood bending, pffft. Honestly, I have no excuses as to how long I took to put this up. I would say school, but even that excuse feels old to me, despite it being true. We're so close to summer break though and the teachers are cramming all these things down our brains. Summer breaaaaaaak, goddammit I need youuuuu.

Fun fact of the day: The Disciples of Andraste was a cult thought to precede even the Chantry, and was kept so hidden and isolated that they survived into the modern day. They were thought to be descendants of the first followers of Andraste and dedicated their lives to protecting her Ashes by creating a temple to house and guard (now known as the Temple of Sacred Ashes) deep in the Frostback Mountains, in the place named Haven. Due to their isolation, however, scholars believed they were forced to commit inbreeding, contributing to a greater strain of madness which eventually caused them to worship a High Dragon. The cult and the Dragon was killed by the Hero of Ferelden in 9:30 Dragon.

Question of the day: What do you guys think could happen if, for whatever unknown reason, this cult eventually broke out of isolation during the time of the Chantry and made contact with ordinary Fereldans? Personally I think it would be the cause of a war between the Chantry and the cult and its believers, despite being based on the same beliefs, with the fight mainly focusing on religious traditions (like how there are revered fathers in Haven but none in the Chantry).